Blog at Thoughts.com

Posted on 10.20.07 by Fahd Mirza @ 8:45 pm    

World Wide Web is teeming with multimedia blogging, pod casting, social networking, instant messaging, emailing, and discussion forums. New media has taken the world by storm, and a paradigm shift is in progress as how people express themselves and interact with each other. All these enabling technologies are killer apps, and there are numerous sites offering these services. Some are offering blogging, or some are offering pod casting, or some are offering video blogging, or some are offering social networking, or some are offering combination of any two or rarely of three niche services.

Tips for Investing

Posted on 02.13.07 by Afzal Adamjee @ 6:49 am    

Many people want to take advantage of the opportunity to invest as a way to supplement their income, but few people have the knowledge or the time to monitor stocks and they are reluctant to pay the high fees associated with full-service brokers.

As well, most people know that a diversified portfolio is the best-performing portfolio, but few people have the huge capital it takes to properly diversify a portfolio made up only of stocks.

One option for those people is to purchase mutual funds.

Investing for all stages of life

Posted on 02.08.07 by Afzal Adamjee @ 12:03 pm    

“Even if you’re on the right track, “you’ll get run over if you just sit there”, said cowboy humorist Will Rogers. As an investor, you want to make progress. To succeed, you need to know:

1. Where you are headed, and;

2. What’s the best way to get ahead?

Your answers will change accordingly. It is true that nothing is constant in finance. The stock market moves up and down, interest rates rise and fall, mutual fund portfolio managers come and go. Most predictably, you get older. The right portfolio of investments when you’re 25 won’t be the right portfolio when you’re 45 with kids in college, or 65 and ready to retire.

ENGRO: POST-BoD ANALYSIS

Posted on 01.23.07 by Tanveer Sultan @ 4:45 pm    

BOARD MEETING:
The Board of Directors (BoD) of Engro Chemicals Limited (Engro) was scheduled for Saturday 20 Jan. 2007 to approve the 2006 full-year results. However the results were announced on 22 Jan. 2007 at 10:00 am. Circumspect though it may seem, bear with me.

2005 DISCLOSURES:Profit after Tax (PAT): Rs. 2, 320 million
Earnings per Share (EPS): Rs. 13.79
Payout: Total cash dividend of Rs. 6

2006 EXPECTATIONS:
PAT: Rs. 2, 350 million, with expected growth of 1%
EPS: Rs. 13.94
Payout: Rs. 4 to 5

The (Passed) Winds of Change - Part 2

Posted on 01.23.07 by Tanveer Sultan @ 11:06 am    

Again, here’s my take on the news. I think the three more important ones, that directly pertain, hence affect, the Karachi stock exchange, are:

1. The release that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is to postpone the decision to levy Capital Gain Tax for the next year.
2. The Sindh Government’s decision to discontinue stamp duty on electronic transfer of shares. [This proposal was in the last budget (June 2006). The duty was Rs. 0.01 per share.]
3. The opposition and disfavor of the Public Accounts Committee toward the privatization of Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

The (Passed) Winds of Change: Part 1

Posted on 01.22.07 by Tanveer Sultan @ 3:30 pm    

The reports by the agencies below that came around mid-December have been issued pertaining to our present economic condition and a look into the future. SBP primarily touted foreign investments for last half year, drooling from the prospects of privatizations in the couple of years to come. And, as usual, there was some news directing the path of KSE. Let’s have a brief look on the reports first.

Recovery After Crash

Posted on 01.22.07 by Tanveer Sultan @ 2:41 pm    

After the index breaking the 9,900 level last month, started to rise gradually. When such a crash comes there is a level where short sellers start profit taking, so there is a slight change in the trend. Secondly the prices came on the lower level that they attracted the individuals to buy shares. As the future contracts for December were over and new month started so a fresh buying in Jan contracts was obvious. Another factor in my opinion which played the most vital role in supporting the index was the news that Prime Minister has postponed the decision to levy capital gain tax for next year. This made the institutions to come to the market for fresh purchasing. We saw that the index gained about 250 points in two days.

Commentary on December 2006 Stock Crash

Posted on 01.04.07 by Tanveer Sultan @ 4:42 pm    

In the past two years we have seen some tremendous highs and lows in the stock market. Yet again we witness a major decline in the index. It all started in mid-December 2006, the causes being:

• Oil and Gas Development Corporation (OGDC) listing and undervalued sale of Global Deposit Receipts (GDRs);
• Selling in the banking sector due to acquisitions, and;
• Primarily, suspension of Callmate (CTTL) shares’ trading and the six times its pad up capital stuck in the continuous finance (CFS) and Badla market.

Widow And Orphan Stocks: Do They Still Exist

Posted on 12.28.06 by StockPK Team @ 1:46 pm    

In the past, the term “widows and orphans” was used to describe stocks with a relatively high degree of safety and dividend income. Because they had relatively minimal risk and provided income to feed the family, these kinds of stocks were literally thought to be the only investments suitable for widows and orphans. The term is noteworthy because it was generally used during market bottoms, but today it means something different.
A widow-and-orphan stock was the blue chip stock of its day: the stock of a large well-known firm that was thought to have an unassailable market leadership position and that paid a “good” dividend. This term was generally applied to utility stocks (electric, gas and telephones). Utilities are often referred to as widow-and-orphan stocks because of their monopoly (or, if you prefer, government-mandated market leadership) and dividend yield. Banks were excluded from this class as the result of their involvement in the bubble and crash of 1929. It was not until several years after the government-instituted regulations like the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated investment banking and “regular” commercial banking, that “widows and orphans” was again applied to commercial banks. Depending on the business cycle, the term was also applied to railroad and auto stocks.

Theme Investing: Mega-Trends And Market Psychology

Posted on 12.27.06 by poster @ 9:28 am    

Investing has always been a little like surfing. Successful investors spot key investment themes (waves) and ride them to profits. Sometimes the waves are shorter and smaller than we had expected. Other times the wave takes on a mind of its own and falls under its own weight. The hardest but most profitable thing to do is to be the lone rider of a wave that others have abandoned for the “next best thing”, and then wait for them to catch up. The key is to know when to get on and when to get off. Previous examples of trend investing include defense stocks during the second World War, oil stocks in the ’70s, and of course, the dotcoms.