Category
Technology
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Stocks to Buy: Three Solid Tech Picks for Under $5 a Share
When considering stocks to buy, sometimes cheaper (and smaller) is better.
Popular tech behemoths like Google, Inc. (NYSE: GOOG) and Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) now trade for hundreds of dollars a share, making them impractical stocks to buy for small investors.
Most retail investors are better off taking a pass on those splashy household names and looking for stocks to buy that go for more modest prices – stocks that trade for less than five bucks a share.
Stocks trading for $5 or less often are considered riskier, but offer more upside than their bigger, pricier brethren.
That's because stocks of small companies are less liquid and more volatile relative to the rest of the market. Typically, their prices tend to be move in bigger chunks, making for bigger gains (or losses).
Simply put, these stocks can provide more bang for your buck.
Here's what you need to know…
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Sony and Microsoft Fall Flat at E3, Opening the Door for Indie Game Competitors
Today marks the close of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, a mammoth annual conference in which the world's best and brightest tech companies show off the latest in video game technology.
This year's E3 was one of the most-anticipated yet, as 2 of 3 gaming giants Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Sony Corp. (NYSE ADR: SNE) each unveiled their new gaming consoles.
Giant #3 Nintendo Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: NTDOY) opted to sit this one out, having just released its newest console, the Wii U, late last year.
I've been using my *ahem* embarrassingly extensive nerd powers to troll forums and get an idea of how Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PS4 stack up in the eyes of the gaming community.
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The Ultimate Tech Stock "Treasure Map"
On Saturday, I introduced you to the "stealth small-cap" – aging-and-slow big-cap tech firms that were rediscovering the fast growth of their small-cap roots … thanks to the newly emergent Cloud Computing trend.
Judging from the comments and correspondence I received, a lot of you were really intrigued by that concept – and by the huge opportunity for profits that the cloud was creating for investors.
In fact, Strategic Tech Investor subscriber Dionisios S. was so intrigued by that column that he asked me to identify some other "stealth-small-cap" profit plays.
What a great question.
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Why Google Glass Is a Terrifying Dud
You never really know what you might get into sitting on the corner stool of a bar in Manhattan.
Last week, I came across a man with a strange little contraption spanning his face at a nearby table. It turns out he was wearing a Google Glass prototype. It was 1 of the 150 prototypes that have been released on the East Coast.
With all of the hype surrounding it, I just had to try it and he gladly gave me a ten-minute lesson. And after a just few minutes with this contraption, I could only reach one conclusion: Google Glass is total dud.
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How to Really Make a Fortune on the "Mobile Wave"
If you've been riding along with me for any length of time, you know I get really revved up whenever I talk about the "Mobile Wave" in technology.
The truth is, I can't help it: I look at the forecasts, calculate all the money that can be made, and end up feeling as jazzed as can be about the windfall profits we can reap from this transformational trend.
And I'm not the only one who's feeling this technology-fueled ebullience: The folks over at Amazon.com are clearly experiencing the same adrenalin-driven affliction.
Amazon, you see, is coming out with its own smartphone.
And not just any smartphone. Amazon's entry into smartphone derby is going to be one cool mobile device – highlighted by a 3D screen that will display photos so realistically that you'll want to just reach out and touch them.
Why in the world, you might ask, is an "e-tailer" entering the wireless-phone business?
Just look at the numbers.
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Why This Stock (and Sector) Will Trounce All Others
Forget gold, forget oil, and forget the S&P 500.
If you want to make big money in the market today you have to look to biotech.
In fact, if you ignore this field, you're going to miss some of the market's biggest stock gains.
That's because what happened earlier this week is going to become the norm.
On Monday, of the top 25 Nasdaq advancing stocks, 12 were straight-up biotech plays and another was a small-cap healthcare concern.
Their one-day gains ranged from 8% to 47%. Not bad for a day's trade.
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Why the Twitter Flash Crash Should Make You Angry
The Twitter flash crash on Tuesday that very briefly shaved 140 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average should be of great concern to retail investors.
That short and sudden dip in the markets, caused by a false Tweet on a hacked Associated Press account that suggested President Obama had been injured in a bombing at the White House, was yet another reminder of the risks that high-frequency trading (HFT) poses to the markets, and to retail investors in particular.
Simply put, HFT is the practice of using supercomputers to execute trades in milliseconds.
Because high-frequency trading accounts for at least half of the market, any hiccup in the system can have an instant and dramatic impact, as we saw with the now-infamous flash crash in May 2010 that sliced 1,000 points off the Dow in 10 minutes.
As if that weren't already treacherous enough, HFT firms increasingly have added social media inputs, like Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) and Twitter, to the mix, to scour their feeds for news that could affect stocks.
So now even something as absurd as a fake Tweet can move markets.
"Algorithms used to trade off news headlines, now they trade off tweets. That's very dodgy, very shaky ground," Oli Freeling-Wilkinson, chief executive officer of the London-based analytics firm Knowsis, told Reuters.
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Is Apple Stock a "Buy"?
Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) are down 25% this year, which means hungry investors want to know – is Apple stock a "Buy," or is it a "falling knife" to avoid?
While some analysts are screaming "Buy," there's some discouraging news to consider. For example, Apple supplier Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq: CRUS) reported an inventory glut of audio chips that signals Apple iPhone sales could fall drastically short of expectations.
Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald explains what's going on with Apple stock, whether or not investors should scoop up shares, and what to expect next from this iconic company.
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Apple: Cash or Trash?
With Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) off nearly 50% from its $705.07 a share high set last September, many investors want to know if it's a buy.
Not in my book. Here's why:
1. The company has held on to its premium pricing strategy for too long. Going out on price as it has recently with iPhones, for example, is the death knell of competitive differentiation. Businesses that engage in price wars have a very difficult time climbing back up the proverbial ladder.
2. The present management team is having trouble fulfilling the late Steve Jobs' vision, and execution appears to be stumbling. The Maps thing, for instance, was an unmitigated disaster and shattered Apple's image of invincibility. The public noticed.
