On January 1, 2018, a new law goes into effect that has the potential to wipe out a large portion of the 6,000 medical testing labs in the United States. And as smaller labs give up the ghost, large, publicly traded lab-testing companies will take much of the business of those smaller labs. That’s because changes to Section 216 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) will result in the single most disruptive event to hit the clinical laboratory industry in the past quarter-century. Medicare currently pays roughly $7 billion a year to laboratories performing more than… Read More

On January 1, 2018, a new law goes into effect that has the potential to wipe out a large portion of the 6,000 medical testing labs in the United States. And as smaller labs give up the ghost, large, publicly traded lab-testing companies will take much of the business of those smaller labs. That’s because changes to Section 216 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) will result in the single most disruptive event to hit the clinical laboratory industry in the past quarter-century. Medicare currently pays roughly $7 billion a year to laboratories performing more than 1,300 different lab tests. And the majority of those tests haven’t seen updated fee schedules since the last major change in 1984.  #-ad_banner-#But that’s about to change.  The PAMA update will cut the testing fees payable under Medicare’s Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) by more than $5.4 billion over the next decade. This will significantly reduce the revenues of most of the small independent labs.  And since 40%-60% of lab-testing volumes at small labs are exclusively Medicare patients, these labs will struggle to stay in business with the lower fee schedules. That’s because they have fewer customers and relatively high… Read More

One year later and the story has completely changed… As we enter the traditional seasonally weak six-month period of the year, you will no doubt read and hear about the debate over whether the old Wall Street axiom “Sell In May And Go Away” is relevant this year. Of course, no one can predict what the market will do this summer, but one of the reasons that this old saying is still around is because it does have some validity to it, which I’ll touch on in a moment. Readers of my Maximum Profit premium newsletter know that this time… Read More

One year later and the story has completely changed… As we enter the traditional seasonally weak six-month period of the year, you will no doubt read and hear about the debate over whether the old Wall Street axiom “Sell In May And Go Away” is relevant this year. Of course, no one can predict what the market will do this summer, but one of the reasons that this old saying is still around is because it does have some validity to it, which I’ll touch on in a moment. Readers of my Maximum Profit premium newsletter know that this time last year, I was quite cautious regarding the market outlook. I cited a decline in corporate earnings, the trouble my system was having finding companies with exceptional cash flow growth and the sideways trading market as reasons for concern. This was the chart I showed my readers last May:   As you can see — by the shaded green line — earnings were in a decline and the market wasn’t sure what to do. And for the most part we dabbled in and out of a handful stocks, but mainly kept dry powder on hand for when… Read More

The eurozone is experiencing a perfect storm of bullish catalysts. Tremendous profits are available for risk-embracing investors who heed the clear economic signals.  The Risk Make no mistake, political risk, although improving, remains high in Europe. The eurozone has experienced quite a bit of volatility this year. Greece, Brexit, and fears of a nationalist French state following Brexit out of the European Union added tremendous political uncertainty to the financial markets.  The Bullish Case Fortunately, many of these fears have proven unfounded. The recent French election resulted in the victory of the pro-eurozone candidate, improving sentiment across the… Read More

The eurozone is experiencing a perfect storm of bullish catalysts. Tremendous profits are available for risk-embracing investors who heed the clear economic signals.  The Risk Make no mistake, political risk, although improving, remains high in Europe. The eurozone has experienced quite a bit of volatility this year. Greece, Brexit, and fears of a nationalist French state following Brexit out of the European Union added tremendous political uncertainty to the financial markets.  The Bullish Case Fortunately, many of these fears have proven unfounded. The recent French election resulted in the victory of the pro-eurozone candidate, improving sentiment across the board.  Due to the political uncertainty, on a price-to-book ratio European equities are nearing levels equivalent to U.S. equities’ 40-year lows. Eurozone equities have severely underperformed the U.S. market since the 2008 rout. As a result, full value has not been realized and opportunities exist for profit-seeking investors.  Analysts are forecasting EU stock earnings growth of 11 percent in 2017 due to the commodity recovery, small margins, and improved currency environment. When compared to expected growth of just 9 percent in the United States, it’s obvious where the opportunity lies. 5 Ways To Ride The European Bull Market 1. Federated… Read More

Investing for income has never been harder. The Federal Reserve continues to indicate further interest rate increases are on the horizon. This makes bond buying dangerous for those seeking capital preservation in the face of rising rates. This danger shows in the graph below, which indicates a strong probability of another rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting in June.   What makes this chart so interesting is that recent economic data doesn’t support the Fed’s conclusions. In the past several weeks, we’ve seen weakness in consumer spending, including negative consumer spending revisions, and falling prices. Read More

Investing for income has never been harder. The Federal Reserve continues to indicate further interest rate increases are on the horizon. This makes bond buying dangerous for those seeking capital preservation in the face of rising rates. This danger shows in the graph below, which indicates a strong probability of another rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting in June.   What makes this chart so interesting is that recent economic data doesn’t support the Fed’s conclusions. In the past several weeks, we’ve seen weakness in consumer spending, including negative consumer spending revisions, and falling prices. It goes without saying that falling prices aren’t a harbinger of a strong economy or strengthening GDP. These are on top of abysmal auto numbers that show steep declines in sales and an exceptionally high 70-day supply.  Even so, higher rates aren’t exactly leading income investors to the Promised Land. While June might see another rate increase, it will only be the fourth such increase since 2006 — leaving rates in the 100-125 basis point range. The difference to income investors is negligible. So what is an income investor to do? Well, there are safe places for income investors to… Read More

What goes up must come down. These words are true in many places, but especially in the stock market. High-flying stocks can quickly reverse, destroying portfolios and dreams on the way back down. The urge to keep holding huge gains for even more is strong in all investors. This urge is called greed and greed crushes profits. Controlling greed is vital for success in the stock market. The trick is knowing when to sell. Remember, no one has ever gone broke taking profits. Careful observation of internal and external factors affecting share price can provide an educated guess as to… Read More

What goes up must come down. These words are true in many places, but especially in the stock market. High-flying stocks can quickly reverse, destroying portfolios and dreams on the way back down. The urge to keep holding huge gains for even more is strong in all investors. This urge is called greed and greed crushes profits. Controlling greed is vital for success in the stock market. The trick is knowing when to sell. Remember, no one has ever gone broke taking profits. Careful observation of internal and external factors affecting share price can provide an educated guess as to when it is time to take profits. 2 Stocks You Need To Dump Now I have identified two ultra-popular, highly profitable stocks that need to be dumped now. Could these stocks continue to move higher? Sure, anything is possible in the stock market, but these two in particular show all the signs of being severely overvalued and ready to plunge. Risk-embracing experienced investors could short these monster gainers, but that’s not what this article is about. This article will lay out the case for why it is time to take profits in these two favorite companies. Believe it or… Read More