Here are some hot investment ideas from The Motley Fool's discussion boards.
The Motley Fool's discussion boards are a great source of investment ideas. Snag is, it can take a long time to dig up the best tips. So, to save you time, here are three of my favourite share suggestions currently circulating in the Fool community.
Touchstone
(LSE: TSE)
Touchstone is a small, growing software company which released an excellent trading statement yesterday.
Unsurprisingly, the news triggered a 10% rise in the share price to 185.5p, but even after those gains, Touchstone still trades on a price/earnings ratio of just 10 for this year. That's pretty attractive for a business where earnings are expected to jump 35% this year followed by a 19% rise next year. And I wouldn't be surprised if analysts moved their forecasts higher after yesterday's statement.
Even better, Touchstone is cash generative and has a sound balance sheet with net cash of £3.1m -- not bad for a £22m company.
A group of keen Fools visited Touchstone last month and this report by AliceinWonder1 is well worth reading. The post highlights Touchstone's impressive record of rising turnover every year since 1982, but also points out that margins have been more erratic, even if they are moving in the right direction at the moment.
Another concern is that Touchstone is a small business playing in a big boys' world. It's attempting to move upmarket and win bigger contracts; there's a risk the directors are being too ambitious. Still, there's much to like here and I can understand why some Fools are so enthusiastic.
Renewable Energy Holdings
(LSE: REH)
I'm pretty sure there are going to be some big winners in alternative energy over the next ten years. I also fear there will be some big losers too. So any investment in this area is risky, but Renewable Energy Holdings looks promising.
This post by Geddinquick is a nice introduction to the company. It only listed on AIM in 2005 and has bought several green energy businesses since then. The most exciting part of the business is CETO, a wave energy system that places diaphragms on the sea bed which then pipe "high-pressure seawater" onshore. That water is then used to generate electricity and is desalinated at the same time.
CETO is yet to make money although REH is generating some revenue from other operations.
Still, this is very much a "jam tomorrow" play which could easily end in disaster. I would only consider making a modest investment in this one.
Falcon Oil and Gas
I've written about Falcon before. It's a Canadian energy company which has a very busy discussion board here at Fool.co.uk. You can currently only buy shares on Toronto's TSX Venture Exchange, but a listing on AIM may come soon.
I can understand why some Fools are so enthusiastic. Falcon is exploring a promising gas field in Hungary called the Mako Trough which may have substantial reserves of gas -- perhaps 40 tcf (trillion cubic feet.)
However, more drilling work needs to be done before we know if the field is a commercial prospect, and progress has been slower than expected. What's more, there's a significant chance that shareholders will be disappointed when the results do eventually come. This remains an exciting but high-risk bet.
What now?
If you've been attracted by any of these share ideas, then why not spend some time on The Fool's discussion boards? Maybe you'll find a hidden gem that I haven't yet spotted.
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