Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Basic Sarcasm for Finding Cheap Stocks

April 18, 2012
Basic Metrics for Finding Cheap Stocks

If you had to pick just one method for determining whether or not a stock is cheap, the Price to Earnings, or P/E ratio, would have to be right at the top of the last.

Speaking of top of the last...

Corporate Profits / Wages

Click to enlarge.

Earnings better not Freudian slip!

6 comments:

Fritz_O said...

I know exactly what this chart means first hand, I'm sorry to say.

2011 was a great year for the company I work for. Not because they sold more product either. Rather, it was due to shaving wages for same amount of work done, and for shaving the amount of gas and vehicle allowance paid vs. in the past.

And in the past two years, I've watched as middle managers have taken to any measure available to make themselves appear as cost-cutters regardless of the fallout.

They are quick to reply to objections with, "I wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone". Sure, they wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone directly and intentionally, however, if they can put a feather in their cap and make themselves look better in their superiors eyes and cut some costs while they negatively impact someone's livelihood then so be it.

This has been going on since the beginning of time but I seriously doubt it's even been this out-in-the-open.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Fritz_O,

I hear that!

When things turned lean at my former company the first thing they did was lock the supply cabinet. You had to fill out paperwork to get paper. Talk about a morale killer.

My joke at the time was that I was going to use a paperclip to hold together the paperwork needed to get more paper.

My written request would also ask for either the paperclip to be returned to me or a paperclip of equal or greater value.

It was just a gallows humor joke of course, to ease the burden. Fight silly with silly.

Fritz_O said...

"Talk about a morale killer."

That's just it.

It's not bad enough that companies don't see the downward spiral in paying less while needing to sell more.

At the same time management has "scienced" their way to mass-producing disgruntled employees.

Fritz_O said...

"My joke at the time was that I was going to use a paperclip to hold together the paperwork needed to get more paper."

This was obviously before the time of small, smart, hand-held devices.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Fritz_O,

Once morale fell, the company did a 180 and implemented free soda as an attempt to appease.

That actually made it worse.

1. They took out half the soda machines. Shotages! No soda at any price!
2. They didn't initially announce it so nobody thought it would be permanent. The first to find free soda took it all. Hoarding!
3. One floor was excluded. Employees aren't dumb though. Turns out there was an elevator technology within the building, lol.
4. To counter the first three, some employees made signs to claim machines for their sections. Turf wars!

What a cluster****. It took weeks to repair that damage and I'm not sure the company ever did get a net benefit out of it. Should have clearly, but they completely botched the implementation. From where I sat, it felt like a psychology experiment. I kept expecting researchers to appear and release their "When Disgruntled Employees Go Primal" results, lol. Sigh.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Shortages! It's so easy to miss and/or mangle letters typing this with a PS3 controller.

They say a bad workman blames his tools. Guilty as charged, lol. Sigh.