One of our assignments in Personal Finance is investing 100000 (fictional) dollars in the stock market. Given that the stock market has not been doing particularly well right now, it should be an interesting experience. My group’s picks:
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) – 115 shares
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) – 400 shares
Genentech (DNA) – 125 shares
Apple Computer (AAPL) – 110 shares
Google, Inc (GOOG) – 25 shares
Seagate, Inc (STX) – 680 shares
The New York Times (NYT) – 255 shares
Amerco (UHAL) – 200 shares
International Paper (IP) – 310 shares
American Apparel (APP) – 984 shares
We know basically nothing about investing in stocks. Most of our justifications for stock picks went something like “well, it’s springtime, farmers’ll be buying seed… let’s invest in agribusiness!” or “hmm, because of the mortgage crisis lots of people will be needing to move out when their homes get foreclosed… let’s invest in (the parent company of) U-Haul!” Which is a terrible thing to say.
So let’s see how this goes.
The NY Times? Aren’t all newspapers suffering from “OMG the internets are taking our business” syndrome? Why would you invest in a newspaper? Or is it because they got a clue recently and opened up their archives that you think they have a chance?
Yeah, the archive opening, as well as the embrace of blogging. Their executive editor believes that the Times will be virtually all online someday. I think the NYT compared with other papers has a good head on its shoulders with regard to new media; if their owners don’t screw them over, they should be just fine and even profit as other papers lose out.