For now, indulge your craving for investments with some of my earlier articles

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150 shares, and an entire portfolio dedicated to Research in Motion, why?

It’s quite simple really… This stock is every investor’s dream - Top tier management, increasing global expansions, top of the industry R&D (Research and Development)… all while being severely underpriced @ $100 a share

Now if you missed it, I wrote an article on RIM previously — Blackberry Thunder and Bold about to be released, how will they affect rimm?

So what makes me throw all of my eggs in one basket despite preaching not to do so? Easy… there is no better bargain out there on the market.

Taking a look at the financials, it is easy and quick to note what makes this such a solid and well managed company:

Note how there are increases within the last quarter in almost every category: Total Revenue, Gross Profit, Operating Income, Net Income, Total Current Assets, Total Assets, and Cash Flow.

—

Financials aside, lets take a look at the price.

This baby hasn’t been available at such a cheap bargain since the start of ‘08, back when it was first publicizing the Blackberry 8800 and 8300 Curve.

Now, if you’re not satisfied with the main course meal just yet, let me top it all off with some fine cuisine desert fresh out of the oven:

• Mad Money Lighting Round: Stick With Research in Motion
• RIM Paces Tech Advance
• RIM Launches New Blackberry Flip Pohone
• RIM Captures more than half of the smartphone market vs. (a decline of only 17.5% for the iPhone)
• Canaccord reiterates their PT of $185 on RIM
• Microsoft, Research In Motion Strike Search Deal

What will your next phone be?

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1. What is the price of the entire company?

When doing research, it is important that you look at more than just the current share price - you need to look at the price of the entire company. The “cost” of acquiring the entire corporation is called market capitalization (or market cap for short) and is frequently referred to by financial professionals. In short, the market cap is the price of all outstanding shares of common stock multiplied by the quoted price per share at any given moment in time. A business with one million shares outstanding and a stock price of $50 per share would have a market cap of $50 million.

This market capitalization test can help keep you from overpaying for a stock. Consider the case of eBay and General Motors during the heyday of the Internet era. At one point during the boom, eBay had the same market cap as the entire General Motors Corporation. To put that into perspective, in fiscal 2000, General Motors made $3.96 billion dollars in profit, while eBay made only $48.3 million (not including stock option expense!). Yet were you to buy either one, you would have had to pay the same amount. It is almost unbelievable that any sane investor would pay the same price for both companies but the general public was seduced by visions of quick profits and easy cash.

Another useful tool to help gauge the relative cost of a stock is the price to earnings ratio (or p/e ratio for short). It provides a valuable standard of comparison for alternative investment opportunities.

2. Is the company buying back shares?

One of the most important keys to investing is that overall corporate growth is not as important as per-share growth. A company could have the same profit, sales, and revenue for five consecutive years, but create large returns for investors by reducing the total number of outstanding shares.

To put it into simpler terms, think of your investment like a large pizza. Each slice represents one share of stock. Would you rather have part of a pizza that was cut into ten slices or one that was cut into eight slices? The pizza that was only cut into eight parts will have bigger slices with more cheese and toppings.

The same principle is true in business. A shareholder should desire a management that has an active policy of reducing the number of outstanding shares if alternative uses of capital are not as attractive, thus making each investor’s stake in the company bigger. When the corporate “pie” is cut into fewer pieces, each share represents a greater percentage ownership in the profits and assets of the business. Tragically, many managements focus on domain building rather than increasing the wealth of shareholders.

3. What are your reasons for investing in the company?

Before you purchase stock in a company, you need to ask yourself why you are interested in investing in that particular opportunity. It is dangerous to fall in love with a corporation and buy it solely because you feel fondly for its products or people - after all, the best company in the world is a lousy investment if you pay too much for it

Make sure the fundamentals of the company (current price, profits, good management, etc.) are the only reason you are investing. Anything else is based on your emotions; this leads to speculation rather than intelligent investing. You have to remove your feelings from the equation and select your investments based on the cold, hard data. This requires patience and the willingness to walk away from a potential stock position if it does not appear to be fairly or undervalued.

4. Are you willing to own the stock for the next ten years?

If you aren’t willing to buy shares in a company and forget about them for the next ten years, you really have no business owning those shares at all. The simple but painful truth of this is evident on Wall Street every day. Professional money managers attempt to beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is a collection of 30 largely unmanaged stocks. Year after year, they fail to do this. It seems impossible that a portfolio managed by the best minds in finance can’t beat an unmanaged portfolio of long-term stocks held indefinitely. The guaranteed way to success has historically been to select a great company, pay as little as possible for the initial stake, begin a dollar cost averaging program, reinvest the dividends and leave the position alone for several decades.

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As you all know, the 2008 Beijing Olympics is upon us. I have stayed up the past few nights watching some of the action, did you guys see those women swimming? Their shoulders are almost twice the width mine (lol). During my observation of this spectacle, a thought came to mind. Of course, being a natural investor — It had to be something related to my niche. $40 Billion USD has been used to fund the city in preparation for these Olympics. Only a fool would be blind to see the potential profit that these Olympics can bring! Hmmmm….But how?

There has to be some way that I can benefit from the billions of people watching around the world, and thousands upon thousands travelling to witness it live.

Sitting there scratching my forehead, I came to a quick and savvy conclusion. AIRLINES! Quickly running to my laptop, I searched up China’s 2 major airlines: ZNH, and CEA on Finziv.com (easily the best for stock market charts). I suddenly realized the potential in this company.

• Currently equally priced to it’s 52 week low of 16.39
• Highly oversold and due for a correction
• Will profit from Olympic sales
• Crude Oil prices on the decline due to BUSH ADMITTING THAT USA HAS MORE OIL THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT

Now, you have to ask yourself — Do you want to take a chance at losing 3% vs. a possible gain of 20%+ over a one week’s span? We all know how volatile Chinese stocks are… so its up to you and your risk tolerance. When taking a chance, just remember, The Mad Genius of Mutual Funds. This man is the building block for the fundamental “BUY LOW, SELL HIGH” principle.

For me, it was a simple decision. In China, there are over a billion people (1/6th of the world’s population). Only two main competitive principle carriers exist, ZNH (China Southern Airlines) and CEA (China Eastern Airlines). How long before this stock surges astronomically?

One last thought. The 52 Week High for this stock is $99.70.

What do you take into consideration when Investing your money?

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Money, cars, a nice house or condo, these are all possessions and assets associated with the wealth we all dream of having. Reading quite an extensive pool of articles on the internet and in various magazines, I have compiled a list of the 7 most influential guidelines for a young investor to cultivate in order to champion his/her dreams.

1. To Retire Rich, Start saving Now.

I’m sure many of you have heard this before and seems like simple advice. However, the importance of this point deserves emphasis and repetition. Consider a goal of accumulating $1 million by age 65 and that you are able to earn 8% return per year. According to T. Rowe Price Associates (A mutual fund company), if you put off investing until you’re 45 years old, you will have to sock away some $21,900 a year. However, if you begin investing at age 25, you’ll need to make an annual investment of just $3,900. That’s a big price to pay for procrastinating.

2. Get the Debt Saddle off your Back.

How would you like to earn 18% return immediately? Pay off those credit card bills and other high interest loans you may have. By paying them off, you eliminate the high interest charges that you incur (As high as 18% on many major credit cards). Some of you may argue that you’ve been earning more than 18% from your stock and mutual fund holdings.

Let me inform you that the historical average annual return from stocks is about 10.7% (Stocks being represented by the S&P 500 Stock Index). In other words, don’t expect the 20%+ returns that we’ve been experiencing these last couple of years to be the norm. Furthermore, think for a moment how you would feel if you owed $3000 in credit card debt at 18% interest and your $2000 mutual fund investment is down 30%. In general, I don’t believe people should undertake an investing commitment while carrying debt.

3. Don’t Confuse Saving with Investing.

Many of you are also intent on saving for a house, a car, higher education or something else. By all means, continue saving, but don’t invest your savings in stocks and stock mutual funds if you plan to make a large purchase within the next four to five years. Remember, investing will work wonders for you, if and only if, you put time on your side. Time periods of less than five years may not give you enough time to recover from a substantial market drop.

Though some of you have never experienced a sustained down market ( otherwise known as a “Bear Market”), let me assure you that they are not a thing of the past. And luck usually has it that when people invest for short time periods, a “correction” or “bear market” rears it’s ugly head right about the time you need your money. Get the picture.

The sensible thing to do when saving money for a short-term objective is to invest in a certificate of deposit, short-term bond fund or money market fund.

4. Take Full Advantage of your employer’s retirement plan.

These days many employers have the 401(k) type retirement plan, whereby, you the employee are responsible for contributions and how you want the money to be invested. These plans offer a great opportunity to accumulate enormous sums of money. The money that you contribute from your paycheck is tax-deductible and will grow without being taxed. Some companies will match your contributions, but even if your company doesn’t, a retirement plan is still a great wealth building tool.

5. You don’t need large sums of money to begin investing.

Out of the 2,266 equity mutual funds investing in the U.S. stock market, 180 have a minimum investment of $250 or less, according to Morningstar. If you choose to be a dedicated investor, there are even more options. Many funds will waive their regular minimum if you commit to an automatic investment plan where money is taken out of your bank account and put directly into the mutual fund.

An automatic investment plan is a terrific idea for a young investor and here’s why:

• You pay yourself first every month before you pay the bills and before you start spending
• It turns you into a disciplined investor
• It’s affordable as I mentioned before
• It helps you avoid the pitfalls of market timing
• You will be a smart investor because you’ll be buying more shares when prices are low and fewer shares when prices are high.(known as “Dollar Cost Averaging”)

6. Steer Clear of Journalism’s short-term time Horizon

Journalism tends to have a negative bias and a very short term horizon( day-to-day for newspapers and minute-to-minute for CNBC) which is exactly the opposite of where your focus should be — on the long term. The constant stream of information concerning every up or down tick of the market is causing many people to “micro-manage” their investments. I caution you from trying to make sense of the markets’ short-term trends. Stay focused on your investment goals and not every newspaper headline.

7. Choose Stock Mutual Funds for the core of your portfolio.

Mutual funds are terrific for the young investor because they allow investors to own many company stocks without having to shell out large sums of money. Assuming the fund is properly managed, it should provide exposure to companies in several different industries. For starters, I would look for a conservative fund that invests in large company stocks in many different industries.

Before I wrap this up and let you get on your way, I want to remind you we cannot count on the government,unions or big corporations for income and health care in retirement. Therefore, you must view stocks as a defensive investment necessary for combating the biggest risk facing us all: Outliving your money.

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It’s summer time, the weather’s nice, the sun is out — And so is Yingli Solar. Today, Friday August 8th I have decided to go all in on this stock. Make or break, this will ultimately decide the fate of my portfolio. Am I a little worried? Not at all. In fact, I have not been this certain that a stock is undervalued in over a year (since the whole Asian market began to gain steam). Paying $15.05 for a company that should be valued in the mid to high 20s was a no brainer for me. 52 Week High of 41.50, 52 Week Low of 11.44, I mean come on, the company IPOed for 10.50 for goodness sakes.

So right about now you’re looking at the 6 month chart and you’re saying in your head “But it has been on a downward slope and has shown no real signs of moving upward” hmmm… decisions decisions.

You’re absolutely correct, however lets remember one thing… It was also around that time that the Chinese Economy started experiencing inflation and the whole market began bleeding.

Lets take a look at Price, RSI, and Volume Charts.

As we can see the RSI is on its way up, the Volume seems to be growing and all of these factors working together should drive the price up.

Okay…Okay, so are you still doubting me? Lets take a look at what the Analysts have to say, along with their Price Upgrades post earnings release the past few days:

• AmTech Price Target on Yingli ($27)
• Piper Jaffray Reiterates $45 Price Target on Yingli
• Deutsche Bank Price Target $17 - Keep in mind they mentioned nothing about Germany, China, Italy and the United States (all of whom are YGE customers). All of their attention was focused on Spain, and the recent debate to sharp cut in the country’s solar subsidy program.

Now enough ramblings aside, lets take a look at a post published on Fool.com

Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) can’t touch solar competitor First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) in the margin department, but in its latest earnings report, it blew past SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR) in gross and operating margins. So even though investors dumped shares of Yingli yesterday, there was plenty of sunny news in the quarterly press release.

In fact, Yingli’s 20% operating margin is where SunPower aspires to be within a few quarters. The company is achieving strong wafer yields and high conversion efficiencies, both of which contribute to the stronger margins. But there was other good news, too: Top-line growth was torrid, as expected, even though the 25% sequential surge was lower than the quarter-on-quarter growth that First Solar and SunPower reported.

There was also a marked improvement in Yingli’s working-capital management. The company cut days sales outstanding to 47 days, from 66 in the previous quarter. You know my cash-flow concerns in this space, so any improvement in cash collection is great news.

Left unaddressed in the company’s announcement, however, were the company’s poly silicon costs. Yingli has been sewing up incremental supply from companies such as DC Chemical, but it can still claim nothing on the order of Suntech Power’s (NYSE: STP) late-May silicon score. I’d like to see Yingli come out with a big, fat supply agreement with someone like REC Group or MEMC Electronic Materials (Nasdaq: WFR), to lay the margin-squeeze fears to rest.

Not all of my concerns were allayed this quarter. Yingli’s prepayments to suppliers are up almost 50% since year’s end and now equal 27% of total company assets. Compare that with roughly 9% for SunPower, and you’ll see why this situation makes me uneasy.

Finally, although Yingli’s equity dilution is pretty straightforward (the diluted share count is up 64% in a year), maybe less obvious is the impact of a line item on the income statement called minority interest. Here, we see that 30% of reported profits were directed to minority holders, and that left only 70% of the spoils to ordinary shareholders. Yingli can buy back this equity interest over time, but for now, it presents a significant extra hurdle for creating shareholder value.

Few Fools have yanked their support for Yingli, though, and the company retains a solid four-star rating in Motley Fool CAPS.

One last thing, over the weekend I managed to stumble by one of the best articles I have ever read in my life. Glance over it, learn, and understand how to become The Mad Genius of Mutual Funds.

Okay it’s 1:49 AM, I think I should get some sleep before work tomorrow.

What do you think is the future of Alternative Energy? Which of the many will survive?

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The following is simply a Just for Laughs article that is intended to bring about a giggle. Enjoy!

Tired of being a successful investor? By following these rules, you can return to your humble roots and make your less wealthy friends tolerate your company again:

1. Believe in the “Experts”

Why should you do your own stock research when there are “experts” around to do all the work for you? If Jim Cramer thinks Starbucks is going to be hot, just reach for your wallet! Or, if your wealthy brother-in-law knows of a great high-tech IPO, write down the name on a cocktail napkin and call your stock broker in the morning. After all, if they’re so smart, why aren’t they rich?

2. Hire Your Own Personal “Expert”

Speaking of stock broker, we strongly recommend hiring someone to make your investment decisions and transactions for you. After all, if you want to lose your shirt in the stock market, one of the best ways to get the job done is to pay a lot of money in fees and commissions. That way, you take on all the risk yourself, are completely dependent on someone else, and any pesky returns wind up funding your stock broker’s vacation trip to Tahiti, not yours.

3. Rely on Your “Inner Knowledge”

You know those investors who research trends and movements in different industries before they select stocks to invest in? Go ahead and scoff at them. You don’t need book knowledge – just a couple of hunches mixed together with a gut feeling and stirred up with a healthy dose of confidence. While you’re at it, toss your stock analysis software out the window. After all, you already know how to lose your shirt at the horse track (just bet on “Hot Chocolate” in the first race, and “Footy Pajamas” in the second race, because they bring up such fond childhood memories). How hard could it be to achieve the same results in the stock market?

4. Be Optimistic

In the stock market, it’s best to look on the bright side of life, so get out that sunny disposition! We strongly recommend telling yourself affirmations in the mirror every morning (“I am a masterful stock market investor, and dog-gone-it, people like me”) and maybe giving your portfolio a pep talk every now and then, too. Because if you want to lose your shirt, attitude is everything, right?

5. Buy High and Sell Low

It’s no fun to buy when everyone is selling. You feel like, “What kind of fool am I?” On the other hand, when the market is hot, and everyone is in the buy, buy, buy mood, that’s definitely the time to buy. You’ll be sure to lose your shirt when you are forced to sell at a tenth of the price.

6. Turn up your nose at index funds. All of them.

Index funds are for wimps. That includes exchange traded funds, too, like the QQQ. After all, index funds are basically a passive way to achieve the same returns as the market over all, with low overhead. And that’s not what you want, is it?

7. Put all your money in the same basket

If you love robotics, or biotechnology, be sure to invest only in those stocks. And while we’re talking about the same basket, make sure that you not only invest in the same industry, but that you only invest in stocks. None of this diversification nonsense, or a portfolio that includes bonds and cash.

Use these tips and not only will you find out whether your spouse really loves you, you might also land yourself in a lower tax bracket. (Take that, Uncle Sam!)

This is a guest post written by Jim Gianoglio of High Growth Stock Investor. Find out how the HGSI stock tracking and stock portfolio software can help you make informed investing decisions.

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Making money has never felt so easy, don’t you think?

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With the rising prices at the gas pumps, I decided to focus my attention to yet another alternative energy company.

Now, like many of you money doesn’t grow on trees for me, and I’m sure I speak for the majority when affirming my hate on the absurd prices of oil. What’s even more aggravating was a conversation I had with a friend of mine that showed up to my get together this past weekend. It was supposed to be a warm, relaxing afternoon day in the sun, free of politics. Then, the inevitable happened — We were engaging in a couple ramblings when the topic of oil pricing in America vs. The Middle East came up.

With a beer in one hand, and a hot dog in the other he proceeded to inform me: (Reader Beware: Those with low tolerance to North American gas prices may be susceptible to sleep deprivation, brain trauma and other symptoms alike)

Did you know in Saudi Arabia we pay approx. $15 USD (Saudi riyal (SAR) conversion) to fill up the tank for an SUV? Now I don’t know about you, but losing sleep after this conversation was a forseeable consequence.

Anywho, lets get to the financials…

GT Solar International (SOLR) provides specialized manufacturing equipment and services for the solar energy industry.

All quotations are from the company’s most recent S-1 filing with links provided.

Business Overview (from prospectus)
We are a leading global provider of specialized manufacturing equipment and services essential for the production of photovoltaic, or PV, wafers, cells and modules and polysilicon. Our principal products are directional solidification systems, or DSS units, and chemical vapor deposition, or CVD, reactors and related equipment. DSS units are specialized furnaces used to melt polysilicon and cast multicrystalline ingots from which solar wafers are made. CVD reactors are used to react gases at high temperatures and pressures to produce polysilicon, the key raw material used in solar cells. Our customers include several of the world’s largest solar companies as well as companies in the chemical industry. The use of our products requires substantial technical know-how and most of our customers rely on us to design and optimize their production processes as well as train their employees in the use of our equipment.

IPO Underwriters: Credit Suisse (CS), UBS Investment Bank (UBS)

Financial Highlights
Revenue from sales of DSS units increased 313% from $50,972 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 to $210,728 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008,… cost of revenue increased 318% from $36,284,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 to $151,709,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008…gross profit increased 287% from $23,835,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 to $92,343,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008… R&D expenses were $3,810,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, compared to $10,517,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, an increase of 176%. … sales/marketing expenses increased 35% from $7,747,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 to $10,452,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008… G&A expenses increased 103% from $10,562,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 to $21,435,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, an increase of 103%… for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, we recorded net income of $36,105,000 compared to a net loss of $(18,355,000) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.

Competitors
… Principal competitors with respect to our polysilicon products are MSA Apparatusconstruction for Chemical Equipment Ltd, Poly Plant Project, Inc. and SolMic GmbH…uur CVD reactor product also faces indirect competition from established polysilicon producers who are increasing production capacity to meet the current polysilicon supply shortage in the solar grade market. Traditional manufacturers such as Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, Wacker Chemie AG (WKCMF) , Tokuyama Corporation (TKYMF) , MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (WFR) , Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. produce polysilicon primarily for the semiconductor industry. We believe our DSS unit is a market leading product. Our principal competitor with respect to this product is ALD Vacuum Technologies AG as well as a number of other smaller furnace manufacturers. Our strength in DSS units positions us favorably for sales of our turnkey wafer line. However, a number of competitors offer turnkey solutions for cell lines (including Centrotherm Elektrische Anlagen GmbH & Co. KG and Roth & Rau (RRAUF) ) and module lines. New entrants, including semiconductor equipment manufacturers, represent potential new sources of competition as these equipment makers attempt to capitalize on the strong projected industry growth. For example, Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) has entered the PV equipment industry.

With many of the more dominant Solar Power companies being rather highly priced (SPWR, LDK, FSLR), this company seems like a viable alternative to jump on during the current rough state of the economy. Look to get in on this diamond in the rough sometime soon, as I speculate this beauty will easily push the mid 20’s to low 30’s by start of 2009.

How do you see alternative energies panning out in the future?

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