Wall Street’s greeting of the new Fire smartphone introduced by online retail giant Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) might be described as a collective “meh.” Since the phone’s unveiling on June 18, Amazon’s stock hasn’t moved much — in fact, it’s down a couple percent. Perhaps the Street hasn’t yet fully considered the Fire’s potential. Or maybe there just isn’t much that can propel the stock right now since its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is far beyond excessive already (more than 500 versus 19 for the S&P 500) and there was a pretty good… Read More

Wall Street’s greeting of the new Fire smartphone introduced by online retail giant Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) might be described as a collective “meh.” Since the phone’s unveiling on June 18, Amazon’s stock hasn’t moved much — in fact, it’s down a couple percent. Perhaps the Street hasn’t yet fully considered the Fire’s potential. Or maybe there just isn’t much that can propel the stock right now since its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is far beyond excessive already (more than 500 versus 19 for the S&P 500) and there was a pretty good run-up in the month or so leading up to the Fire’s introduction. #-ad_banner-#Whatever the reason for the Street’s apparent apathy, I suspect the Fire will eventually prove to be a competitive alternative to other smartphones. What’s more, it should help to significantly boost Amazon’s already fast-growing revenues, which expanded more than 11-fold during the past decade, to $78.1 billion from $6.9 billion in 2004.  That said, the Fire probably isn’t a game-changer, although it could theoretically become one since smartphones tend to evolve and improve over time. In its present form, though, the Fire still offers compelling features… Read More

If I had a nickel for every time I read the advice I should invest like Warren Buffett… I’d have a whole lot of nickels. The Oracle of Omaha is revered for good reason: The stocks he picks tend to go up. And today’s pick has been a Buffett favorite since 1964: credit card provider American Express (NYSE: AXP). As the stock’s outstanding performance shows, many of the stocks Buffett backs are likely to be good trades. Since its 2009 low, AXP is up nearly 900%, compared with roughly 200% for the S&P… Read More

If I had a nickel for every time I read the advice I should invest like Warren Buffett… I’d have a whole lot of nickels. The Oracle of Omaha is revered for good reason: The stocks he picks tend to go up. And today’s pick has been a Buffett favorite since 1964: credit card provider American Express (NYSE: AXP). As the stock’s outstanding performance shows, many of the stocks Buffett backs are likely to be good trades. Since its 2009 low, AXP is up nearly 900%, compared with roughly 200% for the S&P 500. One aspect that surely attracted Buffett to the stock is the company’s strong foothold in the credit card market, which is controlled by three major players. Visa (NYSE: V) has the largest share with roughly 45%. Next comes American Express with just over 25%, and then MasterCard (NYSE: MA) with just under 25%. The fourth player, Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), lags far behind with just 5%. While Visa and MasterCard cast a wide customer net, American Express differentiates itself by appealing to the affluent consumer. For the privilege of being able to target the upper class, merchants pay… Read More

Even in a bull market, strong stocks need to rest from time to time.  #-ad_banner-#Aerospace giant and Dow 30 member United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) gained more than 60% from November 2012 — when the market’s current bull leg began — through April of this year before taking its breather. Since that peak, the blue-chip stock moved up and down in a trading range, or rectangle pattern. As the range developed, it ran into that long-term trendline. I have found that this is not unusual, and it often does not signal the end of the… Read More

Even in a bull market, strong stocks need to rest from time to time.  #-ad_banner-#Aerospace giant and Dow 30 member United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) gained more than 60% from November 2012 — when the market’s current bull leg began — through April of this year before taking its breather. Since that peak, the blue-chip stock moved up and down in a trading range, or rectangle pattern. As the range developed, it ran into that long-term trendline. I have found that this is not unusual, and it often does not signal the end of the rally. We have to give the larger feature — the trendline, in this case — the benefit of the doubt even if it was only broken due to the passage of time. A strong, sustained vertical move below the line would be a different story. In May, shares attempted a breakdown below the trendline, but it was reversed immediately. Bears could not keep the selling pressure on as demand swelled to soak up all shares offered for sale. And the trading range continued. After kissing the top of its range again, the stock’s next decline returned it to… Read More

Over the most recent Christmas holidays, employees at Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) were in an especially happy mood as their company stock zoomed past the $70 mark. #-ad_banner-#All they needed was a bit of patience — to wait until the calendar read May 6, 2014 — to sell their shares. But the stock market had other ideas. A rising tide of outside investors was well aware that a huge amount of employee-owned stock would come to the market in early May, and a share sell-off began. By the time May 6 rolled around, shares had lost half of their value. That… Read More

Over the most recent Christmas holidays, employees at Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) were in an especially happy mood as their company stock zoomed past the $70 mark. #-ad_banner-#All they needed was a bit of patience — to wait until the calendar read May 6, 2014 — to sell their shares. But the stock market had other ideas. A rising tide of outside investors was well aware that a huge amount of employee-owned stock would come to the market in early May, and a share sell-off began. By the time May 6 rolled around, shares had lost half of their value. That day in particular was very cruel for Twitter employees, as shares plunged 18% that morning alone. The very next day, shares of cybersecurity firm FireEye (Nasdaq: FEYE) plunged from $37 to $29 as the company’s employees were freed up to sell shares on that day. (The share price was also weighed down that day by a so-so quarterly report, though FEYE has made up for all the lost ground since then.) Ever since Twitter and FireEye employees went through that gut-wrenching experience, employees at many other newly public firms are anxiously awaiting their chance to sell company shares, on a… Read More

When Julian Robertson speaks, the market listens.  #-ad_banner-#After starting Tiger Management in 1980, Robertson has seen his hedge fund’s assets under management grow from $8 million to $23 billion. Robertson is not only a great investor — he’s also a great mentor. Known as “Tiger Cubs,” many of Roberson’s former analysts have gone on to start their own hedge funds, many of which were seeded by Robertson. A few notable Tiger Cubs include Chase Coleman of Tiger Global, Stephen Mandel at Lone Pine Capital, and John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital.  Robertson has been managing his own money… Read More

When Julian Robertson speaks, the market listens.  #-ad_banner-#After starting Tiger Management in 1980, Robertson has seen his hedge fund’s assets under management grow from $8 million to $23 billion. Robertson is not only a great investor — he’s also a great mentor. Known as “Tiger Cubs,” many of Roberson’s former analysts have gone on to start their own hedge funds, many of which were seeded by Robertson. A few notable Tiger Cubs include Chase Coleman of Tiger Global, Stephen Mandel at Lone Pine Capital, and John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital.  Robertson has been managing his own money (he’s currently worth an estimated $3 billion) since 2000, but he’s still very active. His investment philosophy includes a “smart idea, grounded on exhaustive research, followed by a big bet.” His current $300 million Tiger Management fund is heavily concentrated on his top ideas. ‘The Best-Run Company In The World’ Robertson’s third-largest holding is Google (Nasdaq: GOOGL), which he called one of the best-run companies in the world in a recent CNBC interview. He notes that the reason he owns such a large stake in the tech giant is that as the longtime leader in… Read More

Most people know Bill Gates as the world’s richest man thanks to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which he built into the world’s largest software company.  #-ad_banner-#However, today Microsoft represents only about one-fifth of his total holdings. His private investment company, Cascade Investments, and his charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, hold most of Gates’ assets.  His total assets, including his Microsoft stake, Cascade Investments and charitable foundation, are valued at over $100 billion. By selling his Microsoft stake over the years and diversifying his assets, Gates has focused on wealth preservation.  He plans to give… Read More

Most people know Bill Gates as the world’s richest man thanks to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which he built into the world’s largest software company.  #-ad_banner-#However, today Microsoft represents only about one-fifth of his total holdings. His private investment company, Cascade Investments, and his charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, hold most of Gates’ assets.  His total assets, including his Microsoft stake, Cascade Investments and charitable foundation, are valued at over $100 billion. By selling his Microsoft stake over the years and diversifying his assets, Gates has focused on wealth preservation.  He plans to give most of his great fortune to charity — but in his search for safety and stability, Gates is taking a page from past robber barons… By investing in railroads.  The source of 19th-century fortunes for names like Vanderbilt and Gould, the railroad industry is just as important today. In 2009, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) made its largest purchase ever, buying rail transport company Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $34 billion. Gates’ largest holding outside of Microsoft is Canadian National Railway Co. (NYSE: CNI), which is the largest railroad in Canada. Between Cascade Investments and his charitable foundation, Gates is… Read More

For the past few decades, we’ve been hearing about the rising levels of obesity in America that are leading to more cases of diabetes. A look at the recent numbers is pretty startling.  According to American Diabetes Association (ADA), 1 out of every 10 Americans is diabetic, and 1 in 4 Americans is classified as pre-diabetic (myself included). For seniors, the figures are more daunting: 25% of America’s elderly residents have diabetes, which is quite concerning when you note that millions of baby boomers are entering that demographic. What kind of toll has this taken? More than… Read More

For the past few decades, we’ve been hearing about the rising levels of obesity in America that are leading to more cases of diabetes. A look at the recent numbers is pretty startling.  According to American Diabetes Association (ADA), 1 out of every 10 Americans is diabetic, and 1 in 4 Americans is classified as pre-diabetic (myself included). For seniors, the figures are more daunting: 25% of America’s elderly residents have diabetes, which is quite concerning when you note that millions of baby boomers are entering that demographic. What kind of toll has this taken? More than 200,000 Americans die annually either directly or indirectly from diabetes. Worldwide, the figure is far larger.  Society also has a huge financial stake in diabetes. According to the ADA, treating people with diabetes consumes one-fifth of all of our nation’s health care expenditures. Getting our arms around that would have a profound impact on our economy in the form of reduced health care premiums.  Thankfully, there is considerable progress being made and view is emerging of a future where most pre-diabetics can stop the disease in its tracks. Keeping diabetes in check, before it advances to the point where it… Read More

To say that the financial crisis changed the landscape of the banking industry would be a bit of an understatement.  #-ad_banner-#One of the biggest dangers to capitalism was the interruption of the investment flow that technological innovators require. As the banking behemoths teetered on the verge of collapse, capital market liquidity and business lending in the traditional banking channels pretty much evaporated.  Luckily, many business development companies (BDCs) stepped up to the plate. Basically, BDCs are simply pools of money that take investor money, lend it to businesses as some combination of debt and equity, and reward investors… Read More

To say that the financial crisis changed the landscape of the banking industry would be a bit of an understatement.  #-ad_banner-#One of the biggest dangers to capitalism was the interruption of the investment flow that technological innovators require. As the banking behemoths teetered on the verge of collapse, capital market liquidity and business lending in the traditional banking channels pretty much evaporated.  Luckily, many business development companies (BDCs) stepped up to the plate. Basically, BDCs are simply pools of money that take investor money, lend it to businesses as some combination of debt and equity, and reward investors based on the performance of the BDC’s investment portfolio.  Most of the companies that BDCs work with are what are referred to as mid-market companies: too big to be small, too small to be big. But many of these companies become bigger and often go public. That’s when the true value of the equity stake the BDC takes is unlocked. One of the more interesting names on my radar is Hercules Technology Growth Capital (NYSE: HTGC). With a market cap just shy of $1 billion, Hercules has set its sights on fast-growing technology and biotech businesses. As I’ve… Read More

Financial stocks have shown relative strength in recent weeks, and Tuesday’s rally in the sector on a jump in interest rates favors another leg higher. Among the best-looking bank stocks from a technical perspective is Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK). #-ad_banner-#On Tuesday, BK rallied more than 2% and right back to a resistance line that dates back to late March. The stock now looks poised to break past this resistance for another leg higher. One of my early trading mentors told me to always have a watchlist of the big-name broker and banking stocks front and center to… Read More

Financial stocks have shown relative strength in recent weeks, and Tuesday’s rally in the sector on a jump in interest rates favors another leg higher. Among the best-looking bank stocks from a technical perspective is Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK). #-ad_banner-#On Tuesday, BK rallied more than 2% and right back to a resistance line that dates back to late March. The stock now looks poised to break past this resistance for another leg higher. One of my early trading mentors told me to always have a watchlist of the big-name broker and banking stocks front and center to look for clues to the broader market’s direction.  In the longer term, banks facilitate credit and thus help spur the economy. And because the financial sector has the second-largest weighting in the S&P 500, it can impact the market on a daily and weekly basis. On an intraday basis, watching the financials can help you predict the day’s trend. If banks are weak in the first few hours of trading, then more often than not, the broader market has limited upside. Strength in the sector portends gains in the broader market.  On Tuesday, the broader market was weak in the… Read More

When CommVault Systems (Nasdaq: CVLT) was founded roughly 25 years ago, corporations were only beginning to grasp just how hard it would become to manage far-flung internal networks. CommVault initially had modest hopes of delivering a few key software tools, on a platform known as Simpana, that could help IT managers archive, search and restore key corporate databases.  #-ad_banner-#We now know that such networks have become remarkably large and complex as the era of cloud computing takes root. And such complexity has paid off for CommVault in… Read More

When CommVault Systems (Nasdaq: CVLT) was founded roughly 25 years ago, corporations were only beginning to grasp just how hard it would become to manage far-flung internal networks. CommVault initially had modest hopes of delivering a few key software tools, on a platform known as Simpana, that could help IT managers archive, search and restore key corporate databases.  #-ad_banner-#We now know that such networks have become remarkably large and complex as the era of cloud computing takes root. And such complexity has paid off for CommVault in the form of rising demand.  Annual sales surpassed $100 million in fiscal 2006, which was the year the company went public, and moved above $300 million by fiscal 2011. With CommVault’s Simpana now in its 10th generation, sales are expected to cross the $600 million threshold in the current fiscal year. In response to that kind of growth, shares zoomed from under $20 in 2010 to an all-time high of $90 in late 2013. The task of network management would seem to be an easy fit for the major IT firms such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) or NetApp (Nasdaq:… Read More