We’re just 90 days away from Congressional mid-term elections, so it’s time to think about what that might mean for investors’ portfolios. If it becomes increasingly clear that the GOP will re-take control of one or both houses of Congress, it could provide a… Read More

As I noted earlier this week, the current market environment could prove to be a real opportunity for investors — if the economy sputters to life. And even as there’s ample reason to expect the economy and the stock market to eventually strengthen,… Read More

In the world of high-speed wireless technology, known as 4G, you can bet on two horses: WiMax, which is a long-distance version of Wi-Fi, or LTE, which stands for Long-Term Evolution. Sprint (NYSE: S) has staked its fortunes on WiMax, and has an early head start, while Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T) are expected to roll out LTE later this year and into 2011. Sprint made that WiMax bet after becoming a major shareholder in Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), a pure-play high-speed wireless provider in the process of rolling out service in major American cities. Read More

In the world of high-speed wireless technology, known as 4G, you can bet on two horses: WiMax, which is a long-distance version of Wi-Fi, or LTE, which stands for Long-Term Evolution. Sprint (NYSE: S) has staked its fortunes on WiMax, and has an early head start, while Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T) are expected to roll out LTE later this year and into 2011. Sprint made that WiMax bet after becoming a major shareholder in Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), a pure-play high-speed wireless provider in the process of rolling out service in major American cities. Trouble is, Clearwire just announced it is having second thoughts. Perhaps LTE is indeed a solid choice after all, mused company CEO Bill Morrow on a conference call with investors Wednesday night. He conceded what many industry watchers already knew: that LTE is capable of carrying much higher volumes of high-speed data than WiMax. That’s bit hard to swallow for investors, as Clearwire has already consumed massive amounts of capital with its WiMax bet. More customers = more losses Clearwire has been an impressive growth story — as long as you ignore the rest of the… Read More

For Japan, the hits keep on coming. Just last week, China knocked the country off its perch as the world’s second-largest economy, dealing a sharp blow to national pride. But this week’s news is even more sobering. The Japanese Yen is surging to a 15-year high of around 85 yen to the U.S. Dollar. Why the sharp recent move? Because the U.S. Federal Reserve has recently hinted that it may start to resume “quantitative easing,” whereby it prints money to inject funds into the financial system and spur banks to lend at greater… Read More

For Japan, the hits keep on coming. Just last week, China knocked the country off its perch as the world’s second-largest economy, dealing a sharp blow to national pride. But this week’s news is even more sobering. The Japanese Yen is surging to a 15-year high of around 85 yen to the U.S. Dollar. Why the sharp recent move? Because the U.S. Federal Reserve has recently hinted that it may start to resume “quantitative easing,” whereby it prints money to inject funds into the financial system and spur banks to lend at greater volumes. As that move potentially pushes up inflationary pressures down the road, the dollar weakens. For a country like Japan that perennially struggles to boost domestic consumption and instead relies on its major exporters, this could lead to real pain. First, its exports are quickly becoming less competitive. Second, any profits that are associated with exports will shrink at the rate that the currency is strengthening. This could not come at a worse time — Japan is wrestling with a rapidly aging workforce and surging government debt (which is far higher… Read More

At the behest of a key shareholder, bookseller Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) is in search of a potential suitor. Yet the company’s prospects are dimming, and it’s unclear if any such buyer exists. If you own this stock, look to take profits now. If you don’t, it may be… Read More

The coming months could prove to be an enticing time for investors. Many stocks are trading well off their highs under the assumption that the coming streams of economic data will prove to be disheartening. If we indeed are in for a tough slog in the months and quarters ahead,… Read More

What do Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) have in common? They are book-ends on the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s ranking of best and worst-performing stocks thus far in 2010. Boeing — up +30.4% — is seeing rising demand for airplanes, while Alcoa — off -27.0% — awaits a rebound in demand for aluminum. It’s been a mixed bag of results for this leading index, with 19 stocks rising and the other 11 losing ground since the start of the year. Company (Ticker)   Total Return… Read More

What do Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Alcoa (NYSE: AA) have in common? They are book-ends on the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s ranking of best and worst-performing stocks thus far in 2010. Boeing — up +30.4% — is seeing rising demand for airplanes, while Alcoa — off -27.0% — awaits a rebound in demand for aluminum. It’s been a mixed bag of results for this leading index, with 19 stocks rising and the other 11 losing ground since the start of the year. Company (Ticker)   Total Return YTD P/E Boeing (NYSE: BA) 30.4% 4.5 Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) 27.2% 29.0 Du Pont (NYSE: DD) 26.5% 12.5 McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) 14.4% 16.0 American Express (NYSE: AXP) 12.5% 17.0 Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) 10.6% 14.5 General Electric (NYSE: GE) 9.8% 15.0 3M (NYSE: MMM) 7.1% 15.5 Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) 6.9% 18.0 United Tech (NYSE: UTX) 5.8% 15.0 Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) 5.3% 11.5 Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG) 4.7% 16.5 Traveler’s Ins (NYSE: TRV) 3.4% 8.0 Chevron (NYSE: CVX) 2.9% 9.0 Home Depot (NYSE: HD) 2.1% 17.0 IBM (NYSE: IBM) 0.9% 12.5 Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) 0.6% 17.0… Read More

“Moving to the sidelines.” That’s a Wall Street euphemism for “we’re not sure what to make of this stock.” And that’s just what Wall Street analysts did as a group on Thursday, uniformly cutting their rating on marketing firm Vistaprint (Nasdaq: VPRT) to “hold” or “neutral”. Analysts thought the stock… Read More

Call it the winner’s curse. When companies grow at fast clip for a long time, investors come to assume they’ll never slow. Of course, all companies eventually grow too large to keep posting explosive growth. Some settle into a more moderate — but still respectable — plane of growth, while… Read More

When officers and directors decide to buy their company’s stock with their own cash, it’s invariably seen as a bullish sign for shares. Yet when they decide to sell, investors need not necessarily be overly concerned. Perhaps shares have had a nice run… Read More