I made my first move of the New Year: I bought 50 shares of Allete (ALE) at $38.60. They are a Minnesota based utility company that dabbles in various investments. The company operates in four segments: Regulated utility, non-regulated energy, real estate, and others. See the full profile here.
After struggling a bit through the spin-off of its car trading company, Adesa, which was bought out in a private equity deal, Allete continues to diversify, while maintaining its core utility business. Basic utility companies serve a fundamental need for consumers, and I don’t see energy getting cheaper anytime soon. Moreover, Allete will continue to diversify as it looks for ways to satisfy shareholders. A rate increase should help their bottom line in the next year as well. The PEG ratio is 2.65—not a great on paper. However, paper champions are not always the company’s that do well. It may be a while before the stock sees $50/share; however, they are paying a 4% dividend.
I am watching other companies closely after $100 a barrel oil came much sooner than expected. I like Apple (AAPL), Caterpillar (CAT), Target (TGT), and Conoco Phillips (COP) as long term holds. I’ll track my progress throughout the year and keep you updated with current holdings, recommendations, etc.
What are you buying?
Thursday, January 3, 2008
My First Stock Purchase of 2008
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1 comments:
just sold my shares of Ramtron (RMTR) a Colorado Springs-based memory chip company specializing in a new type of RAM called FRAM, but only because I need some cash to make a down payment on a house this spring...still think it has great legs, made good money off it in 2007 and think there's good potential for it over the next few years as it's becoming more well-known...currently trading in around $4.50/share. Did my senior mgt project with the company and got to see a lot of its inner-workings, awesome company!
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