So far 2014 has been the year of IPOs. According to Renaissance Capital, “In terms of proceeds, 2014 is now the biggest year for the IPO market since 2000, when 406 companies raised $97 billion.” To give you an idea of just how big this year has been, look at the Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) IPO from last month. On September 19th, Alibaba broke records, raising $25 billion — making it the largest IPO in history. So with the world’s biggest… Read More

So far 2014 has been the year of IPOs. According to Renaissance Capital, “In terms of proceeds, 2014 is now the biggest year for the IPO market since 2000, when 406 companies raised $97 billion.” To give you an idea of just how big this year has been, look at the Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) IPO from last month. On September 19th, Alibaba broke records, raising $25 billion — making it the largest IPO in history. So with the world’s biggest IPO last month and the most IPO activity in dollar terms since the tech boom, many investors may be wondering, “should I buy into the next hot IPO?” #-ad_banner-#​No. Put simply, investing in IPOs is a loser’s game. Whenever a hot IPO is being pushed onto the public, I generally don’t partake, because typically the money has already been made. Let me explain… First, a quick rundown on what it takes for a company to go public. Most companies looking to go public bring in underwriters to help navigate… Read More

It could be one of the greatest innovations to come out of the financial crisis, and it’s gaining ground in almost every aspect of our lives — from transportation and hospitality to financial transactions. I’m talking about the “sharing economy.” #-ad_banner-#Companies like Airbnb, Uber, Lyft and Kickstarter are the major household names in this burgeoning space, but there’s one peer-to-peer company that could disrupt the very way we borrow money. In fact, my colleague Andy Obermueller of Game-Changing Stocks calls it “The Next Big Thing in Finance.” But… Read More

It could be one of the greatest innovations to come out of the financial crisis, and it’s gaining ground in almost every aspect of our lives — from transportation and hospitality to financial transactions. I’m talking about the “sharing economy.” #-ad_banner-#Companies like Airbnb, Uber, Lyft and Kickstarter are the major household names in this burgeoning space, but there’s one peer-to-peer company that could disrupt the very way we borrow money. In fact, my colleague Andy Obermueller of Game-Changing Stocks calls it “The Next Big Thing in Finance.” But before I get to it, I want to share a little history about the company, because it’s something everyone can relate to. The fight against credit cards It all started in 2006 when an infuriated Renaud Laplanche opened his credit card statement and noticed his 16.99% interest rate was astronomical in comparison to the measly 0.48% interest rate he earned from his savings account at the same bank. How could there be such an extreme difference between the two rates? Was the current banking system really the most efficient way for… Read More

On March 11, 2011, a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake erupted about 45 miles east of the Japanese coast. The earthquake let loose a huge tsunami that struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and caused a reactor meltdown. This was the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl incident and caused bitter backlash against the nuclear power industry around the world. Japan immediately shut down its remaining nuclear plants and Germany followed suit. Both countries vowed to be nuclear free by 2030 and 2022, respectively. Was this the end to atomic energy?… Read More

On March 11, 2011, a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake erupted about 45 miles east of the Japanese coast. The earthquake let loose a huge tsunami that struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and caused a reactor meltdown. This was the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl incident and caused bitter backlash against the nuclear power industry around the world. Japan immediately shut down its remaining nuclear plants and Germany followed suit. Both countries vowed to be nuclear free by 2030 and 2022, respectively. Was this the end to atomic energy? As you can see from the chart below, major uranium producer Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) plummeted on the news:   But here’s where the story gets interesting… The Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan — an event that singlehandedly sparked a 50% plunge in uranium prices and raised speculation about the “end of atomic energy” — has actually had no impact whatsoever on global uranium demand. You see, most of Japan’s nuclear fuel is purchased under long-term supply agreements. Uranium fuel is thus delivered regularly to utilities there. Here’s… Read More

A couple weeks ago in StreetAuthority Daily, we talked about some of Corporate America’s latest financial engineering involving a frenzy of share buybacks. #-ad_banner-#​The basic story: many companies are taking advantage of historically low interest rates to borrow money and then in turn use it to buy back shares of their own stock. But that’s not the only financial engineering that’s been going on lately… In fact, this other trick that Corporate America is employing has been a hot-debate on Capitol Hill. You may have heard it in the headlines recently. It’s called “corporate… Read More

A couple weeks ago in StreetAuthority Daily, we talked about some of Corporate America’s latest financial engineering involving a frenzy of share buybacks. #-ad_banner-#​The basic story: many companies are taking advantage of historically low interest rates to borrow money and then in turn use it to buy back shares of their own stock. But that’s not the only financial engineering that’s been going on lately… In fact, this other trick that Corporate America is employing has been a hot-debate on Capitol Hill. You may have heard it in the headlines recently. It’s called “corporate inversion” or “tax inversion.” But what you haven’t heard is how it’s led to triple-digit gains for investors in the past. Our resident expert in international investing and Chief Investment Strategist of High-Yield International, Mike Vodicka, recently gave a great explanation of what an inversion is: Corporate taxes are gaining renewed attention because of a (formerly) little-known tax strategy called a tax inversion. Tax inversion occurs when a company headquartered in the United States purchases an international competitor in a country with a lower corporate tax rate. It then relocates its corporate headquarters to that… Read More

Any time Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) stages an event, it makes news. These events are always surrounded with speculation on what Apple will reveal. Will it be an iWatch, new iOS, a newer, bigger, faster iPhone? All eyes are focused what the company’s next hit product could be. #-ad_banner-#Apple’s highly-anticipated event yesterday morning was no different. This time around, Apple unveiled the iPhone 6, which will have a bevy of new and improved features, such as a larger iPhone, a sapphire crystal screen and a faster more efficient A8 chip. I can’t tell with absolute certainty what will happen to Apple’s… Read More

Any time Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) stages an event, it makes news. These events are always surrounded with speculation on what Apple will reveal. Will it be an iWatch, new iOS, a newer, bigger, faster iPhone? All eyes are focused what the company’s next hit product could be. #-ad_banner-#Apple’s highly-anticipated event yesterday morning was no different. This time around, Apple unveiled the iPhone 6, which will have a bevy of new and improved features, such as a larger iPhone, a sapphire crystal screen and a faster more efficient A8 chip. I can’t tell with absolute certainty what will happen to Apple’s share price in light of the new iPhone. But in the days following the announcement, I can guarantee there will be constant chatter from every corner of the Earth analyzing the implications of Apple’s latest product launch. While all analysts will have their opinions, there’s something in particular that we will be watching for as CEO Tim Cook reveals Apple’s latest product offering… I’m talking about a new technology that could be featured in the new iPhone that has only recently started to surface. A technology that our own expert, Andy Obermueller of Game-Changing Stocks, predicted would come out for… Read More

Today, I’m going to tell you an unpleasant truth… The vast majority of investors won’t make much in their personal brokerage accounts this year… or next. Now this might make you angry. But don’t take my word for it, just look at a recent study done by investment-management giant BlackRock. Its study illustrates that the average investor does poorly when compared to the growth of other asset classes like stocks, bonds and oil. in fact, as you can see in the chart below, the average investor earns just 2.1% — below… Read More

Today, I’m going to tell you an unpleasant truth… The vast majority of investors won’t make much in their personal brokerage accounts this year… or next. Now this might make you angry. But don’t take my word for it, just look at a recent study done by investment-management giant BlackRock. Its study illustrates that the average investor does poorly when compared to the growth of other asset classes like stocks, bonds and oil. in fact, as you can see in the chart below, the average investor earns just 2.1% — below even the rate of inflation. I didn’t bring this up to poke fun. I want to point this out because the sooner we acknowledge that the individual investor generally fares poorly in stocks, the sooner we can begin to examine why and then take action to avoid some of the common mistakes made by most investors. For starters, let’s acknowledge a not-so-secret truth about the average investor — very few know anything about how to value a security. Most of the research or tips individual investors get come from either A.) Friends, family members or… Read More

Last month, we told you about our colleague Andy Obermueller’s fascinating research into pandemics. We mentioned that while the most recent Ebola outbreak is no cause for major alarm, investors would be wise to learn more about the companies and government agencies working to develop groundbreaking vaccines and drugs to combat the world’s next terrifying, unseen threat. Since first being discovered in 1976, this recent outbreak of Ebola has been the most deadly. According to the World Health Organization, as of Thursday, it has infected 3,685 people in West Africa and killed an astonishing 1,841. This deadly strain… Read More

Last month, we told you about our colleague Andy Obermueller’s fascinating research into pandemics. We mentioned that while the most recent Ebola outbreak is no cause for major alarm, investors would be wise to learn more about the companies and government agencies working to develop groundbreaking vaccines and drugs to combat the world’s next terrifying, unseen threat. Since first being discovered in 1976, this recent outbreak of Ebola has been the most deadly. According to the World Health Organization, as of Thursday, it has infected 3,685 people in West Africa and killed an astonishing 1,841. This deadly strain of Ebola has a 60 percent fatality rate. To put that in perspective, the 1918 flu pandemic had a fatality rate between 10-20 percent… and it still killed over 50 million people. #-ad_banner-#​As we said back in our original write-up, we don’t think this current outbreak will get anywhere near that point. That’s partly because the virus is so deadly and the fact that it’s actually quite difficult to contract. But another reason is because there is hope for a successful treatment…More than a decade ago the U.S. Army began research to develop treatments… Read More

Let me start off today’s issue with a warning… We’re not trying to sound alarmist. It does absolutely zero good if you walk away from today’s essay with a “the sky is falling” mentality. We certainly don’t think that, and neither should you. #-ad_banner-#That being said, we’ve been spending a lot of time around the office thinking about a topic that has dominated headlines recently — one that our own Andy Obermueller has been spot-on with his analysis since Day 1. I’m talking about pandemics. Now, again, I want to be perfectly clear that we’re not saying some sort of… Read More

Let me start off today’s issue with a warning… We’re not trying to sound alarmist. It does absolutely zero good if you walk away from today’s essay with a “the sky is falling” mentality. We certainly don’t think that, and neither should you. #-ad_banner-#That being said, we’ve been spending a lot of time around the office thinking about a topic that has dominated headlines recently — one that our own Andy Obermueller has been spot-on with his analysis since Day 1. I’m talking about pandemics. Now, again, I want to be perfectly clear that we’re not saying some sort of global pandemic is imminent. But if you’ve paid any attention to the news regarding the Ebola outbreaks in Africa, you know that the next potential outbreak of some kind is always around the corner. Since first being discovered in 1976, this recent outbreak of Ebola has been the most deadly. According to the World Health Organization, as of Thursday, it has infected 2,473 people in West Africa and killed an astonishing 1,350. This deadly strain of Ebola has a 60 percent fatality rate. To put that in perspective, the 1918 flu pandemic had a fatality rate between 10-20 percent… and… Read More

The year was 1992 and young Jan Koum had nothing… He was 16 years old and, with his mother and grandmother, had just left their native country of Ukraine to move to California. They made ends meet with the assistance of food-stamps and a grueling work schedule of cleaning and babysitting. It wasn’t exactly the lifestyle of the rich and famous that he probably witnessed on American TV. But today, Koum’s net worth exceeds $6 billion. #-ad_banner-#Many of you are probably more familiar with the acquisition of the mobile-messaging company Koum founded, WhatsApp, than you are with Koum himself. Thanks to… Read More

The year was 1992 and young Jan Koum had nothing… He was 16 years old and, with his mother and grandmother, had just left their native country of Ukraine to move to California. They made ends meet with the assistance of food-stamps and a grueling work schedule of cleaning and babysitting. It wasn’t exactly the lifestyle of the rich and famous that he probably witnessed on American TV. But today, Koum’s net worth exceeds $6 billion. #-ad_banner-#Many of you are probably more familiar with the acquisition of the mobile-messaging company Koum founded, WhatsApp, than you are with Koum himself. Thanks to the $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) in February, Jan Koum achieved the American Dream. It’s a lot easier said than done to build a company from scratch like Koum did and sell it for millions or billions of dollars. And Mr. Koum isn’t the first person to strike it rich when his company was acquired by a larger company. Nor will he be the last. The acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook was just one of the many merger & acquisitions (M&A) stories that have bombarded the headlines recently. M&A have been heating up… You might recall… Read More

It was the turn of the millennium when I boarded a train headed to a place that had just become its own country seven years before. I would be spending Y2K in the U.S. embassy overlooking the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. #-ad_banner-#The country was young and not well known, but its growth potential would turn out to be tremendous.  I spent time touring the incredible city. I walked over the Charles Bridge — the most important connection to Prague Castle and the city’s old town — and admired its architecture and history.  The most impressive thing was… Read More

It was the turn of the millennium when I boarded a train headed to a place that had just become its own country seven years before. I would be spending Y2K in the U.S. embassy overlooking the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. #-ad_banner-#The country was young and not well known, but its growth potential would turn out to be tremendous.  I spent time touring the incredible city. I walked over the Charles Bridge — the most important connection to Prague Castle and the city’s old town — and admired its architecture and history.  The most impressive thing was the surprising lack of tourists. It was like I had the city all to myself. Most people still called it Czechoslovakia. At the time, Prague was Eastern Europe’s hidden gem.  Fast-forward six years to when I returned… and it was a completely different city. The Charles Bridge was completely packed, the line to enter Prague Castle was a 30-minute wait, and the locals now spoke German and English on top of their native tongue. Prague was no longer Eastern Europe’s secret. It had developed into a vibrant city booming with people from all over the world. The Czech Republic had… Read More