The Festival of Stocks #91 – Israel’s Stock Market Facts Edition

This edition of the festival of stocks will be dedicated to the Israeli stock market


It’s my first time hosting the Festival of Stocks. I believe there are quite a few good posts in this addition and I had a hard time choosing my editor’s picks.

I’ve chosen to dedicate my edition of the Festival of Stocks to the Israeli stock market which has generated excellent returns in the past 5 years and serves as a growth or value investment in a developing economy with the conditions and environment of a developed market.

I’ve also chosen to comment on each post and add my point of view (where I had something of value to say).

My Picks:

Fact #1: Israel’s stock market is called The Tel Aviv stock exchange and features two prominent stock indices called the Tel Aviv 25 and Tel Aviv 100 made of the 25 and 100 companies with the highest market value. The market value of the companies traded in the Tel Aviv stock exchange is approximately $460 billion.

The Digerati Life presents an eloquent and creative post with a different perspective on bad habits and investment mistakes in From Bad Investing Habits To Investing Sins: Many Unhappy Returns.

Money Blue Book discusses a part of Warren Buffet’s investor ideology in detail in Warren Buffett’s Single Most Important Piece Of Advice For Stock Market Investors. I’d recommend following another of Warren Buffet’s advice – Work Hard. I believe he was once faced with a question regarding his value investing ideology and gave a surprisingly simple and powerful answer. The question referred to his meticulous analysis of companies, financial reports and due diligence. “There are so many companies out there, where should we start?” He was asked, “Begin with the letter A and take it from there” was his answer.

ETFtrends presents 17 Commodity ETFs to Help Hedge Your Portfolio. ETFs and indices are probably the easiest way to invest in commodities and the list provided is quite detailed and thorough. However, keep in mind it’s a risky business. I’d also consider the timing as I personally believe commodity prices are relatively high nowadays (not a professional advice of course

General Investing Ideas

Fact #2: The TA25 and TA100 generated an average yearly return of 12.4% and 12.6% since the early 1990’s with the last 5 years generating over 175% in total.

My Wealth Builder offers insight on How To Profit From Bubbles based on Bernanke’s stock market bubbles research performed in Princeton. Only thing left is to recognize the next bubble and get in and out in time.

StockWeb makes an interesting point in GDP growth vs. P/E for international ETF. However, I believe the system should be adjusted a bit. As it stands now it assumes a perpetual growth rate of a certain percent making developing countries significantly under-priced. I believe it should be adjusted to include a short-term and steady state growth rate. Adjustments to inflation are also required.

Company and Dividend Analysis

Fact #3: The Israeli stock market is always evolving with increased transparency and regulatory requirements and more complex financial products, new ETF’s and mutual funds, derivatives and more.


Old School Value performed a valuation on K-Tron in accordance with the blog’s title. It’s an interesting valuation of an interesting company. I personally enjoy the approach as a whole. Read it in depth to decide for youself.

Saving to Invest presents a way of increasing exposure to agriculture and solar energy through DuPont Stock in Playing the Agriculture & Solar boom in one safe stock. The analysis is pretty detailed and should be a good start for an investor looking to increase his share in these sectors.

Dividends 4 Life provides us with an analysis of PepsiCo Inc., dividend wise, in Stock Analysis: PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP).

Dividend Growth Investor analyzes Consolidated Edison‘s dividend in Consolidated Edison (ED) Dividend Analysis.

Fat Pitch Financials looks back at Jaclyn going private in Jaclyn, A Profitable Going Private Transaction.

Mutual Funds

Fact #4: Israel has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (after the United States) and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America.


Best No Load Mutual Funds presents a comparison between Vanguard’s passively managed index mutual funds with Vanguard’s actively managed mutual funds in Vanguard Index Mutual Funds Versus Vanguard Managed Funds. This comparison reminds me of an investment competition once held between investment and brokerage firms and a “monkey” that randomly selected assets. Guess who won.

Bull Returns asks whether mutual funds are for you? and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of investing in mutual funds.

Investment Mistakes To Avoid

Fact #5: Foreign investments in Israel’s economy are increasingly growing with prominent investors showing increased interest. Examples include HP purchase of Mercury for 4.5 Billion dollars (cash), Berkshire Hathaway’s first investment out of the US of ISCAR Metalworking for 4 billion dollars, SanDisk’s purchase of M-systems for 1.5 Billion dollars and more.

Free Stock Market Investing Tips lists 13 common Investment Mistakes To Avoid from diversification and following trends to getting attached to a stock. I personally believe the biggest investment mistake people often make is failing to realize how much there’s to learn before jumping in.

Stock Investment Tips Blog discusses the mistake of following trends in particular in Avoid Making This Key Investment Mistake.

Forex Trading

Fact #6: Dominant Israeli companies include: Generic pharmaceuticals giant TEVA, Cutting tools leader ISCAR, software and information security leader Checkpoint, defense industry’s IAI and many more.

Stock Market Investments presents a Complete guide to online Forex trading (part 1). I don’t have a lot to say about FOREX trading. I personally believe it’s very risky and controlled by professional players. I don’t believe households should risk their savings in FOREX trading. If you’re enjoying the thrills go ahead.

Forex Strategy Secrets discusses the skill required to actually earn anything trading FOREX in Which Will Win Greed or Skill?

Other Posts

Fact #7: Israel has decided on a gradual, yet swift, adoption of IFRS accounting principles increasing the uniformity with global accounting standards and the level of transparency of financial reports.

Five Cent Nickel presents The Best Online Discount Brokers (Updated).

Uncommon Cents presents a simplified basic equation to wealth in Basics: The Wealth Equation.

Images by: YehudaCo, nicasaurusrex,