2017 is expected to bring the highest gasoline prices since 2014. According to a recent report from Triple A, the average cost for regular, unleaded gas is expected to rise to $2.49 per gallon this year, up from $2.13 in 2016. That’s bad news for corporate America — higher energy prices means rising operating expenses for most of the S&P 500. However, there is one company that is actually in position to benefit. Rising gasoline prices are a profit trigger for this industry leader. That’s why I am expecting shares to close to 2017 at a new all-time high. Union… Read More

2017 is expected to bring the highest gasoline prices since 2014. According to a recent report from Triple A, the average cost for regular, unleaded gas is expected to rise to $2.49 per gallon this year, up from $2.13 in 2016. That’s bad news for corporate America — higher energy prices means rising operating expenses for most of the S&P 500. However, there is one company that is actually in position to benefit. Rising gasoline prices are a profit trigger for this industry leader. That’s why I am expecting shares to close to 2017 at a new all-time high. Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) owns and operates the largest rail network in the United States. It operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. Union Pacific stock has been on a roll. Shares are up 23% in the last 12 months, a 54% premium to the S&P 500. Take a look below. Looking forward, I am expecting another market-beating performance from Union Pacific in 2017. A powerful profit trigger is on the horizon for the entire US rail shipping industry and Union Pacific in particular. When gasoline is cheap, companies… Read More

If you’re like the typical American, you’ve probably got a closet full of stuff you simply don’t wear anymore. And if you’re female, statistics show you may have a few more “unwearables” than men. According to ClosetMaid, the average woman has more than 100 items in her closet, yet finds 21% of those items unwearable. That means clothing and footwear designers have to work extra hard at keeping our attention, especially if their lines cater to women, as today’s target does. If you’re a company that produces “unwearables,” chances are your customers aren’t coming back to… Read More

If you’re like the typical American, you’ve probably got a closet full of stuff you simply don’t wear anymore. And if you’re female, statistics show you may have a few more “unwearables” than men. According to ClosetMaid, the average woman has more than 100 items in her closet, yet finds 21% of those items unwearable. That means clothing and footwear designers have to work extra hard at keeping our attention, especially if their lines cater to women, as today’s target does. If you’re a company that produces “unwearables,” chances are your customers aren’t coming back to add more. But before we go pointing fingers at either sex or even at the fast-changing, mega-consumer society we live in, let’s remember one key element that’s always influenced our lives and the clothes we wear: style. From the flapper dresses of the early 20th century to the bell-bottoms of the ’70s, clothing styles can change dramatically from year to year. And some, (thankfully) never come back. Clothing styles can shift dramatically from year to year, and these shifts can bankrupt a clothing company. Changes in style helped steal the mojo from hip companies like Urban Outfitters (Nasdaq: URBN) and… Read More

This is BIG… For the first time since 1933, the SEC is now allowing regular people like you and me to invest in brand-new explosive-growth companies BEFORE THEY GO PUBLIC. Imagine getting in on the next Facebook for 33 cents a share or the next Apple at 78 cents. In StreetAuthority’s Pre-IPO Millionaire, I vet six to eight deals like this one, and offer my exclusive in-depth analysis of a single opportunity that I believe could return 1,000% or more. Click here for more information. — Joseph Hogue, CFA The Boston University School of Medicine estimated in 1900 that 80%… Read More

This is BIG… For the first time since 1933, the SEC is now allowing regular people like you and me to invest in brand-new explosive-growth companies BEFORE THEY GO PUBLIC. Imagine getting in on the next Facebook for 33 cents a share or the next Apple at 78 cents. In StreetAuthority’s Pre-IPO Millionaire, I vet six to eight deals like this one, and offer my exclusive in-depth analysis of a single opportunity that I believe could return 1,000% or more. Click here for more information. — Joseph Hogue, CFA The Boston University School of Medicine estimated in 1900 that 80% of the children in Boston suffered from rickets, a softening of the bones and a symptom of vitamin D deficiency. Dairies started adding vitamin D to milk in the 1930s, helping about a third of the population that got insufficient amounts of the vitamin and the incidence of rickets in Boston dropped to almost nothing. These days, almost all milk is fortified with vitamin D and other minerals. It’s an industry standard that we take for granted but one that provides a huge benefit to society. #-ad_banner-#Now comes an exciting development about a healthy fortification of a different sort. In… Read More

Dreams sometimes really do come true. The kid that everyone dismisses as a regular daydreamer can change the world with their unconventional ideas. It’s even possible for the child who was obsessed with space travel and other crazy thoughts to turn these dreams into reality. Entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk is the embodiment of this type of dreamer. He took the electric cars and space travel he imagined as a child and is working towards making those dreams become a reality. Tesla is now a nearly $43 billion company and SpaceX stock could one day be the next hot IPO. Read More

Dreams sometimes really do come true. The kid that everyone dismisses as a regular daydreamer can change the world with their unconventional ideas. It’s even possible for the child who was obsessed with space travel and other crazy thoughts to turn these dreams into reality. Entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk is the embodiment of this type of dreamer. He took the electric cars and space travel he imagined as a child and is working towards making those dreams become a reality. Tesla is now a nearly $43 billion company and SpaceX stock could one day be the next hot IPO. It is nearly certain that Musk takes this same forward-looking approach when investing his own money. I’m very curious about the latest positions taken by this business genius, especially with all the recent publicity on SpaceX. How Musk Made His Fortune Elon was born in Australia in 1971 and hit the global wealthy list in 1999 with the sale of his first company, Zip2, to Compaq for $307 million (of which Musk received $22 million). Rather than relax on the beach for the rest of his life, he used this money to pursue his dreams of changing the world. Read More

There are a lot of hard problems facing Washington. Healthcare will take time, as will many other issues. Tax policy seems to offer the most immediate path to a significant accomplishment for the president and Congress. President Donald Trump has made a number of proposals related to taxes. Among the most important would be a reduction in the highest corporate income tax rate from 35% to 15%. I am fairly certain tax reform will require negotiations and Trump won’t get everything he wants. But the good news is that lower corporate and personal income taxes seem likely. #-ad_banner-#Lower corporate taxes… Read More

There are a lot of hard problems facing Washington. Healthcare will take time, as will many other issues. Tax policy seems to offer the most immediate path to a significant accomplishment for the president and Congress. President Donald Trump has made a number of proposals related to taxes. Among the most important would be a reduction in the highest corporate income tax rate from 35% to 15%. I am fairly certain tax reform will require negotiations and Trump won’t get everything he wants. But the good news is that lower corporate and personal income taxes seem likely. #-ad_banner-#Lower corporate taxes will have an immediate impact on company earnings. Standard & Poor’s estimates that every 1% reduction in the corporate tax rate could add 1% to the earnings per share (EPS) of companies in the S&P 500. However, Trump isn’t looking for a small reduction in taxes… he’s targeting a 20% drop. Let’s assume he settles for a rate in the middle, a 10% cut. EPS for the companies in the S&P 500 could then be about $146. A P/E ratio of 17 provides a price target of about 2,500. A P/E ratio of 20, which could easily be justified by… Read More

Few industries have been hit as hard as pharmaceuticals over the past year. From public outrage over price increases to the potential for government oversight into profits, the group hasn’t enjoyed the double-digit gains seen across the rest of the market. Drugmakers and investors thought they dodged a bullet in the presidential election, but the new administration has been just as vocal about drug prices as the last. In this darkest hour, there may be some light shining through to the rest of the year. A new leader at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could end the industry’s drought… Read More

Few industries have been hit as hard as pharmaceuticals over the past year. From public outrage over price increases to the potential for government oversight into profits, the group hasn’t enjoyed the double-digit gains seen across the rest of the market. Drugmakers and investors thought they dodged a bullet in the presidential election, but the new administration has been just as vocal about drug prices as the last. In this darkest hour, there may be some light shining through to the rest of the year. A new leader at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could end the industry’s drought of approvals. The fundamental shift to an older society continues to support higher sales and Washington has yet to put together a plan that would threaten pricing. I’ve been following the best-of-breed companies in the space, waiting for a potential turnaround in investor sentiment. That turnaround may be coming — and it could happen just as two leaders boost sales with new blockbuster drugs. Pharma Is Ready To Bounce Back Pharmaceutical companies have been rocked over the past year on regulatory oversight and patient anger over drug pricing. The PowerShares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals ETF (NYSE: PJP) is up just 2.8%… Read More

These days, any time a big-name company (most often a “hot tech stock”) files its initial registration to become a publicly traded company, I field inquiries from friends, family and readers on what my thoughts are regarding said company — even though I already know that the majority of these folks have already made up their minds and will likely ignore my advice… That’s because what I tell them isn’t what they want to hear. So they’ll disregard and seek opinions that match their own. This is called confirmation bias. This scenario played out when popular social-media company Snapchat (NYSE:… Read More

These days, any time a big-name company (most often a “hot tech stock”) files its initial registration to become a publicly traded company, I field inquiries from friends, family and readers on what my thoughts are regarding said company — even though I already know that the majority of these folks have already made up their minds and will likely ignore my advice… That’s because what I tell them isn’t what they want to hear. So they’ll disregard and seek opinions that match their own. This is called confirmation bias. This scenario played out when popular social-media company Snapchat (NYSE: SNAP) went public March 2. For the uninitiated, Snapchat is basically a platform that allows you to use the camera on your phone to send pictures or short videos (aka “snaps”) to your friends or the public at large, along with a host of animations and effects that allow the user to enhance their image or story. Then, once a friend views the snap, it will disappear. (For more information, ask a kid.) The video-messaging app raised $3.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), making it the biggest social-media IPO since Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) went public in early 2014. Read More

Janet Yellen just launched a nuclear missile into the heart of Social Security. You see, the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis-point increase in the fed funds rate last Wednesday. At the same time, she made known the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates at least two more times in 2017. Now, by all accounts, the Fed’s actions were correct. The Fed is roughly 300 basis points behind the curve on interest rates. And should the economy enter another recession, the Fed would have no ammunition with which to fight an economic downturn if rates were kept at these lows. Read More

Janet Yellen just launched a nuclear missile into the heart of Social Security. You see, the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis-point increase in the fed funds rate last Wednesday. At the same time, she made known the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates at least two more times in 2017. Now, by all accounts, the Fed’s actions were correct. The Fed is roughly 300 basis points behind the curve on interest rates. And should the economy enter another recession, the Fed would have no ammunition with which to fight an economic downturn if rates were kept at these lows. Yellen simply had no choice. But at the same time, this increases the unfunded liabilities of Social Security by trillions. That means Social Security’s troubles will show up much sooner than the trustees’ estimate of 2033. Rising Interest Rates Are Bad News For Social Security The U.S. government decided a long time ago to use non-marketable Treasury bonds to replace the cash Congress removed from Social Security. Adding insult to injury, these phony bonds pay phantom interest back to Social Security. #-ad_banner-#So when Social Security went into deficit spending in 2010, some of the interest generated by the trust… Read More

It’s the number one question asked by first-time investors… Where do I start? It may seem simple, but unless you’re the one actually having to think strategically about your goals, doing the research and then deploying cash into a portfolio, it’s easy to forget just how paralyzing this situation can be. There are many reasons this paralysis sets in. With literally thousands of mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, stocks, and other financial products to choose from, it could simply be the tyranny of too many choices, as it were. It could also be that the memories of losses experienced during the… Read More

It’s the number one question asked by first-time investors… Where do I start? It may seem simple, but unless you’re the one actually having to think strategically about your goals, doing the research and then deploying cash into a portfolio, it’s easy to forget just how paralyzing this situation can be. There are many reasons this paralysis sets in. With literally thousands of mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, stocks, and other financial products to choose from, it could simply be the tyranny of too many choices, as it were. It could also be that the memories of losses experienced during the most recent financial crisis are still too raw. And now, especially with major market averages near all-time highs, it can be even more difficult to know what to do. #-ad_banner-#Whatever the reason, simply not knowing where to start is the single biggest problem investors face. It’s also the one I’m personally asked about most often — and one I was personally confronted with just recently yet again. My grandmother had asked me to help her invest a small sum of money for her. It’s certainly not a fortune — but it’s no small sum either, at least not to her… Read More