If you read about the markets — whether from papers like The Wall Street Journal, publishers like StreetAuthority, or even blogs like 247WallSt.com — I think you’ll start to notice how much press is devoted to China. It’s for good reason. China, especially… Read More

Over the past few days, you’ve likely seen a number of my articles discussing just how important “game-changing” stocks are to your portfolio. (Feel free to visit my archive to read anything you missed). In fact, we put together an entire webcast discussing four of my favorite… Read More

I doubt you’ve ever heard of Rockhopper Exploration. Rockhopper is a small U.K.-based oil company. But what’s unique about its business is that the company is a major player in the drilling around the Falkland Islands. You likely remember the Falkland Islands as the… Read More

Today I’d like to introduce you to my friend Mike. Mike is a real person and that is, in fact, his real name. He and I met in college and have been close friends since. He’s extremely intelligent, a partner in a major law firm, and he has, to my… Read More

Warren Buffett seemed to take it on the chin last week. In fact, he’s been hammered for a couple of months now. First came the annual Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) shareholders meeting, the annual Woodstock for Capitalists and Buffett love fest held each May,… Read More

On April 26, the Dow hit a 52-week high of 11,258.01. It lost -11.0% through June 2 and has since clawed back some ground but remains -8.5% below its late-April high point. We lived through some big swings in May. Those big moves don’t look like they will abate in the near-term: The “Fear Index,” a measure of investor sentiment based on options trading, has risen to 30 today from 22 in late April, signaling investors are increasingly edgy and uncertain. The soft economic recovery at home and troubles in… Read More

On April 26, the Dow hit a 52-week high of 11,258.01. It lost -11.0% through June 2 and has since clawed back some ground but remains -8.5% below its late-April high point. We lived through some big swings in May. Those big moves don’t look like they will abate in the near-term: The “Fear Index,” a measure of investor sentiment based on options trading, has risen to 30 today from 22 in late April, signaling investors are increasingly edgy and uncertain. The soft economic recovery at home and troubles in Greece and Spain and elsewhere aren’t helping anything, nor is the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In a climate like this, when the market has the opportunity to cathartically dispel its anxiety, it will generally take it — and send prices plummeting. But despite the challenging environment, a select basket of stocks are still delivering tremendous returns. Even on the market’s worst days, some securities are actually rising in price, sometimes substantially. Great stocks can see their shares gain a lot of ground in a… Read More

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has notched another loss this morning, a triple-digit decline as I write this, with some wondering if the blue-chip index can remain above the 10,000 mark. All sectors are in the red. What… Read More

When I first heard about this company, my first thought was, “Well, it sure ain’t sexy.” My second thought was: “It doesn’t have to be.” Today, I’d like to introduce you to a Chicago-based company in the health-care arena that has, frankly, a remarkably… Read More

What do penguins in Antarctica and a company in Colorado have to do with the profits you can make on the New York Stock Exchange? More than you might think. Antarctica’s clusters of emperor penguins are spread across the 5.4 million square miles of… Read More

This year’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) annual meeting in Omaha provided CEO Warren Buffett to tackle really one main topic — The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS). Buffett, always the teacher, explained the transaction at issue, analyzed what Goldman did and what it should have done (which… Read More