tech stocks
-
How I Learned to Pick Tech Stock Winners From an $80 Million Software Disaster
As an investor, even when your focus is technology, you can't forget the people factor.
That cardinal rule of high-tech stock picking is one that I never forget.
I learned it back in my journalism days, when I broke the biggest story of my career ... a national news story about an $80 million debacle at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).
The focus of that debacle was technology. But the catalyst was human.
Let me tell you the story and show you the big impact it has in the way I analyze winning tech stocks.
-
Get in the Ground Floor of This $1 Trillion Industry
How many times have you studied the stock charts of Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG), Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) or Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) - and wished you could travel back in time to become an early stage investor in just those sorts of king-making companies?
We can't, of course, but I can offer the next best thing: I can tell you about the brand-new industry where the next stock like this will likely come from.
I'm talking about 3D printing.
Folks who've been following my work know that I've been predicting this sector's emergence for some time. Back in March, I told readers of our sister newsletter Money Morning that 3D printing was a $1 trillion industry in the making. In October, in a note to all of you, I followed up with a roundup report on the newest breakthroughs.
In every piece I've written, my key message was always the same: 3D printing will give tech investors the next real shot at windfall profits.
It's already playing out just as I predicted. But even I was surprised at how much money investors made off this segment last year.
-
The Top Four Tech Stories That Keep Me Up Late At Night
I'm not one for partying. But I am very much into tradition.
And I have one tradition that makes New Year's Eve one of my most favorite days of the year.
You see, every New Year's Eve - before we head out to dinner - my wife and I sit by the fire as I review the paradigm-shifting events and exciting discoveries of the prior 12 months.
We've come to refer to this exercise as my "annual report."
And now I'm going to share that "report" with you.
On a personal note, one of the most exciting events of 2012 was the launch of the Era of Radical Change.
Last year turned out to be perfect for the introduction of a newsletter that sifts through world-changing innovations in search of the ones that can bring you life-changing gains.
Like the financial markets, the world of technology is moving faster than ever. In the world of science, what was formerly fiction has become fact.
In looking back over the stories that I've penned since April, here are the four top tech stories that keep me up at night.
Their impact could be huge - and so could their payoff.
To continue reading, please click here... -
Stock Market Today Fades Along with Chances of Fiscal Cliff Deal
The stock market today tumbled after chances of a fiscal cliff deal looked unlikely.
The stage was set Thursday night when a vote on Republican House Speaker John Boehner's Plan B, a fiscal cliff compromise to be presented to U.S. President Barack Obama, never even made it to vote among fellow Republicans. When word came of the setback, all major overnight future indexes sharply dropped.
When markets opened Friday, the slide continued. Shortly after noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 176 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 20 points and the Nasdaq was lower by 43.
Investors appear to be bracing for the worst with just 10 days left before America falls over the cliff, with a deal is nowhere in sight.
Stocks on the Move Today
Shares of Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) rang lower Friday, sinking almost 20% in mid-afternoon trading.
RIM reported third-quarter earnings after the close Thursday that showed the BlackBerry maker swung to profitability, but lost about one million subscribers in the quarter. It marked the first time membership has fallen. The real test, analysts say, comes next quarter following the much anticipated release of the company's new Smartphone, the BlackBerry 10.
To continue reading, please click here... -
These Five High-Tech IPOs Are On Fire
Who says high-tech stocks have hit the skids?
In a move that bodes well for 2013 stock market, high-tech IPOs have been absolutely on fire in the closing weeks of 2012.
In fact, judging by their gains, high-tech IPOs have soundly beaten the rest of the market’s new issues over the last three months. At least five soared by more than 40%.
Even the IPOs that many market watchers thought would fizzle have jumped out of the box.
The most recent is SolarCity Corp. (Nasdaq: SCTY) which debuted last week.
Instead of landing with a thud, shares of the solar panel installer soared nearly 50% on its first day of trading from a reduced offering price of $8 a share.
That left SolarCity tied for third place among IPO performers in the quarter that ends Dec. 31. Even as of late yesterday, SolarCity shares were still up by 55%.
But SolarCity is just the latest big winner. Here is a look at the other four winning high-tech IPOs based on their closing prices as of last week.
-
A New Speed of Light Breakthrough Gives Tech Investors Two Ways to Profit
If you could find a way harness the speed of light - 299,792,458 meters per second - in computing, processors could handle massive amounts of data at mind-numbing speeds.
That's why industry leaders have been pursuing the promise of optical computing for decades now.
At the very least, it could lead to computer speeds that are up to 100 times faster than what we have today.
Indeed, we've figured out how to pump light through fiber optics for super-high-speed communications in computer networks and the Web. That's become routine today.
But still, no one could find a way to solve the challenge of focusing light in tiny spaces like computer chips. It's a brick wall known as the "diffraction limit." Simply stated, it means that once you get into tiny spaces - like the postage-stamp size of a semiconductor - you can no longer focus a light beam.
Until now...
Two teams of computer researchers have just announced major advances that promise to make optical computing a reality in the very near future.
One comes from a famous tech leader whose shares are publicly traded; the other out of academia.
Of course, major advances in the lab often make it to the market in ways that mean profits for early investors.
This is one of those rare cases where a breakthrough happens at a prestigious university... and you could literally invest in the field today.
To continue reading, please click here... -
2013 Tech Stock Forecast: The "Buzz-Worthy" Stocks The Market Will Love Next Year
The best way to score tech stock gains in 2013 is simple: tap into the areas where there is "constant buzz."
But before we get to the three areas that are the most buzz-worthy, let's start by clearing up one big myth. There really is no such thing as one tech industry.
High-tech now sweeps throughout the entire economy. We're talking everything from robot welders, to laser surgery, to hum-drum database management.
So, even if the economy remains flat or declines, there will still be buzz-driven tech stock winners, companies involved in fields that are so vital that customers simply must have their products.
That's why I tell investors to look for huge global trends that will continue no matter what happens with the fiscal cliff or the Eurozone debt crisis.
Ditto for the expected battles over Obamacare this year. Two years after its passage, we still don't know exactly how many states will set up the exchanges needed to put the law into practice.
Either way, it doesn't really matter...
There's so much going on in high tech that some specific tech stocks are bound to yield big gains in 2013.
I've narrowed it all down to three vital areas that should power through next year-- no matter what the economy or the politicians throw at them.
It starts with the biggest of them all, the mobile wave...
To continue reading, please click here... -
Tech Stocks Go On Sale – Is Shah Buying?
