I have three chart services at my fingertips — but for me, reviewing charts is a visual thing. After 26 years of deciphering stock charts, recognizing the patterns has become second nature. #-ad_banner-#Every weekend, I screen all the growth stocks that I follow to see which charts are on the verge of breaking out. I then take the stocks with good-looking charts and review their fundamentals. I’m looking for stocks with projected earnings growth (plus dividends) of 15% or more for each of the next three years. My goal is to identify the stocks that have the best chance of… Read More

I have three chart services at my fingertips — but for me, reviewing charts is a visual thing. After 26 years of deciphering stock charts, recognizing the patterns has become second nature. #-ad_banner-#Every weekend, I screen all the growth stocks that I follow to see which charts are on the verge of breaking out. I then take the stocks with good-looking charts and review their fundamentals. I’m looking for stocks with projected earnings growth (plus dividends) of 15% or more for each of the next three years. My goal is to identify the stocks that have the best chance of going up immediately. The charts tell me which stocks are going up, and the earnings growth verifies that the stocks have a good reason to go up. Now I’ve got my buy list for the week. I then review the larger list of stocks that made the first cut-off — the ones with the bullish charts — and group them into industries to see which trends materialize. Whichever industry is leading, I do more research among the major stocks in that industry to find a few more good investment ideas. Earlier this year, oilfield services companies — Baker Hughes (NYSE:… Read More

Technology industry analysts sense a groundswell coming. #-ad_banner-#A series of factors have set the stage for a potentially very busy summer of deal-making. And with some creative thinking, you can get a sense of which smaller companies might soon become buyout fodder. You know that it’s a strange time in the tech sector when Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which almost always focuses on tiny tuck-in acquisitions, shells out $3 billion for Beats Audio. Around the same time that deal was being drawn up by lawyers and bankers, the rumor mill buzzed with… Read More

Technology industry analysts sense a groundswell coming. #-ad_banner-#A series of factors have set the stage for a potentially very busy summer of deal-making. And with some creative thinking, you can get a sense of which smaller companies might soon become buyout fodder. You know that it’s a strange time in the tech sector when Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which almost always focuses on tiny tuck-in acquisitions, shells out $3 billion for Beats Audio. Around the same time that deal was being drawn up by lawyers and bankers, the rumor mill buzzed with a possible Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) purchase of Yelp (NYSE: YELP). Shares of Yelp zoomed just more than 30% to $68 in the last three weeks of May, but if no such deal is announced soon, shares may drift lower. Still, a Google/Yelp linkup makes ample sense.  Google loves to generate product and service reviews, which lead to great ad sales. Google did acquire restaurant ratings firm Zagat in 2011, though that deal hasn’t been able to derail Yelp’s torrid growth and segment leadership. Google allegedly tried to acquire Yelp for $500 million back in 2010 before it went public, though… Read More

After a century of paying bills through the mail, an increasing number of Americans have made the switch to online bill payment systems. Banks love the system because it reduces their transaction costs, but they now have a new competitor: Bitcoin. #-ad_banner-#Satellite TV provider Dish Networks (Nasdaq: DISH) has just announced plans to start accepting bitcoin. Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Virgin America also initiated a bitcoin payment option in the past year, and other major corporations may soon follow. That means you’re likely to start hearing a lot more about this virtual currency. For non-techies like me, two quick questions… Read More

After a century of paying bills through the mail, an increasing number of Americans have made the switch to online bill payment systems. Banks love the system because it reduces their transaction costs, but they now have a new competitor: Bitcoin. #-ad_banner-#Satellite TV provider Dish Networks (Nasdaq: DISH) has just announced plans to start accepting bitcoin. Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Virgin America also initiated a bitcoin payment option in the past year, and other major corporations may soon follow. That means you’re likely to start hearing a lot more about this virtual currency. For non-techies like me, two quick questions arose: How does bitcoin actually work? And is it a good idea, or just a flavor of the month? To find out, I did a little digging. Controversial, But Gaining Acceptance Bitcoin was launched in 2009 as an alternative to traditional payment systems. While digital payment systems such as PayPal conduct transactions in hard currencies (such as the dollar), bitcoin is an entirely new form of currency. The methodology underpinning bitcoin is both brilliant and absurdly complex. Here’s a quick primer: Bitcoins are created as rewards for its use as a payment,… Read More

When considering whether to buy or sell a stock, many investors base their decision heavily on the actions of key insiders such as the CEO, the chairman of the board, and others. After all, who should know more about a firm’s investment merits than those running the company? #-ad_banner-#Blindly following insiders into and out of a stock can be dangerous, though. Like the rest of us, insiders are human. So who’s to say they’ll never make mistakes such as selling in a panic during bad markets or buying on the assumption their company’s stock will simply keep going up? But… Read More

When considering whether to buy or sell a stock, many investors base their decision heavily on the actions of key insiders such as the CEO, the chairman of the board, and others. After all, who should know more about a firm’s investment merits than those running the company? #-ad_banner-#Blindly following insiders into and out of a stock can be dangerous, though. Like the rest of us, insiders are human. So who’s to say they’ll never make mistakes such as selling in a panic during bad markets or buying on the assumption their company’s stock will simply keep going up? But when it comes right down to it, we don’t really know why insiders buy or sell. They don’t have to tell us, only report when they did and how many shares were transacted. So even though it can be informative to know what insiders are doing, they can easily be dead wrong. And they certainly are about one well-known stock, in my opinion. As a group, this company’s key insiders have reduced their ownership of the stock by more than 14% during the past 12 months, according to Morningstar. They now hold a total of about 225,000 shares worth roughly… Read More

Finding investment ideas is never an easy task. Hedge funds, with their manpower and access to research, outgun individual investors. Some of the greatest minds in the market also run many of these hedge funds.  #-ad_banner-#These include the likes of billionaire gurus Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn and Dan Loeb. Each quarter we get a glimpse into what the greats are buying. Funds managing over $100 million must file a Form 13F with the SEC. These filings come up to 45 days after the end of the quarter, but investors can still use them to find new ideas for… Read More

Finding investment ideas is never an easy task. Hedge funds, with their manpower and access to research, outgun individual investors. Some of the greatest minds in the market also run many of these hedge funds.  #-ad_banner-#These include the likes of billionaire gurus Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn and Dan Loeb. Each quarter we get a glimpse into what the greats are buying. Funds managing over $100 million must file a Form 13F with the SEC. These filings come up to 45 days after the end of the quarter, but investors can still use them to find new ideas for their own portfolios.  As far as stocks that the billionaires are buying, it is always a positive sign if more than one major hedge fund is buying the stock. Below are three stocks that saw some of the greatest interest among top hedge funds. First up is emerging e-commerce giant eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), which had seven hedge funds added to their portfolios. The most notable buyers included Icahn, activist fund Jana Partners and Tiger Consumer Management.  Icahn tried to convince eBay to spin off PayPal. (My colleague Tim Begany took at look at this story last month.) After a bit… Read More

Time Magazine called him the “most fabulous living U.S. stock trader.” He was also known as the “Boy Plunger” and the “Great Bear of Wall Street.” Unfairly blamed and vilified for causing the both the 1907 and 1929 stock market crashes, Jesse Livermore also was (and continues to be) held in high esteem by countless investors. #-ad_banner-#He owned incredible mansions and all the trappings of vast wealth of the early 20th century. Far from being a loner or hermit, he married several beautiful, socially connected women and traveled in the same circles as the rich and… Read More

Time Magazine called him the “most fabulous living U.S. stock trader.” He was also known as the “Boy Plunger” and the “Great Bear of Wall Street.” Unfairly blamed and vilified for causing the both the 1907 and 1929 stock market crashes, Jesse Livermore also was (and continues to be) held in high esteem by countless investors. #-ad_banner-#He owned incredible mansions and all the trappings of vast wealth of the early 20th century. Far from being a loner or hermit, he married several beautiful, socially connected women and traveled in the same circles as the rich and famous of his era. However, his life was far from being all wine and roses. This master investor swung between great personal highs and soul-crushing lows. Despite making and losing several multi-million-dollar fortunes over his lifetime (including earning a reported $100 million by shorting the market meltdown of 1929), his lifelong battle with depression ended in 1940 with his suicide at a New York hotel. Fortunately, he left behind many investing rules and stock-picking techniques that still make perfect sense despite the radical market changes that have occurred since he plied his trade. Furthermore, during his life, Livermore emphasized that… Read More

Officers and directors of the nation’s smallest and youngest biotech companies can look up their stock quotes once again. Stocks in the sector were in such rapid freefall a few months ago that a glance at the stock price chart became too painful to bear. How painful was the sell-off?  I counted 30 biotech stocks that shed at least 40% of their value in the past three months, with half of them plunging by more than 50%. #-ad_banner-#​Yet it appears as if the worst of the storm has passed. Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: DRNA), for… Read More

Officers and directors of the nation’s smallest and youngest biotech companies can look up their stock quotes once again. Stocks in the sector were in such rapid freefall a few months ago that a glance at the stock price chart became too painful to bear. How painful was the sell-off?  I counted 30 biotech stocks that shed at least 40% of their value in the past three months, with half of them plunging by more than 50%. #-ad_banner-#​Yet it appears as if the worst of the storm has passed. Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: DRNA), for example, which has lost two-thirds of its value this year, is up roughly 5% since April 20. Most other stumbling biotechs have also stabilized in the past month or so. Of course, such sell-offs don’t necessarily invite buying opportunities. Instead, it is wiser to focus on the soundest business models, even if they are only off 25% or 35% in this recent pullback. I’ve been spending time the past few days with the most promising biotechs. I favor those with good science, strong testing data, potentially large market opportunities and healthy cash balances. Here’s a short list… Read More

For several decades, clean technology supporters have waited for the day when solar power truly achieved “grid parity.”  #-ad_banner-#Everyone understood that this promising renewable form of energy needed to eventually compete with nuclear, oil, coal and gas — without any government subsidies. Much faster than anyone expected, we’re almost there. The cost to produce solar panels has dropped so fast, and the energy conversion ratio of solar panels has risen ever higher, that government subsidies are beginning to phase out, which is unlikely to slow down the torrid growth for solar. Some of the juice created by solar power (and… Read More

For several decades, clean technology supporters have waited for the day when solar power truly achieved “grid parity.”  #-ad_banner-#Everyone understood that this promising renewable form of energy needed to eventually compete with nuclear, oil, coal and gas — without any government subsidies. Much faster than anyone expected, we’re almost there. The cost to produce solar panels has dropped so fast, and the energy conversion ratio of solar panels has risen ever higher, that government subsidies are beginning to phase out, which is unlikely to slow down the torrid growth for solar. Some of the juice created by solar power (and wind, geothermal and micro-turbines) will be fed back into the grid, especially where two-way power meters are installed, but much of the excess power we generate will simply be uncaptured and frittered away. That’s why engineers continue to work hard to develop new ways to store energy, tinkering with virtually every kind of known battery chemistry and coming up with unusual ways to bottle up power for future use.  How bad is the problem?  When clean energy sources such as solar or wind are producing peak power, they can create too much supply for grid operators, who essentially must give away… Read More

Sad to say, Warren Buffett will not be around forever.  #-ad_banner-#There is no question that what he has done at Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) is nothing short of miraculous. Trying to replicate Buffett’s success is nearly impossible. However, if there is one thing managers can do, it is learn from Buffett.  There is a publicly traded company with a similar business model as Berkshire. It buys great businesses for less than fair value and then develops them into rewarding investments. Even better, this company is cheaper than Berkshire.  Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE: LUK) has been called the “mini” or… Read More

Sad to say, Warren Buffett will not be around forever.  #-ad_banner-#There is no question that what he has done at Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) is nothing short of miraculous. Trying to replicate Buffett’s success is nearly impossible. However, if there is one thing managers can do, it is learn from Buffett.  There is a publicly traded company with a similar business model as Berkshire. It buys great businesses for less than fair value and then develops them into rewarding investments. Even better, this company is cheaper than Berkshire.  Leucadia National Corp. (NYSE: LUK) has been called the “mini” or “baby” Berkshire Hathaway for a number of years. A diversified holding company like Berkshire, Leucadia is only about a thirtieth its size in terms of market cap.  Leucadia’s largest business is investment bank Jefferies Group, which it acquired in 2012. But it also owns the U.S.’s fourth-largest beef processor, National Beef; a 50% interest in a venture with Berkshire for real estate lending, called Berkadia; the 15th-largest U.S. auto dealer, Garcadia; and various other businesses, including restaurants, telecom and real estate.  Leucadia’s similarities to Berkshire are downright scary. While Berkshire relies heavily on its insurance operations like GEICO and Gen… Read More

Investing in small-cap tech companies is all about finding a stock that fits one of two criteria…  #-ad_banner-#You’re looking for a company with the next great breakthrough product — or a company that would make an ideal acquisition target.  Looking for that next great product often requires the work of an army of analysts with years of industry R&D experience. The alternative is to look for companies with a competitive niche product that can stand alone but also fit as an acquisition target for a larger firm.  Tech giants like Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) have… Read More

Investing in small-cap tech companies is all about finding a stock that fits one of two criteria…  #-ad_banner-#You’re looking for a company with the next great breakthrough product — or a company that would make an ideal acquisition target.  Looking for that next great product often requires the work of an army of analysts with years of industry R&D experience. The alternative is to look for companies with a competitive niche product that can stand alone but also fit as an acquisition target for a larger firm.  Tech giants like Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) have development budgets of their own… but often the real creative ideas come from acquisitions.  Analyzing the 500-plus technology companies with market capitalizations of less than $1 billion may seem like an impossible task — but there is one trick that makes it much easier…  And it just led me to my next investment. Despite the flood of merger and acquisition activity in the market over the past months, buying or combining with another company can be risky business. That’s why many tech companies first collaborate with prospective targets before they consider an acquisition.  A partnership provides a test run for… Read More