Tag Archives: Buying And Selling

Silver Bullion Bars – The Two Name Brands You Should Always Buy

Posted on by

Silver bullion bars, also referred to as silver ingot bars, generally consist of 99.99% silver and range in size from one ounce to 5000 ounces. The 10-oz and 100-oz sizes are the most popular with investors. The 5-oz, 25-oz, and 50-oz size bars, which were produced in the early 1970’s, are difficult to find. However, the diligent collector can sometimes find these silver bars on popular online auction sites such as eBay.

Unlike silver coins, silver bullion bars are first and foremost an industrial product. They are intended to be used as a storage means and are consider a trading medium. They are very liquid, but should be purchased strictly as an investment and not used for bartering purposes.

Some of the advantages of owning silver bullion bars are:

  • Uniform size, making them very convenient to store and easy to handle.
  • Compact size, making them ideal for investors who want to secure a large amount of wealth in a relatively small storage area.
  • Recognizable hallmarks, making them readily accepted for resale and easily convertible to cash.

The 100-oz silver bullion bars are often called investment bars, because collectors who buy them usually do so for investment purposes, not as a hedge against inflation. These type of collectors will often sell when silver prices go up. The 100-oz silver bullion bars are desirable because they offer a low markup over the spot price of silver, although they aren’t as flexible as the 10-oz variety.

The most popular silver bullion bars are created by Engelhard and Johnson-Matthey. Although they are two of the world’s largest refiners, they have not mass-produced silver bars since the mid-1980s. This means Johnson-Matthey and Engelhard silver bars are only available when other investors decide to sell. More readily available are the 100 ounce Wall Street Mint and Sunshine Mining bars. The English Sheffield and Handy & Harman bars can be obtained, but are more difficult to find. The most popular size is the 100 troy ounce silver bar produced by Englehard, an American company.

Engelhard is renowned for producing quality silver bullion bars that are accurately stamped with the exact pureness of the silver that is contained in the bar. Investors know that the Engelhard symbol assures them of the ability to buy and sell silver bars with total complete confidence, anywhere in the world. Because of their low premium over spot, compared with silver bullion coins, the 100-oz Engelhard silver bars are an excellent way to invest in silver bullion.

When to Buy and Sell Stocks!

Posted on by

How to Buy: check for cushion in earnings to eliminate risk that a fall in earnings could erase dividend. Buy when yield is attractive relative to stock’s’ history.

When to Sell: Fundamentals start to deteriorate (losing market share, adding too much debt, acquisition of unrelated business, no research and development or share price has appreciated 30 to 50 percent and yield becomes unattractive)

Medium Growers (Stars): Large established companies that continue to grow at a moderate pace.

Often huge companies: Coca-Cola (KO), Procter and Gamble (PG), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Kraft Foods (KFT)

Grow in 10 to 12 percent range with high degree of certainty.

Can be bought when undervalued for 30 to 50 percent gain.

Offer good protection from recessionary times, (Sub Prime Mortgage Meltdown)

How to Buy: Value, with historically low P/E

When to sell: P/E rises above historical average, or if growth starts to slow down, or new products fail

Fast Growers (?): smaller aggressive companies with growth estimates above 20% a year (Most will have very high P/E’s). A lot of tech companies can be found here.

iROBOT (IRBT), 1-800 Flowers (FLWS), Baidu (BIDU), Google (GOOG), etc.

How to Buy: Make sure plenty of room for expansion, Note whether expansion is speeding up or slowing down. Be careful if the P/E on the stock is greater than the growth rate of the business.

When to Sell: Watch for end of rapid growth phase. Sell if P/E ratio is well above the current growth rate or if company has expanded as much as it reasonable can (Watch out Starbucks (SBUX)). Also, look upon unanimous Wall Street buy recommendations and heavy institutional ownership as sell signals.

Cyclicals (Boom and Bust): autos, airlines, tire companies, steel, chemicals, defense, manufacturing.

Ford (F), Honda (HMC), Toyota (TM), Boeing (BA), Delta Airlines (DAL), Michelin Group (ML), Alcan (AL), Dow Chemical (DOW), Allied Defense Group (ADG).

Sales and Profits rise and fall in response to an expanding or contracting economy. Timing is everything and stock swings are huge.

How to Buy: Watch sales and inventory trends and cost cutting plans. Buy after extended period of misery when business conditions start to look better.

When to Sell: economic slow down begins potting up in the media, inventories begin to rise, hiring ceases, the Fed indicates possible rate cuts may be necessary. Some Cylicals are front runners while others are laggards so look for where a specific industry falls in its cycle.

Turnarounds (Nightmare to Love Affair): Normally established companies with turbulent times. If they can turn things around huge stock movements can occur (Be the Vulture).

Magna International (MGA), General Motors (GM), Merck (MRK), Pfizer (PFE)

How to Buy: Ask touch questions. Can company survive raid by creditors? How much cash and debt? What’s left for shareholders? Is the company simultaneously cost cutting and growing sales?

When to Sell: After it’s turned around and all troubles are over. Also if inventories start to rise faster than sales, or debt increases, or if P/E ration gets too high in light of earnings growth. At least take some of your profits once the company is back on track.

Asset Plays (Finders Fee): Railroads usually land rich, may have mineral and timber rights that the market is unaware of.

Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Union Pacific Railroad (UNP)

How to Buy: Ask probing questions: What’s the value of the assets? How much debt is there and is debt increasing? Is there a catalyst (corporate raider) in the wings to help unlock the value?

When to Sell: After the market appreciates the value of the assets. Once it’s in the news you know it is time to, at minimum, take some profits.