“The 20th century was the era of manned aircraft; the 21st century is the era of unmanned aircraft.” — U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Christopher Martino.             Flickr/Don DeBold    … Read More

It takes money to make money. That’s the easy conclusion to draw when looking at the actions of the nation’s top hedge fund managers. Many of them have amassed their wealth by putting tens of millions into play on any given investment as they identify 50% or even 100% potential gains.#-ad_banner-# Take corporate raider Carl Icahn. He can buy a huge chunk of… Read More

It takes money to make money. That’s the easy conclusion to draw when looking at the actions of the nation’s top hedge fund managers. Many of them have amassed their wealth by putting tens of millions into play on any given investment as they identify 50% or even 100% potential gains.#-ad_banner-# Take corporate raider Carl Icahn. He can buy a huge chunk of a company and then rattle some cages until the company is forced to make value-unlocking moves such as an asset sale or a big stock buyback. Or look at George Soros. He earned more than 1 billion British pounds in 1992 simply by wagering that the pound would soon lose value. Yet a number of other hedge fund billionaires have earned their fortune the… Read More

When America was on the doorstep of the Roaring ’20s and the birth of modern American consumerism, the predecessor to SunTrust Bank (NYSE: STI) made a shrewd investment.#-ad_banner-# When Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) went public, the bank was part of the underwriting group. The lead underwriter, J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM), took its $100,000 fee in cash. SunTrust took its payment in the company’s newly issued shares, which came out… Read More

When America was on the doorstep of the Roaring ’20s and the birth of modern American consumerism, the predecessor to SunTrust Bank (NYSE: STI) made a shrewd investment.#-ad_banner-# When Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) went public, the bank was part of the underwriting group. The lead underwriter, J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM), took its $100,000 fee in cash. SunTrust took its payment in the company’s newly issued shares, which came out to be around $70,000. The stock certificates and Coca-Cola’s secret formula sat in the bank’s vault for nearly a century growing to nearly 30 million shares worth more than $2 billion and paying around $53 million annually in dividends. Fast-forward to 2012. After a brutal financial crisis, SunTrust decided to do what many considered sacrilege. After being battered by a soft economy, tighter government regulation and bad loans, the company decided to sell… Read More

The financial crisis forced every company in the world to re-evaluate its business model. Frozen credit markets, a recessionary global economy and weak consumer demand scared even the most profitable and… Read More

Known as an activist investor, David Einhorn is actually a methodical value investor with a long-term track record of success. He started his hedge fund, Greenlight Capital, in 1996 with… Read More

Six hundred fifty million dollars is a lot of money — even for Bill Gates.  That’s how much his investment firm has invested in what might be considered the best way to play China. It’s not a software firm or even a computer hardware firm. It’s mining giant Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT). Gates started building a position in Caterpillar before the financial crisis, but he became a very aggressive buyer once the crisis hit and… Read More

Six hundred fifty million dollars is a lot of money — even for Bill Gates.  That’s how much his investment firm has invested in what might be considered the best way to play China. It’s not a software firm or even a computer hardware firm. It’s mining giant Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT). Gates started building a position in Caterpillar before the financial crisis, but he became a very aggressive buyer once the crisis hit and shares had fallen by half. Yet remarkably, Gates has kept on buying, even as shares steadily rebounded to previous peaks. But now that Caterpillar has come under pressure on concerns that China is slowing, is Gates locking in profits? No, he’s been buying more, picking up another 500,000 shares in this year‘s second quarter. At current prices, his firm’s stake of 10.76 million shares is worth a cool $650 million. The key question: Why does Gates continue to buy shares even after China’s slowdown has signaled the potential end of a global commodities… Read More

In 1905, Charles Henry Robinson spotted a unique opportunity. After moving west with his family to the North Dakota town of Grand Forks, he soon realized that settlers were in need of supplies. He founded a transportation company with the goal of delivering perishable products to consumers before they spoiled… Read More

The stock market is one fickle beast.  Without rhyme or reason, investor sentiment can change direction like leaf being blown by a breeze. A company can be on top of the world one day with a soaring… Read More

While other computer and smartphone makers have repeatedly suffered from price wars, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) always takes a different path. The consumer technology giant prefers to deliver the most advanced products at premium points. Such an approach can create a great user experience, but can… Read More

There’s a supercomputer at the University of Tennessee that can predict the future. Sort of. “Nautilus” scans tens of millions of news articles and archives from around the planet in search of emotive words — words such as “angry,” “tense,” and “concerned.” Words that convey emotions rather than facts.#-ad_banner-# The… Read More