Every U.S. state boasts its own unique claim to fame. Louisiana has Mardi Gras and Cajun food. Florida has sugar-white beaches and Disney World. And Alaska has millions of acres of beautiful, untamed wilderness. Of course, Alaska also has something else deep underground: Crude oil — lots of it. Every day, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline carries about 670,000 barrels of oil from North Slope production grounds south to Valdez, where it’s loaded into waiting tankers. That represents about 15% of the nation’s total oil output. Thanks to the riches of Prudhoe Bay,… Read More

Every U.S. state boasts its own unique claim to fame. Louisiana has Mardi Gras and Cajun food. Florida has sugar-white beaches and Disney World. And Alaska has millions of acres of beautiful, untamed wilderness. Of course, Alaska also has something else deep underground: Crude oil — lots of it. Every day, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline carries about 670,000 barrels of oil from North Slope production grounds south to Valdez, where it’s loaded into waiting tankers. That represents about 15% of the nation’s total oil output. Thanks to the riches of Prudhoe Bay, every man, woman and child living in the state receives an annual royalty dividend distribution — last year’s check was $1,281. But if the Department of Energy (DOE) is right, then Alaska could soon relinquish its title as America’s largest oil producer – so I’ve already set my sights on its successor. The latest projections from the DOE have Alaska’s daily production rates slipping to 450,000 barrels within the next seven years. Meanwhile, output from the oil-rich Bakken Shale of North Dakota could potentially climb to 700,000 barrels a day by 2015 — more aggressive… Read More

Bull markets can be broken into several phases. At first, investors seek out large stable companies, tentatively stepping into stocks while still a bit unsure if the rally will last. As a rally builds, investors start to migrate into the tried-and-true growth stocks, such as major Nasdaq technology stocks. Only… Read More

The health care industry has been on a steady growth path for nearly two decades. That’s been good news for investors who have enjoyed almost non-stop gains from the sector. But now, cost pressures are now putting heat on the sector and gains have been much harder to come by. In contrast, the party’s just beginning for China… Chinese health care is far earlier on the growth curve and appears to have a long growth path ahead of itself. Chinese per-capita spending on health care is the lowest of any of the 20 largest global economies. Off… Read More

The health care industry has been on a steady growth path for nearly two decades. That’s been good news for investors who have enjoyed almost non-stop gains from the sector. But now, cost pressures are now putting heat on the sector and gains have been much harder to come by. In contrast, the party’s just beginning for China… Chinese health care is far earlier on the growth curve and appears to have a long growth path ahead of itself. Chinese per-capita spending on health care is the lowest of any of the 20 largest global economies. Off that low base, key companies look set to grow at a double-digit clip for a number of years to come and offer investors the same consistent gains once offered by American healthcare stocks. Here are three companies I’ve found that appear nicely positioned to capitalize on that trend. 1. American Oriental Bioengineering (AMEX: AOB) Growing through acquisitions can be winning strategy if it helps a company develop a broad and compelling set of products. That was the plan for this purveyor of plant-based drugs and neutraceuticals. Chinese consumers greatly prefer traditional organic remedies,… Read More

In simpler times, Purdue Pharma might not have had these troubles. But these aren’t simple times. The company makes the popular and addictive painkiller OxyContin, and not surprisingly, it’s a target for thieves and high-tech counterfeiters, both of which can intrude at vulnerable points in the supply… Read More

After posting a very rapid and strong upward move, stocks tend to do one of two things: either surge even higher, or fall victim to profit-taking. They rarely stay put. That’s why it’s profitable to continually pore over recent strong gainers and assess which stocks have further… Read More

Many income investors focus mainly on yield when they should be giving at least equal weight to dividend growth, as well as prospects for future gains. Why is dividend growth so important? The answer is simple: Even modest yearly increases in the dividend… Read More

The drug industry is staring at a $30 billion hole. That’s the annual sales volume of major drugs that are set to lose patent protection in the next 18 months. Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) cholesterol reducer Lipitor, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) blood-clot preventer Plavix, Merck’s (NYSE: MRK) asthma medication Singulair, and Abbott’s… Read More

Exactly one quarter ago, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 11,000, I asked a simple question: will the next move be to 12,000 or back to 10,000? Well, the bulls ruled the day, and the market has tacked on another 9% gain since then. This rally seems to never end.   The sharp rise off the March 2009 bottom made clear sense. So many good companies were selling at such low valuations that you needed to ignore the noise and simply pick the best apples from the barrel. Yet the most recent move in the… Read More

Exactly one quarter ago, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 11,000, I asked a simple question: will the next move be to 12,000 or back to 10,000? Well, the bulls ruled the day, and the market has tacked on another 9% gain since then. This rally seems to never end.   The sharp rise off the March 2009 bottom made clear sense. So many good companies were selling at such low valuations that you needed to ignore the noise and simply pick the best apples from the barrel. Yet the most recent move in the market is a bit more puzzling. The markets were approaching fair value last spring, then pulled back and have since gone on to post another impressive rally. The Dow has rallied roughly 20% in the past five months, which works out to be a nearly 50% annualized gain. At a time where you should expect 10% to 15% annual market gains — at best — we should be truly grateful. We should also take a more cautious posture. Here’s why. Factors behind the move As I noted, the market would potentially rally… Read More

Let’s see if this describes your investing during the past few years: In 2008, you got out of the market, but only after your retirement account lost 35%. Then, even after the market started to rally, you just couldn’t pull the trigger to get back in. The memory of those sleepless nights was still too fresh.  But sitting on the sidelines hasn’t been without pain. As the market rebounded, your money-market fund paid an average of 0.07%, meaning you were on pace to double your money in 990 years. Savings and certificate of deposit… Read More

Let’s see if this describes your investing during the past few years: In 2008, you got out of the market, but only after your retirement account lost 35%. Then, even after the market started to rally, you just couldn’t pull the trigger to get back in. The memory of those sleepless nights was still too fresh.  But sitting on the sidelines hasn’t been without pain. As the market rebounded, your money-market fund paid an average of 0.07%, meaning you were on pace to double your money in 990 years. Savings and certificate of deposit rates were only slightly better. If this describes what you went through, don’t worry. You’re not alone. As of last week, more than $2.7 trillion dollars sat in stingy-yielding money-market mutual funds. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I have a way to earn considerably more on your cash… Millions of investors, one simple solution I recently asked some of my Daily Paycheck subscribers about their investing experience during the past few years… Turns out, many of them were in the same boat. They used… Read More

Are you an income investor or a growth investor? It’s pretty much been accepted as common knowledge that a stock either offers great dividends, or great potential for price appreciation, but not both. If you look hard enough though — and far enough down the market cap scale… Read More