Recommending TARGET (TGT) stock pick again!

Okay, time to revisit my recommendation to purchase Target (TGT) stock. This company is positioned quite well.  I recommend it strongly, and I’m not alone.

Consider what Standard & Poor has to say, for example:

Target’s attention to a more affluent customer base and its differentiation through merchandising and store experience has allowed the company to buck some of the negative trends that have hurt other discounters (and discount department stores) over the past couple of years. While recent results have shown that the company is still subject to the forces that are hurting sales and profits across most of the retail industry, we think Target’s strong management and superior positioning will allow the company to outperform most of the competition over the long run.
 

We’re pleased that Target has remained true to its long-term strategy: differentiation through style and shopping experience. The stores are clean and spacious, with wide aisles and relatively little in the way of intrusive in-store advertising and endcaps. The company specializes in attractive yet inexpensive clothing and housewares (dubbed “cheap chic”) and sells many exclusive product lines developed by trendy designers. Target regularly brings in new lines of merchandise to keep the selection fresh, giving customers a reason to shop often.

 

 

 This is  a good pick, and the stock is selling for cheap.  Now is a great time to buy it!

 

More on the EBAY stock recommendation

I just have to say it again:  This would be a great time to buy some EBAY stock.  I think that all the signs suggest that this would be a great deal.

Why? Again, it’s because the stock price has dropped unfairly, due to consumer fears about a recession. That’s not the whole story, though. It’s also because EBAY has been getting some glowing recommendations, including five-star ratings from Morningstar and Standard & Poor.  That’s a pretty good sign that you have a blockbuster stock on hand. 

Not to mention that EBAY has no debt to worry about.  How often do you hear that about a company? 

Now, I’m not going to engage in hype. I’m not about to say that this is a gold mine. However, the financials look extremely good, and when the economy slows down, businesses like Ebay tend to thrive.  People look to them for second-hand merchandise and a lot of on-sale items… of which there are many on Ebay.  From both a financials and a strategic viewpoint, Ebay is positioned very well indeed.  As the Morningstar report says, “Despite challenges on the core eBay platform and a weak U.S. economy, the company continues to deliver solid financial results.”

Morningstar also says, “EBay is the classic example of a network effect. Buyers go to eBay because that is where the sellers are, and sellers go to eBay because that is where the buyers are. This network effect has forced several competitors to shut down their auction services and is the source of eBay’s wide economic moat. EBay has also launched new features and formats throughout the years–including Buy-it-Now and eBay Stores–to attract an even larger user base. EBay now has 83 million active users and had nearly 2.3 billion listings in 2007.”  Sounds really good to me, which is why I bought myself a sizeable amount of Ebay stock.

 

It’s Judy Kuhn!

Judy Kuhn had a brief role in Disney’s Enchanted.  You may remember her from the wonderful vocals that she provided in Pocahontas.  Her character, the eponymous lead, was a princess of sorts, so I guess that’s kinda appropriate.

Paige O’Hara and Jodi Benson, another pair of outstanding talents, also appeared in this movie.  Too bad they didn’t get Lea Salonga, Linda Larkin, or Susan Egan to make appearances as well.

 

Jodi Benson performed in concert

Read this article about Disney’s Ariel performing in Muskegon, Michigan.  Wish I could have been there.  I’ve seen Jodi Benson perform in concert before, and she is absolutely amazing.  What a treasure. She was also very sweet to the little children in the audience, and I’m sure that they appreciated it.

What a voice.  I wish that she’d produce a solo CD sometime.  I also wish that she would get a lot more musical roles on TV and in the movies, but I guess that she prefers to perform on stage.  A real talent, that woman is.

 

Another stock recommendation: Exxon/Mobil (XOM)

Okay, I want to rave about yet another stock pick:  Exxon/Mobile (XOM).  This one is almost a no-brainer.

During an economic slowdown, a lot of people get scared and avoid the stock market altogether.  The smart approach, however, is to invest in staple items such as oil and utilities.  These stocks tend to be badly undervalued — that is, their prices drop due to consumer fear rather than due to any inherent problems with the companies.

Exxon/Mobile is a prime candidate all around.  It’s a huge oil company that’s been around forever, and that’s not going to disappear anytime soon.   It got five stars from Standard and Poor and four stars from Morningstar, and it is just getting great reviews all around.  It also has worldwide name recognition and its financials look great. 

The prospects for a handsome payoff look outstanding.  I’m not saying that this stock will make you rich; however, it’s an excellent choice for people who want stability and the prospect of strong growth, especially in this economy.  It won’t quadruple your money, but I think that it’s a great investment with extremely low risk.

 

Stock tip: Invest in Target (TGT) and Ebay (EBAY)

Okay, we could debate about whether we’re in a recssion or not.  And this doesn’t strictly qualify as a stock “tip,” insofar as it’s really more of a strategic and informed decision.  I do want to talk about this, though.

First, a time-honored bit of advice: The best time to invest is when other people are scared.  That’s when you can make the best deals.  Remember that the stock market tends to do well in the long haul, so don’t be scared by the stock fluctuations that you see — or even the occasional, frightening drop.  I’m not suggesting that you should be careless in selecting your stocks.  I’m just saying that this is the time to be bold, if you want to do well.

Which stocks should one buy?  Let me make two recommendations:  Target (TGT) and Ebay (Ebay).  Here are some reasons why I think they could pay off pretty well.

First, when the economy slows down, people tend to shop for bargains.  Target is a good place for economical shopping, and I don’t believe that it has saturated the market the way Walmart has.  Ebay is also good in that respect, since it allows people to buy second-hand merchandise — always an attractive prospect during a recession.  What’s more, people who want to supplement their income will quite likely try to sell items on Ebay, and that’s a huge market right there.

What’s more, I don’t see anyone displacing Ebay anytime soon.  I think that Ebay has pretty much the same iconic status as Amazon.com and the Disney Corporation do nowadays.  You’ll find a few upstarts trying to displace them in their respective fields, but none of them will succeed — not for many years to come.

I also like the words of Joseph Lazzaro when it comes to Target stock:

With the U.S. economy growing at an anemic rate (if it isn’t already in a recession), investors should, in general, avoid the retail sector.

Still, there are those isolated companies, which, via either niche or operational execution, qualify as an exception, and with the above in mind Target is worth a review.

So Target is an exception in the retail market, and the low-cost retail market will tend to do well when people are watching their expenses.  I would gamble on Target.

 

 

Teacher/student liaisons yet again

Okay, I just had to preserve the following post for posterity.  I don’t generally agree with the person who made this statement, but for once, I think she was speaking sensibly.  Her words should be preserved for all to see.

Things change a lot in just a couple of years. I know it’s very different for 15 or 16 year olds. However, as storyteller0910 pointed out, kids that age are not capable of dealing with the consequences of a sexual relationship yet. The boys cannot support children, and the girls’ future prospects will be seriously affected by having a kid in high school. Not to mention the STI issue. I’m not naive enough to think that my saying so makes it so, but I wish they’d just WAIT a little longer to have sex. Our society is not conducive to teens having children– it screws up the lives of the teens. Of course they want to do it. It’s our jobs as the adults in their lives to encourage them to make the difficult but right decision. Thus, having the attitude of, well, if you’re horny, and you want it, you’re ready, go for it, champ! just doesn’t cut any ice with me. In fact, I find it rather destructive.

I wonder how all you guys would feel if it were your teenage child having sex with a teacher. Parents have to pay their son’s child support until he’s old enough to do it, you know. Probably wouldn’t be so much fun to be on that end of it.

Revisiting the teacher/student sex issue

As mentioned in earlier postings, I’ve been following this ‘net discussion about young, attractive female teachers having sex with their male students.  I’m also disappointed — though not surprised — by a bunch of male posters who are cheering them on, saying “Way to go!” or “I wish my teachers had done that!”

The thing is, they’re viewing this issue through the rosy spectacles of adolescent fantasy.  Quite simply, they fail to acknowledge the reality of why this behavior is stupid, irresponsible, and just wrong — on both sides.  As one more sane poster said,

In a world where justice is dispensed by an omniscient being who can precisely judge a person’s readiness to provide informed consent, this would be a nice system. But we don’t have that sort of world. How, exactly, would you propose “judging each situation on its own merits?” A 28-year-old woman has sex with a 14-year-old boy. Let’s judge it on its merits. How do we decide whether he was ready to consent in an informed fashion, in which case everything is fine, or whether he was not, in which case she has victimized him?

Ask the boy? “Hey, Tommy, do you feel emotionally scarred by this?” Well, I mean, how does he know? I guess you could ask him in a decade, and prosecute then, but that’s kind of silly. “Hey, Tommy, do you fully understand the ramifications of what you did?” If he doesn’t, he’s not going to know he doesn’t, you know? I suppose you could administer some kind of psychological test to every kid from the age of 13 on up, once every six months, to test readiness to consent to sex, and grant the ones who pass a sort of “license to screw,” but that’s not a practical answer.

There is a practical answer, though. You draw a line. You draw it high, so that the majority of kids will fall under it. You pick an age and say, “by this age, most people have sufficient knowledge and experience as to be able to grant informed consent for sex. Some people may have that knowledge and experience sooner, but whereas we have no way of testing for that – and whereas “banging adolescent boys” is not a Constitutional right that we are aware of – we’re just going to say “keep off the grass until the grass is 18.”

The Brave and the Bold

If you haven’t read it yet, then run — don’t walk, run — and get yourself a copy of The Brave and the Bold #12 by Mark Waid and Jerry Ordway.  Now that was a great ending!  The characterization of June Robbins was absolutely brilliant, and Waid’s storytelling skill was topnotch.  So were Ordway’s pencils and layouts. 

Talented gents, they were.

The twist with Ultraman and Mixyezpitelik was also pretty darned good.  Introducing Mixyezpitelik was a nice touch, and I absolutely loved the way Ordway depicted this magical non-imp.  Great move, gents.

I only wish that Rocky Davis had gotten more attention, though — a few moments in the limelight.  I feel that he’s gotten some short shrift throughout this story arc.

Oh, and I hope that the final question gets resolved soon — happily, I hope.

SeaQuest DSV

So I decided to check out a DVD of SeaQuest DSV from Netflix. Boy, what a waste of brain cells. I find myself fast-forwarding through most of the show.

I remembered that the writing on this show was pretty absymal, which is why I only caught a few episodes from season one. (That was the season that had the charming Ms. Stacy Haiduk in it.)  Season two was not a real improvement; in fact, based on some reviews that I read way back when, it was even worse.  Still, I just felt like checking it out, and boy, is it boring.

Its only saving grace is Ms. Rosalind Allen.  Unfortunately, they played up her sexuality way too much, and I think that this worked to the determinent of the show.

Garbage.  Horrible.  Yecch.