When assessing any stock, you need to weigh the risk against reward. Yet for Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) shareholders, it’s a challenging task. To be sure, it’s really hard to see how much risk there is when Apple’s net cash balance… Read More

When assessing any stock, you need to weigh the risk against reward. Yet for Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) shareholders, it’s a challenging task. To be sure, it’s really hard to see how much risk there is when Apple’s net cash balance stands at $137 billion — and is on its way to $200 billion in a few years. Management has started dropping hints that shareholder-friendly moves are coming, which usually means stock buybacks or big dividend boosts.#-ad_banner-# Still, even as Apple carries relatively minor… Read More

When assessing any stock, you need to weigh the risk against reward. Yet for Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) shareholders, it’s a challenging task. To be sure, it’s really hard to see how much risk there is when Apple’s net cash balance stands at $137 billion — and is on its way to $200 billion in a few years. Management has started dropping hints that shareholder-friendly moves are coming, which usually means stock buybacks or big dividend boosts.#-ad_banner-# Still, even as Apple carries relatively minor risk, it’s not clear what kind of upside investors should expect either. As I noted a couple days ago, competition is gaining on Apple, which could lead to market share erosion and falling margins as price cuts ensue. Yet there is another major consumer electronics company that also carries a fairly low level of risk, but also offers the potential of significant upside. It’s a company that was the “Apple” of the industry before Apple took off like a rocket during the past decade. And it’s a company that… Read More

In coming months, moviegoers will be treated to a pair of hagiographic films about Steve Jobs. In early April, we’ll get to see Ashton Kutcher’s impression of the legendary tech visionary. Some time later in 2013, a script Aaron Sorkin — the man behind… Read More

The stock market has outperformed even the most optimistic forecasts so far this year. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up nearly 10% in just the first six weeks of 2013. While not… Read More

Investment bankers are a fickle lot. When the market takes a tumble, they tell their soon-to-go-public banking clients to withdraw their plans for an initial public offering (IPO). But when the market is stable and rising, as has been the case in recent months, then they scramble back to those clients, telling them the time to complete the IPO has arrived. As long as the market avoids an… Read More

Investment bankers are a fickle lot. When the market takes a tumble, they tell their soon-to-go-public banking clients to withdraw their plans for an initial public offering (IPO). But when the market is stable and rising, as has been the case in recent months, then they scramble back to those clients, telling them the time to complete the IPO has arrived. As long as the market avoids an air pocket in 2013, then the coming year could prove to be a very active period for IPOs. Indeed, we’re off to a good start: There have been $5 billion worth of IPOs completed thus far this year, according to Dealogic. The tech-heavy slate of upcoming IPOs will be led this week by a debut for Xoom, a fast-growing online money-transfer service. Here are 10 other fast-growing tech companies that are currently being cajoled by investment bankers to take the plunge. A few of them may end up in your… Read More

After 25 years of service, Leon Cooperman decided to retire as head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 1991. His retirement didn’t last very long. Cooperman quickly launched his own investment firm, Omega… Read More

After 25 years of service, Leon Cooperman decided to retire as head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 1991. His retirement didn’t last very long. Cooperman quickly launched his own investment firm, Omega Advisors. Two decades later, approaching his 70th birthday, Cooperman is outgunning his hedge fund peers, many of whom are several decades younger. His firm has now amassed nearly $7 billion in assets under management.  We don’t yet know how he did for… Read More

After 25 years of service, Leon Cooperman decided to retire as head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 1991. His retirement didn’t last very long. Cooperman quickly launched his own investment firm, Omega Advisors. Two decades later, approaching his 70th birthday, Cooperman is outgunning his hedge fund peers, many of whom are several decades younger. His firm has now amassed nearly $7 billion in assets under management.  We don’t yet know how he did for all of 2012, but according to this report, Omega Advisors was up 27% through the first nine months of the year. A quick look at his top holdings shows the fund manager is still very much on top of his game. These 10 picks, accounting for 38% of his current portfolio, are all in the black. (Note that many of these stocks… Read More

In the midst of today’s raging bull market in stocks, it’s hard to think about crisis investing. As stocks surge higher toward record territory, economic troubles are the furthest thing… Read More

An investing maxim, when turned on its head, can still be true. In decades past, investors were told that you “can’t fight the Fed,” which meant that when the Federal Reserve was boosting interest rates, markets would… Read More

As readers of Top 10 Stocks already know, Chief Strategist Paul Tracy recently handed over the reins to Elliott Gue, one of the most widely followed investing strategists in the United States. Why the change? During the past… Read More