Mastercard - Priceless

Above is the chart for Mastercard, symbol MA. MA went public just a few months ago and as this chart illustrates has gone up steadily. MA reports earnings next week. I think the stock will go up further for a couple of reasons: Mastercard is a cash cow. They generate serious cash and they a known brand. I think this may be a "blue chip" stock in the next few years. Also, as the FED lowers interest rates, people start using credit more frequently, which in turn is good for Mastercard. I think the stock can go up to $100 over the next year or so.

Best Performing Mutual Funds - 5 yrs

According to Yahoo Finance, here are the best performing mutual funds over the last five years with the highest annual average return:

ING Russia A -LETRX 50.21%
U.S. Global Investors WrldPrecMineral -UNWPX 44.31%
U.S. Global Investors Eastern Europe -EUROX 44.07%
T. Rowe Price Em Eur & Mediterranean -TREMX 41.47%
U.S. Global Investors Global Res -PSPFX 40.11%
Third Millennium Russia -TMRFX 40.07%
U.S. Global Investors Gold Shares -USERX 39.32%
Eaton Vance Greater India A -ETGIX 38.12%
Eaton Vance Greater India B -EMGIX 37.59%
Acadian Emerging Markets -AEMGX 36.58%

Google Stock Chart

Google Rocks the House with Huge Earnings

Google reported earnings last Thursday and nearly doubled its profits from a year ago. Not many companies can say that they double their profits from a year ago, especially not when we are talking about Billions of dollars in Revenues. The stock didn't move 10% that I predicted, but around 7%. Still many brokerage houses think the stock is relatively CHEAP. How can that be? Well, the current stock price of a company is not based upon the last year or even the last quarter. Its really a projection of the future worth of the company. In other words, how much are you willing to pay today for one share of Google stock one year from now. That amount is quantified by a term called the forward price to earnings ratio. Google future price to earnings ratio is around 35X 2007 earnings. During their heyday, Ebay and Yahoo has a P/E ratio of around 70-80X earnings. Getting the point here? Wall street has with many brokerages houses lifted their 12 months price target on Google to $600 share. Also, don't count on a stock split any time soon. Google has made it clear that they arent concerned about splitting the stock. Some would argue that they are pricing individual investors "out of the market" with its rich price tag. I think its good and bad for the same reasons. Institutional investors tend to buy in bulk and they also tend to hold shares for a long time. In fact, 88% of Google's outstanding shares are owned by either INSIDERS OR INSTITUTIONS. See Google's chart above.

Take a Bite of the Apple

Apple : Apple computer reported 3rd Quarter earnings per share of .62 today. The so called "experts" estimated Apple's 3rd Quarter earnings to be .51. Bottom line, the earnings crushed expectations. Traditionally, the 4th quarter of the year, i.e. the holiday season, is Apple's strongest since everyone and their brother wants either an iPod, and updated iPod, or even more significantly, a MAC PC. There has been a debate as to whether or not Apple could increase its personal computers sales as a result of its wildly popular iPod. Well, in the 3rd Quarter, MAC PC sales rose 30% from a year ago. This is a HUGE increase. Some analyst attribute this to Apple's move to make Intel chips compatible with the MAC. Its working. I think investors recognize this fact and the momentum will come back into the stock thru the holiday season. I think Apple stock makes it to $100 by 1st Quarter next year, which basically means about a 25% increase from today's prices.

Tommorrow: Tech Gorilla Google reports its 3rd quarter numbers after the close.

Earnings, Earnings, Earnings

This week two tech bellweather companies will be reporting earnings: Apple Computer and Google. Both companies are extremely profitable, but both companies also have had a nice run up in stock price since 2q earnings. Many experts expect Google shares to pass $500 a share by year end. This is possible with a blowout 2q earnings number from Google. Apple has rebounded from about $50 share a few months ago to about $75 currently. That is a 50% gain, but Apple is still shy of its all time high of around $86 a share. I think both stock are core long term holdings for any technology and/or aggressive portfolios. If the stocks get hit on weaker than expected earnings, I like the "buy on the dip" mentality for this two companies. Technically, both stocks looks good. Apple coming out of a head and shoulders formation when it traded above $75 a share and Google reversing a 6 months downtrend and resistance levels around $420. There is a pretty good likelihood that one or both of these stock may swing 10% or more after the earnings release.