Refund Time

Well I did my taxes today and good ole uncle Sam is going to give me a little of my hard earned money back. What's a boy to do....buy more stock of course! Today I've narrowed my search down to 5 companies. My original intent was to plant the money in something safe since I have quite a bit of my current portfolio in things I consider somewhat high risk. As is usually the case though, I strayed a bit from my original intent. Here's what I have so far.

Gateway (GTW - $1.94)
My first computer was a Gateway. Back in the days when it was about even with Dell and Compaq. Since then it's gone one way in the stock market, and Dell has gone in the other direction. This is definetly my riskiest choice. It's currently trading at $1.94. It still has 6% of the PC market and I think Vista will drive it's 1st quarter revenue up. The CEO has indicated that we'll see more expense cuts this quarter. This would most likely be a short term investment, attempting to make some quick money.

DELL ($23.72)
This is yet another attempt at capitalizing on the new Vista operating system. Dell has also been hit hard recently in the stock market due to poor performance in recent quarters (we all know I like to buy when good companies are low). Michael Dell has taken the company back over and I've always been impressed with his style. I think we're going to see a resurgence in DELL here soon.

Microsoft (MSFT - $28.97)
Ok, so you're probably seeing a pattern here. Vista is here, and it's going to drive revenue growth. Microsoft stock has been pretty flat the last 5 years so I feel like it it's time. The new internet explorer rocks and the xbox360 sales have been great. The zune hasn't gotten the best reviews but I'm sure Microsoft will get it right eventually (they usually do). I think Microsoft is just a really good company overall, a very safe investment.

General Electric (GE - $35.53)
GE is just one of those stalwarts. It continuously makes money and is a very well run company. The stock has had a little hit lately and it's got a really solid dividend. Overall, it just seems like a good safe investment.

3M (MMM - $74.54)
I've owned 3M since the mid 90's and have made a very nice chunk of change on the company. It's another great company like GE that makes a lot of money, and has a great dividend. It's tough to really go wrong with a company like this. It's also been hit recently in stock price which is always a good time to buy!

I'll think on this a little more and let you know which one I decide on. I've recorded todays prices for each of these stocks in this blog so we can look back some day and see if I "chose wisely".