Navellier Growth: your source for market-beating growth stocks

 

Welcome to this week’s Top 5 Q&A. Louis Navellier here and below you’ll find the Top 5 questions I’ve been asked by individual investors this week. These questions come from attendees to my free seminars as well as from subscribers to any one of my four investing services. Subscribers are able to email me their most pressing questions anytime, and will find more detailed answers as well as service-related questions in the Q&A sections of their subscriber-only websites. The Top 5 Q&A below is a snapshot of what’s been on all investor minds this week.

• You've talked a lot about commodity stocks and financials in the last few weeks, but can you give us your thoughts about the future of the other sectors–how about pharmaceuticals or the tech sector? Is the whole sector good or bad? Are there only a few bright spots and it's dependent on individual stocks?
• Louie, I love some of the new features on the Blue Chip Growth site. But I have to admit, I miss being able to look at the PDF like I used to. Why did you stop offering it?
• It seems obvious to me that the commodity bubble has burst and money is flooding into financials. Why aren't we getting back into banks right now before they take off?
• Hedge funds and traders worldwide seem to dominate the financial markets, since these markets are increasingly short-term and volatile. The swings in price for virtually all of the stocks you recommend is significant, and gains can be wiped out in days. So when do we sell our gains...at 10%, 20%, 30%?
• How much more are we going to face in this bear market? Are we at the bottom yet? -Carolyn

• Archive of Q&A

• 08.28.08: You've talked a lot about commodity stocks and financials in the last few weeks, but can you give us your thoughts about the future of the other sectors–how about pharmaceuticals or the tech sector? Is the whole sector good or bad? Are there only a few bright spots and it's dependent on individual stocks?

• Pharmaceuticals are scared of Congress and potential price controls. The mandate for national health care is anticipated to put even more pressure on drug prices, so there are only a few strong stocks in this sector.And technology is all about having hot products and just how long the product cycle will last. Companies like Apple (AAPL) and Research in Motion (RIMM) are masters at launching exciting new products and managing their product cycles. If you're interested in the best companies in these or any other sector, just check out my PortfolioGrader Pro tool and you'll find a list of the Top 3 stocks in dozens of industries.

• Archive of Q&A on Today’s Market

• 08.21.08: Louie, I love some of the new features on the Blue Chip Growth site. But I have to admit, I miss being able to look at the PDF like I used to. Why did you stop offering it?

• Don't worry, the PDFs are still there on our archives page! You can find them by clicking the "archives" tab at the top of any Blue Chip Growth page. Each monthly issue is there in both text form, or in the old familiar PDF format.

• Archive of Q&A on Investing the Navellier Growth Way

• 08.20.08: It seems obvious to me that the commodity bubble has burst and money is flooding into financials. Why aren't we getting back into banks right now before they take off?

• There are several reasons why getting into financial stocks right now is the wrong move to make. The recent rally in financials was merely a "short squeeze" triggered by the SEC's ban on "naked" short selling–without borrowing the stock first–in 19 major financial stocks. We are only in the second to third inning of the financial crisis and you don't want to be holding these stocks through the seventh inning stretch. Although there are well-managed banks like Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp, I wouldn't go near a bank with a 10-foot pole, especially since loan delinquencies are still soaring! Also, we do not buy stocks with declining revenue and earnings, which characterizes almost every banking stock. This short covering rally is extremely misleading.

  By the way, commodity prices are still very high, and agriculture and energy stocks will continue to put up the best earnings for the foreseeable future. Although many commodity prices have corrected over 30% since early July, they are still up sharply in the past 12 months. I assure you there was no commodity bubble burst, just a mini-commodity "crunch," which is a normal seasonal retrenchment.

• Archive of Q&A on Investing the Navellier Growth Way
• Archive of Q&A on Today’s Market
• Archive of Q&A on Specific Stocks

• 08.14.08: Hedge funds and traders worldwide seem to dominate the financial markets, since these markets are increasingly short-term and volatile. The swings in price for virtually all of the stocks you recommend is significant, and gains can be wiped out in days. So when do we sell our gains...at 10%, 20%, 30%?

• That's an excellent question. Yes, some of the stocks I pick are volatile. But taken as a group, all the stocks I recommend move fairly evenly because they are diversified. My Blue Chip Growth newsletter should be the backbone of your investment portfolio, and will provide stability in this market because it is spread across multiple risk categories in multiple sectors.

  For a specific stock that rises quickly, I advise you take partial profits. Don't sell the whole position, but bring it down to an "equal weight" with the rest of your stocks. That will allow you to naturally take some good profits before a stock starts to go down.

  This is the strategy I recommend to all my Blue Chip Growth subscribers, and I keep them apprised when to trim profits and sell through monthy issues and weekly updates. Find out more to see if this service is right for you, too!

• Archive of Q&A on Investing the Navellier Growth Way
• Archive of Q&A on Today’s Market
• Archive of Q&A on Specific Stocks

• 08.11.08: How much more are we going to face in this bear market? Are we at the bottom yet? -Carolyn

• Carolyn, we are officially in a bear market, there are no ifs ands or buts about it with regard to the S&P. I do, however, expect third and fourth quarter earnings to go up, which will send the market higher later in the year. We tend to rally going into presidential elections. All of the candidates are promising us different things.

  John McCain is promising no alternative minimum taxes and lowering corporate taxes. Obama has promised tax cuts to 98% of us, and even though we Americans may not believe all this, we like it when the candidates suck up to us. So we rally going into an election, and that's what I expect to happen in November, especially considering the market is so cheap.

• Archive of Q&A on Today’s Market

Q&A Archive

• Q&A on Investing the Navellier Growth Way
• Q&A on Today's Market
• Q&A on Specific Stocks