Many companies are handling these tough times in a defensive crouch. Keeping sales stable and expenses at a minimum enables them to survive until the economy gets back on its feet. But select companies are able to take advantage of these challenging times, aggressively… Read More

A fair number of initial public offerings (IPOs) have flourished in this choppy market . Indian travel site MakeMyTrip (Nasdaq: MMYT), up as much as +66% in its first day of trading Thursday, and rental housing software firm RealPage (Nasdaq: RP), up +30%, are two of the latest examples. Read More

Depending on your investment style, either growth stocks or value stocks likely hold greater appeal. But sometimes you don’t have to choose. On rare occasion, a stock can represent the best of both worlds. These GARP (Growth at a Reasonable Price) stocks tend… Read More

Bearish comments from analysts at JP Morgan and Robert W. Baird this week regarding tech spending has put an already-weak sector under even greater pressure. Major tech names like Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) are retreating from recent gains and some tech stocks are quickly falling into the abyss. On Tuesday, shares of Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX), and Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) all hit 52-week lows. For existing shareholders, it’s fair to wonder if it’s time to cut their losses. And for investors that have… Read More

Bearish comments from analysts at JP Morgan and Robert W. Baird this week regarding tech spending has put an already-weak sector under even greater pressure. Major tech names like Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) are retreating from recent gains and some tech stocks are quickly falling into the abyss. On Tuesday, shares of Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX), and Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) all hit 52-week lows. For existing shareholders, it’s fair to wonder if it’s time to cut their losses. And for investors that have avoided this sector as it has tumbled, do these newly-cheapened stocks signal it’s time to jump in? Let’s take a look… Applied Materials One of the key challenges for all tech stocks involves the steep peaks and dips in revenue and profit streams. With such robust swings, investors always apply relatively low multiples. In the area of semiconductors, investors are often even more wary, as capital spending cycles enter into boom and bust cycles with alarming frequency. Applied Materials, for example, saw sales plunge -38% in fiscal (October) 2009, yet… Read More

In the battle for television viewers against traditional cable companies, the country’s two-leading satellite cable providers have been engaged in a low-grade war these past years. With each passing quarter, either DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) or Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) scores a direct hit. Both fighters benefit while the industry is… Read More

While the United States, China and Japan duke it out for the top three economic slots in the global economy, Germany has settled in as number four. And from where investment pros sit in Bonn, that’s a pretty nice place to be. While China wrestles with possible bubbles, Japan tackles deflation and the United States frets about its government spending, Germany has spent much of the last few years away from the headlines. But behind the scenes, the country is undergoing a powerful export-led transformation that should catch… Read More

While the United States, China and Japan duke it out for the top three economic slots in the global economy, Germany has settled in as number four. And from where investment pros sit in Bonn, that’s a pretty nice place to be. While China wrestles with possible bubbles, Japan tackles deflation and the United States frets about its government spending, Germany has spent much of the last few years away from the headlines. But behind the scenes, the country is undergoing a powerful export-led transformation that should catch the attention of investors here in the United States as well. According to just-released data from Germany’s Federal Statistics Bureau, German exports are currently rising at a +25% to +30% clip compared to a year ago. That’s a remarkable feat when considering that most of its major trading partners appear too sickly to absorb all that trade. The export surge is due to a bit of methodical planning and a bit of serendipity. To be sure, German policy planners have always made sure that business conditions remain favorable by providing a very strong economic and trade infrastructure. Read More

Sometimes an investment looks like a no-brainer — until you dig a little deeper. On the face of it, Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) looks like one heckuva stock. The company offers insurance policies for bond buyers, focusing on the state and local municipal bond business. It’s a good business in normal times and a great business right now, thanks to especially high premiums to insure these increasingly risky bonds. Assured’s two main rivals, MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Ambac Financial (NYSE: ABK) are… Read More

Sometimes an investment looks like a no-brainer — until you dig a little deeper. On the face of it, Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) looks like one heckuva stock. The company offers insurance policies for bond buyers, focusing on the state and local municipal bond business. It’s a good business in normal times and a great business right now, thanks to especially high premiums to insure these increasingly risky bonds. Assured’s two main rivals, MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Ambac Financial (NYSE: ABK) are on the ropes, enabling the company to steal market share. Assured reported second-quarter profits last week of $0.91 a share, roughly +30% ahead of consensus forecasts and a company record since being spun-off from insurance giant ACE (NYSE: ACE) in 2004. And even after a nice double-digit gain on Friday, shares trade for just 80% of book value or about six times likely 2010 profits and 4.5 times expected 2011 profits. The “potential” in this case depends on… Read More

Walking by my firm’s trading desk in 2008, I overheard some chuckling. Turns out, a pair of traders were having a laugh fulfilling a client’s seemingly foolish “buy” order for shares of Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX). They wondered if the client had… Read More

There are so many crosscurrents in the U.S. economy right now that the stock market has no idea where it wants to go. Every trading day, we get a new set of items to digest that sets a short-term trend for the market. As… Read More

Over the course of June, the market swooned on fears that the economy was on a downward path. And sure enough, the economic data have indeed been sobering. Just this morning, we learned that the economy created a paltry 71,000 private sector jobs, and the unemployment rate seems to be stuck in the 9.5% area. When you consider that the U.S. population grows by about two million per year, it’s clear that we’d need to see roughly 200,000 jobs created every month to help bring down unemployment. Read More

Over the course of June, the market swooned on fears that the economy was on a downward path. And sure enough, the economic data have indeed been sobering. Just this morning, we learned that the economy created a paltry 71,000 private sector jobs, and the unemployment rate seems to be stuck in the 9.5% area. When you consider that the U.S. population grows by about two million per year, it’s clear that we’d need to see roughly 200,000 jobs created every month to help bring down unemployment. And that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. Yet investor sentiment toward this bleak set of news seems to have made an about face. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were each off around -0.5% on the weak employment news, indicating that fewer investors are fleeing the market whenever a bleak economic report hits the tape. Tepid economic data in the near-term is now to be expected, and as long as the economy doesn’t slide back into recession, investors may actually start to see the glass as half-full rather than empty. It’s important to remember that… Read More