It’s the feel-good story of 2013 that nobody is talking about. The nation’s budget deficit, which had been spiraling out of control, is finally returning to manageable levels. Thanks to higher government revenues and lower government spending, this… Read More

Here at StreetAuthority, we’re always on the lookout for catalysts that can help deliver quick and robust gains for a stock. Often, these catalysts are hidden from view, and we have to dig deep to spot them.  Other times, these catalysts stare us right in the face. They are practically begging to be noticed, even as the rest of the market may be focusing elsewhere. Robert Benmosche, the… Read More

Here at StreetAuthority, we’re always on the lookout for catalysts that can help deliver quick and robust gains for a stock. Often, these catalysts are hidden from view, and we have to dig deep to spot them.  Other times, these catalysts stare us right in the face. They are practically begging to be noticed, even as the rest of the market may be focusing elsewhere. Robert Benmosche, the CEO of American International Group (NYSE: AIG), went on CNBC in May and laid out a pair of time-tested stock catalysts: “As we continue to work on our capital plan and work with the Federal Reserve, our next priority would be to put a dividend on the stock, because we think that will increase the potential buyers. We’re also looking at potential stock buybacks as we progress through the… Read More

We’re coming up on the five-year anniversary of an epic global economic meltdown. And while many major European companies are still struggling with weak demand, U.S. rivals have fared better, thanks to a slightly perkier U.S. economy. Yet you won’t find the executives… Read More

Even as the S&P 500 has risen 20% over the past 12 months, the champagne is really flowing in Japan, where the Nikkei index is up a stunning 60%.#-ad_banner-# But it’s time to put the cork back in the bottle. As my colleague Joseph Hogue recently noted, the Japanese economy holds the risk of a deep blow-up. Joseph focused on Japan’s potentially ruinous debt load and didn’t even touch… Read More

Even as the S&P 500 has risen 20% over the past 12 months, the champagne is really flowing in Japan, where the Nikkei index is up a stunning 60%.#-ad_banner-# But it’s time to put the cork back in the bottle. As my colleague Joseph Hogue recently noted, the Japanese economy holds the risk of a deep blow-up. Joseph focused on Japan’s potentially ruinous debt load and didn’t even touch on two other major concerns. First, Japan’s decision to end its use of nuclear power is leading to a massive spike in fossil fuel imports. Japan now looks set to run massive trade deficits far into the future. Second, Japan is aging fast. Consider these stats: Roughly 23% of Japan’s citizens are now over 65, up from 11.6% in 1989. This figure is set to keep rising. (As a point of reference, roughly 14% of all Americans are over 65, and this percentage is expected to rise to 20% by… Read More

If you regularly shop at department store chain Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), you may have spotted an unusual merchandising misstep in the spring of 2012. The retailer, which had built a longstanding reputation for solid designs, good quality and reasonable prices, started to carry less appealing merchandise that spring. Many shoppers browsed but went home empty-handed.#-ad_banner-# Just a few months later, you would have seen this problem appear on Kohl’s financial statements. In the second quarter of fiscal 2012 (ended July 30, 2012), Kohl’s unsold inventory of… Read More

If you regularly shop at department store chain Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), you may have spotted an unusual merchandising misstep in the spring of 2012. The retailer, which had built a longstanding reputation for solid designs, good quality and reasonable prices, started to carry less appealing merchandise that spring. Many shoppers browsed but went home empty-handed.#-ad_banner-# Just a few months later, you would have seen this problem appear on Kohl’s financial statements. In the second quarter of fiscal 2012 (ended July 30, 2012), Kohl’s unsold inventory of goods stood at $3.5 billion, or 83% of that company’s quarterly sales base. Just a year earlier, that percentage stood at 73%. Investors willing to take the time to track this retailer’s inventory levels (as a percentage of sales) were the first ones to realize that Kohl’s was in trouble. By the time the next quarter’s results came out, this balance sheet ratio had swelled to a company record 107%. (What that means is that the company had more inventory than… Read More

For the past few years, there’s been an anomaly in the global oil industry. Brent crude oil, which comes from the Middle East, Africa and Europe, has been far more expensive than West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, which is drilled right here in the U.S. Both Brent and WTI are known as light, sweet crude, which means they are easily processed into gasoline, diesel and other distillates. So why had Brent been trading for up to $20 more per barrel than WTI? Blame it on geography.#-ad_banner-# Although the U.S. has tapped into a mother… Read More

For the past few years, there’s been an anomaly in the global oil industry. Brent crude oil, which comes from the Middle East, Africa and Europe, has been far more expensive than West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, which is drilled right here in the U.S. Both Brent and WTI are known as light, sweet crude, which means they are easily processed into gasoline, diesel and other distillates. So why had Brent been trading for up to $20 more per barrel than WTI? Blame it on geography.#-ad_banner-# Although the U.S. has tapped into a mother lode of oil in the past few years, much of the produced oil had nowhere to go. Storage hubs were filled to capacity as a lack of pipelines kept all of the oil from flowing to U.S. Gulf Coast, the West Coast and the East Coast, where many oil refineries are located. All that has changed. The opening of many new pipelines in recent quarters has enabled the oil to start flowing more quickly, and as refiners boost demand for WTI crude and seek less Brent crude… Read More

To paraphrase an old Wall Street advertisement, when Seth Klarman speaks, people listen. He tends to shy away from most investment conferences, but when he does hold court, it’s standing room only. And for good reason. His book, “Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor,” is considered to be a classic of the modern era, fetching more than $1,000 on Amazon.com, now that it is out of print.  And he backs up… Read More

To paraphrase an old Wall Street advertisement, when Seth Klarman speaks, people listen. He tends to shy away from most investment conferences, but when he does hold court, it’s standing room only. And for good reason. His book, “Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor,” is considered to be a classic of the modern era, fetching more than $1,000 on Amazon.com, now that it is out of print.  And he backs up his words with numbers. The hedge fund manager has racked up 20% annualized gains for nearly three decades. Outside of the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, such sustained greatness is hard to find. What is Klarman’s secret? Identifying value investments that have a built in margin of safety. He will only make an investment if he is extremely confident that the investment won’t lose much value, even if his initial… Read More

In any industry, investors weigh the relative merits of the best growth stocks versus the best value stocks. And in the race to tap into the burgeoning natural gas vehicle market, the growth stock has typically ruled the day. Westport Innovations (Nasdaq: WPRT) has become quite well known among energy industry investors while rival Fuel Systems Solutions (Nasdaq: FSYS), a struggling value stock, disappeared off radars. Back in April, I suggested that investors should give Fuel Systems Solutions a fresh… Read More

In any industry, investors weigh the relative merits of the best growth stocks versus the best value stocks. And in the race to tap into the burgeoning natural gas vehicle market, the growth stock has typically ruled the day. Westport Innovations (Nasdaq: WPRT) has become quite well known among energy industry investors while rival Fuel Systems Solutions (Nasdaq: FSYS), a struggling value stock, disappeared off radars. Back in April, I suggested that investors should give Fuel Systems Solutions a fresh look, as a solid near-term catalyst was in place: GM (NYSE: GM) was gearing up to launch new pickup trucks with Fuel Systems’ compressed natural gas (CNG) engines. And shares are up more than 30% since then. I still think Fuel Systems is a solid investment opportunity, but I also think it’s time to give Westport — the former industry high-flier — a fresh look. While shares of Fuel Systems have been surging, shares of Westport Innovations have been sliding. But… Read More

The first rule of business is customer diversification. You should never have just one major customer, just in case that relationship sours. But what happens if you have only one key customer — and that customer steals… Read More

As Standard & Poor’s gears up to prep the next group of companies to join the S&P 500, investors are trying to game the system by buying stocks that have a strong chance of graduating into this famous… Read More