Technologists tell us we’re in the early stages of the third wave of the Internet: the Internet of Things (IoT). It follows the first wave, in which people adopted the Internet through desktop computers, and the second wave, in which the world adopted use of the Internet through mobile devices, such as smartphones. In this third wave, millions of people around the world are adopting apps, devices and systems that integrate the Internet with our day-to-day lives in new ways. Within the next decade, every machine, vehicle and electronic device will incorporate features that connect to the Internet and make… Read More

Technologists tell us we’re in the early stages of the third wave of the Internet: the Internet of Things (IoT). It follows the first wave, in which people adopted the Internet through desktop computers, and the second wave, in which the world adopted use of the Internet through mobile devices, such as smartphones. In this third wave, millions of people around the world are adopting apps, devices and systems that integrate the Internet with our day-to-day lives in new ways. Within the next decade, every machine, vehicle and electronic device will incorporate features that connect to the Internet and make use of its advantages — including remote monitoring and control, data accumulation and retrieval, and automation of functions now done manually. #-ad_banner-#Some examples of IoT already in widespread use are Fitbits, credit-card-accepting parking meters and smart TVs. More and more cars are equipped with Internet connections, and it’s no longer a novelty when a friend says he can control his thermostat or lock his front door remotely. From smoke detectors that automatically call the fire department to factory machinery that responds to orders made 5,000 miles away, the IoT will soon become a fact of life. It’s estimated that 90%… Read More

“The future is already here,” science fiction writer William Gibson famously said. “It’s just not evenly distributed.” While that statement is in some sense obvious — global inequality makes it so — it’s also of profound importance to investors looking for high-growth stocks. #-ad_banner-#Information technology transformed every area of human life in the 20th century. The rate of change accelerated with the personal computer in the 1980s, shifted into overdrive when Internet access became ubiquitous in the 1990s and exploded with the proliferation of mobile Internet in the 2000s. We’re now experiencing the domino effect of these enormous technological changes… Read More

“The future is already here,” science fiction writer William Gibson famously said. “It’s just not evenly distributed.” While that statement is in some sense obvious — global inequality makes it so — it’s also of profound importance to investors looking for high-growth stocks. #-ad_banner-#Information technology transformed every area of human life in the 20th century. The rate of change accelerated with the personal computer in the 1980s, shifted into overdrive when Internet access became ubiquitous in the 1990s and exploded with the proliferation of mobile Internet in the 2000s. We’re now experiencing the domino effect of these enormous technological changes as tens of thousands of innovators around the world expand on these technologies and popular platforms to create products, services and new technologies. An investor’s challenge is to see the future that’s already here — in a publicly traded company’s technology — and connect the dots to a few years from now, when the company is distributing that technology to a much wider market. The further challenge is determining when a stock is trading at a valuation that underestimates the revenue and cash flows generated by that future distribution. To that end, consider two up-and-coming tech stocks that I think… Read More

This is a true story about how a ragtag group of Average Joes made millions trading futures contracts… And I promise if you stick with me, then there’s a very good chance you just might rethink everything you ever thought about what it takes to be a successful investor. #-ad_banner-#I actually came across this interesting story awhile back and it was said to have been inspired by the 1983 Eddie Murphy movie “Trading Places.” It all started with a simple bet between two partners: Could the average person with absolutely zero… Read More

This is a true story about how a ragtag group of Average Joes made millions trading futures contracts… And I promise if you stick with me, then there’s a very good chance you just might rethink everything you ever thought about what it takes to be a successful investor. #-ad_banner-#I actually came across this interesting story awhile back and it was said to have been inspired by the 1983 Eddie Murphy movie “Trading Places.” It all started with a simple bet between two partners: Could the average person with absolutely zero Wall Street experience be taught to successfully trade the markets? On the one hand you had Richard Dennis — a self-taught commodities trader who reportedly made his first million by the age of 25. He believed he could teach someone his trading system so that the student would be just as successful as the teacher. Then there was his partner, William Eckhardt, who thought differently. He believed people were born with an innate skill or intelligence that made them better investors than the average person. To settle the bet, Dennis and… Read More

Maybe it’s some kind of kismet. Or maybe I just want it to be… I saw a Tesla Model S cruising down the highway in Milwaukee the day after Elon Musk revealed his brand new Model 3. It was pretty slick. Nice styling, cool feel. Not like the impression you get with a Prius… This was something that even electric car-naysayers could admire. #-ad_banner-#It’s this slick approach that puts Tesla in a very different category than previous EV or hybrid makers, and it’s also why Tesla has garnered an almost cult-like following. In the run-up to the big… Read More

Maybe it’s some kind of kismet. Or maybe I just want it to be… I saw a Tesla Model S cruising down the highway in Milwaukee the day after Elon Musk revealed his brand new Model 3. It was pretty slick. Nice styling, cool feel. Not like the impression you get with a Prius… This was something that even electric car-naysayers could admire. #-ad_banner-#It’s this slick approach that puts Tesla in a very different category than previous EV or hybrid makers, and it’s also why Tesla has garnered an almost cult-like following. In the run-up to the big reveal of Tesla Motors’ (Nasdaq: TSLA) new Model 3 electric vehicle, 115,000 people shelled out $1,000 to reserve one… before they ever saw what the car looked like. And by early Sunday, that figure jumped to 276,000. That’s $276 million in the bank. The reveal was just as impressive as these figures. The Model 3 is a similar shape to the Model S, and comes with a range of at least 215 miles per charge. That’s surprisingly practical for a lot of people, including me, who lives an hour away from work. It comes with an autopilot function standard,… Read More

A couple of years ago, my wife and I took a trip to St. Louis, Missouri. Jen and I drove more than a thousand miles, spent six nights in a hotel, ate however many meals and did some shopping. We each have a debit card, a credit card and a gas card, and Jen has a few store cards. We were gone a week, and I came home with the same ten $50 bills I’d gotten at the bank before we left. It dawned on me how seldom I have any physical currency in my wallet — usually only when… Read More

A couple of years ago, my wife and I took a trip to St. Louis, Missouri. Jen and I drove more than a thousand miles, spent six nights in a hotel, ate however many meals and did some shopping. We each have a debit card, a credit card and a gas card, and Jen has a few store cards. We were gone a week, and I came home with the same ten $50 bills I’d gotten at the bank before we left. It dawned on me how seldom I have any physical currency in my wallet — usually only when I travel. It’s certainly not because I go without any of the things I need or want; it’s because I simply don’t need to carry cash. #-ad_banner-#I do, of course, need my smartphone. And thanks to what may experts are calling the “mobile payment revolution,” it’s quickly becoming “the next big thing” that will lead to the death of debit cards and cash. For the past few years, I’ve been telling readers of my premium Game-Changing Stocks Advisory about mobile payments. In fact, well before Apple announced its Apple Pay platform, I predicted that the company would develop this technology. Read More

Here’s a random question… Do you remember the Virtual Boy? #-ad_banner-#I’d be surprised if you do. Launched by Nintendo in 1995, the Virtual Boy was meant to be a great leap forward — a portable video game console that displayed “true 3D graphics” for users. The New York Times previewed the console in 1994, saying it would “totally immerse players into their own private universe.”  Sounds pretty cool, right? Unfortunately it didn’t live up to the hype. Gunpei Yokoi, creator of Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld system (which sold 118 million… Read More

Here’s a random question… Do you remember the Virtual Boy? #-ad_banner-#I’d be surprised if you do. Launched by Nintendo in 1995, the Virtual Boy was meant to be a great leap forward — a portable video game console that displayed “true 3D graphics” for users. The New York Times previewed the console in 1994, saying it would “totally immerse players into their own private universe.”  Sounds pretty cool, right? Unfortunately it didn’t live up to the hype. Gunpei Yokoi, creator of Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld system (which sold 118 million units over its lifespan) was tasked with bringing Virtual Boy to life, so he began experimenting with the technology Nintendo had licensed to create the 3D experience. While he touted the tech as a game-changer, he also realized that it would be prohibitively expensive (in the neighborhood of $500) to feature a full color LCD display system in the console. The result was a still-expensive (for the time) $149 gaming system with a red-only 3D visual display that, to be kind, was less than fulfilling. To put it bluntly: it irritated users. Some even complained of… Read More

As I discussed yesterday, the U.S. economy continues to show surprising signs of strength and resilience. Job growth, consumer spending and manufacturing production are on the rise six years into a recovery. And for the markets, it’s significant that confidence in the U.S. economy seems to be rebounding from the gloomy mood early this year. What does this mean for your portfolio? #-ad_banner-#In general, the overall U.S. stock markets should perform well when the economy is growing and inflation and interest rates are historically low. But the devil is in the details. Defensive stocks, like electric utilities and blue chip… Read More

As I discussed yesterday, the U.S. economy continues to show surprising signs of strength and resilience. Job growth, consumer spending and manufacturing production are on the rise six years into a recovery. And for the markets, it’s significant that confidence in the U.S. economy seems to be rebounding from the gloomy mood early this year. What does this mean for your portfolio? #-ad_banner-#In general, the overall U.S. stock markets should perform well when the economy is growing and inflation and interest rates are historically low. But the devil is in the details. Defensive stocks, like electric utilities and blue chip stocks with above-average dividend yields, tend to underperform in such a climate. Yet global investors remain anxious about China, Europe and other economies outside our shores — so safe haven stocks may do just fine. Still, the best performers should be those in areas that thrive when Americans are employed and have extra money in their pockets. And some specific industries could benefit from trends impacting them regardless of the wider economic scenario. Here are the sectors most likely to outperform over the next 12 months: Consumer Discretionary: By definition, companies in the consumer discretionary space sell goods and services… Read More

Understanding this one catalyst could dramatically change where and how you invest… #-ad_banner-#Right now, it’s the foundation of the largest transfer of wealth in our history — more money will change hands over the coming years from this trend than the annual sales of Wal-Mart (Nasdaq: WMT), Kroger (NYSE: KR), Costco (Nasdaq: COST), Target (NYSE: TGT) and Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) combined. It’s revolutionized entire industries, created new markets and saved entire corporations. Take the baby food industry for example. In the early 40’s and 50’s this very catalyst helped launch a relatively unknown… Read More

Understanding this one catalyst could dramatically change where and how you invest… #-ad_banner-#Right now, it’s the foundation of the largest transfer of wealth in our history — more money will change hands over the coming years from this trend than the annual sales of Wal-Mart (Nasdaq: WMT), Kroger (NYSE: KR), Costco (Nasdaq: COST), Target (NYSE: TGT) and Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) combined. It’s revolutionized entire industries, created new markets and saved entire corporations. Take the baby food industry for example. In the early 40’s and 50’s this very catalyst helped launch a relatively unknown company — called the Freemont Canning Company — into a global icon. The company — now better known as Gerber — went from selling just 590,000 jars of baby food per year to nearly two million jars per day. By 1955, when Gerber’s sales swelled to 1.8 billion jars of baby food per year, it sold more jars of baby food in one year than in the company’s first 18 years combined. Toy maker Hasbro (Nasdaq: HAS) was next in line. In 1952, the company invented “Mr. Potato Head” — a plastic toy that… Read More

In an unexpected bidding war for Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT), Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) came out on top against China’s Anbang Insurance Group with a deal worth $13.6 billion. The deal was months in the making. Marriott first put in its bid back in November 2015. But in mid-March, out of the blue, a Chinese consortium led by Anbang slipped in a bid of its own. And it was a whopper. #-ad_banner-#The consortium’s proposal equaled a value of $83.67 per share, heads and shoulders above the Marriott bid, valued at $71.00 per share. Suddenly, Marriott was sent… Read More

In an unexpected bidding war for Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT), Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) came out on top against China’s Anbang Insurance Group with a deal worth $13.6 billion. The deal was months in the making. Marriott first put in its bid back in November 2015. But in mid-March, out of the blue, a Chinese consortium led by Anbang slipped in a bid of its own. And it was a whopper. #-ad_banner-#The consortium’s proposal equaled a value of $83.67 per share, heads and shoulders above the Marriott bid, valued at $71.00 per share. Suddenly, Marriott was sent scrambling to hold on to what could be a great growth opportunity. Starwood owns such well-known brands as Weston and Sheraton. As of the end of 2015, the company owned or managed 1,282 hotels and 15 vacation resort properties in over 100 countries. Interestingly, on March 19, Starwood signed three hotel deals in Cuba, making it the first U.S.-based hospitality company to enter the market in nearly 60 years. Marriott, on the other hand, is nearly three times Starwood’s size, with more than 4,400 properties across 87 countries. The tie-up with Starwood will give Marriott access to more countries. The… Read More

Investors have been fickle this year. Before the New Year’s confetti had even settled, the market was in full-blown retreat, with recession-resistant safe havens holding up well and economically sensitive cyclicals bearing the brunt of the correction. Commodity stocks, for example, were clobbered. But since mid-February, market sentiment has shifted markedly toward sectors that would benefit from continued U.S. economic growth; commodities have rallied, too — a sign that investors now believe the gloomy forecasts of winter were overdone and spring may bring a rosier economic climate. For U.S. stocks, the shift toward growth was aided by attractive valuations for… Read More

Investors have been fickle this year. Before the New Year’s confetti had even settled, the market was in full-blown retreat, with recession-resistant safe havens holding up well and economically sensitive cyclicals bearing the brunt of the correction. Commodity stocks, for example, were clobbered. But since mid-February, market sentiment has shifted markedly toward sectors that would benefit from continued U.S. economic growth; commodities have rallied, too — a sign that investors now believe the gloomy forecasts of winter were overdone and spring may bring a rosier economic climate. For U.S. stocks, the shift toward growth was aided by attractive valuations for many fine companies unfairly caught up in the selloff. In many cases, those stocks are no longer cheap. But a careful perusal of the growth-stock catalog reveals that some excellent companies still trade at prices that make for attractive entry points. #-ad_banner-#One is Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK), which I recommended in early February. The stock is up about 14% since then, and not quite as cheap, but its valuation remains low enough to merit a buy for long-term investors. Rockwell Automation remains a beneficiary of the strong growth of the global robotics market. Robots now perform about 10% of all… Read More