Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), a leading developer and operator of gaming resorts in the U.S. and Asia, has the combination of a strong chart and powerful fundamental growth story. Since its June 2013 low, shares have surged nearly 85%, and the company has strong revenue and earnings’ growth potential. #-ad_banner-#Las Vegas Sands’ luxurious properties house classy convention centers, elaborate exhibition facilities, premium hotel accommodations, upscale retail outlets, and most importantly, world-class gaming and entertainment complexes. While the company obviously operates in Las Vegas, its facilities have become especially popular in Macau. Macau is China’s only legal gambling district. An… Read More

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), a leading developer and operator of gaming resorts in the U.S. and Asia, has the combination of a strong chart and powerful fundamental growth story. Since its June 2013 low, shares have surged nearly 85%, and the company has strong revenue and earnings’ growth potential. #-ad_banner-#Las Vegas Sands’ luxurious properties house classy convention centers, elaborate exhibition facilities, premium hotel accommodations, upscale retail outlets, and most importantly, world-class gaming and entertainment complexes. While the company obviously operates in Las Vegas, its facilities have become especially popular in Macau. Macau is China’s only legal gambling district. An Asian casino hotspot, it has wrested the title of the world’s casino capital from Las Vegas. Since 2002, when China opened Macau to foreign casino operators, gaming revenue has surged from less than $3 billion a year to $45 billion in 2013, which represents a 19% increase from 2012. In comparison, Las Vegas has struggled to recover from the financial crisis, and 2013 revenue was up just 3% year over year, to $6.4 billion. This year, Deutsche Bank analysts project gambling revenue in Macau will rise 20% from 2013 levels. By 2017, analysts at brokerage firm CLSA expect $77 billion… Read More

Big Tobacco is among the most hated and controversial industries on earth. It has been vilified as the leading cause of cancer, forced to pay profit-crushing settlements, and even coerced into launching ad campaigns against its products. Despite massive government pressure and strong public disapproval of its products, Big Tobacco still generates an estimated $500 billion in annual revenue and $35 billion in annual profits. I was surprised to learn that close to 15% of all Americans still use tobacco. In developing nations, 49% of men and 11% of women use tobacco, according to the World Health Organization. Within these… Read More

Big Tobacco is among the most hated and controversial industries on earth. It has been vilified as the leading cause of cancer, forced to pay profit-crushing settlements, and even coerced into launching ad campaigns against its products. Despite massive government pressure and strong public disapproval of its products, Big Tobacco still generates an estimated $500 billion in annual revenue and $35 billion in annual profits. I was surprised to learn that close to 15% of all Americans still use tobacco. In developing nations, 49% of men and 11% of women use tobacco, according to the World Health Organization. Within these numbers lies opportunity for savvy investors. In fact, a special situation is about to occur within the U.S. Big Tobacco sector that promises solid profits for those investors who are prepared to make their move. I’ll let you in on this special situation later. First, let’s look at the facts behind Big Tobacco’s current adverse environment. Between 1964, when the U.S. surgeon general’s office published its first report proving the negative health effects of smoking, and 1994, more than 800 private suits were filed against Big Tobacco in state courts. In 1998, a master settlement was reached between the tobacco… Read More

Agricultural nutrients producer Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) popped back on my radar earlier this week as many of its competitors began breaking through near-term resistance areas on their respective charts. On Feb. 11, MOS reported a drop in its fourth-quarter earnings. The company earned $129 million, or $0.30 per share, compared with $616 million, or $1.44 per share, a year ago. However, the stock responded with a 2.4% rally on the day, getting the ball rolling for a more meaningful breakout through resistance.#-ad_banner-# The day after the earnings report, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reiterated its “equal weight” rating on the… Read More

Agricultural nutrients producer Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) popped back on my radar earlier this week as many of its competitors began breaking through near-term resistance areas on their respective charts. On Feb. 11, MOS reported a drop in its fourth-quarter earnings. The company earned $129 million, or $0.30 per share, compared with $616 million, or $1.44 per share, a year ago. However, the stock responded with a 2.4% rally on the day, getting the ball rolling for a more meaningful breakout through resistance.#-ad_banner-# The day after the earnings report, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reiterated its “equal weight” rating on the stock in a marginally upbeat note. Finally, on Feb. 14, it was announced that Mosaic entered into a share repurchase agreement with Cargill family trusts to purchase approximately 8.2 million shares of Class A stock. This falls under the $1 billion share repurchase authorization that the company announced during its earnings conference call. The repurchases are taking place in two tranches, the first of which has already happened and the second is slated for mid-March. Share repurchases are often viewed as a positive sign, as they show a company’s confidence in its own performance. Mosaic’s share repurchases should be a… Read More

Throughout the 1990s shares of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) exploded higher year after year. Investors realized that these firms had so powerfully revolutionized their respective industries, that they could maintain solid growth far into the future. #-ad_banner-#Their faith was well placed. Wal-Mart, for example, which had racked up an impressive $156 billion in sales by fiscal (January) 2001, would boost sales above $300 billion by fiscal 2006 and $400 billion by fiscal 2010. For its part, Microsoft saw its sales grow from $23 billion in fiscal (June) 2000 to $60 billion by fiscal 2008. Trouble is, investors… Read More

Throughout the 1990s shares of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) exploded higher year after year. Investors realized that these firms had so powerfully revolutionized their respective industries, that they could maintain solid growth far into the future. #-ad_banner-#Their faith was well placed. Wal-Mart, for example, which had racked up an impressive $156 billion in sales by fiscal (January) 2001, would boost sales above $300 billion by fiscal 2006 and $400 billion by fiscal 2010. For its part, Microsoft saw its sales grow from $23 billion in fiscal (June) 2000 to $60 billion by fiscal 2008. Trouble is, investors didn’t benefit. Shares of Wal-Mart fell more than 25% from their 1999 peak over the next decade, while shares of Microsoft lost half of their value. In hindsight, it would have been wise to sell these two stocks prior to another decade of solid sales and profit growth. Simply put, their valuations had become so extended that the company’s financial performance needed a decade to catch up. That’s worth thinking about as investors continue to snap up shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), an extremely well-run company in the midst of robust growth, which is accompanied by too-rich valuations. Read More

I’d like to preface this issue by saying today’s essay might prove uncomfortable for some. At StreetAuthority, our job is to present you with the very best investing opportunities. To ignore an opportunity just because it might be morally objectionable would be doing you — as well as the rest of our subscribers — a grave injustice. With those disclaimers in mind, today I want to tell you about the current investment opportunities in the United States’ burgeoning marijuana industry. As you may know, 20 states have already made cannabis legal for medicinal purposes, while several others have recently added… Read More

I’d like to preface this issue by saying today’s essay might prove uncomfortable for some. At StreetAuthority, our job is to present you with the very best investing opportunities. To ignore an opportunity just because it might be morally objectionable would be doing you — as well as the rest of our subscribers — a grave injustice. With those disclaimers in mind, today I want to tell you about the current investment opportunities in the United States’ burgeoning marijuana industry. As you may know, 20 states have already made cannabis legal for medicinal purposes, while several others have recently added a medical marijuana provision to their statewide ballots. Voters in both Colorado and Washington state have even gone so far as to legalize the drug for recreational use. As a result, legal marijuana operations like Cannabis Science (OTC: CBIS) — a purveyor of some of the country’s finest grown hemp (or so I’ve been told) — have been popping up in “green” states all over the country. These dispensaries — or “compassion clubs,” as they’re sometimes called — have created a very interesting phenomenon… That’s because according to federal law, the possession and distribution of marijuana is still considered a… Read More

When assessing a company’s stock, many investors make it a point to check out its bonds, too. This can often provide insight into a firm’s financial health and where its stock price is headed. #-ad_banner-#Keeping an eye on credit ratings is especially smart if you’re thinking of buying stock in an out-of-favor company struggling to turn itself around. You certainly don’t want to sink hard-earned cash into a stock based on a nice-sounding turnaround story only to find out the hard way — by further decimation of the stock price — the firm was a financial wreck on the verge… Read More

When assessing a company’s stock, many investors make it a point to check out its bonds, too. This can often provide insight into a firm’s financial health and where its stock price is headed. #-ad_banner-#Keeping an eye on credit ratings is especially smart if you’re thinking of buying stock in an out-of-favor company struggling to turn itself around. You certainly don’t want to sink hard-earned cash into a stock based on a nice-sounding turnaround story only to find out the hard way — by further decimation of the stock price — the firm was a financial wreck on the verge of bankruptcy. If they don’t watch out, that’s just what could happen to shareholders in one struggling retailer. The company is the subject of much turnaround chatter. And its stock has shown the ability to post exciting returns recently, more than doubling from mid-November 2012 to mid-May 2013. After retreating over nearly a three-month period, it popped again, this time almost 60% from early August to mid-September 2013. Following another pullback, it was on the move yet again from mid-January to the end of February, rising 31% during that time. But despite these brief, intense updrafts, the stock is still… Read More

If you read StreetAuthority Daily on a regular basis, you know that we’ve been talking a lot about what we call “Legacy Assets” lately. We’ve shown you what they are, what they can do for your portfolio — and even shared a couple of our favorite Legacy Assets with you. Today, I want to tell you why they matter. #-ad_banner-#Warren Buffett, widely considered the greatest investor of all time and one of the world’s richest men, has said of his legacy: When you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the… Read More

If you read StreetAuthority Daily on a regular basis, you know that we’ve been talking a lot about what we call “Legacy Assets” lately. We’ve shown you what they are, what they can do for your portfolio — and even shared a couple of our favorite Legacy Assets with you. Today, I want to tell you why they matter. #-ad_banner-#Warren Buffett, widely considered the greatest investor of all time and one of the world’s richest men, has said of his legacy: When you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster. Buffett means what he says. And he backs up his words with action. In 2012, Buffett donated over $3 billion to charity, more than 3 times as… Read More

Successful short-term trading is a learnable skill. It takes a combination of a keen eye to identify changing fundamentals within the market or company and the ability to read price. By “reading price,” I mean the aptitude to study price changes on a spread sheet or chart in order to make an educated guess as to whether the price trend will continue or reverse.   #-ad_banner-#In addition, the ability to handle losses while not deviating from your trading plan is a key factor in short-term trading success. Using the above factors as a guide, I identified FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL)… Read More

Successful short-term trading is a learnable skill. It takes a combination of a keen eye to identify changing fundamentals within the market or company and the ability to read price. By “reading price,” I mean the aptitude to study price changes on a spread sheet or chart in order to make an educated guess as to whether the price trend will continue or reverse.   #-ad_banner-#In addition, the ability to handle losses while not deviating from your trading plan is a key factor in short-term trading success. Using the above factors as a guide, I identified FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) as a very likely candidate for substantial short-term profits. Let’s take a closer look at this innovative company. FuelCell Energy is a Danbury, Conn.-based manufacturer and distributor of stationary fuel cell power plants. In other words, the company makes large batteries and markets them to electric utilities, independent power producers, and the education, health care and hospitality industries, among a variety of other sectors. FCEL boasts a market cap of around $640 million, revenue of nearly $188 million in the past 12 months, and just under $68 million in cash.   Things appear to be improving for the company, which… Read More

One of my favorite stocks for the next Internet boom has recently come under a short-attack. Investors are betting an impressive $4 billion that the stock price will tumble, while more than 11.8 million shares of this company are borrowed and sold short. #-ad_banner-#But this isn’t one of your fly-by-night tech companies with no earnings. This $54 billion behemoth made almost $2.9 billion in earnings last year, and I think a bubble is forming that could send shares higher. It’s one of the most hated stocks on a shorted basis and I’m buying more. Bubbles Can Form On The Short-Side… Read More

One of my favorite stocks for the next Internet boom has recently come under a short-attack. Investors are betting an impressive $4 billion that the stock price will tumble, while more than 11.8 million shares of this company are borrowed and sold short. #-ad_banner-#But this isn’t one of your fly-by-night tech companies with no earnings. This $54 billion behemoth made almost $2.9 billion in earnings last year, and I think a bubble is forming that could send shares higher. It’s one of the most hated stocks on a shorted basis and I’m buying more. Bubbles Can Form On The Short-Side As Well High short interest in a company is usually reserved for small startups or financial train wrecks, companies that post little in the way of profits and trade at exaggerated price multiples. Risks are high in these stocks and investors on both the short- and long-side are looking at big moves if their theses plays out. But short attacks can hit other companies as well and sometimes the selling can build on its own momentum. Increased short selling can drive the share price down, which seemingly validates the reason to be short. Others jump on the bandwagon because… Read More

Right now, we are living in very exciting times. I’m sure many of you have parents or grandparents who witnessed some amazing events in their lifetimes. Just think, in a little over a century we’ve seen the start of mass-produced automobiles, motion pictures, television, space flight, personal computers, tablets and cell phones and much more… To be sure, those innovations and the investment returns that came along with them were incredible. The advent of the Internet alone has created more widespread wealth than the world has ever seen. And today, the pace of innovation is accelerating. In fact, I believe… Read More

Right now, we are living in very exciting times. I’m sure many of you have parents or grandparents who witnessed some amazing events in their lifetimes. Just think, in a little over a century we’ve seen the start of mass-produced automobiles, motion pictures, television, space flight, personal computers, tablets and cell phones and much more… To be sure, those innovations and the investment returns that came along with them were incredible. The advent of the Internet alone has created more widespread wealth than the world has ever seen. And today, the pace of innovation is accelerating. In fact, I believe we’re at the beginning of what could be the most fertile era of innovation in human history. Over the next 10, 20, or 50 years we’re going to see amazing developments that are sure to enrich investors beyond our wildest imaginations. #-ad_banner-#The goal of my new premium advisory, Five-Star Stocks, is to identify the companies who stand to give you the biggest investment returns from the most exciting developments ranging across all industries. Over the past several months, I’ve been focusing on one industry in particular — a sector that has been talked about for years… Read More