When I’m looking for reliable income stocks, my favorite starting point is the Dividend Aristocrats Index that Standard & Poor’s updates every year. To make this list, companies must have increased dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. This is a major accomplishment and only a select few… Read More

The market’s biggest winners of the past decade are littered with natural resource stocks. Contango Oil & Gas (NYSE: MCF) has soared 753% in the past decade. Buenaventura Mining (NYSE: BVN), Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX), and Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) have produced gains… Read More

I’m always looking for stocks that have a chance to make a solid upward move in several quarters or several years. But sometimes, you catch a break and can bag some upside much more quickly than that. At the end of January, I suggested that… Read More

Sooner or later, every company’s growth prospects hit a wall. Companies that grow rapidly have an even tougher time, as the corporate culture is built around rapid expansion and growing market share as quickly as possible. Technology firms, in particular, face intense competition and short product-development cycles,  making it… Read More

In recent years, Warren Buffett seems to have drifted from his roots. The legendary investor was a pure disciple of Graham & Dodd, seeking out companies that possessed clear tangible value, either in the form of a rock-solid balance sheet or under-appreciated equity in its brand. More recently, Buffett started to look like a lot of other portfolio managers, shifting into stocks that were in high-growth mode. More important, he no longer seemed inclined to hold stocks for the long haul, shuffling some positions with — for him — a high… Read More

In recent years, Warren Buffett seems to have drifted from his roots. The legendary investor was a pure disciple of Graham & Dodd, seeking out companies that possessed clear tangible value, either in the form of a rock-solid balance sheet or under-appreciated equity in its brand. More recently, Buffett started to look like a lot of other portfolio managers, shifting into stocks that were in high-growth mode. More important, he no longer seemed inclined to hold stocks for the long haul, shuffling some positions with — for him — a high degree of frequency. And when he bought into risky but potentially lucrative special investments from the likes of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) at the height of the financial crisis, the Buffett we once knew seemed to have truly changed his stripes. (That Goldman stake is now worth more than $5 billion and will likely be bought out by Goldman in coming quarters.) You can’t blame him. Value investing hasn’t been as profitable as in decades past and Buffett simply learned to “beat the market at its own game.” Kudos to the elderly investor for showing the flexibility… Read More

First Egypt erupted, then Libya exploded. Investors might certainly wonder where the next Middle East powder keg will ignite and what effect it will have on crude oil prices. Analysts speculate there is already a $10-a-barrel “risk premium” built into crude, and that premium can go even higher if the… Read More

Before the explosive growth of the new fangled Internet machine, apartment and house hunters relied on the classified ads in the local newspaper or the slick-paper, free real estate guides that were strategically placed outside of grocery store entrances and in other high-traffic retail areas. Well, free to the… Read More

I confess. I love a good IPO (initial public offering). As part of the research for my Fast-Track Millionaire newsletter, I pore over every prospectus filed each month to take a look at who… Read More

For more than a century now, small-cap stocks have outperformed large caps quite reliably. Sure, some years are better than others and some years are downright bad. But throughout the past 80 years, small caps have averaged an annual gain of 11.0%, while large caps have averaged an annual gain… Read More