Investing in smaller companies can offer individual investors many important advantages. Perhaps the most important of all is that these companies can grow very quickly, since it doesn’t take much for new sales and profits to make a big impact on overall growth. Many stocks with small market capitalizations also… Read More

Bill Clinton flipped a switch and changed the world. On May 1, 2000, the former President instructed the Federal Aviation Administration to turn off the “Selective Availability” option on the Global Positioning System (GPS), which had made the network of satellite signals usable only by high-tech… Read More

The market’s rough patch has recently knocked many stocks from their 52-week highs. Even the companies that are performing well are drifting ever lower, but the companies that have dared to stumble this spring are really taking a beating. One false move and they wake up to a share price … Read More

Finding good stocks to buy is always a challenge, and mutual funds face that challenge just like individual investors. Although many studies find that the average mutual fund lags the market, some funds do have amazing long-term records and it is often a good… Read More

Back in late April, I cautioned that summer trading can be quite tricky, noting that May is a good time to take profits because the market often weakens in June and July. Little did I know that the “summer swoon” would actually start in May. Since hitting a recent peak… Read More

There’s a drama unfolding in the health care field that is as dramatic as the daytime soap operas. Lots of “he said, she said” has been tossed around, and just to add a little spice, a “bete noire” has also appeared on the scene to cause trouble. If this drama plays out a certain way, then shareholders of one or two of the companies involved may see a big windfall. The drama began back in 2006 when little-known Pharmathene (NYSE: PIP) sued Siga Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA) for damages stemming from a broken business deal. Pharmathene had loaned… Read More

There’s a drama unfolding in the health care field that is as dramatic as the daytime soap operas. Lots of “he said, she said” has been tossed around, and just to add a little spice, a “bete noire” has also appeared on the scene to cause trouble. If this drama plays out a certain way, then shareholders of one or two of the companies involved may see a big windfall. The drama began back in 2006 when little-known Pharmathene (NYSE: PIP) sued Siga Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA) for damages stemming from a broken business deal. Pharmathene had loaned Siga money to fund research into a vaccination against smallpox. The loan was presumed to be an interim step before the two firms eventually merged. At a minimum, Pharmathene hoped to at least be granted rights to Siga’s drug, known as ST-246. The two firms had even drawn up documents that appear to imply a merger discussion was the eventual expected result. Siga appeared to eventually lose interest in any deal, figuring that it no longer needed Pharmathene’s stronger balance sheet to help fund the… Read More

#-ad_banner-#When President Obama’s armored limousine got stuck in Ireland this May as it exited the U.S. embassy, it was this towing company’s equipment that freed his vehicle, known affectionately as “The Beast.” Since receiving the president’s nod, Miller Industries (NYSE: MLR) — the world’s leading towing and… Read More

In the last two weeks of May, short sellers boosted their bets on many companies. They hold a dim view for stocks in general during the coming months, as evidenced by the fact that short interest in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) and the iShares Russell… Read More

Thanks to space age, cutting-edge design, an enigmatic CEO and rabidly devoted customers, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) can sometimes give off the aura of a cult. After all, people line up at God-awful hours of the night/morning to buy the company’s shiny little gadgets the first day they hit the market… Read More

#-ad_banner-#When shares of recent initial public offering (IPO) Boingo Wireless (Nasdaq: WIFI) surged more than 20% on June 13, investors shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, that was the day analysts were allowed to comment on the stock — the end of the 25-day “… Read More