I hope everyone had a great year trading last year. Here’s to another great year of profits in 2006!
Don’t forget, the stock market is closed on the following dates in 2006:
January 2 – New Year’s Day
January 16 – Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday
February 20 – Presidents’ Day
April 14 – Good Friday
May 29 – Memorial Day
July 4 – Independence Day
September 4 – Labor Day
November 23 – Thanksgiving Day
December 25 – Christmas Day
Watchlist: NFLX, SIRI, GOOG, YHOO, AMZN
I was watching PBS and saw an interview with the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings. Hastings innovates through the use of technology. Netflix is very innovative – having introduced online dvd rental – and Reed Hastings has plans for the future of movie distribution through TVs hooked up to the internet. We see the beginnings with on demand, but in a few years we will see greater integration, features, delivery, and choice for what you want to see when you want to see it. Netflix is poised to lead that new market, as it leads the online DVD rental market now.
Netflix added 1.5 million subscribers in 2005 for a total of 4.1 million. Rival Blockbuster, late to the game, is suffering from lack of new subscribers, virtually stagnating at 1 million. Netflix service starts at $9.99 per month. Current market cap is $1.5 billion. They’re sitting on $180 million in cash, and interestingly they have virtually no debt. Current price is 26.98. I would like to get in on a dip around the support area of 25. My target sell price is 30 – 32.
There are many reasons why I trade. Here are my top 4 reasons:
Excitement For me, trading is never boring. Each day brings new factors, new news, new stocks to choose from. Each trading day is different. To trade you must be active and alert, eliminating the possibility of being bored. Each day I trade is fresh and new which I think is part of the appeal of trading for me.
No Coworkers or Bosses No need to rely on others. No need to hear their bitching and moaning. No need to pull extra loads because someone called in sick. No boss can tell you they need you to come in on Saturday – the market’s are closed!
Choice All decisions are ultimately ours as traders to make. We do the research, find the stocks, execute the trades, and determine our own strategies. The power to succeed lies in our hands and how much work we put in. We see the results of our work instantly – either our portfolio goes down and we learn from that trade, or our portfolio goes up and we working on imporiving our strategies. The choice is ours.
Money Money money money. More money. I think this reason is self-explanatory.