To top it all off, I will be traveling all of next week. (If you have any advice on Newport, Rhode Island, I’m all ears.) I was planning to host the next Festival of Stocks, but it will be a challenge to post it while I’m traveling. If you are interested in hosting the upcoming Festival of Stocks, I’d really appreciate the help. Just drop me a quick note if you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Festival of Stocks.

After you polish off the Festival of Stocks, you might want to also check out the latest Carnival of Personal Finance at MoneyNing. MoneyNing was kind enough to include my recent article, “Tax Reminder for Arbitrage Investors: Deduct Reorganization Fees.” The editor’s choice articles for the week include, Bargaineering’s  Augment Yourself, Not Your Résumé and Moolanomy’s I Am Just A Blogger, Damn It!

The Carnival of Personal Finance is also up at Wide Open Wallet. My post regarding my thought on the risk of deflation decreasing was accepted under the Taxes and the Economy section.

Both blog carnivals were packed with great articles.

I’ve fallen behind on my personal finance reading lately. In order to get up to speed, I’ve started reading through today’s Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by MoneyNing. I was happy to see that the Carnival of Personal Finance is once again also including a healthy dose of investing articles too. What other blog carnivals are folks reading now a days?

Disclosure: I own shares of Microsoft (MSFT). I don’t own shares of CTC Media.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts to their intrinsic value and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities. Help support Fat Pitch Financials by subscribing to my low cost unique service that many discover will pay for itself.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here is a quick run down of this week’s stock related blog posts:

• Bank ETFs posted at Deep Value Dividends.
• Top Banks of the World available as ADRs posted at TopForeignStocks.com.
• The Big Mac Index - Applying Simple Economic Common Sense posted at The Personal Financier.
• 5 Advantages of Mechanical Investing posted at MagicDiligence.
• Stock Analysis: Miller Industries Pt 1 – Co. Overview posted at Bootstrap Investing.
• 5 Best Gold Investment Plays posted at Contrarian Profits.
• Is Pfizer (PFE) a value trap for investors? posted at Dividend Growth Investor.
• ShengdaTech Inc, A Small Cap Gem from China? posted at A Slacker’s Quest for His First Million.
• iStar Financial Inc. (SFI) Update posted at Dividends 4 Life.
• Ouch- CROX Just Taught Me A Lesson posted at Stock Investment.
• Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund ETF (DVY) Analysis posted at Deep Value Dividends.
• Stock Market Diversification Works! The Proof posted at The Digerati Life.
• Book Review: Profit from the Peak posted at College Analysts.
• Facing Reality Can Be Good posted at My Wealth Builder.
• If Health Care stocks Rally then Buy UnitedHealth Group posted at The StockMasters.
• What are My Investments and How are They Doing So Far? posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page.

If you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, please visit the schedule to find a free slot. Then contact me with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date of the Festival you wish to host.

I’m actually participating in Geoff’s new Security Analysis reading group. It just got started, so it is not too late to join. Just start by reading the first homework assignment. Then read the preface and chapter 1 of Benjamin Graham’s 1940 edition of Security Analysis and you will be all caught up with the group.

If you finish all that reading, visit the Festival of Stocks homepage to review past editions of this unique financial blog carnival.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities. Help support Fat Pitch Financials by subscribing to my low cost unique service that many discover will pay for itself.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s stock related blog posts:

Gannon On Investing presents Blogger Roundtable: July 2008. Geoff Gannon interviews four bloggers, including myself, on current market conditions. It is very interesting to compare how different investment bloggers react to the same question.

Dividend Money presents Colgate Washes Up Another Dividend. A look inside the dividend investment potential of Colgate and why it may be a great investment in a troubled market.

The Digerati Life presents The Optimal Foreign Investment Allocation. Silicon Valley Blogger examines how much of your portfolio should be in international stocks.

The StockMasters presents Todd Sullivan’s thoughts on Sears Holdings (SHLD). An interview with Todd Sullivan on the merits of Sears Holdings.

Money Smart Life presents Stock Market Investing 101 – How Does the Stock Market Work? : Money Smart Life. An introduction to how stock markets work.

The Shark Investor presents I’d Be The Growlingest Bear on the Internet If Only I Were a Bear. Rob Bennett writes, “I believe that we should buy stocks in the same way we buy everything else we buy, with a consciousness of the importance of the price we are paying.” Wise words! (I love the header image on this blog.)

Bootstrap Investing presents Lessons from an Index Fund. He writes, “In the interest of furthering my own knowledge (and maybe advancing marital accord as well), I thought I’d investigate what an individual stock picker might learn from an Index Fund?” He shares his observations and lessons from his investigation.

MagicDiligence presents Using the Magic Formula with a Dividend Strategy. The Magic Formula screen is not just for Joel Greenblatt’s strategy. This article examines why it also lends well to a dividend based, income investing strategy.

Deep Value Dividends presents Dividend ETFs. A list of high yielding EFTs and their exposure to the financial sector.

Contrarian Profits presents The U.S. Financial System Is Beyond Credibility Now. A grim article on how bad things may get in the U.S. market. Let’s hope this author is wrong.

Dividends4Life presents Stock Analysis: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW). A detailed analysis of Lowe’s that indicates this is a stock worth considering.

Sox First presents Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fallout – the questions continue. “The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Max continue to raise questions. What are the long-term prospects for these GSEs? Is the US Government approach like sticking a band-aid on a machine gun wound?”

College Analysts presents Banks That Are Not Wells Fargo (WFC) or US Bancorp (USB) Guilty Until Proven Innocent.  ”Bank stocks rallied last week after Wells Fargo and US Bancorp reported their earnings. The problem with that? Those other banks aren’t in the same league. Here’s why.”

Fat Pitch Financials presents Mosaic Chapter 24: Computer Associates – A Good Business Model Gone Awry. This is part of my series called Poor Man’s Mosaic that provides links to the complete text of many of the chapter’s of Mohnish Pabrai book Mosaic and summaries of the chapters not available online.

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks will be hosted by Geoff Gannon at Gannon On Investing. If you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, please visit the schedule to find a free slot. Then contact me with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host.

If you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, please contact me. Details regarding this blog carnival are described at the Festival of Stocks page where you can find links to past editions and submit article suggestions for next week’s Festival of Stocks.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and Graham style workouts. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my blog feed to keep up with my latest postings.

You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities. Help support Fat Pitch Financials by subscribing to my low cost unique service that many discover will pay for itself. Subscription prices are going up at the end of this week, so take advantage of the current low price now before inflation strikes again.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s stock related blog posts:

Fat Pitch Financials presents Fat Pitch Financials Portfolio Mid-Year Update 2008. The portfolio performed better than the S&P 500 this past month but the rest of the numbers are still pretty ugly.
Stocks: WEST, WU, MSFT, BR, BID, PRXI, KFT, MHP, LENS, USB, PFE, USG, MWRK

Controlled Greed.com presents “Life of the Blog” Stock Picks Average +8.84% Through the Second Quarter of 2008. Here’s another value bloggers portfolio performance report.
Stocks: GM, FFH, NIKOY, TAP.B, DTV, LMDIA, LINTA, LCAPA, USMO, CMCSA, DECK, CBS, MWA, BCE, WLT, FL, AEO, WHR, ODP, MLEAY, SUP, CSWC, KG

Dividends 4 Life presents Stock Analysis: Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF). The analysis of this insurance holding company indicates that this is a four-star stock.
Stocks: CINF

Dividend Growth Investor presents Carlisle Companies (CSL) Dividend Analysis. This construction materials company appears attractively valued to the dividend growth investor.
Stocks: CSL

TheStockMasters presents Steel is on sale: Nucor, Cleveland-Cliffs and more. This article explores whether this could be an attractive point to enter into steel stocks.
Stocks: NUE, CLF, X, MEA

The Digerati Life presents A Stock Market Reality Check: What Investment Risk Actually Looks Like. Some great images of market fear… maybe now is a great time to get greedy. The article includes a good list of what to do when facing this market fear.

Rich Credit Debt Loan presents 3 Habits of a Smart Investor. I’d scrap these three habits and instead study Warren Buffett’s habits. “Going with your gut,” is not the way to go. The research in behavioral science clearly indicates that trusting your gut is the wrong thing to do.

Modern Graham presents Morningstar Investment Conference. This is part four of the live blogging from this fascinating investment conference.

Finally, Gannon On Investing presents On Blogging. It’s a challenge to maintain an investment blog. Many former good investment blogs have stopped updating. Geoff shares his thoughts on why this might be happening based on his own experience.

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. I hope everyone enjoyed the long 4th of July holiday weekend in the United States.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks is looking for a home. If you are interested in hosting a future edition of the Festival of Stocks, please visit the schedule to find a free slot. Then contact me with the name of your site, blog URL, email address, and the date your prefer to host.

I’m looking for a host for next week’s Festival of Stocks. Please contact me if you are interested.

We need hosts for the upcoming editions of the Festival of Stocks. Please contact me if you are interested in taking advantage of this great opportunity.

If you aren’t already familiar with my blog, Fat Pitch Financials, it is a value investing blog with a focus on wide moat companies selling at substantial discounts and special situations. I encourage you to subscribe for free to my feed to keep up with my latest postings. You should also check my Fat Pitch Financials Contributor’s Corner while you are here. It is my premium members only community dedicated to unique arbitrage and special situation opportunities. Help support Fat Pitch Financials by subscribing to my low cost unique service that many discover will pay for itself. Subscription prices are going up at the end of this week, so take advantage of the current low price now before inflation strikes again.

Now that you are familiar with Fat Pitch Financials, let’s take a look at this week’s Festival of Stock participants. Here are this week’s stock related blog posts:

Fat Pitch Financials presents Special Situations Real Money Portfolio 2008 Mid-Year Report.
The Special Situations Real Money Portfolio is back on track to earning more than a 20% CAGR. Going private transactions and tender offers continue to deliver returns even in this hostile market.
Stocks: LO, LTR

Controlled Greed.com presents Buying King Pharmaceuticals.
John Bethel posts the reasoning behind his latest portfolio addition.
Stocks: KG

Contrarian Value Investing presents We want more Ken Heebner!
A look at little known fund manager Ken Heebner that includes link to some interviews with this high performing investor.

Fruad Files Blog presents Overstock.com is doing better if EBITDA is worse than they reported?
An interesting look at the issue of Overstock.com’s overstated EBITDA numbers. I continue to be amazed at the number of issues that keep coming up with Overstock.
Stocks: OSTK

MagicDiligence presents Magic Formula Stocks That Aren’t.
Using alternative screens that mimic the Magic Formula Investing strategy can lead to interesting investment opportunities not uncovered at the official site.
Stocks: Too many to list.

Dividends 4 Life presents Discounted Cash Flow Model (DCF).
This article includes a discounted cash flow spreadsheet and a description of how this particular model works. I love valuation spreadsheets so I’ll be download this one soon to play around with it.

Aussie Investing presents Australian Stock Market Basics. This post provides an introduction to the Australian Stock Market. Whether you’re an Australian looking to invest locally or your just someone looking to invest internationally, this post covers the basics.

RaagVamdatt Financial Planning Demystified presents Stock Split or Bonus – Reason enough to cheer? 
Bottom line: “And, as you would have rightly guessed by now, there is no fundamental reason for the market to cheer a stock split.”

SharpBrains presents Your Brain On Trading 101.
A trader and neurologist introduces us to the world of the Brain on Trading and the differences between expert and novice traders.

The StockMasters presents Under Armour (UA) held back by the Shorts.
Frank Lara Jr looks at Under Armor and concludes, “UA is a great company, has an incredible story but that doesn’t add up to a safe investment for the time being.”
Stocks: UA

Saving to Invest presents Oh no….I just bought $16K worth of Apple and am already down $300! 
Andy’s recent experience around buying Apple (AAPL) stock. I hope he discovers value investing soon to help avoid future losses from emotional trading in “glamour” stocks.
Stocks: AAPL

A Slacker’s Quest for His First Million presents Pfizer: How Low Will It Go? 
He talks about Pfizer’s current woes, wondering whether it’s a good time to buy. I’m wondering about the same thing. Time to average down?
Stocks: PFE

Financial Zip presents Creating A Stock Portfolio.
Brice Hogan is considering becoming full-time professional investor, so he shares some basic steps on how to set up a portfolio.

Stock Market Investing For Beginners presents Investing In The Stock Market. This article provides some tips for investing in the stock market. By taking a long term view, planning your investment strategy and sticking to your plan, investing in the stock market can be a great way to build wealth.

Trader’s Narrative presents Price Of Oil: Manipulation? Bubble? Supply/Demand? Taking a look at the long term chart of crude oil, adjusted for inflation in an attempt to explain the current price behavior.

The Wealth Accumulator presents Thinking about growth.
Enoch Ko believes forecasting past growth into the future on a linear basis is “dangerous”, especially when past growth rate has been high.
Stocks: KTII

Sox First presents Lehman: Is this a Bear Stearns replay?
All eyes are on Lehman Brothers tanking. Leon Gettler wonders, “Is this a Bear Stearns replay?”
Stocks: LEH, BSC

The Dividend Guy Blog presents Dividend Stock Wednesday: Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB-N).
Dividend analysis of Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark.
Stocks: KMB

Money Blue Book presents How To Open A Roth IRA Account And Which Broker To Use.
Some information that every prospective Roth IRA investor and account holder should know.

Dividend Growth Investor presents Commerce Bancshares (CBSH) Dividend Analysis.
“The company has been increasing its dividends for the past 40 consecutive years. Over the past 10 years the stock has delivered an average total return of 7.20% annually to its loyal shareholders.”
Stocks: CBSH

Living Off Dividends presents How To Invest In Foreign Currencies & Foreign Stocks.
This article list four easy ways to invest outside the United States.

KCLau’s Money Tips presents Investment-linked funds performance last year. 
I’m personally not a fan of insurance policies that are treated as investments, but if you are, this post discusses the formats of investment-linked insurance performance results.

ETFs & Funds

FIRE Finance presents Vanguard’s Managed Payout Mutual Funds – A Primer.

Poor Brother Tom presents Sector Analysis using ETFs.

Uncommon Cents presents Working Backwards: What’s an Expense Ratio?

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That concludes this edition of the Festival of Stocks. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of Stocks using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Festival of Stocks index page.

If you own a blog, please share this week’s Festival of Stocks with your readers by linking to this post (especially if you participated in this week’s Festival). Next week’s Festival of Stocks will be hosted by Under The Buttonwood Tree. After that, we are looking for volunteers to host the June 23rd Festival of Stocks and beyond. If you own a stock related blog, hosting the Festival of Stocks is a great way to let the world know about your blog since the Festival of Stocks is widely sited by other blogs.

Next week’s Festival of Stocks will be right here at Fat Pitch Financials. For information on how to submit an entry for consideration, please visit the Festival of Stocks index page.

• Value Investing Always Bounces Back
• How to Turn $5000 into $22 million? Lessons From One Successful Individual Investor
• 7 Compelling Reasons Why Long Term Investing Is Better Than Short Term Trading
• Phil Fisher on range-bound investing
• Book Review: The Future for Investors by Jeremy Siegel

If you liked these posts, be sure to check out the past editions at the Festival of Stocks homepage. There you will also find out how to submit your posts for consideration for next week’s Festival of Stocks or even how to host your own edition of the Festival of Stocks.

I hope next week’s edition brings in just as many articles analyzing stocks. Be sure to visit the Festival of Stocks homepage to learn how to submit entries for next week’s Festival.

Finance ViewPoint highlighted three editor’s picks: Allocate 50% to Non-U.S. Stocks, According to Wharton Professor, Let Volatility Be Your Friend, and Dividend Stock Wednesday: Hasbro (HAS-N). My Ultimate 2008 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting Guide was also included in the Festival of Stocks. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.

As always, you can catch up on past editions by visiting the Festival of Stocks homepage. There you can also learn how to submit entries for consideration for next week’s Festival of Stocks and you can also find information on how to host a Festival of Stocks on your own blog.

If you want to catch up on past editions of this blog carnival, visit the Festival of Stocks index page. There you can find links to the previous 85 editions of the Festival of Stocks. You can also learn how to host a future edition of the Festival and how to properly submit your stock related blog posts for next week’s Festival of Stocks.