Really great article below from Forbes which details how Nor Cal DJ Steve Streit basically invented the prepaid credit card business. Streit started the business 10 years ago and his 14% ownership of the company is now valued at close to $270 million (in 2003 Sequoia Capital invested 6 million and now holds 35% of the company).
Check out the article HERE.
Also, below Streit is interviewed by Tech Crunch in which he discusses how his meeting with Sequoia came to be.
“Be Greedy when others are Fearful” -Warren Buffett-
To anyone interested in taking advantage of the AA+ rating by purchasing undervalued stocks, which are plummeting due to the emotional sell off caused by the downgrade, I have listed a few stocks I believe are worth purchasing and why I believe so.
WELLS FARGO BANK (WFC)
Simply put, the EPS is high (2.57), and it is currently listed at a price of $23.84. Warren Buffett added to his holdings of this stock a while back by 5% and his purchase prices were between $23.25 and $28.57, with an estimated average price of $26.11. The stock is currently priced well below $26.11, and it will probably fall even more this week (making it a better bargain). This line of thinking has served me well, as I bought GE at $9/share after reading that Buffett bought $3 Billion worth of GE at around $12/share back in 2008.
AFLAC (AFL)
Aflac gets 70-75% of its earnings from Japan, and thus the company has taken a hit having to pay out claims engendered by the Tsunami. With the US’s AA+ rating, the company has taken another big hit so the stock price has collapsed (Japan also owns most of our debt after China). Due to it’s size,high EPS (3.81), extremely cash rich business, and niched supplemental products, I have no doubt this stock will prevail after the intense losses it’s suffering due to claims paid out due to the Tsunami. Aflac also is considered the number one brand in the health insurance field. Hopefully this stock continues to fall thanks to the AA+, making it an even more appealing purchase. Did I mention I am a fan of their commercials!??
BRITISH PETROLEUM (BP)
Similar to AFLAC, BP’s stock took a hit due a specific and highly publicized event. The DeepWater Horizon oil spill left the American public with a negative outlook on BP, and BP has to pay huge sums for Gulf Restoration. However, after looking at the numbers (EPS of 6.32) BP will no doubt remain solvent, and prevail after this setback. The AA+ rating has further beat down this stock price, which is currently listed at $38.41.
Please email me at TheRisetoWealth (at) gmail.com if have spotted any other stocks that you think are currently undervalued and worth considering.
CM
With stocks plummeting due to the AA+ rating, there are a lot of tasty cheap stocks out there. I am personally tracking WFC, BP, AFL and to a lesser extent ECA and JMBA. With many undervalued stocks, I wanted to see which investors (including Buffett) would be most likely to capitalize on this current market fluctuation and maximize gains. Below is a great article featured today in the San Francisco Chronicle which lists “Who will be the Next Warren Buffett?” and includes a brief biography on each fund manager.
With the New York Times reporting the breaking news that NASA may have found sources of liquid water on Mars, I wanted to highlight serial entrepreneur and Space X CEO Elon Musk (the real life Tony Stark) who wants “Man to be a Multi-Planet Species”. For anyone who has not heard of Musk and his amazing achievements check the video below.
Massively profitable gaming company Blizzard Entertainment just recently purchased IGN Sports league in a move that signals the increasing popularity and influence of E-Sports & Competitive Gaming events. I have also posted an great video below. Some more facts on the rise of competitive gaming from Venture Beat and Forbes HERE and HERE
Entrepreneur Magazine just recently posted their list of Franchises for under 50K catergorized by industry. Take a look HERE.
Friends at 29doors.com and TurboMetrics.com have partnered to produce an infographic showing home price appreciation for every state in the U.S.. Very interesting information worth sharing.
Entertaining profile video below on Elon Musk, which delves into the intricacies of his amazing business endeavors and examines his risk taking.
Pretty amazing Howard Schultz profile from 60 minutes below (12 minute video) Schultz talks about how he went from living in public housing and selling his blood to get through college, to creating a $29 billion corporation that doubles sales every 3 years. He also dives into some of the unique marketing practices Starbucks used [...]
Recently back from a trip to Canada, I wanted to include some business advice from our entrepreneurial friends up north. I could not find a better example than Quebec born Guy Laliberte, the CEO of Cirque du Soleil, whose story is most fascinating (he is one of the wealthiest men in Canada). Guy actually dropped [...]
Wanted to share this video of compiled statistics on social media marketing that various companies have implemented, and the ROI that resulted (results from Ebay to Burger King). Obviously social media marketing is important, but if these facts are true, it’s pretty remarkable, especially considering the low cost of these types of campaigns. Most interesting [...]
