May 6th, 2009
What’s in My Portfolio: Amazon
I continue to work through my portfolio and share with you what funds and stocks I have in my portfolio. Today we look at the first individual stock I’m highlighting–Amazon (AMZN).
Amazon.com is among the kings of online retailers. It has Web sites in the U.S. as well as in many other countries. Originally a bookseller, they now sell almost anything and they often offer free shipping to its customers as well as low prices and deliver-to-your-home convenience. They also are pioneering the electronic media field by owning audible book distributor Audible and putting out the electronic book reader known as the Kindle.
Amazon is a profitable company with a trailing price to earnings ratio of 51.07 as of this writing. At least as importantly, it is, in my opinion, the best company of its kind in the world. I’m a more than satisfied Amazon customer, which is one of the best thing I can say about a stock, and I’ve spent thousands of dollars there over time. Because it’s an individual stock, I would like to keep my exposure to under five percent of my total portfolio value, and I have–Amazon makes up under one percent of the entire portfolio’s value. I keep Amazon in my Roth IRA so if I sell it, I don’t have to worry about capital gains.
Amazon pays no dividend on its stock (dividends, unfortunately, are becoming a thing of the past). It’s a stock I plan on holding onto for awhile. As I’ve said previously, when investing, you really want to know what you’re buying, as well as like it, and there’s very little I don’t like about Amazon.com.
For the money you don’t have invested you should check bank rates for secure financial products. If you find good CD rates you should lock them in. Having the right credit cards is also part of a good financial plan. You should always make sure you have the card that maximizes your rewards.
[...] three stocks I am thinking of using to replace Apple, Inc. as my monthly stock buy, I realized that I’ve already looked at all of them when I reviewed the various pieces of my portfolio. Still, things have changed since [...]
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