If you have young children, you may be familiar with the educational toy company, LeapFrog Enterprises (NYSE: LF). The small-cap, California-based firm designs and develops technology-based learning tools to help kids tackle reading and writing.#-ad_banner-# As the mother of 17-month old little boy, I’d have to say his LeapFrog toys are my favorite of the bunch. They’re robust, interactive and educational. But, best of all, they’re fun — even for me. LeapFrog’s flagship educational product is the LeapPad2. This is an interactive tablet, like the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad, but designed specifically for kids, aged 3 to 9. It retails… Read More

If you have young children, you may be familiar with the educational toy company, LeapFrog Enterprises (NYSE: LF). The small-cap, California-based firm designs and develops technology-based learning tools to help kids tackle reading and writing.#-ad_banner-# As the mother of 17-month old little boy, I’d have to say his LeapFrog toys are my favorite of the bunch. They’re robust, interactive and educational. But, best of all, they’re fun — even for me. LeapFrog’s flagship educational product is the LeapPad2. This is an interactive tablet, like the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad, but designed specifically for kids, aged 3 to 9. It retails for around $100. It lets kids play fun, educational games, run apps and even take pictures. In the United Kingdom, the LeapPad2 was the hottest selling toy in December. Although it hasn’t quite caught on as much in North America, it’s still very popular. In fact, during the holidays, retailers, like Toys “R” Us and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) only allowed customers to purchase two LeapPads at a time to keep up inventory supply, due to such strong demand. And, with exciting, new products expected to be released in April 2013, the outlook for LeapFrog… Read More

During the past 10 years, the best hedge funds have consistently produced market-beating returns, driving huge capital inflows into the industry and making hedge funds one of the hottest… Read More

Since the second half of 2012, bank stocks have really found their footing. Shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) have rallied more than 50% in the past six… Read More

To say that natural gas has been on a roller coaster ride for the past 10 years would be an understatement. Gas prices soared from $1.96 per MMBtu in early 2002 to a peak of $15.78 in late 2005 and back to a low of $1.90 early last year.  For investors, the ride has been no less wild. Natural gas exploration stocks were irrelevant in 2002, yet were all the rage by 2008 when natural gas became a stunningly profitable business to be in. Then, these stocks fell off investors’… Read More

To say that natural gas has been on a roller coaster ride for the past 10 years would be an understatement. Gas prices soared from $1.96 per MMBtu in early 2002 to a peak of $15.78 in late 2005 and back to a low of $1.90 early last year.  For investors, the ride has been no less wild. Natural gas exploration stocks were irrelevant in 2002, yet were all the rage by 2008 when natural gas became a stunningly profitable business to be in. Then, these stocks fell off investors’ radars again in 2011 when plunging gas prices — and a plethora of supply — pushed nearly all of them back into the red.#-ad_banner-# Still, the implications are clear. With an abundant supply (thanks to advanced drilling techniques), it looks like cheap natural gas is here to stay for the time being. But if the natural gas drillers aren’t making money, then how can investors profit? Andy Obermueller, editor of StreetAuthority’s Game-Changing Stocks… Read More

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every… Read More

This is the most foolproof way I can think of to earn 1,000% returns and yields of more than 50%. It may sound impossible, but this will be a reality for many forward-thinking investors.#-ad_banner-# The numbers will be different for every investor, depending on when they recognized this… Read More

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every retail investor I knew wanted to own Facebook stock, and it became a symbol of the groupthink mentality that’s so often infects Wall Street and… Read More

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every retail investor I knew wanted to own Facebook stock, and it became a symbol of the groupthink mentality that’s so often infects Wall Street and Main Street.#-ad_banner-# The hype got so bad, that in May 2012, I actually had a friend ask me if they should borrow money on his home so that he could buy Facebook shares. Sadly, many people (thankfully not my friend) recklessly scrambled to buy Facebook shares immediately following the stock’s public debut, and many of those investors are still sitting on a losing position. I won’t go into the epic fails on the part of… Read More

A deal on the fiscal cliff — at least the tax part — caused the “risk on” trade to go into hyper-drive on Jan. 2. The first trading session of the year saw nearly every major average, and most sectors, soar between 2% and 3% on average. This relief rally… Read More

Carla Pasternak, editor of Street Authority’s High-Yield Investing, calls it “the most dramatic turnaround in U.S. history.” And millions of people across the country are reaping its benefits, increasing their net… Read More

My colleague at StreetAuthority, Paul Tracy, has been finding low-risk and profitable investments for more than a decade. Lately, he has become concerned about the risks of the stock… Read More