Planning Your Team's Strategy

Not sure where to start? Consider the following ideas:

• Think of companies with whom you are familiar with their products/services.
• You may be very happy with your iPod - you would then check to see if Apple is listed on the NYSE or NASD. You can find this information on the "Investor Relations" page of the company's website. Sometimes you have to look a little harder, in the case of Apple, you have to click Media Info at the bottom and then there is a link to "Investor Information". On that page it tells you that the "ticker symbol" is AAPL and that it is listed on the NASDAQ. (Alternatively, you could go to Yahoo! Finance and type in "Apple" in the field next to the "Get Quotes" button check the drop down list before you click anything and you will see Apple (AAPL) come up on the list.)
• Some companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of public companies. This means that the company you like may not be public, but it is owned by a public company. Do your research on the parent company, and if you like all of their brands then you may want to invest.
• You play golf for instance, you might be happy with your Titleist golf clubs so you go to Titleist's website. At the bottom you see "NYSE: FO". Clicking that will bring you to their parent company, Fortune Brands, website. Titleist is not public so you cannot buy their stock, but Fortune Brands is. So if you like all of their brands; spirits, home security, and golf equipment companies, you would buy stock in Fortune Brands.
• Think of types of industries that seem to be doing well right now, or are poised to start doing well, and check the companies in that industry to see if there is one you like.
• We will go over this in greater detail at the second seminar.
• Decide if you want stable, mature companies that grow slowly but issue a dividend, or younger, faster growing companies that reinvest all their profits to maximize growth (and share price), or a blend of both.
• Maybe you have seen a company in the news that is getting its stock price destroyed because of bad publicity but you think that its underlying business is strong and now the stock is undervalued.
• Remember the first seminar; how do you know if a stock is undervalued?
• A good way to start is by comparing it with its peers on a P/E basis (maybe PEG)

Most importantly, talk about what you are thinking with your teammates on your Team Blog! We are monitoring each of your blogs and will step in to guide you when necessary. We will also pick out common questions/themes and write articles on this blog to address them for everyone. We know that this is new to most of you, so the biggest thing we are looking for is that you are collaboratively thinking things through before you do them!