Should You Buy LPH?

The latest penny stock that has caught my attention, thanks to Google ads, is  Longwei Petroleum Investment Holding Limited (LPH). According to Google Finance, Longwei is an energy company engaged in the wholesale distribution of finished petroleum products in the People’s Republic of China. The Company’s oil and gas operations exist entirely in the People’s Republic of China. So, we aren't talking an international company. But according to the pump by Small Cap Watch List, LPH is is trading for less than 50% of its book value, which means it may be cheap.  LPH generated nearly $500 million in revenue during fiscal 2011, and its adjusted net income surged 44% to $68 million, very nice, and they are talking about paying out dividends in 2012. And, they have 0 debt. Something I always look for in a stock.

This all seems great but some think it may be getting riskier to invest in China. Plus, the oil game is a highly competitive field. And though gas is high right now with oil up, I wouldn't say this will last forever.

So, I may consider investing in LPH, but it's been moving up lately. Just today it gained 14% on heavy volume. This could mean new highs for the stock in coming weeks. Personally I would wait for a pull back. Of course the choice is yours to make. Just be careful.

 I don't own any stock of LPH, and if I buy any, it won't for at least 72 hours.

Invisibility Cloak and Tech Stocks

Today I was reading about an Invisibility Cloak that is becoming a reality, and I really started to think about how tech really is the future in this country. The companies that will lead growth stocks, in my opinion, are tech stocks. Some of my favorites right now are Google, Qualcomm and Cisco. Who do you guys like?

Citigroup Q2 Loss Narrows..Buy Citigroup?

So Citigroup Q2 loss was narrower than forecast. Their net loss was 54 cents per share. Compare that to a year earlier profit of $1.24 per share, and you would think that things were bleak. However this was widely expected as Citigroup is part of the mortgage meltdown and this was bound to happen. Now, I'm not saying anyone should run out and buy Citigroup, but they aren't going anywhere. And at these prices, I think that in a few years a lot of people are going to kick themselves for not buying shares below $20 a share.

10 Banks that Could Go Under

From Consumerist comes a list of banks of bad loans. Their ratio is higher than 1oo, which is come up by dividing the bank's bad loans by the sum of its tangible equity capital and loan loss reserves or "Texas-ratio." Any bank with a ratio higher than 100 means they have more bad loans on the books than money to pay for them. The good news is that all the banks are FDIC-insured.

A Perfect Storm

Unless you have been living in a cave, you know how expensive oil and in turn gas has been. Just read the news today and see how worse it might get. I think it's more important then ever to look at non-traditional ways of getting oil, and the energy stocks that are on the leading edge. Specifically the oil sands stocks. If there is any kind of military action against Iran, oil will shoot up and up and up. I think there is going to be even more interest in the oil sands stocks than there is now.

General Electric: Is it a bargain?

Over at BloggingStocks, Steven Halpern believes that GE is a bargain at these multi-years lows. And I agree, because of the diversity of GE's business. The fear among investors is that their financial division is going be bad for the company. I can see that, but they have a wide range of other products and services. And they are trying to expand into China. For the long term investor GE is where it's at.

Alberta Oil Sands on CNN

As I was getting ready for work this morning I overheard their financial analyst talking about Alberta Oil Sands. It proves that people are thinking about oil sands as an alternative to pumping it out of the ground. And with oil prices the way they are, I would say that oil sands is going to be worth the money to process it. This is good news for oil sands stock owners.