Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and… Read More

Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and financial backing.#-ad_banner-# That’s because Nat is short for Nathaniel. His full name is Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild. He’s the latest descendant of the legendary Rothschild family… one of the world’s most powerful dynasties since the late 18th century. For over 200 years, the secretive family has had a hand in just about every major world event. Whether it’s bringing down Napoleon… building the Suez Canal… financing the California Gold Rush… or ushering in the railroad era… look closely and you’ll find Rothschild fingerprints everywhere. Early on, the family made it a point to pass the… Read More

Biotech investing is like the Wild West: Anything can — and does — happen.  Inexpensive stocks in this sector can shoot higher on signals of positive test results. By the same token, top-performing biotech shares can plummet when a flagship product fails to gain regulatory approval or is forced into irrelevancy by a competitor.  Even companies that appear to be up-and-coming industry leaders can quickly fade into… Read More

Biotech investing is like the Wild West: Anything can — and does — happen.  Inexpensive stocks in this sector can shoot higher on signals of positive test results. By the same token, top-performing biotech shares can plummet when a flagship product fails to gain regulatory approval or is forced into irrelevancy by a competitor.  Even companies that appear to be up-and-coming industry leaders can quickly fade into has-been status on news of a minor negative occurrence. In other words, while the biotech investing arena can sometimes offer rapid returns, it is only for investors who can stomach risk. One tactic used by the most successful investors in this arena is to spread risk across multiple stocks. This tactic relies on speculating that one or more will be a huge winner, creating profits for the portfolio despite the almost guaranteed losers.  The latest biotech company catching my attention is Exact… Read More

Biotech investing is like the Wild West: Anything can — and does — happen.  Inexpensive stocks in this sector can shoot higher on signals of positive test results. By the same token, top-performing biotech shares can plummet when a flagship product fails to gain regulatory approval or is forced into irrelevancy by a competitor.  Even companies that appear to be up-and-coming industry leaders can quickly fade into… Read More

Biotech investing is like the Wild West: Anything can — and does — happen.  Inexpensive stocks in this sector can shoot higher on signals of positive test results. By the same token, top-performing biotech shares can plummet when a flagship product fails to gain regulatory approval or is forced into irrelevancy by a competitor.  Even companies that appear to be up-and-coming industry leaders can quickly fade into has-been status on news of a minor negative occurrence. In other words, while the biotech investing arena can sometimes offer rapid returns, it is only for investors who can stomach risk. One tactic used by the most successful investors in this arena is to spread risk across multiple stocks. This tactic relies on speculating that one or more will be a huge winner, creating profits for the portfolio despite the almost guaranteed losers.  The latest biotech company catching my attention is Exact… Read More

Until recently, I would have avoided regional banks. However, the green shoots of the U.S. recovery are now sturdy enough that select financial institutions are showing highly bullish charts backed by strong fundamentals. Both the technicals and fundamentals tell me there is a good trading opportunity at hand. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the number of bank failures has dropped dramatically since June 2011. At this time two years ago, 48 banks had entered… Read More

Until recently, I would have avoided regional banks. However, the green shoots of the U.S. recovery are now sturdy enough that select financial institutions are showing highly bullish charts backed by strong fundamentals. Both the technicals and fundamentals tell me there is a good trading opportunity at hand. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the number of bank failures has dropped dramatically since June 2011. At this time two years ago, 48 banks had entered receivership. By this time in 2012, the number dropped to 31. So far this year, only 16 banks have failed — one-third the number of failures compared with 2011.#-ad_banner-# Moreover, revenue and earnings prospects for select regional banks should continue to improve. For starters, the Federal Reserve’s pledge to keep interest rates near record lows means low-cost loans for consumers, and that translates to strong… Read More

Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and… Read More

Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and financial backing.#-ad_banner-# That’s because Nat is short for Nathaniel. His full name is Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild. He’s the latest descendant of the legendary Rothschild family… one of the world’s most powerful dynasties since the late 18th century. For over 200 years, the secretive family has had a hand in just about every major world event. Whether it’s bringing down Napoleon… building the Suez Canal… financing the California Gold Rush… or ushering in the railroad era… look closely and you’ll find Rothschild fingerprints everywhere. Early on, the family made it a point to pass the… Read More

Until recently, I would have avoided regional banks. However, the green shoots of the U.S. recovery are now sturdy enough that select financial institutions are showing highly bullish charts backed by strong fundamentals. Both the technicals and fundamentals tell me there is a good trading opportunity at hand. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the number of bank failures has dropped dramatically since June 2011. At this time two years ago, 48 banks had entered… Read More

Until recently, I would have avoided regional banks. However, the green shoots of the U.S. recovery are now sturdy enough that select financial institutions are showing highly bullish charts backed by strong fundamentals. Both the technicals and fundamentals tell me there is a good trading opportunity at hand. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the number of bank failures has dropped dramatically since June 2011. At this time two years ago, 48 banks had entered receivership. By this time in 2012, the number dropped to 31. So far this year, only 16 banks have failed — one-third the number of failures compared with 2011.#-ad_banner-# Moreover, revenue and earnings prospects for select regional banks should continue to improve. For starters, the Federal Reserve’s pledge to keep interest rates near record lows means low-cost loans for consumers, and that translates to strong… Read More

Warren Buffett is always quick to warn investors about becoming emotionally attached to a stock they own.  To paraphrase the Oracle of Omaha, “That 100 shares of stock doesn’t know that you own it.” I’ve echoed that philosophy on occasion, telling clients that a hundred shares of Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) won’t tell you it loves you when you come home at night. But as investors, we sometimes find ourselves gravitating toward the same group of… Read More

Warren Buffett is always quick to warn investors about becoming emotionally attached to a stock they own.  To paraphrase the Oracle of Omaha, “That 100 shares of stock doesn’t know that you own it.” I’ve echoed that philosophy on occasion, telling clients that a hundred shares of Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) won’t tell you it loves you when you come home at night. But as investors, we sometimes find ourselves gravitating toward the same group of stocks because of their dependable performance. Buffett himself is guilty of this with holdings such as Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) or The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), which have served as two of Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B) stalwart holdings for decades.  At StreetAuthority, we refer to these names as “Forever” stocks. But there’s one stock in particular I find myself coming back to time and time again: Intel (Nasdaq: INTC). Long Live The PC Fifteen years ago, the strongest argument for owning shares of Intel was that the company manufactured the brains for 80% of the world’s computers. As… Read More

Warren Buffett is always quick to warn investors about becoming emotionally attached to a stock they own.  To paraphrase the Oracle of Omaha, “That 100 shares of stock doesn’t know that you own it.” I’ve echoed that philosophy on occasion, telling clients that a hundred shares of Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) won’t tell you it loves you when you come home at night. But as investors, we sometimes find ourselves gravitating toward the same group of… Read More

Warren Buffett is always quick to warn investors about becoming emotionally attached to a stock they own.  To paraphrase the Oracle of Omaha, “That 100 shares of stock doesn’t know that you own it.” I’ve echoed that philosophy on occasion, telling clients that a hundred shares of Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) won’t tell you it loves you when you come home at night. But as investors, we sometimes find ourselves gravitating toward the same group of stocks because of their dependable performance. Buffett himself is guilty of this with holdings such as Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) or The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), which have served as two of Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B) stalwart holdings for decades.  At StreetAuthority, we refer to these names as “Forever” stocks. But there’s one stock in particular I find myself coming back to time and time again: Intel (Nasdaq: INTC). Long Live The PC Fifteen years ago, the strongest argument for owning shares of Intel was that the company manufactured the brains for 80% of the world’s computers. As… Read More

I love it when rain keeps falling on a company whose future is sunny.  News that the Internal Revenue Service was scrutinizing this company’s application to become a real estate investment trust (REIT) sent the shares down 5.5% in one day last month. Regardless of whether the company is allowed to change its corporate status, the fact that it’s applied to do so means upward of $420 million in additional taxes over the next four years.#-ad_banner-#… Read More

I love it when rain keeps falling on a company whose future is sunny.  News that the Internal Revenue Service was scrutinizing this company’s application to become a real estate investment trust (REIT) sent the shares down 5.5% in one day last month. Regardless of whether the company is allowed to change its corporate status, the fact that it’s applied to do so means upward of $420 million in additional taxes over the next four years.#-ad_banner-# This company’s shares also took a beating on April’s first-quarter earnings report, plummeting 12% when revenue and profits missed lofty analyst expectations. Even though revenue increased 17% over the previous year and the company’s gross margin was an outstanding 50%, analysts expected 7 cents more in earnings per share. Investors punished the stock, and short-sellers are swarming, with almost 17% of… Read More

In his excellent book “One Up on Wall Street,” Peter Lynch, the best mutual fund manager ever, revealed a powerful charting tool that helped him achieve an annual gain of 29.2% in his portfolios for 13 years. In this chart, Peter Lynch drew a company’s stock price and earnings per share together and aligned the value of $1 in earnings per share to $15 in stock price. He wrote… Read More

In his excellent book “One Up on Wall Street,” Peter Lynch, the best mutual fund manager ever, revealed a powerful charting tool that helped him achieve an annual gain of 29.2% in his portfolios for 13 years. In this chart, Peter Lynch drew a company’s stock price and earnings per share together and aligned the value of $1 in earnings per share to $15 in stock price. He wrote in pages 164-165 of the book: “A quick way to tell if a stock is overpriced is to compare the price line to the earnings line. If you bought familiar growth companies — such as Shoney’s, The Limited, or Marriott — when the stock price fell well below the earnings line, and sold them when the stock price rose dramatically above it, the chances are you’d do pretty well.” To see how this Peter Lynch Chart works, we applied it to the top holdings of Warren Buffett,… Read More