My dad is an attorney who’s practiced for over 50 years and has specialized in commercial real estate law on the builder and developer side. Many of my clients are part of successful, multi-generational, family real estate businesses. Being around it for as long as I have, I know enough to be dangerous mainly through osmosis. #-ad_banner-# Real estate investment trusts (REIT’s) are a bit of a different animal than traditional real estate investing, because the investors only hold a securitization of physical real estate. However, the idea is the same: a steady income stream derived from rents and leases… Read More

My dad is an attorney who’s practiced for over 50 years and has specialized in commercial real estate law on the builder and developer side. Many of my clients are part of successful, multi-generational, family real estate businesses. Being around it for as long as I have, I know enough to be dangerous mainly through osmosis. #-ad_banner-# Real estate investment trusts (REIT’s) are a bit of a different animal than traditional real estate investing, because the investors only hold a securitization of physical real estate. However, the idea is the same: a steady income stream derived from rents and leases with capital appreciation thanks to sales and increased property values. In the current, multi- year, sub-basement interest rate environment, REITs have been a default go to sector for yield hungry investors. Naturally, the sector has performed well. The other day, I stumbled across (literally) a recent research report from Lazard’s (NYSE: LAZ) asset management arm. Looks like REITs have delivered some strong as rope five year numbers. So does it make sense to put new money to work in the sector? I believe so. Drilling down a bit more into the report, Lazard sees net operating income (NOI)… Read More

Headline risks can strike at any time and can hit even the best investments. Most companies have felt the pain of a news story that sent shares plunging, and when the issue results in little more than a humiliation for management, it can turn out to be an opportunity for investors. #-ad_banner-#That’s the case with my favorite bank stock, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), which is the largest bank in the country by deposits and underwrites more than a third of the nation’s home loans. The bank’s focus on lending rather than asset management has helped it outperform other large banks… Read More

Headline risks can strike at any time and can hit even the best investments. Most companies have felt the pain of a news story that sent shares plunging, and when the issue results in little more than a humiliation for management, it can turn out to be an opportunity for investors. #-ad_banner-#That’s the case with my favorite bank stock, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), which is the largest bank in the country by deposits and underwrites more than a third of the nation’s home loans. The bank’s focus on lending rather than asset management has helped it outperform other large banks with nearly 60% of its $1.7 trillion in balance sheet assets in consumer and business loans. News broke in early September that more than 2.1 million fake deposit and credit card accounts had been opened by employees of the bank. This was done primarily as a way to meet high quotas for cross-selling products, and only about 5% of the fake accounts generated any fee income, which totaled $2.4 million. Aggressive cross-selling of products is nothing new in banking. The problem is that Wells didn’t have the oversight structures in place to catch employees committing the fraud.  — Recommended Link… Read More

You can’t be a little pregnant, and you can’t have a little inflation. It’s the old axiom about rising prices that the market seems to have forgotten over the last several years. Stubbornly weak economic growth and deflationary pressure on global trade from low-cost producers in Asia have kept U.S. inflation well under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target since April 2012. The benign threat of higher prices has emboldened the central bank to keep rates low and money cheap. But there’s a growing disconnect between the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and others. #-ad_banner-#In fact, another measure of inflation points… Read More

You can’t be a little pregnant, and you can’t have a little inflation. It’s the old axiom about rising prices that the market seems to have forgotten over the last several years. Stubbornly weak economic growth and deflationary pressure on global trade from low-cost producers in Asia have kept U.S. inflation well under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target since April 2012. The benign threat of higher prices has emboldened the central bank to keep rates low and money cheap. But there’s a growing disconnect between the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and others. #-ad_banner-#In fact, another measure of inflation points to price increases that are 70% higher than the rate the Fed is watching. Combine that with the fact that prices on one of the biggest downward factors on recent inflation are surging and the market may soon be reminded of what it’s like to have a ‘little’ inflation. Is The Fed Looking In The Wrong Place? Several regional Fed presidents have expressed concern about rising inflation and the need to raise interest rates. Philly Fed President Harker told Bloomberg in late September that rising energy prices have convinced him that we will see target inflation, “sooner rather than… Read More

When a company delivers a positive earnings report and increases its outlook for the full year, it’s usually a good bet that its stock will garner some buyers. But when a stock initially rallies on the news only to spend the rest of the day falling on heavy volume, we can surmise that something is not right.  That’s exactly what happened to Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) on Tuesday. #-ad_banner-# The restaurant operator announced better-than-expected earnings before the bell, increased its outlook and announced a new $500 million buyback plan. The stock instantly jumped more than 4% from Monday’s close. But… Read More

When a company delivers a positive earnings report and increases its outlook for the full year, it’s usually a good bet that its stock will garner some buyers. But when a stock initially rallies on the news only to spend the rest of the day falling on heavy volume, we can surmise that something is not right.  That’s exactly what happened to Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) on Tuesday. #-ad_banner-# The restaurant operator announced better-than-expected earnings before the bell, increased its outlook and announced a new $500 million buyback plan. The stock instantly jumped more than 4% from Monday’s close. But it was all downhill from there. By Tuesday’s close, shares had given up nearly all of those gains, closing up just 0.6%. While the media will report it as a gain on positive earnings news, the charts say otherwise. Bad action on good news is bearish. DRI, as well as a good deal of the restaurant sector, has been in a decline since the summertime. Darden peaked in June and fell through mid-July before settling into a sideways range. But within that range there were clues to suggest there was more pain ahead. First, the… Read More

I recently had the honor of taking over the reins for one of the most successful premium investment services in StreetAuthority’s 15-year history. For those who may not be familiar, this service is called The Daily Paycheck. And although I just took over this service, to be quite honest, I’ve been a big believer in the principles behind it for years. Many of our followers see the merits of the system, too. In fact, a large number of subscribers who have been with us since Day 1 — all the way back in December 2009. They’ve seen firsthand as the… Read More

I recently had the honor of taking over the reins for one of the most successful premium investment services in StreetAuthority’s 15-year history. For those who may not be familiar, this service is called The Daily Paycheck. And although I just took over this service, to be quite honest, I’ve been a big believer in the principles behind it for years. Many of our followers see the merits of the system, too. In fact, a large number of subscribers who have been with us since Day 1 — all the way back in December 2009. They’ve seen firsthand as the portfolio’s initial $200,000 stake has grown into the $330,000-plus portfolio it is today. New subscribers are now greeted with a portfolio of more than 50 securities. And the questions we get asked most are 1) How do I get started? and 2) Can I use this strategy if I have less than $200,000 to invest? The short answers to those questions are: slowly and absolutely.  Let me explain… — Sponsored Link — Why Do Dividend Payers Beat Other Stocks?​ Everyone knows that dividend payers crush other stocks. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can just look at the stats. Read More

Amazon (NYSE: AMZN) booked more than $107 billion in 2015 sales on over 300 million active customer accounts. The ecommerce giant is booking 20% annual sales growth as traditional retailers struggle and is predicted to surpass Macy’s (NYSE: M) as America’s top apparel seller next year. Analysts at Morgan Stanley found that the department store share of the apparel market has fallen by $30 billion over the last decade while Amazon and other online retailers have picked up over $28 billion in market share over the same period. #-ad_banner-#Retailers like Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) have all… Read More

Amazon (NYSE: AMZN) booked more than $107 billion in 2015 sales on over 300 million active customer accounts. The ecommerce giant is booking 20% annual sales growth as traditional retailers struggle and is predicted to surpass Macy’s (NYSE: M) as America’s top apparel seller next year. Analysts at Morgan Stanley found that the department store share of the apparel market has fallen by $30 billion over the last decade while Amazon and other online retailers have picked up over $28 billion in market share over the same period. #-ad_banner-#Retailers like Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) have all but vanished and other retail segments are feeling the squeeze. The $397 billion e-commerce leader has already started ramping up to steal sales from brick-and-mortar stores this holiday season with its second annual Prime Day. Research firm Forrester estimates that Amazon accounted for 60% of all online sales growth in the United States last year. But not all retailers may be feeling the bite of Amazon’s growth story. A few may even be able to beat Amazon on the ground and in the ‘net. Retail Categories And Companies Set To Win Some retail categories may fair better than others… Read More

If you’ve traded for some time, you know just how powerful and accurate chart patterns can be.  Technical patters are similar to the scarecrow in the “Wizard of Oz.” They may not “know” where the stock is supposed to be going, but they lead the way successfully because so many people trust in them, just as Dorothy trusted in the brainless-but-loveable character. Like the scarecrow, chart patterns are constructs of human actions. And while the scarecrow couldn’t make up his mind when it came to which path to take, certain chart patterns are very conclusive. They act almost like a… Read More

If you’ve traded for some time, you know just how powerful and accurate chart patterns can be.  Technical patters are similar to the scarecrow in the “Wizard of Oz.” They may not “know” where the stock is supposed to be going, but they lead the way successfully because so many people trust in them, just as Dorothy trusted in the brainless-but-loveable character. Like the scarecrow, chart patterns are constructs of human actions. And while the scarecrow couldn’t make up his mind when it came to which path to take, certain chart patterns are very conclusive. They act almost like a GPS leading you to a stock’s next move.  #-ad_banner-#Golden crosses and death crosses, in particular, are two very influential trend-changing technical formations. Both can cause big, intermediate-term moves in a stock. For those who may not be aware, golden crosses are a bullish formation in which the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day, with the stock above both. The death cross is when the 50-day drops below the 200-day, with the stock below both.  These are generally powerful signals. For instance, a recent golden cross in Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) led to a rally in the stock (my Profit Amplifier subscribers were… Read More