It has been a fun, interesting and educational tenure. The funniest moment would have to be receiving my first (and only) piece of what I call blog hate mail, which labeled me an “ignorant baby boomer.” Priceless.

The interesting and educational pieces came daily through research, comments and exchanges with readers.

Even though my b5media blog is coming to an end, I am still keeping busy and if you would like to keep up with me, here are a couple of tips:

Twitter – @tisasilver (Bear with me, I’m new to the whole “tweeting” business)

www.tisasilver.com - My web site with book related items, events, etc.

I also write for Investopedia and will begin writing for BET.com this week in conjunction with BET’s new trivia show “Pay It Off” which allows guests to win prizes and money to get out of debt. (Fridays at 10 PM EST)

To b5media – Thank you for giving me a venue to share my opinions and educational tips, as well as allowing me to occasionally engage in some shameless self promotion. Did I mention I have a book called The Time Value of Life? ;)

Seriously, thank you to all who subscribed, commented and shared links to my posts with others. I truly appreciate your time and participation. I hope you related to or learned something from my blog.

Farewell and happy investing to you, until next time…

(Photo by Ricardo Blackett)

Post from: Bizzia

According to TheStreet.com, over the past few years, the strategy has not only been quite profitable, but it has outperformed major benchmarks.

Photo by Fr Antunes, courtesy of flickr

There are approximately 100 faith-based mutual funds which hold a total of $31 billion in assets.

Similar to other socially responsible investing tools, these funds are more widely known for what they will not invest in, as opposed to what they will invest in.

Companies to avoid include alcohol, tobacco, gambling and adult entertainment. Some funds also avoid banks and insurance companies because they profit from debt (lending and interest). 

Aside from industries to avoid, some of the funds also stay away from companies with debt-laden balance sheets. Below, you will find a list of some faith-based mutual fund families.

Ave Maria Mutual Funds and LKCM Aquinas Funds (Catholic) – Catholic Values Fund (AVEMX) is up over 40 percent in the past year, versus 24 percent for the S&P 500.

Timothy Plan Funds (Advertised as “America’s first pro-life, pro-family, biblically-based mutual fund group.”) – Large/Midcap Growth Fund (TLGAX) is up over 30 percent in the past 12 months.

Amana Mutual Funds Trust (Islam) – In the past year, Amana’s Trust Growth Fund (AMAGX) is up over 30 percent.

MMA Praxis Mutual Funds (Mennonite) – Small Cap Fund (MMSCX) is up 25 percent year-to-date.

New Covenant Funds (Presbyterian) – Growth Fund (NCGFX) is up 30 percent.

Each fund family has more than one fund, I just picked one fund randomly from each family and all of them happened to provide higher returns than the S&P 500 over the past year. For more information on faith-based mutual funds, visit about.com.

Post from: Bizzia

Photo by danny sullivan, courtesy of flickr

What went wrong?

According to Reuters, the company’s outlook took a turn for the worse, execs are predicting Q4 revenues will come in well below the Street’s expectations.

The company blamed the decrease in revenue on its transition to new advertising technology.

Up until today, 2009 had been a banner year for shares of Baidu. The stock had more than doubled in six months. BIDU broke the $400 per share mark last month for the first time 2007, and hit a high earlier today at $439.90.

Unfortunately for shareholders, BIDU broke through the $400 mark again tonight, and this time it was from the upside.

Baidu has been nicknamed “The Chinese Google Killer.” I’m not so sure tonight’s punishment fits the crime. A lowered outlook is never a good sign, but sometimes the signs are misread. We’ll see if that was the case with BIDU in the days to come.

Post from: Bizzia

Photo by epicharmus, courtesy of flickr

Is business booming or what?

I’m leaning to the “or what” side.

Things are definitely better than they were around this time last year, but the number of companies beating the street’s estimates is uncanny. Makes you wonder how the expectations are formed.

Ultimately, they are generated from within the company and companies know that investors don’t like to be disappointed. 

Earnings surprises, good and bad, often offer a bounce or bust, but if you invest on news of such surprises and the market has overreacted you could be in for a surprise yourself: a loss.

Expectations aren’t everything, and executives know that it is better to aim low and overachieve rather than to aim high and miss. So, the next time a company beats the Street, be mindful of how much, or how little, is required in order for the company to do so.

Post from: Bizzia

Photo by jason.mundy, courtesy of flickr

Below you will find how the picks panned out for the week of 10/16– 10/23.

Microsoft (MSFT)– Price when reported by the Fool: $26.50. Closing price on 10/23: $28.02. One-week rate of return: +5.7 percent.

Disney (DIS) – Price when reported by the Fool: $29.40. Closing price on 10/23: $28.89. One-week rate of return: -1.7 percent.

Sirius (SIRI) – Price when reported by the Fool: $0.59. Closing price on 10/23: $0.59. One-week rate of return: 0 percent.

Google (GOOG) – Price when reported by the Fool: $549.85. Closing price on 10/23: $553.69. One-week rate of return: +0.7 percent.

So, we’ve got two out of five stocks in positive territory, with one unchanged and two stocks in the negative.

This week’s picks are Barnes & Noble (BKS), Chipotle (CMG), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and eBay (EBAY). For the complete article, visit thefool.com.

Post from: Bizzia

Risky deals drove Wall Street to the bank with record profits and then to the brink with astounding losses. Even still, it is hard to curb risky behavior. Risky deals have the highest potential payoffs. The flip side is they also have the highest potential losses.

Photo by epicharmus, courtesy of flickr

According to the Associated Press, today the Federal Reserve released details of its plan to monitor bank pay. The plan would not involve setting executive compensation.

The Fed would instead review pay policies and exercise its power to veto policies that ”encourage excessive risk-taking.”

The logic is that executives, loan officers and traders will be discouraged from behaving badly since their pockets won’t receive as much padding.

Speaking of padding, would banks have been able to return to profitability so quickly if they totally changed their ways of doing business? Doubtful.

I agree that some of the pay structures are excessive and that many executives use phrases like “it’s standard practice” or the “market dictates” pay in order to shun the issue. However, I find it disappointing that the idea of monitoring or changing pay is being championed by the Fed.

I think if any group or entity should take the initiative to change the way executives are compensated, it should be the company’s shareholders.

Post from: Bizzia

Gold may be thought of as safe, however, gold values have been on a rollercoaster ride for the past couple of years.

In March 2008, gold moved above $1,000 per ounce for the first time ever. In the following months, gold entered a steady decline toward $700 per ounce in November. Since then, it has steadily risen to its current level of approximately $1,060 per ounce.

So, after a 50+ percent return inside of twelve months, has gold maxed out or is there more room for growth?

On the supply side, gold mining is on the rise and some analysts believe the excess supply will be enough to lower prices. On the demand side, this year industrial and jewelry demand is down about 20 percent. However, many investors are looking to a weak dollar and rising inflation as signs that gold will continue to rise.

Jon Nadler of Kitco says gold fundamentals are some of the “poorest” he has seen in a long time. Fund manager John Hathaway (Tocqueville Gold Fund) suggests gold could rise to $5,000 or even $10,000 per ounce.

The mixed signals and mixed opinions keep it interesting, but the recent gold ride has been a bit too bumpy for my taste. It seems the bumps in the road are all that is guaranteed.

Even if you find gold attractive at this level, be sure to keep other assets in your portfolio to balance out the bumps.

Post from: Bizzia

Today, eBay (EBAY) reported third quarter results which beg the question once more, but with an earnings scenario that is the exact opposite of what Yahoo reported. Perfect timing!

Photo by rightonbro, courtesy of flickr

EBay reported net income of $350 million on revenue of $2.24 billion. Net income fell 29 percent versus the same period last year, but revenue rose 6 percent.

I am a fan of eBay because it has changed the marketplace forever. Unfortunately, eBay’s net income and revenues moved in opposing directions.

According to Yahoo! Finance, the decrease in net income is partially due to currency fluctuation and a unique tax benefit reported in the third quarter of last year.

The increase in revenue came from multiple streams. PayPal and Bill Me Later saw an increase of 19 percent in active user accounts, eBay also saw an increase in users (2 percent), and its gross merchandise volume rose 7 percent to $12.2 billion.

So, top line or bottom line, which one means more with eBay today? Shares of eBay fell 5 percent in after-hours trading. Looks like the bottom line wins tonight.

BTW- Shares of Yahoo continued to climb today, rising 2.8 percent during regular trading.

Post from: Bizzia

The Internet company’s profits tripled versus the same quarter last year, however revenue fell 12 percent.

The stock lost about a nickel during the regular trading session prior to releasing the news. In after-hours trading, shares have risen 5 percent so far.

Photo by gaku., courtesy of flickr

Looking at Yahoo’s figures is interesting because of the conflicting movements of the top and bottom line.

Yahoo’s top line has fallen for the third straight quarter, so that means revenue has been shrinking, but profits rose dramatically. Which line matters most: top or bottom?

The top line shows revenues and the bottom line shows what is left after all costs are deducted from revenues. The difference is the company’s profit (or loss).

There are three ways to increase profits: increase revenue, cut costs or a combination of both. In the long-run, how much cost-cutting can a company really do to lessen the impact of dwindling revenue without detriment to the business?

BTW – Maximizing shareholder value is the goal of financial management, not maximizing revenues or maximizing profits, but having a large amount of both can definitely help.

Post from: Bizzia

Suppose you invest in a fund that specializes in European stocks or long-term government bonds. Would the Dow be the most appropriate benchmark to use for evaluating either of these funds? Probably not.

Photo by The Busy Brain, courtesy of flickr

Both portfolios would offer a completely different set of assets versus the Dow, and as such, a different benchmark should be used to evaluate their performance.

Style analysis involves examining the assets held in your fund to find the most appropriate benchmark. William Sharpe (Nobel Prize winner, of the Sharpe ratio and the Sharpe optimal risky portfolio) developed style analysis.

In a nutshell, he examined the returns of individual funds versus several style indices in search of correlation between the returns.

Sharpe compared each fund’s returns against twelve asset classes: government bonds (bills, intermediate bonds, long term bonds), corporate bonds, mortgages, value stocks, growth stocks, medium-cap stocks, small stocks, foreign stocks, European stocks and Japanese stocks.

The stronger the correlation, the better the case for the use of the style index as the appropriate benchmark for the fund.

So, when evaluating a fund’s performance, be sure not to unfairly penalize (or reward) the fund if it underperforms (outperforms) the market before you examine how well it performed versus an appropriate benchmark and other funds within its category.

Post from: Bizzia