Is there any stopping Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and its dominance of the online retail trend? In October, the online e-tailing megalith blew past first quarter estimates to report sales growth of 23% over the same period last year. Amazon captured 36% of all retail growth volume in North America for the year through September and is expecting a very merry holiday shopping season. The company just hired 100,000 seasonal workers in addition to 25,000 new full-time staff. As traditional retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) warn investors of sluggish brick-and-mortar sales, online retail is surging.   Forrester Research estimates that U.S. Read More

Is there any stopping Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and its dominance of the online retail trend? In October, the online e-tailing megalith blew past first quarter estimates to report sales growth of 23% over the same period last year. Amazon captured 36% of all retail growth volume in North America for the year through September and is expecting a very merry holiday shopping season. The company just hired 100,000 seasonal workers in addition to 25,000 new full-time staff. As traditional retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) warn investors of sluggish brick-and-mortar sales, online retail is surging.   Forrester Research estimates that U.S. online retail sales will reach $334 billion this year, growth of 9% from last year, and could grow to $480 billion by 2019. More than half (57%) of Americans bought something online over the last year and e-commerce accounts for 12.7% of total retail. Expected growth in online retail is more than double the 3.7% growth expected at brick-and-mortar stores according to the National Retail Federation. There’s no doubt that Amazon is crushing the retailing competition and will play a very big role in the future of shopping but the short-term risks are just as glaring. Shares have doubled over… Read More

If you’re starting to get nervous about the stock market, I don’t blame you. Volatility is hitting record levels we haven’t seen in 25 years. Growth is slowing across the globe. The market is delivering one of its worst performances in years. But despite all these forces converging, you still have the chance to make once-in-a-decade gains, thanks to a time-honored StreetAuthority tradition. I’m talking about the latest edition of our annual report: “Top 10 Stocks for 2016.” Without a doubt, this is our most anticipated piece of research each year.  My staff and I… Read More

If you’re starting to get nervous about the stock market, I don’t blame you. Volatility is hitting record levels we haven’t seen in 25 years. Growth is slowing across the globe. The market is delivering one of its worst performances in years. But despite all these forces converging, you still have the chance to make once-in-a-decade gains, thanks to a time-honored StreetAuthority tradition. I’m talking about the latest edition of our annual report: “Top 10 Stocks for 2016.” Without a doubt, this is our most anticipated piece of research each year.  My staff and I have spent the past few months on this project, and it wasn’t cheap. I calculate the total cost of gathering, analyzing and distributing this data will come to more than $250,000. And we take a big risk in publishing it. There are no take-backs with this report. Once it’s published, we’re locked in for the year. If we make bad calls, we know investors will remember it. That means when we publish them for everyone to see, we’re putting ourselves out on a limb in a big way.  So far, that risk has paid off every… Read More

Surgery is big business, and it’s going to get bigger for years to come.  There are about 51 million in-patient procedures — those serious enough to require hospital admission — done every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And while the economy is growing at a low-single-digit rate, revenue for makers of medical equipment, surgical supplies and related products and services is increasing 8% to 10% a year. As Chief Investment Strategist of Game-Changing Stocks, I can’t ignore a number like that. My job is to research new trends and innovations that I think are going to revolutionize… Read More

Surgery is big business, and it’s going to get bigger for years to come.  There are about 51 million in-patient procedures — those serious enough to require hospital admission — done every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And while the economy is growing at a low-single-digit rate, revenue for makers of medical equipment, surgical supplies and related products and services is increasing 8% to 10% a year. As Chief Investment Strategist of Game-Changing Stocks, I can’t ignore a number like that. My job is to research new trends and innovations that I think are going to revolutionize the world. And companies in the surgical equipment industry are doing just that. America is beginning to age. Those 65 and over account for just over 14% of the population today, and the group is expected to grow to 21.7% by 2040.  This is big news for the surgical industry because while some surgical procedures are common among younger people, the majority of them — like joint replacements and bypasses — tend to be more frequent among older Americans.  As these surgeries begin to become necessary more often, hospitals will have huge incentive to remain on the cutting edge for… Read More

In 2009, Apple coined the phrase “There’s an app for that,” in a marketing campaign touting the iPhone 3. The phrase is still commonly quoted. It was a hands-down advertising victory for the tech giant. Six years later, I’d propose a similar claim, pertaining to the investing world. “There’s an expert for that.” In today’s financial climate, filled to the brim with talking heads, round-the-clock financial news and thousands of “expert picks,” nearly anyone could justify nearly any investing decision. Think it’s time to buy small caps? So does one expert. Think it’s time to sell them? So does a… Read More

In 2009, Apple coined the phrase “There’s an app for that,” in a marketing campaign touting the iPhone 3. The phrase is still commonly quoted. It was a hands-down advertising victory for the tech giant. Six years later, I’d propose a similar claim, pertaining to the investing world. “There’s an expert for that.” In today’s financial climate, filled to the brim with talking heads, round-the-clock financial news and thousands of “expert picks,” nearly anyone could justify nearly any investing decision. Think it’s time to buy small caps? So does one expert. Think it’s time to sell them? So does a different expert. Think Wall Street is just an intergalactic conspiracy being run by aliens? There’s an expert for that. But despite all the fanfare, fancy haircuts and retroactive “I told you so” claims, do you know the one thing these “experts” have never seen coming? The largest booms in American history. The baby boom is a perfect example. The world’s economy had just been devastated by WWII. We’d just picked up the tab to rebuild Europe with the Marshall Plan, giving us more post-war debt than our total GDP. Factories all over were closing down as they stopped producing war… Read More

Many people have written America off. They think our best days are over.  Conventional wisdom says that American industry is “over the hill.” Many observers today believe that U.S. firms simply can’t compete with the likes of the emerging Chinese and Brazilian markets. It’s certainly true that on a basic scale, those economies are growing faster. America’s 1.9% GDP growth last year doesn’t come close to China’s 7.7%. And from ballooning government debt to prolonged conflict overseas to scandalous behavior on Wall Street, it’s easy to think that these talking heads might be on to something. But nothing could be… Read More

Many people have written America off. They think our best days are over.  Conventional wisdom says that American industry is “over the hill.” Many observers today believe that U.S. firms simply can’t compete with the likes of the emerging Chinese and Brazilian markets. It’s certainly true that on a basic scale, those economies are growing faster. America’s 1.9% GDP growth last year doesn’t come close to China’s 7.7%. And from ballooning government debt to prolonged conflict overseas to scandalous behavior on Wall Street, it’s easy to think that these talking heads might be on to something. But nothing could be further from the truth.  Sure, America has its problems. There’s no denying that. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll find that there’s one area — perhaps the most important area — where America still firmly leads the globe. I’m talking about innovation. You see, a mounting pile of evidence suggests we’re entering an industrial renaissance that will once again jumpstart the U.S. economy and bring the nation back to the industrial giant it once was.  The U.S. Still Dominates Innovation Perhaps the greatest testament to the rebirth of the American economy is how innovation emerges in so… Read More

Companies that went on a debt-fueled acquisition binge when times were good start scrambling to cover their interest payments. High-flying startups with little cash flow but terrific growth start to see investor sentiment come crashing down. #-ad_banner-#I’m not saying an end to the six-year bull market is coming soon, but investors may want to start looking for companies with the balance sheet health that will make it through lean times. I’ve found one industry that has seen strong, reliable cash flows that aren’t likely to stop soon — if ever. The Affordable Care Act Has Been A Cash Machine For… Read More

Companies that went on a debt-fueled acquisition binge when times were good start scrambling to cover their interest payments. High-flying startups with little cash flow but terrific growth start to see investor sentiment come crashing down. #-ad_banner-#I’m not saying an end to the six-year bull market is coming soon, but investors may want to start looking for companies with the balance sheet health that will make it through lean times. I’ve found one industry that has seen strong, reliable cash flows that aren’t likely to stop soon — if ever. The Affordable Care Act Has Been A Cash Machine For Healthcare Companies Passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) sent enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) soaring. These two programs provide coverage for low-income families that otherwise might not be able to afford it and is now subsidized under the ACA. Nationwide enrollment jumped 19% adding 11.2 million to the programs from the summer of 2013 to January of this year. States that implemented the ACA Medicaid expansion plan have seen even faster growth with a 26% jump in enrollments. The trend won’t end soon. Enrollment rates are still climbing and some states haven’t adopted… Read More

Investing is one of the most emotional activities a person can participate in. The psychological pulls and tugs on an investor throughout the process of buying, holding and selling stocks is exactly what makes it so intriguing. #-ad_banner-#You see, investors can turn on an individual stock or even a whole sector based on little more than a single negative news headline. Or, as we’ve seen over the last month, a single tweet by a person that isn’t even an elected official anymore can send a number of financially lucrative stocks far below their real intrinsic value. Today’s story began with… Read More

Investing is one of the most emotional activities a person can participate in. The psychological pulls and tugs on an investor throughout the process of buying, holding and selling stocks is exactly what makes it so intriguing. #-ad_banner-#You see, investors can turn on an individual stock or even a whole sector based on little more than a single negative news headline. Or, as we’ve seen over the last month, a single tweet by a person that isn’t even an elected official anymore can send a number of financially lucrative stocks far below their real intrinsic value. Today’s story began with the overnight profit grab — and subsequent viral rage seen online — by hedge fund manager-turned-drug company founder, Martin Shkreli’s. In September, Shkreli bought the rights to Daraprim, a drug that treats toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by a parasite, and promptly raised the price of the drug to $750 per pill, from just $13.50 — a 5,500% price hike. A few days after that, Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted this: When you mix grandstanding political messages with a sector as large and profitable as Big Pharma, you’re going to get some overreactions on both sides. That’s exactly… Read More

In June, as the third quarter got underway, consensus profits for companies in the S&P 500 were expected to show a modest 1% year-over-year dip. Three months later, analysts now think profits will slide nearly 5%, from year-earlier levels.  Of the companies that have announced guidance, 76 expect negative EPS growth for the third quarter according to FactSet Research. That compares to only 32 companies that have issued positive guidance for the three-month period so far.  The pain continues to build in the energy and materials sectors, but many other sectors are seeing downward earnings revisions as well. Fear of… Read More

In June, as the third quarter got underway, consensus profits for companies in the S&P 500 were expected to show a modest 1% year-over-year dip. Three months later, analysts now think profits will slide nearly 5%, from year-earlier levels.  Of the companies that have announced guidance, 76 expect negative EPS growth for the third quarter according to FactSet Research. That compares to only 32 companies that have issued positive guidance for the three-month period so far.  The pain continues to build in the energy and materials sectors, but many other sectors are seeing downward earnings revisions as well. Fear of higher interest rates and declining earnings growth led an 8.6% drop in the S&P 500 index, and a sharp spike in the VIX volatility index since mid-August. The trend is so bad that analysts are expecting earnings growth of just 0.6% in the fourth quarter. The revenue picture is equally challenging. Analysts think that third-quarter sales fell 3.3% against the same quarter last year. On a full-year basis, they are modeling for a 2.4% drop in sales. Unless revenue growth returns soon,  investors may start questioning whether corporate management teams can squeeze further earnings growth from continued cutbacks. The 12-month… Read More

The stock market has been gyrating wildly in recent months, and the wild ride may be far from over. That’s great news for Chicago-based CBOE Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: CBOE). This securities exchange operator is uniquely positioned to benefit from volatile markets. Shares of CBOE are getting lift from a key technical index: the VIX, which measures market volatility. As the chart below shows, shares have been moving higher in recent weeks, despite a pullback in the broader market. That’s solely due to volatility levels that have not been seen since the financial crisis. As the VIX appears poised to remain… Read More

The stock market has been gyrating wildly in recent months, and the wild ride may be far from over. That’s great news for Chicago-based CBOE Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: CBOE). This securities exchange operator is uniquely positioned to benefit from volatile markets. Shares of CBOE are getting lift from a key technical index: the VIX, which measures market volatility. As the chart below shows, shares have been moving higher in recent weeks, despite a pullback in the broader market. That’s solely due to volatility levels that have not been seen since the financial crisis. As the VIX appears poised to remain at elevated levels, CBOE’s investors are looking at an attractive profit opportunity. The Case For Large Near-Term Gains As the owner of the well-known Chicago Board Options Exchange, CBOE provides the world’s largest market for options contracts on stocks, indexes and exchange-traded products. It directly owns the VIX, as well as the associated options and futures. Key proprietary products also include the highly popular S&P 500 option, the most actively traded index option in the United States. As volatility rises, demand for options soars because more investors use them to hedge losses, or speculate on specific indexes… Read More

While it may feel as if the stock market is in a deep slump, the S&P 500 is still within 10% of its all-time high. Perhaps the market environment feels so lousy because many individual stocks are now trading far below their 52-week highs. In fact, more than a quarter of all stocks in the S&P 500 have fallen more than 30% from their peak. And fully 96 of the companies in the index are now trading more than 40% below the 52-week high. #-ad_banner-# I’ve spent the last week researching this group of laggards. Many — if not most… Read More

While it may feel as if the stock market is in a deep slump, the S&P 500 is still within 10% of its all-time high. Perhaps the market environment feels so lousy because many individual stocks are now trading far below their 52-week highs. In fact, more than a quarter of all stocks in the S&P 500 have fallen more than 30% from their peak. And fully 96 of the companies in the index are now trading more than 40% below the 52-week high. #-ad_banner-# I’ve spent the last week researching this group of laggards. Many — if not most — of them may stay stuck in a rut for some time to come, thanks to growth headwinds of still-rich valuations. Yet a handful of these losing stocks are clearly oversold, and poised for a sharp rebound in coming quarters. These are the three best opportunities I’ve found. Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) Earlier this year, shares of this department store retailer were surging as management laid out plans to pursue more bold fashions for the back-to-school and holiday seasons. A period of subsequent tepid quarters have quashed investor enthusiasm, leading shares to fall sharply. To be sure, fiscal… Read More