Corporate raiders are economic assassins. They strike fear into the hearts of company executives. And T. Boone Pickens has been one of the best.  The oilman turned corporate raider was one of the pioneers of the leveraged buyout craze of the 1980s, producing huge gains for his investors while becoming one of the richest people in America with a net worth of $1.4 billion. As a legendary oilman, investor… Read More

Corporate raiders are economic assassins. They strike fear into the hearts of company executives. And T. Boone Pickens has been one of the best.  The oilman turned corporate raider was one of the pioneers of the leveraged buyout craze of the 1980s, producing huge gains for his investors while becoming one of the richest people in America with a net worth of $1.4 billion. As a legendary oilman, investor and corporate raider, Pickens has a knack for two things: knowing when to strike and when to play big. #-ad_banner-#T. Boone Pickens’ Biography Pickens showcased his lethal business smarts at an early age. At age 12, he expanded his paper route from 28 to 156 papers. In 1956, after graduating with a degree in geology from Oklahoma A&M and working for Phillips Petroleum for three years, Pickens founded the company that would eventually become Mesa Petroleum. By the early 1980s, Mesa had grown into one of the largest independent gas and oil companies in the world, transforming Pickens into… Read More

The S&P 500 index rose another 3% last week, continuing a winning stretch that began last fall.  Since Nov. 7, the S&P has risen 22%. That works out to be a roughly 35% annualized gain. Trouble is, the rally is increasingly due to a perception by individual investors that stocks can only move in one direction: up. In its most recent survey, the American Association of Individual Investors… Read More

The S&P 500 index rose another 3% last week, continuing a winning stretch that began last fall.  Since Nov. 7, the S&P has risen 22%. That works out to be a roughly 35% annualized gain. Trouble is, the rally is increasingly due to a perception by individual investors that stocks can only move in one direction: up. In its most recent survey, the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) noted that the percentage of investors who are currently bearish is now less than 20%. That’s the lowest reading in 18 months, yet as legendary fund manager Sir John Templeton once noted, “The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.”#-ad_banner-# I’ve already researched one half of that maxim. Back in 2010, I noted that stocks tend to rally when that AAII survey finds few bullish… Read More

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke ignited another stock market rally and stocks ended last week near all-time highs. Traders will stay focused on Bernanke for at least the next week. All Eyes Will Stay On the Fed Last week, SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) gained 2.75% as traders… Read More

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke ignited another stock market rally and stocks ended last week near all-time highs. Traders will stay focused on Bernanke for at least the next week. All Eyes Will Stay On the Fed Last week, SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) gained 2.75% as traders once again cheered the Fed’s easy money policy. This week, monetary policy should remain in focus as Bernanke makes his semi-annual visit to Capitol Hill. During the past month, the chairman’s words have sparked a sell-off (in mid-June) and a recovery (last week) in stock prices. It is unlikely he will add any new information about policy in his testimony, but his words will be scrutinized. A 30-minute chart of SPY shows the impact Bernanke had on prices last week. A speech after the close on Wednesday, where… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management firm on several occasions in recent months, as it has appeared on my screens regarding companies with share buybacks, strong free cash flow yields, solid dividend yields and a valuation near book value. Now you can add insider buying to that list. Company founder John Calamos Sr., who launched the firm in the 1970s, has been actively buying shares for two straight months. In that time, he’s picked up more than 300,000 shares at an… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management… Read More

Does a rising tide lift all boats? No, but it does lift most of them.  Some stocks aren’t getting much attention in this surging bull market, and it’s often up to insiders to help these stocks get attention.  Here are three stocks with recent solid clusters of insider buying. (All data is courtesy of InsiderInsights.com.) Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS) I’ve come across this asset management firm on several occasions in recent months, as it has appeared on my screens regarding companies with share buybacks, strong free cash flow yields, solid dividend yields and a valuation near book value. Now you can add insider buying to that list. Company founder John Calamos Sr., who launched the firm in the 1970s, has been actively buying shares for two straight months. In that time, he’s picked up more than 300,000 shares at an… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money.” — Warren Buffett in a letter to shareholders in March 2000 Buffett wrote that as the dot-com boom was in its final stages, and soon after this annual letter to shareholders was written, the market tumbled. Buffett’s insights apply to today’s market as well. Whenever the market goes up for an extended period (as it has for the past four years), investors develop a sense of hubris and begin… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still… Read More

Investors spend a lifetime developing a suitable philosophy that helps shape their financial decisions. To develop their views, they seek the sage advice of successful investors. The best advice has a quality of timelessness and can be thought about in virtually any economic environment. Here are five of my favorite pieces of advice, starting with perhaps the world’s most famous investor: 1. Warren Buffett “The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money.” — Warren Buffett in a letter to shareholders in March 2000 Buffett wrote that as the dot-com boom was in its final stages, and soon after this annual letter to shareholders was written, the market tumbled. Buffett’s insights apply to today’s market as well. Whenever the market goes up for an extended period (as it has for the past four years), investors develop a sense of hubris and begin… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring huge… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring huge gains in commodities in the early 2000s and correctly predicting the financial and housing crisis, Jim Rogers has his sights set squarely on what he calls one of the greatest opportunities he has ever seen, and now he’s sharing his stock market investing advice, with you! Jim Rogers’ Biography Rogers showed a penchant for business at an early age. His career as an entrepreneur began at age 5 with selling peanuts and picking up empty bottles left behind at baseball games in Alabama. After graduating from Yale University in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring huge gains in commodities in the early 2000s and correctly predicting the financial and housing crisis, Jim Rogers has his sights set squarely on what he calls one of the greatest opportunities he has ever seen. Jim Rogers’ Biography Rogers showed a penchant for business at an early age. His career as an entrepreneur began at age 5 with selling peanuts and picking up empty bottles left behind at baseball games in Alabama. After graduating from Yale University in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Rogers headed to Wall Street and worked… Read More

As earnings season gets underway, investors have been delivered a huge jolt in one of their favorite stocks. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering this stock was one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500. But it’s a wake-up call for any other pricey stocks. If you own one of them, be sure you are not getting in front of a train wreck. The stock in question: Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq:… Read More

As earnings season gets underway, investors have been delivered a huge jolt in one of their favorite stocks. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering this stock was one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500. But it’s a wake-up call for any other pricey stocks. If you own one of them, be sure you are not getting in front of a train wreck. The stock in question: Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG), which traded at around $580 in February. Thanks to a stunning one-day plunge, shares are suddenly flirting with the $400 mark. Tepid quarterly sales get the blame, though the size of this stock’s drop is surely due to the stock’s valuation. Back in February, when this stock was making fresh highs, it was valued at more than 30 times projected 2013 profits. Considering that profits were on course to grow around 15% (from 2013 to 2014), that was an unconscionably high… Read More