In most cases, a stock with a high dividend yield is of great appeal to income investors. However, a stock with an above-average dividend payout could also mean investors have knocked the share… Read More

After surging for nearly two years, the stock market appears to have reached a plateau. Every time the S&P 500 makes a move to surpass its two-year high of 1,370, it falters anew. Whether it can finally breach that mark and move up another 20% or 30% will be decided… Read More

When it comes to biotech stocks, some investors like to swing for the fences. When that plan works, it feels great. Shareholders of Dendreon (Nasdaq: DNDN), for example, saw their investment rise from $3 in March 2009 to more than $20 in just two months. The stock has doubled again… Read More

In 1999, James Glassman and Kevin Hassett grabbed headlines with their book Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting From the Coming Rise in the Stock Market. Their timing was impeccably bad. The Dow Jones Industrial Average peaked later that year at 11,900 and didn’t see the same levels again… Read More

Experienced income investors know one of the surest ways to build wealth is to buy stocks that regularly increase dividends. This is because dividend growth can turn even low-yielding stocks into big income producers over time. For example, consider the… Read More

In the last few years, we’ve seen the demise of such retailers as Bombay, Linen & Things and Circuit City. These firms were ill-equipped to handle the duel pressures of a slowing economy and the rising pressure of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and other retailers. And… Read More

Imagine a restaurant that is so unclean, health inspectors wouldn’t allow it to reside in the same shopping center as other eateries. Well, this is just what investors have found when searching for stocks listed in the “Pink Sheets.” These stocks aren’t allowed anywhere… Read More

Are you looking for stocks with great growth prospects? A good place to begin your search is with companies that are splitting their stock. When a company’s outlook is improving and the share price is climbing, management often uses stock splits to lower the price and make… Read More

For the firms operating the nation’s leading mutual funds, times are tough and getting tougher. If you have money parked in their key funds, then be prepared to be dragged along for the ride. Net results are weak and could get even weaker, making this a bad time to commit… Read More

We’re less than a week away from a key milestone. The first half of 2011 will come to a close and investors will look ahead for what the second half of the year has in store. #-ad_banner-#The S&P 500 began the year at 1,260, rose roughly 110 points (or 9%) by early May and has since given back much of the gains. Looked at another way, the S&P 500 has risen roughly 3% this year, which is good for a 6% annualized gain. This is not especially impressive — but it could have been worse. With all… Read More

We’re less than a week away from a key milestone. The first half of 2011 will come to a close and investors will look ahead for what the second half of the year has in store. #-ad_banner-#The S&P 500 began the year at 1,260, rose roughly 110 points (or 9%) by early May and has since given back much of the gains. Looked at another way, the S&P 500 has risen roughly 3% this year, which is good for a 6% annualized gain. This is not especially impressive — but it could have been worse. With all the global headwinds in place, investors could just as easily have been looking at major losses in the first half of 2011. One thing’s for sure: the past will not be prologue. More than likely, the market is going to finally respond to some of the looming crises and turn down [“5 Economic Crises that Could Derail Your Portfolio”]. Or these issues may recede in importance, kicking off the next leg of a powerful bull market that began in March 2009 and lasted for more than two years. [“5 Reasons… Read More