It’s been a long decade for Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO). The search and tech company has seen its stock rise just 10% over the past 10 years.  This comes after years of battling activist investors, a carousel of CEOs, and a declining business. The saving grace has been Alibaba (Nasdaq: BABA), where Yahoo has a 15% stake in the company. The success of Alibaba has helped overshadow Yahoo’s own problems.  #-ad_banner-#However, a perfect storm has been brewing at Yahoo. The company announced plans to spin-off its stake in Alibaba in early 2015. Yahoo invested in Alibaba back in 2005 and was… Read More

It’s been a long decade for Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO). The search and tech company has seen its stock rise just 10% over the past 10 years.  This comes after years of battling activist investors, a carousel of CEOs, and a declining business. The saving grace has been Alibaba (Nasdaq: BABA), where Yahoo has a 15% stake in the company. The success of Alibaba has helped overshadow Yahoo’s own problems.  #-ad_banner-#However, a perfect storm has been brewing at Yahoo. The company announced plans to spin-off its stake in Alibaba in early 2015. Yahoo invested in Alibaba back in 2005 and was finally looking to unlock value from the appreciation. However, Yahoo abandoned the plan, because the spinoff won’t be tax-free as initially anticipated — and the tax bill would be sizable given the growth in Alibaba. Instead, Yahoo decided to try and spinoff its own core business, including the search business and websites such as Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Finance, which would still be a taxable transaction. Then, just last month, Yahoo also said it’s willing to sell the core business. There are now tensions over the future of the company and whether Marissa Mayer is the best CEO for the… Read More

Have you ever wondered why the United States is so different from any other country, or why so many of the products used around the world were invented here? Go anywhere on earth, and you’ll see people using smartphones. Where did the smartphone originally come from? America. It was originally developed by IBM in Florida. #-ad_banner-#Likewise, you’ll find Internet access everywhere, which was also invented in the United States. In fact, go to any large city in the developed world, and you can watch a Hollywood movie, hear American music and find a Starbucks. Call it American ingenuity, but the… Read More

Have you ever wondered why the United States is so different from any other country, or why so many of the products used around the world were invented here? Go anywhere on earth, and you’ll see people using smartphones. Where did the smartphone originally come from? America. It was originally developed by IBM in Florida. #-ad_banner-#Likewise, you’ll find Internet access everywhere, which was also invented in the United States. In fact, go to any large city in the developed world, and you can watch a Hollywood movie, hear American music and find a Starbucks. Call it American ingenuity, but the things we come up with are inevitably sought after by people in nearly every corner of the world. Even where the governments don’t like us — like in Russia and Iran. This has gone on throughout history. The list is endless: the cotton gin, the telegraph, the telephone, the light bulb, the airplane. You get the picture. I’m not saying this to be patriotic. I say it to remind you that we have something unique in this country that’s helped us out of every economic mess we’ve found ourselves in. In fact, nearly every time our economy has looked down… Read More

A word of advice to investors who remain leery of Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT): Set aside any lingering doubts and get back into the stock. Target’s on the mend after recent setbacks. #-ad_banner-#I’m referring, of course, to the discount retail giant’s infamous 2013 security breach that exposed the credit card data of some 70 million customers. Also that year, Target kicked off what would prove to be a brief, poorly executed attempt at Canadian expansion. That ended abruptly early last year with a $5.4 billion write-down and roughly $2 billion in net losses. All this crushed the bottom line, with… Read More

A word of advice to investors who remain leery of Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT): Set aside any lingering doubts and get back into the stock. Target’s on the mend after recent setbacks. #-ad_banner-#I’m referring, of course, to the discount retail giant’s infamous 2013 security breach that exposed the credit card data of some 70 million customers. Also that year, Target kicked off what would prove to be a brief, poorly executed attempt at Canadian expansion. That ended abruptly early last year with a $5.4 billion write-down and roughly $2 billion in net losses. All this crushed the bottom line, with Target posting more than a $1.6-billion net loss in the 12 months ended January 31, 2015 versus a $3-billion profit two years earlier. Target’s stock was in or near bear territory during much of these turbulent times and the firm’s image suffered, putting management in the unenviable position of having to win back both customers and investors. But much has changed since then. Under new CEO Brian Cornell, a three-decade retail and consumer products veteran who took command right in the middle of the tumult, Target and its stock are executing a decisive turnaround. One key move: divesting… Read More

My colleague Andy Obermueller has been telling readers of his premium newsletter, Game-Changing Stocks, to target a number of well-known, high-quality stocks for months now. In case you’re not familiar, Andy advocates for his readers to take an “80/20” approach to investing. This means 80% of your portfolio is allocated to safer investments with a fairly predictable rate of return (think: index funds, blue chips, etc.). The other 20% is reserved for picks that can really move the needle on your portfolio — the kinds of innovative, world-changing companies he regularly recommends in his premium newsletter. #-ad_banner-#As he puts it,… Read More

My colleague Andy Obermueller has been telling readers of his premium newsletter, Game-Changing Stocks, to target a number of well-known, high-quality stocks for months now. In case you’re not familiar, Andy advocates for his readers to take an “80/20” approach to investing. This means 80% of your portfolio is allocated to safer investments with a fairly predictable rate of return (think: index funds, blue chips, etc.). The other 20% is reserved for picks that can really move the needle on your portfolio — the kinds of innovative, world-changing companies he regularly recommends in his premium newsletter. #-ad_banner-#As he puts it, the market’s volatility and global uncertainty make it tricky to recommend the aggressive-growth stocks he usually does. But on the flip-side, it also gives investors a chance to scoop up high-quality stocks at steep discounts that hold the kind of triple-digit “home-run” potential he and his readers usually target. I’d like to briefly run through a few of the high-quality names Andy has been recommending to his readers. For the sake of space, I won’t be able to give you Andy’s full thesis. To get a full rundown, you’ll need a subscription to Game-Changing Stocks. But as… Read More

Investors seem to be warming back up to U.S. stocks, with good reason: despite growing nervousness about a global economic slowdown, our economic indicators continue to look relatively strong — confirming the view of many economists, and the Federal Reserve Board, that the fourth-quarter slowdown did not presage a U.S. recession. When jobs and consumer spending are on the rise while interest rates and inflation remain low, it’s time to look beyond the safer, high-quality stocks that looked attractive after the correction and focus on slightly more leveraged plays on the economy: mid-cap growth stocks. Midsized companies can grow more… Read More

Investors seem to be warming back up to U.S. stocks, with good reason: despite growing nervousness about a global economic slowdown, our economic indicators continue to look relatively strong — confirming the view of many economists, and the Federal Reserve Board, that the fourth-quarter slowdown did not presage a U.S. recession. When jobs and consumer spending are on the rise while interest rates and inflation remain low, it’s time to look beyond the safer, high-quality stocks that looked attractive after the correction and focus on slightly more leveraged plays on the economy: mid-cap growth stocks. Midsized companies can grow more impressively, because they are improving on a lower, usually less-diversified base of revenue and earnings, and they tend to be nimbler than large, mature companies — a huge asset in a time of dynamic change in almost every industry. #-ad_banner-#The S&P 400 Mid Cap Index dropped 11.4% from the beginning of 2016 through February 11 — a full-fledged correction. Since then, it’s rallied 11%, almost back to its end-of-year level. That’s a solid sign that investors are finding bargains among midsized companies and recognize that the economy is robust enough to support continued growth. Some caution is in order. Despite… Read More

Shares of Disney (NYSE: DIS) are trading below $100, yet again. The stock appears to be having serious issues with breaking through its all-time high of around $122 a share.  This comes as Disney has a real problem on its hands. DIS has traded up to $120 per share twice in the past six months. Both times it quickly tumbled to below $100, due to worries about growth challenges for cable channel ESPN.  #-ad_banner-#The stock is now off close to 20% in just the last three months after a damning earnings report. The big question has become: what could help… Read More

Shares of Disney (NYSE: DIS) are trading below $100, yet again. The stock appears to be having serious issues with breaking through its all-time high of around $122 a share.  This comes as Disney has a real problem on its hands. DIS has traded up to $120 per share twice in the past six months. Both times it quickly tumbled to below $100, due to worries about growth challenges for cable channel ESPN.  #-ad_banner-#The stock is now off close to 20% in just the last three months after a damning earnings report. The big question has become: what could help Disney finally break through the $120 level in 2016?  The short answer is a break-up.  That’s right, breaking up the House of Mouse might be the answer. But even if we don’t see a breakup, investors should take a closer look at Disney.  Does ESPN Need To Go?  The obvious answer is to get rid of the problem child. Right now, Disney’s biggest issue is ESPN. The media industry is troubled, to say the least. Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) has tried to buy 21st Century Fox (Nasdaq: FOXA), and an activist investor is pushing for change at Viacom (Nasdaq:… Read More

Yesterday, I took a hard look at the recent performance of various sectors of the stock market. One area stood out: the construction & engineering sector — companies that build civil engineering projects, major commercial and industrial buildings and national infrastructure — is down about 13% over the past 12 months, but up 5.7% over the past month, a period during which the broad market rose less than 1%. Given the headline consensus that global economic growth is slowing, and that we may in fact be on the brink of a modest but real worldwide recession, why would shares of… Read More

Yesterday, I took a hard look at the recent performance of various sectors of the stock market. One area stood out: the construction & engineering sector — companies that build civil engineering projects, major commercial and industrial buildings and national infrastructure — is down about 13% over the past 12 months, but up 5.7% over the past month, a period during which the broad market rose less than 1%. Given the headline consensus that global economic growth is slowing, and that we may in fact be on the brink of a modest but real worldwide recession, why would shares of companies that rely on capital investment be rallying so sharply?  #-ad_banner-#Maybe investors in these companies are collectively wiser than the broad market’s conventional wisdom.  One reason for the sector’s rally was strong rebounds by a few stocks whose companies reported better-than-expected earnings. But that’s not the whole story. Across the board, investors are moving back into an area that seems vulnerable in the current climate. That’s a good sign that the market correction, while warranted somewhat by news from China, Brazil and OPEC, was an overreaction — and that investors realize that global demand for heavy infrastructure projects, particularly in… Read More

Last December in Paris, almost every country on Earth agreed to substantially reduce carbon emissions over the next decade, and to meet regularly to report on progress. Cynics can argue that the climate conference’s goals will never be met. But scientists are in lockstep about the urgency of action — and for the first time, a practical framework is in place, with everyone on board. #-ad_banner-#One of the major beneficiaries of government policies to reduce carbon emissions will be solar power. Electricity generation accounts for a huge chunk of carbon emissions, due to the prevalence of power plants that burn… Read More

Last December in Paris, almost every country on Earth agreed to substantially reduce carbon emissions over the next decade, and to meet regularly to report on progress. Cynics can argue that the climate conference’s goals will never be met. But scientists are in lockstep about the urgency of action — and for the first time, a practical framework is in place, with everyone on board. #-ad_banner-#One of the major beneficiaries of government policies to reduce carbon emissions will be solar power. Electricity generation accounts for a huge chunk of carbon emissions, due to the prevalence of power plants that burn coal and natural gas. Generating power from solar, wind, nuclear, hydro and geothermal sources produces little or no carbon emissions — so shifting from fossil fuels to alternatives is the easiest way to effect change. And even with natural gas at historically low prices, the relative cost of solar power is — for the first time — affordable for power plants to at least increase their mix of solar. And in large global economies still building out their power grid, such as India, solar will now be the power source of choice.  Solar received more good news in the budget… Read More

I have a confession to make. I love American Presidential politics the same way that many people love sports. It’s my March Madness — but it lasts almost an entire year.  2016 is turning in to one of the strangest elections I’ve ever watched. It’s a bit like a 50 car pileup; you know you shouldn’t look but you just can’t resist. #-ad_banner-#On the GOP side, the biggest ruckus is being kicked up a by billionaire real estate mogul turned reality TV star with zero government experience who is running a populist themed campaign that defies conventional wisdom on a… Read More

I have a confession to make. I love American Presidential politics the same way that many people love sports. It’s my March Madness — but it lasts almost an entire year.  2016 is turning in to one of the strangest elections I’ve ever watched. It’s a bit like a 50 car pileup; you know you shouldn’t look but you just can’t resist. #-ad_banner-#On the GOP side, the biggest ruckus is being kicked up a by billionaire real estate mogul turned reality TV star with zero government experience who is running a populist themed campaign that defies conventional wisdom on a daily basis. The Democratic choices are no less weird with a geriatric, self-avowed, socialist senator who is also running on an angry, populist platform and a former Secretary of State with a politically dynastic name and trust issues. While the media devours this circus, the market jury is still out till at least summer, when the picture should be a bit clearer. In the meantime, smart investors should consider these moves to make sure their portfolios will be ready to weather the politically induced chaos should it arrive. 3 Areas To Avoid In An Election Year By nominating convention… Read More

Phew! The stock market recently has calmed down after a highly volatile first six weeks of 2016. While we may not be out of the woods, the sky-is-falling panic seems to have been overblown. Let’s use this breather to review three recommendations from late last year and assess if they’re still worthy. Boeing (NYSE: BA), which I recommended in December, has fallen sharply since then, for two reasons. First, investors’ rising concerns about economic growth in China and India led them to dump Boeing, which expects strong demand for commercial aircraft from those countries for years to come. Second, the… Read More

Phew! The stock market recently has calmed down after a highly volatile first six weeks of 2016. While we may not be out of the woods, the sky-is-falling panic seems to have been overblown. Let’s use this breather to review three recommendations from late last year and assess if they’re still worthy. Boeing (NYSE: BA), which I recommended in December, has fallen sharply since then, for two reasons. First, investors’ rising concerns about economic growth in China and India led them to dump Boeing, which expects strong demand for commercial aircraft from those countries for years to come. Second, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission last week announced that it was looking into Boeing’s use of “program accounting” methods for its 747 and 787 Dreamliner lines. While the SEC may decide there’s no problem, the cloud cast over the company led to another selloff. #-ad_banner-#In my view, both issues are legitimate concerns, but ones to which the market overreacted. China and India are not in or near recessions; they remain in strong growth modes, albeit slower than expected. Their orders for commercial aircraft are booked years in advance and are not expected to slow considerably as a result of their… Read More