PIMPING STOCKS

[Bretsky]

The two individual stocks I'm in are SIRI and ALU.

I have held positions for several years and many times wished I hadn't. Bankruptcy was a possibility with both. However, SIRI is finally profitable and ALU came back to life in 2013. Both are risky and you shouldn't invest money you can't afford to lose.

But, both companies have good leadership now and are innovative. And when Tech recovers and D.C. gets out of the way, these two should purchase me a house one day. That's the plan, at least.

Otherwise, these days I'm all about maxing out my 401K contributions and lowering my taxes and investment expenses.

One thing missing from my portfolio are ETFs. I would be interested in knowing which ETF fund families appeal to the Packer Rat financial brain trust and their expense ratios.

Of the two, which do you think one should be buying now ? I have been pondering ALU myself.

[Kiwon]

Of the two, which do you think one should be buying now ? I have been pondering ALU myself.

SIRI's majority stakeholder, John Malone at Liberty Media, is trying to take 100% ownership right now so it's possible that small guys like me will get bought out and not get to enjoy the benefits as SIRI brings video and other services to cars, along with other developments in the future.

ALU still isn't profitable but they have finally found a leader with a plan and have been downsizing for years to address their debt problem. They have new loans and near-term bankruptcy is off the table. They are being innovative, creating new products and are globally positioned. When the global business environment finally improves, there will be a ton of spending in telecom hardware upgrades. The more tablets and smart phones sold, the greater the need for the ISPs to improve their systems. Their LTE products are strong and have several contracts to build 4G networks in developing countries.

Overall, they have only a small market share compared to CSCO and ERIC but they have gotten off the mat and are making some noise. In addition, the financial firms are starting to believe in ALU's CEO and investing, hence the rise in their stock price from $1.27-$4.68 (52-week low and high). I added to my positions in 2012 at $0.99 and $1.61 so you know that I'm happy right now.

I live in South Korea where everything is broadband and 4G networks are available almost nationwide. We love our speed here. But wouldn't it be cool to have 1 gigabit-per-second residential service in the good 'ole USA? It's possible. - http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...102768309.html

ALU is doing some good things and they are worth investigating. The whole sector, though, when it recovers will make a lot of people wealthy. I think we will visit some of the valuations of the Internet-bubble age again. Everything will be about data, speed, and storage, driven relentlessly by business and consumer demand.

Again, don't invest money that you can't afford to lose but I think ALU is relatively safe at this point. But I would definitely look to get in before they turn profitable though because once they cross that barrier I think the momentum will take them much higher. Overall, they will go as the sector goes. It's not a question of 'if' but a matter of 'when'. Buy and hold.

(P.S. - Somebody believes in the stock. It was off 3.5% yesterday and then up 8% today before their earnings report on Thursday. Yes, I'm smiling.)