With Wall Street falling around 2% on Thursday, I've spent some time getting up to speed on two stocks I really want to buy.
More on that in a moment, but first, the news…
The Aussie market unsurprisingly followed the US lead and traded lower on Friday. By the close of trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) had lost 1.4%, but was still managing to hold above the 5,500 level.
There will be many different theories and explanations for what caused the sudden sell-off, however one issue which certainly deserves some focus is the Argentinian debt crisis. 13 years ago Argentina defaulted on its debts and it appears this has just occurred again with the US Supreme Court ruling in favour of a group of hedge funds which hold a portion of Argentina's reported $200 billion of total outstanding loans.
A number of previous significant market sell-offs can be traced back to originating from individual countries experiencing sudden debt crises. Whether global markets continue to fall next week remains to be seen and while there is arguably little point trying to guess whether a crash is imminent or not, it may be a good time to dust-off your 'wishlist.'
Market crashes mean lower prices which can create fantastic buying opportunities in quality businesses for long-term investors.
So, now could be the time to think about stocks you'd love to buy, given the opportunity to pick them up at lower prices. Here are two stocks on my 'wish list'.
ResMed Inc. (CHESS) (ASX: RMD) – the share price of the breathing device manufacturer suffered a double whammy fall on Friday, suffering not just from the general market sell-off but also after reporting lacklustre sales figures. Despite the slower than anticipated sales, ResMed remains (in my view) a very high quality company, capable of retaining its high profit margins and with above average growth opportunities. A lower share price could have the stock trading at a very undemanding multiple, considering the company's intrinsic value.
Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) – with a total shareholder return (TSR) of 26.8% per annum for the past decade this is certainly one stock I wish I'd owned in the past. Ramsay's sky high multiple continues to be a discouragement, however at a lower price I'd love to purchase this stock given its high quality business, defensive streams of earnings and large pipeline of growth options.
