Short sellers have big stature on Wall Street. The “short” part doesn’t have anything to do with their physical height but it has much to do with their psychological and practical approach to the market. While most investors buy stocks to benefit from rising prices, shorts sell… Read More

If you couldn’t tell from a quick scan at your local supermarket, it’s not uncommon for a handful of companies to dominate a specific product category. Companies talk about all types of business objectives, from R&D spending to supply chain initiatives to product development. But at the end of the… Read More

The most valued company in the United States? If you guess Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) or Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A), you’re way off. Hint: This company been around since 1851 and does business in nearly every town in the world. Another hint: A band called The Five Americans made… Read More

The Oracle has spoken. Fresh on the heels of his recent $44 billion deal to buy the railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Warren Buffett’s latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday night shows his company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B), has acquired new… Read More

Only 313 U.S. companies have increased sales every year for the past decade. These are companies that have improved every year since 1999 — growing through three presidents and two bear markets. Some of the biggest names that have pulled off this financial feat… Read More

I’d bet that most Investor Update readers know about the S&P Dividend Aristocrats Index. To be included in this index, an S&P 500 company must have raised its dividend annually for at least the past 25 years. Read More

Free. There may be no better word in the English language. A new breed of exchange-traded fund offers accountholders at one of the world’s biggest discount brokerages free trades for life. Cheap, liquid, and diversified, ETFs are popular investment vehicles. They’ve seen a… Read More

Nearly 1,000 U.S.-listed companies offer Dividend Reinvestment Plans or “DRIPs” as a way for shareholders to accumulate shares without using a broker. These plans allow investors to automatically use their dividends to buy more shares of the company’s… Read More

During the market’s darkest days of fear and uncertainty last October, Warren Buffett wrote a bullish op-ed piece in The New York Times arguing in favor of U.S. stocks. Those reassuring comments helped quell anxiety far more than any government intervention. Buffett was putting his money where his mouth was. Read More

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) is set to take off. The news that uberinvestor Warren Buffett’s holding company would take over Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) in a $44 billion “all-in wager on the economic future of the United States” has made headlines around the world. Everyone says it’s Buffett’s biggest deal. Read More