One of the best investments in the 21st century has been professional sports teams. In 2000, there were 114 major sports teams in the United States and none of them have declined in value during the past 12 years. Only two teams, the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders, failed to gain at least 10% during that time. The biggest winner, Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins, increased more than 15.4% a year on average. While these teams might be among the best possible investments, few sports fans or investors can afford… Read More

One of the best investments in the 21st century has been professional sports teams. In 2000, there were 114 major sports teams in the United States and none of them have declined in value during the past 12 years. Only two teams, the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders, failed to gain at least 10% during that time. The biggest winner, Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins, increased more than 15.4% a year on average. While these teams might be among the best possible investments, few sports fans or investors can afford to buy their own team.#-ad_banner-# According to Forbes, the Manchester United European football (the sport Americans know as soccer) team is the most valuable sports team in the world. In July, the latest available data showed that the team was valued at $2.23 billion, according to Forbes, which is the leading source of publicly available information on the value of sports teams. After that valuation was published, Manchester United (NYSE: MANU) completed an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Now, stock and… Read More

Utilities stocks occupy a unique niche in the investment world. No one who wants to get rich buying shares of Exelon (NYSE: EXC) or Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is expecting… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that call, the fact that the company had warned upcoming earnings would tumble about 6%, and that Goldman Sachs had changed its opinion of McDonald’s from “buy” to merely “neutral.”#-ad_banner-# To be fair, the stock is now trading… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that call, the fact that the company had warned upcoming earnings would tumble about 6%, and that Goldman Sachs had changed its opinion of McDonald’s from “buy” to merely “neutral.”#-ad_banner-# To be fair, the stock is now trading about where it was then, so the “buy” call hasn’t bore fruit yet. But a handful of new factors has materialized that continue to convince me this iconic stock is being underestimated. That was then The seven months since that detailed look at McDonald’s haven’t been easy. Shares have moved as high as $94.09 and as low as $83.31 before finding the $92 level again. The prods for all that volatility were mostly earnings-based, some good and some bad. As expected, when McDonald’s posted its second-quarter earnings, they were lower by 2.2%. Even… Read More

There is a growing and profitable trend happening in the United States. Many investors are unaware it is even happening. If you read Carla Pasternak’s recent article (found here), then you know exactly what I’m talking about.   While everyone seems to be talking about the rebound in single-family housing, very few are talking about multi-family housing.    And as Carla has pointed out, that’s a mistake.   Carla explains that while the single-family housing recovery has just started, multi-family apartment housing has been in recovery mode for the past several years. In fact, she says the United States could… Read More

There is a growing and profitable trend happening in the United States. Many investors are unaware it is even happening. If you read Carla Pasternak’s recent article (found here), then you know exactly what I’m talking about.   While everyone seems to be talking about the rebound in single-family housing, very few are talking about multi-family housing.    And as Carla has pointed out, that’s a mistake.   Carla explains that while the single-family housing recovery has just started, multi-family apartment housing has been in recovery mode for the past several years. In fact, she says the United States could soon become a “Renter Nation.” I completely agree with Carla. Right now, positioning your portfolio to capture dividends and growth from the real estate recovery makes total sense.  But if you read my articles, then you may know that I always go a step further.#-ad_banner-# My key takeaways Diversification, even within the same asset class, is a key feature of a well-designed portfolio. Within the housing REIT sector, investors would be wise to have positions in single-family home REITs and… Read More

There are two sides to every options trade since there is always a buyer and a seller in every market transaction. On options trades, the seller is said to be writing an option, and from the writer’s… Read More

Utilities stocks occupy a unique niche in the investment world. No one who wants to get rich buying shares of Exelon (NYSE: EXC) or Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is expecting to double their money in a few months. That’s because stocks in this heavily-regulated industry tend to be predictable and rarely produce outsized gains.#-ad_banner-# If you are a dividend investor, however, then utilities stocks have a… Read More

Utilities stocks occupy a unique niche in the investment world. No one who wants to get rich buying shares of Exelon (NYSE: EXC) or Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is expecting to double their money in a few months. That’s because stocks in this heavily-regulated industry tend to be predictable and rarely produce outsized gains.#-ad_banner-# If you are a dividend investor, however, then utilities stocks have a lot to offer. Many stocks in this sector carry impressive yields… 4-6% yields are very common. The margin of safety these generous yields provide make utilities stocks especially well-suited for a long-term buy-and-hold strategy. In fact, some of them are perfect candidates to be what we call “Retirement Savings Stocks” — stocks that provide a safe, stable and reliable source of high income even if the… Read More

Retirement planners usually advise investors to hold a combination of stock market and fixed income investments in their portfolio. Investments could include mutual funds,… Read More

My bull call for 2013 is well on its way to becoming a reality. The first several weeks of January have been amazingly bullish for the… Read More

I once had a huge research report due for clients and the deadline was quickly approaching. My computer had just frozen and I thought the best thing to do at that point was to reboot. But my computer wouldn’t start up. That was my only computer and the document, which… Read More

If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Nowhere is this more true than in the stock market.  The late years of the 1990s were a great example of this. Internet… Read More