Lost in all of this spring’s hand-wringing about the potentially negative impacts from President Obama’s health care overhaul, investors seemed to overlook two more powerful forces that could severely impact the health care industry. Consumers’ financial distress is leading to a sharp slowdown in elective medical procedures (as my colleague… Read More

You and I drive 70% of economic activity in this country. We are consumers. If we lose our jobs or our confidence in the economy, we stop spending. Businesses make less money and pull back on production. They lay off workers, who spend less money, and the vicious cycle continues. Some companies survive recessions and prosper in good economies because they make things we can’t do without, like toilet paper, soap and food. Other companies serve folks who have extra money to spend on special things, like hotels, jewelry and air… Read More

You and I drive 70% of economic activity in this country. We are consumers. If we lose our jobs or our confidence in the economy, we stop spending. Businesses make less money and pull back on production. They lay off workers, who spend less money, and the vicious cycle continues. Some companies survive recessions and prosper in good economies because they make things we can’t do without, like toilet paper, soap and food. Other companies serve folks who have extra money to spend on special things, like hotels, jewelry and air travel. [Read: 3 Reasons Why this Small Cap Could Return +200%] There is, however, a further class of discretionary expense called the luxury item. If a company sells luxury items, then chances are it has been devastated in this recession and its stock has been destroyed. #-ad_banner-#But if that company can survive the recession, bargain hunters may find a multi-bagger investment that others totally miss. I found one such company that a lot of investors had written off, but has since rocketed +400% off its lows. But even… Read More

It’s an old investing axiom that you can make money when stocks are hated. The rule also applies to the broader stock market and beaten-down sectors. It always pays to check out stocks and sectors that have sharply fallen to see if emotion-based selling has pushed them so far down… Read More

Investors in 3PAR (NYSE: PAR) can’t believe their good fortune. They woke up last Monday to find that their investment had nearly doubled in value after Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) announced plans to buy the data storage company. And this Monday morning, they got another gift when Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) announced… Read More

Oil looks to be on the way down and I have a way you can potentially take advantage of the opportunity with an inverse exchange-traded fund (ETF) First, I want you to take a look at the chart for the… Read More

As tech stocks were exploding in the late 1990s, companies offering video conferencing technology were all the rage. Investors assumed that all business meetings would eventually be replaced by video and audio feeds, allowing for virtual face-to-face collaboration. A decade later, the industry has made major inroads (if not completely… Read More

During downturns in the business cycle, companies focus on cutting costs as it becomes more difficult to grow sales. Existing customers generally spend less and it is very challenging to find new customers when everyone is battening down the hatches. The severity of the current downturn could… Read More

Over the next few quarters, look for Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to keep up the pressure on Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) as it enters the music download business, strengthens the Android software platform’s capabilities, and likely rolls out a few new technologies and services we have not yet heard about. [Read: Apple’s… Read More

As the market grinds down toward the end of the summer, we’re seeing the typical seasonal malaise when a number of good companies quietly drift down to 52-week lows. And the selling may not be over. The S&P 500 has historically been the weakest in September, dropping an average of -1.3%. The good news: stocks really build a head of steam after that. The S&P 500 typically rises +0.7% in October, followed by average monthly gains of +1.5%, +1.9% and +2.1% in each of the next three months. Savvy investors always keep some cash on hand for… Read More

As the market grinds down toward the end of the summer, we’re seeing the typical seasonal malaise when a number of good companies quietly drift down to 52-week lows. And the selling may not be over. The S&P 500 has historically been the weakest in September, dropping an average of -1.3%. The good news: stocks really build a head of steam after that. The S&P 500 typically rises +0.7% in October, followed by average monthly gains of +1.5%, +1.9% and +2.1% in each of the next three months. Savvy investors always keep some cash on hand for these summer doldrums, as it can be a fertile time to start researching unloved stocks that should find new appreciation as summer turns to fall. Here are four names hitting new 52-week lows on Friday that should be quite appealing for long-term investors. MedcoHealth Solutions (NYSE: MHS) Earlier this summer, we saw a considerable dust-up between CVS (NYSE: CVS) and Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) as those two firms fought over a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) contract. As we looked into the PBM sector in June, we saw still-considerable growth prospects,… Read More

One of the prevailing theories about the economy is that it is consumer-driven, a postulation I happen to agree with, given that consumer spending accounts for 70% of all economic activity. Part of the reason this recession began is because credit… Read More