Investing is a hard business. You can’t take anything for granted, and there is no easy and fast formula to predict how well a stock will do. It’s hard to determine whether a company — even a leader in a steady-as-it-goes business — will continue to deliver profits or appreciate versus the competition.  Case in point: Kraft Heinz (Nasdaq: KHC). This consumer-staple company has turned out to be anything but safe and steady. You’ve likely heard by now that shares of the world’s fifth-largest food-and-drinks company lost 27% in a single session on Friday, February 22. And Kraft halved its… Read More

Investing is a hard business. You can’t take anything for granted, and there is no easy and fast formula to predict how well a stock will do. It’s hard to determine whether a company — even a leader in a steady-as-it-goes business — will continue to deliver profits or appreciate versus the competition.  Case in point: Kraft Heinz (Nasdaq: KHC). This consumer-staple company has turned out to be anything but safe and steady. You’ve likely heard by now that shares of the world’s fifth-largest food-and-drinks company lost 27% in a single session on Friday, February 22. And Kraft halved its dividend, too. A whopping $15.4 billion write-down of its acquisitions of Kraft and Oscar Mayer was just part of the bad news; the company also disclosed a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation of its procurement accounting practices. Talk about risky…  Before that one-day nosedive, KHC had already lost about half of its value. And now, even Warren Buffett, arguably the best investor in the business, laments that he overpaid for Kraft (Berkshire Hathaway owns 26.7% of the company and lost more than $4.3 billion on that fateful Friday). (This article from CNBC gives a… Read More

One of the goals I have in mind when screening for stocks is to find fresh investment ideas — ideas that have not been preconceived or predetermined by an analyst’s current thinking and market outlook. These screens also generate new and sometimes unexpected ideas for my Fast-Track Millionaire readers to consider.  Recently, I showed my subscribers the results of a screen I ran for financially healthy mid-cap companies (market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion) that have been outgrowing the rest of the pack. And today, I’m going to share it with you… —Recommended Link— What would YOU do… Read More

One of the goals I have in mind when screening for stocks is to find fresh investment ideas — ideas that have not been preconceived or predetermined by an analyst’s current thinking and market outlook. These screens also generate new and sometimes unexpected ideas for my Fast-Track Millionaire readers to consider.  Recently, I showed my subscribers the results of a screen I ran for financially healthy mid-cap companies (market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion) that have been outgrowing the rest of the pack. And today, I’m going to share it with you… —Recommended Link— What would YOU do with an extra $3,080 every month for the rest of your life? Never worry about cash again. Be free to live how YOU want… go on a lavish vacation… or build up a college fund for the grandkids–it’s up to you. Get your share here…. The Criteria Screening for growth might seem easy, but there are many ways to go about it. For this screen, I’ve chosen a relatively straightforward way to measure growth, a method that would also allow us to include younger companies that could have been unprofitable over the past few years. Only companies with… Read More

It’s hard to underestimate the importance of understanding business and financial trends for successful investing. After all, it’s hard to be an effective investor if all you watch are the stocks in your portfolio. This is why analysts, market watchers and researchers always try to understand industry trends and follow a great number of stocks comprising sectors of interest. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been telling readers about one trend that’s definitely worth watching — namely, the developments in the burgeoning field of “personalized medicine.” Why is it so important? Here’s what I said in that article: “…we find… Read More

It’s hard to underestimate the importance of understanding business and financial trends for successful investing. After all, it’s hard to be an effective investor if all you watch are the stocks in your portfolio. This is why analysts, market watchers and researchers always try to understand industry trends and follow a great number of stocks comprising sectors of interest. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been telling readers about one trend that’s definitely worth watching — namely, the developments in the burgeoning field of “personalized medicine.” Why is it so important? Here’s what I said in that article: “…we find ourselves on the cusp of another generational shift in medicine — one that could not only lead to longer, healthier lives for a lot of us… but one that stands to make a fortune for investors with the foresight to get in on the early stages.” Make no mistake, if there is one area you want to pay attention to over the coming months and years, this is it… —Recommended Link— Hit This “Sweet Spot” For 9.9% Average Yields While you might be tempted to buy only the highest-yielding dividend stocks… please DON’T. Because research proves that one special… Read More

Last week, I wrote an extensive piece detailing why big oil is having one of its best periods on record: Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) hauled in $6.4 billion in adjusted net income in the fourth quarter. BP (NYSE: BP) shattered expectations with a profit of $3.5 billion. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) banked earnings of $5.7 billion. That’s $15.6 billion from just three companies — in a single quarter. For the year, the combined earnings of the five super-majors — this trio plus Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Total (NYSE: TOT) — reached an incredible $80 billion. I also discussed why… Read More

Last week, I wrote an extensive piece detailing why big oil is having one of its best periods on record: Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) hauled in $6.4 billion in adjusted net income in the fourth quarter. BP (NYSE: BP) shattered expectations with a profit of $3.5 billion. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) banked earnings of $5.7 billion. That’s $15.6 billion from just three companies — in a single quarter. For the year, the combined earnings of the five super-majors — this trio plus Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Total (NYSE: TOT) — reached an incredible $80 billion. I also discussed why plans for a record $425 billion in spending on exploration this year should have investors excited. In that piece, I mentioned that I’m saving my top pick on this trend for my High-Yield Investing subscribers only, but that there were a number of ways for investors to profit.  Today, I want to spend a little time on just one of the big oil producers — specifically, BP (NYSE: BP).  #-ad_banner-#BP was no exception to the record fourth-quarter results posted by the major energy giants. The market was expecting an adjusted profit of $2.6 billion. The company delivered $3.5 billion, an… Read More

Earnings season is winding down, and based on the data we’re seeing so far, investors have cause for concern. What is that, you ask? Because, as I told Income Trader readers earlier this week, I believe the data points to a change in the trend of fundamentals. Specifically, the data I find interesting is the relationship of actual reports to expectations.  Let me explain… —Recommended Link— The Stock Market Hack That Actually Works *(Effective on the NYSE, NASDAQ, CBOE, CHX, NYSE Arca, & TSX Stock Exchanges). “It pulled me out of the hole with a recovery of $30,000 in… Read More

Earnings season is winding down, and based on the data we’re seeing so far, investors have cause for concern. What is that, you ask? Because, as I told Income Trader readers earlier this week, I believe the data points to a change in the trend of fundamentals. Specifically, the data I find interesting is the relationship of actual reports to expectations.  Let me explain… —Recommended Link— The Stock Market Hack That Actually Works *(Effective on the NYSE, NASDAQ, CBOE, CHX, NYSE Arca, & TSX Stock Exchanges). “It pulled me out of the hole with a recovery of $30,000 in just a couple of months.” ​Read more here… Expectations Vs. Reality Over the past five years, on average, 71% of the companies in the S&P 500 beat analysts’ expectations for earnings per share (EPS). About 9% meet expectations, and about 20% miss expectations.  According to FactSet, 89% of the companies in the S&P 500 had reported earnings through last Friday (Feb. 22). There are a few interesting numbers to consider when looking at the group:  — 69% beat EPS estimates. This is below the one-year (77%) and five-year average (71%).  — EPS reports are 3.5% above expectations,… Read More