Here’s something many investors probably don’t know about major drug makers like Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Bristol-Meyers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and others (collectively known as Big Pharma): They’re a lot like the major car companies. To save money back in the 1970s, the auto… Read More

Turmoil in Libya and other places in the Middle East have caused capital to flow out of equity markets and into traditional safe havens such as gold and silver. Surprisingly, one of the equity sectors that was least affected by the shift was emerging… Read More

One fund is paying a tempting 11% yield. Another offers 8%. Which one should you reach for? To answer that, you need to ask the right question. #-ad_banner-#The question is not,… Read More

Long-time readers of my articles will notice a predilection for the phrase “love ’em when they’re hated.” That phrase has surely applied to Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) after its stock fell 80% in the past five years to less than $10 a share. Many had concluded that the nation’s… Read More

It’s among the scarcest metals on the planet. There’s only one large above-ground store, a strategic reserve the Soviet Union spent 50 years accumulating. Russia decided to put the stockpile up for sale in 1990 when it was estimated to total 27 million ounces. Since then, buyers… Read More

Just when it looked like the auto industry’s wounds from the recession were going to fully heal, disaster struck in Japan and cut off key auto parts supply lines for nearly every major manufacturer. It was out of the frying pan of weak… Read More

What would you do with $10 billion? That’s the tough question posed to a handful of CEOs every year. These executives must redeploy that much money every year, trying to find the right mix of acquisitions, share buybacks, debt reductions and dividend streams. How they spend it is largely a function of where that company is in its life cycle. For ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), the prodigious profits have a clear purpose. The energy giant topped the list of America’s most profitable companies and usually focused on stock buybacks. Exxon’s share count… Read More

What would you do with $10 billion? That’s the tough question posed to a handful of CEOs every year. These executives must redeploy that much money every year, trying to find the right mix of acquisitions, share buybacks, debt reductions and dividend streams. How they spend it is largely a function of where that company is in its life cycle. For ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), the prodigious profits have a clear purpose. The energy giant topped the list of America’s most profitable companies and usually focused on stock buybacks. Exxon’s share count fell for eight straight years before rising a bit in 2010. Profits were spread over 6.8 billion shares back in 2002, yet ExxonMobil has bought back two billion shares since then, leading to a 29% reduction in the share count. #-ad_banner-#Why did the share count rise slightly in 2010? It’s because the oil giant deviated from the game plan a bit, making a few stock-based acquisitions in the natural gas sector such as the early-year acquisition of XTO Energy. Assuming ExxonMobil will once again focus on stock… Read More

#-ad_banner-#If you can handle risk, I’ve found a potentially very lucrative investment idea for you — a stock that could triple your money, or better, in the next three to five years. The stock’s risky for a couple reasons. First, it’s a small cap. As you probably… Read More

For clean energy investors, 2010 finished on a dismal note. A change of political control in Congress signaled diminished support in Washington for any kind of major financial incentives in alternative energy. In Europe, fiscal challenges led countries such as Italy and Germany to scale back their previous commitments to… Read More

When a company decides to split its stock, it’s usually a good sign for shareholders. For one reason or another, the company has decided it would like more shares outstanding on the market. This is usually accompanied by a run-up in the share price… Read More