Around this time last year, shares of a little-known small-cap company — Fleetmatics (NYSE: FLTX) — jumped 40% in one day. Over the prior weekend, the company agreed to be bought by Verizon (NYSE: VZ) for $60 per share in cash — a massive premium to the previous day’s closing price. A 100-share stake that was worth $4,296 on one day was now worth $5,959. Only a month earlier, Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) bought HeartWare (Nasdaq: HTWR), a maker of surgical implants for the heart, for $1.1 billion, a 93% premium to the previous day’s closing price. #-ad_banner-#These deals signify… Read More

Around this time last year, shares of a little-known small-cap company — Fleetmatics (NYSE: FLTX) — jumped 40% in one day. Over the prior weekend, the company agreed to be bought by Verizon (NYSE: VZ) for $60 per share in cash — a massive premium to the previous day’s closing price. A 100-share stake that was worth $4,296 on one day was now worth $5,959. Only a month earlier, Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) bought HeartWare (Nasdaq: HTWR), a maker of surgical implants for the heart, for $1.1 billion, a 93% premium to the previous day’s closing price. #-ad_banner-#These deals signify a fact of life that corporate executives — and successful game-changing stock investors — know too well: it’s easier to buy something than to build it from scratch. In the case of Fleetmatics, for instance, Verizon was looking to instantly enhance its IoT (Internet of Things) portfolio. Instead of having to develop its own surgical implants that mimic the heart’s blood-pumping function, all Medtronic will have to do is sign the dotted line (and fork over the cash).  Companies that possess disruptive or proprietary technologies, or those that have made inroads into a new,… Read More

1000%, 2000%, 3000%, and higher returns are common in the emerging cryptocurrency market. Just last week, a trader posted screen shots showing him turning a $380 speculative bet into over $1 million in less than an hour. While this was a one-in-a-billion stroke of luck, other truly massive longer-term returns are easier to obtain and are making many investors wealthy.  And now there is a way for stock market investors like you to participate in this crazy market without leaving the comfort of your existing broker.  Once thought of as the province of hackers, cyber-pirates, and radical libertarians, cybercurrencies are… Read More

1000%, 2000%, 3000%, and higher returns are common in the emerging cryptocurrency market. Just last week, a trader posted screen shots showing him turning a $380 speculative bet into over $1 million in less than an hour. While this was a one-in-a-billion stroke of luck, other truly massive longer-term returns are easier to obtain and are making many investors wealthy.  And now there is a way for stock market investors like you to participate in this crazy market without leaving the comfort of your existing broker.  Once thought of as the province of hackers, cyber-pirates, and radical libertarians, cybercurrencies are quickly moving into the mainstream. Names like Bitcoin, Etherium, and Ripple are being bandied about, not only on the internet and financial press, but by major banks and financial institutions as they explore ways of utilizing these borderless forms of money. What Is Cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is a catchall term that refers to digital or virtual means of exchanging or storing money. Cryptocurrency functions under a decentralized model, meaning that it does not require a central bank or government entity to create or regulate it.  Instead, it is self-governing via a system known as the blockchain, which is a public… Read More

Entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, says that all closed systems will tend to greater disorder. It’s also a quickening process. The greater the disorder becomes, the faster the system breaks down completely. In a nutshell, things just tend to fall apart.  That systemic law may be just as true outside the world of physics, as several forces look to be ushering us to an age of disorder. Eurasia Group, the political think tank, has warned that the world is entering a year of geopolitical recession in 2017.  Strategists at Goldman Sachs… Read More

Entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, says that all closed systems will tend to greater disorder. It’s also a quickening process. The greater the disorder becomes, the faster the system breaks down completely. In a nutshell, things just tend to fall apart.  That systemic law may be just as true outside the world of physics, as several forces look to be ushering us to an age of disorder. Eurasia Group, the political think tank, has warned that the world is entering a year of geopolitical recession in 2017.  Strategists at Goldman Sachs told CNBC last week that it may take either a war or recession to shock the stock market out of its low-volatility range. While the investment bank estimates only a 25% chance of recession over the next two years, the risk of a geopolitical conflict could be just around the corner. The world seems to be turning to a more uncertain and hostile future, one where geopolitical and economic events may cause a spike in stock volatility. Instead of buying general protection or shifting money to safety assets, there are investments that can thrive in the environment. Are We Heading… Read More

As some of you may know, I write a newsletter called Maximum Profit. In this advisory, I employ a proprietary trading system that scours the universe of stocks to find ones that have the best potential of delivering exceptional returns in a short amount of time (my average holding period is six months).  While on the surface it might seem as if Maximum Profit and my other, long-term-focused newsletter Top Stock Advisor come from opposite ends of the investing spectrum, at their core they are quite similar… You see, in Maximum Profit, we take technical analysis (the study of charts… Read More

As some of you may know, I write a newsletter called Maximum Profit. In this advisory, I employ a proprietary trading system that scours the universe of stocks to find ones that have the best potential of delivering exceptional returns in a short amount of time (my average holding period is six months).  While on the surface it might seem as if Maximum Profit and my other, long-term-focused newsletter Top Stock Advisor come from opposite ends of the investing spectrum, at their core they are quite similar… You see, in Maximum Profit, we take technical analysis (the study of charts and graphs) and combine it with fundamental analysis, and in return we get an elite system that has the uncanny ability to find solid companies that deliver fantastic returns over a short amount of time. Before I get into the meat of today’s article, let me provide a quick refresher on exactly how my system finds and scores stocks that are then added to one of my Maximum Profit portfolios. —Sponsored Link— Over 4,218 Payouts Unclaimed ​In just the past 30 days, more than a dozen American companies issued huge one-day cash payouts. A small… Read More

There are many reasons to love the Chinese e-commerce darling Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA). The stock has captured the imagination of investors around the world from its IPO in September 2014 to today. But the question is, does this behemoth still make sense as an investment? I, for one, firmly believe that the company has tremendous upside potential. Here are seven reasons to love BABA right now. 1. The Chinese Economy A barrage of negative press has caused many investors to sour on the Chinese economy. Talk of slowdowns and the possible implosion of the Chinese economy have dominated… Read More

There are many reasons to love the Chinese e-commerce darling Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA). The stock has captured the imagination of investors around the world from its IPO in September 2014 to today. But the question is, does this behemoth still make sense as an investment? I, for one, firmly believe that the company has tremendous upside potential. Here are seven reasons to love BABA right now. 1. The Chinese Economy A barrage of negative press has caused many investors to sour on the Chinese economy. Talk of slowdowns and the possible implosion of the Chinese economy have dominated the discussion on Chinese investment in recent years. While it’s true that the massive economic expansion has settled down, the growth story remains as exciting as ever. Pay no attention to the naysayers! The Chinese economy began its expansion in 1978 after the government shifted to a market-based economy from a struggling, centrally-planned one. Since this time, China has averaged GDP increases of around 10% annually. That growth cements China’s claim to the fastest sustained development of any major economy ever. Since the 2008 financial crisis, the nation has quickly becomes the largest contributor to global fiscal growth. Despite its… Read More

Recently, much of my work had focused on the role interest rates play in the current state of financial markets. While the Federal Reserve has raised rates, the anticipated upward movement of real rates, mainly in bonds, has yet to solidly materialize.  Rising rates will affect financial sector stocks in different ways. Banks, especially regional banks, tend to preform better if rates are rising. Rising rates are indicative of an improving economy. A healthier economy points to rising consumer demand and business expansion. Regional bank margins usually improve with higher loan demand and accompanying higher rates.  Put… Read More

Recently, much of my work had focused on the role interest rates play in the current state of financial markets. While the Federal Reserve has raised rates, the anticipated upward movement of real rates, mainly in bonds, has yet to solidly materialize.  Rising rates will affect financial sector stocks in different ways. Banks, especially regional banks, tend to preform better if rates are rising. Rising rates are indicative of an improving economy. A healthier economy points to rising consumer demand and business expansion. Regional bank margins usually improve with higher loan demand and accompanying higher rates.  Put simply: banks can charge more therefore they make more. It’s rare that financial sector stocks can operate independent of interest rates. However, there are a select few that are good beds regardless of what rates are doing. And that’s what I want to focus on today… Business Development Companies — Over the last decade, these entities, also known as BDCs, have stepped in and become the nation’s middle market business lender. During the financial crisis, as traditional banks backed away from lending to small and mid-sized businesses, BDCs filled the gap thanks mainly to their ability to tap capital markets,… Read More

Warren Buffett is the 2nd richest person in the world in Forbes’s 2017 annual ranking, with a net worth of $76 billion. Buffett has accumulated his riches from investing in almost every sector — everything from candy companies to insurance companies. One notable exception from amassing his fortune? Technology stocks. Buffett is notorious for avoiding the technology sector altogether because he loves investing in companies that are easy to understand. #-ad_banner-#Buffett once commented on his distaste for tech, saying “I know about as much about semiconductors or integrated circuits as I do of the mating habits of the chrzaszcz (the… Read More

Warren Buffett is the 2nd richest person in the world in Forbes’s 2017 annual ranking, with a net worth of $76 billion. Buffett has accumulated his riches from investing in almost every sector — everything from candy companies to insurance companies. One notable exception from amassing his fortune? Technology stocks. Buffett is notorious for avoiding the technology sector altogether because he loves investing in companies that are easy to understand. #-ad_banner-#Buffett once commented on his distaste for tech, saying “I know about as much about semiconductors or integrated circuits as I do of the mating habits of the chrzaszcz (the polish word for Beetle). We will not go into businesses where technology which is way over my head is crucial to the investment decision.” However, this view came to a screeching halt in May of 2016. That’s when Buffett broke with tradition and bought 9.8 million shares of Apple. Since then, he’s kept on buying. In January Buffett bought another 72 million shares. Today, Buffett owns 2.5% of Apple, making it his 2nd largest holding. These moves have a lot of investors asking an important question. Is Apple stock a good buy? Absolutely. Let me explain why Buffett couldn’t resist… Read More