Festival of Stocks #154

This week we have the honor of hosting the 154th 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 fourth 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!

Old School Value presents 3 Value Stock Ideas.  3 investment ideas for value investors. Good businesses making money that is cheap.

Investing Toolkit presents Buy Low And Leverage The Stock Market.  Thoughts on buying low.

Wealth Education presents Just How Bullish is this Market? Wealth-Ed contains unique articles posted multiple times per week dealing with dialogue on global markets, investment ideas, and the personal financial world.

Stock Trading Brokers presents Investing Basics – Work With an Online Broker For The Right Reasons.  Remember to know why you are using an online broker.

OneMint presents Green ETF List.

ETF Database presents Sugar ETF Surges On Supply Concerns.

MagicDiligence presents MagicDiligence Top Buy: Interactive Data Corp (IDC).  Interactive Data Corp (IDC) is a great business with high margins, excellent free cash flow, recurring revenues, and high customer switching costs. The company also has strong financial footing and adequate growth opportunities, making it an ideal Top Buy pick.

Darwin’s Finance presents How do Stock Options Work? Trade Calls and Puts – Part 1.  Everything you need to know about getting started in stock options – from income generation and protection of profits to pure speculation.

Value Investing Pro presents Ken Heebner On CNBC.

Dividends Value presents Becton Dickinson & Co. (BDX) Dividend Stock Analysis.  Becton, Dickinson and Co provides a wide range of medical devices and diagnostic products used in hospitals, doctors’ offices, research labs, and other settings. Linked here is a detailed analysis and commentary.

Moolanomy Personal Finance presents Which Discount Broker Is Best? Having a broker that’s compatible with your investing style is very important. It could save you a lot of money, gives you more information, and boost your investment returns. Find out how to find a broker that’s best for you.

Value Journal presents How to Think About the Efficient Markets Hypothesis.

Money Ning presents Rental Property vs REIT.  Which is best? Getting a rental property or investing in REITs?

TIPBlog presents Value of Dividends – A commentary on Article by Krishna Kant of ET Bureau.  The article brings out very important points that (1) Dividends provide continuously increasing cash flow; and (2) Ability of dividends to fill the gap in earnings.

Dividend Tree presents John Wiley & Sons – Stock Analysis for Dividend Portfolio.  JW.A is a dividend achiever and has been raising dividends for last 16 years. The most recent dividend increase was in July 2009. My objective here is to analyze if JW.A still continues to be a good dividend growth stock and how does it rate on my scale of risk-to-dividends.

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

The Personal Financier presents Dollar Cost Averaging – Practical Lessons From Recent Experience.

The Smarter Wallet presents Investing In Gold: Trading Spot Gold vs Buy and Hold.