Ask any investment advisor, and they’ll tell you that long-term gains trump short-term winnings every day of the week. Big name hedge fund managers like Buffett and Icahn have gained popularity due to their long tenures in the game and envious rates of return. #-ad_banner-#Louis Navellier is a multi-billion dollar asset manager who is a member of those ranks, carving out a niche in growth investing and earning a name for himself through decades of successful stock picking. His performance has earned him a treasure trove of accolades and support.  Even Steve Forbes has recognized the manager’s career, saying Navellier… Read More

Ask any investment advisor, and they’ll tell you that long-term gains trump short-term winnings every day of the week. Big name hedge fund managers like Buffett and Icahn have gained popularity due to their long tenures in the game and envious rates of return. #-ad_banner-#Louis Navellier is a multi-billion dollar asset manager who is a member of those ranks, carving out a niche in growth investing and earning a name for himself through decades of successful stock picking. His performance has earned him a treasure trove of accolades and support.  Even Steve Forbes has recognized the manager’s career, saying Navellier “has had a most enviable long-term investment record.” The de facto growth guru publishes his long stock picks every quarter in a 13F filing as required by the SEC.  This quarter, he’s submitted those picks a month in advance, giving us a fresh look as to what his portfolio looks like without the typical 45-day delay. Navellier sunk a quarter of a billion dollars into four new stocks in Q3 of this year.  However, the four fit within the narrative of a market finally flipping over (which I covered in detail recently), while still keeping some growth stock traits. Tailoring… Read More

Although material or worker shortages can really crimp the growth for companies and even entire industries, they can also present big opportunities. Take the ongoing shortage of skilled drivers who can handle big rigs and other heavy-duty vehicles. As recently reported by the Business Insider, the United States is short 30,000 truck drivers because of increasing regulation, somewhat stingy pay, loss of qualified drivers during the recession and a lack of interest in truck driving among young people. #-ad_banner-#And it looks like the situation could get quite a bit worse, with the truck driver shortfall projected to rise nearly eightfold… Read More

Although material or worker shortages can really crimp the growth for companies and even entire industries, they can also present big opportunities. Take the ongoing shortage of skilled drivers who can handle big rigs and other heavy-duty vehicles. As recently reported by the Business Insider, the United States is short 30,000 truck drivers because of increasing regulation, somewhat stingy pay, loss of qualified drivers during the recession and a lack of interest in truck driving among young people. #-ad_banner-#And it looks like the situation could get quite a bit worse, with the truck driver shortfall projected to rise nearly eightfold to 239,000 by 2022. Since truck driving is a high-turnover profession, the trucking industry will need about 100,000 new drivers a year for the next decade to close the gap, according to the American Trucking Associations. It’s a serious issue, causing supply chain disruption, lost revenues and poorer performance in a number of industries like dairy, agriculture and consumer goods in addition to the trucking industry itself. And that’s not good for the economy. But it is good for a company that can help solve the problem. Now, this firm’s not in recruiting and staffing, so it won’t be attracting… Read More

Mark Twain understood the mind of an investor. The world-renowned author once proclaimed: “A dollar picked up in the road is more satisfaction to us than the 99 which we had to work for, and the money won in the stock market snuggles into our hearts in the same way.” #-ad_banner-#Twain acknowledged the rush that can accompany earning money without any labor. He understood that the human brain is not wired for clear thinking in regard to money. That’s because the area of the brain that responds to financial reward is the same part that lights up from cocaine. This… Read More

Mark Twain understood the mind of an investor. The world-renowned author once proclaimed: “A dollar picked up in the road is more satisfaction to us than the 99 which we had to work for, and the money won in the stock market snuggles into our hearts in the same way.” #-ad_banner-#Twain acknowledged the rush that can accompany earning money without any labor. He understood that the human brain is not wired for clear thinking in regard to money. That’s because the area of the brain that responds to financial reward is the same part that lights up from cocaine. This presents a major problem. Investors become insatiable, searching high and low for the next “big winners.” What they’re really interested in is a get-rich-quick scheme. That’s a terrific way to lose money — and quickly. However, if you are a regular reader of my Game-Changing Stocks newsletter, then you know that I have been making the habit of finding stocks with the most “big winner” potential into a science for a while. Take electric car maker Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) for example. On Dec. 20, 2010, I first profiled and recommended the company to my readers. Since then, it has become… Read More

Retirement is supposed to be a relaxing reward for decades of hard work and responsible saving. Unfortunately the reality is that too many either cannot afford to retire or cannot relax as they see the rising cost of healthcare eat away at their nest egg. #-ad_banner-#The growing cost of aging does not appear to be getting any easier. Healthcare inflation is among the highest across all groups of goods and services at an average rate of 3.4% over the last 10 years, against an average 2.3% rate of inflation in consumer prices. The… Read More

Retirement is supposed to be a relaxing reward for decades of hard work and responsible saving. Unfortunately the reality is that too many either cannot afford to retire or cannot relax as they see the rising cost of healthcare eat away at their nest egg. #-ad_banner-#The growing cost of aging does not appear to be getting any easier. Healthcare inflation is among the highest across all groups of goods and services at an average rate of 3.4% over the last 10 years, against an average 2.3% rate of inflation in consumer prices. The graph below shows inflation in healthcare costs and the difference between healthcare inflation and the increase across all consumer prices. In only two of the last twenty years have healthcare costs not increased faster than general inflation. And when that happened, costs jumped the following years. Not only do healthcare costs grow faster than other costs, but people over 65 years old pay a disproportionate amount of their income to healthcare — an average of $5,069 a year in healthcare costs, 12.2% of their total spending and well above the 7.1% spent by all others. Fortunately for investors looking… Read More

It was a good party while it lasted. Investors were swept up in “Macau fever,” bidding up any and all investments that profited from the Chinese protectorate’s newfound status as the Las Vegas of Asia.  And few had it as good as Melco Crown Entertainment (NASDAQ: MPEL). The company opened a series of casino gaming and entertainment resorts and saw revenue surge from around $360 million in 2007 to more than $5 billion last year.  I first looked at the company in 2010. Shares surged nearly 1,000% from then to their all-time highs in March. But since then, shares have plunged… Read More

It was a good party while it lasted. Investors were swept up in “Macau fever,” bidding up any and all investments that profited from the Chinese protectorate’s newfound status as the Las Vegas of Asia.  And few had it as good as Melco Crown Entertainment (NASDAQ: MPEL). The company opened a series of casino gaming and entertainment resorts and saw revenue surge from around $360 million in 2007 to more than $5 billion last year.  I first looked at the company in 2010. Shares surged nearly 1,000% from then to their all-time highs in March. But since then, shares have plunged 44%, giving us a perfect buying opportunity. The pullback was a result of a slowdown in gambling revenues. Chinese citizens, especially high-rollers, have ben tacitly discouraged from being big spenders while the government cracks down on corruption. #-ad_banner-#Make no mistake, Macau’s long-term future remains bright. China continues to mint new millionaires every year, and Macau — as a lure for both gambling and entertainment — is a heck of a lot closer for them than Las Vegas. The casino titan is also expanding its empire across Asia. Melco is ready to launch its first casino in… Read More

As the market steadily advanced to fresh highs earlier this year, some investors grew queasy. Global tensions, the Fed’s imminent end to its bond buying program and valuations that seemed stretched led many investors to move to the sidelines, boosting the percent of their portfolio tied up in cash. #-ad_banner-#For those investors, holding cash now looks quite prescient. Not only did a high cash position enable them to sideswipe losses in small caps, energy stocks and other recent slumping asset classes, but it also gave them the liquidity to snap up stocks that are clearly oversold (something fully-invested investors simply… Read More

As the market steadily advanced to fresh highs earlier this year, some investors grew queasy. Global tensions, the Fed’s imminent end to its bond buying program and valuations that seemed stretched led many investors to move to the sidelines, boosting the percent of their portfolio tied up in cash. #-ad_banner-#For those investors, holding cash now looks quite prescient. Not only did a high cash position enable them to sideswipe losses in small caps, energy stocks and other recent slumping asset classes, but it also gave them the liquidity to snap up stocks that are clearly oversold (something fully-invested investors simply can’t do). If you have built up cash and are now looking to profit from the sharp drop seen in many stocks, then here are three stocks on my radar, all of which possess at least 100% potential upside. Synergy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGYP) This is an intriguing biotech with a big problem on its hands. It is developing a new drug, plecanatide, which is showing impressive efficacy of treatment for irritable bowel syndrome in clinical trials. A rival, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IRWD) already has a competing drug on the market, helping the company garner a $1.8 billion market… Read More

Since my first column for StreetAuthority nearly five years ago, I have repeatedly extolled the virtues of a favorite value gauge: Free cash flow — the cash that’s left over after some profits have been diverted to capital spending. Robust free cash flow can be a boon for investors. Often, they’re used to increase dividends, buy back shares and reduce debt load. When these three strategies are used effectively, they make for a powerful trifecta that has a demonstrated history of beating the market over time. In fact, they’re so powerful that they form the basis of our premium newsletter,… Read More

Since my first column for StreetAuthority nearly five years ago, I have repeatedly extolled the virtues of a favorite value gauge: Free cash flow — the cash that’s left over after some profits have been diverted to capital spending. Robust free cash flow can be a boon for investors. Often, they’re used to increase dividends, buy back shares and reduce debt load. When these three strategies are used effectively, they make for a powerful trifecta that has a demonstrated history of beating the market over time. In fact, they’re so powerful that they form the basis of our premium newsletter, Total Yield. #-ad_banner-#As it turns out, some value investing adherents prefer a slightly different take on this approach. They prefer to see how much earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, a company produces in relation to its enterprise value, or EV — market value plus debt, minus cash. These value investors point to a study showing that “If all you did was buy the 10% of stocks with the cheapest EBITDA/EV ratios on an annual basis, you’d have outperformed the market by more than 5% annually over the… Read More

The blue-chip Dow industrials were hit hard by the emotional selling that rocked the market in the past month. From its all-time high on Sept. 19 to its Oct. 15 low, the index gave up almost 1,500 points. It regained about half of those losses in less than a week, before giving back some of the gains in Wednesday’s sell-off. Year to date, the Dow is flat, and more than half of its 30 components are in the red, including American Express (NYSE: AXP). Shares of the credit card company are off 7.5% so far in 2014 and down 10%… Read More

The blue-chip Dow industrials were hit hard by the emotional selling that rocked the market in the past month. From its all-time high on Sept. 19 to its Oct. 15 low, the index gave up almost 1,500 points. It regained about half of those losses in less than a week, before giving back some of the gains in Wednesday’s sell-off. Year to date, the Dow is flat, and more than half of its 30 components are in the red, including American Express (NYSE: AXP). Shares of the credit card company are off 7.5% so far in 2014 and down 10% in the past three months.  The stock bounced from its lows last week after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings thanks to higher spending by its U.S. cardholders and an increase in interest income. AXP has largely traded between $78 and $94 for the past year. A move above midpoint resistance at $86 targets a run back to the channel top. The $94 target is about 12% higher than recent prices, but traders who use a capital-preserving, stock substitution strategy could make more than 80% on a move to that level. #-ad_banner-#​… Read More

It’s been a great year for any lawyer or banker working in the field of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The sheer volume of deals taking place this year has been stunning. Consider just one stat: In 2013, there was only one deal announced in excess of $25 billion (Verizon Communications Inc.’s (NYSE: VZ) move to regain the half of Verizon Wireless it did not own). Thus far in 2014, six deals worth $25 billion or more have been announced (not counting AbbVie’s (Nasdaq: ABBV) deal for Shire (Nasdaq: SHPGY), which was terminated on Monday). #-ad_banner-#Below those… Read More

It’s been a great year for any lawyer or banker working in the field of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The sheer volume of deals taking place this year has been stunning. Consider just one stat: In 2013, there was only one deal announced in excess of $25 billion (Verizon Communications Inc.’s (NYSE: VZ) move to regain the half of Verizon Wireless it did not own). Thus far in 2014, six deals worth $25 billion or more have been announced (not counting AbbVie’s (Nasdaq: ABBV) deal for Shire (Nasdaq: SHPGY), which was terminated on Monday). #-ad_banner-#Below those mega-deals, dozens more billion-dollar transactions have been announced. One that caught my eye: Germany’s Siemens plans to acquire Dresser-Rand Group, Inc. (NYSE: DRC) for $7.6 billion. Dresser-Rand makes machines that help pump and process oil and gas as its coming out of the ground. Siemens sees the deal as a chance to play an even larger role in the U.S. shale revolution and likely wants Dresser-Rand’s expertise and product list as shale exploration starts to take root in other parts of the world. This deal, which came at a 37% premium to the prior day’s closing price, values Dresser Rand… Read More

One smart way to screen for stocks is to find the ones that are still going up when most other stocks are going down. These are stocks with investors who have strong conviction about the true value of the company and don’t get scared amid a declining market. #-ad_banner-#These stocks are often conspicuous — when looking at a heat map of the S&P 500 on a down day, they are the few green dots in a sea of red. In that vein, I found three promising stocks that managed to finish in the green for the first half of October,… Read More

One smart way to screen for stocks is to find the ones that are still going up when most other stocks are going down. These are stocks with investors who have strong conviction about the true value of the company and don’t get scared amid a declining market. #-ad_banner-#These stocks are often conspicuous — when looking at a heat map of the S&P 500 on a down day, they are the few green dots in a sea of red. In that vein, I found three promising stocks that managed to finish in the green for the first half of October, despite the volatility that roiled the broader market from top to bottom. The three are the kinds of companies that typically prosper later in an economic cycle, and each are components of the Barron’s 400 Index, a gauge of promising U.S. companies that tends toward a growth-at-a-reasonable-price (GARP) bent. Snap-on, Inc. (NYSE: SNA) Snap-on’s product lineup — in the industrial machinery category — includes hand and power tools, diagnostics and shop equipment for professional markets, including vehicle dealerships, repair centers, aviation and the military. The company has 4,800 mobile stores nationwide. A novel model, mobile stores are trucks or… Read More