One thing I know for sure, whenever I decide to invest in a stock, that stock is sure to go down. My experience with TREE lately has been a love/hate relationship. I did purchase additional shares on Tuesday to bring my cost basis to 85.13. I’m not one to throw good money after bad choices. Call me pigheaded. I could have sold at 92.39 a couple days after the first purchase, but I was confident TREE would have a good earnings report and my expectations are a 10% return. As you can see, I’m still learning. TREE did beat expectations. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expenses and to account for discontinued operations, came to 76 cents per share. Estimate was 66 cents per share. TREE posted revenue of 94.7M; the expected revenue was 87M. For the current quarter ending in July, TREE.com said it expects revenue in the range of 95M to 97M.
My idea of finding a good stock investment is like buying a home. I look for a good foundation first. Does it have cracks in the wall? Is there water damage? Can I afford to invest money in it? For a stock, does it have a decent balance sheet and income statement? How about those revenue and earnings report, are they a strong company with a product that is in demand by consumers? If I’m looking for a long term investment, I also look at the dividends.
This search led me to AT&T Inc.
Owning T, AT&T, is like owning a piece of apple pie. The company goes all the way back to The Bell Telephone Company that was established in 1879 by Alexander Graham Bell himself. AT&T stands for American Telephone and Telegraph Company, which was established by Mr. Bell in 1885. After the two companies’ combined, it became the primary phone company in the United States. I remember when the United States anti-trust regulators decided T was a monopoly and split the company in 1982. AT&T Corporation was then purchased by one of its Baby Bells, the former Southwestern Bell, in 2005; and the combined company became known at AT&T Inc.
In 2013, T initiated hiring 10,000 veterans in a five year period. They met that goal in 2015. On May 5, 2016, T announced its new goal; hire 10,000 more veterans by the year 2020.
T’s growth this year was helped by its purchase of DIRECTTV operations which it acquired in July 2015. March 31, 2016 revenue grew to 40.5B with net income of 47.13B. The DIV yield is 4.94% with YTD returns of 16.21%.
T was up 0.62% today, but as I stated earlier, look out, I own stock in this company.
I know Dr. Fly is offering a free trial in Exodus. Take advantage of the free offer. You will be amazed at the information provided! I love the ease with which to research companies. One of my favorite qualities is the Community Notes. Folks with much more experience and savvy than I post information on companies in real time.
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Once you open Exodus up, you will not want to walk away.
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