Warren Buffett became one of the richest men on the planet by making smart investments in what many would consider boring, unglamorous businesses. Property-casualty insurance, railroads, soft serve ice cream, and residential real estate brokerage are a few of the mundane sectors that have enriched him and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, NYSE: BRK.B) shareholders.  One of the most lucrative “boring” sectors I’ve watched throughout my career has been retail aftermarket auto parts. It’s consistent. It’s still extremely fragmented, which means that the biggest players have plenty of room to grow market share organically or through acquisition. And when the stock… Read More

Warren Buffett became one of the richest men on the planet by making smart investments in what many would consider boring, unglamorous businesses. Property-casualty insurance, railroads, soft serve ice cream, and residential real estate brokerage are a few of the mundane sectors that have enriched him and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, NYSE: BRK.B) shareholders.  One of the most lucrative “boring” sectors I’ve watched throughout my career has been retail aftermarket auto parts. It’s consistent. It’s still extremely fragmented, which means that the biggest players have plenty of room to grow market share organically or through acquisition. And when the stock of one of the biggest players goes on sale, DO NOT miss an opportunity to buy. The chart below shows how the top four aftermarket auto parts retailer stocks have performed over a three-year period.   The third company, one of the weakest performers, is Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC).It’s,my favorite of the group. Here’s why… Getting Paid Genuine Parts has increased its dividend payment steadily over the last 60 years. Over the last decade, the company has grown its dividend at an annual rate of 7%. AutoZone and O’Reilly pay no dividends, while Advance pays… Read More

Computers and the internet have become indispensable parts of our lives. From smart phones and automobiles to how we bank and even exercise, rarely does a day go by that we do not interface with the silicon chip-powered machines.  Most investors focus on the microprocessor when they think of computer chips. Giants such as Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) have built empires on the back of the microprocessor revolution.  Obviously, microprocessors are here to stay, but decent opportunities for investors in the space are rapidly diminishing. The mature industry is in the midst of a long-term plateau as manufacturing efficiencies, economies of… Read More

Computers and the internet have become indispensable parts of our lives. From smart phones and automobiles to how we bank and even exercise, rarely does a day go by that we do not interface with the silicon chip-powered machines.  Most investors focus on the microprocessor when they think of computer chips. Giants such as Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) have built empires on the back of the microprocessor revolution.  Obviously, microprocessors are here to stay, but decent opportunities for investors in the space are rapidly diminishing. The mature industry is in the midst of a long-term plateau as manufacturing efficiencies, economies of scale, and market saturation drive prices ever lower.  If you missed the microprocessor boom, it’s not too late to capitalize on the chip market. Today’s explosive trends, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the ubiquitous Internet of Things, all have one thing in common: An insatiable thirst for recalling and analyzing massive amounts of information.  We are in the infancy of the next technological revolution, and memory chips are at the core of these radical changes. Even better, their rise could bring investors the same results seen by early backers of microprocessors. What Are Memory Chips Memory chips are… Read More

It’s not hard to find quality income-producing stocks. Nearly every investor out there can screen for stocks based on dividend yields. However, there is far more to successful income investing than buying high-yielding dividend payers.  Many times, the highest yielding stocks are also the least reliable. Remember, the yield is inversely proportional to the share price. In other words, the lower the share price moves, the higher the yield (assuming the dividend payment stays the same). Therefore, high-yielding stocks may only provide the high yields due to a plunging stock price. Investors must now look beyond dividends for income. Stock… Read More

It’s not hard to find quality income-producing stocks. Nearly every investor out there can screen for stocks based on dividend yields. However, there is far more to successful income investing than buying high-yielding dividend payers.  Many times, the highest yielding stocks are also the least reliable. Remember, the yield is inversely proportional to the share price. In other words, the lower the share price moves, the higher the yield (assuming the dividend payment stays the same). Therefore, high-yielding stocks may only provide the high yields due to a plunging stock price. Investors must now look beyond dividends for income. Stock buybacks have become a popular way for companies to give excess cash back to investors.  Buybacks, or share repurchase programs, are a viable alternative for savvy investors. The trick is to find companies with long term buyback plans that also have growth catalysts. This combination is the key to finding ideal income stocks. Here are three income stocks with high growth potential over the long term. Today’s disconnect between revenue and share price make these stocks a welcome anomaly.  3 Income-Producing Stocks With Strong Buyback Plans 1. American International Group (NYSE: AIG)  This nearly $60 billion global insurance company… Read More

What started as a minor theme just decades ago looks to be turning the corner with the force of more than 75 million investors in the United States alone.  Investors have long supported the idea of a greater good through philanthropic projects. But it wasn’t until late in the 20th century that they started accepting dual-missions of profitability and social responsibility at companies in which they invested. The idea has fought a tough argument against the traditional singular mandate of increasing wealth. Now it seems the theme is becoming a major force, and new evidence points to surprising upside for… Read More

What started as a minor theme just decades ago looks to be turning the corner with the force of more than 75 million investors in the United States alone.  Investors have long supported the idea of a greater good through philanthropic projects. But it wasn’t until late in the 20th century that they started accepting dual-missions of profitability and social responsibility at companies in which they invested. The idea has fought a tough argument against the traditional singular mandate of increasing wealth. Now it seems the theme is becoming a major force, and new evidence points to surprising upside for investors. As the market shifts to rewarding socially-responsible companies, investors need to know what to look for and how to take advantage of the new paradigm. A Generation Of Impact Investors Impact investing is led by not only financial criteria but also influenced by environmental, social and governance standards (ESG). Adopting an ESG framework means management is explicitly embracing social issues and responsibilities beyond shareholder profits.  #-ad_banner-#Several endowments and pension funds have adopted ESG rules for companies in which they will invest but the theme has yet to be adopted by many individual investors. University endowments, pension funds, and… Read More

The hacker group known as Shadow Brokers publicly released a set of tools on the social network platform Medium in April. Called EternalBlue and EternalRomance, the tools allow hackers backdoor access for remote control of infected computers.  While the market hasn’t reacted to the news of the release, Sean Dillon of cybersecurity firm RiskSense Inc. told Bloomberg that these tools are “10-times worse” than recent viruses like the Heartbleed bug that infected computers at Yahoo and Amazon.  We’re talking about government-quality hacking tools — and they’ve just been spammed out to every hacker with an internet connection.  Dillon says the… Read More

The hacker group known as Shadow Brokers publicly released a set of tools on the social network platform Medium in April. Called EternalBlue and EternalRomance, the tools allow hackers backdoor access for remote control of infected computers.  While the market hasn’t reacted to the news of the release, Sean Dillon of cybersecurity firm RiskSense Inc. told Bloomberg that these tools are “10-times worse” than recent viruses like the Heartbleed bug that infected computers at Yahoo and Amazon.  We’re talking about government-quality hacking tools — and they’ve just been spammed out to every hacker with an internet connection.  Dillon says the tools are, “the kind of thing [security analysts] see used very rarely on very special, covert cybermissions.” He’s already found computers infected in dozens of clients from startups, government agencies and Fortune 100 companies. That means it’s only a matter of time before reports of large-scale and sophisticated cyberattacks start flooding the news. When it happens, expect a pop in the shares of cybersecurity companies. Cybercrime Headline Risks Move To Red Alert Corporate America prepared for years against the potential for hacker threats related to the Y2K bug. Headlines screamed warnings in 2014 for dangers related to the Heartbleed… Read More

I want to share with you something that’s been bothering me for a while now… Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of banking giant JPMorgan Chase, recently released his annual letter to shareholders. Dimon is, as you might imagine, smart as a whip. In fact, Buffett says he considers Dimon’s shareholder letters indispensable reading. Two lines stuck out from Dimon’s latest missive: “The United States of America is truly an exceptional country… But it is clear that something is wrong — and it’s holding us back.”  I’ve got to be honest… this has stuck with me for… Read More

I want to share with you something that’s been bothering me for a while now… Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of banking giant JPMorgan Chase, recently released his annual letter to shareholders. Dimon is, as you might imagine, smart as a whip. In fact, Buffett says he considers Dimon’s shareholder letters indispensable reading. Two lines stuck out from Dimon’s latest missive: “The United States of America is truly an exceptional country… But it is clear that something is wrong — and it’s holding us back.”  I’ve got to be honest… this has stuck with me for weeks. It’s something I’ve been thinking long and hard about for the past few years, and I’m willing to bet you’ve at least felt it on some sort of visceral level yourself.  —Recommended Link— How Jim Cashed $13,784 In Daily Paychecks Experimenting With This Wildly Successful System Jim took a cool $13,784… Annie grabbed $2,194 in one month… and Curtis cashes $4,200 in daily payments every month. It’s all perfectly legal. Their fortunes have been documented. See for yourself how easy it will be for YOU to start collecting paychecks each and every day… Dimon offered little in the… Read More

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.” The above is a quote by Laurence J. Peter, the man who formulated the Peter Principle. For the uninitiated, the Peter Principle states that an employee is promoted based on their performance in their current position — not on their ability to do the new job. This means the employee will continue to receive promotions until they get a job they can’t do.  Once they reach this level, they have gone as far as they can… Read More

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.” The above is a quote by Laurence J. Peter, the man who formulated the Peter Principle. For the uninitiated, the Peter Principle states that an employee is promoted based on their performance in their current position — not on their ability to do the new job. This means the employee will continue to receive promotions until they get a job they can’t do.  Once they reach this level, they have gone as far as they can in that organization. Peter called this level their “level of incompetence.” Unfortunately, once an employee reaches his level of incompetence, the organization begins to suffer. And by default, the customers of that organization are harmed by the incompetent person’s inability to do their job. What The Peter Principle Looks Like In Reality The Wall Street Journal has been taking comments in an online debate over the idea of investing the Social Security trust fund in stocks. The idea is that the Social Security trust fund has about $2.9 trillion in assets that, if invested in… Read More

The year was 2001, and the landscape was littered with internet companies gone bust. The list included such once-promising names as Pets.com, Webvan and eToys.com. That’s when a worried Marc Benioff, CEO of a two-year-old startup called Salesforce.com, sought the advice of Michael Dell, founder of the game-changing personal computer company bearing his name. The way Dell tells it today, “I knew then, as I know now, that economic shakeouts need not bode misfortune for technology companies. Not, at least, the innovative ones. Technology does not recognize economic recessions or depressions; it always continues.” To say that Dell had a… Read More

The year was 2001, and the landscape was littered with internet companies gone bust. The list included such once-promising names as Pets.com, Webvan and eToys.com. That’s when a worried Marc Benioff, CEO of a two-year-old startup called Salesforce.com, sought the advice of Michael Dell, founder of the game-changing personal computer company bearing his name. The way Dell tells it today, “I knew then, as I know now, that economic shakeouts need not bode misfortune for technology companies. Not, at least, the innovative ones. Technology does not recognize economic recessions or depressions; it always continues.” To say that Dell had a good point is an understatement. Truly innovative companies aren’t subject to the same forces that shape many of their contemporaries whose businesses are based on older, more established trends. —Recommended Link— Pick And Shovel Investing For The 21st Century ‘Gold Rush’ From Russian gas and Saudi oil to the isolated cobalt mines of Central Africa — the next decade will see the beginning of a global commodity “gold rush” unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Cash in before it’s too late… That’s just one of the game-changing insights in Marc Benioff’s book, Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How… Read More

If you’re like most investors, you have some kind of goal in mind. And while there are many specific goals and plans to reach them, at the end of the day, I’m willing to bet that the ultimate goal is long-term wealth. Specifically, you want to be a millionaire. If that’s your goal, then it simply can’t happen without dedicating a portion of your portfolio to aggressive growth stocks. Now don’t get me wrong. You should invest in stable, reliable assets like dividend-paying stocks, blue chips, index funds, and the like. In fact, most of your portfolio — let’s say… Read More

If you’re like most investors, you have some kind of goal in mind. And while there are many specific goals and plans to reach them, at the end of the day, I’m willing to bet that the ultimate goal is long-term wealth. Specifically, you want to be a millionaire. If that’s your goal, then it simply can’t happen without dedicating a portion of your portfolio to aggressive growth stocks. Now don’t get me wrong. You should invest in stable, reliable assets like dividend-paying stocks, blue chips, index funds, and the like. In fact, most of your portfolio — let’s say 80% — should go into these types of investments. But the other 20%? That’s different. Invest that other 20% of your money into big ideas that are changing the world. —Recommended Link— Leaked: Stock Indicator Predicts Market Crash This indicator avoided the 2008 market crash… and got you back into the market just four days after the bottom. To use it, click here. Why? Well, to put it simply, these are the companies that stand the best chance of dramatically increasing your profit potential. That special 20% is important. In fact, it’s the entire focus of y premium newsletter,… Read More

2017 may well go down in history as the best year the stock market has ever witnessed. But it could also be remembered as the year the roaring bull market ended and the economy plunges into dark days. While no one knows which outcome the rest of the year will bring, investors can prepare for any situation by investing in the major themes of this year. #-ad_banner-#The biggest theme dictating which stocks to watch in 2017 is uncertainty. Despite the massive bull market of 2016, many investors believe the major index ceiling has been set. Should this prove to be… Read More

2017 may well go down in history as the best year the stock market has ever witnessed. But it could also be remembered as the year the roaring bull market ended and the economy plunges into dark days. While no one knows which outcome the rest of the year will bring, investors can prepare for any situation by investing in the major themes of this year. #-ad_banner-#The biggest theme dictating which stocks to watch in 2017 is uncertainty. Despite the massive bull market of 2016, many investors believe the major index ceiling has been set. Should this prove to be the case, consumer staple stocks make sense. Even if the market continues higher, these stocks can make a great addition to your portfolio. Next, regulatory changes are on the forefront. 2017 has proven to be a year of transition, both in the world of taxation and the social space. One of the most dramatic changes is the acceptance of and decriminalization of marijuana in the medical sector, and some places for recreational use. An ongoing megatrend that will very likely to continue in 2017 is pet ownership. Not only do consumers own more pets, but they are also spending more… Read More