Chris Mayer (Penny Sleuth): “If you can tell me something else where the fundamentals are so attractive…I’d be happy to put my money there,” said Jim Rogers, the famed investor and self-made billionaire in a recent interview. “But I don’t know of any other place.”

What’s he talking about? Today, we take a look and invest right alongside his idea. And it should start to pay off with the arrival of the first swallows of spring in 2010. It’s also timely now — in this weak-kneed economy — because it has traditionally held up well even in when the economy is on the ropes. Even the Great Depression couldn’t put this thing down.

We start with simple truths. The world’s population has more than doubled since 1950 — from about 2.5 billion to 6.7 billion. By 2050, there will be more than 9 billion people on the

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By guest author Jim Nelson (http://pennysleuth.com/a-rare-second-chance-at-making-a-fortune/)

Today you have a rare “second chance” at making a fortune.

Let me explain…

From 1990 to 2004 the number of internet users in the US absolutely exploded — going from less than 1% of the population back in 1990 all the way up to over 65% in 2004.

And, as you know by now, the rapid increase in Internet usage spawned enormous growth in computer and internet-related companies. Microsoft went up 9,750%. Yahoo jumped a whopping 7,763% in just three and a half years. And AOL, the grand daddy of them all, went up 73,050%from its 1992 IPO to its peak at the end of 1999.

The trick was to identify the growth early. And to get out before the bubble burst.

Well today we’ve got a rare second chance to “turn back time.”

As investors and traders, it’s rare that we get any second chances. But when you’re …

When you are about to invest in a penny stock, the number one question you need to ask yourself is: What’s the catalyst?

Without some big event or monolithic development coming down the road, there’s no reason for investors to care about these tiny companies.

You see, the majority of investors are only interested in making 5%–10% per year. That’s pretty much the maximum you can expect to gain if you are investing in blue chips. Here at Penny Sleuth, we view the stock market a little differently.

We want the money multipliers — double-, triple-, even quadruple-digit gains. For that to happen, we need some kind of spark to set our penny stocks apart from the rest. After all, there are currently over 6,000 to choose from.

So, what kind of catalysts can make a penny stock pop? Let’s look at a couple big ones:

Commercialization — After years of research and development, and ...

“[During a recession] small stocks outperformed T-Bills, bonds, and the S&P about two-thirds of the time — and they did so by a ridiculous margin,” claims the Motley Fool’s Ilan Moscovitz.

While safe, stable stocks are usually the first place investors flock to when markets turn sour, maybe you should be taking another look at penny stocks. As “blue chips” like GM and AIG crumbled under the strain of the credit crunch, a large number of penny stocks were making a small group of investors a fortune.

If the true test of an investment is a bad economy, what better time was there to demonstrate that theory than the last 12 months? Over the course of the last year, we’ve seen the market falter, absorb bad news, and crash harder than it’s fallen in three generations. And while stocks took a big hit across the board, here’s a look at the

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That the president of the United States of America is now creating the business plan for an automobile company is surely a sign of something big.

Yesterday was a holiday in the US. Little news from that quarter.

But while Americans were enjoying their backyard barbecues, the rest of the world turned.

“Obama plans ‘leaner’ car industry,” says the BBC.

While most readers will focus on the last three words of that sentence, we direct your attention to the first two. The subject is the important part… not the predicate.

That the car industry may or may not get ‘leaner’ is of little interest to us. It will do what it needs to do. But that the president of the United States of America is now creating the business plan for an automobile company is surely a sign of something big. The world has already turned… perhaps more than we realize.

It was only a few

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Notes from the Investment Underground Friday, March 20, 2008 Portland, Oregon, USA

Foreigners gang up on the dollar… Ben’s bitter irony… A chartist’s view on the buck… Why the Fed’s “quantitative easing” is a game changer… Investing in the “poor man’s gold”… And more!..

[Your Notes editor will be spending the day in battling Argentine bureaucracy. (It’s a long story. But basically I am trying to get residency down here.) So, today I’ll be leaving you in the capable hands of Crisis Strategy Alert senior analyst Charles Delvalle.]

*** Is this the end of the buck?

Next week a UN panel will recommend that the world drop the US dollar as the reserve currency and instead use a shared basket of currencies.

This from Reuters:

Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters ...

Investors can make astonishing gains in a matter of days if the company they own is bought at a premium by a larger firm. But how do you find these hidden gems ? Jim Nelson gives a list of six criteria that can help you pick a great buyout candidate.

This from Penny Sleuth:

On Monday morning, the sun was shining extra bright for one Southern Californian firm. The small specialized health care business of Advanced Medical Optics (NYSE:EYE) experienced a truly perfect day. At least, its investors did.

You see, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced that it intends to acquire AMO for $22 per share in cash. That’s about 149% above it’s $8.85 Friday close. It took 18 years for the S&P 500 to bring those kinds of gains. Seriously, you’d have had to invest in February 1991 to realize a 149% gain today.

Most investment advisors compare their expected returns

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Jonas Elmerraji says battered companies are paying more attention to their most valuable asset: people. Investment in corporate training is growing, meaning big business for firms like GP Strategies (NYSE:GPX). The company specialises in teaching professionals and improving company performance. And with a strong management and solid balance sheet, Jonas says this stock looks a great buy for 2009.

This from Penny Sleuth:

“Growth” isn’t a word we can expect to hear in most industries for a long time — most, but not all…

One industry that’s seen its numbers increase this past year is one you might not expect: corporate training.

That’s right: In the wake of our current financial turmoil, many companies are making the decision to invest in an asset that’s not always noticed by investors… their people.

According to Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, a research firm that tracks enterprise learning and talent management, “Corporations are investing heavily

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HIDDEN VALUE

Dear Value Seeker,

After a 5% slump last week, U.S. stocks started on the back foot again today.

The reason?

U.S. companies are about to release their earnings reports for 4Q 2008.

We already know that’s when stocks crashed to their lowest level in over a decade. And when retail sales and manufacturing nosedived.

Now we get to find out just how bad the crash has affected corporate America.

The omens aren’t good…

Aluminium producer Alcoa, which kicks off earnings season after the market closes today, is down 6% in early trading.

Andrew Snyder at Today’s Financial News says investors should prepare for a “horrid earnings season.”

Retailers, technology, commodities: Across these three sectors, readings are expected to be grim.

But the scariest

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America’s dilapidated water infrastructure is in desperate need of upgrading, says Chris Mayer. And the situation is similar in many countries throughout the world. And worse still, supplies of clean, fresh water are dwindling across the globe. Chris says these two trends can make water a ‘blue gold’ for investors.

This from Penny Sleuth:

Two days before Christmas, a 66-inch water main burst on River Road, not far from where I live, during morning rush hour. Water spewed out at a rate of 150,000 gallons per minute, turning River Road into an actual river for a time. People at the scene described the burst as a bomb going off. The road itself took significant damage.

The force of the water - going at 12-15 miles per hour - pushed cars around like so much debris. Firefighters had to rescue people from their cars as freezing cold water swirled around them.

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