Festival of Stocks #160

This week we have the honor of hosting the 160th 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 sixth 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 looking for 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!

Manshu presents Real Estate ETF List.  A list of real estate ETFs that US investors can invest in.

Stock Investing Tips presents 3 Different Stocks for 3 Different Strategies.

Australian Stock Market Blog presents Exchange Traded Funds – ETF Investing In Australia.  Exchange Traded Funds are a simple way for investors to build a diversified investment portfolio at a low cost. In this article ETFs are looked at from an Australian perspective. What products are available, how can investors buy them and what else should they consider before purchasing an Exchange Traded Fund?

Investment Tips presents Roth IRA Rules.

Control Your Cash presents You can’t spell “online broker” without “broke.”

Value Investing Pro presents Quick Security Analysis With The Magic Formula.

Dividends Value presents Leggett & Platt Inc. (LEG) Dividend Stock Analysis.  Leggett & Platt Inc. makes a broad line of bedding and furniture components and other home, office and commercial furnishings, as well as diversified products for non-furnishings markets. Linked here is a detailed analysis and commentary.

The Oblivious Investor presents The Best Mutual Funds.  An attempt to answer a common (albeit misguided) investing question: “What is the best mutual fund?”

Darwin’s Finance presents The “Wash Rule” in Investing and How it Applies to You.  With the recent market volatility, learn about the SEC wash sale rule, what it means for your trades and how you can work around it in a compliant fashion.

ABCs of Investing presents Tax-Free Municipal Bonds.  A brief explanation of tax free municipal bonds.

MagicDiligence presents Quick Take: Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (QCOR).  Questcor derives substantially all of its revenues from H.P. Acthar, an anti-inflammatory agent used for treatment of multiple sclerosis and infantile spasms. The company’s future depends on how long they can maintain the very high selling price for Acthar against several competitive threats.

The Digerati Life presents Stock Market Trading: How To Keep Your Shirt On.

The Smarter Wallet presents Warren Buffett, Value Investing Guru.

Fat Pitch Financials presents Special Situations Real Money Portfolio Summer 2009 Update.  The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio was up 38.0% year-to-date on August 31, 2009. That crushes the S&P 500 year-to-date total return of 14.97% over the same period. Learn how that performance was achieved.

My Wealth Builder presents Becoming Cautiously Bullish.

The Canadian Finance Blog presents What Are The Risks Of Leveraged Investing? Leveraged investing involves borrowing money to invest a larger amount up front, rather than if you made the contributions as income becomes available.