Tim, Most of my financial knowledge has come by experience. Unfortunately, I've had to learn some-or maybe I should say most things the hard way. As for my "strategic" knowledge, I have seen a number of deals come together and fall apart. As I try to understand and learn, I suppose some is hypothetical, but it makes sense to me.
As for Guilin Paper it is at the point where its own merits will determine the share price. There is the "marketing" aspect of a stocks value, but it always costs something for marketing. If the company or some affiliates are paying someone to spam--or pump and dump, it generally means that shares are being added to the public float and so in inherently diluted. There are some great articles on qwoter.com about spamming and how it often is done without the company's knowledge or permission.
When a company demonstrates with its track record profitability, growth in revenues and longevity, institutional investors, hedge funds and investment bankers will generally be getting or will already be on board. It's sort of the nature of the game. Finding value and being patient for growth is hard but in the end the safest and most rewarding type of investing.
As for my investment philosophy, I pretty well adopt Bill Mathews "Cheap Investment" philosophy. (he has a website and the number 1 rated investment newsletter for like the last 5 years) Look for low priced stocks (generally under $5 a share) with these criteria: 1. Growing revenues and earnings (or at least shrinking losses) 2. A healthy or at least managable balance sheet (not going to need overly dilutive financining in next 6-12 months) 3. Trading at or near it's 52 week low.
Later.
Randy
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