One of the benefits of closely monitoring stocks month after month is that you get to identify great companies to put on your watch list. And when these companies temporarily fall out of favor, you can take advantage. During the past decade, I have always been very impressed with the… Read More

General Electric (NYSE: GE) is back. Its shares have more than doubled from the early 2009 swoon to near $16 and profits have begun to rebound. Then again, maybe not. Shares never traded below $30 in the middle part of the… Read More

When a trade turns sour, smart investors stand by their convictions and use any share price weakness to build a bigger position. And that’s just what George Soros is doing with his investment in electronics retailer Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). Shares touched a new intra-day low on Monday, but Soros is holding firm. According to TickerSpy.com, he owns more than three million shares, and his last move was as a buyer of another 299,000 shares. Soros isn’t looking like much of a market timer these days, as shares of Best Buy… Read More

When a trade turns sour, smart investors stand by their convictions and use any share price weakness to build a bigger position. And that’s just what George Soros is doing with his investment in electronics retailer Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). Shares touched a new intra-day low on Monday, but Soros is holding firm. According to TickerSpy.com, he owns more than three million shares, and his last move was as a buyer of another 299,000 shares. Soros isn’t looking like much of a market timer these days, as shares of Best Buy have fallen by nearly -25% during the past three months. But the legendary fund manager is focused on an important basic fact. This retailer isn’t hurting from increased competition (and indeed now has far less competition with the demise of Circuit City). Instead, demand for consumer electronics has hit a flat spot thanks to a weak economy and a lack of compelling new consumer electronics to buy. That flat spot should come to an end in a few quarters, and Soros will likely end up with a… Read More

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is a $300 billion company trading at nearly 12 times earnings. Has this super major oil company reached a peak valuation — or should these shares be an immediate addition to your portfolio? My take: ExxonMobil is a buy. I have five reasons for it. 1. Easy oil is gone. In the early days of the oil business, oil lurked, somewhat reliably, in certain geological formations. Wildcatters sought to capitalize on this untapped wealth. And while the… Read More

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is a $300 billion company trading at nearly 12 times earnings. Has this super major oil company reached a peak valuation — or should these shares be an immediate addition to your portfolio? My take: ExxonMobil is a buy. I have five reasons for it. 1. Easy oil is gone. In the early days of the oil business, oil lurked, somewhat reliably, in certain geological formations. Wildcatters sought to capitalize on this untapped wealth. And while the oil business was never really “easy,” it seemed like there was an unlimited supply. But that was not the case, and as many of the United States’ largest fields have been tapped. Finding major new fields is becoming harder and harder. Most onshore oil reserves are government-controlled. That’s great news for Exxon. As a capable cost manager and with a reputation for delivering results on time, it’s the go-to oil company to help nations develop their petroleum reserves. In the next two years alone, Exxon will start major projects in Qatar, Canada, Russia and throughout Africa, with… Read More

If I were to reverse engineer the ideal company to invest in, it would be one that is a leader in its industry, operates in a fast-growing market, has a globally diversified revenue stream that emphasizes emerging economies, has a strong balance sheet with no debt, boasts high profit margins and double-digit returns on invested capital. Sounds like an investor’s dream, doesn’t it? But wait, it gets better…   Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) nearly owns the market for communications equipment. The tech… Read More

If I were to reverse engineer the ideal company to invest in, it would be one that is a leader in its industry, operates in a fast-growing market, has a globally diversified revenue stream that emphasizes emerging economies, has a strong balance sheet with no debt, boasts high profit margins and double-digit returns on invested capital. Sounds like an investor’s dream, doesn’t it? But wait, it gets better…   Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) nearly owns the market for communications equipment. The tech titan just completed a year in which global sales grew +11% in a very challenging economic environment, reported +35% growth in emerging markets, has a net cash hoard of $28 billion, logged a net profit margin of 19.4% and returns on invested capital (ROIC) of 16%. (If you remove excess cash from the equation, ROIC is even higher). Yet for some reason the market knocked the shares down more than -9% in Thursday trading, as fourth quarter sales… Read More

A fair number of initial public offerings (IPOs) have flourished in this choppy market . Indian travel site MakeMyTrip (Nasdaq: MMYT), up as much as +66% in its first day of trading Thursday, and rental housing software firm RealPage (Nasdaq: RP), up +30%, are two of the latest examples. Read More

Depending on your investment style, either growth stocks or value stocks likely hold greater appeal. But sometimes you don’t have to choose. On rare occasion, a stock can represent the best of both worlds. These GARP (Growth at a Reasonable Price) stocks tend… Read More

I’ve been investigating fad stocks lately, and thought one article might be enough, until I came across such a perfect example, I thought investors absolutely had to know about it. [See: 3 “Fad” Stocks That Collapsed. . . and the Next One To Fall] We often learn… Read More

In the battle for television viewers against traditional cable companies, the country’s two-leading satellite cable providers have been engaged in a low-grade war these past years. With each passing quarter, either DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) or Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) scores a direct hit. Both fighters benefit while the industry is… Read More

Sometimes an investment looks like a no-brainer — until you dig a little deeper. On the face of it, Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) looks like one heckuva stock. The company offers insurance policies for bond buyers, focusing on the state and local municipal bond business. It’s a good business in normal times and a great business right now, thanks to especially high premiums to insure these increasingly risky bonds. Assured’s two main rivals, MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Ambac Financial (NYSE: ABK) are… Read More

Sometimes an investment looks like a no-brainer — until you dig a little deeper. On the face of it, Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) looks like one heckuva stock. The company offers insurance policies for bond buyers, focusing on the state and local municipal bond business. It’s a good business in normal times and a great business right now, thanks to especially high premiums to insure these increasingly risky bonds. Assured’s two main rivals, MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Ambac Financial (NYSE: ABK) are on the ropes, enabling the company to steal market share. Assured reported second-quarter profits last week of $0.91 a share, roughly +30% ahead of consensus forecasts and a company record since being spun-off from insurance giant ACE (NYSE: ACE) in 2004. And even after a nice double-digit gain on Friday, shares trade for just 80% of book value or about six times likely 2010 profits and 4.5 times expected 2011 profits. The “potential” in this case depends on… Read More