There are few things that can light a fire under a stock like a positive earnings surprise. When a company beats expectations it sends a powerful message to the Street that business is good. #-ad_banner-#For example, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) jumped almost 10% in one day on January 31 after reporting record first-quarter results and a 5% positive earnings surprise. However, it is difficult to predict which stocks will beat and which will disappoint. It’s kind of like throwing darts in the dark. Today, I am going to reveal a better way to profit from an earnings surprise with one of… Read More

There are few things that can light a fire under a stock like a positive earnings surprise. When a company beats expectations it sends a powerful message to the Street that business is good. #-ad_banner-#For example, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) jumped almost 10% in one day on January 31 after reporting record first-quarter results and a 5% positive earnings surprise. However, it is difficult to predict which stocks will beat and which will disappoint. It’s kind of like throwing darts in the dark. Today, I am going to reveal a better way to profit from an earnings surprise with one of Wall Street’s best kept secrets. Even better, this is the perfect time to capitalize. Let me explain… First Quarter Earnings Season Is About To Kick Off This is a pivotal quarter for S&P 500 earnings. After being trapped in an earnings recession for a year and a half, S&P 500 earnings are finally returning to sustained growth. First-quarter earnings are expected to grow 6.5% and then steadily accelerate from there. Take a look below. I am expecting the S&P 500’s return to earnings growth to fuel some very nice positive earnings surprises this season. But don’t worry… Read More

A barrage of telephone calls, from everyone from my credit card company to the local auto dealer, annoyed me over the last week. Remembering back when telemarketing was ubiquitous, I decided to look closer at this resurrected form of marketing — customer contact. We Have All Experienced It You’ve just finished a long day a work and are relaxing around the dinner table with your family. Suddenly, your phone rings and the caller ID shows a number that looks oddly familiar. Reluctant but inquisitive, you take the call. The voice on the other end is pleasant and sounds curiously… Read More

A barrage of telephone calls, from everyone from my credit card company to the local auto dealer, annoyed me over the last week. Remembering back when telemarketing was ubiquitous, I decided to look closer at this resurrected form of marketing — customer contact. We Have All Experienced It You’ve just finished a long day a work and are relaxing around the dinner table with your family. Suddenly, your phone rings and the caller ID shows a number that looks oddly familiar. Reluctant but inquisitive, you take the call. The voice on the other end is pleasant and sounds curiously friendly, asking you non-intrusive questions about your credit card account. However, your intuition tells you that something is not right about this caller. #-ad_banner-#In this case, your intuition is correct. The “person” you were just speaking to isn’t a person at all. It is the latest iteration of artificial intelligence-powered voice recognition and response software. You answered the phone since the number looked familiar, this is not random chance — the number was spoofed to look one you would recognize to increase the likelihood that you would answer the phone. We are in the midst of a revolution in the… Read More

As the U.S. wireless telecom backbone has evolved since its infancy of the late 1990s, the game, save for a few minor players, has been dominated by two companies: AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Combined, the two own about 65% of the U.S. market. With 142.7 million subscribers, Verizon holds the top spot over AT&T’s 131.8 million customers. It’s also common knowledge that the stocks of both companies are perennial favorites among dividend investors. Many hold both in their portfolios. After all, it makes sense to own both number one and two. But does it make more sense… Read More

As the U.S. wireless telecom backbone has evolved since its infancy of the late 1990s, the game, save for a few minor players, has been dominated by two companies: AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Combined, the two own about 65% of the U.S. market. With 142.7 million subscribers, Verizon holds the top spot over AT&T’s 131.8 million customers. It’s also common knowledge that the stocks of both companies are perennial favorites among dividend investors. Many hold both in their portfolios. After all, it makes sense to own both number one and two. But does it make more sense to hold just one of them? At first glance, the two stocks look almost identical. As of this writing, T shares trade around $41.50 with a 4.7% dividend yield, while VZ shares seem a little pricier at about $49.20 per share with a 4.7% yield. But a look underneath the hood on both stocks tells a much different story. Here’s what I found. Stronger Signal?   AT&T Verizon Two-Year ROE 11.66% 95.90% Two-Year Div. Payout Ratio 97.13% 47.70% Two-Year EPS Growth 43.50% 27.02% Two-Year Avg. Total Return 18.60% 12.00%   While AT&T’s earnings per share (EPS) growth blew past… Read More

One broker I know was fond of saying, “If you hold on to a good stock long enough, you’ll end up making money.” Coming from a stock broker, this was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it actually makes sense: In the long term, strong stocks with good fundamentals win. So the key word here is “good.” For the stock to move higher, investors must have reasons to like it. They look at the business’ future promise and determine whether or not today’s price fully reflects those expectations. #-ad_banner-#Investing isn’t a game of chance. Days, weeks and sometimes months… Read More

One broker I know was fond of saying, “If you hold on to a good stock long enough, you’ll end up making money.” Coming from a stock broker, this was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it actually makes sense: In the long term, strong stocks with good fundamentals win. So the key word here is “good.” For the stock to move higher, investors must have reasons to like it. They look at the business’ future promise and determine whether or not today’s price fully reflects those expectations. #-ad_banner-#Investing isn’t a game of chance. Days, weeks and sometimes months of painstaking research go into figuring out what’s good and what’s not, and millions of active investors do this work constantly. What makes it more complicated is that we all invest based on the outlook for the future, and the future is good at delivering surprises. But because so many analysts and investors do their homework, they are rarely collectively wrong. Without having a special knowledge of the future, the market processes all available information and makes a determination about the company’s future — and a stock’s ultimate direction is a reflection of that collective opinion. Of course, the markets… Read More

When I first started investing, outside of a few books, there was very limited information on how to pick winning stocks. Today, things are radically different. There is a tremendous number of stock screeners, advice gurus, and stock rating services. But the trick is to find one that works… #-ad_banner-#Investors are always looking for an edge. This is an advantage or unique tactic for locating winning stocks. Some stock market investors choose to find an edge on their own. While this can be a lucrative method, it is often very costly, and may lead down a never-ending rabbit hole of… Read More

When I first started investing, outside of a few books, there was very limited information on how to pick winning stocks. Today, things are radically different. There is a tremendous number of stock screeners, advice gurus, and stock rating services. But the trick is to find one that works… #-ad_banner-#Investors are always looking for an edge. This is an advantage or unique tactic for locating winning stocks. Some stock market investors choose to find an edge on their own. While this can be a lucrative method, it is often very costly, and may lead down a never-ending rabbit hole of misinformation and dead ends. Other investors prefer to take the easy way out by following proven stock rating services to help locate potential winning stocks in a sea of mediocrity. Personally, I utilize nearly every credible resource available, including self-developed screening criteria to pick winning stocks. When I do use a stock rating service, I like to know how it works. In other words, I want to understand the secret sauce behind the stock picks. One of the most popular stock rating services is TheStreet.com’s TheStreet Ratings, which specializes in providing winning stock picks for investors. If you’re already familiar… Read More

2016 was a record year at the box office, with sales hitting $11.2 billion. This success is expected to continue this year, with sales projected to eclipse $12 billion. Hollywood is pretty much booming. Today, I want to reveal the best way to profit. This global media giant owns the industry’s best portfolio of media companies and brands. I expect it to achieve record revenue in 2017. Even better, shares are trading at one of the biggest discount to sales in the last five years. The Walt Disney Corporation (NYSE: DIS) should be a familiar name. Disney is the second-largest… Read More

2016 was a record year at the box office, with sales hitting $11.2 billion. This success is expected to continue this year, with sales projected to eclipse $12 billion. Hollywood is pretty much booming. Today, I want to reveal the best way to profit. This global media giant owns the industry’s best portfolio of media companies and brands. I expect it to achieve record revenue in 2017. Even better, shares are trading at one of the biggest discount to sales in the last five years. The Walt Disney Corporation (NYSE: DIS) should be a familiar name. Disney is the second-largest media company in the world by revenue, behind only Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA). Disney owns one of the most valuable portfolios of companies in the entire global media industry. Its valuable properties include Walt Disney Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, ESPN, ABC, the Disney Channel, Lucasfilms, and the Star Wars franchise. #-ad_banner-#Beyond its media properties, Disney operates Disney Theme Parks, a collection of 14 theme parks with locations around the world. The company also owns the merchandising rights for its collection of brands under its consumer brands division, another huge source of revenue. Despite its industry-leading portfolio of media companies, Disney shares… Read More

It’s hard to believe, but the first quarter of 2017 is nearly in the books. And so far the market has continued its torrid pace. In fact, ever since the November election, the investing landscape has gone through a dramatic change of expectations with respect to economic growth, market valuations and inflation. And those expectations seem to be coming to fruition… #-ad_banner-#On March 10, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment data. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 235,000 in February, and the unemployment rate remained about the same at 4.7%. The consumer price index, which measures inflation, came… Read More

It’s hard to believe, but the first quarter of 2017 is nearly in the books. And so far the market has continued its torrid pace. In fact, ever since the November election, the investing landscape has gone through a dramatic change of expectations with respect to economic growth, market valuations and inflation. And those expectations seem to be coming to fruition… #-ad_banner-#On March 10, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment data. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 235,000 in February, and the unemployment rate remained about the same at 4.7%. The consumer price index, which measures inflation, came in at 2.74% last month, compared with 1.02% in February 2016. And residential housing starts jumped 6.2% in February over the same time last year. All these economic factors gave the Federal Reserve the green light to tighten the money supply by bumping interest rates up 25 basis points on March 15. Right now everything seems to be firing on all cylinders. Consumer confidence is at the highest level it’s been in 17 years. Unemployment is low, inflation is on target, housing is continuing to recover and the stock market is reaching new highs. As I’ve said many times before,… Read More

Recently, I had to take an exam for yet another license my industry requires me to have. Aside from feeling like I’d given birth to a compliance officer afterwards, I came away from the experience, newly minted license in hand, with an investment idea. I took the exam, on a computer workstation of course, at one of the many testing centers owned and managed by British education and multi-media publisher Pearson PLC (NYSE: PSO). Although my exam was specific to the financial industry, qualification exams for other professions are also administered at the centers, including nursing and engineering to name… Read More

Recently, I had to take an exam for yet another license my industry requires me to have. Aside from feeling like I’d given birth to a compliance officer afterwards, I came away from the experience, newly minted license in hand, with an investment idea. I took the exam, on a computer workstation of course, at one of the many testing centers owned and managed by British education and multi-media publisher Pearson PLC (NYSE: PSO). Although my exam was specific to the financial industry, qualification exams for other professions are also administered at the centers, including nursing and engineering to name a few.  Honestly, when I first looked at the stock, I was not impressed.     As you probably know, I’m not a chart guy. But if you go by these tea-leaves, the wiggles aren’t encouraging — and neither are the fundamentals. Earnings Per Share (EPS) has declined, on average, 131% on an annual basis over the last two years. Annual revenue has shrunk by 9.5% on average for the same period. But the short-term pain may be paving the way for long term gain. #-ad_banner-# Pearson, like most large publishing and media companies, is grappling with the disruptive technological… Read More

Last month, Reuters uncovered an internal report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimating the cost of a border wall with Mexico at $21.6 billion. The report projected a timeframe of nearly four years for construction. Whatever your view on the wall may be, that is a huge project. It amounts to more than a full year of sales at Fluor Corp (NYSE: FLR), the world’s largest engineering firm by revenue, or 5.6 times annual revenue at leading industrial materials firm Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM). Can companies afford to pass up the opportunity to… Read More

Last month, Reuters uncovered an internal report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimating the cost of a border wall with Mexico at $21.6 billion. The report projected a timeframe of nearly four years for construction. Whatever your view on the wall may be, that is a huge project. It amounts to more than a full year of sales at Fluor Corp (NYSE: FLR), the world’s largest engineering firm by revenue, or 5.6 times annual revenue at leading industrial materials firm Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM). Can companies afford to pass up the opportunity to bid on such a project? One company did just that, publicly refusing to participate. It’s one of the largest cement producers in North America and could have made billions on materials sales. But this company may still win out and, even better, shares are attractively-priced for strong 2017 fundamentals. #-ad_banner-# The Surprising Winner In The Border Wall Construction It wasn’t a complete surprise when $12 billion Cemex (NYSE: CX) didn’t show up on the list of initial bidders for the border wall project issued by the Department of Homeland Security.  The Mexican industrial company has a huge footprint in… Read More