Archives for January 2013

January 2013 - Page 18 of 20 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

Solar Stocks to Buy: Three Companies Poised for Rebound

by

The majority of investors, when considering stocks to buy, have given up on solar companies.

That's mostly due to a two-year beatdown of the sector and plenty of bad publicity from the demise of federally subsidized Solyndra.

But while the sector continues to suffer – more solar companies will likely go under in 2013 – a choice few are positioned to benefit from a rebound that will start this year.

One sure sign of better days ahead is that the sector has recently attracted interest from one of the world's most respected investors, Warren Buffett.

Just within the past month MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a subsidiary of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B), announced a deal to pay SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWR) between $2 billion and $2.5 billion for two California solar projects.

That followed MidAmerican's purchase of a 49% stake in an Arizona solar plant jointly owned by NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) and First Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), as well as the $2 billion purchase of a planned solar farm in San Luis Obispo, CA, also from First Solar.

Here's why Buffett has taken an interest.

To continue reading, please click here...

Limited Brands - Growth & Income

by

A healthy dividend yield of 2.1% and a long-term earnings growth projection of 12% make Limited Brands Inc. (LTD) a viable option for investors seeking growth and income.   Earnings estimates for this Zacks #2 Rank (Buy) specialty retailer of women’s intimate and other apparels have advanced since its fiscal third-quarter report in November, which […]

Read More…

HSN Inc. - Aggressive Growth

by

Shares of HSN Inc. (HSNI) have been growing over the past year, as this multi-channel retailer has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in 10 of the past 13 quarters.   The stock’s momentum underscores HSNI’s differentiated merchandise offerings, digital expansion and strategic investments in brands and acquisitions. This Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) surged 52.4% […]

Read More…

Bear of the Day: Adobe Systems - Bear of the Day

by

Adobe Systems' (ADBE) fourth quarter earnings exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate, but we feel the subscription service will hurt Adobe's revenue growth. Hence, we are downgrading our recommendation on Adobe shares from Neutral to Underperform. Adobe lowered its fiscal 2013 guidance from $4.4 billion to $4.1 billion, considering the faster uptake the of Creative Cloud […]

Read More…

Here's Your Key to a Winning Financial Plan in 2013

by

If you're like most of the rest of us, you've probably made your fair share of New Year's resolutions by now.

If that's the case, here's one more "resolution" to add: Review my investment plan for 2013 and beyond.

As regular readers of my work know, I have a real love for old investing adages and aphorisms. And there's one that really applies to today's story.

Back during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told listeners that "he who fails to plan is planning to fail."

And was he ever right.

So many investors fail precisely because they "wing it" and don't have a plan of any kind.

It's not the plan itself that's really so important; it's the insights that you gain from creating the plan that are the real benefit. You reassess – and remind yourself of – such things as:

  • Your risk tolerances.
  • Your current financial situation, as well as where you eventually want to be.
  • Any ancillary issues (like saving for your son's college education, or making sure you can handle taking care of an elderly parent).
  • Any problem investments you might be holding, or any "holes" in your allocations that need to be filled.
  • And the steps you need to be taking to actually meet all of these goals.

We're looking at this today because the start of a new year is, from a psychological standpoint, a really sound time to undertake such an assessment . We're already assessing our personal lives with "resolutions." So why not just add one more exercise – a financial one – and spend a little extra time thinking about it, too?

Here are some tips that will help you map out your financial plan for 2013:

To continue reading, please click here...

Nine Lessons From The Greatest Trader Who Ever Lived

by

The stock market has certainly produced its share of heroes and villains over the years. And while villains have been many, the heroes have been few.

One of the good guys (for me, at least) has always been Jesse L. Livermore. He's considered by many of today's top Wall Street traders to be the greatest trader who ever lived.

Leaving home at age 14 with no more than five bucks in his pocket, Livermore went on to earn millions on Wall Street back in the days when they still literally read the tape.

Long or short, it didn't matter to Jesse.

Instead, he was happy to take whatever the markets gave him because he knew what every good trader knows: Markets never go straight up or straight down.

In one of Livermore's more famous moves, he made a massive fortune betting against the markets in 1929, earning $100 million in short-selling profits during the crash. In today's dollars, that would be a cool $12.6 billion.

That's part of the reason why an earlier biography of his life, entitled Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, has been a must-read for experienced traders and beginners alike.

A gambler and speculator to the core, his insights into human nature and the markets have been widely quoted ever since.

Here are just a few of his market beating lessons:

To continue reading, please click here...

Why the U.S. Debt Ceiling Debate is a Bigger Deal than the Fiscal Cliff

by

With the fiscal cliff deal behind us at last, the next big battle in Washington will focus on the U.S. debt ceiling, and the stakes are high.

The United States officially hit the $16.394 trillion U.S. debt ceiling Dec. 31. The debt now stands at about 73% of U.S. gross domestic product and will continue to rise over the next decade without major spending reforms.

Now the U.S. Treasury Department has decided to employ what Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner calls "extraordinary measures" in the next two months to avoid actually defaulting on debt. Those measures include temporarily stopping the reinvestment of federal employees' retirement account contributions into short-term government bonds as well as other steps to discontinue debt issuance.

The new deadline for resolving the debt ceiling issue looms at the end of February, giving Congress little time to regroup after partly resolving the fiscal cliff.

"Do not forget that the fiscal cliff is only one of three upcoming problems in our ongoing fiscal madness," Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald said. "There's still the debt ceiling, sequestration and the complete lack of a budget to contend with. In other words, it's on to the next crisis now."

To continue reading, please click here...

U.S. Jobs Report: What to Expect from December

by

The ADP employment report out today (Thursday) offered a glimpse of what to expect Friday in the December U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department.

The private sector created 215,000 new jobs in December, much more than the 133,000 jobs economists had expected, and a sharp increase from the previous month, according to the report.

The biggest gains were in the category of trade/transportation/utilities, which grew by 53,000.

Gains in construction hiring were also robust, with 39,000 positions added in December, the U.S. jobs report said.

The healthy showing in this struggling sector was attributed mostly to relief work after Hurricane Sandy. But the slow, yet steady recovery in the housing market also deserves some of the credit.

Medium-sized businesses led job creation, adding 102,000 new jobs. Large businesses followed with 87,000 new jobs.

Bucking the trend was manufacturing; the sector shed 11,000 positions while service providers increased headcount by 187,000, according to data from Moody's Analytics.

The strong showing was a surprise, given months of cautionary words from a bevy of analysts and the Congressional Budget Office.

The analysts and the CBO had warned the fiscal cliff saga would lead to massive job losses and cutbacks in business expansion, hiring and investment.

"The most surprising thing is that despite all the brinkmanship over the fiscal cliff drama and the debate about that, businesses didn't change their hiring plans. They seemed to slow up their investment spending but not on their hiring, so that's very, very encouraging," Mark Zandi, Moody's Analytics chief economist, told CNBC.

To continue reading, please click here...

Stock Market Today: Rally Over Already?

by

The stock market today (Thursday) so far has failed to continue yesterday's rally that delivered the Dow Jones Industrial Average's biggest one-day gain since Dec. 20, 2011.

After Washington announced a fiscal cliff deal Tuesday, investors raced into stocks and other risk-on trades, relieved that the country wasn't going to tumble over the dreaded fiscal cliff.

"You've just removed a huge worry from the market," Jonathan Samson, chief investment officer at Samson Capital Advisors told The New York Times.

In response, the Dow finished the first trading day of 2013 up 308. 41 points, or 2.35%. The gains also propelled the benchmark index to its highest close since Sept. 14, 2012. Volume was heavy with more than 4.5 million shares changing hands on the Big Board.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 36.23 points, or 2.54%, and the tech heavy Nasdaq tacked on 92.75 or 3.07%.

Gold gained $13 to close at $1,688.80; silver added 78 cents to $31.01, and oil gushed higher by $1.30 to finish the day at $93.12.

But by 10 a.m. today, the Dow had slipped more than 30 points, or 0.23%.

Some Wall Street analysts were quick to warn that the fiscal cliff euphoria will die out by next week, and that yesterday's rise was nothing more than a short-term relief rally.

"Considering there are so many headwinds facing the economy, including the debt ceiling negotiation in 60 days, the smart money knows the bullish sentiment will be short-lived. The lesson for investors here is 'buyer beware,'" Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital wrote in an email to FOX Business Network.

To continue reading, please click here...

Nu Skin Enterprises - Value

by

Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NUS) has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the past 4 quarters with an average surprise of nearly 10%. As a result, all earnings estimates for this anti-aging personal care products company have been on the rise of late. It also recently reached a 52-week high and has a potential long-term […]

Read More…