Tag Archives: great
Skechers Ain’t That Great for Your Body, FTC Finds
Remember a few years back when so-called toning shoes were all the fashion fitness rage? All sorts of brands came out with sneakers and flip flops that made some highly dubious claims about the weight loss and shaping results of its shoes simply by stepping foot in them. Well now customers who bought into one company’s sketchy product line are getting a refund. In a settlement finalized today with the Federal Trade Commission and 42 states with class action lawsuits Skechers (SKX) will pay out $ 40 million to consumers who purchased its Shape-ups Tone-ups Toners and Resistance Runner …
Minyanville – Daily Feed
This Ignored Emerging Market Looks like a Great Value Right Now
I'll confess. I'm not a huge fan of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). I can fully appreciate what they offer, but there's just not enough upside with them most of the time.
See, though diversification is usually the goal, more often than not, ETFs are so diversified that mediocre, watered-down returns are about all you can get. More than that, if you ever take a closer look at the comparative performance of most ETFs, then you may be surprised to find that most of them show a strong correlation to the market's overall performance.
In other words, what's the point? Why not just buy an S&P 500 index fund and forget about it?
Every now and then, however, a real opportunity arises with an ETF.
Let me explain…
6 ways to get a great mortgage deal
Finding an affordable house is no longer a problem but qualifying for a mortgage can be. Six tips to getting a mortgage and a good rate.
Personal finance advice, ideas – Money Magazine
How to Say “Thank You” to a Pastor: 20 Great Ways
If someone were to ask what is the toughest job in the world, what answer would you give them? Right away, one can find several of the most common answers that we would think of. Firefighter, police officer, crab fisherman (thank you, “Deadliest Catch”), or oil rig worker, for instance, tops the list.
The Toughest Vocation of All
What if I suggested a vocation that may be as tough – if not tougher – than the list above? The job that I’m referring to is that of a pastor.
Really, a pastor? Absolutely! I would imagine that after making such a bold assertion, the average reaction that I would get might be scoffing, and possibly even laughter. However, this is one profession that is just as tough and as messy as the jobs listed above, and the number one reason why is because it involves dealing with the toughest, yet most priceless, product of all: people.
(Related: What vocation are you interested in? Here are some jobs of the future.)
The ONE Thing that Could Ruin a Great Investment
It's always intriguing to look at the list of the most heavily-shorted stocks. Many investors like to see which companies are expected to tumble by various short-interest gauges. Owning these stocks long-term can give pause, and perhaps a reason to sell if short sellers' arguments appear to be on the mark. Other investors use the list of the most heavily-shorted stocks to find short candidates themselves. And that's a huge mistake. That's because the most-heavily shorted stocks are often the biggest gainers when major events come to pass.
We've seen this phenomenon again in recent days. On Tuesday morning, April 10, distressed grocery chain Supervalu (NYSE: SVU) weighed-in with quarterly results. They were pretty bad, but perhaps not as bad as the most aggressive short-sellers assumed. These short sellers had been holding 73 million shares in short accounts, making this the fourth most-shorted stock on the New York Stock Exchange. That short interest equated to an eye-popping 14 days' worth of trading volume.
Simply delivering bad but not horrible earnings led investors to embark on massive short-covering. By the end of trading on Thursday, shares had risen a hefty 23%. Some of that upward spike surely came from short-sellers covering their position by buying back borrowed stock. Roughly 10 million shares traded hands daily going into the quarterly report, though that figure spiked to 38 million on the day results were released.
Later that day, Alcoa (NYSE: AA) weighed in with results that were better than analysts had forecasted. As the fifth most heavily-shorted stock on the market, it should come as no surprise that shares quickly zoomed higher and are now up nearly 10% in the last few trading sessions.
The key takeaway: it might be wiser to see if heavily-shorted stocks have more upside than the short-sellers might think. If so, those shorts may unwittingly force shares up for you with all of their buying efforts as they cover positions.
The Frugal Investor’s Guide to Finding Great Stocks
The Frugal Investor’s Guide to Finding Great Stocks
Beginner investors often don’t know how to get started. But in just 11 easy steps, “The Frugal Investor’s Guide” will help you identify great stocks to buy and get started investing your retirement funds profitably and safely. Best of all, the tools and resources outlined in this book are 100% FREE!
This “how to invest” handbook is complete with illustrations for various stock research websites in order to help you figure out how to analyze stocks and sort through information efficien
This Safe Dividend Stock is up 13,000% and is STILL a Great Investment Today
It’s one of the few companies potentially worth holding forever…
Daily Trade Alert
4 Reasons Why these Unique Income Stocks are a Great Deal Right now…
In 2011, the large health care and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) generated $ 13.9 billion in free cash flow and maintained its "AAA" credit rating.
The drug maker Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) had more than $ 29 billion of cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet as of October 2011.
The tech giant Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) had roughly $ 30 billion of cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet as of November 2011. In October 2011, computer company Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) was sitting on more than $ 13 billion of cash on its books.
Do I want to invest in these cash-rich companies?
Not particularly.
These large and mature bellwethers have to work hard to provide enough growth each year to budge their bottom lines. That's one reason they buy so many young, small companies that are at the beginning of their growth-spurts.
For instance, in the past few years, Johnson & Johnson bought a number of small, fast-growing companies, such as Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Tibotec-Virco NV and Acclarent.
Meanwhile, Pfizer scooped up BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corp., FodRX Pharmaceuticals and Excaliard Pharmaceuticals. Oracle acquired Ksplice, Eneca Technologies and Sleepycat Software. And Dell picked up Ocarina Networks, Boomi and Force10 Networks.
All of this leads me to ask: Why should I buy slower-growing mega-companies if I can buy what they are buying?
There's a hitch of course. All of the small companies I listed above were privately-held companies — not publicly-traded on a stock exchange. But there is a workaround.
I may not be able to directly buy into small, privately-held companies — but I can invest in a company that does.
Business-development companies (BDCs) loan money to private companies. In return, BDCs get back interest and — in many cases — an equity stake in the companies they loan to. If one of the companies in its portfolio is acquired or goes public, then the BDC gets a piece of the action. By law, BDCs must distribute 90% of their earnings to shareholders. As a result, BDC's have very rich dividend yields.
There are a number of reasons I like BDCs right now:
1. The hunt for yield
The Federal Reserve intends to keep its interest rates near zero, potentially through 2014. This policy has resulted in record low interest rates on Treasuries. Investors dependent on income aren't finding much to love about a five-year Treasury yield of 0.7%. As a result, income investors are scrambling for better-yielding securities, increasing the demand for real-estate investment trusts (REITs) and BDCs.
2. Strong merger and acquisition environment
In 2011, there were 10,241 merger and acquisition deals in the United States, worth a total of $ 1.03 trillion, up 15% from 2010. More than $ 219 billion of activity was generated by technology-related mergers, an increase of 17% compared with 2010.
One of the Most Hated Stocks in America is a GREAT Deal
Insurance giant American International Group (NYSE: AIG), or AIG for short, has had a tumultuous few years, to say the least. Right now, a handful of investors literally hate the stock and refuse to buy it.
That's their loss…
As counterintuitive as it sounds, emotionally-charged negativity toward certain stocks can be an extremely bullish indicator. It follows the old "buy them when they're hated" mantra. And it's made smart investors money time and time again.
Anyone interested in learning the details behind AIG's spectacular fall from grace to take an estimated $ 182 billion government bailout should definitely read Roddy Boyd's Fatal Risk: A Cautionary Tale of AIG's Corporate Suicide. Boyd's book is a fascinating read that details the divisions that got caught up in credit-default swaps, mortgage insurance and nearly everything that became toxic during the credit debacle. I was able to speak with Roddy recently about his research efforts and have come away convinced that there is considerable value in AIG's stock.
I won't go into many details about AIG's past. As with all successful investing, it's not recapping the past, but rather discerning the future that is important for making money.
