It’s easy to overlook things… especially if you’re not really looking for them. It’s the approach most investors have had with financial stocks. Since the crisis of 2008, the financial services business has changed radically. The “too big to fail” firms — Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and the like — have enjoyed stock price rebounds but still suffer from constant regulatory scrutiny and risk. #-ad_banner-#Their earnings multiples are temptingly low, but for good reason: uncertainty. It’s really hard to figure out how these firms make money and how… Read More

It’s easy to overlook things… especially if you’re not really looking for them. It’s the approach most investors have had with financial stocks. Since the crisis of 2008, the financial services business has changed radically. The “too big to fail” firms — Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and the like — have enjoyed stock price rebounds but still suffer from constant regulatory scrutiny and risk. #-ad_banner-#Their earnings multiples are temptingly low, but for good reason: uncertainty. It’s really hard to figure out how these firms make money and how much they’re going to make going forward. So the market, which gets it right every now and then, doesn’t have a whole lot of confidence in their ability. It’s even worse for super regional and regional banks. Traditionally, they’ve had to lend money to make money. Since 2008, despite the Federal Reserve’s best efforts to encourage them to do so, they just won’t lend money. Most of their revenue is derived from existing business and “feeing” their current customers to death. That’s a poor business model that no one should invest in. So once past mega-cap financials and regional banks,… Read More

Few hedge fund managers can lay claim to keeping their doors open for over 20 years. Even fewer have grown to manage billions or more, putting billions in their own pockets in the process. Perhaps most impressive, only a tiny percentage of them have done this all before the ripe old age of 50.   #-ad_banner-#At 45 years old, Ken Griffen has proved himself many times over in an industry where money talks. Griffin founded Citadel, one of the most recognized and successful funds in the world, in 1990. With an estimated net worth of $5.2 billion, Griffen has been… Read More

Few hedge fund managers can lay claim to keeping their doors open for over 20 years. Even fewer have grown to manage billions or more, putting billions in their own pockets in the process. Perhaps most impressive, only a tiny percentage of them have done this all before the ripe old age of 50.   #-ad_banner-#At 45 years old, Ken Griffen has proved himself many times over in an industry where money talks. Griffin founded Citadel, one of the most recognized and successful funds in the world, in 1990. With an estimated net worth of $5.2 billion, Griffen has been besting his fellow competitors and providing excellent returns to his clients for decades.   Citadel has been shaking up its portfolio recently with the addition of a number of real estate stocks, many of them homebuilders. Mortgage rates have continued to remain low, with existing home inventory and building supply lagging since the recession. Add in new highs for home prices in burgeoning markets such as Texas, and you have the perfect cocktail for a rise in residential construction stocks.    These bullish positions have been disclosed in the past month through multiple 13D and 13G filings. These forms outline… Read More

One of the few certainties in the market is that investors will always search for new ways to profit. And there is one strategy that continues to gain popularity. #-ad_banner-#That’s because it enables investors to make money regardless if stocks go up or down. It also provides the potential for… Read More

In recent days, the financial press has been filled with stories regarding the fifth anniversary of the current bull market. The market bottom came in on March 9, 2009, and few would have guessed that the next half-decade would bring such terrific market action. #-ad_banner-#Yet March 9 also stands out to investors for another reason: Back on March 9, 2000, the Nasdaq Composite Index hit 5,000 for the first time ever. A few days later, the index went into freefall, eventually moving below 1,500 a few years later. (In a potentially eerie parallel, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has closed… Read More

In recent days, the financial press has been filled with stories regarding the fifth anniversary of the current bull market. The market bottom came in on March 9, 2009, and few would have guessed that the next half-decade would bring such terrific market action. #-ad_banner-#Yet March 9 also stands out to investors for another reason: Back on March 9, 2000, the Nasdaq Composite Index hit 5,000 for the first time ever. A few days later, the index went into freefall, eventually moving below 1,500 a few years later. (In a potentially eerie parallel, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has closed lower in each trading session since March 9, 2014.) The reason for the demise of the Nasdaq in general and dot-com stocks in particular back in 2000: Valuations had become disconnected from the fundamentals. There was simply no way to justify stock prices in the context of sales or profits, and many investments became known as “story stocks.” More than a decade removed from the dot-com bubble, it’s easy to forget that painful lesson. But you shouldn’t. This chart shows us that another bubble appears to have formed — and once again, it involves dot-com stocks. While the… Read More

Nobody likes getting old. Yet it is one of life’s few inevitables. However, there are a handful of companies that allow people to age more gracefully with anti-aging products. #-ad_banner-#Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE: NUS) is one of these companies. However, its stock is already up 75% over the past 12 months. There’s still one company that looks to be a value in the fight against aging, and that’s Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL). The recent pullback in Estee Lauder’s shares appears to be a buying opportunity. The company is down nearly 7% with year, compared with an S&P 500 that’s flat. Read More

Nobody likes getting old. Yet it is one of life’s few inevitables. However, there are a handful of companies that allow people to age more gracefully with anti-aging products. #-ad_banner-#Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE: NUS) is one of these companies. However, its stock is already up 75% over the past 12 months. There’s still one company that looks to be a value in the fight against aging, and that’s Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL). The recent pullback in Estee Lauder’s shares appears to be a buying opportunity. The company is down nearly 7% with year, compared with an S&P 500 that’s flat. There are only a few global cosmetic companies, and Estee Lauder is one of them. Its various skin care and fragrance products are sold in department stores, company-owned retail stores and travel-related outlets such as airport shops. North America makes up less than 40% of Estee’s sales, meaning the company is very much a global operator. It’s already the market leader in China when it comes to skin care and makeup. China is Estee’s third-largest market by revenues, behind the U.S. and the U.K., and the company only has about half of its brands in China, meaning there’s an opportunity… Read More

Just a few years ago, a select group of companies started doing something extraordinary… They created a “Dividend Vault” with billions of dollars inside it — one of the largest cash stockpiles on earth. They did it because these companies have seen the same problems you have over the past decade — a mounting debt crisis in America and Europe… gridlock on Capitol Hill… a stock market that plummeted 40% from the housing bubble burst… to name just a few. Facing these challenges and many more, they took action to protect themselves and their shareholders. #-ad_banner-#Now, after years of quietly… Read More

Just a few years ago, a select group of companies started doing something extraordinary… They created a “Dividend Vault” with billions of dollars inside it — one of the largest cash stockpiles on earth. They did it because these companies have seen the same problems you have over the past decade — a mounting debt crisis in America and Europe… gridlock on Capitol Hill… a stock market that plummeted 40% from the housing bubble burst… to name just a few. Facing these challenges and many more, they took action to protect themselves and their shareholders. #-ad_banner-#Now, after years of quietly socking away billions of dollars, U.S. companies have an incredible $1.925 trillion held within the “Dividend Vault,” or enough money to give every retiree in America a check for $112,264. (To read my previous article on the “Dividend Vault,” go here.) And now, with few other options for growth, many of these companies have finally started opening the “Dividend Vault” to pay investors directly in the form of dividends.  Today I’d like to tell you about one company that holds an exceptionally large share of the “Dividend Vault”… This well-known tech giant is one of the world’s largest Internet equipment… Read More

Bull market critics have long said stocks are soaring mainly because of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program known as quantitative easing (QE). According to QE bashers, stocks have been falsely propped up by money printing and are in a huge bubble, which will inevitably pop and make the previous financial crisis look like a Sunday picnic. #-ad_banner-#Though overly sensationalized, this argument does have some validity. By precipitating ultra-low interest rates, QE probably has many more investors than usual looking to stocks, since these now often have much better yields than bonds. But when interest rates finally become attractive again, income… Read More

Bull market critics have long said stocks are soaring mainly because of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program known as quantitative easing (QE). According to QE bashers, stocks have been falsely propped up by money printing and are in a huge bubble, which will inevitably pop and make the previous financial crisis look like a Sunday picnic. #-ad_banner-#Though overly sensationalized, this argument does have some validity. By precipitating ultra-low interest rates, QE probably has many more investors than usual looking to stocks, since these now often have much better yields than bonds. But when interest rates finally become attractive again, income investors may flee stocks in droves, and a very nasty correction may result. Still, I think the bull market critics aren’t giving the U.S. economy the credit it deserves, and I suspect their concerns about a QE-triggered financial crisis are far overblown. Consider, for instance, that earnings per share (EPS) for the large-company-dominated S&P 500 expanded solidly — nearly 9% — in 2013. And of the 482 S&P 500 firms that had reported fourth-quarter earnings as of Feb. 28, 65% beat analyst expectations. Typically, 63% beat expectations. Also consider the S&P’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16. While markedly higher than… Read More

In each of the past few years, investors have had to pore through roughly 150 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) annually in search of the one or two that really hold appeal. As most investors have come to realize, most newly launched funds are simply copycats of existing ETFs. For example, Fidelity and Charles Schwab launched dozens of ETFs in 2013 that are virtually identical in construction to those offered by Vanguard, iShares and others. Schwab and Fidelity just want to stop funds from flowing out the door toward other asset management firms. Yet every year also brings a handful of… Read More

In each of the past few years, investors have had to pore through roughly 150 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) annually in search of the one or two that really hold appeal. As most investors have come to realize, most newly launched funds are simply copycats of existing ETFs. For example, Fidelity and Charles Schwab launched dozens of ETFs in 2013 that are virtually identical in construction to those offered by Vanguard, iShares and others. Schwab and Fidelity just want to stop funds from flowing out the door toward other asset management firms. Yet every year also brings a handful of new and original funds that help investors to capitalize on emerging investment themes. I’ve looked at the early slate of 2014 releases and found three new ETFs that you need to know more about. 1. First Trust Dorsey Wright Focus 5 ETF (NYSE: FV) This is a new twist for ETFs, deploying a strategy that has been used by investments firms with mutual funds and hedge funds for many years. The so-called “fund of funds” approach aims to rotate assets among funds that are showing the greatest relative strength. (To help understand this ETF’s name, First… Read More

The price of copper is under assault. The iPath DJ-UBS Copper TR Sub-Idx ETN (NYSE: JJC) is down more than 13% this year, with half that drop coming in the past week. JJC now trades well below its short-term 50-day moving average, as well as its long-term 200-day moving average. #-ad_banner-#Yet despite the drop in copper prices, I think traders can look at the sector’s slide as a buying opportunity. Copper is the industrial metal that’s said to have a Ph.D. in economics. In fact, it is sometimes referred to as “Dr. Copper.” This is because the price… Read More

The price of copper is under assault. The iPath DJ-UBS Copper TR Sub-Idx ETN (NYSE: JJC) is down more than 13% this year, with half that drop coming in the past week. JJC now trades well below its short-term 50-day moving average, as well as its long-term 200-day moving average. #-ad_banner-#Yet despite the drop in copper prices, I think traders can look at the sector’s slide as a buying opportunity. Copper is the industrial metal that’s said to have a Ph.D. in economics. In fact, it is sometimes referred to as “Dr. Copper.” This is because the price of copper usually reflects the overall trend in the global economy. While this “copper indicator” has proven to have a lot of merit over the years, like most economists, copper also gets it wrong — frequently. Recently, the price of copper is thought to have dropped due to weak economic data out of China. China is the biggest consumer of copper, with the nation accounting for about 40% of global demand. Certainly, China’s infrastructure buildout has been the biggest driver for the industrial metal during the past decade. And recent data from the Asian giant does show a slump in… Read More

You have to have some sympathy for the executives at San Jose, Calif.-based Echelon Corp. (Nasdaq: ELON). They’ve been trying to explain the appeal of adding wireless communications and intelligence to a range of “dumb” machines and devices for more than two decades, yet industries and consumers never quite grasped the company’s vision. Indeed, Echelon’s market value recently fell to an all-time low of just $100 million as investors grew tired of open-ended losses. #-ad_banner-#So you can imagine the company’s shock when Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) announced plans in January to acquire Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. Nest has made quick… Read More

You have to have some sympathy for the executives at San Jose, Calif.-based Echelon Corp. (Nasdaq: ELON). They’ve been trying to explain the appeal of adding wireless communications and intelligence to a range of “dumb” machines and devices for more than two decades, yet industries and consumers never quite grasped the company’s vision. Indeed, Echelon’s market value recently fell to an all-time low of just $100 million as investors grew tired of open-ended losses. #-ad_banner-#So you can imagine the company’s shock when Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) announced plans in January to acquire Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. Nest has made quick inroads in the consumer market by adding wireless intelligence to thermostats and other “dumb” devices. Echelon’s executives can at least take solace in the fact that investors have pushed its stock up 50% in hopes of a Google-style buyout. Why would Google pay so much money for a company that reportedly had just a $300 million revenue run rate? Because Nest, along with many other firms, are in the forefront of an emerging industry niche that could be worth $44 billion a year by 2017, according to research group GSMA. That firm solely estimates how much money will be spent… Read More