In any given year, Standard & Poor’s must find a dozen or so new companies to include in its vaunted S&P 500 index.#-ad_banner-# Existing components invariably get acquired, or stumble so badly that they are disinvited from this select group. Getting a tap on the shoulder from S&P is great news, simply because the billion-dollar S&P 500 index funds must immediately buy their shares to give them a proper weighting. Read More

In any given year, Standard & Poor’s must find a dozen or so new companies to include in its vaunted S&P 500 index.#-ad_banner-# Existing components invariably get acquired, or stumble so badly that they are disinvited from this select group. Getting a tap on the shoulder from S&P is great news, simply because the billion-dollar S&P 500 index funds must immediately buy their shares to give them a proper weighting. Analysts at Credit Suisse recently gave the topic some thought, highlighting 10 strong candidates. Later on, I’m going to add another eight of my own in a moment. And in part two of this series, I’ll cite the three most appealing stocks in the group on a purely fundamental basis.  What’s In The S&P 500? Many might suspect that Standard & Poor’s simply chooses companies with the largest market values for inclusion in the index. But… Read More

A big part of my job as managing editor of StreetAuthority involves talking with our premium newsletter experts to get a sense of what they like in the market, where they think it’s headed and how they plan to help their followers profit. That means I get paid to hear from some of the top investing minds in the country on a regular basis. What could be better? I want to share some of that… Read More

A big part of my job as managing editor of StreetAuthority involves talking with our premium newsletter experts to get a sense of what they like in the market, where they think it’s headed and how they plan to help their followers profit. That means I get paid to hear from some of the top investing minds in the country on a regular basis. What could be better? I want to share some of that wisdom. I’m featuring insights and top picks from each of our experts over the next couple of weeks as a way of saying thanks for being a StreetAuthority.com reader.             Amy Calistri   Today’s pick comes courtesy of Amy Calistri. Out of 45 closed trades in the four-year history of Amy Calistri’s… Read More

Here at StreetAuthority, we love companies that have a wide moat around their operations and possess powerful long-term growth characteristics. Investing in these companies is often quite simple. You buy shares — and put them on the shelf. Year after year, they appreciate in value. Over the course of many decades, they deliver substantial investment returns. We call these “Forever… Read More

Here at StreetAuthority, we love companies that have a wide moat around their operations and possess powerful long-term growth characteristics. Investing in these companies is often quite simple. You buy shares — and put them on the shelf. Year after year, they appreciate in value. Over the course of many decades, they deliver substantial investment returns. We call these “Forever Stocks.” Yet the ride isn’t always quite so smooth for some “Forever Stocks.” Even companies like GE (NYSE: GE) or IBM (NYSE: IBM) hit a rough patch, temporarily falling deeply out of favor with investors. And when that happens, savvy investors know to pounce, buying shares at marked-down prices. Such an opportunity exists now with a company headquartered 5,000 miles south of the New York Stock Exchange. Brazil’s CPFL Energia (NYSE: CPL) is a very good company having a very bad year. Shares are far from their recent… Read More

With a return of 43.9% over the past year, Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) is currently the top-performing mutual fund on the market. The company began operations as a private equity firm in 1998 with $400 million under management. Between 1999 and 2006, the firm averaged a return of 39%. And today, operating as a mutual fund, the group manages more than $54 billion. The… Read More

With a return of 43.9% over the past year, Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) is currently the top-performing mutual fund on the market. The company began operations as a private equity firm in 1998 with $400 million under management. Between 1999 and 2006, the firm averaged a return of 39%. And today, operating as a mutual fund, the group manages more than $54 billion. The fund‘s success merits a closer look, and while reviewing the company’s portfolio, I made a surprising discovery. Most mutual funds tend to maintain a more conservative portfolio of holdings that encompass a wide variety of market sectors. And most fund’s largest holding rarely makes up more than 25% of the portfolio. But Fortress is different. In fact, in the company’s current holdings, just one stock makes up 43% of the overall portfolio. Fortress owns more than 67 million shares of this company — a… Read More

A big part of my job as managing editor of StreetAuthority involves talking with our premium newsletter experts to get a sense of what they like in the market, where they think it’s headed and how they plan to help their followers profit. That means I get paid to hear from some of the top investing minds in the country on a regular basis. What could be better? I want to share some of that… Read More

A big part of my job as managing editor of StreetAuthority involves talking with our premium newsletter experts to get a sense of what they like in the market, where they think it’s headed and how they plan to help their followers profit. That means I get paid to hear from some of the top investing minds in the country on a regular basis. What could be better? I want to share some of that wisdom. I’m featuring insights and top picks from each of our experts over the next couple of weeks as a way of saying thanks for being a StreetAuthority.com reader. Today’s pick comes courtesy of Amber Hestla.             Amber Hestla   As a former U.S. military intelligence… Read More

We all know the value of investing in dividend stocks. That’s why I was intrigued by StreetAuthority expert Amy Calistri’s unorthodox idea about investing in stocks with low dividend yields. Her point: Lower-yielding stocks can outperform their higher-yielding counterparts. Amy’s not saying that all low dividend yield stocks were identical. In fact, she provided a four-step test for screening prospects to determine a stock‘s dividend track record, ensuring… Read More

We all know the value of investing in dividend stocks. That’s why I was intrigued by StreetAuthority expert Amy Calistri’s unorthodox idea about investing in stocks with low dividend yields. Her point: Lower-yielding stocks can outperform their higher-yielding counterparts. Amy’s not saying that all low dividend yield stocks were identical. In fact, she provided a four-step test for screening prospects to determine a stock‘s dividend track record, ensuring it had a low payout ratio and high revenue growth, as well as a compelling story for future growth. I ended up with three stocks I could confidently rate good, better and best. Here’s how I got there. I was expecting quite a few would survive the first test of paying and increasing dividends, and I wasn’t disappointed. I found 726 possible names on FINVIZ.com, which had a record of at least five years of increasing dividends. To add my own stamp to… Read More

Thanks to a dome of cool air that is enveloping much of the eastern United States, natural gas prices are back in freefall, falling roughly $1 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) since just the start of May to a recent $3.36 per Mcf. Meanwhile, oil prices have been on a tear, rising more than $10 a barrel in that time to a recent $108 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate crude. For companies that produce a considerable amount of both oil and gas, it’s hard to know if the good (oil) outweighs the bad (gas). Yet… Read More

Thanks to a dome of cool air that is enveloping much of the eastern United States, natural gas prices are back in freefall, falling roughly $1 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) since just the start of May to a recent $3.36 per Mcf. Meanwhile, oil prices have been on a tear, rising more than $10 a barrel in that time to a recent $108 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate crude. For companies that produce a considerable amount of both oil and gas, it’s hard to know if the good (oil) outweighs the bad (gas). Yet insiders at certain energy companies have no such confusion. They are aggressively buying company stock while share prices meander. Perhaps their bullishness stems from the fact that their companies aren’t really dependent on energy prices and instead are focused on providing services and equipment to the industry. 1. Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR ) Make no mistake, many energy insiders long for the good old days of 2007 and 2008, when triple-digit oil prices fueled a vigorous amount of… Read More

In any given year, an up-and-coming fund manager is able to make some great investment moves, propelling him to the top of the annual leaderboard. But only a select few have the vision and the skill to lead the pack for decades at a time. The Oracle of Omaha might be the best of them all.#-ad_banner-# Over many decades, Warren Buffett has made his clients huge sums of money —… Read More

In any given year, an up-and-coming fund manager is able to make some great investment moves, propelling him to the top of the annual leaderboard. But only a select few have the vision and the skill to lead the pack for decades at a time. The Oracle of Omaha might be the best of them all.#-ad_banner-# Over many decades, Warren Buffett has made his clients huge sums of money — and equally important — has helped them to avoid losing lots of money when the broader market slumps. Just how awesome has he been for shareholders? His portfolio has outperformed the S&P 500 in 24 of the past 30 years. In that time, he’s garnered an 18% annualized return, compared to an 11% annualized return for the S&P 500. Most impressive of all, Buffett doesn’t rely on some secret formula. While other investment pros talk about their “black box” approach to… Read More

The statistics are mind-blowing.  Close to 93% of Americans eat this cuisine every month. More than 3 billion units are sold yearly in the United States alone, an annual revenue stream of $32 billion. There are 70,000 U.S.-based restaurants that serve this dish,… Read More