Risky Stocks

In the past 2 months I have bought a number of stocks some pretty risky and others less risky. Naturally, I weight towards the less risky options, and treat the others like a trip to Vegas.

On the less risky side I have bought oil stocks BP and COP, both at $50 a share. Add to that a recent purchase of Texas Instruments (TXN), at $14.20 a share.

Of moderately risky stocks are two purchases to add to existing positions in LGF, at $5.70, and ETFC at $0.80 and $1.10. Over all I'm still losing money on those two stocks, but the recent purchases are positive as I write this, and lower my average cost per share. LGF is Lions Gate Films, which has some interesting movie properties and cable shows like Weeds. ETFC is E-Trade online brokerage, which has been hurt badly by the meltdown in the finance sector.

Then there are the seriously risky penny stocks: Midway Games (MWY) at $0.18 and R.H. Donnelly (RHDC.PK) at the regrettable price of $0.35 (now $0.20). These are true gambles, if they survive the down turn they will do well (at these prices) and if they don't survive then they are a total loss.

In the coming weeks and months I plan to focus on companies with high dividends that are defensible, and on companies with little or no debt. Hopefully I can find companies that have no debt and high dividends.