Growth Investing

It may just be the most interesting large company you’ve never heard of… But it’s firing on all cylinders, which is why we just recently added it to the Maximum Profit portfolio.  On the surface, it looks like a normal internet and media company. But it’s much, much more than that… In fact, South Africa’s Naspers (OTC: NPSNY) is about as unique a company as you’ll ever come across. It’s a venture capital-like firm that owns a portfolio of some of the top internet companies across the globe.  Many of the companies it owns are firms that you’ve likely never… Read More

It may just be the most interesting large company you’ve never heard of… But it’s firing on all cylinders, which is why we just recently added it to the Maximum Profit portfolio.  On the surface, it looks like a normal internet and media company. But it’s much, much more than that… In fact, South Africa’s Naspers (OTC: NPSNY) is about as unique a company as you’ll ever come across. It’s a venture capital-like firm that owns a portfolio of some of the top internet companies across the globe.  Many of the companies it owns are firms that you’ve likely never heard of, with one notable exception: Chinese tech giant Tencent (OTC: TCEHY).  For those who may be unaware, Tencent is one of the internet giants of China, and the company has its hands in everything from social media to gaming to payments to artificial intelligence and more. In fact, it’s the sixth-largest internet-focused company in the world in terms of revenue. Naspers first invested in Tencent in 2001 and is the company’s largest shareholder, controlling over 31% of shares outstanding. That position alone is worth more than $146 billion. #-ad_banner-#But get this… Naspers’ market cap is only $110 billion. That’s… Read More

One tried-and-true way to make a portfolio safer is to move into cash. This is especially true for the markets you might feel are overpriced, overbought, or otherwise ready for a pause, as well as in any market run wild.  Most of the time, however, a move to more cash should not mean selling everything. As tempting as it can be to declare a market top, in reality it’s next-to-impossible to say for sure which direction the market is headed at any given moment. Cash-rich companies might be one possible answer here: more often than not, a company that generates… Read More

One tried-and-true way to make a portfolio safer is to move into cash. This is especially true for the markets you might feel are overpriced, overbought, or otherwise ready for a pause, as well as in any market run wild.  Most of the time, however, a move to more cash should not mean selling everything. As tempting as it can be to declare a market top, in reality it’s next-to-impossible to say for sure which direction the market is headed at any given moment. Cash-rich companies might be one possible answer here: more often than not, a company that generates a lot of cash is a safer investment than one that loses cash. With this in mind, I decided to screen for tech companies that generate significant amounts of cash. Typically, this can be found in relatively mature, larger-sized companies. And since we’re restricting this search to the tech sector, we’re likely to still have some innovative companies on our hands that may yet still have a lot of upside. —Recommended Link— The Secret To Making 18x More Than Buy-And-Hold Investors Jim Fink has come up with a system that turns small stock movements… Read More

Without a doubt, a bull market is itself a bullish indicator.  There is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy here: investors clamor for gains and feel safer when the market flashes green than when it’s awash in red. But even a more rational explanation to this phenomenon also makes sense: The stock market is a big discounting machine, reflecting bets that tomorrow’s prices will be higher than today’s.  But if this is a gauge at all, then, just as with any other market indicator, it’s not an infallible one. No rally lasts forever, and after a boom — as loud… Read More

Without a doubt, a bull market is itself a bullish indicator.  There is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy here: investors clamor for gains and feel safer when the market flashes green than when it’s awash in red. But even a more rational explanation to this phenomenon also makes sense: The stock market is a big discounting machine, reflecting bets that tomorrow’s prices will be higher than today’s.  But if this is a gauge at all, then, just as with any other market indicator, it’s not an infallible one. No rally lasts forever, and after a boom — as loud as it might be — usually comes a bust.  On Tuesday, April 23, the S&P 500 closed at 2,931.11, higher than the previous all-time closing high of $2,930.75 set back on September 20. It only took seven months for the markets to return to previous highs — one of the speediest turnarounds in market history.  And yet, many investors are not convinced that stocks are the place to be. According to the Conference Board, 37% of Americans believe stock prices will rise over the next year — and 26% believe the prices will fall. The spread of 11 between optimists… Read More

April showers bring May flowers.  As with most proverbs, this one should not be taken literally. Ostensibly about the weather, the wisdom of this saying goes much deeper: it shows a cause-and-effect relationship, with an inevitable conclusion that good things often follow (and even result from) things less pleasant.  Case in point: The market’s first-quarter rally that was preceded by fourth-quarter volatility.  —Recommended Link— Little-Known Gov’t-Backed “Paychecks” Deliver $65,572 Extra Per Year Ordinary Americans are collecting $8,760… $16,771… and even $65,572 in checks every year. Now, this little-known program is set to deliver even bigger… Read More

April showers bring May flowers.  As with most proverbs, this one should not be taken literally. Ostensibly about the weather, the wisdom of this saying goes much deeper: it shows a cause-and-effect relationship, with an inevitable conclusion that good things often follow (and even result from) things less pleasant.  Case in point: The market’s first-quarter rally that was preceded by fourth-quarter volatility.  —Recommended Link— Little-Known Gov’t-Backed “Paychecks” Deliver $65,572 Extra Per Year Ordinary Americans are collecting $8,760… $16,771… and even $65,572 in checks every year. Now, this little-known program is set to deliver even bigger payments… up to a staggering $225,326. It’s your turn to get started collecting. Click here to learn how to collect your first check. And what a rally it’s been… The S&P 500 index has already rebounded 17% year-to-date, and it’s now trading just points off its all-time highs. These are the levels many observers expected by year-end 2019, not by April, and it took many by surprise that it has only taken this market four months to deliver 12 months-worth of returns.  But is it a good or a bad thing that the market has rallied… Read More

Recently I told readers about why most investors would be better off staying far, far away from IPOs like Lyft (Nasdaq: LYFT). Since then, we’ve seen two other much-hyped companies — Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) and Zoom (Nasdaq: ZM) — go public. If you missed that piece, I encourage you to go back and read it in full. But rather than spend any more time making my case for why these IPOs can be major distractions for individual investors (and may even be the sign of the beginning of the bull market’s end), I’d rather tell you about a stock you… Read More

Recently I told readers about why most investors would be better off staying far, far away from IPOs like Lyft (Nasdaq: LYFT). Since then, we’ve seen two other much-hyped companies — Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) and Zoom (Nasdaq: ZM) — go public. If you missed that piece, I encourage you to go back and read it in full. But rather than spend any more time making my case for why these IPOs can be major distractions for individual investors (and may even be the sign of the beginning of the bull market’s end), I’d rather tell you about a stock you should consider buying instead. In fact, it’s one of the most recent additions to my Maximum Profit portfolio.  I normally don’t make a habit of revealing my premium newsletter picks. But I will make an exception today, if only to prove that there are plenty of stocks out there that have big-time potential outside of the latest risky IPO. My Latest Maximum Profit Pick Founded in 2007, Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) products that help organizations and customers build relationships. #-ad_banner-#Since the company went public in 2014, it’s been on an incredible growth trajectory. That first year as… Read More

Blink and you missed it. One day there’s a “telecommunication sector,” the next day — thanks to the people who run the stock indices — it morphs into “communication services.”  Why should we care? With major S&P 500 companies from Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) to Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) now reassigned, the change is simply too big to be ignored. That goes for passive investors — ones who rely on an index-tracking approach — and active investors like us who frequently screen sectors and indices for ideas.  That’s because we all need to be aware that some of the most innovative and… Read More

Blink and you missed it. One day there’s a “telecommunication sector,” the next day — thanks to the people who run the stock indices — it morphs into “communication services.”  Why should we care? With major S&P 500 companies from Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) to Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) now reassigned, the change is simply too big to be ignored. That goes for passive investors — ones who rely on an index-tracking approach — and active investors like us who frequently screen sectors and indices for ideas.  That’s because we all need to be aware that some of the most innovative and fastest-growing companies of today no longer resign in the tech or consumer sectors. When we search for the next investment, whether it’s an index fund or a stock, we need to know where to look.  —Recommended Link— 3 Minutes to Collect 12 Times More Money Than Social Security Just make this simple little 3-minute call and you can get set up to start collecting your checks. All told, your checks can add up to $225,326 over the next 25 years. Imagine that! And these checks are supported by $1.75 billion in new money every year. Read More

The world of subscriptions keeps growing and developing. In entertainment, the massive success of the streaming music, video, and video-game applications pushes others to innovate. (Deloitte estimates that the number of streaming music subscriptions alone now exceeds 150 million.) The New York Mets, for example, recently announced a new subscription-based program of their own. For a flat fee of $39 per month, subscribers can get standing-room-only tickets to nearly every regular season home game, even at the last minute.  Many other types of businesses are also benefitting from the trend, thanks to technological advancements (and, in many cases, with the… Read More

The world of subscriptions keeps growing and developing. In entertainment, the massive success of the streaming music, video, and video-game applications pushes others to innovate. (Deloitte estimates that the number of streaming music subscriptions alone now exceeds 150 million.) The New York Mets, for example, recently announced a new subscription-based program of their own. For a flat fee of $39 per month, subscribers can get standing-room-only tickets to nearly every regular season home game, even at the last minute.  Many other types of businesses are also benefitting from the trend, thanks to technological advancements (and, in many cases, with the help of our newest recommendation over at my premium newsletter, Fast-Track Millionaire).  #-ad_banner-#​Smartsheet (Nasdaq: SMAR) is a great example. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, Smartsheet is a Fast-Track Millionaire holding that provides cloud-based platforms and software that enable companies to overview, plan, manage, automate, and execute tasks and projects. Subscriptions start at $14 per user per month. With an enticing business model in a high-growth area, it’s no wonder then that we’ve already made more than 21% on the stock since the end of January.  Of course, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) was one of the first companies to… Read More

The first thing you learn in finance class is that the markets are efficient, meaning that asset prices fully reflect all available information.  This is a simple concept to understand, and it also helps investors read the tea leaves when it comes to the market action: stocks are discounting all available information at any time. Rallies and selloffs, while hard to predict and impossible to time, are just that — the reflections of the market’s ongoing optimism or improving outlook (which underlie the rallies) and deteriorating conditions (which drive the selloffs).  The market is also a great forward-looking mechanism. Because… Read More

The first thing you learn in finance class is that the markets are efficient, meaning that asset prices fully reflect all available information.  This is a simple concept to understand, and it also helps investors read the tea leaves when it comes to the market action: stocks are discounting all available information at any time. Rallies and selloffs, while hard to predict and impossible to time, are just that — the reflections of the market’s ongoing optimism or improving outlook (which underlie the rallies) and deteriorating conditions (which drive the selloffs).  The market is also a great forward-looking mechanism. Because it does reflect all the available information at any time, a rallying market by itself is often a bullish indicator. This is what we have today — not only a more expensive market than a few months ago, but a market that just won’t stop.  —Recommended Link— If you’re over 18 years old, you can’t be turned down for this program A simple membership form – one that takes 90 seconds or less to fill out – is all it takes to join a plan that pays out up to $12,040 a year in bonus… Read More

Much to the delight of investors, the market rallied 14% in the first three months of the year. It was the best quarterly performance for the S&P 500 since 2009. Of course, not every stock in the market has performed accordingly, but many have done well, led by the technology sector (up 20.5% in the quarter). Some investors could be reluctant to buy stocks that rallied that much, especially when the market is nearing its recent highs. And some investors might be tempted to look for a lagging stock or two in search of value — and in search of… Read More

Much to the delight of investors, the market rallied 14% in the first three months of the year. It was the best quarterly performance for the S&P 500 since 2009. Of course, not every stock in the market has performed accordingly, but many have done well, led by the technology sector (up 20.5% in the quarter). Some investors could be reluctant to buy stocks that rallied that much, especially when the market is nearing its recent highs. And some investors might be tempted to look for a lagging stock or two in search of value — and in search of a winning performance going forward. If only investing were this simple… Experienced investors know that simply buying stocks that underperform the market does not, by itself, usually result in a winning performance.  —Recommended Link— This $1,003-a-Month Income Boost Is Available to Everyone There’s a way for you to collect extra government cash. And it isn’t some “file and suspend” Social Security trick that only makes sense for a few people. This obscure opportunity allows you to collect government cash no matter how old you are or how much money you already make. Read More

For centuries, humans relied on plant-derived medicines, using — based on countless experiments and astute observation — a wide range of chemically-active elements obtained from a wide variety of plants to treat many, if not most, ailments and diseases. A more systematic study of what it is that makes certain plants medically potent had only begun in the 19th century, however, thanks to the advances in chemistry and biology. Today, the entire field of ethnopharmacology — the study of the use of plant-based or other naturally derived medicines across different cultures — has emerged. So have the related fields of… Read More

For centuries, humans relied on plant-derived medicines, using — based on countless experiments and astute observation — a wide range of chemically-active elements obtained from a wide variety of plants to treat many, if not most, ailments and diseases. A more systematic study of what it is that makes certain plants medically potent had only begun in the 19th century, however, thanks to the advances in chemistry and biology. Today, the entire field of ethnopharmacology — the study of the use of plant-based or other naturally derived medicines across different cultures — has emerged. So have the related fields of ethnomedicine, medical anthropology — not to mention food science or good old-fashioned botany — and more. The potential of plants to deliver life-changing medication has long been one of the arguments for biodiversity. It should not come as a surprise that scientists, in research labs and in the biotech industry, have also been studying cannabis with a belief that, thanks to the chemicals in the plant, it’s much more than just a popular recreational drug. One such company is a pioneer in this research and the owner of the very first prescription medication derived directly from the cannabis plant. —Recommended… Read More