Take a moment to try to imagine the perfect business. It wouldn’t have any of the worries or costs associated with inventory. The business would be able to profit from any product or service in the… Read More

Some stocks are good for a quick pop, but you have to time it just right. Case in point: Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) investors have seen several double-digit surges over the last year. They’ve also seen the stock plummet by as much as a third on more than a few occasions. High-risk and high-reward stocks are great for kick-starting a portfolio, and they certainly make investing interesting, but many investors have been… Read More

Some stocks are good for a quick pop, but you have to time it just right. Case in point: Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) investors have seen several double-digit surges over the last year. They’ve also seen the stock plummet by as much as a third on more than a few occasions. High-risk and high-reward stocks are great for kick-starting a portfolio, and they certainly make investing interesting, but many investors have been broken by high-flying has-beens. For instance, wireless giant BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) made a lot of people wealthy as its stock price rocketed 17-fold between 2003 and 2007. Investors who bought in at BBRY’s height, on the other hand, are looking at a 90% loss. A chance at overnight success is great, but the single best way to make money in stocks is to buy those you can buy and hold “forever.”… Read More

Some stocks are good for a quick pop, but you have to time it just right. Case in point: Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) investors have seen several double-digit surges over the last year. They’ve also seen the stock plummet by as much as a third on more than a few occasions. High-risk and high-reward stocks are great for kick-starting a portfolio, and they certainly make investing interesting, but many investors have been… Read More

Some stocks are good for a quick pop, but you have to time it just right. Case in point: Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) investors have seen several double-digit surges over the last year. They’ve also seen the stock plummet by as much as a third on more than a few occasions. High-risk and high-reward stocks are great for kick-starting a portfolio, and they certainly make investing interesting, but many investors have been broken by high-flying has-beens. For instance, wireless giant BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) made a lot of people wealthy as its stock price rocketed 17-fold between 2003 and 2007. Investors who bought in at BBRY’s height, on the other hand, are looking at a 90% loss. A chance at overnight success is great, but the single best way to make money in stocks is to buy those you can buy and hold “forever.”… Read More

Having grown accustomed to the Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) near my hometown, I was amazed at the brightness, quality, price and choices available at a competing new-to-me retailer during my visit while on vacation.#-ad_banner-# A closer look at the merchandise revealed high-end designer fashions such as Missoni, Oscar de la Renta,… Read More

So, what now, Mike? That’s the question I posed to the most recent addition to StreetAuthority’s stable of stock market strategists, Michael J. Carr, following a week that saw the steepest single-day drop in the stock market since November 2011. During the past month I’ve been telling you about Mike’s Maximum Profit trading system — a trading system that’s among the greatest investment strategies we’ve ever discovered. Every two weeks, Mike starts with about… Read More

So, what now, Mike? That’s the question I posed to the most recent addition to StreetAuthority’s stable of stock market strategists, Michael J. Carr, following a week that saw the steepest single-day drop in the stock market since November 2011. During the past month I’ve been telling you about Mike’s Maximum Profit trading system — a trading system that’s among the greatest investment strategies we’ve ever discovered. Every two weeks, Mike starts with about 150 individual stocks, partnerships and trusts that constitute the 10 portfolios in the premium StreetAuthority advisories — the same holdings that have already been recommended by Carla Pasternak, Elliott Gue, Amy Calistri and the rest of the StreetAuthority experts.#-ad_banner-# From there, Mike runs every pick through a test of relative strength — a measure that compares a stock’s performance of the past six months with the performance of the thousands of stocks that make up the entire market. Only those holdings that are rising faster than 70% of… Read More

We are on the brink of a potentially epic economic change. Fortunately, this is unlikely to be a “black swan” event that rattles the markets from Main Street to Wall Street. It is also not likely to be a sudden shock that quickly dissipates, leaving everything about the same as before. I am talking about a fully controlled, incremental long-term shift that will forever change the economic landscape. To prop up the U.S. Read More

We are on the brink of a potentially epic economic change. Fortunately, this is unlikely to be a “black swan” event that rattles the markets from Main Street to Wall Street. It is also not likely to be a sudden shock that quickly dissipates, leaving everything about the same as before. I am talking about a fully controlled, incremental long-term shift that will forever change the economic landscape. To prop up the U.S. economy after the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve used monetary tools such as dropping interest rates to the lowest levels in history and flooding the markets with ready cash and quantitative easing measures. Now that the economy is back on track, the Fed has signaled its intention to throttle back on quantitative easing, likely to the point of elimination.  In addition, interest rates have started to spike.  This is a long-term change that is currently in its infancy: the economy’s reversion… Read More

The term “fracking” — referring to the hydraulic fracturing of rock formations to tap into seams of natural gas deep underground — is controversial. Consumers have expressed concerns that fracking may cause groundwater contamination, and regulators are studying the issue. The good news: Proper safeguards can help fracking unlock America’s vast trove of natural gas in ways that don’t despoil the environment, and several companies are gearing up to help the cause. Oil services giant Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), for example, is now selling… Read More

The term “fracking” — referring to the hydraulic fracturing of rock formations to tap into seams of natural gas deep underground — is controversial. Consumers have expressed concerns that fracking may cause groundwater contamination, and regulators are studying the issue. The good news: Proper safeguards can help fracking unlock America’s vast trove of natural gas in ways that don’t despoil the environment, and several companies are gearing up to help the cause. Oil services giant Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), for example, is now selling fracking fluids that have a much more benign environmental footprint, and rivals are coming up with their own solutions as well. #-ad_banner-# Still, for these fluids to work effectively, fresh water needs to be trucked in, and post-fracking wastewater needs to be trucked away from drilling sites. One of the leading companies in that effort also happens to be one of the most unloved stocks in the market right now. That’s largely due to a major acquisition… Read More

On Thursday, I told you about the advice Warren Buffett is all too happy to offer, but most investors seem to ignore. Today, I’m going to share with you — in the hopes that we can all heed his words a little more closely — the seemingly “magic” formula he uses to consistently beat the market. Ready for it? Stuff minus debt. That’s it. That’s the golden ticket. That’s how an investor can determine the… Read More

On Thursday, I told you about the advice Warren Buffett is all too happy to offer, but most investors seem to ignore. Today, I’m going to share with you — in the hopes that we can all heed his words a little more closely — the seemingly “magic” formula he uses to consistently beat the market. Ready for it? Stuff minus debt. That’s it. That’s the golden ticket. That’s how an investor can determine the intangible value of a business. A lot of people try to make this more complicated than that, but it’s really not.  After all, the accountants are not trying to trick anyone: Each line is exactly what it says it is. “Cash” is self-explanatory. “Inventory” is stuff. “Receivables” are unpaid bills sent for goods delivered or services rendered. And so forth. Yet balance sheets hold this weird mystique. They scare the hell out of a… Read More

The latest rankings of the world’s richest people show that telecom magnate Carlos Slim of Mexico is again on the top of the heap, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Both of these men amassed dizzying fortunes primarily with one investment: Gates with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Slim with America Movil (NYSE: AMX), one of the largest telecom companies in the world. Fourth on the list is Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha also made his fortune with one company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B), but there’s a twist. While Microsoft is focused on software… Read More

The latest rankings of the world’s richest people show that telecom magnate Carlos Slim of Mexico is again on the top of the heap, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Both of these men amassed dizzying fortunes primarily with one investment: Gates with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Slim with America Movil (NYSE: AMX), one of the largest telecom companies in the world. Fourth on the list is Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha also made his fortune with one company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B), but there’s a twist. While Microsoft is focused on software and America Movil on cellphones, Berkshire is a holding company. Its business is to own other businesses. It is Buffett’s uncanny ability to pick winning businesses that has enabled the modest man from Omaha to pile up nearly $55 billion. But is it really all that uncanny? I don’t think so. If you go to the bookstore, you’ll find a whole shelf of books on Buffett in the investing section. They will be chock-full of his witty sayings. His earthy common sense resonates with everyone. No matter… Read More

When you think of pizza, you don’t often think of technology. But Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), one of America’s largest pizza chains, has combined the two into a formula for success. Until 2010, the stock struggled to break $15 as revenue and earnings growth were sluggish. But between 2010 and the end of 2012, earnings accelerated almost 32%, going from $1.45 to $1.91 in the three-year period. The stock responded with a vengeance, up nearly 500% since the summer of 2010. Read More

When you think of pizza, you don’t often think of technology. But Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), one of America’s largest pizza chains, has combined the two into a formula for success. Until 2010, the stock struggled to break $15 as revenue and earnings growth were sluggish. But between 2010 and the end of 2012, earnings accelerated almost 32%, going from $1.45 to $1.91 in the three-year period. The stock responded with a vengeance, up nearly 500% since the summer of 2010. The earnings and share price acceleration can be attributed to several factors: successful advertising campaigns, a tastier pizza recipe and international expansion, but perhaps most importantly, technology — specifically digital ordering technology.#-ad_banner-# In many ways, Domino’s is revolutionizing the way pizza is ordered and delivered. Want a steaming-hot pizza? No need to pick up the phone and speak to a person to place an order. Now there’s an app for that. In 2011, Domino’s created an app to order a pizza through an Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone. A year later, it followed with an… Read More