Most successful investors figure out ways to spot opportunity before the masses figure it out. They often get in early — before the crowd catches on and sends the stock price up — and reap large benefits along the way. And… Read More

There’s Wall Street, and then there’s the “Wallflowers.” These are companies that go out of their way to avoid the Wall Street banking-and-research mill, content to let their businesses speak for themselves. Some companies end up as Wallflowers even if they prefer otherwise. Read More

When it comes to picking stocks, it’s not just your analysis of a company’s fundamentals that counts. It’s also your analysis of how other analysts and investors are looking at the current market events, a sort of “meta-analysis,” if you will. And I… Read More

Short selling is not for the faint of heart. If you get it wrong, then you could lose a lot of money quite quickly. That’s because a heavy short interest can lead to a short squeeze that adds… Read More

One of my favorite things about self-directed stock investing is finding under the radar, niche methods of locating companies for potential investment. Sometimes these little known stock selection edges can pay off handsomely for investors not afraid to try something new. I am particularly partial to niche-type strategies that have… Read More

Years ago, Wall Street analysts could differentiate stocks they favored against stocks with little appeal. A “buy” rating was all a client needed to know. But during the 1960s and 1970s, clients began to demand more information. They didn’t want to only know what to buy, but how much… Read More

More than one-third of companies in the S&P 500 have released 2012 quarterly results, and a clear set of themes have emerged. Profits have been slightly better than expected, while revenue has been a tad disappointing. More important, the forward view has been fairly dim: A wide range of companies… Read More

Going against the herd is a great way to score big gains in the stock market. And right now, with investors fleeing from shares of one of my favorite companies, a huge opportunity is… Read More

Let’s get right to it… I want to update you on two of my top stock picks this year — picks that I think could rise 50% or even 100% over the next few years, even though each is suffering from some major challenges. I was able… Read More

It’s a $632 billion industry with more than 970,000 locations in the United States. This industry employs 12.9 million workers, making it one of the largest private-sector employers on Earth. Daily sales approach $2 billion with a continually growing active demographic. Yet interestingly enough, this sector is… Read More