Going try investing with a SMALL sum of money and try MAKE 30% or more with it in USA stock market

Raider >>>>>But one of my main things nowadays is giving advice to folks, mostly when they do not ask for it.

I have no problem with you giving me advice or commenting that¡¯s why I posted on this investment forum in the 1st place.

Raider>>>>>>For example, I am intrigued by Bitcoin but have never had any.  If it ever made it back to a ridiculous price I would think about it.  I just see it as too speculative and bubblish.

Well I am telling you now without going too much in details to buy SQ on the recent dip, I¡¯ve been listening to few podcasts and listening to friends who have fairly big investment in cryptocurrency and reading a few articles on cryptocurrency and future price of bitcoin, I believe big things are coming for cryptocurrency in a few years and next year bitcoin will surely surpass the all time which was close to 20k USD a few years back.  Since you tell me your risk tolerance is fairly high I¡¯m sure you could stomach the volatility of this SQ stock which if you plot SQ stock with the price of bitcoin for 2020 you will see a very close correlation.  I think I told you slightly more than 50% of their revenue in the recent earning report came from bitcoin.  I¡¯m saying to get in this SQ stock now and not wait until bitcoin breaks it¡¯s all time high price next year by 20%+ cause once it breaks it¡¯s all time by 20%+ than I would start to worry how much more volatility this SQ will have then.  It makes little sense to me for you to say if bitcoin makes it back to ridiculous price before you would think about getting in it cause by then that¡¯s when there surely will be a lot more volatility.  Also by investing in SQ now on the recent dip you will finally have some investment in bitcoin indirectly but not to full extreme of bitcoin¡¯s volatility.  I¡¯ve read and heard ridiculous price predictions of bitcoin for next year saying it will reach 100k & possibly more, I¡¯m not believing 100k+ will come next year that¡¯s way too bullish but I¡¯m very confident without little doubt along with a few of my friends we all think bitcoin price will surely surpass it¡¯s all time high next year.  As the price of bitcoin gets close to it¡¯s all time high you will have a lot more people start jumping on bandwagon which will push it pass it¡¯s all time high and shortly after it passes it all time high by 20% I¡¯m anticipating you will see a lot of profit taking will surely occur, so it will probably drop back 20-40% so by you saying once it get back to the ridiculous price before you decide to get in, it will be worst time to get in after bitcoin surpass it¡¯s all time high.  Once again get in on SQ stock now before bitcoin surpass its all time high at some pt next yr and you could thx me when you see this SQ stock go up to around $235 at some pt next yr.  I¡¯ll most likely selling this SQ stock once bitcoin hits or slightly surpass it¡¯s all time and enjoy the big profit then.  I have a high risk tolerance with this particular amt of money I¡¯m investing with since I think the stock will do really well in the near future.  At the end of the day nothing is guaranteed but I¡¯m putting money where my mouth is since I truly believe bitcoin will be surpassing all time high at some pt next yr so if you¡¯re comfortable with this high risk investment join me, if not that¡¯s all good.  If I¡¯m wrong on it I will take the beating and loss.

IGT just released their financial report after market closed on Wed and it¡¯s a great financial report, I think this stock is going up to $12+ over next couple weeks at least I hope so.  This company will do better when the pandemic is over and as more states legalize sports gambling, they will get some of those contracts in that area with the casinos.  I think I plan on selling 60-65% of my shares if IGT stock reach $12 and leave the rest invested and hopefully see the stock go up to $13+ next year, if it drops back 7-9% after I am able to sell it at $12 I will probably buy back the same amt of shares I sold.

I¡¯m interested in Intel and have been looking at it for few weeks now but still not really sure if it¡¯s a stock I want to buy when I have cash to spare, I like to hear your take on Intel since you mentioned it above I know you do follow the company.  I like this company since it has a good balance sheet and think it¡¯s doing fine on their last financial report and the P/E looks low.  I think it¡¯s trying expand their business in AI area with its recent acquisition and get away from their memory chip area of their business if I remember correctly.  I believe one of their main competition is AMD, AMD has been doing the right things it appears so that is why the market rewards it with big % gain in share price this year while Intel seems to be struggling with negative news here and there and Intel stock price to have been 1 step forward and 2 steps back. 

About to do an interview -- but real quick.

As I mentioned, I was wrong on INTC.  They still have the same management issues with the new guy.  I do not see their management issues being resolved anytime soon.  Lack of experience in engineering in leadership is very telling.

The issue with BTC for me is not the volatility or risk -- it is the speculative nature and bubblish nature of it.

The problem with SQ is it is tied to BTC too much.

I wish you good luck on it for sure!

I can give you more detail later on why on all of these if you like.

Raiders>>>>>The problem with SQ is it is tied to BTC too much.

That¡¯s main reason I like this stock cause slightly more than half their revenue came from bitcoin, you will get exposure to cryptocurrency indirectly and I think more revenue will come from bitcoin next year and since I believe that cryptocurrency will be rocketing to new all time high I have to invest in this.

Yes please tell me more about Intel, I personally think the stock price below $45 seems it¡¯s pretty good value cause it¡¯s already taken enough of a beating so probably more upside than downside.

@Chauster

 I am long INTC going back to 2013 at $22 per share. This is one of those stocks that I have nice gains on paper but has been slumping and lies in what I can only explain as my "investing blind-spot". Being a buy and hold investor, I tend to let things ride and collect the dividends. It's a nice strategy for me as I am retired and live off of dividends and capitol gain distributions. 

The future for INTC doesn't look great to me. Sales are slipping and are forecast to fall in 2021 when pricing pressure is going to squeeze margins. Analysts are all over the map, which complicates decisions even further. I use TD Ameritrade whom provide ratings from 6 analysts. Two give INTC their highest BUY rating, two give middling HOLD ratings, and two give it an outright SELL rating. It is very rare that I come across 6 firms with such a wide range of calls on a stock. Regardless of whatever anyone thinks, the rating services generally lean towards making BUY calls as it is good for business. The two outright SELL calls are a worrying sign.

The longer I look at INTC, the more I think I need to dump it and put the money somewhere else. That said, I would like to see the stock return the the 50's before I do that.

Full disclosure: 2020 has thrown me for a loop. I misplayed Covid by generating 200K in cash back in May and am underperforming the market averages for the first time in 3 decades. My mistakes, if you can call them mistakes, have cost me roughly $50,000 on paper. I'm ice cold, so take my advice above with a grain of salt. 

@gambleholic63 thx for your input on Intel, you¡¯re still up descent amount of money in Intel overall and yes I realized they haven¡¯t made investor happy since the big dip that started in late July and once again another big dip in late Oct.  I personally think right now with so many cash on hand you¡¯re actually given a 2nd opportunity to buy more at March lows in a blue chip company which still has a strong balance sheet which everyone regret not doing and some were panicking and some were selling off in March.  I personally think you should slowly accumulate more Intel shares since you¡¯re a long term these short term fluctuations shouldn¡¯t bother you too much and like I said you¡¯re given 2nd opportunity to accumulate shares at March lows, I wouldn¡¯t be saying this if Intel is in big financial problem, sure they have a few fck-ups this year but I this ain¡¯t a small cap company who fck-up and is in big financial problem and selling would be the absolute right move.  You should slowly buy some shares now at this 2nd opportunity of March low levels and if it does dip 5-6% add a bit more once again.  You¡¯re getting a quality company at a discount and like Warren Buffet¡¯s famous saying ¡°be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy only when others are fearful¡±.  Once again I wouldn¡¯t say this if Intel is a small cap and in big financial problem, I¡¯m sure as long as they are in good financial standing, they will eventually putted these fck-ups past them and will flourish again.  You are in much better position than most to do this since you have a lot of cash on hand and could slowly buy more and average down if the stock dips 5-6%.  If it doesn¡¯t dip 5-6% and start rising then you¡¯re happy you¡¯re finally making more money and then could choose to sell off a small portion of shares when it goes up 12-15%.  I guess if you¡¯re really not comfortable putting more money in this stock, you should start slowly buying in a few other quality companies now that has been beaten up and add more as it falls 5-6% until you have enough of what you want to spend on company.  I think you¡¯re one of those that don¡¯t believe in timing the market so this method I mentioned above by dollar cost averaging when you see a 5-6% dip in quality companies is the way to go.  Good luck in whatever you decide to do, I ain¡¯t no professional but just giving ideas what I would do if I was in your position of cash.

Also I think as long as USA still eventually giving the people a stimulus package they agree on things and I believe we are closer to having covid vaccine slowly buying now in quality companies at a discount would only give you a great chance when market rebounds at making money.  Good luck once again, wish I was in your position had the amount of cash on hand to invest.

I have to completely disagree with you about INTC.  I think at this point it is a dumpster fire, especially compared to many others you could choose from.

Yes, INTC could turn around.  But I would need some signs that they are trying to change management and soon. 

There is a good article on this.  If you are interested in reading it -- I can link it on here.

I can easily agree with the assessment of them having negative growth for an extended period.  Unless, they change management around.  In this industry you have to have some kind of management with engineering expertise.  The financial leadership has them just more or less 'running a buy-back shareholder storefront'.  At this point I have to agree with this. 

"On top of that, the company is trying to shore up the balance sheet rife with poor investments and increased buybacks in the face of an anemic-to-no growth situation with the selling of its NAND division. Buybacks are fine when a stock is undervalued, but not at the cost of more debt and less cash while revenue growth turns negative."  I also agree with his analysis of this.  This is a very poor strategy for them right now.  They need to be looking ahead with technology in mind and innovation and production -- NOT just from a financial standpoint. 

In addition to this and more issues with the fundamentals.  Look at some of the technical stuff as well.  The charts do not look promising either.  Even if it bounces up some -- it will be short-lived. 

If they have delays again or something along those lines -- this could be very bad for them.

To me, there are many better stocks that you could choose for long term at this time.  Even some of the competition for them look better.

I do not mind admitting I was wrong about them some time ago.  I thought they were going to make some changes and overcome some of these issues.  But they did not.  I think that was false hope and a lot of folks just thought they saw value and INTC would turn around after the dip and delays were worked out.

But you can only fool the market for so long.  Eventually, the issues come to the forefront.

At this time I see no reason to get a position in INTC when there are so many others that do not have their problems.

But, if you do, I will certainly root for you and be glad to say I was wrong about them again.  But way too risky and hopeful -- when there are way better choices.

@Raiders22 I do agree there are better companies in this space but their stock prices are already a bit high for my liking, I understand Intel financial is doing worst compare to 2019 but they aren¡¯t in financial problem to my understanding plus their full year guidance now is slightly improve from what they guided back in July.  If Intel turns things around as I¡¯m expecting, it definitely won¡¯t happen in the short term of few months but that¡¯s why you¡¯re getting the stock at a discount right now.  I guess this stock won¡¯t be as suited for me cause I don¡¯t want to be holding for a few years unless I think I can make 3X+ my investments but for long term investor like gambleholic63 it¡¯s probably better suited with so much cash on hand.  Only if I think there¡¯s potential for over 20% pop happening in next few months then I could take a position in it, I don¡¯t realistically see over 20% pop happening in next few months but I do realistically see a 9-12% pop happening in the next few months so if gambleholic63 were to buy some shares at these prices, he will be able to sell these same shares later when it pops and hang on to the shares he bought back in 2013 for long term until company turn things around cause there should be some downward pressure after the pop.  I believe gambleholic63 was considering to hang on until $50ish (equal to 9-12%) and then consider selling then, so why not buy some shares now and sell at $50ish level and hang on to some.

One viewpoint:

Look at some other tech companies. Intel is the lowest, with a 52% total return over the last five years.

Compare them:   Intel - 52%    FB - 201%

Broadcom - 222%  Micron - 173%   NVIDIA - 1800%   Skyworks Solutions - 91%

Five years ago was about when the delays started.  Delays have continued.  Look at the latest delay ¡ª it looks to be more than double the length they said it would be.

Again, all of these delays have to rest with management. The previous CEO and the interim guy, which is really a CFO.  They need new management soon.  So, more than two years later ¡ª and they still cannot find a CEO?

Pull up a five year chart and look at the resistance/support.  Look at the latest trend.

Another guy:

¡®Not quite 15 months ago, I wrote the previous article in my series comparing the operating performance of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Since that time, shares of INTC have gone up and down in price and are about at the same place they were when that articlecame out late in August 2019. Meanwhile, shares of AMD have more than doubled, starting at a price of around $28 and now trading over at $85.¡¯

¡®The market reacted quite negatively to this earnings report, but looking at the information presented, Intel modestly increased its guidance for the year. Sure, a $300 million increase in revenue guidance isn¡¯t much for Intel, but it is $300 million. And bumping up EPS 5 cents a share isn¡¯t a bad thing either. The big disappointment is that the operating margin declined more than projected. While the miss is small, even small misses could become a problem when margins are under pressure.¡¯

¡®Intel did not have a disastrous Q3, despite how the market reacted. In fact, the company modestly exceeded guidance from the beginning of the year. Much of the supposed disaster was based on inflated expectations from the first half of the year, when COVID-19 provided the company with a big tailwind.

One good thing about the market¡¯s reaction to the Q3 results is that the price is finally below my buy under price. Intel is now trading at a good value. Many years after I sold my share at a very nice profit, I might be able to get back in again.

As a dividend growth investor, I like INTC. For those who don't require dividends and want good capital gains potential, AMD is looking to be a very good choice.¡¯

A third guy ¡ª I highlighted a couple of the parts:

Here¡¯s my issue with Intel stock and it¡¯s a problem that extends beyond the struggling chipmaker. Bulls keep championing the same things: A low valuation, a nice dividend and a legacy semiconductor producer. 

I don¡¯t want legacy anything unless there is growth. I want cutting edge with strong and sustainable growth. The low valuation argument is good on paper, but in the real world, it doesn¡¯t hold water. In other words, the higher-valuation stocks are those that are in demand from other investors. That¡¯s because they have growth and the allure of future growth. That¡¯s what Intel lacks. Therefore, Intel stock trades with a low valuation. 

The dividend is a nice thing to chew on, with shares kicking out a 2.5% yield. But that 2.5% in annual performance could come in one day¡¯s performance from another stock. The income is decent but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m looking for out of my tech holdings. 

I am looking at tech stocks to add growth to my portfolio, not income. If I want the latter, we can fish for it via bonds or utility stocks. 

For all this talk about growth, what does it actually look like for Intel? 

Analysts expect 4.4% revenue growth this year, followed by a 2.2% decline in fiscal 2021. The earnings front is even worse, with analysts expecting declines of 0.4% and 2.9% this year and next year, respectively. 

If the forecasts are right, 2021 earnings are going to be lower than 2019, while revenue will be up by roughly $1.5 billion or about 2%. 

For a tech investor focused on growth, that¡¯s hardly acceptable. Compared to others in its space, it makes Intel look non-existent. While Intel has declining growth, its peers not only have growth, but accelerating growth.

At the end of the day, shares trade at just 11 times earnings, but so what? We need something in the story to give us a reason to buy. Shedding assets isn¡¯t doing it. Buying Mobileye a few years ago wasn¡¯t bad, but it¡¯s not spurring the type of growth we¡¯re seeing in other areas. 

While Intel has opportunities in key growth segments ¡ª like cloud computing, edge computing and the data center¡ª it¡¯s not capitalizing to the extent I want to see. Meaning that, either companies that operate directly in these segments or Intel¡¯s competitors are reaping the growth from these end markets. 

We need to see Intel fire up that revenue growth, but it¡¯s simply stuck in neutral. Gross margins are trending in the wrong direction, although free cash flow and its balance sheet have been improving. 

Are there worse picks than Intel stock? Absolutely. Particularly after Intel has already suffered a major pullback in its stock price. At the same time though, there are better picks than Intel out there and that¡¯s where we run into problems. 

Not every stock is a buy, but that doesn¡¯t automatically make it a sell, either. 

The charts show a similar takeaway as the fundamentals: It¡¯s improving but not attractive. Intel stock is working off that hideous gap, where shares plunged from $60 to almost $50 in a single day. It then proceeded to fall for the next five days before bottoming. 

It¡¯s been improving, having filled about half of its gap, but how far can it really go without a catalyst? We¡¯ll see if earnings can change the rhetoric with this one or if it just makes things worse (like last quarter). 

So maybe that will give you a snippet from a few other guys that will give you a balanced perspective. 

Sure there are some folks that are bullish in INTC. But there are a fair amount that are not. 

I am one that is not.  For some of the reasons the guys mentioned.  They need new management to fix the delays and move the company forward.  They need to show a really good reason to buy them.  I do not see a reason.  Especially when there are better stocks to buy.  

Yes.  INTC will probably go up.  BUT will it go up more than other companies AND sooner?  I do not think so.  

There are a lot of other analysts that think it is a buy.  It may be ¡ª I just think other companies are a better buy at this time.  

A good reason for someone that already has the stock not to buy more?  To me it is doubling down on a bad stock.  No reason to do that.  Other stocks are on sale also.  You want to diversify ¡ª not consolidate on a bad stock. 

I am not saying, if I owned it that I would sell it ¡ª I am saying I would not buy more at this time.  It has given me no solid reason to.  

You are also committing what I consider a mistake in adding to your position in a situation like this.  You are not only trying to time the market ¡ª you are trying to time a certain stock.  That is risky and lacks diversity.  

However, if you do choose to buy some ¡ª I am rooting for you and wish you good luck with it. 

My Portfolio Now:

Total Cash Starting Amount: $2500 CAD converted to $1868.88 US

Oct 27th 100 IGT bought@$9.32 total spent $941.95     Nov. 18th 100 IGT sold@$12.18 total received $1208.02

Oct 30th 5 SQ bought@$156.8 total spent $793.95

Remaining Overall Cash: $1341 USD

Decided to sell all of my IGT instead of partial amount today and made 30.7% return before commissions deducted.

@Chauster

 You are correct that I am holding on, but that's what I do....not necessarily what you should do. Also, INTC is a tiny percentage of my portfolio so it's not something I'm losing sleep over. 

I think now that we have a vaccine on the way, the worst case scenario of revisiting the Feb/March lows is off the table for the overall market. Thus, I feel the biggest risk to the market now are more closely tied to the GA run offs in July. If Republicans hold the senate, Biden will find his extreme tax plan more difficult to put in motion. Conservative Republicans are aware that raising taxes while still in a recession would be a death blow to the economy. 

Something will happen there in regard to tax hikes, but Republican control of the Senate should temper the left's progressive tax plans. 

Assuming the GA races split or go 2-0 Red, then I would expect the markets to like that news and would be less fearful of putting fresh money to work. 

My Portfolio Now:

Total Cash Starting Amount: $2500 CAD converted to $1868.88 US

Oct 27th 100 IGT bought@$9.32 total spent $941.95     Nov. 18th 100 IGT sold@$12.18 total received $1208.02

Oct 30th 5 SQ bought@$156.8 total spent $793.95

Nov 20th 37 SBE bought@$26.5 total spent $990.45

Switchback Energy Acquisition Corp symbol SBE is a risky & speculative EV charger play.  SBE will acquire ChargePoint one of the biggest EV charging company in North America which is set to IPO later on.  I¡¯m trying to get in and own ChargePoint before the IPO, lots of things are still unknown but as I mentioned it¡¯s a risky and speculative play I see having HUGE potential.

My Portfolio Now:

Total Cash Starting Amount: $2500 CAD converted to $1868.88 US

Oct 27th 100 IGT bought@$9.32 total spent $941.95     Nov. 18th 100 IGT sold@$12.18 total received $1208.02

Oct 30th 5 SQ bought@$156.8 total spent $793.95

Nov 20th 37 SBE bought@$26.5 total spent $990.45

Remaining Overall Cash: $350.55 USD

I made a mistake above when SBE acquires ChargePoint the deal will get voted on Dec 15th and then eventually will just be listed on the stock exchange I believe under a new name, so it isn¡¯t actually an IPO, this is a SPAC deal.

If anyone has SQ stock I¡¯ve been looking at the company more and more and I believe after listening to other people¡¯s opinion they are even expecting greater growth in revenue for the next few years but there will be a lot of volatility along the way with this stock.  Recently Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev raised his price target from $225 to $300.  I actually think SQ stock will surpass $300 in price next year at some pt.  Now I won¡¯t even consider selling this stock unless I make min 60% on this.

Remaining Overall Cash: $350.55 USD

My Portfolio Now:

Total Cash Starting Amount: $2500 CAD converted to $1868.88 US

Oct 27th 100 IGT bought@$9.32 total spent $941.95     Nov. 18th 100 IGT sold@$12.18 total received $1208.02

Oct 30th 5 SQ bought@$156.8 total spent $793.95

Nov 20th 37 SBE bought@$26.5 total spent $990.45      Nov. 23rd 37 SBE sold@$35.1 total received $1288.72

Remaining Overall Cash: $1639.27 USD

Wow this SBE stock is sure crazy I bought Fri Nov 20th and sold today making 32.4%, I will most likely get back in on this stock if it falls more than 6% at some pt.

Not that 2 weeks shows too much.  But these are the ones I was telling you about back then,  As I was saying you want to be diversified and try to outperform the overall market.  I felt like these stocks would do that.  I was right on 4 quite nicely, so far.  I was wrong on the other 3 -- but they are not that bad.  But the point was INTC alone was not the correct choice to do this, by itself.

November     11th          24th       Return

Boeing --   182.15      218.49       19.9%
US Steel --  10.23        14.25       39.3%
Merck --      81.06        80.14       -1.1%
Intel --       46.35        47.01         1.4%
Apple --    119.49      115.17        -3.6%
Corsair --    29.14        51.20       75.7%
Ford --          8.33         9.45        13.4%

AVG --                                            20.7%

DJIA --    29,397.63    30,046.24   2.2%
SPY --         356.67         364.78   2.2%

Once I make more money and have over 3k total I could diversify it more.  I bought 3 and sold 2 stocks so far and made over 30% on each of the stocks and the one I still own is up almost 30% but I don¡¯t intend to sell that SQ stock until I make 60%+ cause I think its got a lot of potential left come next year.  I think I¡¯m doing fine with the little amount of $ I started with.  You can¡¯t diversify too much with the small amount of $ I start off with cause commissions from each trade will eat me up.  I have pay $9.95 to buy and pay $9.98 to sell US exchanges, the weird thing is for stocks on Canada¡¯s exchange it cost $9.95 to buy and $9.95 to sell.  Not sure why it cost $0.03 more to sell on US exchange.  If you do the math say if I divide my starting amount of $1868.88 into 4 and invest in 4 stocks to diversify with $467.22 on each stock the commission I have to pay for each stock is huge percentage wise and that¡¯s not a great idea mathematically in my opinion.  This isn¡¯t like sports betting where you pay 5 or 10% on the overall amount you wagered.  If I buy a stock using $400 I still pay $9.95 commission and if I decide to buy a stock using $4000 it still cost $9.95.  Just can¡¯t diversify with the small amount of money I¡¯m starting off with cause that commissions is just going to be a killer if you do the math.

Sure.  I understand that. 

At this point you need to make sure you are taking good profits when you can to build up your bankroll and of course add to it with any extra money.

You never said --  are you already fully invested for retirement --  but make sure that is diversified.

@Chauster

 You should not be trading with any firm charging commissions, PERIOD. This statement is especially true when trading in micro shares as you are. 

Go over and sign up at TD Ameritrade. You will be glad you did.

Raiders.....these markets are insane. I literally placed a 0% chance that we would see new highs prior to eradicating Covid19 and I was dead wrong. I stayed roughly 85% invested, and some of my tech stuff has gone absolutely bonkers (GOOG), so my personal net worth is now at an all time high. 

How can this be?

Covid19 will continue to impact and restrict our economy for another 2 years. 

Biden is raising taxes. 

Valuations are being stretched. 

What am I missing?