One hundred seventy thousand dollars. That’s roughly how much one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A (NYSE: BRK-A) stock is selling for these days. Imagine if you had been one of the fortunate few to invest in Warren Buffett‘s young company back in 1967, when shares were trading for $20.50. Right now, you would be sitting on a total nominal gain of 829,460%. But nowadays, Berkshire has, to some degree, become a victim… Read More

One hundred seventy thousand dollars. That’s roughly how much one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A (NYSE: BRK-A) stock is selling for these days. Imagine if you had been one of the fortunate few to invest in Warren Buffett‘s young company back in 1967, when shares were trading for $20.50. Right now, you would be sitting on a total nominal gain of 829,460%. But nowadays, Berkshire has, to some degree, become a victim of its own success. Buffett has often said that the company’s current size ($278 billion market cap) has made future growth more difficult. “Size is the anchor of performance. There is no question about it,” Buffett has said. “It doesn’t mean you can’t do better than average as you get larger, but the margin shrinks.”  Of course, having too much money is a problem most of us would like to have. And I certainly don’t mean… Read More

Forget the old adage “When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”  Friday’s solid employment report shows the U.S. economy — the world’s largest by a considerable margin — to be faring reasonably well. The new adage: “When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.” China’s economy, which recently overtook Japan’s as the world’s second largest, has been slowing throughout the first half of 2013. That slowdown is wreaking havoc on many emerging economies.#-ad_banner-# The sharp pullback in places like Brazil, Australia, Turkey and elsewhere should be… Read More

Forget the old adage “When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”  Friday’s solid employment report shows the U.S. economy — the world’s largest by a considerable margin — to be faring reasonably well. The new adage: “When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.” China’s economy, which recently overtook Japan’s as the world’s second largest, has been slowing throughout the first half of 2013. That slowdown is wreaking havoc on many emerging economies.#-ad_banner-# The sharp pullback in places like Brazil, Australia, Turkey and elsewhere should be seen as opening for investors that have been awaiting better valuations in these markets. Indeed, the forward earnings multiple for many of these countries’ stock markets has been drifting ever lower, creating a valuation gap with U.S. stock markets that, in some instances, approaches 40%. Still, investors need to know that these markets can surely fall lower, so it’s crucial to take the long view with investments in Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. If… Read More

One hundred seventy thousand dollars. That’s roughly how much one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A (NYSE: BRK-A) stock is selling for these days. Imagine if you had been one of the fortunate few to invest in Warren Buffett‘s young company back in 1967, when shares were trading for $20.50. Right now, you would be sitting on a total nominal gain of 829,460%. But nowadays, Berkshire has, to some degree, become a victim… Read More

One hundred seventy thousand dollars. That’s roughly how much one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A (NYSE: BRK-A) stock is selling for these days. Imagine if you had been one of the fortunate few to invest in Warren Buffett‘s young company back in 1967, when shares were trading for $20.50. Right now, you would be sitting on a total nominal gain of 829,460%. But nowadays, Berkshire has, to some degree, become a victim of its own success. Buffett has often said that the company’s current size ($278 billion market cap) has made future growth more difficult. “Size is the anchor of performance. There is no question about it,” Buffett has said. “It doesn’t mean you can’t do better than average as you get larger, but the margin shrinks.”  Of course, having too much money is a problem most of us would like to have. And I certainly don’t mean… Read More

Success can be fatal in technology. That’s because success leads to growth, and that frequently stifles the original creativity and innovative spirit that made the company great in the first place. That predictable cycle has been on display once again in the past few years, with industry leaders Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) failing to capitalize fully on growth in mobile markets. In the dynamic technology sector, the biggest and most successful companies sometimes struggle to stay current with the latest trends, much less lead the… Read More

Success can be fatal in technology. That’s because success leads to growth, and that frequently stifles the original creativity and innovative spirit that made the company great in the first place. That predictable cycle has been on display once again in the past few years, with industry leaders Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) failing to capitalize fully on growth in mobile markets. In the dynamic technology sector, the biggest and most successful companies sometimes struggle to stay current with the latest trends, much less lead the market with groundbreaking technology or innovation. But one well-known technology giant is breaking the mold. Few companies have ever experienced such a meteoric rise, with shares up 750% after going public less than 10 years ago, making it one of the most valuable in the world. But unlike many other mega-cap market leaders content to let growth stifle innovation, this company continues to produce market-leading technology in multiple high-growth markets.#-ad_banner-# Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is already one of… Read More

Traders seemed to like the prospects of low unemployment last week even though that could lead to the end of easy money from the Fed, a prospect that caused a sell-off just weeks ago. Last week’s price gains could be reversed soon as additional economic data and company earnings are released. Stocks Change Their Mind and… Read More

Traders seemed to like the prospects of low unemployment last week even though that could lead to the end of easy money from the Fed, a prospect that caused a sell-off just weeks ago. Last week’s price gains could be reversed soon as additional economic data and company earnings are released. Stocks Change Their Mind and Gain on News Showing Fed May Taper Soon On Friday, the employment report provided good news about the state of the economy and stocks rallied. SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) gained 1.08% for the day and 1.62% in a three-and-a-half day, holiday-shortened trading week.#-ad_banner-# Unemployment was unchanged at 7.6%, but the details in the jobs report showed some strength in the economy. The economy added 195,000 jobs in June, and estimates for gains in both May and April were… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a small number of events. The notion of the “vital few” has its origins in 1906 in Italy, where economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the wealth was controlled by 20% of the population. Pareto reportedly developed the principle after observing similar scenarios in everyday life, including the fact that 80% of the peas in his garden came from only 20% of the pea pods. Then came Joseph Juran, a quality… Read More

One of the biggest investment stories of 2013 has surely been the ongoing slump in shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which have fallen 21% this year after falling by a similar amount in the final months of 2012. Surprisingly, Apple doesn’t have much company. Only eight companies in the S&P 500 have by 20% or more in the first half of 2013, which is an unusually small percentage. A rising tide has surely lifted (almost all boats) in this extended… Read More

One of the biggest investment stories of 2013 has surely been the ongoing slump in shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which have fallen 21% this year after falling by a similar amount in the final months of 2012. Surprisingly, Apple doesn’t have much company. Only eight companies in the S&P 500 have by 20% or more in the first half of 2013, which is an unusually small percentage. A rising tide has surely lifted (almost all boats) in this extended bull rally. Still, it’s helpful to focus on companies with broken stock charts, because a few of them have so badly underperformed the broader market, and now sell at such severely low valuations, that they’ve become compelling bargains. Of course they are only compelling bargains if the key drivers are in place to help deliver improving results. I looked at these eight market laggards, and two of them caught… Read More

Success can be fatal in technology. That’s because success leads to growth, and that frequently stifles the original creativity and innovative spirit that made the company great in the first place. That predictable cycle has been on display once again in the past few years, with industry leaders Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) failing to capitalize fully on growth in mobile markets. In the dynamic technology sector, the biggest and most successful companies sometimes struggle to stay current with the latest trends, much less lead the… Read More

Success can be fatal in technology. That’s because success leads to growth, and that frequently stifles the original creativity and innovative spirit that made the company great in the first place. That predictable cycle has been on display once again in the past few years, with industry leaders Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) failing to capitalize fully on growth in mobile markets. In the dynamic technology sector, the biggest and most successful companies sometimes struggle to stay current with the latest trends, much less lead the market with groundbreaking technology or innovation. But one well-known technology giant is breaking the mold. Few companies have ever experienced such a meteoric rise, with shares up 750% after going public less than 10 years ago, making it one of the most valuable in the world. But unlike many other mega-cap market leaders content to let growth stifle innovation, this company continues to produce market-leading technology in multiple high-growth markets.#-ad_banner-# Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is already one of… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a small number of events. The notion of the “vital few” has its origins in 1906 in Italy, where economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the wealth was controlled by 20% of the population. Pareto reportedly developed the principle after observing similar scenarios in everyday life, including the fact that 80% of the peas in his garden came from only 20% of the pea pods. Then came Joseph Juran, a quality… Read More

One of the biggest investment stories of 2013 has surely been the ongoing slump in shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which have fallen 21% this year after falling by a similar amount in the final months of 2012. Surprisingly, Apple doesn’t have much company. Only eight companies in the S&P 500 have by 20% or more in the first half of 2013, which is an unusually small percentage. A rising tide has surely lifted (almost all boats) in this extended… Read More

One of the biggest investment stories of 2013 has surely been the ongoing slump in shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which have fallen 21% this year after falling by a similar amount in the final months of 2012. Surprisingly, Apple doesn’t have much company. Only eight companies in the S&P 500 have by 20% or more in the first half of 2013, which is an unusually small percentage. A rising tide has surely lifted (almost all boats) in this extended bull rally. Still, it’s helpful to focus on companies with broken stock charts, because a few of them have so badly underperformed the broader market, and now sell at such severely low valuations, that they’ve become compelling bargains. Of course they are only compelling bargains if the key drivers are in place to help deliver improving results. I looked at these eight market laggards, and two of them caught… Read More