Twitter (Nasdaq: TWTR) has been the worst social media stock to own over the past year. And that’s no easy feat.  Shares of LinkedIn (Nasdaq: LNKD) have fallen 54% over the past twelve months. Yelp (Nasdaq: YELP) is off 56% over the same period. The online advertising market has been unkind for these social-focused companies.  But none of those falls rival Twitter. Shares Twitter are down more than 65% in just the last year. They’re also off more than 33% from the 2013 IPO offer price of $26. As a Twitter shareholder myself, the journey has been especially painful. … Read More

Twitter (Nasdaq: TWTR) has been the worst social media stock to own over the past year. And that’s no easy feat.  Shares of LinkedIn (Nasdaq: LNKD) have fallen 54% over the past twelve months. Yelp (Nasdaq: YELP) is off 56% over the same period. The online advertising market has been unkind for these social-focused companies.  But none of those falls rival Twitter. Shares Twitter are down more than 65% in just the last year. They’re also off more than 33% from the 2013 IPO offer price of $26. As a Twitter shareholder myself, the journey has been especially painful.  However, after all the negativity surrounding the company — which has ranged from rumors of changes in character limits to an exodus of top executives — Twitter could finally be hitting a turning point.  #-ad_banner-#Twitter has been having issues attracting and keeping users. The changes it has made recently, including revamping the “Moments” tab and changing its timeline algorithm, won’t be enough to keep users engaged over the long-term. Instead, Twitter needs to be leveraging its own platform and unique ability to mesh live content with social to grow users and revenues. The Potential Game Changer … Read More

Before we get to the Market Outlook… We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about Pro Trader, which is quickly becoming one of the most popular and profitable services we offer. So, I wanted to reach out in case you had any questions of your own. If you’re unfamiliar with the service, I suggest you watch this special presentation. In short, Pro Trader is a weekly advisory that uses a unique options strategy — one that allows you to generate massive gains, even if a stock moves against you. It works in bullish,… Read More

Before we get to the Market Outlook… We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about Pro Trader, which is quickly becoming one of the most popular and profitable services we offer. So, I wanted to reach out in case you had any questions of your own. If you’re unfamiliar with the service, I suggest you watch this special presentation. In short, Pro Trader is a weekly advisory that uses a unique options strategy — one that allows you to generate massive gains, even if a stock moves against you. It works in bullish, flat and bearish markets, giving you up to a 90% chance of making money on any given trade. It recently helped subscribers close trades with annualized returns of 245%, 374% and even 657%. If you have any questions or simply want to learn more, feel free to give me a call at  1-888-308-6247. I’m at my desk Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST. If you call after hours, leave me a voicemail mentioning that you are calling about Pro Trader and I’ll be in touch within the next business day. Good trading, Nate Equall… Read More

“The future is already here,” science fiction writer William Gibson famously said. “It’s just not evenly distributed.” While that statement is in some sense obvious — global inequality makes it so — it’s also of profound importance to investors looking for high-growth stocks. #-ad_banner-#Information technology transformed every area of human life in the 20th century. The rate of change accelerated with the personal computer in the 1980s, shifted into overdrive when Internet access became ubiquitous in the 1990s and exploded with the proliferation of mobile Internet in the 2000s. We’re now experiencing the domino effect of these enormous technological changes… Read More

“The future is already here,” science fiction writer William Gibson famously said. “It’s just not evenly distributed.” While that statement is in some sense obvious — global inequality makes it so — it’s also of profound importance to investors looking for high-growth stocks. #-ad_banner-#Information technology transformed every area of human life in the 20th century. The rate of change accelerated with the personal computer in the 1980s, shifted into overdrive when Internet access became ubiquitous in the 1990s and exploded with the proliferation of mobile Internet in the 2000s. We’re now experiencing the domino effect of these enormous technological changes as tens of thousands of innovators around the world expand on these technologies and popular platforms to create products, services and new technologies. An investor’s challenge is to see the future that’s already here — in a publicly traded company’s technology — and connect the dots to a few years from now, when the company is distributing that technology to a much wider market. The further challenge is determining when a stock is trading at a valuation that underestimates the revenue and cash flows generated by that future distribution. To that end, consider two up-and-coming tech stocks that I think… Read More

There were 4 million children born in 1991, which was squarely in the middle of a surge in birth rates that began in the early 1980s and continued clear through the Y2K era. Of course, we refer to the offspring of this era as “millennials”. Those children are now turning age 25 at the rate of 4 million per year, or about 77,000 per week. This is the prime age for settling into a career and beginning a family. #-ad_banner-#​Millennials aren’t often portrayed in the media as hardworking and industrious — more like starry-eyed… Read More

There were 4 million children born in 1991, which was squarely in the middle of a surge in birth rates that began in the early 1980s and continued clear through the Y2K era. Of course, we refer to the offspring of this era as “millennials”. Those children are now turning age 25 at the rate of 4 million per year, or about 77,000 per week. This is the prime age for settling into a career and beginning a family. #-ad_banner-#​Millennials aren’t often portrayed in the media as hardworking and industrious — more like starry-eyed dreamers at a Bernie Sanders campaign rally. But make no mistake: it’s only a matter of time before millennials control most of the nation’s wealth. Within the next seven years, this generation will comprise more than half of the U.S. workforce. And by the time my son reaches age 25 in 2028, tens of millions of millennials will have reached their peak earning years. At that point, they will be taking home a projected $8 trillion in annual net income, according to Merrill Lynch. Where will they be spending all that cash? Discover the… Read More

People have been expecting a boom in renewable energy for years — but now it might finally be happening. Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the United Nations New Energy Program reported in March that renewable energy as a percentage of global energy production is growing faster than expected: wind, solar, geothermal and biomass together made up more than half of all new electricity-production capacity brought online in 2015, an unprecedented milestone. Renewable energy accounted for 10.3% of the world’s power production in 2015, up from 9.1% in 2014. Throw hydroelectric and nuclear power into the mix, and non-fossil-fuel production now… Read More

People have been expecting a boom in renewable energy for years — but now it might finally be happening. Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the United Nations New Energy Program reported in March that renewable energy as a percentage of global energy production is growing faster than expected: wind, solar, geothermal and biomass together made up more than half of all new electricity-production capacity brought online in 2015, an unprecedented milestone. Renewable energy accounted for 10.3% of the world’s power production in 2015, up from 9.1% in 2014. Throw hydroelectric and nuclear power into the mix, and non-fossil-fuel production now accounts for a third of total power production.  #-ad_banner-#This trend is almost certain to continue, as nations around the world try to reduce carbon emissions to slow global warming. Last December in Paris, almost every nation on Earth agreed to do so, and since then scientists have reported ever-more-dire warnings about the consequences if they fail.  What does this mean for investors? For one thing, billions of dollars will be spent on non-carbon power sources over the next few years. In 2015 alone, $286 billion was spent on new renewable electricity capacity. So the market-share leaders in solar and wind… Read More

I have an urgent message for all traders: We are about to enter a short-term bull market. Over the next six weeks, hundreds of stocks — both large and small — are going to deliver rapid-fire gains. #-ad_banner-#Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), even typically slow-moving companies like General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) could all see huge double-digit and even triple-digit gains practically overnight. Financial writer Kurtis Hemmerling said it’s going to be “one of the most exciting times for an investor,” adding that there’s “massive upside potential.”… Read More

I have an urgent message for all traders: We are about to enter a short-term bull market. Over the next six weeks, hundreds of stocks — both large and small — are going to deliver rapid-fire gains. #-ad_banner-#Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), even typically slow-moving companies like General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) could all see huge double-digit and even triple-digit gains practically overnight. Financial writer Kurtis Hemmerling said it’s going to be “one of the most exciting times for an investor,” adding that there’s “massive upside potential.” The profit potential is unlimited. You could make well over 80% or 100% in a matter of days, as I’ve done many times when we’ve entered one of these short-term bull markets before. Now, just to be clear, this isn’t your typical bull market. It has several major differences that separate it from most. First, it’s inevitable. Not even the SEC can stop it. In fact, in a unique twist, the SEC inadvertently created it, as I’ll explain in a moment. Second, it’s not the kind of bull… Read More

Once heralded as the bridge to an oil-free energy future, natural gas seems to have been relegated to stepchild status in the hierarchy of carbon fuels. Why? It’s cheap, clean, efficient and plentiful. That’s part of the problem. The Energy Information Administration (EIA), estimate that there are 388.8 trillion (yes… trillion) cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves in the United States. That’s a lot of product to be pumped along with the 20+ trillion cubic feet of dry natural gas we pump annually. And we keep discovering more. Take a peek at a 20-year study of the spot price. Read More

Once heralded as the bridge to an oil-free energy future, natural gas seems to have been relegated to stepchild status in the hierarchy of carbon fuels. Why? It’s cheap, clean, efficient and plentiful. That’s part of the problem. The Energy Information Administration (EIA), estimate that there are 388.8 trillion (yes… trillion) cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves in the United States. That’s a lot of product to be pumped along with the 20+ trillion cubic feet of dry natural gas we pump annually. And we keep discovering more. Take a peek at a 20-year study of the spot price. After a couple of flirts with ridiculous prices, we’re pretty much back to where we started when I still had hair and wore size 32 jeans. #-ad_banner-#The other challenge is lack of industry consolidation. The top 10 U.S. natural gas producers control 31% of the market. That’s a decent number. But compare that to the top 10 petroleum producers who tap 52% of the market. Thin margins due to low prices don’t get companies excited about acquisitions. So with prices in the toilet and lack of merger activity, can investors make any money with natural gas? The answer… Read More

One of my guilty pleasures lately has been the new hit series on Showtime, “Billions.” The show is about a powerful hedge fund billionaire, Bobby Axelrod, who has more than a few dark secrets. One of them is that he and his associates are playing fast and loose with the law and raking in — you guessed it — billions of dollars in the process. The show is full of high-tension moments, of course. But there are a few of us around the StreetAuthority office who can’t help but snicker when characters on the show describe the actual… Read More

One of my guilty pleasures lately has been the new hit series on Showtime, “Billions.” The show is about a powerful hedge fund billionaire, Bobby Axelrod, who has more than a few dark secrets. One of them is that he and his associates are playing fast and loose with the law and raking in — you guessed it — billions of dollars in the process. The show is full of high-tension moments, of course. But there are a few of us around the StreetAuthority office who can’t help but snicker when characters on the show describe the actual trades made by the fictional hedge fund, and why they place them. The show’s writers, as well as the rest of the financial media it seems, would have you believe that it takes some sort of “insider information” or “hot tip” to truly make the big bucks on Wall Street. #-ad_banner-#But in my experience, that just ain’t so. That’s not to say, however, that whenever a big fish makes a bet on a particular stock we shouldn’t investigate further and possibly go along for the ride My colleague Jared Levy agrees. Read More

The biotech sector scored a short-term breakout last week, and the bullishness spread to its larger, more established cousins, the big pharmaceutical stocks.  While most of these drugmakers have been strong of late, they have not broken out on their charts. However, one lagging stock in the group, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), has started to make its move. And given how much it lost over the past several months, its potential for gains is rather large. The sector only recently started to outperform, so it’s still early in the market’s possible rotation into this group. However, in absolute terms, the NYSE… Read More

The biotech sector scored a short-term breakout last week, and the bullishness spread to its larger, more established cousins, the big pharmaceutical stocks.  While most of these drugmakers have been strong of late, they have not broken out on their charts. However, one lagging stock in the group, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK), has started to make its move. And given how much it lost over the past several months, its potential for gains is rather large. The sector only recently started to outperform, so it’s still early in the market’s possible rotation into this group. However, in absolute terms, the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index, known by its option root DRG, is on the verge of a long-term breakout best seen on the weekly charts. Since peaking in August, the index lost more than 20% through its February low. In the process, it formed a nice declining trend channel, but on the chart shown, it also looks very much like a bullish flag. #-ad_banner-# DRG has traded at the upper border of this pattern for the past week, and any further strength will… Read More