While most companies will have plenty to cheer these holidays, as their stock prices soared in 2013, some companies would just as soon turn the page and focus on the new year.#-ad_banner-#​ Companies operating in the mining industry certainly fall into the latter category. This sector hasn’t suffered such tough times in several years. The sharp drop in commodity prices led to the rapid slump in demand for all kinds of mining equipment. Mining is a highly cyclical business, and though investors have been shunning mining stocks in 2013, signs of stabilization should boost them in 2014, especially… Read More

While most companies will have plenty to cheer these holidays, as their stock prices soared in 2013, some companies would just as soon turn the page and focus on the new year.#-ad_banner-#​ Companies operating in the mining industry certainly fall into the latter category. This sector hasn’t suffered such tough times in several years. The sharp drop in commodity prices led to the rapid slump in demand for all kinds of mining equipment. Mining is a highly cyclical business, and though investors have been shunning mining stocks in 2013, signs of stabilization should boost them in 2014, especially as the outlook for better days ahead comes into focus. And when that happens, investors will focus on the companies with a great deal of leverage. It helps if these companies have a wide moat around their business (that is, a significant competitive advantage that is extremely difficult to copy or emulate), thereby creating a barrier to entry for competing firms. This implies that they will have full pricing power when business conditions improve. Titan International (NYSE: TWI) fits this bill. The company makes huge truck tires used by massive mining trucks, agricultural equipment and other off-road mega-vehicles. TWI will… Read More

For developers of campus housing, the corks are going back on the champagne bottles.​ Shares of EdR (NYSE: EDR) (formerly known as Educational Realty Trust), Campus Crest Communities (NYSE: CCG) and American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) have fallen 15% to 40% this year, at a time when the S&P 500 Index has risen more than 20%.#-ad_banner-# What went wrong? Slowing college enrollment trends, sector overbuilding, and an escalation in transaction prices for new properties that has led to lower returns on investment. Investors are now questioning whether it’s smart to buy these stocks. And if… Read More

For developers of campus housing, the corks are going back on the champagne bottles.​ Shares of EdR (NYSE: EDR) (formerly known as Educational Realty Trust), Campus Crest Communities (NYSE: CCG) and American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) have fallen 15% to 40% this year, at a time when the S&P 500 Index has risen more than 20%.#-ad_banner-# What went wrong? Slowing college enrollment trends, sector overbuilding, and an escalation in transaction prices for new properties that has led to lower returns on investment. Investors are now questioning whether it’s smart to buy these stocks. And if so, which one stands out? To answer that question, we can look at a range of financial metrics. The Enrollment Reversal This had been something of a “no-brainer” asset class. Many colleges have chronic housing shortages and are increasingly look to private developers to help fill the gap. That trend remains in place.  But another factor, an expectation of ever-rising enrollment trends, isn’t panning out.  “While most industry estimates have enrollment growing by 1% through 2020, growth has been more flat and we expect a slight decrease through 2017 based on demographics. We note though that there is a… Read More

A long time ago, I learned that style counts for absolutely zero points in investing. Investing is all about results.#-ad_banner-#​ Borrowing a great investment idea from someone else is just as good as coming up with a great idea on your own. All that matters is compounding your investments at as high a rate as possible while minimizing your risk.  I’d even argue that it would be smarter to use ideas from successful investors because that adds one more layer of due diligence to your own — a layer that happens to have been performed by a respected… Read More

A long time ago, I learned that style counts for absolutely zero points in investing. Investing is all about results.#-ad_banner-#​ Borrowing a great investment idea from someone else is just as good as coming up with a great idea on your own. All that matters is compounding your investments at as high a rate as possible while minimizing your risk.  I’d even argue that it would be smarter to use ideas from successful investors because that adds one more layer of due diligence to your own — a layer that happens to have been performed by a respected investor. A couple of years ago, Warren Buffett hired two portfolio managers to take over part of Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK-B) investment portfolio. Each of the men were originally given about $2.5 billion (subsequently increased to $4 billion) to manage. With Buffett now 83 years old, the plan was (and still is) for these two men to eventually handle the investing duties for the bulk of Berkshire’s enormous portfolio. One of those portfolio managers is Ted Weschler, who, before joining Berkshire in 2011, managed a hedge fund called Peninsula Capital Advisors. From 2000 through 2011, Weschler’s… Read More

If you’re a long-time reader of StreetAuthority, you know by now that we rarely recommend stocks with yields higher than 10%. If the yield is higher than that, it’s usually a sign that the company’s fundamentals are sagging, investors are bracing for a dividend cut — or worse… But today, I’m going to show you how to break one of the cardinal rules of safe income investing and buy a stock yielding 17% without losing a single night’s sleep. #-ad_banner-#All you have to do is think more like a trader. Now, I know that doesn’t come easy to most income… Read More

If you’re a long-time reader of StreetAuthority, you know by now that we rarely recommend stocks with yields higher than 10%. If the yield is higher than that, it’s usually a sign that the company’s fundamentals are sagging, investors are bracing for a dividend cut — or worse… But today, I’m going to show you how to break one of the cardinal rules of safe income investing and buy a stock yielding 17% without losing a single night’s sleep. #-ad_banner-#All you have to do is think more like a trader. Now, I know that doesn’t come easy to most income investors, but it’s easier than it sounds. In fact, I’m going to show you how one simple tool allows you to know when it’s safe to buy stocks with ridiculously high yields, hold them for a period of time and collect any dividends you might receive, and then know when it’s time to get out before the rest of the crowd loses their shirts. But it’s one thing to tell you this. I want to prove it to you with one of the most followed high-yield mortgage real estate investment trusts (mREITs) of the past few years — American Capital… Read More

Investing in foreign markets can be scary. You have to deal with geopolitical issues, currency fluctuations and a general lack of available information.#-ad_banner-#​ Fortunately for investors, some fast-growing emerging markets are much better than others. This includes Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil.  Although it’s still the prize of South America, the country has yet to live up its true growth potential. As a result, the Brazilian economy is expected to grow by close to 3% in 2014, with unemployment remaining below 6%. (Two of my colleagues are split on the country’s prospects: Andy Obermueller, Chief Investment Strategist of… Read More

Investing in foreign markets can be scary. You have to deal with geopolitical issues, currency fluctuations and a general lack of available information.#-ad_banner-#​ Fortunately for investors, some fast-growing emerging markets are much better than others. This includes Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil.  Although it’s still the prize of South America, the country has yet to live up its true growth potential. As a result, the Brazilian economy is expected to grow by close to 3% in 2014, with unemployment remaining below 6%. (Two of my colleagues are split on the country’s prospects: Andy Obermueller, Chief Investment Strategist of Game-Changing Stocks, is bullish on Brazil. My colleague Joseph Hogue, on the other hand, thinks the country may be headed for bankruptcy.)  What the country needs is a catalyst. Enter next year’s World Cup, which is expected to bring more than 600,000 tourists to Brazil, with another 3 million Brazilians traveling around the country for the monthlong tournament.  With all this activity, Brazil is expected to become the world’s fourth-largest aviation market in 2014, with more than 100 million passengers. That growth is poised to continue with the Summer Olympics coming in 2016.  Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (NYSE: GOL) is one… Read More

I recently posed a hard-to-answer question: Where will next year’s top-performing markets be? To answer that question, you have to make certain assumptions:#-ad_banner-# • Will commodity prices rebound? If so, then the iShares MSCI All Peru Capped ETF (NYSE: EPU), which has been the worst country fund of 2013, could post a great rebound. • Will the rebuilding process in the damaged parts of the Philippines lead that economy to resume its recently spectacular rates of economic growth? That was the case in Indonesia, which went on to deliver one of the world’s most impressive growth rates after the… Read More

I recently posed a hard-to-answer question: Where will next year’s top-performing markets be? To answer that question, you have to make certain assumptions:#-ad_banner-# • Will commodity prices rebound? If so, then the iShares MSCI All Peru Capped ETF (NYSE: EPU), which has been the worst country fund of 2013, could post a great rebound. • Will the rebuilding process in the damaged parts of the Philippines lead that economy to resume its recently spectacular rates of economic growth? That was the case in Indonesia, which went on to deliver one of the world’s most impressive growth rates after the devastating tsunami of 2004. • Will it be Turkey, which is aiming to bring down inflationary pressures so the country’s ideal geographic positioning help it again become the trade conduit between Europe and Asia, the Middle East and Africa? • Will it be the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which collectively account for more than half of the world’s population — and, as a result, possess huge domestic market growth prospects? Simply using a one-year time horizon for potential gains is the wrong way to focus on the topic. All these countries have great long-term potential, but some are… Read More

Luxury retailer Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) has been taking market share away from rivals like Coach (NYSE: COH) and Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL). Since its initial public offering in late 2011, the stock has displayed wonderfully trending price action for investors and traders alike.#-ad_banner-#​ KORS made a big entrance with its IPO. It was priced at $20 a share, above its estimated range of $17 to $19, and soared 21% that day to close at $24.20. The company sold 47.2 million shares, raising $944 million. The offering gave the company… Read More

Luxury retailer Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) has been taking market share away from rivals like Coach (NYSE: COH) and Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL). Since its initial public offering in late 2011, the stock has displayed wonderfully trending price action for investors and traders alike.#-ad_banner-#​ KORS made a big entrance with its IPO. It was priced at $20 a share, above its estimated range of $17 to $19, and soared 21% that day to close at $24.20. The company sold 47.2 million shares, raising $944 million. The offering gave the company a market value of roughly $1.2 billion, which has expanded to $16.7 billion. At its current size, Michael Kors is larger than Ralph Lauren, a Fortune 500 company. And Michael Kors is quickly expanding both domestically and internationally in its efforts to gain more brand awareness. On Nov. 5, Michael Kors reported strong quarterly earnings and gave a rosy outlook, which led to another leg higher in its stock price. For its fiscal second quarter, the company reported that total revenue increased 38.9%, to $740 million, from the same period last year. At the end of the quarter, Michael Kors… Read More

In a bid to curry favor with investors, some companies overhype seemingly trivial business developments. The daily business newswires are laden with contract announcements that will likely have almost no effect on a company’s financial statements.#-ad_banner-#​ Yet other companies prefer the opposite approach: tucking major news announcements deep in a press release for only the most patient readers to notice. Buried beneath the recent quarterly financial figures released by municipal bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO), you’ll find this small item: “In November 2013, AGL became tax resident in the United… Read More

In a bid to curry favor with investors, some companies overhype seemingly trivial business developments. The daily business newswires are laden with contract announcements that will likely have almost no effect on a company’s financial statements.#-ad_banner-#​ Yet other companies prefer the opposite approach: tucking major news announcements deep in a press release for only the most patient readers to notice. Buried beneath the recent quarterly financial figures released by municipal bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO), you’ll find this small item: “In November 2013, AGL became tax resident in the United Kingdom … As a U.K. tax resident, AGL will be subject to the tax rules applicable to companies resident in the U.K., including the benefits afforded by the U.K.’s tax treaties. AGL expects that, as a result of it becoming a U.K. tax resident, it will be able to more efficiently manage capital within the Assured Guaranty group.” This is precisely the kind of move that shareholders have been clamoring for. Before making this change, many investors knew that AGO traded too far below book value, but tax regulations made it hard for the company to take full advantage. Sure,… Read More