Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) just got with the program. The company announced Friday morning that it will increase its existing stock buyback program by $7.5 billion and modestly boost its dividend. Suddenly, using hefty cash balances to buy back stock… Read More

A seldom mentioned emerging market country is nurturing a future oil giant. Few are aware that Colombia is a growing and dynamic economy. Many people think of Colombia as a violent and lawless place dominated by drug cartels, or perhaps even… Read More

The banking industry still has a rocky road ahead of it as it struggles to shake the hangover headache from the financial meltdown that tipped the U.S. economy into recession. A quick check of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s website paints… Read More

I attended an investment conference last week and listened to a number of business updates from leading financial institutions. The vast majority are staying extremely conservative with their lending activities and are waiting for more tangible signs of an economic recovery before they start shifting gears from surviving the credit… Read More

A clear trend has emerged in the health care sector. Large companies are having an awfully hard time finding ways to grow. As an example, I recently took a look at the dimming outlook for industry giant Medtronic (NYSE: MDT). [Read more.] In that column, I added… Read More

One of the reasons Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) was such a great stock for so many years was that it was essentially a monopoly. And even the most inexperienced investor should know that a monopoly is one of the best investments one can make. Read More

Make it seven straight. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has reeled off a winning streak that has seen its shares rise every day thus far in September. The surge comes amid a pair of analyst upgrades and a change in the corner office. The rebound is also due to the fact that this unloved stock had become so cheap that it had nowhere to go but up. As I wrote last month: “shares have fallen so far, and the company’s balance sheet is so strong,… Read More

Make it seven straight. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has reeled off a winning streak that has seen its shares rise every day thus far in September. The surge comes amid a pair of analyst upgrades and a change in the corner office. The rebound is also due to the fact that this unloved stock had become so cheap that it had nowhere to go but up. As I wrote last month: “shares have fallen so far, and the company’s balance sheet is so strong, that any further share price weakness looks unlikely.” [Read: 3 Stocks That Can Survive a Bear Market ]   But is this just a head fake, or are shares really on the road to recovery? Let’s take a look. It can’t get worse Both Morgan Stanley (U.K.) and Merrill Lynch boosted their rating on Nokia this week with a fairly unusual investment thesis: business is so lousy and expectations for a rebound are so low that any positive news would be a real surprise. Morgan Stanley notes that Nokia’s latest line of smart… Read More

Soon after the tech bubble burst in 2000, investors searched for a new industry that could replicate some of the massive gains seen by investors just a few years earlier. The major investment magazines helped to boost the hype into the stratosphere. The hot technology? Nanotechnology. The… Read More

When a company is in a field with a lot of competition, the key to success is to differentiate the product. People without a lot of investment experience may not see differences between companies in a given sector, but differences exist if one looks closely enough. Although these differences may… Read More

A cool $7 billion. That’s how much Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) has picked up in value during the past three months on the heels of a stunning +81% gain in the shares. Don’t feel bad for rivals Travelzoo (Nasdaq: TZOO), Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) and Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) — they’ve risen anywhere from +15% to +40% as well. In the most recent quarter, Priceline saw a +60% jump in international bookings and a +20% jump in domestic bookings compared to a year ago. The other online travel firms had similar bullish… Read More

A cool $7 billion. That’s how much Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) has picked up in value during the past three months on the heels of a stunning +81% gain in the shares. Don’t feel bad for rivals Travelzoo (Nasdaq: TZOO), Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) and Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) — they’ve risen anywhere from +15% to +40% as well. In the most recent quarter, Priceline saw a +60% jump in international bookings and a +20% jump in domestic bookings compared to a year ago. The other online travel firms had similar bullish results. So if things are looking much brighter than a year ago in the world of business and leisure travel, why have shares of Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) and Avis Budget (NYSE: CAR) slipped roughly -6% in the past three months? Blame it on a summer-long saga that has seen these rivals try to win the affection of Dollar Thrifty (NYSE: DTG). Both firms would stand to gain significant synergies by winning this prize. But the loser would also win, as the whole industry benefits from fewer rental car outlets and fewer price wars. [Read my earlier take… Read More