Festival of Stocks #152

This week we have the honor of hosting the 152nd edition of the Festival of Stocks.  According to the festival’s original sponsor, ValueInvestingNews, “The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers’ best articles on stock market related topics. This will include research and commentary on specific stocks, industry analysis, ETFs, REITs, stock derivatives, and other related topics.”  This is the second time ModernGraham has hosted the festival, and we are looking forward to hosting it again in the future.

Before I get to this week’s submissions from some of the best financial blogs on the web, I want to take a moment to introduce new readers to our site here at ModernGraham.  Since August of 2006 we have been devoted to the study and modernization of Benjamin Graham’s teachings from his classic book, The Intelligent Investor. Some features you may find interesting include our valuation calculator, where you can estimate the value of a company based on the formula Graham presented, our valuation database, a growing list of companies that we are tracking, and our ValueInvesting Search Engine, a search engine focused on providing content relevant to the value investor.  Please feel free to subscribe to our site, by RSS feed or email, and come back again to use our features.  In addition, we are currently exploring adding guest authors as well as full-time contributors.  If you are interested, please contact us.

Now, on to this week’s submissions.  There are a lot of great posts included here from some great writers and thinkers.  Enjoy!

The Canadian Finance Blog presents Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Portfolio.  You can replicate more than 55% of the iShares CDN REIT Sector Index Fund (XRE) by investing in the four largest REITs.

Banker Saver presents How Safe Is Your Retirement Fund? Just how safe is your retirement fund? We discuss this in our article.

Investing Toolkit presents Why Should I Start Investing? Thoughts on why we all should start investing.

One Family’s Blog presents Southwest Airlines (LUV) – Stock Analysis.  An analysis & recommendation of Southwest Airlines (LUV) stock.

Diversified Focus presents What is Focused Diversification?

ABCs of Investing presents Risks of Fixed Income Investments (Bonds).  Some factors which can cause bonds to go down in price.

MagicDiligence presents Magic Formula Stock Review: GigaMedia Ltd (GIGM).  Gigamedia provides software and services for online poker and casino sites in Europe, and runs online gaming operations in Taiwan and China. Growth prospects are good, but competition and strategy are concerns.

Dividends Value presents Dover Corp. (DOV) Dividend Stock Analysis.  Dover Corp. manufactures a broad range of specialized industrial products and sophisticated manufacturing equipment. Linked here is a detailed analysis and commentary.

All Things Jim Rogers presents Jim Rogers Continues To Be Bullish On Commodities and China.

Dividend Growth Investor presents AT&T/ Centennial Communications Merger Arbitrage Opportunity.

Everyday Finance presents Swine Flu Stock Mania – Just Wait ’til Fall.  This article highlights the recent triple digit gains in several so-called ‘Swine Flu Stocks’ and questions whether the hype has gotten ahead of the fundamentals.

Good Financial Cents presents Preferred Stocks Buoyed by Bank Earnings. Is it Time to Invest?

Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents Basics of Retirement Investing.

Dividend Tree presents NGG – Stock Analysis for Dividend Growth Portfolio.  NGG is a international dividend achiever and has been raising dividends for last 12 years. The stocks current risk-to-dividend rating is 1.57 (medium risk). This is a typical utility stock with slow dividend growth. The projected dividend cash flow is 2.48 times MMA cash flow after 10 years (at price of $41.5). This analysis shows that NGG continues to be a good stock for potential international dividend growth investment.

My Wealth Builder presents Stock Buy List – 7/27/09.

The Digerati Life presents Great Stock Market Performace, But Will Dow 9,200 Hold?

The Smarter Wallet presents Should You Trade Stocks Online?

Financial Highway presents Discount Brokers: 5 Tips to Choose the Best Discount Broker.  Tips on how to find the best discount broker