Investing Basics

My mother’s side of the family owns large tracts of land along the Louisiana and Mississippi border. The area is teeming with wildlife and has been an outdoor paradise for at least five generations. But the real value of this fertile region is the soil itself, where… Read More

We’d all love to find a way to find that +1,000% gainer. To capture this kind of upside, investors will have to take their chances on companies that may have a great future but little to show for it right now. These speculative plays, more often than not, fail to… Read More

I sold my 1994 Mazda 626 — affectionately called “The Green Monster” — to a neighbor about two years ago. The car had served me well and still had enough life left to see his two teenagers through those dicey “new driver” years. I’m happy to report that the teens… Read More

During the past decade, analysts have collectively raised and lowered their rating on Walmart (NYSE: WMT) hundreds of times. Perhaps they shouldn’t have bothered. The stock has gone nowhere in 10 years, having been mostly stuck between $45 and $60 for all of that time. But just because the stock… Read More

In recent years, there has been a tectonic shift as Wall Street brokers leave their big firms to set up shop on their own. Generally speaking, such a move is bad news for the biggest clients as they are able to participate in hot IPOs and other transactions, and they… Read More

I have a chart that I want to show you. It’s nothing complex or hard to understand. In fact, I take pride in how simple it is to read. You’ll be surprised that the information shown in this chart is the result of just six months of… Read More

In recent weeks and months, we’ve seen a range of companies report solid quarterly results, yet their shares have steadily fallen in sympathy with the broader market. More than a few company executives have grumbled on conference calls that their company’s shares don’t get… Read More