Is AIG the best high-risk, best value stock out there right now? 40 cents today

[serrano2008]

Really, as much as people want/think the Govt may let AIG fail or Nationalize them, the smart money says they will not. They've pumped so much money into AIG, and AIG is getting rid of some of their toxic assets, that's it's just a waiting game at this point.

40 cents a share today. 200 shares for $80+fees.

I realize AIG is a risk, but weighing risk and value is there really any better stock out there right now?

[tekisui]

1. I really don't know, it seems tempting.

I don't seeing them being allowed to fail. But, I wonder if they could get busted up?

[MercutioATC]

2. Buy lead.

I'd put better odds on somebody discovering the Philosopher's Stone than AIG making a recovery.

...and if they don't, you could at least use it to build children's toys...

[serrano2008]

3. What's their symbol? I can't find it...

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. deleted

[MercutioATC]

7. 1 year ago, 50 bucks a share. Today, not even 50 CENTS a share.

It's a dirt cheap stock.

...so was Lehman stock and Bear stock...

[serrano2008]

8. Yeah...but....they didn't give either of those companies $130 Billion

to keep them in business.

That's the difference is that the Govt seems to be determined to do anything in their power to NOT let them fail. If they were going to give up on them they would have already done it.

I'm not saying it'll get back up to $50 a share anytime soon but if you held on to it for 3 years and it wasn't up to at least $5 a share I would be shocked. That's a 10x increase there that the Govt is giving to you in a basket.

[MercutioATC]

9. If I had a spare $20k, I'd buy a few thousand shares of AIG...and Citi...and GM...

...and a few other companies. But it would be gambling money.

On that basis, sure, go for it. I just don't believe it meets the standard of a prudent investment.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. God bless you...such optimism.

Catch a falling chainsaw, I heard someone describe it.

[TheWatcher]

14. Yes, AIG the Criminal Company that takes the Bailout from Uncle Sugar

Then throws lavish parties and engorges in self-indulgent nonsense at the expense of the rest of us.

I say Buy with Both Fists.

Although if you want to feed this kind of a criminal beast, I personally hope you lose your shirt doing it.

[serrano2008]

16. Hey, I'm just trying to make up for the money I've lost in this whole mess.

A few points here -

We're all feeding this criminal beast with our tax dollars. That's not going to change. The difference between you and I is you get on here and complain about how horrible they are and they still get your tax dollars, and I'm trying to get my tax dollars back. It's called Return On Investment.

I'm sure there are other places in your daily life where you're feeding this criminal beast as they're probably underwriting your banks/insurance/retail stores/etc. that you use. So again, we're both feeding them in our daily lives, and I'm just trying to restore some of the tens of thousands of dollars I'm down on my 401K in the past 9 months.

Ain't nobody out there looking out for you and me, we gots to look out for ourselves. It's not selfish, it's seeing an opportunity and jumping on it. We're not short selling, we buy low and sell high. It's the name of the game.

Keep us all posted when your 401K bailout money arrives...

[girl gone mad]

4. If you think you know better than the Street, go ahead.

The idea that AIG's current shareholders are going to be allowed to come out of this profitably strikes me as completely absurd, though I suppose more asinine things have happened.

I think it's more likely that today's shareholders will be wiped out and the profitable parts of AIG (the insurance arm) will be spun off into some other company not called AIG while the financial services parts will be preprivatized.

[wuvuj]

5. They are talking about the bondholders taking a loss...

...with some of these companies.

“The bond market is getting more scared every day,” said Gary Austin of PDR Advisors in Charlotte, North Carolina, who manages $450 million in fixed-income securities. “At some time, the government is going to say enough is enough, the only way we will give you more cash is if the bondholders have to be hit.” . . .

“The current prices imply that the companies’ equity is worthless, the government’s investment is worthless and subordinated debt holders will lose some of their investment,” said David Darst, an analyst at FTN Equity Capital Markets in Nashville, Tennessee.

http://baselinescenario.com/2009/03/11/bank-bonds-forced-conversion/#more-2854

[wuvuj]

13. More info on bondholders...

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22202.htm

[ipfilter]

10. AIG falls into the "Heroes or Zeros" category.

At $0.46 their shares are basically like buying LEAP calls without an expiration.

[OllieLotte]

11. It's kinda funny.

I bought AIG at $2.40 a share after the govenment announced they were going to bail them out the first time. It went past $4 a share and I think close to $5. I didn't sell and it fell back to $2.50. I was watching Cramer and he was talking about stocks in general, saying that you shouldn't buy anything you didn't understand. I sold at what I paid for it the next day. If you understand AIG, you should be running the company. No one else does and that includes the government.

[serrano2008]

15. Alright - everybody who got in with me last Thursday - when should we get out?

I got in for $87 for 200 shares last thursday.

I'm at $1.31/share today or a total of $262.

Should we get out today or see if we can squeeze some more out of this tomorrow and Friday morning?

I'm not optimistic enough to let this sit through another weekend, and 3x my money is nothing to sneeze at.

[wuvuj]

17. Ask here?

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/mb/AIG

.....good luck

[Joanne98]

18. AIG five day chart

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=AIG#chart1:symbol=aig;range=5d;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined
It's gone up a lot in the last five days. I have no idea why. it started when they announced they paid bonuses. Maybe investors thought that meant they were making good on their obligations.

It's 1.38 per share. I'd buy it on dips but be ready to sell fast if there's any trouble.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aig

[sendero]

19. Its a lottery ticket..

... if you win, you could win pretty big, but the odds against your winning are very high.

It's very unlikely that the stockholders of AIG will wind up with anything at all. Certainly if there is any justice in the world they won't.

[Joanne98]

20. AIG up 40% in pre-market

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AIG

Go figure