What is the One Stock You Would Buy? And Why?

Berkshire Hathaway

Berkshire Hathaway is a terrific pick! Warren Buffett is a brilliant value investor and Berkshire Hathaway acts as a sort of mini-mutual fund of some great companies ranging from GEICO to Dairy Queen.
http://www.answers.com/topic/berkshire-hathaway-inc?cat=biz-fin

When I get money I am going to invest in pharmacutical companies....to get my money back

Mary,

That could be a good idea! But which one? If you had to buy a big one, you might consider Merck (MRK). I don't have any shares of Merck, but I heard some analysis suggesting that their 'pipeline' was good and the dividend is sure attractive paying 4% compared to what you can get in a C.D.

Thanks for commenting!

Biosolar (BSRC). Here is why:

1. They research and develop bio-based materials from renewable plant sources for use in photovoltaic solar cells.
2. Dr. David Lee, BioSolar's CEO has a successful track record and has invested millions of his own money in the company. I have much more confidence in a CEO that has invested their own money in a startup.
3. Stock is currently .42 a share - so I can afford to invest in it.

Dana,

BSRC is what is called a "penny" stock....and certainly at less than $.50/share, trading on what is known as the 'bulletin board', this qualifies. For a 'single stock investment' that you can buy and hold....well it might turn out terrific....but it would be highly speculative. At least for me. I couldn't even locate an earnings report on this stock.

I would suggest you take a look at Johnson Controls (JCI) a solid company selling at $29.74/share. I know you can't buy as many shares, but here is a company with a p/e of 12.92 that is investing in hybrid batteries, profits from environmental regulation at home and in the workplace to conserve energy, and might be a better buy and forget kind of stock.

Good-luck with your idea! It might turn out to be the best investment I have been introduced to and not bought any shares!

Another that I haven't bought yet but plan will this week is Origin Oil the developed a breakthrough technology to transform algae into a competitor to petroleum.

Algae can be harvested daily instead of requiring months to grow like corn. Origin oil has a patent pending on a process they call OriginOil Cascading Production. Algae can expand rapidly if given the space. Once fully mature, it stabilizes and grows very little. Expand the space by a factor of ten, and the algae population explodes to occupy the new volume - in as little as a day. This allows them to incubate an algae population in a smaller vessel and then release it into a larger tank, to turn over production rapidly and achieve continuous batch processing.

I'm pretty happy with Biosolar so far. I purchased 50,000 shares when it was .10. That's more than I normally invest in a penny stock - but I really believe in the future of alternative fuels. At some point, I will sell enough to return my initial investment but definitely plan to hold this one long term.

I'll leave stocks like Johnson Controls at $29.74/share to the fund managers for my 401k.

For my personal portfolio, I put $200 a month into penny stocks. Usually there is at least one that takes off each year. I sell enough to return my initial investment and lock in some profits, then start looking for the next winner. I ended 2006 with a 33% return and ended 2007 with a 95% return.

2008 has been rough with only an 11% return so far - but it is still beating my 401k which has lost 13%.

I think I'll keep taking my chances with the little penny stocks.

Dana,

That's really terrific! Hopefully you will have even more than one take off each month!

Good luck!

It would be Berkshire Hathaway. But I'm not that fond of American markets, so I prefer to stay on foreign exchanges.

Too bad most of US brokers only trade on few foreign stock exchanges. I was not able to find one broker which could trade on Vilnius, Riga, or Tallinn exchange. These are good and promising markets.

Another candidate would be Chinese retail giant Lianhua. I see big retail opportunities in China.

Bob, maybe you could do some research for your blog on Lianhua? I could help you. It's a huge but rather obscure company. Not so much info in English.

Sigitas,

Maybe you could write a comment on Lianhua. Give me the rationale why anyone should be buying shares. From your perspective.

Thanks for commenting.

It is true that many foreign stocks aren't really as available as domestic issues here in the USA.

But I do believe that the same reasons that make a stock "great" in US ought to make a stock attractive wherever it is.

My reasoning is that Lianhua Supermarkets is a leader in China's retail, the expansion is fast, it's P/E is reasonable, the stocks are traded outside of China (in Hong Kong, and companies traded in Hong Kong have better financial transparency than companies traded on China's exchanges due to better accounting standards). China is getting richer and retail will benefit. And retail in China is quite insensitive to overseas crises, unlike manufacturing.

Sigitas,

Thanks for the explanation. I tend to be more cautious in my investments by avoiding stocks I cannot get quite as much financial information on from what I consider easily accessible sources like Yahoo.com.

Shows my amateur status I guess. Keep me posted on how your Lianhua investment (if you have one) works out for you!

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I am thinking of invesitng in WEi the alternative energy stock. Talked it over with my broker
seems to feel it is too speculative at this point.

I would say Berkshire Hathaway, but since I can't afford it, I think I'll go with Best Buy.......it has always seemed to be a rock solid stock, and my family spends a LOT of money at that store!!!!!! We all know this name very well!
Truthfully, though, we tend to invest more in mutual funds, so everything is well diversified!

Nora,

Best Buy is a very interesting pick. Be sure to check the fundamentals as well as the recent sales figures prior to investing in a retail stock!
Thanks for commenting.

Bob

embarq which has an acquisition by ctl in a few months. 1 stock of eq will becomine 1.37 of ctl