Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), a leading developer and operator of gaming resorts in the U.S. and Asia, has the combination of a strong chart and powerful fundamental growth story. Since its June 2013 low, shares have surged nearly 85%, and the company has strong revenue and earnings’ growth potential. #-ad_banner-#Las Vegas Sands’ luxurious properties house classy convention centers, elaborate exhibition facilities, premium hotel accommodations, upscale retail outlets, and most importantly, world-class gaming and entertainment complexes. While the company obviously operates in Las Vegas, its facilities have become especially popular in Macau. Macau is China’s only legal gambling district. An… Read More

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), a leading developer and operator of gaming resorts in the U.S. and Asia, has the combination of a strong chart and powerful fundamental growth story. Since its June 2013 low, shares have surged nearly 85%, and the company has strong revenue and earnings’ growth potential. #-ad_banner-#Las Vegas Sands’ luxurious properties house classy convention centers, elaborate exhibition facilities, premium hotel accommodations, upscale retail outlets, and most importantly, world-class gaming and entertainment complexes. While the company obviously operates in Las Vegas, its facilities have become especially popular in Macau. Macau is China’s only legal gambling district. An Asian casino hotspot, it has wrested the title of the world’s casino capital from Las Vegas. Since 2002, when China opened Macau to foreign casino operators, gaming revenue has surged from less than $3 billion a year to $45 billion in 2013, which represents a 19% increase from 2012. In comparison, Las Vegas has struggled to recover from the financial crisis, and 2013 revenue was up just 3% year over year, to $6.4 billion. This year, Deutsche Bank analysts project gambling revenue in Macau will rise 20% from 2013 levels. By 2017, analysts at brokerage firm CLSA expect $77 billion… Read More

For investors that count on dividend payments to cover their living expenses, the prospect of a dividend cut can create real headaches. That’s why some investors own only the income-producing stocks that have never cut their dividend. It’s easy to find such companies. Product planners at Standard & Poor’s track a group of these steady Eddies in a category called Dividend Aristocrats. These are companies that have raised their dividend for at least 25 straight years. Right now, there are 55 companies that hold that distinction, as all of them managed to boost their payouts —… Read More

For investors that count on dividend payments to cover their living expenses, the prospect of a dividend cut can create real headaches. That’s why some investors own only the income-producing stocks that have never cut their dividend. It’s easy to find such companies. Product planners at Standard & Poor’s track a group of these steady Eddies in a category called Dividend Aristocrats. These are companies that have raised their dividend for at least 25 straight years. Right now, there are 55 companies that hold that distinction, as all of them managed to boost their payouts — even during the economic meltdown of 2008 and 2009. #-ad_banner-#To be sure, some of these Aristocrats haven’t showered a great deal of attention on their dividends in recent years. Take steelmaker Nucor (NYSE: NUE) as an example. Nucor’s dividend stood at $1.44 in 2010 and has risen exactly one penny every year since. It’s almost as if the dividend hikes are a mere token gesture as a way to maintain the Aristocrat status. As we’ve noted here at StreetAuthority on a number of occasions in the past year, investors can no longer focus simply on a dividend yield but must… Read More

Big Tobacco is among the most hated and controversial industries on earth. It has been vilified as the leading cause of cancer, forced to pay profit-crushing settlements, and even coerced into launching ad campaigns against its products. Despite massive government pressure and strong public disapproval of its products, Big Tobacco still generates an estimated $500 billion in annual revenue and $35 billion in annual profits. I was surprised to learn that close to 15% of all Americans still use tobacco. In developing nations, 49% of men and 11% of women use tobacco, according to the World Health Organization. Within these… Read More

Big Tobacco is among the most hated and controversial industries on earth. It has been vilified as the leading cause of cancer, forced to pay profit-crushing settlements, and even coerced into launching ad campaigns against its products. Despite massive government pressure and strong public disapproval of its products, Big Tobacco still generates an estimated $500 billion in annual revenue and $35 billion in annual profits. I was surprised to learn that close to 15% of all Americans still use tobacco. In developing nations, 49% of men and 11% of women use tobacco, according to the World Health Organization. Within these numbers lies opportunity for savvy investors. In fact, a special situation is about to occur within the U.S. Big Tobacco sector that promises solid profits for those investors who are prepared to make their move. I’ll let you in on this special situation later. First, let’s look at the facts behind Big Tobacco’s current adverse environment. Between 1964, when the U.S. surgeon general’s office published its first report proving the negative health effects of smoking, and 1994, more than 800 private suits were filed against Big Tobacco in state courts. In 1998, a master settlement was reached between the tobacco… Read More

Let’s be frank for a minute. After the pain and suffering caused by the global financial crisis, not to mention the losses many investors experienced, a lot of people still feel disillusioned with Wall Street. Maybe you’re one of them. I don’t blame you if that’s the case. After all, the crisis we experienced wasn’t some unpredictable market anomaly that was entirely unpreventable.  It was a house of cards built by large banks, risky traders and short-sighted government policies that came crashing down on our heads. And while some of the culprits have paid the price for their… Read More

Let’s be frank for a minute. After the pain and suffering caused by the global financial crisis, not to mention the losses many investors experienced, a lot of people still feel disillusioned with Wall Street. Maybe you’re one of them. I don’t blame you if that’s the case. After all, the crisis we experienced wasn’t some unpredictable market anomaly that was entirely unpreventable.  It was a house of cards built by large banks, risky traders and short-sighted government policies that came crashing down on our heads. And while some of the culprits have paid the price for their mistakes (Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff… to name a few), others got away largely scot-free.  #-ad_banner-#But if you’re one of the many investors who has used this painful experience as an excuse to sit out of the market, my advice to you is stop. It’s one of the worst mistakes you could make with your portfolio. In fact, I would argue that if the events of the financial crisis taught us anything, it’s how incredibly important it is for individual investors to take charge of their own portfolios. Now, many investors are doing just that. They’re doing their homework, looking for… Read More

Agricultural nutrients producer Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) popped back on my radar earlier this week as many of its competitors began breaking through near-term resistance areas on their respective charts. On Feb. 11, MOS reported a drop in its fourth-quarter earnings. The company earned $129 million, or $0.30 per share, compared with $616 million, or $1.44 per share, a year ago. However, the stock responded with a 2.4% rally on the day, getting the ball rolling for a more meaningful breakout through resistance.#-ad_banner-# The day after the earnings report, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reiterated its “equal weight” rating on the… Read More

Agricultural nutrients producer Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) popped back on my radar earlier this week as many of its competitors began breaking through near-term resistance areas on their respective charts. On Feb. 11, MOS reported a drop in its fourth-quarter earnings. The company earned $129 million, or $0.30 per share, compared with $616 million, or $1.44 per share, a year ago. However, the stock responded with a 2.4% rally on the day, getting the ball rolling for a more meaningful breakout through resistance.#-ad_banner-# The day after the earnings report, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reiterated its “equal weight” rating on the stock in a marginally upbeat note. Finally, on Feb. 14, it was announced that Mosaic entered into a share repurchase agreement with Cargill family trusts to purchase approximately 8.2 million shares of Class A stock. This falls under the $1 billion share repurchase authorization that the company announced during its earnings conference call. The repurchases are taking place in two tranches, the first of which has already happened and the second is slated for mid-March. Share repurchases are often viewed as a positive sign, as they show a company’s confidence in its own performance. Mosaic’s share repurchases should be a… Read More

Throughout the 1990s shares of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) exploded higher year after year. Investors realized that these firms had so powerfully revolutionized their respective industries, that they could maintain solid growth far into the future. #-ad_banner-#Their faith was well placed. Wal-Mart, for example, which had racked up an impressive $156 billion in sales by fiscal (January) 2001, would boost sales above $300 billion by fiscal 2006 and $400 billion by fiscal 2010. For its part, Microsoft saw its sales grow from $23 billion in fiscal (June) 2000 to $60 billion by fiscal 2008. Trouble is, investors… Read More

Throughout the 1990s shares of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) exploded higher year after year. Investors realized that these firms had so powerfully revolutionized their respective industries, that they could maintain solid growth far into the future. #-ad_banner-#Their faith was well placed. Wal-Mart, for example, which had racked up an impressive $156 billion in sales by fiscal (January) 2001, would boost sales above $300 billion by fiscal 2006 and $400 billion by fiscal 2010. For its part, Microsoft saw its sales grow from $23 billion in fiscal (June) 2000 to $60 billion by fiscal 2008. Trouble is, investors didn’t benefit. Shares of Wal-Mart fell more than 25% from their 1999 peak over the next decade, while shares of Microsoft lost half of their value. In hindsight, it would have been wise to sell these two stocks prior to another decade of solid sales and profit growth. Simply put, their valuations had become so extended that the company’s financial performance needed a decade to catch up. That’s worth thinking about as investors continue to snap up shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), an extremely well-run company in the midst of robust growth, which is accompanied by too-rich valuations. Read More

There’s no doubt about it, so far in 2014, the market has been more than a little turbulent. Stocks in most of the major S&P industry groups faltered mightily in January, only to come roaring back in February. Now that we’ve entered March, many traders are positioning themselves for more volatility on the both the upside and the downside. During near-schizophrenic conditions such as we’ve seen so far this year, I try to look at industry groups, as well as individual stocks and commodities, that are positioned to do well but haven’t quite kept pace with some of their peers.#-ad_banner-#… Read More

There’s no doubt about it, so far in 2014, the market has been more than a little turbulent. Stocks in most of the major S&P industry groups faltered mightily in January, only to come roaring back in February. Now that we’ve entered March, many traders are positioning themselves for more volatility on the both the upside and the downside. During near-schizophrenic conditions such as we’ve seen so far this year, I try to look at industry groups, as well as individual stocks and commodities, that are positioned to do well but haven’t quite kept pace with some of their peers.#-ad_banner-# In the current market, the Industrial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLI) fits that bill. The fund’s holdings include stalwart firms from industries such as aerospace and defense, industrial conglomerates, machinery, railroad, and construction and engineering, to name just a few. Its top five holdings are General Electric (NYSE: GE), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) and 3M (NYSE: MMM). As a group, the industrials have not kept pace so far in 2014, and XLI is up only about 1.7%. That makes sense when you consider that the market has been led higher by the mid… Read More

Energy prices are on the move once again. Crude oil is at five-month highs and solidly above $100 a barrel. And natural gas hit multiyear highs with severe cold weather across North America and no end yet in sight to this record-breaking winter. Add in the macroeconomic picture of increased… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices closed higher for the week of March 7, with the small-cap-laden Russell 2000 leading the way with a 1.7% gain. In my Feb. 24 Market Outlook, I pointed out that three major U.S. indices — the Dow industrials, Dow transports and Russell 2000 — had yet to set new 2014 highs.#-ad_banner-# As of Friday, only one index is left without a new year-to-date high, the Dow industrials. Overall, this is positive for the broad market as the various U.S. indices are now for the most part confirming each other’s recent strength. However, the deeper that… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices closed higher for the week of March 7, with the small-cap-laden Russell 2000 leading the way with a 1.7% gain. In my Feb. 24 Market Outlook, I pointed out that three major U.S. indices — the Dow industrials, Dow transports and Russell 2000 — had yet to set new 2014 highs.#-ad_banner-# As of Friday, only one index is left without a new year-to-date high, the Dow industrials. Overall, this is positive for the broad market as the various U.S. indices are now for the most part confirming each other’s recent strength. However, the deeper that we go into 2014 without a confirming new high in the Dow, the more problematic it can eventually become from a Dow Theory standpoint. The Dow finished last week at 16,453, just 0.7% off its Dec. 31 all-time high. Market Momentum Still Bullish, but Becoming a Bit Frothy In my Feb. 18 report, I said that the bellwether S&P 500 was at a near-term inflection point according to market momentum, from which its larger 2013 advance should resume if still valid. The index set a near-term low at 1,825 two days later, on Feb. 20, and has since risen… Read More