Start making a list.
Bear markets can be beautiful things. True, for the ill-prepared they can be devastating—more than $2 trillion has been wiped out in pension funds and retirement accounts—but if you took my advice and started moving into cash back in April, you should have avoided the disasters of late September/ early October. More importantly, you should have plenty of cash sitting around.
And now it’s time to make a wish list.
It takes a real bear, a truly savage beast, to bring the best businesses to their knees. I’m talking about the Cokes, Starbucks, Budweisers and the like. These are the big dogs, the global brand leaders, companies whose products are known around the world.
Rarely do you get a chance to buy these guys at a reasonable price; they’re far too profitable and famous—heck, Wrigley’s and Budweiser both recently got bought out at roughly 30 times earnings, not exactly a bargain basement price.
Which is why today is so exciting.
The market has gone so haywire, with widespread liquidations from institutional investors, that the blue chip big-boys are getting cheap... real cheap.
So is everything else.
I just ran a quick screen on Yahoo! Finance. There are 511 companies under $25 billion in market cap that are trading at less than ten times free cash flow. These aren’t no-name start-ups either. Among the top 25 to show up: eBay, Adobe, International Paper, Allstate Insurance, etc.
| Company |
Symbol |
Price/ FCF |
| eBay |
EBAY |
7 |
| Adobe |
ADBE |
9 |
| AllState |
ALL |
3 |
| International Paper |
IP |
8 |
| International Tool Works |
ITW |
7 |
Yes, the market has become a nightmare. The Dow is down 30% for the year. And the US is entering a major recession, possibly the worst since the early ‘70s. But the world is not coming to an end.
One day, perhaps six months from now, perhaps six years from now, the smoke will have cleared from this financial crisis. At that time, the folks who carefully bought top quality stocks at bargain basement prices during this bear market will have made literal fortunes.
Start making a watchlist. You can do it on Yahoo! Finance, MSN, or any number of other financial sites. Then just sit back, build your cash position, and wait. In today’s market, EVERYTHING is on sale. And it’s likely to get even cheaper before this crisis ends.
So be ready. When this nightmare ends, you’ll awaken to a beautiful dawn of opportunity. In the meantime, keep clear of the volatility and save up your cash.
