Detect accounting fraud, invest safely.

Welcome to the hundred-and-first edition of Festival of Stocks. The Festival of Stocks is a blog carnival dedicated to highlighting bloggers’ best articles on stock market related topics. This will include research and commentary on specific stocks, industry analysis, ETFs, REITs, stock derivatives, and other related topics.

I am proud to host the following selection of the best entries to the Festival of Stocks. This edition also includes a post on diversification because it’s the best of them all I wrote it. Enjoy!

Stock Analysis

Bank of America (BAC) Dividend Analysis posted at Create Rising Passive Income From Dividend Paying Stocks
BAC offers an above average yield, coupled with a low P/E ratio. The dividend payout is unsustainably large at this moment for me however in order to initiate a position. In addition to that, the whole uncertainty over the financial sector definitely makes it wiser to simply wait on the sidelines before jumping in.

Stock Analysis: Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) posted at Dividends 4 Life
Stock Analysis of Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB). Leading global consumer products company produces tissue, personal care and health care brands include Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex, Depend, Kleenex, Scott and Kimberly-Clark.

Primus Guaranty (PRS) Earnings and Conference Call Notes posted at College Analysts.
Maybe I’m being soft on them because they’ve made me so much money the last few weeks, but I was highly impressed by what I heard on the Primus Guaranty (PRS) conference call earlier today.

Commentary

5 Disadvantages of Mechanical Investing posted at MagicDiligence - Optimizing Joel Greenblatts Value Stock Strategy
Although attractive for many reasons, mechanical investing strategies also have some inherent disadvantages over traditional research based investing. Here are 5 of the main ones.

Understanding Moving Averages Can Make You Big Bucks posted at Contrarian Profits
How can a chart tell you if we’re in a bull or a bear market. The secret is understanding moving averages, says Dominic Frisby in British finance magazine MoneyWeek. Dominic says moving averages “are a gloriously simple trading tool that can help clarify where you are in the grand scheme of things.”^[1]

150 Stocks - The Secret to Proper Diversification? posted at Value Investing and Entrepreneurship by Qovax, a Software Startup
Anurag Gupta, an average Joe retail investor, buys 150 stocks and he’s the poster child of diversification. Who’s Anurag? Doesn’t matter. What’s important is he managed to beat the broad market. That’s something. Or is it?

Oil & Natural Gas – Worried About Demand Destruction? Think Long Term posted at Traders Corner
In my article titled Oil Prices Gone Wild posted June 9th, I spoke about how oil prices seemed to have gotten ahead of themselves. Prices defied gravity when they soared from $100 per barrel to just over $138 per barrel (when I wrote the article) over the course of only a few days.

We Are Living In Interesting Times… posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
In the Summer 2008 issue of In The Vanguard, a newsletter The Vanguard Group sends out to its customers, the newsletter interviews two outgoing managers of their Wellesley Income Fund: Earl McEvoy and Jack Ryan. Both have years and years of experience in investing, managing several other funds, and the interview was enlightening.

Come on U.S. Dollar, Come on PowerShares US Dollar (UUP) posted at The StockMasters - Investing News and Analysis, Hot Stock Tips, Stock Market commentary for the Savvy Investor
Our U.S. dollar has fallen 30% and should it start turning around, buy PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish (AMEX:UUP), as Biggy once said “Only, to hell I send thee, all about the benjis, What?”

Economic Data That Influence the Market | Stock Trading Ideas posted at Stock Trading Ideas
In this post, I explain some of the commonly used economic indicators that can influence the general direction of the market. If you are new to investing, these indicators will enhance your knowledge and affect your investments.

The Stock Market Bear Has Claimed Our Investment Portfolio posted at The Digerati Life
I haven’t discussed our portfolio for some time now — the last time I reported on it was many many months ago, and I’ve got an excuse. I was simply not excited about letting you all know how much money we’ve lost since my last formal portfolio report.

Why Technology Companies are so Tricky… Thoughts on Creative Destruction posted at Bootstrap Investing
I was reading CNN Money recently, and the concept of Creative Destruction came back to me in a very vivid way. This isn’t a concept invented here at Bootstrap, but one which most investors should be aware of.

Sources:
[1] How to make money from markets you know nothing about, Money Week, July 30, 2008 by Dominic Frisby