After absorbing events and the different ways our gov't and local and state groups and municipalities are responding to same we are going to widen our scope a bit to include the following sectors/niches (below). As I indicated in the beginning this list will be somewhat news driven and as various matters come up and begin to take on a life of their own I think it's important to nail them down and begin addressing them.
Now, as the list broadens out and additional stocks are added the portfolio may just get too damm big. I will keep adding to it for now...at some point it may have to go. I advise you to copy the portfolio from time to time and I will let you know if and when it's going to be dropped.
*water and air: safety/supply/protection....see release below and also the safety of the air we breathe has come up.
Water Supply Protection Sought
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Worried about terrorism, the nation's water system operators want $5 billion from Congress to protect drinking water and wastewater plants.
The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, which serves 160 million people, also wants $155 million - a 62-fold increase - for the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) for security planning.
Lawmakers on Wednesday were exploring whether the nation's water supplies - its web of reservoirs, rivers, dams, wastewater treatment plants, chemical operations and power plants - are at risk from terrorism.
``The answer can only be a reluctant, sobering, 'Yes,''' said Army Corps of Engineers chief Mike Parker.
Despite the potential for harm, FBI (news - web sites) intelligence and other information sources have turned up ``no specific credible threats to major waterways or distribution networks at this time,'' said Ronald L. Dick, director of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center.
A bipartisan group of 11 senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee sent Senate leaders a letter Tuesday also proposing the $5 billion among other billions of dollars in spending to boost U.S. security and to help revive the ailing economy further weakened by the Sept. 11 hijackings.
Major worries include concern that an explosion at a sewage plant along a river could contaminate the drinking water of millions downstream or that the catastrophic loss of major dams could wreak havoc on cities in the flow's path.
``The safety and security of the water infrastructure has not been a high priority in the past,'' said Rep. John Duncan (news - bio - voting record), R-Tenn., chairman of the House Transportation subcommittee. ``We hope to get some of the cities and water agencies to look more seriously at this.''
However, he added, ``Even if we spent the entire federal budget on security, we still couldn't make the country 100 percent safe from every danger or every nut that's out there. We want to do what we should be doing, but we don't want to do things that are totally unnecessary.''
In a 1998 presidential directive by then-President Clinton (news - web sites), the EPA gained responsibility for protecting the nation's water supply from terrorist attack, including biological contamination.
The agency received $2.5 million to combat bioterrorism this year.
Before that it received as little as $10,000 to protect water supply infrastructure in 1998, no funding for that purpose in 1999 and $100,000 in 2000 - money that mostly went toward assessing vulnerability and conducting a water protection workshop, according to EPA figures.
Water system operators say the EPA could use $100 million more to assess the vulnerability of the nation's largest water supply systems and $55 million more to improve an emergency response plan, developed mainly to handle natural disasters like floods and earthquakes and accidents such as hazardous waste spills.
``There is no higher priority than ensuring that EPA's mission ... extends to homeland security,'' said Marianne Horinko, EPA's assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response.
Among the critical links identified by the subcommittee were dams overseen by the Corps and nuclear, coal-fired and hydroelectric power plants operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest producer of public power.
On Sept. 11, TVA's emergency procedures - most of which remain in effect today - included dispatching 24-hour guards, helicopters fueled and put on standby, police boats next to cooling-water pumping stations and troops posted at the Army's Fort Campbell, Ky., power substation, TVA's chairman, Glenn McCullough, said.
*Biometrics:
International Biometric Group Releases Biometric Market Report 2000-2005
Biometric Industry Revenues Projected to Grow from $399 Million in 2000 to $1.9 Billion in 2005
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2001--There has been a great deal of attention on biometrics as a solution in air travel, immigration, and other areas where authentication and identification are critical.
Though biometrics have been used for years in hundreds of high-profile deployments, with millions enrolled in public and private sector biometric systems, the size, composition, and growth of the biometric industry are not widely known. Furthermore, there has been little discussion of the future applications for which biometrics are best-suited.
International Biometric Group's Biometric Market Report 2000-2005 (246 pages, 75 charts) provides a comprehensive analysis of revenues, growth trends, and industry developments in the current and future biometric marketplace. The Report is essential reading for institutions deploying biometric technology, investing in biometric companies, or developing biometric solutions.
Selected data from Biometric Market Report 2000-2005, as well as information on purchasing the report, are available at www.biometricgroup.com. Among the Report's top level findings are the following:
- Biometric revenues are expected to grow from $399.4 million in
2000 to $523.9 million in 2001, with 2005 revenues surpassing
$1.9 billion
- Large-scale public sector biometric usage, currently 70% of the
biometric market, will be surpassed by private sector deployments
by 2003
- Biometrics sales for PC/network access will reach $423 million in
2005
- The two industry verticals that will adopt biometrics most
rapidly are financial services and health care, with revenues
increasing at average annual rate of 72% and 56% respectively
The Report addresses dozens of questions and provides detailed financial statistics fundamental to understanding the biometric market:
- What factors will drive growth in key verticals such as Financial
Services, Health Care, Transportation, and Government?
- What market share will leading biometric technologies -
Finger-Scan, Facial-Scan, Iris-Scan, Voice-Scan, Hand-Scan,
Signature-Scan, Middleware, Keystroke-Scan, and AFIS -- capture
over the next five years?
- What are the projected revenues for biometric applications such
as PC/Network Access, Physical Access, Citizen Identification,
Retail/Point of Sale, e-Commerce, Surveillance, and Criminal
Identification?
- How will developments in the biometric middleware and services
market affect industry growth?
- How will revenues be generated in the biometric industry over the
next five years?
Hardware and packaged software solutions will comprise a comparatively smaller portion of biometric revenues. Instead, new service models will leverage a burgeoning biometric infrastructure comprised of finger-scan readers, telephones, signature tablets, and video cameras. Today's leading biometric companies will face increased merger and acquisition possibilities, as well as competition from much larger technology firms entering the biometric market.
The purchase price for the Report is $3995.
*Medical Devices/supplies that may come into use as a result of ANY of the sectors covered.
I hope that over the past few weeks this thread has provided some solid ideas for stocks for the coming/present conflict. I know there has been great input from many individuals posting to the thread and I want to thank everyone for adding to the mix. Time permitting I'm going to review the thread this w/e and pluck out some of those stocks from your posts and add them to the portfolio. The thread is taking up some of my time but hells bells I started it so that's my problem. So far it's manageable.
Here is the portfolio as of close 10-12..it has somehow now appeared below the intro to the thread with only TVIN in it. Maybe SI read some of my mail. To get it right I would have to re-add all stocks at their entry price w/the correct date. Don't think I can do that so BOOKMARK the portfolio URL.
siliconinvestor.com
Just a reminder to all that buying ANY stock without doing your due diligence can lead to disaster. The material I put up about a company is from either their SEC filings or their press releases. But it is not ALL the material simply because of space limitations. You have really got to go thru everything a company has out here in print, go thru their www sites, call them if necessary if you have some questions. Plus remember that I am singling out the aspects of the company that fit the criteria in the intro…not necessarily their whole financial picture.
In some cases I am waiting till we see a confirming PR from a company ref their business in the sectors outlined in the intro and in other cases I am assuming quite a bit from what the company already has done in the past. But in all cases I am not presenting enough to make an investment decision on...you have to do that yourself.
Also please remember that volatility is going to be a way of life with these stocks as they will be news driven and that means you can get HURT by sudden swings or sways.
So, again I remind you...be careful out here. Do your own research. Don’t be swayed by what I or others write. Don’t invest more than you can lose. These stocks are not a game...it’s real money and real profits AND losses.
-a lot of this is mania buying and the stocks COULD come down as fast as they went up...at least those that have moved the farthest on a % basis. On the other hand this war and the repercussions on the defense budget and homeland defense in terms of billions to be spent over next few years is also something to consider...a sell call is always tough.
-take profits...at least part of your position
-give some money to your favorite local charity or one you have favored over the years. If you have been buying some of these stocks you probably have turned some profits...so, let's you and I agree that we are going to share some of our good fortune with those who are not as fortunate. My own favorites are Save the Children, Doctors without Borders, Habitat for Humanity and our local Capuchin soup kitchen. You just don't know how far they can stretchhhhhh a dollar...it pays off in so many ways.
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