2011 will hopefully go down as the year the United States finally tackles its imposing budget problems. The arguing has just begun, but by the end of the year, Washington will likely have agreed to some combination of deeper budget cuts and higher taxes. As I mentioned before, inaction is no longer an option. Yet in a number of other nations, inaction remains the norm. And because of the rising imbalance between taxing and spending, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has come out… Read More

2011 will hopefully go down as the year the United States finally tackles its imposing budget problems. The arguing has just begun, but by the end of the year, Washington will likely have agreed to some combination of deeper budget cuts and higher taxes. As I mentioned before, inaction is no longer an option. Yet in a number of other nations, inaction remains the norm. And because of the rising imbalance between taxing and spending, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has come out with a forecast of which countries may be in a deep hole by 2015 if they don’t act now. But first you should know that not all countries have similar bearings on your portfolio. Yes, the larger the economy, the greater the chance a train wreck will derail the global economy. But that’s not the whole picture. Economic size counts, but it’s really about the relative wealth of a country on a per-capita basis. Countries like India and Indonesia may be among the world’s 15 largest economies, but their citizens have… Read More

There are stocks you can buy, and then there are stocks you just admire. These “admirable” companies are strong operators, generating consistent annual growth and always finding new paths to growth. But since they perennially perform so well and are so deeply admired by investors and analysts alike, you can… Read More

The Russell 2000 Index, which is comprised of companies with small market capitalizations, is always seen as a solid proxy on the domestic economy. Smaller companies, which typically have market values between $300 million… Read More

Shares of Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) remain within a few percentage points of their all-time high. The video-rental firm has had quite a run, with its shares up more than 150% in the past 12 months and nearly 1,000% in the past three years. Even lackluster forward guidance issued on the evening of Monday, April 25, only put a modest dent in this highflying stock. But behind the scenes, a major problem looms. And that problem’s name is Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Any day now, Apple is expected to announce the… Read More

Shares of Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) remain within a few percentage points of their all-time high. The video-rental firm has had quite a run, with its shares up more than 150% in the past 12 months and nearly 1,000% in the past three years. Even lackluster forward guidance issued on the evening of Monday, April 25, only put a modest dent in this highflying stock. But behind the scenes, a major problem looms. And that problem’s name is Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Any day now, Apple is expected to announce the formal  opening of a massive new data center in Maiden, N.C. This center has been ready to go for several months, with its opening possibly delayed by plans to start building an identical data center right next door. Why should investors care? Once these buildings are open for business, the entire Apple business model will see a complete overhaul. And Netflix may be in the company’s sights. For that matter,  a raft of other technology firms could see a completely altered competitive landscape as well. Before looking into Netflix, a few words about Apple. I had… Read More

The era of cost-cutting is over. This means it’s going to get harder for companies to show radical profit gains. Indeed, the pace of upside surprises in the first quarter of 2011 has modestly lagged previous quarters, according to Zacks.com. Yet some companies continue… Read More

Companies rightly see research and development (R&D) spending as a key measure of whether a product line is fresh and capable of capturing impressive pricing and margins. When that figure is low, it’s a sure sign a company is relying on older, possibly antiquated products to carry the day. And… Read More

For many decades, it was pretty easy to analyze bank stocks. You simply needed look at their balance sheets and where we stood in the economic cycle. In tougher economic times, banks stocks typically traded right down to tangible book value, as that was… Read More

In a rising market, bad news for a company can be shrugged off as investors focus on the positives. But in recent weeks, investors have been less forgiving, meting out punishment to any company that delivers bad news. Let’s take a look at all of the companies that have lost… Read More

In the past few years, we’ve discussed the importance of catalyst investing. This involves clearly identifiable events that, if they come to pass, the they’ll propel a stock sharply higher. Here are a handful of stocks that could strongly benefit… Read More

Risk equals return. It’s one of the most widely-held maxims in investing and, if you look at the numbers, the sentiment rings true. Stocks have returned about 9.5% a year since 1926, according to Ibbotson & Associates, clearly better than the roughly 5.5% return bonds have delivered annually during that… Read More