One thing about the stock market is that it is never boring.#-ad_banner-# Just last month, casino operator Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) broke down below a rising trendline, and within days it changed its mind. This week, the stock not only moved higher to break out from a bullish flag pattern, but it is once again challenging all-time highs. With Lady Luck smiling on Wynn once again, it is time to buy this recovered sector and WYNN in particular. Last month’s false breakdown below both the rising July trendline and the 50-day moving average did indeed look bearish. After all, the… Read More

One thing about the stock market is that it is never boring.#-ad_banner-# Just last month, casino operator Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) broke down below a rising trendline, and within days it changed its mind. This week, the stock not only moved higher to break out from a bullish flag pattern, but it is once again challenging all-time highs. With Lady Luck smiling on Wynn once again, it is time to buy this recovered sector and WYNN in particular. Last month’s false breakdown below both the rising July trendline and the 50-day moving average did indeed look bearish. After all, the stock already failed at resistance supplied by its all-time highs set by the 2007 and 2011 peaks. And with momentum indicators also heading south, things did not look so good. But two days after its breakdown, WYNN suddenly surged with exceptionally heavy volume. It also set a low in place that helped define a newly emerging and bullish flag pattern. Flags are simply countertrend moves that usually provide a period of rest in a rally. If and when the upper border is pierced, the buy signal is triggered as the bulls are back in control. That breakout arguably… Read More

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average was reformulated in September, former technology leader Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) was quietly replaced. It was yet another tough blow for a firm that is on track for its third straight year of sales declines. CEO Meg Whitman, who was just celebrating her second full year at the company’s helm, could not have been pleased. But Whitman is surely getting the last laugh. Because against the odds, Hewlett-Packard has turned out to be one of the top-performing tech stocks of 2013. Shares have doubled in value, putting the S&P 500 Index’s 25% gain to shame. Read More

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average was reformulated in September, former technology leader Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) was quietly replaced. It was yet another tough blow for a firm that is on track for its third straight year of sales declines. CEO Meg Whitman, who was just celebrating her second full year at the company’s helm, could not have been pleased. But Whitman is surely getting the last laugh. Because against the odds, Hewlett-Packard has turned out to be one of the top-performing tech stocks of 2013. Shares have doubled in value, putting the S&P 500 Index’s 25% gain to shame. More than $25 billion in market value has been added, and Whitman has less need to worry about job security. #-ad_banner-#Yet a deeper look reveals a company that remains mired in a deep slump, and a stock price that is now sharply overvalued. As UBS’ Steve Milunovich noted in a recent report, “The stock has rebounded as fundamentals improved from very poor to mediocre,” adding that “HP appears secularly challenged with too much hardware and a paucity of software revenue.” Indeed, the only good news for Hewlett-Packard is that it isn’t performing as poorly as many had expected. Read More

Data sets are getting larger and larger, and there’s a lot of useful information just waiting to be made sense of. Nowhere is this truer than in the health care industry.#-ad_banner-#       Different hospitals have different platforms for managing data, which makes it exceedingly difficult to exchange information. Although it has been a slow process, the U.S. is moving toward a health care market that provides care more efficiently. Part of this includes implementing electronic health records and managing hospital costs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment… Read More

Data sets are getting larger and larger, and there’s a lot of useful information just waiting to be made sense of. Nowhere is this truer than in the health care industry.#-ad_banner-#       Different hospitals have different platforms for managing data, which makes it exceedingly difficult to exchange information. Although it has been a slow process, the U.S. is moving toward a health care market that provides care more efficiently. Part of this includes implementing electronic health records and managing hospital costs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated about $20 billion for electronic health records. This portion of the act offers financial incentives to hospitals and physicians to adopt and use health care information technology. The other positive is that many organizations face penalties for non-compliance, starting in 2015. With all this “reform” coming to the health care industry, one of the best ways to invest in the coming health care data boom is Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (Nasdaq: MDRX). Yet the stock hasn’t been all that great to investors over the past couple of years. Thanks to a botched acquisition, MDRX is still down nearly 50%… Read More

I’m often asked how I come up with a consistent stream of investment ideas. There is really no single answer to this question.#-ad_banner-# I have been immersed in the financial markets since my first trade back in 1990. Since that time, my investing library has grown so large that it has overwhelmed my bookshelves and spread into attic storage boxes. I am also a voracious reader of the financial media, reading several magazines and newspapers on a near-daily basis — not to mention subscribing to real-time news services to stay up on what’s happening. While my investing library has provided… Read More

I’m often asked how I come up with a consistent stream of investment ideas. There is really no single answer to this question.#-ad_banner-# I have been immersed in the financial markets since my first trade back in 1990. Since that time, my investing library has grown so large that it has overwhelmed my bookshelves and spread into attic storage boxes. I am also a voracious reader of the financial media, reading several magazines and newspapers on a near-daily basis — not to mention subscribing to real-time news services to stay up on what’s happening. While my investing library has provided the foundation, and the daily financial media torrent turns the knowledge actionable, my favorite fresh idea source is other investors. New ideas can come from anyone, from the most naive beginner to the most sophisticated hedge fund manager and everyone in between. This is the reason I make it a point to talk to every trader and investor I meet about what’s working and what’s not working in their investing. Another way to learn from others is by following the big-money players. There are several large hedge fund managers who have earned my respect, and I watch their every publicly… Read More

Getting in shape is no longer just a New Year’s resolution.#-ad_banner-# In its annual Topline Report, the Physical Activity Council, a coalition of sports-related trade groups, found that more than 60% of Americans frequently engaged in fitness sports in 2012. That growing interest in health and fitness has led to a huge surge in the number of people joining fitness clubs. According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, health club and gym memberships jumped to 51 million in 2012, up from 41 million in 2005. And looking forward, with Americans increasingly fighting back against… Read More

Getting in shape is no longer just a New Year’s resolution.#-ad_banner-# In its annual Topline Report, the Physical Activity Council, a coalition of sports-related trade groups, found that more than 60% of Americans frequently engaged in fitness sports in 2012. That growing interest in health and fitness has led to a huge surge in the number of people joining fitness clubs. According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, health club and gym memberships jumped to 51 million in 2012, up from 41 million in 2005. And looking forward, with Americans increasingly fighting back against obesity and diabetes, and with baby boomers focused on staying in shape as they retire, the $21 billion domestic health and fitness industry is growing quickly. That’s one of the reasons I’m bullish on an industry-leading fitness club company. With 106 locations and more than 800,000 members, it’s already a juggernaut. But with plans to double its expansion rate in the next two years, it’s in a great position to capitalize on America’s growing interest in health and fitness. That has shares up nearly 300% in the past five years. Life Time Fitness (NYSE: LTM) is a $1.9… Read More

​I like to track all the stocks I write about, maintaining watch lists by various categories. One of my favorite categories, “small cap stocks under $10” has been a tried-and-true group for me over the years.  Here are four of these stocks I’m focusing on right now. Each of them appears to have solid upside in the year ahead. 1. Maxwell Technologies (Nasdaq: MXWL )​ In the face of an air pollution epidemic, the Chinese government is finally getting serious. Any technologies that can sharply cut emissions from power plants and transportation are getting a fresh look, and this company… Read More

​I like to track all the stocks I write about, maintaining watch lists by various categories. One of my favorite categories, “small cap stocks under $10” has been a tried-and-true group for me over the years.  Here are four of these stocks I’m focusing on right now. Each of them appears to have solid upside in the year ahead. 1. Maxwell Technologies (Nasdaq: MXWL )​ In the face of an air pollution epidemic, the Chinese government is finally getting serious. Any technologies that can sharply cut emissions from power plants and transportation are getting a fresh look, and this company could be a clear beneficiary. Maxwell makes ultra-capacitors, which can deliver huge amounts of power in short bursts. The products are especially well-suited in transportation, in vehicles such as city buses. China has already been a strong customer in the past, as this article written by a sales executive at the company notes. But China has delayed renewing a subsidy program for hybrid buses. Shares have traded off a bit in the past few months in the face of such delays. I look at this stock’s performance in 2014 in a binary fashion. If China… Read More

If you were a kid in the 1970s and ‘80s like I was, then you may have noticed just how much better household pets generally have it these days.#-ad_banner-#​ Years ago, pets were more often treated like disposable possessions. People often acquired them without thinking much about how to keep them safe or healthy. And once the novelty of having them wore off, they were often cared for grudgingly, ignored, or simply gotten rid of. But today, people are much more likely to pamper their pets and treat them like indispensable family members. As… Read More

If you were a kid in the 1970s and ‘80s like I was, then you may have noticed just how much better household pets generally have it these days.#-ad_banner-#​ Years ago, pets were more often treated like disposable possessions. People often acquired them without thinking much about how to keep them safe or healthy. And once the novelty of having them wore off, they were often cared for grudgingly, ignored, or simply gotten rid of. But today, people are much more likely to pamper their pets and treat them like indispensable family members. As a result, the pet products and services industry has become enormous. Total spending on pets in the U.S. should top $55 billion this year, up from about $51 billion in 2011. It has nearly doubled during the past 10 years. With a 40% market share, one leading pet products and services company has taken major advantage of this trend. Since 2004, its sales have grown 8.5% annually and more than doubled, from $3 billion to $6.8 billion.  Not even the Great Recession could slow this company down much, suggesting its customers are highly loyal and tend to see pet-related spending… Read More

The S&P 500 Index’s 28% return this year has come as a big surprise to even the most bullish investors.#-ad_banner-#​ But in spite of ongoing weakness in the global economy, there’s a very good reason the index is on pace for one of its best performances in the past 35 years. Individual investors scared away from the market during the financial crisis of 2008 are back. Inflows into domestic mutual funds are expected to top $450 billion in 2013, more than the last four years combined and the biggest annual inflow since 2000. Bond funds are also seeing… Read More

The S&P 500 Index’s 28% return this year has come as a big surprise to even the most bullish investors.#-ad_banner-#​ But in spite of ongoing weakness in the global economy, there’s a very good reason the index is on pace for one of its best performances in the past 35 years. Individual investors scared away from the market during the financial crisis of 2008 are back. Inflows into domestic mutual funds are expected to top $450 billion in 2013, more than the last four years combined and the biggest annual inflow since 2000. Bond funds are also seeing big movement, with $31 billion in outflows through October, also the most since 2000’s $50 billion. It’s clear that with the S&P 500 trading at an all-time high and the Federal Reserve losing its battle against higher interest rates, investors are shifting into a more active approach to stay ahead of the curve. That’s why I’m bullish on an industry-leading brokerage firm that benefits from higher trading volumes and flows in and out of mutual funds and other securities. Not only does this well-known company offer strong operating leverage against higher trading volumes and the financial services industry, it’s also… Read More

Last week, we got news that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) finally inked its much-anticipated deal with China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) to start offering iPhones on China Mobile’s massive network.#-ad_banner-#​ Although many Apple watchers had figured out that this was basically a done deal thanks to information discovered on a website owned by a China Mobile subsidiary, which had recently started taking preorders on the iPhone 5S and 5C, confirmation of the news was a welcome development. From a sheer size perspective, the China Mobile deal is fantastic for Apple, as it gives the stalwart personal… Read More

Last week, we got news that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) finally inked its much-anticipated deal with China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) to start offering iPhones on China Mobile’s massive network.#-ad_banner-#​ Although many Apple watchers had figured out that this was basically a done deal thanks to information discovered on a website owned by a China Mobile subsidiary, which had recently started taking preorders on the iPhone 5S and 5C, confirmation of the news was a welcome development. From a sheer size perspective, the China Mobile deal is fantastic for Apple, as it gives the stalwart personal technology company the opportunity to sell iPhones to China Mobile’s 740 million subscribers. To put that in context, consider that the number of China Mobile subscribers is more than double the entire U.S. population. If Apple can capture even a modest percentage of China Mobile users, we are talking about hundreds of millions of iPhones sold. AAPL shares rose only modestly in response to the news, but that shouldn’t be read as the market not liking this deal. As mentioned, the market had already expected the deal was going down, and that’s a big reason why AAPL… Read More

With the U.S. economy a half-decade removed from its last recession, there are relatively few bankruptcies these days. But they still occur.#-ad_banner-#​ Every few quarters another publicly traded company calls a timeout from its creditors, often leaving a worthless stock in its wake. These companies aren’t hard to find. You can simply focus on firms with lots of debt and deeply negative cash flow.  That backdrop led me to predict back in the summer of 2011 that AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, would eventually need to file for bankruptcy. Six months later, that’s exactly what AMR did. Read More

With the U.S. economy a half-decade removed from its last recession, there are relatively few bankruptcies these days. But they still occur.#-ad_banner-#​ Every few quarters another publicly traded company calls a timeout from its creditors, often leaving a worthless stock in its wake. These companies aren’t hard to find. You can simply focus on firms with lots of debt and deeply negative cash flow.  That backdrop led me to predict back in the summer of 2011 that AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, would eventually need to file for bankruptcy. Six months later, that’s exactly what AMR did. I rarely go out on a limb with such predictions. After all, many companies in financially dire straits can snag a lifeline, avoiding bankruptcy. Indeed, OCZ Technology (Nasdaq: OCZ) raised fresh capital a few times after I suggested a year ago that it was headed for bankruptcy. “OCZ has a very short window to stop the bleeding,” I predicted at the time. Fast-forward to last week, and OCZ finally relented and declared bankruptcy. Shorting these kinds of stocks can deliver 100% upside if there shares eventually become worthless, but such a strategy can also cause real pain. Nearly two years ago,… Read More