AirVenture = Awesome w/ Airplanes!

Well, I haven't blogged in a while, so I figured I'd do it. As this is Rick's Random Thoughts, I'll have to be a little bit more random, so I have 3 things for you. First is a bit of a recap of last weekend when me and 3 friends went to AirVenture in Wisconsin. Then I have my current stocks to buy, followed by my favorite Youtube video playlist.

So, first off, AirVenture was an amazingly good time! Amy, Jill, Eric (Rockwell co-op/interns) and myself got together at 4am and went up to the North, where we saw real hills for the first time in a while and drive for about 5 hours up to Oshkosh, WI. The displays there were amazing, with some of the outstanding stuff including a C-5 Galaxy,


an S-64 Skycrane named Elvis,


WhiteKnightTwo,


and some awesome airshow stuff!

Anyhow, it was a great time, and my friend Justin was cool enough to convince his parents to let us use their camper for the night so we didn't get back at midnight on Saturday (we came back Sun. morning).

OK, so on to stock picks. If I currently had much money to invest in the market (without pulling it out of a 50% loss), I would look at the following companies:

• Paychex, Inc - provides payroll for small and medium-sized businesses (Even in a downturn, you gotta pay your workers! Also has low long-term debt and strong cash flow.)
• Pepsico, Inc - you know what Pepsi is (A strong dividend, good management, good cash flow, but increasing debt is a worry.)
• Johnson & Johnson - They make all kinds of medicine including things like Neutrogena, Listerine, Reach, and Tylenol (Strong cash flow and growth are good, but debt is rising.)
• Waste Management - Provides waste removal (trash) services (Lowering debt is a major plus, good cash flow, and they are very undervalued by the market - only 64% of enterprise value.)
• Campbell Soup Co - They make soup, lots of soup (Dropping debt, good cash flows, strong dividend and P/E.)
• Microsoft - They make things like the OS you're likely using (No debt, tons of cash as usual, Windows 7 coming out, but they are a little overvalued by the market, so wait for a price dip.)

Give those stocks a try. Stocks are still cheap and hopefully our troubled economy will show more recovery soon. If you need something to cheer you up, see my playlist of good youtube videos below: