Landing a triple-digit winner is like hitting a hole-in-one. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s just as satisfying each time it happens. However, there’s an often overlooked subsection of the market that can lead to these types of gains — but you have to understand where to look, what to look for and the dangers involved. #-ad_banner-#When shares of data storage firm OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: OCZ) slipped below $2 back in 2012, short sellers began to circle like sharks. The company was burning through cash at an unsustainable rate, and at the time, I noted that OCZ had… Read More

Landing a triple-digit winner is like hitting a hole-in-one. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s just as satisfying each time it happens. However, there’s an often overlooked subsection of the market that can lead to these types of gains — but you have to understand where to look, what to look for and the dangers involved. #-ad_banner-#When shares of data storage firm OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: OCZ) slipped below $2 back in 2012, short sellers began to circle like sharks. The company was burning through cash at an unsustainable rate, and at the time, I noted that OCZ had “a very short window to stop the bleeding.” By late 2013, the company declared bankruptcy. Simply put, whenever you see a stock slip below the $3 mark, you may want to take a quick look at the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Falling levels of cash and persistently negative cash flow can often put a company out of business. So, what are the best companies to invest in the stock market? When I looked at biofuels provider Gevo, Inc. (Nasdaq: GEVO) back in 2012, I wrote that the company required serial capital infusions to stay afloat. At the time,… Read More

I make a ton of currency swaps in my line of work. It goes with the territory. But lately it’s been a harrowing experience. Many currencies around the world have been a mess for the last few months. The value of the British pound, for example, has dropped 13% against the dollar since July 2014. #-ad_banner-#At the same time, the Canadian dollar has plummeted 15% against its American counterpart. And the Colombian peso — another currency I’m frequently buying — is down an astounding 28% over the same period. I’ll admit… Read More

I make a ton of currency swaps in my line of work. It goes with the territory. But lately it’s been a harrowing experience. Many currencies around the world have been a mess for the last few months. The value of the British pound, for example, has dropped 13% against the dollar since July 2014. #-ad_banner-#At the same time, the Canadian dollar has plummeted 15% against its American counterpart. And the Colombian peso — another currency I’m frequently buying — is down an astounding 28% over the same period. I’ll admit it’s been quite a hassle lately. I almost ran out of pesos in the Colombian countryside recently because of it. But what has me really worried is how these “currency wars” are starting to effect businesses and stocks valuations around the world. Let me show you what I mean. A few months ago, in my premium advisory Top 10 Stocks, I discussed how the massive and often-unprecedented fluctuations in currency rates have been crushing profits and lowering the valuations of many of the world’s most well-known and established companies. I showed how over the… Read More

Note: Stay tuned at the end of this article for a bonus trade you can make immediately to turn a 16% stock move into 62% gains in the next eight and a half months. And if you’d like to receive more profit amplifying trades each week, you can sign up here. I’ll admit it. I’m an online video addict. I watch video highlights of virtually every Calgary Flames hockey game and hang on every word of Coach Bob Hartley’s taped post-game interviews on my computer. When I’m out, I watch live game footage on my iPhone. Read More

Note: Stay tuned at the end of this article for a bonus trade you can make immediately to turn a 16% stock move into 62% gains in the next eight and a half months. And if you’d like to receive more profit amplifying trades each week, you can sign up here. I’ll admit it. I’m an online video addict. I watch video highlights of virtually every Calgary Flames hockey game and hang on every word of Coach Bob Hartley’s taped post-game interviews on my computer. When I’m out, I watch live game footage on my iPhone. Back home, before I go bed, I check Yahoo and CNBC for market analysis. When I’ve caught up on stocks, I turn to geopolitical events. My appetite for video is diverse and omnivorous. Moreover, I’m far from alone, and that creates a trading opportunity. #-ad_banner-#One of the best ways to profit from the explosion in online video is Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT).  The company provides one of the largest international Internet backbones and is instrumental in transmitting data, video and voice across the world. It operates in over 500 markets across 60 countries. Read More

Wall Street tends to take a binary view of even well-seasoned companies: Love ’em or hate ’em. Right now, the Street is overreacting to some snags at one of the world’s leading financial services firms, American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP).  In 2015, American Express is the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s worst performer, falling more than 16%.    Shares have weakened due to the company’s susceptibility to the strong dollar. Like other large multinationals, AXP generates substantial profits in foreign currencies. With the greenback at an 11-year high, those profits lose significant value when exchanged back to dollars. The market reacted… Read More

Wall Street tends to take a binary view of even well-seasoned companies: Love ’em or hate ’em. Right now, the Street is overreacting to some snags at one of the world’s leading financial services firms, American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP).  In 2015, American Express is the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s worst performer, falling more than 16%.    Shares have weakened due to the company’s susceptibility to the strong dollar. Like other large multinationals, AXP generates substantial profits in foreign currencies. With the greenback at an 11-year high, those profits lose significant value when exchanged back to dollars. The market reacted very harshly to an announcement in February regarding the loss of an exclusive 16-year co-branding agreement with Costco Wholesale Corp. (Nasdaq: COST), a relationship that accounts for 10% of all American Express cards in use.  American Express decided to walk away from the agreement, which ends next April, because the two companies couldn’t negotiate a mutually satisfactory fee arrangement. Costco plans to replace AXP with Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V). The recent loss of a similar, though much smaller, relationship with budget airliner JetBlue Airways Corp. (Nasdaq: JBLU) hasn’t helped investor sentiment either. Adding insult, American… Read More

I love earnings season. The tug-of-war between earnings beats and disappointments can set the stage for some serious profits on option trades.  I’ve used earnings announcements to make 40% in three weeks on Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA), 65% from Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) in 18 days and even 50% in Burlington Stores (NYSE: BURL) in just four days. Just this Wednesday, I told my readers about a limited-time opportunity in Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV). Most of you are probably familiar with Southwest, which has built a brand for itself as a low-cost airline. Today, it’s the largest domestic carrier in the… Read More

I love earnings season. The tug-of-war between earnings beats and disappointments can set the stage for some serious profits on option trades.  I’ve used earnings announcements to make 40% in three weeks on Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA), 65% from Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) in 18 days and even 50% in Burlington Stores (NYSE: BURL) in just four days. Just this Wednesday, I told my readers about a limited-time opportunity in Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV). Most of you are probably familiar with Southwest, which has built a brand for itself as a low-cost airline. Today, it’s the largest domestic carrier in the United States, based on number of passengers flown. The company was set to report earnings before the open last Thursday, but despite a strong track record of earnings beats, shares were down more than 3.5% for the month.  In fact, over the previous four quarters, the company had beaten expectations by an average of 10%. Better yet, in the week each of these earnings releases was announced, shares rose an average of 8%. We saw the biggest jump in January, with LUV rising 16% the week of fourth-quarter earnings on a surprise boost from lower fuel… Read More

Just a decade ago, you could throw a dart at the field of emerging market stocks for double-digit gains. Strong economic growth in the Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are considered the four dominant emerging markets, was augmented by a commodity boom, which helped resource exporters throughout the world. Even after the United States housing bubble burst, emerging markets rebounded more quickly than developed markets. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSE: EEM) outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (NYSE: VGK) by more than 32% over the… Read More

Just a decade ago, you could throw a dart at the field of emerging market stocks for double-digit gains. Strong economic growth in the Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are considered the four dominant emerging markets, was augmented by a commodity boom, which helped resource exporters throughout the world. Even after the United States housing bubble burst, emerging markets rebounded more quickly than developed markets. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSE: EEM) outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (NYSE: VGK) by more than 32% over the two years to March 2011. #-ad_banner-#​But that’s about when the music stopped. Slowing growth in China and economic stagnation in Europe has weighed on commodity prices and the recent selloff in crude oil has been the final straw for many emerging markets. Those that failed to use the good times to diversify their economy have seen the worst of the drop. Shares of the iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF (NYSE: EWZ) have plunged more than 20% over the last year on lower oil revenues and… Read More

If you are reading this article, then you are likely considered a “self-directed investor.” You like to perform your own investment research and make buy, sell and short decisions on your own. But you should still know about the radical battle being raged for the hearts and minds of investors that entrust wealth building to others. #-ad_banner-#In one corner, we have traditional financial services firms such as The Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW), Vanguard and Fidelity Investments. In the other corner, you’ll find industry upstarts with names like Wealthfront, FutureAdvisor, Motif Investing and Betterment. These firms are all scrambling to… Read More

If you are reading this article, then you are likely considered a “self-directed investor.” You like to perform your own investment research and make buy, sell and short decisions on your own. But you should still know about the radical battle being raged for the hearts and minds of investors that entrust wealth building to others. #-ad_banner-#In one corner, we have traditional financial services firms such as The Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW), Vanguard and Fidelity Investments. In the other corner, you’ll find industry upstarts with names like Wealthfront, FutureAdvisor, Motif Investing and Betterment. These firms are all scrambling to establish a position in the field of robo-advising, also known as “automated investment services.” Before weighing in on which firm has built the best mousetrap and if the entire concept holds real appeal, it helps to understand what robo-advisers are and are not. Robo-advisers ask clients to fill out a quick survey that identifies an investor’s goals. They then create ideal low-cost portfolios that hold a basket of diversified exchange-traded funds. Total fees often end up at less than 1% of assets under management, compared to fees of 1%-to-2% of assets under management offered by traditional financial advisors. (Robo-adviser upfront… Read More

Four years after it topped at $1,900 per ounce, gold has been languishing in a range closer to $1,200. With interest rates low and most measures registering no inflation, gold seemed to be a dead asset. Its role as a hedge was dismissed by almost everyone except for the gold sellers on TV. Sentiment naturally turned very bearish, and that is when contrarian ears perk up. #-ad_banner-# Monday and Tuesday were unusually bullish days for… Read More

Four years after it topped at $1,900 per ounce, gold has been languishing in a range closer to $1,200. With interest rates low and most measures registering no inflation, gold seemed to be a dead asset. Its role as a hedge was dismissed by almost everyone except for the gold sellers on TV. Sentiment naturally turned very bearish, and that is when contrarian ears perk up. #-ad_banner-# Monday and Tuesday were unusually bullish days for the metal. However, the patterns on gold charts remain choppy-but-flat trading ranges. When viewed with a long-term eye, the trend is officially still to the downside.  That is why it seems people have gotten blindsided by recent strength in select gold mining stocks, especially since it is not sector-wide. Only the largest by market capitalization are racking up big gains, far outstripping the performance of popular gold mining indices and exchange-traded funds.  My favorite right now is Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX). This Toronto-based, international miner looks ready to break out from a double-bottom pattern that has been… Read More

In college, I had an eccentric statistics professor who was fond of a quote by the famous American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Into each life some rain must fall.” My professor repeated this often, especially when passing out test scores. Were he alive today, he’d probably have the same thing to say about any number of once-amazing growth companies that finally hit a wall. One such example is the well-known fast-casual café and bakery chain Panera Bread Co. (Nasdaq: PNRA). Panera was virtually unstoppable for years, adding hundreds of locations, posting superior growth in comparable-store sales (“comps”) and delivering very… Read More

In college, I had an eccentric statistics professor who was fond of a quote by the famous American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Into each life some rain must fall.” My professor repeated this often, especially when passing out test scores. Were he alive today, he’d probably have the same thing to say about any number of once-amazing growth companies that finally hit a wall. One such example is the well-known fast-casual café and bakery chain Panera Bread Co. (Nasdaq: PNRA). Panera was virtually unstoppable for years, adding hundreds of locations, posting superior growth in comparable-store sales (“comps”) and delivering very impressive profits. From the end of 2007 through May 2013, the firm’s stock shot up 429%. But it hasn’t been the same since. After topping out at about $193 a share, Panera encountered heavy turbulence. Two years and a couple gut-wrenching rollercoaster rides later, the stock sits about 4% short of its all-time high. So what happened? For one thing, top line growth has slowed. After rocketing 25% annually from 2007 through 2013, sales growth sharply decelerated to the current 6%-to-7% pace. Profits declined about 3% last year and further drops are a distinct possibility this year. A… Read More