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

Today’s market environment might be uncertain, but one thing is certain: the crowd is flocking to bonds. In 2009, investors put $375 billion into bond funds, about 14 times more than in 2008 and more than double the previous record in… Read More

Back in the 1970s, with interest rates hovering above 10%, investors could earn a lot more money by simply owning bonds instead of stocks. Now, with interest rates at all-time lows in the modern era, the bonds vs. stocks debate is getting turned on its head. With bond yields stuck at low levels, stocks are comparatively much more attractive. That point has been noted by the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) at a wide range of blue-chip companies. These companies are increasingly realizing that they can alter their balance sheets to… Read More

Back in the 1970s, with interest rates hovering above 10%, investors could earn a lot more money by simply owning bonds instead of stocks. Now, with interest rates at all-time lows in the modern era, the bonds vs. stocks debate is getting turned on its head. With bond yields stuck at low levels, stocks are comparatively much more attractive. That point has been noted by the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) at a wide range of blue-chip companies. These companies are increasingly realizing that they can alter their balance sheets to provide some much-needed support to their flagging stock prices. And that’s a buy signal you shouldn’t ignore. When leverage is appropriate For a long time, many companies (especially in the field of high-tech) preferred to hold lots of cash and carry no debt. High cash balances were seen as a sign of strength in case any major economic slowdowns forced companies to burn cash to keep afloat. (Memories of the imploding dot-com bubble of a decade ago die hard.) Yet as we saw in the recent economic crisis, most large tech companies such as Microsoft… Read More

Anybody with a home theatre has known for some time that the DVD’s days are numbered. Eventually, streaming movies will be the standard. Eventually, films will also be streamed directly to a movie screen. There will be no front projection. Movie theatres will be nothing more than a choice between… Read More

Investors often look for stocks that are “selling below book value.” That’s a fancy way of saying that the company’s stock market value is even lower than the assets (minus debts) it has sitting on its… Read More

Talk about great timing. Major casino operators decided a decade ago to build massive new casinos in Macau, just a stone’s throw from Hong Kong and mainland China. Those new gambling halls are now packed to the gills, thanks to the region’s ever-rising tide of freshly-minted millionaires. Meanwhile, traffic at casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Biloxi and elsewhere in the United States remains in a funk. The fact that shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) and Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) are up +110% and +50% year-to-date, respectively, is solely… Read More

Talk about great timing. Major casino operators decided a decade ago to build massive new casinos in Macau, just a stone’s throw from Hong Kong and mainland China. Those new gambling halls are now packed to the gills, thanks to the region’s ever-rising tide of freshly-minted millionaires. Meanwhile, traffic at casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Biloxi and elsewhere in the United States remains in a funk. The fact that shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) and Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) are up +110% and +50% year-to-date, respectively, is solely due to their exposure to Macau. U.S.-focused Casino operators like Isle of Capri (Nasdaq: ISLE) can only look on with envy. That firm announced very tepid quarterly results August 31st, pushing shares down -14%. If you think you missed the Macau surge, fret not. There is a way to play the region with a stock that is only starting to find appreciation among investors. #-ad_banner-#Building boom After years of construction, new casinos have been opening at a frenzied pace during the past few years in Macau. Industry revenue rose more than +50%… Read More

I don’t want my readers being caught off guard. January 1, 2011 could be one of the most important dates in a long time for income investors. As I discussed last week, if Congress doesn’t act by that date, dividend… Read More

Investors mine ideas from many different sources, but many investors overlook a resource that provides some of the best ideas from the greatest minds. Most people believe that the world of hedge funds is not within their grasp. In truth, some of the best stock-pickers make their choices widely… Read More

Carl Icahn just can’t help himself. Rather than sit patiently and wait for his large investment in Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to ripen, he keeps pulling out his check book to buy another large block of the telecom giant’s stock. In late August, he bought another $111 million… Read More

The stock market has not been a great place to invest in the past decade. In fact, the S&P 500 is lower now than it was 10 years ago. Bonds, on the other hand, have been a much better place to invest. The Barclay’s Capital U.S. Aggregate… Read More