Subject: Stock market q's

Not sure if many people will be interested/know about this, thought I'd ask.

I've been set a uni thing where I will "invest" in 2-4 companies.

Been looking through stuff, but don't have a donkeys about who to invest in.

Just want some help really, anyone?

Is there a prize at the end for getting the most?

Safe bet at the moment is Tesco though.

yes there is, he hasn't said what it is.

Tesco probably is a good bet, especially, if they take more of the market, which seems likely.

whats the length of the test?

now until 28th of April, i was thinking of doing a chamionship footy team, but the increase would only come after promotion was achieved.

Due to the short timescales, I guess it's just about whether you can get share price growth, rather than dividend yield.

You need to try and back share prices that will continue to grow. Yes, companies like Tesco are solid, but they are also very well known, and so likely to be well understood and fully valued.

I'd suggest that you look for companies that could be acquisition candidates. If they are bid for (like we have recently seen with Johnson Mathey) then you see substantial rises in share prices.

Also, you may want to think about what the impact of doing badly and well? If you quite fancy a gamble, then look for stocks that have volatile share prices - you could gain a lot (or lose a lot!) - older stocks, like industrials, and big companies like Tescos (and normally banks, northern rock excepting!) normally have only small changes to share price.

:)

I agree with FM buy Northern Rock - I did!

Well, I was thinking of mixing it, 2 safe ones, 1 slightly risky, 1 gamble.

See now the Portman went and got taken over by the Nationwide recently, and so that increased, not sure who might have that happen to next, if i get it right(if 1 actually happens) then I know I'll do well, and I don't think I'd lose too much, just got to make sure I don't pick one which has been recently linked to it, as if they don't a loss will be made.

See, now if Virgin come in and fix it up, properly, its share price may go up, based on where it is now, but I doubt that will be for a while.

Before the problems they were at 1240 or something, dropped to 130p and I bought at 139p, currently at 207.5p but it is a bit wobbly...

Scottish and Newcastle are a safe bet.

Go for commondity shares, shares in mining companies have been increasing large amounts this year largely due to the continuing high demand from China.

Northern Rock would be a crazy gamble, and probably not worth the risk as it looks like it will be taken over, but with nothing to lose and everything to gain it could be worth a punt.

As FM said companies that are looking at a potential takeover can be good, not always easy to judge though, and usually the prices will have changed way before you hear the rumour of a takeover.

Thx, I've decided to go with Tesco as a safe bet, and SAP as a slight risk.

I'll go and have a look at Scottish and Newcastle, and see what I can find out about mining companies working in China.

I take it you expect them to actually get taken over then, as otherwise it looks like I've just missed out on the boom.

Don't worry about if they are working there, the issue is that the demand from China is pushing up the prices of commodities.

Companies that mine tin, and other types of metal have seen large gains this year due to the continuing increase in prices.

Scottish and Newcastle could be a good bet, but check to see if prices have already jumped since the takeover speculation, you may have missed the boat a little.

:)

I do, and the press hype was way, way over the top. Things were not as bad as it was made out and I think my investment will mature about summer next year. I am hoping to treble my cash.