A market disconnect can be a powerful — and profitable — force.#-ad_banner-# Remember the gold rush of 2009? I’m not talking about the yellow metal. After all, gold prices rose “only” about 40% in the 12… Read More

Today, I would like to take a look at a typical trade setup that the average retail investor tends to shy away from but the professional trader salivates over. The company is called Cobalt International Energy (NYSE: CIE) and is focused on oil… Read More

Last week, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) announced a far steeper-than-expected drop in 2013 profit, which sent the stock to a nine-year low. You may be asking yourself whether a company that was founded in 1939 and is expected to report more than $100 billion in… Read More

Wall Street analysts aren’t known for their boldness. They tend to analyze and value companies on the basis of what lies ahead in the next month or quarter, refusing to predict where a company — and its stock — may be headed in… Read More

Warren Buffett made billions with his trusted buy-and-hold model. But in the past 12 years, with investors battling abnormal amounts of volatility and getting burned in the dot-com bubble of 2000, the 9/11 attacks, the housing crash of 2006, the financial crisis of 2008 and the U.S. credit rating downgrade in 2011, many investors have chosen to abandon the buy-and-hold strategy to stay more nimble. Take a look at the… Read More

Warren Buffett made billions with his trusted buy-and-hold model. But in the past 12 years, with investors battling abnormal amounts of volatility and getting burned in the dot-com bubble of 2000, the 9/11 attacks, the housing crash of 2006, the financial crisis of 2008 and the U.S. credit rating downgrade in 2011, many investors have chosen to abandon the buy-and-hold strategy to stay more nimble. Take a look at the chart below for a closer look at how volatility has rocked the market ever since the dot-com implosion of early 2000 — it’s truly remarkable: S&P 500 Monthly Chart 1950-2012 This volatility trend has driven the growing popularity of technical indicators designed to help investors decide when to buy and sell stocks. Unlike fundamental analysis, which uses earnings, dividends and valuation, technical analysis… Read More

Income investors can find attractive high-yields in the pharmaceutical sector right now. Many major drug makers, including familiar names like Merck (NYSE: MRK), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), are yielding close to 4% or better. But with so many stocks in this segment, deciding… Read More

In the fast-changing world of tech stocks, there are few true buy-and-hold opportunities. Great stocks such as Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) come to mind. Few other tech companies have been… Read More

With the economic situation in Europe, you’d think consumers would be spendthrifts. But one high-end clothing, footwear and accessories retailer appears to have captured the hearts and wallets of fashion-conscious Europeans. Since going public in December,… Read More

The Bakken Shale… the very mention of it conjures images of gushing oil wells, makeshift work camps (known as “man camps“) and North Dakota boom towns bursting at the seams. #-ad_banner-#It’s arguably the most prolific oil source in North America — a symbol of prosperity and hope in what’s been a difficult time in the United States during the past few years.  And here’s the good news: I’ve got my eyes on a company that’s right in the middle of the action, having built an expansive position in the rich Bakken Shale. Read More

The Bakken Shale… the very mention of it conjures images of gushing oil wells, makeshift work camps (known as “man camps“) and North Dakota boom towns bursting at the seams. #-ad_banner-#It’s arguably the most prolific oil source in North America — a symbol of prosperity and hope in what’s been a difficult time in the United States during the past few years.  And here’s the good news: I’ve got my eyes on a company that’s right in the middle of the action, having built an expansive position in the rich Bakken Shale. Daily oil production doubled in 2010, tripled in 2011 and will likely quadruple in 2012. That accelerating output is leading to off-the-charts earnings growth. The company is called Kodiak Oil & Gas (NYSE: KOG).  The company is a pure play on the Bakken Shale, and it’s no coincidence that it is also one of the fastest-growing exploration and production companies in the nation. The company has steadily expanded its footprint in the Williston Basin (which extends into adjacent areas of Canada), from 72,000 acres in 2010 to 93,000 in June 2011… Read More