Wall Street is famous for creating new products. Sometimes, these products prove to be disastrous, like derivatives on subprime mortgages were in 2008.#-ad_banner-#​ At other times, new products turn out to be beneficial to individual investors. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are an example of a Wall Street innovation that helped individual investors. Assets in ETFs topped $1.6 trillion in October, and individual investors have more than 1,250 funds to invest in. The vast number of ETFs serves two purposes. First, a large number of investment options provides individual investors with an opportunity to diversify their portfolio. Second, it provides… Read More

Wall Street is famous for creating new products. Sometimes, these products prove to be disastrous, like derivatives on subprime mortgages were in 2008.#-ad_banner-#​ At other times, new products turn out to be beneficial to individual investors. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are an example of a Wall Street innovation that helped individual investors. Assets in ETFs topped $1.6 trillion in October, and individual investors have more than 1,250 funds to invest in. The vast number of ETFs serves two purposes. First, a large number of investment options provides individual investors with an opportunity to diversify their portfolio. Second, it provides a way for fund sponsors to maximize their potential revenue by having products that appeal to almost all investors. This second purpose, generating fees, has led to some funds with objectives that are not suitable for most investors. Many leveraged funds fit into this category. On the other hand, the drive to generate fees has led firms to offer ETFs that provide individual investors with access to markets that are not available to them otherwise. Senior loans are an example of one investment that market individual investors cannot access without an ETF. Senior loans are generally made to companies with… Read More

There are many different approaches that an investor can use to succeed. The key is to find the approach that works for you.#-ad_banner-#​ Personally, I operate best when I think of a stock as a small ownership interest in a company and not a piece of paper to be traded on a frequent basis. My approach is to buy shares in a company I like at an attractive valuation and let management build wealth for me over the long term.  That said, if I had the ability to be a market timer, that is what I would do. Read More

There are many different approaches that an investor can use to succeed. The key is to find the approach that works for you.#-ad_banner-#​ Personally, I operate best when I think of a stock as a small ownership interest in a company and not a piece of paper to be traded on a frequent basis. My approach is to buy shares in a company I like at an attractive valuation and let management build wealth for me over the long term.  That said, if I had the ability to be a market timer, that is what I would do. It would be far less stressful (not to mention rewarding) if I could accurately time the low point for a stock and buy only then.  Ordinarily I’m very skeptical of my ability to pick the bottom for a stock — but today, I have a pretty good feeling about one. The company is Canadian light oil producer Lightstream Resources (OTC: LSTMF). I think this month could represent a long-term bottom for a company turning a corner. Lightstream has a market capitalization of over $1 billion and production exceeding 46,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) a day. If you name a… Read More

The stock market saw little volatility last week, but pushed below a key support level. Now is a time to become cautious. Consolidation Could Be Giving Way to a Small Decline SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) closed down for the second week in a row. SPY fell 1.56% as the market continued to consolidate its gains after an eight-week winning streak.#-ad_banner-#​ Traders understand that markets move up and down over time. On a long-term chart, we often see a recurring pattern of price rises followed by pullbacks. Pullbacks are healthy for a bull market because… Read More

The stock market saw little volatility last week, but pushed below a key support level. Now is a time to become cautious. Consolidation Could Be Giving Way to a Small Decline SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) closed down for the second week in a row. SPY fell 1.56% as the market continued to consolidate its gains after an eight-week winning streak.#-ad_banner-#​ Traders understand that markets move up and down over time. On a long-term chart, we often see a recurring pattern of price rises followed by pullbacks. Pullbacks are healthy for a bull market because they allow the fundamentals to catch up to the price action. Since the purpose of a pullback in a bull market is to allow time for fundamentals to catch up to prices, a consolidation can substitute for a price decline. A consolidation is a period of time when prices make little progress to either the upside or the downside. Consolidations can be boring times for many traders, but we could be about to enter a more exciting time. After a one-month period of little price progress on the daily chart, we could be seeing a breakout to the downside. Read More

It used to be a millionaire would have no trouble retiring. Just a few years ago, a five-year Treasury note paid 5%. That meant you could put a million bucks into Treasurys and earn $50,000 a year, risk-free. Today, that same million dollars earns much less — just $14,000 with the same investment. And it’s a similar story with other traditional places where millionaires put their money for safekeeping… #-ad_banner-#The average CD yields less than 1%, savings accounts earn next to nothing and even the S&P 500 pays a paltry 2% dividend yield. Fortunately, there’s a better way to earn… Read More

It used to be a millionaire would have no trouble retiring. Just a few years ago, a five-year Treasury note paid 5%. That meant you could put a million bucks into Treasurys and earn $50,000 a year, risk-free. Today, that same million dollars earns much less — just $14,000 with the same investment. And it’s a similar story with other traditional places where millionaires put their money for safekeeping… #-ad_banner-#The average CD yields less than 1%, savings accounts earn next to nothing and even the S&P 500 pays a paltry 2% dividend yield. Fortunately, there’s a better way to earn significantly more income. In fact, I’m using this strategy to earn the same income stream as a millionaire for just pennies on the dollar.  If you’re a regular reader of StreetAuthority Daily, you’ve likely heard about my Daily Paycheck strategy before. Simply put, my goal is to build a portfolio of dividend payers so that I can collect one dividend for every day of the year. In the past year, I’ve collected over $16,000 in dividends… and that’s with a portfolio with securities worth roughly $250,000. With 5-year Treasuries yielding 1.4%, I’m earning more from my portfolio than I would… Read More

Technology is all around us and in everything: our homes, cars, offices — and even in our clothing.#-ad_banner-# Apparel companies are looking more and more like technology companies these days. Wearable technology has become one of the fastest-growing markets over the past year, with apparel companies pushing the limits on recording our physical activity and then transforming it into useful data.  One of the fastest-growing and most innovative companies in the apparel space, Under Armour (NYSE: UA) is at the forefront of this trend. Under Armour has the insight of real-life athletes, the look of an apparel company… Read More

Technology is all around us and in everything: our homes, cars, offices — and even in our clothing.#-ad_banner-# Apparel companies are looking more and more like technology companies these days. Wearable technology has become one of the fastest-growing markets over the past year, with apparel companies pushing the limits on recording our physical activity and then transforming it into useful data.  One of the fastest-growing and most innovative companies in the apparel space, Under Armour (NYSE: UA) is at the forefront of this trend. Under Armour has the insight of real-life athletes, the look of an apparel company and the feel of a tech company. Under Armour’s products are sold to a number of teams and athletes, from colleges to the pros. The company’s founder, Kevin Plank, came up with the idea of performance apparel during the mid-1990s as the special teams captain of the University of Maryland football team.  When you look under the hood, Under Armour operates a little like a tech startup, hosting contests to improve its products and hiring more developers to build and improve their technology. And even though Under Armour has a well-recognized brand by now, it’s still a growth story.  Its… Read More

I’ve always loved telco stocks.#-ad_banner-# As investors, we’re told to train ourselves to look at stocks rationally and to remove emotion from the process. Warren Buffett warns that your stock won’t tell you it loves you when you come home at night. But dividend investing is also about finding great yield — and, with a tip of the hat to Willie Sutton, telco stocks are where the money is. Investors have almost always done well with domestic heavyweights AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). But I’ve always found more yield and value in international telco stocks. Vodafone Group (NYSE:… Read More

I’ve always loved telco stocks.#-ad_banner-# As investors, we’re told to train ourselves to look at stocks rationally and to remove emotion from the process. Warren Buffett warns that your stock won’t tell you it loves you when you come home at night. But dividend investing is also about finding great yield — and, with a tip of the hat to Willie Sutton, telco stocks are where the money is. Investors have almost always done well with domestic heavyweights AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). But I’ve always found more yield and value in international telco stocks. Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD) has always been a good holding thanks to the British company’s investment in Verizon (a 41% stake before its recent sale) and its focus on emerging and frontier markets. Telefonica Brasil (NYSE: VIV) has the yield and value characteristics I look for in an international telco stock. The Sao Paulo-based telecom provides fixed-line and mobile communications, broadband Internet and pay TV services, among other offerings. A subsidiary of global telecom conglomerate Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), Telefonica Brasil serves nearly 28% of Brazil’s wireless market under the Vivo brand. Yet VIV is off by more than 30% from its 52-week high. Read More

With just a couple of weeks left in the year, the stampeding bull is starting to wheeze.#-ad_banner-#​ Ever since investors celebrated the recent monthly employment report with a nearly 200-point surge in the Dow, the trading mood has turned darker. The market is fell roughly 2%  last week, the biggest weekly fall since mid-August. And even as the major indices still trade near their all-time highs, several technical indicators are flashing red. They may just be sign to tread with caution, or a harbinger of a broader market reversal. That’s why some leading traders suggest a tight grip… Read More

With just a couple of weeks left in the year, the stampeding bull is starting to wheeze.#-ad_banner-#​ Ever since investors celebrated the recent monthly employment report with a nearly 200-point surge in the Dow, the trading mood has turned darker. The market is fell roughly 2%  last week, the biggest weekly fall since mid-August. And even as the major indices still trade near their all-time highs, several technical indicators are flashing red. They may just be sign to tread with caution, or a harbinger of a broader market reversal. That’s why some leading traders suggest a tight grip on stop-loss orders. Placing a stop-loss limit order roughly 5% to 10% below current prices can provide a lot of peace of mind.   Here’s a closer look: 1. Surging New Lows ​ One of the most remarkable aspects of this year’s bull market has been its breadth. So many stocks have rallied, and only the absolute duds have fallen sharply. In fact, the number of stocks on the NYSE hitting new 52-week highs has handily outpaced the number of new lows all year long. But that’s changing. ​  On the Friday after Thanksgiving, new highs on the NYSE… Read More

We are closing the books on a remarkable six-year cycle for stocks, bonds and the global economy. You can break this cycle down into four distinct phases: • In early 2008, global economies began to show some cracks, especially in the all-important U.S. housing sector, yet concerns of global overheating were still evident, as seen by the “super-spike” in crude oil to more than $140 a barrel in June 2008. That surge may have been the tipping point that pushed many economies to the breaking point, and by year’s end, the global economy was in freefall.  • In… Read More

We are closing the books on a remarkable six-year cycle for stocks, bonds and the global economy. You can break this cycle down into four distinct phases: • In early 2008, global economies began to show some cracks, especially in the all-important U.S. housing sector, yet concerns of global overheating were still evident, as seen by the “super-spike” in crude oil to more than $140 a barrel in June 2008. That surge may have been the tipping point that pushed many economies to the breaking point, and by year’s end, the global economy was in freefall.  • In 2009, unemployment surged, a slew of European economies appeared to be on the cusp of collapse, and government policy makers were scrambling to avoid a truly catastrophic global economic meltdown. • In 2010 and 2011, business conditions began to improve, most notably in the U.S. And China’s economic resilience helped many Asian neighbors buck the global malaise.  • In 2012 and 2013, investors finally realized that further global crises wouldn’t derail an impressive market rally in the U.S. (and eventually Europe), and as we wind down this six-year cycle, economists are calling for calmer days ahead in 2014, led by… Read More

It’s been hard to lose money in the market in 2013. But anyone unlucky enough to own the worst-performing stocks among the various S&P indices (400, 500 and 600) has to be less than displeased.​ In my first look at 2013’s losers earlier this week, I reviewed the carnage among commodity producers and retailers. This time around, I’m looking at the rest of the 2013 laggards in search of the best rebound candidates. I took a look at the factors affecting these stocks, and to be sure, many of them should still be avoided. #-ad_banner-#​Among… Read More

It’s been hard to lose money in the market in 2013. But anyone unlucky enough to own the worst-performing stocks among the various S&P indices (400, 500 and 600) has to be less than displeased.​ In my first look at 2013’s losers earlier this week, I reviewed the carnage among commodity producers and retailers. This time around, I’m looking at the rest of the 2013 laggards in search of the best rebound candidates. I took a look at the factors affecting these stocks, and to be sure, many of them should still be avoided. #-ad_banner-#​Among the “don’t bother” names: • Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB), which is on the wrong end of the sweeping changes in the wireline and wireless telecom industry. • Strayer Education (Nasdaq: STRA), a for-profit educator that is posting falling sales and profits in the face of staff layoffs and school closures. • Rackspace Holding (NYSE: RAX), as price cuts from cloud storage rivals such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) ratchet up the pressure. Similar competitive pressures will likely dog Teradata (NYSE: TDC) in 2014 as well.  Among the remaining stocks on that table, some have huge upside but carry… Read More

Insiders in the natural resource business often talk about “shopping season” this time of year. But they’re not referring to Christmas presents. As I’ve discussed before (see “The Little-Known ‘Glitch’ That Could Lead To 53% Gains), this is the time of year when many natural resource investments can be had at bargain prices.  This is particularly true for the smaller firms that my premium natural resource newsletter, Junior Resource Advisor, was created to focus on — the kind of companies that offer potential for double- or even triple-digit gains through the discovery of major mineral or petroleum deposits. #-ad_banner-#This month’s… Read More

Insiders in the natural resource business often talk about “shopping season” this time of year. But they’re not referring to Christmas presents. As I’ve discussed before (see “The Little-Known ‘Glitch’ That Could Lead To 53% Gains), this is the time of year when many natural resource investments can be had at bargain prices.  This is particularly true for the smaller firms that my premium natural resource newsletter, Junior Resource Advisor, was created to focus on — the kind of companies that offer potential for double- or even triple-digit gains through the discovery of major mineral or petroleum deposits. #-ad_banner-#This month’s buying opportunity is upon us — ironically — because 2013 has been a difficult year for many resource companies. With commodities prices falling, a large number of firms have seen their share prices decline. Sentiment has in fact turned down to such a degree that many of these firms are selling for cash flow multiples lower than we’ve seen in decades. I’ve been purchasing a number of these companies for my portfolio over the past few months. One such company I recently told my Junior Resource Advisor subscribers about is selling for less than twice its after-tax income. The thing… Read More