#-ad_banner-#Let’s have a little fun…  Can you name all of the Hall of Fame players from the 1927 New York Yankees?  Unless you’re a die-hard Yankees fan, or a lover of baseball history, chances are probably not.  Yet the ’27 Yankees are widely considered the greatest team in baseball history. They were even dubbed “Murderers’ Row” because of how terrifying their lineup was to opposing teams. Now, if you are a baseball fan, I bet you could name a couple… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Let’s have a little fun…  Can you name all of the Hall of Fame players from the 1927 New York Yankees?  Unless you’re a die-hard Yankees fan, or a lover of baseball history, chances are probably not.  Yet the ’27 Yankees are widely considered the greatest team in baseball history. They were even dubbed “Murderers’ Row” because of how terrifying their lineup was to opposing teams. Now, if you are a baseball fan, I bet you could name a couple members of this team. Babe Ruth… Lou Gehrig… But what many people tend to forget is that they also shared the team with four other Hall of Fame players.  I’m talking about guys like Tony Lazzeri and Waite Hoyt. These names don’t come up in conversations among casual fans today, but make no mistake: without them the 1927 Yankees would’ve been nothing more than an average team with a few good players. Now think about how this ties in with investing, especially in terms of building… Read More

Timing a short squeeze can be tricky. Jump in too soon and you could be sitting on dead money until management improves its outlook. Wait too long and you risk missing most of the upside. The most unloved companies are usually unloved for a reason — whether thanks to declining sales or some other fundamental weakness. But when sentiment turns, the rush to cover short positions can provide swift profits for the well-positioned bull. One of the most unloved companies in the market could be coming up on an inflection point. It’s a leader in its industry but… Read More

Timing a short squeeze can be tricky. Jump in too soon and you could be sitting on dead money until management improves its outlook. Wait too long and you risk missing most of the upside. The most unloved companies are usually unloved for a reason — whether thanks to declining sales or some other fundamental weakness. But when sentiment turns, the rush to cover short positions can provide swift profits for the well-positioned bull. One of the most unloved companies in the market could be coming up on an inflection point. It’s a leader in its industry but has been plagued by customer attrition over the past couple of years. Management has big plans for next year, though, saying the company should start booking a net gain in customers again. As a result, sentiment could be about to take a bullish turn. #-ad_banner-# The Tide Could Turn For This Unloved Leader In 2016 Only three other stocks in the S&P 500 are more heavily shorted than ADT Corporation (NYSE: ADT), which has 24.5% of its shares held short in the market. GameStop (NYSE: GME) almost perpetually tops this list as investors remain convinced it can’t win over the… Read More

One week after a nasty 5.8% collapse in the S&P 500, driven primarily by continued weakness in China, the broader market index turned an early week continuation of that decline into a modest 0.9% gain by Friday. The stabilization in U.S. equities was led by the market-leading technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 and small-cap Russell 2000, which posted weekly gains of 3.1% and 0.5%, respectively. #-ad_banner-# While this is certainly a good near-term sign heading into this week, the jury is still out on the market’s prognosis for the rest of the year. The August decline has… Read More

One week after a nasty 5.8% collapse in the S&P 500, driven primarily by continued weakness in China, the broader market index turned an early week continuation of that decline into a modest 0.9% gain by Friday. The stabilization in U.S. equities was led by the market-leading technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 and small-cap Russell 2000, which posted weekly gains of 3.1% and 0.5%, respectively. #-ad_banner-# While this is certainly a good near-term sign heading into this week, the jury is still out on the market’s prognosis for the rest of the year. The August decline has pushed all major U.S. indices except for the Nasdaq into negative territory for 2015. In this week’s Market Outlook, I will define some key levels in a U.S. market bellwether that should help us determine whether the worst is over or there is more pain to come. Most sectors of the S&P 500 posted gains last week, led by the beleaguered energy sector, which rose by 3.5%. Moreover, the table below shows that, according to Asbury Research’s own metric, the biggest percentage increase of investor assets over the past one-week and one-month periods went into energy.  These inflows are basically… Read More

I’ve been getting flooded with emails and my phone has been ringing non-stop from clients wondering if now is the time to pull the plug on their portfolio and move to cash. It’s a fair concern. Nobody likes to wake up and see red across their entire portfolio. It can be a gut wrenching feeling, but selling everything now could turn out to be a huge mistake. Last month, I shared a seasonal chart of the volatility index, or VIX, with readers of my premium options service, Income Multiplier. I talked about how August… Read More

I’ve been getting flooded with emails and my phone has been ringing non-stop from clients wondering if now is the time to pull the plug on their portfolio and move to cash. It’s a fair concern. Nobody likes to wake up and see red across their entire portfolio. It can be a gut wrenching feeling, but selling everything now could turn out to be a huge mistake. Last month, I shared a seasonal chart of the volatility index, or VIX, with readers of my premium options service, Income Multiplier. I talked about how August to October has historically been the most volatile for the S&P 500. That is turning out to be true again this year.   If history is any guide, this most recent spike in volatility can be a good thing. Corrections — and even bear markets — are normal events in a healthy market. American Funds conducted a study of the market’s ups and downs from 1900 to 2014. It found that a 10% decline in the stock market occurred on average once every 13 months. What the study also found is that when the… Read More

Investors are thrilled to say goodbye to the month of August. Extreme levels of volatility and stunning market drops have given investors a sense of whiplash for the past few weeks. #-ad_banner-#But the chaos brought a silver lining: At least we now know which stocks will hold their own in a sharp market pullback, and which ones represent too much risk and volatility. Case in point: the relatively muted action in shares of Dow component 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM). This stock had been slipping out of favor before the market meltdown, thanks to a broader malaise among industrial stocks. A… Read More

Investors are thrilled to say goodbye to the month of August. Extreme levels of volatility and stunning market drops have given investors a sense of whiplash for the past few weeks. #-ad_banner-#But the chaos brought a silver lining: At least we now know which stocks will hold their own in a sharp market pullback, and which ones represent too much risk and volatility. Case in point: the relatively muted action in shares of Dow component 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM). This stock had been slipping out of favor before the market meltdown, thanks to a broader malaise among industrial stocks. A modest reduction in 2015 and 2016 consensus EPS forecasts hasn’t helped either, after 3M reported a pair of tepid quarters. But when true adversity struck, shares held their own, as if investors suddenly remembered all of the reasons why 3M is a stock to hold through thick and thin. As you can see below, 3M’s stock lost roughly 3% of its value at a time when the broader market, represented below by the S&P 500, fell more than twice as much, and many mid-cap and small-cap stocks fell by double-digits.   A Cash Generator With Growing Dividends Even in… Read More

#-ad_banner-#There are more than 14,000 stocks currently trading on American exchanges.  That’s 14,000 decisions you have to make when deciding whether to invest your money in small-cap stocks or blue chips, dividend payers or long-term growth stocks.  Narrowing down your choice to the perfect investment can be daunting, especially when trying to balance high reward potential with the lowest possible risk.  But I’ve found a collection of stocks that can practically make your decision for you. They offer better yields, higher returns and less risk than the broader market… And every investor should consider adding these eight stocks to their… Read More

#-ad_banner-#There are more than 14,000 stocks currently trading on American exchanges.  That’s 14,000 decisions you have to make when deciding whether to invest your money in small-cap stocks or blue chips, dividend payers or long-term growth stocks.  Narrowing down your choice to the perfect investment can be daunting, especially when trying to balance high reward potential with the lowest possible risk.  But I’ve found a collection of stocks that can practically make your decision for you. They offer better yields, higher returns and less risk than the broader market… And every investor should consider adding these eight stocks to their portfolio today.  I call these eight stocks “Hall of Fame” investments. Not because their best days are behind them, but because these firms boast qualities that rank them among the best performing, most shareholder-friendly companies on the planet.  Here’s a look at the stocks that made my “Hall of Fame” list:  The first reason you should consider investing in one or more of these powerful companies is that these stocks are market-beaters. In a side-by-side comparison, these eight stocks crush the broader market by a wide margin. Over the past 10 years, while the S&P 500 has returned… Read More

Market volatility: it can either be feared or embraced. Shrewd investors know that the market’s wild swings are an opportunity to buy shares of good companies that have been oversold. In the last two weeks since reporting its third quarter earnings, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has fallen nearly 20%. #-ad_banner-# The sell-off comes despite the fact that quarterly results were quite robust. Each of Disney’s four main divisions posted strong revenue and operating earnings growth, which led to record per share profits of $1.45, three cents ahead of estimates. Simply put, this pullback is a terrific opportunity for… Read More

Market volatility: it can either be feared or embraced. Shrewd investors know that the market’s wild swings are an opportunity to buy shares of good companies that have been oversold. In the last two weeks since reporting its third quarter earnings, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has fallen nearly 20%. #-ad_banner-# The sell-off comes despite the fact that quarterly results were quite robust. Each of Disney’s four main divisions posted strong revenue and operating earnings growth, which led to record per share profits of $1.45, three cents ahead of estimates. Simply put, this pullback is a terrific opportunity for long-term investors to buy one of the most dominant companies in the world at a fantastic price.  Disney Has Already Demonstrated Impressive Rebound Skills After bottoming out during the recession, Disney’s financial rebound has been quite impressive. As you can see in the chart below, earnings have grown at a 19% annual pace over the past five years. Take a look: And although Disney is most famous for its movies and theme parks, the division that has the biggest overall impact on the company’s performance is the media networks division, which in 2014 contributed over… Read More

While investors can now benefit from an amazing array of exchange-traded fund (ETF) choices, some of them fail to live up to their billing. These funds often pursue complex, glamorous-sounding strategies that lure investors — but often woefully underperform. Two funds in particular warrant closer scrutiny, due to their large popularity: PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility (NYSE: SPLV) and IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (NYSE: QAI) have problematic structures, and are delivering subpar returns. #-ad_banner-#A Low Volatility Fund That Fluctuates More Than The Market With net assets of about $5 billion, PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility is attracting its… Read More

While investors can now benefit from an amazing array of exchange-traded fund (ETF) choices, some of them fail to live up to their billing. These funds often pursue complex, glamorous-sounding strategies that lure investors — but often woefully underperform. Two funds in particular warrant closer scrutiny, due to their large popularity: PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility (NYSE: SPLV) and IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (NYSE: QAI) have problematic structures, and are delivering subpar returns. #-ad_banner-#A Low Volatility Fund That Fluctuates More Than The Market With net assets of about $5 billion, PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility is attracting its share of investors. The allure is in the name, which suggests broad exposure mainly to U.S. stocks with minimal volatility. But the fund provides neither of these virtues especially well. Whereas the S&P 500 includes the 500 largest firms with Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange listings, SPLV is actually based on a much smaller universe: the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index, which only consists of 100 stocks (the 20% of S&P 500 components with the least volatility over the past year). So the diversification of the fund isn’t nearly what the fund’s name implies. Does the fund provide reduced… Read More