Executives at Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and privately-held Cox Communications have taken their customers for granted for far too long. Even as consumer income has barely kept up with inflation in recent years, cable bills soar ever higher. Here in upstate New York, Time Warner gets $130 from me every month so I can get high-speed Internet access, a DVR and far more channels than I ever bother to watch. I have long vowed to cut the cord, as soon as it was practical. Read More

Executives at Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and privately-held Cox Communications have taken their customers for granted for far too long. Even as consumer income has barely kept up with inflation in recent years, cable bills soar ever higher. Here in upstate New York, Time Warner gets $130 from me every month so I can get high-speed Internet access, a DVR and far more channels than I ever bother to watch. I have long vowed to cut the cord, as soon as it was practical. That day is finally here. Technologies are rolling out that will expand consumer’s choices. And most ominously for those big cable companies, many of those choices will be either free or far cheaper. Breaking it down As I look over my monthly cable bill, a few things stand out. I like to record shows and watch them when it’s convenient. Time Warner charges me $13 a month for the service. Trouble is, to get a DVR, I also need to get digital cable ($7) and the “Standard Service” ($43), which is largely comprised of obscure channels… Read More

It’s coming. You know it is. Another recession. A “correction.” A one-day meltdown. Whatever you call it, the stock market is a fickle goddess to those who hear her siren’s call. Question is, how secure do you feel about being prepared for when —… Read More

With a deal in place to acquire Burger King (NYSE: BKC) for a tidy $24 a share, investors are handed the opportunity to quickly assess how its rivals are valued. Any rivals selling at a sharp discount to Burger King’s price are likely to see renewed investor interest as the M&A action heats up in the sector. [Read: How Investors Should Handle the M&A Frenzy] Private equity (PE) firms like to buy underperforming companies. In recent years, Burger King has seen McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) pull away in terms of… Read More

With a deal in place to acquire Burger King (NYSE: BKC) for a tidy $24 a share, investors are handed the opportunity to quickly assess how its rivals are valued. Any rivals selling at a sharp discount to Burger King’s price are likely to see renewed investor interest as the M&A action heats up in the sector. [Read: How Investors Should Handle the M&A Frenzy] Private equity (PE) firms like to buy underperforming companies. In recent years, Burger King has seen McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) pull away in terms of same-store sales growth and sharply rising cash flow. Those companies are likely too large and too healthy to be of real interest to these turnaround specialists. For that matter, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) is far too healthy — and richly valued — to hold any appeal. [More on Chipotle — and why you should short it] So I decided to take a look at three major chains that are underperforming and have major room for improvement. A fair deal… Read More

Legendary fund manager Peter Lynch went out of his way to find companies that did yucky things because they were often great businesses. My approach takes that concept one step further: I’ve found one stock that provides an underlying service for a whole sector, a service the sector simply can… Read More

With Wednesday’s sharp rally, investors that like to short stocks were tripping over each other to get to the exit. And to unwind a short holding, they had to buy back shares of the companies in which they’ve made a negative bet, known as… Read More

In 2003, former President Bush signed into law the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. One major provision of this law was to reduce the tax rates on certain dividends from nearly 40% for the highest income earners down to 15%. The dividend tax rate for the lowest tax brackets even reached as low as 0%! For us income investors, this tax break was a welcome sight. But the cuts were passed with the provision that they expire at the end of 2010. With the nation… Read More

In 2003, former President Bush signed into law the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. One major provision of this law was to reduce the tax rates on certain dividends from nearly 40% for the highest income earners down to 15%. The dividend tax rate for the lowest tax brackets even reached as low as 0%! For us income investors, this tax break was a welcome sight. But the cuts were passed with the provision that they expire at the end of 2010. With the nation heavily in debt and having run large deficits for the past several years, it’s a foregone conclusion among the investment community that these dividend tax rates will have to rise. Just to be clear, I’m not taking sides. I’m simply trying to prepare you for what could lie ahead. President Obama has proposed only increasing the dividend tax rate to 20% for families making over $250,000. However, the recent healthcare package already tacks a 3.8% tax on investment income for this group starting in 2013. In other words, the highest earners… Read More

Ever notice how the simplest task is more complicated these days? Like buying cereal at the grocery store? I just popped in to get a box of Cheerios and was confronted with no less than 6 different varieties: honey, frosted, chocolate, multi-grain, banana nut and oat clusters. Read More

Investing in clean energy takes a very strong stomach. Share prices in this sector continually soar and plunge depending on whether investors are feeling optimistic or pessimistic. Although the industry may never live up to the grandest hopes that some had expected, it is clearly emerging as a viable business… Read More

If you were a shareholder in 3PAR (NYSE: PAR), McAfee (NYSE: MFE) or Cogent (Nasdaq: COGT) this summer, you’re likely quite pleased with the news that each of those companies will be acquired a nice premium. [Read: Why Today’s Intel Deal Makes Tech Even More Appealing] But the good news comes with a catch: should you take profits? Or should you hold on in hopes of further gains? The short answer: it depends. To figure out how to play the buyout game, we first need to separate… Read More

If you were a shareholder in 3PAR (NYSE: PAR), McAfee (NYSE: MFE) or Cogent (Nasdaq: COGT) this summer, you’re likely quite pleased with the news that each of those companies will be acquired a nice premium. [Read: Why Today’s Intel Deal Makes Tech Even More Appealing] But the good news comes with a catch: should you take profits? Or should you hold on in hopes of further gains? The short answer: it depends. To figure out how to play the buyout game, we first need to separate any buyout-related price spike into two camps. The first camp involves stocks trading below the price a buyer has offered. This indicates that the deal may not go through due to regulatory anti-trust reasons, or simply because the buyout target has made it clear that it has no intention of selling the company in the near-term. If the stock is at a discount because of anti-trust concerns, then try to assess how real those concerns are. The government would likely never allow a merger between two companies that control most of… Read More