Wednesday was a big day for the tech sector, as all eyes were on bellwether Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its fiscal first-quarter earnings.#-ad_banner-# About 40 minutes after the closing bell, the market heard what Apple had to say, and the reaction wasn’t very good. The stock plunged more than 10% in after-hours trading as the company’s… Read More

Wednesday was a big day for the tech sector, as all eyes were on bellwether Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its fiscal first-quarter earnings.#-ad_banner-# About 40 minutes after the closing bell, the market heard what Apple had to say, and the reaction wasn’t very good. The stock plunged more than 10% in after-hours trading as the company’s revenue fell short of expectations, as did sales of iPads and iPhones. The rotten reaction to the Apple numbers stood in stark contrast to the stellar numbers from two other tech giants, one “old school” and one “new school.”  Representing the old school is International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), and the new school rep is Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). Both of these companies saw their share price surge Wednesday, as the market reacted positively to their strong earnings reports. In the case of IBM, we saw the Dow component’s shares spike 4.4% on heavy… Read More

One of the best investments in the 21st century has been professional sports teams. In 2000, there were 114 major sports teams in the United States and none of them have declined in value during the past 12 years. Only two teams, the National… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that… Read More

There is a growing and profitable trend happening in the United States. Many investors are unaware it is even happening. If you read Carla Pasternak’s recent article (found here), then you know exactly what I’m talking about.   While everyone seems to be talking about the rebound in single-family housing,… Read More

Most people thought it might never happen, much less happen in five short years. The housing sector is back in the United States. After going through its darkest hour, people are buying houses again and investors are making money from dividends and capital gains. Read More

One of the best investments in the 21st century has been professional sports teams. In 2000, there were 114 major sports teams in the United States and none of them have declined in value during the past 12 years. Only two teams, the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders, failed to gain at least 10% during that time. The biggest winner, Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins, increased more than 15.4% a year on average. While these teams might be among the best possible investments, few sports fans or investors can afford… Read More

One of the best investments in the 21st century has been professional sports teams. In 2000, there were 114 major sports teams in the United States and none of them have declined in value during the past 12 years. Only two teams, the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders, failed to gain at least 10% during that time. The biggest winner, Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins, increased more than 15.4% a year on average. While these teams might be among the best possible investments, few sports fans or investors can afford to buy their own team.#-ad_banner-# According to Forbes, the Manchester United European football (the sport Americans know as soccer) team is the most valuable sports team in the world. In July, the latest available data showed that the team was valued at $2.23 billion, according to Forbes, which is the leading source of publicly available information on the value of sports teams. After that valuation was published, Manchester United (NYSE: MANU) completed an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Now, stock and… Read More

Utilities stocks occupy a unique niche in the investment world. No one who wants to get rich buying shares of Exelon (NYSE: EXC) or Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is expecting… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that call, the fact that the company had warned upcoming earnings would tumble about 6%, and that Goldman Sachs had changed its opinion of McDonald’s from “buy” to merely “neutral.”#-ad_banner-# To be fair, the stock is now trading… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that call, the fact that the company had warned upcoming earnings would tumble about 6%, and that Goldman Sachs had changed its opinion of McDonald’s from “buy” to merely “neutral.”#-ad_banner-# To be fair, the stock is now trading about where it was then, so the “buy” call hasn’t bore fruit yet. But a handful of new factors has materialized that continue to convince me this iconic stock is being underestimated. That was then The seven months since that detailed look at McDonald’s haven’t been easy. Shares have moved as high as $94.09 and as low as $83.31 before finding the $92 level again. The prods for all that volatility were mostly earnings-based, some good and some bad. As expected, when McDonald’s posted its second-quarter earnings, they were lower by 2.2%. Even… Read More

There is a growing and profitable trend happening in the United States. Many investors are unaware it is even happening. If you read Carla Pasternak’s recent article (found here), then you know exactly what I’m talking about.   While everyone seems to be talking about the rebound in single-family housing, very few are talking about multi-family housing.    And as Carla has pointed out, that’s a mistake.   Carla explains that while the single-family housing recovery has just started, multi-family apartment housing has been in recovery mode for the past several years. In fact, she says the United States could… Read More

There is a growing and profitable trend happening in the United States. Many investors are unaware it is even happening. If you read Carla Pasternak’s recent article (found here), then you know exactly what I’m talking about.   While everyone seems to be talking about the rebound in single-family housing, very few are talking about multi-family housing.    And as Carla has pointed out, that’s a mistake.   Carla explains that while the single-family housing recovery has just started, multi-family apartment housing has been in recovery mode for the past several years. In fact, she says the United States could soon become a “Renter Nation.” I completely agree with Carla. Right now, positioning your portfolio to capture dividends and growth from the real estate recovery makes total sense.  But if you read my articles, then you may know that I always go a step further.#-ad_banner-# My key takeaways Diversification, even within the same asset class, is a key feature of a well-designed portfolio. Within the housing REIT sector, investors would be wise to have positions in single-family home REITs and… Read More