Chalk up another correct prediction for our resident growth stock expert, Andy Obermueller. #-ad_banner-#In case you missed Apple’s big event in September, there were three key announcements that the legendary tech company revealed for the first time. The first was expected. Apple officially unveiled the iPhone 6, complete with a 4.7 inch screen (18% larger than the iPhone 5’s screen) and a processor that’s 50% faster. The second announcement was anticipated with some certainty. The company revealed its long-awaited smartwatch for the first time. The $349 Apple Watch is designed to… Read More

Chalk up another correct prediction for our resident growth stock expert, Andy Obermueller. #-ad_banner-#In case you missed Apple’s big event in September, there were three key announcements that the legendary tech company revealed for the first time. The first was expected. Apple officially unveiled the iPhone 6, complete with a 4.7 inch screen (18% larger than the iPhone 5’s screen) and a processor that’s 50% faster. The second announcement was anticipated with some certainty. The company revealed its long-awaited smartwatch for the first time. The $349 Apple Watch is designed to work with the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6. While not all of its features are known, the watch allows users to make hands-free calls and access apps that can do everything from check your heart rate to track how far you’ve walked. The third announcement had been shrouded in rumors, but it’s the real money maker for investors as far as we’re concerned. It’s a reveal that Andy Obermueller, our Chief Investment Strategist for Game-Changing Stocks, has been predicting for over two years now. His prediction came true: Apple Pay is here. Read More

  Quick, what’s in your wallet right now? #-ad_banner-#My guess is you have some family pictures, a few credit cards and maybe some old business receipts. If you’re more old fashioned like I am, you might hold a few greenbacks in there as well… just in case. Why am I asking? Because I predict that within the next five to ten years you won’t need a wallet.  Simply put, I predict a small technology company is going to make all material forms of currency obsolete. And it’s… Read More

  Quick, what’s in your wallet right now? #-ad_banner-#My guess is you have some family pictures, a few credit cards and maybe some old business receipts. If you’re more old fashioned like I am, you might hold a few greenbacks in there as well… just in case. Why am I asking? Because I predict that within the next five to ten years you won’t need a wallet.  Simply put, I predict a small technology company is going to make all material forms of currency obsolete. And it’s going to do so with help from technology juggernauts like Apple and Google. If that sounds crazy, then consider this. It took a few thousand years to go from coins to paper money and then onto charge cards. It took 18 years for debit cards to surpass checks. Four years after that, more than 50% of all transactions were electronic. This year, nearly two-out-of-three transactions (64%) will be made electronically. While many of those transactions will be online, a large portion will come from something called near field communication (NFC) —… Read More

Back in August, I told readers how Corporate America has been repurchasing their own stocks at a record rate. According to Standard & Poor’s, the 500 largest U.S. companies (that make up the S&P 500 Index) spent nearly $159.3 billion to buy back shares of their own stock in the first quarter of this year (the latest data available). That is the highest quarterly amount spent in seven years and twice what corporations spent on dividends. #-ad_banner-#When corporations buy back shares of their own stock, it increases the amount of earnings attributable to each share, which as we talked about… Read More

Back in August, I told readers how Corporate America has been repurchasing their own stocks at a record rate. According to Standard & Poor’s, the 500 largest U.S. companies (that make up the S&P 500 Index) spent nearly $159.3 billion to buy back shares of their own stock in the first quarter of this year (the latest data available). That is the highest quarterly amount spent in seven years and twice what corporations spent on dividends. #-ad_banner-#When corporations buy back shares of their own stock, it increases the amount of earnings attributable to each share, which as we talked about before in StreetAuthority Daily can lead to healthy gains for shareholders. That said, investors should know there’s a wrong way and a right way for corporations to promote share price gains through stock buybacks — one that can lead you to significant investment losses, and the other that could lead to you market-beating gains. First, the wrong way. Because share buybacks boost a company’s earnings per share (EPS), many large companies that have seen sluggish revenue growth over the past few years have been abusing this practice. And back in July, I told readers of a well-known company doing just… Read More

The most recent election was a good night for Republicans, but possibly even better for investors. That’s not necessarily because Republican wins lead to better stock returns, but because historically the market performs better in the year following midterm elections. #-ad_banner-#In fact, there’s a 66% chance that the market will post positive gains for 2014, according to research by StockTradersAlmanac.com. Looking at stock market movements from every midterm election from 1970 to 2010, their research found that 66% of the time the stock market ended higher from election day to year’s end. And for all midterms since 1970, the stock… Read More

The most recent election was a good night for Republicans, but possibly even better for investors. That’s not necessarily because Republican wins lead to better stock returns, but because historically the market performs better in the year following midterm elections. #-ad_banner-#In fact, there’s a 66% chance that the market will post positive gains for 2014, according to research by StockTradersAlmanac.com. Looking at stock market movements from every midterm election from 1970 to 2010, their research found that 66% of the time the stock market ended higher from election day to year’s end. And for all midterms since 1970, the stock market gained an average of 2.1% from election day to the end of year. You can see for yourself in the table below: If a 2.1% gain possibility over the next two months doesn’t sound groundbreaking, then this might. Holding stocks for a full year after a midterm has historically been very profitable, according to research by Chief Equity Strategist Sam Stovall of S&P Capital IQ. Since 1946, there have been 17 midterm elections. As this article points out, Stovall’s research shows that in each of those cases, from October 31 of the midterm year through… Read More

Bar none, they’re the most elite dividend stocks on Earth. Valued at over $3 billion each, these mega-sized blue-chip companies have managed to pay out dividends for decades. Some have paid a dividend for the past century or even longer. #-ad_banner-#But to earn their coveted status, they’ve had to increase their dividend every year for the past 25 years. And to keep the status, they have to keep paying a larger dividend every year from now on — no easy feat. That’s why only 54 out of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 have made the cut. Appropriately, Standard… Read More

Bar none, they’re the most elite dividend stocks on Earth. Valued at over $3 billion each, these mega-sized blue-chip companies have managed to pay out dividends for decades. Some have paid a dividend for the past century or even longer. #-ad_banner-#But to earn their coveted status, they’ve had to increase their dividend every year for the past 25 years. And to keep the status, they have to keep paying a larger dividend every year from now on — no easy feat. That’s why only 54 out of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 have made the cut. Appropriately, Standard & Poor’s calls this select group of stocks “Dividend Aristocrats.” And they’re about the finest dividend stocks money can buy. You already know many of these stocks. They are big-name, cash-rich companies like 3M, Clorox, Exxon Mobil, Wal-Mart, Target, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and others. Some investors write these stocks off, thinking that big companies are old news and are done growing. And for many large companies, that may be true. But not for this group. Since the index was first introduced in 1989 by Standard & Poor’s, the Dividend Aristocrats have handily outpaced the S&P 500 Index, as you can see… Read More

Corporate America has been deploying some interesting financial “tricks” lately as they look to pad their bottom line in this sluggish economy. Last month in StreetAuthority Daily, we talked about how large U.S. companies were using leveraged buybacks to boost their stock valuations by borrowing at ultra-low interest rates to buy up millions of their own shares. More recently, we talked about how corporations have used “tax inversions” to lower their tax liability and boost profits by moving to countries with significantly lower corporate tax rates, like Ireland or Canada. #-ad_banner-#Most importantly, we told you how both of these financial… Read More

Corporate America has been deploying some interesting financial “tricks” lately as they look to pad their bottom line in this sluggish economy. Last month in StreetAuthority Daily, we talked about how large U.S. companies were using leveraged buybacks to boost their stock valuations by borrowing at ultra-low interest rates to buy up millions of their own shares. More recently, we talked about how corporations have used “tax inversions” to lower their tax liability and boost profits by moving to countries with significantly lower corporate tax rates, like Ireland or Canada. #-ad_banner-#Most importantly, we told you how both of these financial engineering tactics have led investors to gains of 70% in 15 months, or even gains of 391% in less than 5 years. There’s another corporate trick that’s been popping up more recently that could very well lead investors to similar gains. I’m talking about spinoffs. A few weeks ago, online retailer Ebay (Nasdaq: EBAY) announced it would spin off its financial payments arm, Paypal. PC manufacturer Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is one of the latest companies to announce it will split itself in two. And these are far from the only ones. The research firm Spin-Off Advisors expect there will be… Read More

A little more than a decade ago, a simple idea for a website began in a young man’s Harvard dorm room. It would provide a way for people to connect that the world hadn’t seen since the Internet became mainstream in the 1990s. In just four years, more than 100 million people would visit his website. And by the end of 2013, more than 1.2 billion — or more than one-sixth of the world’s population — would sign on, many on a daily, even hourly basis. The company was officially listed on the Nasdaq in May 2012 and was valued… Read More

A little more than a decade ago, a simple idea for a website began in a young man’s Harvard dorm room. It would provide a way for people to connect that the world hadn’t seen since the Internet became mainstream in the 1990s. In just four years, more than 100 million people would visit his website. And by the end of 2013, more than 1.2 billion — or more than one-sixth of the world’s population — would sign on, many on a daily, even hourly basis. The company was officially listed on the Nasdaq in May 2012 and was valued at a whopping $104 billion on its first day of trading. And on September 9, 2014, the company’s market cap soared past the $200 billion mark — officially making it the 14th most valuable company in the United States — worth more than decades-old stalwarts like Coca-Cola, AT&T, Pfizer, IBM or even Bank of America. The world has rarely seen such a growth story as Mark Zuckerberg’s creation, Facebook (Nasdaq: FB). Had you bought Facebook shares when they first traded on May 17, 2012 and held on until today, then your investment would have more than doubled in just over… Read More

When is the next major correction coming? With the Dow and the S&P 500 Index just off their all-time highs, that’s the top question on investors’ minds right now. #-ad_banner-#​Some investors are feeling anxious, remembering the last time the market reached all-time highs back in 2008, only to see the market plummet by as much as 40% in just a few months’ time. Others perceive the market to be highly overvalued, and are ready to sell and take home some of their profits. And then there are those like myself who patiently wait for… Read More

When is the next major correction coming? With the Dow and the S&P 500 Index just off their all-time highs, that’s the top question on investors’ minds right now. #-ad_banner-#​Some investors are feeling anxious, remembering the last time the market reached all-time highs back in 2008, only to see the market plummet by as much as 40% in just a few months’ time. Others perceive the market to be highly overvalued, and are ready to sell and take home some of their profits. And then there are those like myself who patiently wait for a correction and the chance to buy great stocks when they go “on sale.” If you belong in that camp, you don’t have to wait anymore. I’ll show you the best place on the market to find deep discounts… and right now. As most investors wait for a pullback in the S&P 500 or the Dow, there’s another well-known U.S. index that is already experiencing a correction. While the S&P 500 and the Dow are up 3% and 1.4% over the past six months, respectively, the Russell 2000 Small Cap Index — the benchmark… Read More

I’m sure this was on many people’s minds a few months ago:       “An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus is currently raging in Africa. More than 700 people have died and hundreds more are infected. This outbreak is a nasty one — such to the point that the new concern should be about — wait for it — international travel. In one of those moves that make me wonder, “Who thought THAT was a smart idea?” some of the infected have even been sent to the United States for treatment. The virus, though contained, is on our… Read More

I’m sure this was on many people’s minds a few months ago:       “An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus is currently raging in Africa. More than 700 people have died and hundreds more are infected. This outbreak is a nasty one — such to the point that the new concern should be about — wait for it — international travel. In one of those moves that make me wonder, “Who thought THAT was a smart idea?” some of the infected have even been sent to the United States for treatment. The virus, though contained, is on our soil…” That’s what our resident expert, Andy Obermueller, wrote back in his August 2014 issue of Game-Changing Stocks. The controversial move to allow travel from an infected region in Africa to other countries seemed like a dangerous idea to many. It was only a matter of time before the virus would spread to other countries. #-ad_banner-#Since August, we’ve heard about a nurse who was recently diagnosed with the virus in Spain, after coming home from treating Ebola patients in Africa. We’ve also seen the first diagnosed case, and… Read More

It’s hard to see how an all-American company that’s been in business for nearly a century could have fallen so far. I’m not talking about J.C. Penny, Best Buy or any of those big box stores that have been struggling recently. #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about a company that started in Brooklyn as a single-store operation in 1921 by two brothers that made a business out of selling amateur, ham radio parts. Over the next nine decades, the company would expand into more electronics, but would face bouts of bankruptcy scares, massive layoffs and thousands of store closings… Read More

It’s hard to see how an all-American company that’s been in business for nearly a century could have fallen so far. I’m not talking about J.C. Penny, Best Buy or any of those big box stores that have been struggling recently. #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about a company that started in Brooklyn as a single-store operation in 1921 by two brothers that made a business out of selling amateur, ham radio parts. Over the next nine decades, the company would expand into more electronics, but would face bouts of bankruptcy scares, massive layoffs and thousands of store closings all along the way. Despite its struggles, the niche electronic firm managed to open 5,200 locations in the United States over its 93 year history. But as of recently, it appears its luck may be about to run out. In case you haven’t guessed by now, I’m referring to RadioShack (NYSE: RSH). The company announced earlier this month that RadioShack may soon need to file for bankruptcy protection after filing its 10th quarterly loss in a row. Management said same-store sales dropped… Read More