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Posted
Oct 14 2009, 05:36 PM
by
CAPS Editor
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from The Motley Fool's Matt Koppenheffer.
I am always looking for a good deal, whether that means buying an extra box of Golden Grahams when they're on sale or pouncing on undervalued stocks.
The idea that anybody would sell a stock for less than it's worth seems silly, but legendary value investor Ben Graham (no relation to the cereal) tells us, by way of allegory, how we can spot these situations.
In "The Intelligent Investor," Graham introduces readers to a wacky chap named Mr. Market. Mr. Market's game is to pay house calls, offering to sell you interests in businesses he owns or buy interests in businesses you own.
Sometimes Mr. Market is excited when he arrives, offering premium prices for your holdings; other times, he's inconsolably depressed about the future, selling what he's got for pennies on the dollar.
Bing: Get more on value investing
To find stocks that make Mr. Market despondent, I've turned to the MSN CAPS investor community. I'm looking for companies that had five-star ratings (the highest) from the community within the past month and that could be considered undervalued despite the rally that pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) to its 2009 high today.
Here are our stocks, all but one of which have a five-star CAPS rating:
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Posted
Oct 12 2009, 10:20 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This article is written by Minyanville's Carol Kopp
There’s a truism among investors that you should invest in what you know, understand, and like. It’s a commonsense strategy: You spot something new. It’s special. It’s useful or innovative. It’s cool and affordable. Let me buy some of that!
The response to that can be summed up in just two words: Krispy Kreme (KKD).
Krispy Kreme had been a popular doughnut chain in the South since 1937, but remained unknown to the rest of us until about 1996. That’s when the first Krispy Kreme popped up in New York City, on West 23rd Street.
Believe it or not, the town went nuts.
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Posted
Sep 29 2009, 02:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A whole year's worth of food for one person for only $799.99? And that's after a $200 discount. Is this too good to be true, or should we order?
Well, there is one small catch. The offer is for 78 one-gallon cans of dehydrated and freeze-dried food, plus a wheat grinder. Now, that's an emergency fund you can eat.
Actually, the ad exposed us to a movement we weren't very familiar with. Called "food storage," it's about amassing enough food on hand to survive common disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes, or "economic crisis" or for "religious reasons," according to a Web site called Food Storage Made Easy.
While most people would consider enough food for a few days or a few weeks to be a sufficient emergency supply, these folks think in terms of a complete year.
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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 11:35 AM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We couldn't find many new food and restaurant deals this week. Could this be a sign that the recession is easing, or is it just a lull?
This is a good weekend for free entertainment, with free admission to national parks and free admission to museums nationwide on Saturday, Sept. 2.
Sit-down casual chain restaurants still have ongoing deals. You can download local restaurant coupons from Valpak, find online deals for pizza chains and be notified of deals via Facebook.
Remember, not all local franchises participate in all national promotions, so be sure to ask at your local store.
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Posted
Sep 24 2009, 02:00 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Americans are crazy for coupons again -- clipping at rates not seen in years, and the attraction is not just the 30 cents off the canned corn, The New York Times reports. It's a psychological boost, a feeling that we're proactive and therefore better than those who pay full price.
As the Times puts it, "Because it takes more work to acquire them, the people who do so feel they have outsmarted other shoppers." It's kind of like that "delicious feeling of self-denial" inherent in frugality that our pal Frank Curmudgeon likes to write about at Bad Money Advice. We're saving money and feeling good in a way that's kind of creepy.
Our collective renewed love of the coupon is also good timing. Food prices have fallen by 2.5% since an ugly high point last November, with the biggest single decline between July and August.
Here are some interesting coupon factoids from the Times and other locations:
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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 04:14 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Jon Hood at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
Dannon has settled a consumer class-action lawsuit alleging that ads for certain brands of its yogurt overstate their claimed health benefits. The settlement will shell out $35 million to affected consumers.
The suit alleged that ads for both Activia and DanActive yogurt exaggerated their beneficial effects on human health. The ads promote the yogurt as improving digestion and have become well known for their goofiness; a recent Activia iteration features actress Jamie Lee Curtis, seated on a couch, noting that "our busy lives sometimes force us to eat the wrong things at the wrong times," and promoting Activia as the solution to "digestive issues."
A voiceover in the ad claims that Activia is "clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system in two weeks" if eaten every day.
The ads credit Bifidus Regularis, a Dannon-created name for bacteria found in mammals' large intestines, with Activia's positive effects on digestion.
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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 01:13 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The jack-o'-lantern outlook in New England and parts of the Midwest looks a fright. A combination of wet and cold ruined a bunch of the pumpkin crop, and what's left in some fields is taking its own sweet time to ripen.
Not to worry, Halloween fans. The crop in most of the country's pumpkin patch looks fine, The Associated Press reports.
What's aggravating people is a shortage of canned pumpkin on store shelves.
"Holy smokes. Our stores have big empty shelves where the canned pumpkin should be. What's going on?" "CarolynF" wrote at lowcarbfriends.com.
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Posted
Sep 21 2009, 05:48 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly.
The October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports contains an article extolling the virtues of generic store-brand products. While shoppers used to sacrifice quality when choosing generic, that's no longer the case. From the article:
If concern about taste has kept you from trying store-brand foods, hesitate no more. In blind tests, our trained tasters compared a big national brand with a store brand in 29 food categories. Store and national brands tasted about equally good 19 times. Four times, the store brand won; six times, the national brand won.
In other words, store brands offer roughly the same quality as national brands, but at a much-reduced cost. How much reduced? Consumer Reports says the store brands they tested cost on average 27% less than the name-brand equivalents.
How much can you save?
Sometimes theory is one thing and reality another. It's nice that Consumer Reports can score great deals on store brands. But could I? Last week, I walked to two local grocery stores to do my own research. First I looked at Safeway, where Kris and I shop most often. Next, I walked across the street to Fred Meyer, a store we usually try to avoid. (The store is huge and its layout makes little sense to me.)
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Posted
Sep 18 2009, 01:05 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We've got some edible and some inedible deals today. Unfortunately, we don't have any gym deals to go with our free ice cream and cookies, but a nice, brisk walk is always free.
Not all local franchises participate in all national promotions, so it's always good to check. Sit-down casual chain restaurants still have ongoing deals. You can download local restaurant coupons from Valpak, find online deals for pizza chains and be notified of deals via Facebook.
Read More...
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Posted
Sep 11 2009, 12:54 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If it's Friday, it must be free food day, though we've got a few non-edible deals as well.
If you're on a diet, we suggest you take advantage of the $35 massage and the week of free yoga in lieu of the free ice cream. Or, do what we'd do and take advantage of both.
Remember that not all local franchises participate in all national promotions, so be sure to call before you go.
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