If you want to be successful in the stock market, then sometimes you must think like a contrarian. I’ve spent 15 years in the investment industry. In that time, I’ve seen many investors struggle and many others make a fortune. The difference between success and failure usually has little to do with intelligence or analytical skills. Rather, the best investors generally have an ability to stay cool under pressure and the fortitude to break… Read More

If you want to be successful in the stock market, then sometimes you must think like a contrarian. I’ve spent 15 years in the investment industry. In that time, I’ve seen many investors struggle and many others make a fortune. The difference between success and failure usually has little to do with intelligence or analytical skills. Rather, the best investors generally have an ability to stay cool under pressure and the fortitude to break away from the herd when necessary.#-ad_banner-# This is the best way to make money when it comes to commodity investing. Like many investors, I’ve been neutral to bearish for most precious and industrial metals over the past couple of months. However, there is one notable exception. Before I tell you about this metal, let me give you some background on it first… It’s one the scarcest metals on the planet. In fact, for every… Read More

As the editor of two natural resources newsletters, I stay closely attuned to various industry costs: the average cost to mine an ounce of gold, the cost to refine a barrel of oil into gasoline, the cost to produce and ship a ton of coal from Australia to China. It goes without saying that fluctuations in these costs have a direct impact on the bottom line (and thus the share prices) of the companies involved. And in most cases, expenses are trending higher. Labor costs climb with each passing… Read More

As the editor of two natural resources newsletters, I stay closely attuned to various industry costs: the average cost to mine an ounce of gold, the cost to refine a barrel of oil into gasoline, the cost to produce and ship a ton of coal from Australia to China. It goes without saying that fluctuations in these costs have a direct impact on the bottom line (and thus the share prices) of the companies involved. And in most cases, expenses are trending higher. Labor costs climb with each passing year as workers receive salary bumps. Businesses that lease property and equipment usually see annual rent increases. And, of course, the raw materials needed to make finished products have grown more expensive. Many of these businesses aren’t in a position to raise prices, so they simply have to absorb the higher operating expenses and watch their profit margins get squeezed. Trust me, the market hates margin contraction. But there’s one small group of… Read More

Sometimes the best way to play a commodity is to find one getting beaten up by Wall Street. As any seasoned investor knows, Wall Street has a tendency to overreact, and that’s happening right now with one of the most important metals on Earth… At the moment, commodities … Read More

Sometimes the best way to play a commodity is to find one getting beaten up by Wall Street. As any seasoned investor knows, Wall Street has a tendency to overreact, and that’s happening right now with one of the most important metals on Earth… At the moment, commodities analysts flat-out hate iron ore. Forecasters at prominent brokerage houses like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have slashed their short and long-term price forecasts. And top Australianeconomists are projecting prices to slide from an average of $119 per ton this year to just $90 per ton by 2015. Nobody knows the iron ore … Read More

In case you couldn’t tell from the gasoline prices in your area, oil prices have been on the move. The chart below pretty much says it all. As you can see, benchmark West Texas Intermediate Crude has seen substantial… Read More

As you probably already know, gold suffered a historic collapse this week. As surprising as it may sound, this could actually be good news for commodity investors.  But I am not about to tell you to enter into the gold… Read More

If you’ve been paying attention to the oil and gas sector for very long, then you’ve no doubt heard all about the famed Bakken and Eagle Ford shales. The Bakken has transformed rural North Dakota into an energy Mecca, with staggering daily production that would be the envy of many… Read More

Would you pay $2.10 for a gallon of gas? I know I would. According to AAA, the nationwide average for a gallon of gasoline is $3.59… Diesel is even more expensive at $3.91. Yet despite high fuel costs across the country, a select group of drivers are paying only $2.10… Read More

Here’s some news that might come as a surprise to you… If you look back over the past four years, the biggest winner in the energy sector is a company that I bought last September, Kodiak Oil & Gas (NYSE: KOG), a $2.3 billion oil and gas exploration and production… Read More

The United States alone consumes 18.9 million barrels of oil every day, rain or shine. And China’s appetite grows more ravenous by the minute, with daily consumption doubling from 5.5 million barrels in 2003 to nearly 9.8 million in 2011. Aside from a brief downturn during the… Read More

The tidal wave of change is coming… And investors who get in now stand to make a killing. I’m talking about the shale oil and gas boom… and that’s despite the lowest natural gas prices in 35 years. Now that the country has… Read More