Archives for April 2013

April 2013 - Page 5 of 21 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

5 Factors That Will Push Silver to $250 an Ounce

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All bull markets go through periods of consolidations and corrections. And precious metals are no exception.

There has been plenty about gold's swan dive, but less talk about silver. And at this point there's more potential for silver than gold…significantly more.

Because the global silver market is relatively small, silver prices tend to be more volatile; the pounding selloff we witnessed in silver this past month is a testament to that fact. But volatility works both ways, so when silver rises, its price can explode higher.

That's exactly what happened in April 2011, when silver prices rose by 170% in the space of just 7 months. That's why silver investors say investing in silver is like buying "gold on steroids."

And right now, it looks like the silver market is on the cusp of doing the same thing all over again. According to our research, the next stop could be $40 by year's end, and $60 by the end of 2014. And much higher after that.

Here are five key factors that will drive silver higher – significantly higher – in coming years.

Apple Stock May Not Climb, But Will Still Reward Investors

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There was really only one good thing for Apple stock investors in yesterday's (Tuesday's) earnings report.

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) announced an unprecedented share buyback program and boosted its dividend in attempts to pacify edgy investors who have watched the company's stock tumble about 34% over the past six months.

The iPhone maker will return $100 billion of cash to shareholders by 2015, through an increased dividend and $60 billion share buyback program. Apple's quarterly dividend was sweetened 15% to $3.05 a share. The stock now carries a juicy 3% yield. The new dividend is payable on May 16 to shareholders of record May 13.

With an annual payment of some $11 billion, Apple becomes the biggest dividend payer in corporate America, taking the crown from Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM).

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The Market for Clean Energy Investments Continues to Move East

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While renewables and other "clean" energy solutions continue to lose steam with investors in North America, it's quite another story elsewhere.

Investment capital is moving east at an incredible pace.

Last week, the Pew Charitable Trusts issued the fourth annual "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race?"

Worldwide, nations increased clean energy generation capacity by 88 gigawatts (GW) in 2012. However, that also complemented an 11% decline in overall investment compared to 2011.

Some of that is explained by the impending end of heavy government subsidies in both the U.S. and the European Union. But despite the drop, 2012 still marked the third straight year in which clean energy investments topped $200 billion worldwide.

The year still ended with more than five times the investment recorded in 2004, the year generally used as the base for calculations.

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Wasteful Government Spending: Duplicate Programs Squander Billions

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So many federal agencies are duplicating one another's efforts in so many different areas that the billions lost to such wasteful government spending is impossible to calculate.

A recent report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office uncovered 162 areas of duplicate spending, which at minimum wastes tens of billions of dollars every year.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, a well-known hawk on wasteful government spending, estimates that the duplication cited in the GAO report squanders between $100 billion and $200 billion a year.

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Bard Beats on 1Q Earnings, Profit Slumps - Analyst Blog

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CR Bard Inc.’s (BCR) first-quarter 2013 adjusted earnings of $1.44 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. Adjusted earnings exclude one-time items such as acquisition-related expenses ($0.7 million), asset impairment charges ($5.7 million) and litigation expenses ($25.8 million). Although adjusted earnings declined 11%, it was within the company’s previously announced guidance. In […]

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TSS Earnings Lags Est. on High Exp. - Analyst Blog

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Total System Services Inc. (TSS) reported first-quarter 2013 operating earnings of 30 cents per share, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 34 cents but were in line with the year-ago quarter figure. The company’s earnings per share climbed 1.7%, while net income attributable to shareholders edged up 1.1% to $57.0 million from $56.4 million […]

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Bear of the Day: Randgold (GOLD) - Bear of the Day

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Gold miners have had a rough ride in the recent months due to the slide in gold prices. In fact, gold miners have been hit more by the precious metal’s slide than the metal itself. Further, sharp downward estimates revisions have resulted in a cloudy near-term outlook for this Zacks Rank # 5 (Strong Sell) […]

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Stocks to Buy When South Korea Heads Higher

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One of the biggest stories of the year so far has been the saber rattling coming from North Korea.

The communist nation's young leader Kim Jong-un has insisted that his nation is at war with South Korea and war is imminent. He has refused diplomatic talks with South Korea and the United States and raised tensions on the peninsula to heights not seen in many years.

All of this has weighed on the South Korean stock market and created what well may be a significant opportunity to find undervalued stocks to buy. The South Korean markets have sold off and are down on the year by about 6% when measured by the iShares South Korean ETF (NYSE: EWY).

The reality is that no matter how much saber rattling is done North Korea isn't likely to wage war on its Southern brethren. They simply cannot afford it. They don't have enough fuel and many parts of the country have no electricity and little food.

China may watch the rhetoric with a bemused eye but is unlikely to encourage a war.

Gold Buyers Get Physical As Coin and Jewelry Sales Surge

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I was honored to be in St. Paul's Cathedral attending Margaret Thatcher's funeral last week. It was quite a special opportunity to pay tribute to Britain's longest-serving prime minister in person, and the ceremony provided a reflective occasion on her influential leadership and unwavering conviction.

As her country faced an economic crisis with high inflation, high tax rates and hundreds of mining strikes, the lady's iron courage helped her make the difficult decisions that steered the United Kingdom to a more sustainable path.

A steely resolve seems to be lacking in many of our world leaders today. Maggie led the U.K. down the path of privatization, encouraging entrepreneurship and free markets because her belief was that "Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money."

In his recent webcast, Global Portfolio Strategist Don Coxe points out the effectiveness of this privatization path, showing the rise in the U.K.'s real GDP from the time she was elected Leader of the Opposition in 1975 through today.