is now a good time to buy shares?

[Smokin Joe]

I'm trying to make this post without the benefit of hindsight............

It's the number 1 rule of investment to have a diversified portfolio as possible.  Now I appreciate that Carrol appeared to invest in different sectors, but why oh why would you invest so much in one country.

I'm only a tin pot investor, but even I have a worldwide geograhipcal spread.

Unless of course he also has a shit load of investments in foreign countries as well, though it doesn't appear so based on the article.

[ludermor]

i would be very surprised if Carroll was in trouble, he would have developed sites at the very start of the boom and he bought the sites for f**k all and spent the absolute minimum buildig them He was the main driver of the inner city apartment blocks so his returns would have multplied. He has one huge development under construction at the moment in the south docklands which would be taking up a lot of resourses but he has shelved a lot of his other residental works. But it definite doesnt look good that he is raising cash in this way.
If he does go wallop there will be very few tears shed for him.

[the Deel Rover]

glad i took you advice muppett could get them shares today for €3.90 would have made a big loss

Well Deel Rover what price today?

The market is in such disarray that all sane methods of calculating the value of a business have gone out the window. Some debt-free Irish companies now have a market cap much lower than their free cash reserves!

Towards the end of the property boom the expression 'silly money' was commonly heard to describe prices.

I am beginning to believe stocks are now at silly prices by any logical analysis.

The question is though in a credit crunch do you part with your cash? 

€3.20 today muppett took yor advice the last time and left well enough alone , i remember in january i was listening to a sunday business programme and they were saying to buy boi shares that they were great value at under €10 you could buy them today for around €5.20

[Billys Boots]

Here's the 3-month share price trend for Ireland's only 'banker' stock - CRH.



Oh, and this time last year they were worth over €37.

[the Deel Rover]

glad i took you advice muppett could get them shares today for €3.90 would have made a big loss

Well Deel Rover what price today?

The market is in such disarray that all sane methods of calculating the value of a business have gone out the window. Some debt-free Irish companies now have a market cap much lower than their free cash reserves!

Towards the end of the property boom the expression 'silly money' was commonly heard to describe prices.

I am beginning to believe stocks are now at silly prices by any logical analysis.

The question is though in a credit crunch do you part with your cash? 

€3.20 today muppett took yor advice the last time and left well enough alone , i remember in january i was listening to a sunday business programme and they were saying to buy boi shares that they were great value at under €10 you could buy them today for around €5.20

shares taking another hammering today Boi down another 10% can be bought for €4.50 .

[Abble]

if you were interested in buying in BOI, I certainly wouldnt be buying at the minute....there will be worse falls than todays i would think

[Bogball XV]

Apparently Carroll dumped his FBD holdings last week too.  He sold them for approx €16 per share, don't know what the bought for, but they were offered €37 a share a few months ago from some dutch crowd in a takeover attempt.  Carroll's investments are primarily for property plays or when he hears wind of possible takeover attempts, such as FBD and Aer Lingus.  It's paid off well in the past for him as he made quite a few quid in the Jury's takeover attempt 3 years ago.
What's not known is whether he had to sell last week or whether he was doing the hardest thing in investment, taking a loss, there's not many of us who are much good at that, but it is often the most important thing.

I see as well that there are rumours that Sean Quinn is sitting on a massive paper loss on investments in Anglo Irish Bank, rumours in the Sunday Papers suggest that he could be looking at a half a billion loss since the start of the year.

[zoyler]

The reality is everybody is sitting on a loss at this stage - its just a matter of how much and how much can you stand.

At under €5 BoI must be a steal.  If nothing else they will become a target for a takeover. All you need is the guts to buy and the ability to wait for the upturn.  The market seems to be full of lemmings who are now in a complete panic totally swayed by rumours and those with the courage to buy and the ability to wait could do really well for themselves.

Stock markets have never been for the faint hearted and one should only 'play' with money you can afford.

[Croí na hÉireann]

For a complete novice, how easy is it to deal in shares online???

[FL/MAYO]

Carroll must feel that Aer Lingus will drop even further and is cutting his losses now. The airline industry is fecked worldwide with the price of fuel so high, most U.S airlines are under severe pressure at the moment. Carroll could move back into the market later and snap up some bargains that will be out there such as the banks, Aer Lingus etc.

[Bogball XV]

The reality is everybody is sitting on a loss at this stage - its just a matter of how much and how much can you stand.

At under €5 BoI must be a steal.  If nothing else they will become a target for a takeover. All you need is the guts to buy and the ability to wait for the upturn.  The market seems to be full of lemmings who are now in a complete panic totally swayed by rumours and those with the courage to buy and the ability to wait could do really well for themselves.

Stock markets have never been for the faint hearted and one should only 'play' with money you can afford.

Possibly you're right, then again you could be wrong!!

The problem is that banks are so exposed to the property sector, boi also have huge exposure to the UK property sector too - not good.  Irish banks are hit two ways because not only have they lent to individuals to buy property that is now worth less than the outstanding mortgage, but more worryingly they may also be exposed to massive hits if developers were to default on the monies lent to them to buy land banks, and of course if nobody is buying (not helped by banks being forced to make it harder to borrow) then how can developers pay back the banks?  That's before we even look at the possibility that banks may also have exposure to more US sub-prime junk.
It's also thought that in the current climate, there is no possibility that anyone would attempt a takeover of an irish bank, for the precise reasons outlined above.

[Niall Quinn]

For a complete novice, how easy is it to deal in shares online???

Very easy.
I set up an investment account with my banker (RBC) and I have complete trading functionality over the net. I get charged a fixed fee per trade ($30CAD) which can be lessened, if certain trading volume triggers are met. I find the fees associated with managing my account very reasonable when considered relative to the huge capital losses I'm racking up!! I do still think now is a great time to do some speculating though...

[The Wedger]

If Bank Of Ireland shares have fallen from from about €15 to €5 in a year, I wonder what are the chances of them rallying upwards again?
I used to watch Elan shares plunge like that and was often tempted to buy when they hit rock bottom.

[INDIANA]

they have a dividend yield of 12%, so the lack of confidence in them is astounding. They still have substantial monies out on loan that they aren't likely to see . i'd wait a bit, i think they'll fall a bit further yet.

[The Iceman]

the likes of Student Loan companies or their ultimare parent companies would be worth an investment IMO