Archives for December 2010

December 2010 - Page 3 of 9 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

Hot Stocks: Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Has the Hot Hand Among Casino Operators

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Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) has gained more than 200% this year, rising from $14.94 at the beginning of January 2010 to close yesterday (Tuesday) at $47.23.

Given that spectacular run, you might think that the LVS play is over – but it's not. In fact, investors would be wise to keep their money on the table. And here's why.

Originating with the famous Sands Hotel in 1952, Las Vegas Sands has expanded into the luxury casino resort market in recent years, opening The Venetian Las Vegas resort in 1999.

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No Holiday Cheer for Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) as Online Retailers Steal the Joy

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The highlight of the week before Christmas, from a stock market point of view, is always the third-quarter earnings report of electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY). It's a tradition almost as old as St. Nick, and since the mid-2000s usually covered in just as much red.

Back during the 1990s, BBY was the alpha dog of retail stocks. In a period of fantastic strength in tech stocks, BBY was every bit their equal, rising more than 1,000% from 1997 to 2000 by promoting the digital good life.

Those were the days, huh?

But as you could see in its report and guidance last Tuesday, the technology-driven big box retailer from Minneapolis is now just a shadow of its former self, disappointing again with a 5% decline in same-store sales and offering weak guidance. The saddest part was that the market didn't even care. Investors of other retailing stocks basically just averted their gaze.

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Will New iPhone Give Boost to Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Shares?

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The buzz surrounding the long-awaited release of a Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) iPhone is reaching a fevered pitch as it appears the telecom giant is ready to bring the device to market.

Verizon is expected to confirm it will start providing service for the iPhone early next year, according to a report last week in The Wall Street Journal.

January may be a strange time to launch the much-anticipated product, but AT&T (NYSE: T) reportedly convinced Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) to give it one last holiday season as the iPhone's exclusive U.S. provider, according to a report in Tech News World.

With millions of frustrated AT&T network users making noise and millions of loyal Verizon customers anticipating the iPhone's release, investors are wondering if the iPhone could give shares of both Apple and Verizon a shot in the arm.

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Bush Tax Cuts: How to Profit From the Compromise Tax Deal In 2011

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With a compromise agreement that extends the Bush tax cuts for two more years, the Obama administration has given investors what they wanted – but not what they needed.

The compromise tax deal was signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday, and continues to draw fire from critics on both sides of the political aisle. The $858 billion tax package isn't paid for. In fact, it actually costs more than the controversial Obama stimulus plan that has been criticized for having little measurable impact – even as it caused the budget deficit and the U.S. debt burden to explode.

And yet, investors have been cheered by the deal.

Near term, that's an acceptable perception. But in the long run, some very real problems loom. Investors who ignore those problems will take a real beating – and it will be self-inflicted. But investors who prepare for the inevitable will actually improve their positions: They'll not only protect themselves, they will profit.

Here's how investors need to position themselves for the fallout from the Bush-tax-cuts deal...

Buy, Sell or Hold: Six Reasons Claude Resources Inc. (AMEX: CGR) is a 'Buy'

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When I was doing due diligence for my investors, I remember the CEO of an oil and gas company once telling me: "If you want to find oil, it's easier if you drill where oil has already been found."

This rule carries with it a lot of truth about geology. However, it works with gold resources just as much as it does with oil. It's always easier to find gold, where it has already been discovered.

In Canada, the most prolific gold mining district is the Red Lakes District. If you want to find gold, it helps to have ownership in a Red Lake property. It is the heart of high volume gold production in Canada.

And Claude Resources Inc. (AMEX: CGR) is one of the few companies to own one of the historic mines in that district. The Madsen mine is still fully permitted with a mill ready to operate again.

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U.S. Industrial Stocks Now Back on Top, As Emerging Markets Falter

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Stocks tiptoed through a typically introspective, no drama December week in the past five days, with the Dow Jones Industrials rising 0.7%, and the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and Russell 2000 all rising about a third of a percent.

While an 0.3% gain doesn't sound like much for a week, it is actually a great result. If the market were up 0.3% every week for 52 weeks, it would be up 17% for the year without dividends, which is about double the long-term average. And just to round out that idea, if the market were up 17% every year for 10 years, it would end the decade up 380%. Small amounts add up due to the magic of compounding.

The market was not fully in gear across all industries. The deep cyclicals performed best, led by steelmakers, which were up 6.5% as a group. Leading the way was mini-mill Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE), which rose 7% for the week after offering a bright forecast for the first half of 2010. Consumer staples were another plus, led by food makers such as Hansen's Natural Corp. (NASDAQ: HANS) and Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM), up 7.5% and 13% for the week.

Retailers and financials fell back the most during the week led by the 18% plotz of Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY). Consumer spending is actually on track, as I'll discuss in a moment, so this was mostly a BBY problem not a problem for the whole industry.

Click Here to Read Why U.S. Stocks Are Now Leading…

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Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) Suffer From Interchange Fees Slashing

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The U.S. Federal Reserve dealt a blow to credit card providers and banks yesterday (Thursday) with a proposal to cut debit card transaction processing fees as much as 90%.

Congress directed the Federal Reserve as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to review the debit card swipe fees – or "interchange fees" – charged by banks and card networks to determine if they were "reasonable and proportional" to the transaction processing cost. Analysts had expected the result would be a reduction in fees of up to 50%.

The proposal went beyond estimates, aiming to cap the interchange fees at 7 cents to 12 cents per transaction, or about 0.3% of the face value of the average purchase. This would be about an 84% drop from the current 1.3% average, or 44 cents, per transaction.

"Nobody expected it to be this draconian," said David Robertson, publisher of the credit-card industry newsletter the Nilson Report.

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