It seems obvious – but one of the keys to successful investing is to do what works.

Do what works. And don’t do what doesn’t.

Class dismissed.

In all seriousness, the problem many investors find themselves in is how do you know what works and what doesn’t.

This reminds me of an actual conversation I had with someone several years ago who was talking about a losing stock he was in.

Kevin:
- Why are you still in it if it keeps on going down?

Losing Stock Guy:
- I don’t think it’ll go much lower from here.

Kevin:
- Did you think it would go this low when you bought it?

Losing Stock Guy:
- No.

Kevin:
- Do you think it’ll go up?

Losing Stock Guy:
- Eventually. But probably not right away. It may still go …

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) -- the largest independent owner and operator of petroleum product pipelines in the U.S. -- completed its first commercial shipment of bio-diesel through its Plantation Pipeline Company. The process, a technological breakthrough in transporting bio-diesel through pipelines, carried the fuel to various marketing terminals across Georgia and Virginia.Until now, shipment of bio-diesel has been limited to trucks and trains due to several problems in passing bio-diesel through pipelines. Bio-diesel tends to contaminate other fuels, particularly jet fuels, flowing through the same pipeline. Kinder Morgan's breakthrough was to identify a proprietary additive that prevents this contamination. The injection of this additive -- B99 -- has enabled the pipeline transportation.We believe that the Plantation Pipeline project should go a long way toward meeting demand for bio-diesel across the Southeast. Moreover, the ability to blend and transport bio-diesel through ...

Bought some more natural gas (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ung"UNG/a) today. I almost filled an order at the close, but didn't quite get a fill around 13.00. But I made four purchases this week between 13.35 and 13.97, and have a pretty good sized position (for me). The 52 week low is around 12.70 I believe, and I'd buy a little more if I can get some in that range. It's tough to say what it will do in the near term, but mid-range, I think I'll be happy owning this one. br /br /Slow day otherwise. The market sold off on that worse than expected (who's expectations?) jobs report, but not much else to report. br /br /I've been in the camp expecting the rally to lose steam and it has. Summer trading often comes with lighter volume and less hype surrounding the market. I ...

Hotel Metrics Down, Others Finally Catching On The second quarter of 2009 proved to be even more challenging than the first for hotel companies in the United States. And as it becomes increasingly clear that a recovery in the industry isn’t likely to happen any time in the near term, others on Wall Street have begun to change their outlooks. After declining 19.0% in the first quarter of the year, weekly average revenue per available room, or RevPAR, declined 20.1% in the second quarter. Looking at the composition of these numbers, however, we see that the damage to the businesses was even greater than the 110 basis point change. Average weekly occupancy declined 11.6% in the second quarter, compared to a decline of 12.5% year-over-year in the first quarter. However, hoteliers began cutting room rates more substantially during the just-ended quarter, with Q2 average daily rate, ...

Lindsay Corporation (LNN) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $0.42 per share, beating our expectations of $0.34 per share and market expectations of $0.25 per share. The company has been successful in cutting personnel as well as other operating expenses through its cost-reduction initiatives implemented in the first three quarters of fiscal 2009.The company posted revenue of $84.6 million for the quarter, compared to $143.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2008. Current global economic conditions are adversely impacting the company's businesses. Irrigation equipment revenue declined 45%, and Infrastructure revenue was down 21% year-over-year. In the Irrigation segment, Lindsay witnessed a 47% drop in domestic sales and 40% drop in international revenue. Management stated that despite an improvement in agricultural commodity prices, farmers have stayed away from purchasing capital goods due to the prevailing uncertain market conditions.The Infrastructure business is highly ...