Categories
Stocks

Not All Debt are Equal

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Last Updated on February 26, 2007 by stlplace

Debt is bad. This is what I was told when I grew up in China. I think this is most of my parents generation feel about debt, I am talking about average working people, not the entreprenurs such as Lu Guanqiu, the founder of Zhejiang Wanxiang Group. So when I told my parents I bought a house and got a 15 years loan, their first response was “you will be (my current age+15) years old when you pay off the house”.

We borrow for different reasons. Some are good, some are bad. Buying a house is a good one in general, because it usually has some tax benifits (mortgage interest deduction). Also if we could borrow at a lower rate, invest it and earn at a higher rate, that is also good. We should note one thing though: the cash flow issue, we should have enough regular income to cover the monthly payments for house, food, gas and credit cards, etc.

Categories
China Stocks

Focus Media FMCN is on the Focus

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Last Updated on February 26, 2007 by stlplace

It will report the earnings after market today. The Street est. earning is $0.62, but I think the whisper number is much higher. In other words, even if it beats the earning, if it issues a soft guidance, the stock may get punished tomorrow. This is the danger of  “playing ERs” with hot stocks. Interestingly, Sage Brennen has this question regarding “does this screen work”. Actually I had same question before, one of the reasons I did not buy FMCN.