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It looks pretty certain that Google is going to purchase Feedburner for about $100 million. It’s not clear whether rumors alone have affected stock price, but my Google shares have risen a little bit today, from $470 each to $475. I know, pricey shares. I don’t have hundreds.

I call them my ‘magic bean’ shares because they have increased a lot since I bought them, at the beginning of 2005, for $180 each. It’s not magic, but it may as well be because the only reason I bought them at the time was because I ‘liked Google’ and ‘had faith’ that it was a good foot in the door of investing. Pretty lame, but luckily for me it has been a successful, if volatile, investment. I say volatile because news about Google occurs on a daily basis. Who are they buying? What are they hiding? What are they releasing? The price ebbs and flows like the tide, though it mostly hovers in the late $400s.

Rich Woman calls such stocks ‘bad boy shares‘ in an attempt to get my silly female brain to understand the market. Google’s like a bad boy: unpredictable, a little wild, a little exciting. Maybe rewarding now, but do we have a future together?

If I were to consider buying Google shares today I’d know to look at its balance sheet and income statement. How does its gross profit compare with the last quarter? How much does it invest in new projects and research? It has a much higher Price/Earnings ratio than most companies: 31.2. Does that mean it’s overvalued? Fool users have mixed opinions.

It’s risky, no doubt. I certainly wouldn’t invest all my money in Google shares, and my other funds are doing well but traveling skywards at a more leisurely and predictable pace. ‘Nice guy shares‘. You generally know where you are with them.

I certainly have much more to learn about investing yet, but I’m willing to hold on to my magic beans for some time.

What investments do you have? Are they bad boys or nice guys? Recommend any good books on trading?

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