Jason, others may agree or disagree with what I say so do ur research.
I have no idea what ur risk tolerance is whether u are looking for divi or growth or both.
Personally, I would be staying away from the banks. I would be very wary of commodities (resources) or anything with exposure to china. In saying that, if ur looking for a resource stock and ur building ur portfolio, I would def look a BHP at sub $20 (if it gets there).
I think a beaten down stock of late to keep an eye on is Seek (SEK) for a long term hold.
REA is a good solid stock to grab if it goes sub $40. Great business with market dominance and will still do very well with a downturn in the housing market with an increase in listings.
Riskier
SOM - I hold and this has bouncer around in the past 6 months. It went to $3.10 then back to $2.50ish, then back up to $3 on some nice news. It was $3 not long ago and is now $2.30. A lot of the growth health stocks have been hammered of late giving up 5 to 7% daily in the past week. The way the market is getting smashed u may pick it up for $2.10ish. The way this thing moves it could bounce back to $3ish the way it moves on good market days.
IFM - I hold. If the market goes silly, u MAY get this in the 70's. If u can get it in the 70's u will get a growth stock paying 5-6% divi with NO DEBT. CEO recently resigned so there is that risk but it is a bit of a favourite at the moment with some brokers. Every time it gets sold down hard it bounces back just as quickly. Roger Montgomery has research on it, so check there as he is a holder.
CSL blue chip. If it gets to $80 or sub which prob won't, u could realistically get a 20% gain in a pick up in the market.
If u are new to the market, it may pay to dip ur toes and average into the market if u fear further falls.
However, I can remember being in a position. To pick up a lot of bargains when the market was 3,800. I stuffed around worrying it may drop further and before I knew it the market was 4,400 and then .......
