When you hear of an investment opportunity you’re interested in, you might be drawn to something that can be described in a sexy way like “explosive” or “revolutionary.” #-ad_banner-#What you learn after a while, though, is that the most attractive adjective in investing is “consistency.” Stocks like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) don’t often make headlines, but they churn out steady results year after year. Since the beginning of 2012, JNJ is up 43%; with dividends reinvested, it’s up just over 50%. Call JNJ a boring stock if you want. I’ll take those types of returns all day long. But… Read More

When you hear of an investment opportunity you’re interested in, you might be drawn to something that can be described in a sexy way like “explosive” or “revolutionary.” #-ad_banner-#What you learn after a while, though, is that the most attractive adjective in investing is “consistency.” Stocks like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) don’t often make headlines, but they churn out steady results year after year. Since the beginning of 2012, JNJ is up 43%; with dividends reinvested, it’s up just over 50%. Call JNJ a boring stock if you want. I’ll take those types of returns all day long. But how about the best of both worlds — a consistent dividend-paying growth stock with plenty of upside? This stock has risen 110% since the beginning of 2012, and the company — which has being paying dividends since 1985 — recently increased its dividend by 15.8%. This month, the company beat fourth-quarter earnings estimates, bringing total 2013 earnings per share (EPS) to $5.93, up 14% from the previous year. The stock I’m talking about is Snap-on Inc. (NYSE: SNA), the eponymous maker of Snap-on tools and accessories for consumers ranging from do-it-yourselfers to oil workers in Alaska’s North Slope. Snap-on has… Read More

Even after the push for renewable energy and the natural gas renaissance in recent years, oil is still the lifeblood of the global economy.  #-ad_banner-#According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), world crude consumption grew by an average of 1.1 million barrels a day last year to a record 90.3 million barrels a day. The EIA is forecasting growth of 1.2 million barrels a day for 2014 and expects oil prices to remain in the $90 to $100 range for the short term.  Last year, offshore drillers lagged behind the market a bit — the SPDR S&P Oil… Read More

Even after the push for renewable energy and the natural gas renaissance in recent years, oil is still the lifeblood of the global economy.  #-ad_banner-#According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), world crude consumption grew by an average of 1.1 million barrels a day last year to a record 90.3 million barrels a day. The EIA is forecasting growth of 1.2 million barrels a day for 2014 and expects oil prices to remain in the $90 to $100 range for the short term.  Last year, offshore drillers lagged behind the market a bit — the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (NYSE: XES) logged a gain of 23.9% for the year, compared with the S&P 500 Index’s 26.4% — but 2014 is shaping up as a turnaround year for the sector.  The Gulf of Mexico in particular could be a potential “black gold” mine for drillers this year. A report by the U.S. Department of the Interior estimates that there is still around 48 billion barrels of oil that remain undiscovered, but the biggest catalyst could come from our southern neighbor — Mexico. Constitutional reform has gripped Mexico’s oil industry and broken up a long-running… Read More

Sometimes being unpopular is a good thing.#-ad_banner-#​ One of the major tenets of value investing is to buy stocks in industries that are out of sync in the business cycle or lagging in some form without having a compromised intrinsic worth.  Think of it like buying shorts and T-shirts in the middle of winter. You may not be using them right at that moment, but you’re guaranteed to find them on sale as retailers attempt to move inventory in favor of warmer, more seasonable clothes.  If you’re OK with buying something without expecting an immediate payout, you have… Read More

Sometimes being unpopular is a good thing.#-ad_banner-#​ One of the major tenets of value investing is to buy stocks in industries that are out of sync in the business cycle or lagging in some form without having a compromised intrinsic worth.  Think of it like buying shorts and T-shirts in the middle of winter. You may not be using them right at that moment, but you’re guaranteed to find them on sale as retailers attempt to move inventory in favor of warmer, more seasonable clothes.  If you’re OK with buying something without expecting an immediate payout, you have what it takes to be a classic value investor.  Last year was a banner year for the stock market — so where can we find “out of season” stocks? In the most unlikely of sectors: energy. Energy has performed well this year. The PowerShares Dynamic Energy Sector Portfolio ETF (NYSE: PXI) is up 27% since the start of 2012, but that doesn’t mean that all energy stocks are equal. Investors have been clamoring for green energy lately as evidenced by the gains in solar stocks: Guggenheim Solar (NYSE: TAN) is up an astounding 157% in the same period.  As the… Read More

We live in the era of technology. Whether you work from home or corporate America, you rely on modern technology to allow you interact with clients, create business plans and run day-to-day operations. It seems safe to say that the future growth of any industry is dependent upon growth in technology itself.#-ad_banner-#​ It’s been said that many real-life scientific breakthroughs stem from the inspiration of science fiction. For instance, our modern society looks an awful lot like the Hill Valley of 2015 as depicted in “Back to the Future 2.” While the ubiquity of flat-panel televisions, the return… Read More

We live in the era of technology. Whether you work from home or corporate America, you rely on modern technology to allow you interact with clients, create business plans and run day-to-day operations. It seems safe to say that the future growth of any industry is dependent upon growth in technology itself.#-ad_banner-#​ It’s been said that many real-life scientific breakthroughs stem from the inspiration of science fiction. For instance, our modern society looks an awful lot like the Hill Valley of 2015 as depicted in “Back to the Future 2.” While the ubiquity of flat-panel televisions, the return of 3-D movies, and multi-channel surfing capabilities may have all been played for laughs in that movie almost a quarter-century ago, all those technologies are part of our daily lives today.  Touchscreens are another type of technology was once relegated to the realm of sci-fi but is now commonplace. Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) first iPhone, launched in 2007, popularized touchscreens for mainstream consumers. Mobile devices and tablets have been the largest market for touchscreen interfaces, but there’s a growing trend to put them into laptops and desktop computers.  The touchscreen industry is expected to top $14 billion by 2016 with a… Read More

The transportation sector is the lifeblood of the global economy — but a glance at a chart of the highs and lows of this cyclical sector can look a lot like the surface of a stormy sea.  Take the Baltic Dry Index, for example — it began the year at record lows but has more than doubled in the past few months.  Out-of-favor industries attract value investors who are looking for a bargain and this upswing in the index could be the beginning of a trend reversal, as the transportation sector is often seen as a… Read More

The transportation sector is the lifeblood of the global economy — but a glance at a chart of the highs and lows of this cyclical sector can look a lot like the surface of a stormy sea.  Take the Baltic Dry Index, for example — it began the year at record lows but has more than doubled in the past few months.  Out-of-favor industries attract value investors who are looking for a bargain and this upswing in the index could be the beginning of a trend reversal, as the transportation sector is often seen as a leading indicator. A classic value story is beginning to take shape, and investors are climbing aboard. Global trade is suffering due the widespread downturn, and the shipping sector has taken a dive from its highs less than a decade ago. Nervous businesses have curbed trading activity, keeping demand for shipping lines low. For 2013, global container trade growth is expected to be around 4.7%, rising to 5.7% in 2014.  That growth is what makes a company that’s lowering costs and increasing revenues by 6.4% from the same quarter last year worth a closer look. TAL International Group (NYSE: TAL) is… Read More

The cost of energy production isn’t just about money. There are also environment effects.#-ad_banner-# Last year, according to one environmental group, hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking) alone generated an estimated 280 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, enough to flood Washington, D.C., to a depth of 22 feet. It’s no wonder that there’s a strong push to institute cleaner practices. Green initiatives have come to dominate the corporate landscape and are attracting investment flows in record numbers. The performance in alternative energy this year is evidence of this growing trend — the iShares S&P Global Clean… Read More

The cost of energy production isn’t just about money. There are also environment effects.#-ad_banner-# Last year, according to one environmental group, hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking) alone generated an estimated 280 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, enough to flood Washington, D.C., to a depth of 22 feet. It’s no wonder that there’s a strong push to institute cleaner practices. Green initiatives have come to dominate the corporate landscape and are attracting investment flows in record numbers. The performance in alternative energy this year is evidence of this growing trend — the iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Fund (Nasdaq: ICLN) is up more than 50% year to date. While most of the attention has been focused on renewable energy and clean coal, environmentally friendly sectors like pollution and treatment controls have gone relatively unnoticed. Calgon Carbon Corp. (NYSE: CCC) is a small-cap stock involved in the purification and treatment of water, air and food, as well as the poisonous emissions from coal-fired power plants. The company has been making tremendous strides in cost reduction, improving operating margins to around 20% from 13.6% just a year ago. (Calgon’s leaner operation is one reason the research staff at… Read More

We’re told as children (and even as adults) that you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t turn a hobby into a paying job, and if an activity is fun, there’s probably no money in it.  Good news: You can — and there is.#-ad_banner-# It’s true that the economy has changed our way of life over the past five years. We’re more conscious of saving and downsizing to match our spending habits. The proliferation of fuel-efficient automobiles has crossed into a market that was once thought purely recreational.  Winnebago Industries (NYSE: WGO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) are… Read More

We’re told as children (and even as adults) that you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t turn a hobby into a paying job, and if an activity is fun, there’s probably no money in it.  Good news: You can — and there is.#-ad_banner-# It’s true that the economy has changed our way of life over the past five years. We’re more conscious of saving and downsizing to match our spending habits. The proliferation of fuel-efficient automobiles has crossed into a market that was once thought purely recreational.  Winnebago Industries (NYSE: WGO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) are up nearly 75% and 35%, respectively, as baby boomers take to America’s roads. Clearly, recreational vehicles are in full swing, but there’s yet another type of vehicle that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves: all-terrain vehicles (ATVs).  This category includes snowmobiles, ATVs and utility task vehicles (UTVs). Sales of UTVs have exploded in the past year: The two leading UTV manufacturers have posted quarterly earnings growth of 217% and 185% year over year. Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) has been the undisputed leader in UTV, ATV and snowmobile sales, while an upstart competitor has been taking market share away from its… Read More

Apocalyptic fears have gripped the minds of Americans over the past few years, and Hollywood has capitalized on them with movies, television series and reality shows. While a zombie virus may be far-fetched, fears of inflation and market volatility are better grounded in reality. #-ad_banner-# Out of Alabama comes a story that underlines what becomes important if inflation really does get out of control. A would-be car buyer whose credit was less than exemplary made an unconventional down payment — a shotgun. While this is certainly more of a lesson in subprime lending standards going beyond real estate, there is… Read More

Apocalyptic fears have gripped the minds of Americans over the past few years, and Hollywood has capitalized on them with movies, television series and reality shows. While a zombie virus may be far-fetched, fears of inflation and market volatility are better grounded in reality. #-ad_banner-# Out of Alabama comes a story that underlines what becomes important if inflation really does get out of control. A would-be car buyer whose credit was less than exemplary made an unconventional down payment — a shotgun. While this is certainly more of a lesson in subprime lending standards going beyond real estate, there is a small sliver of knowledge to take away here. In a highly inflationary environment, gold becomes less important than “real” hard assets — practical items like food, water, shelter and, of course, weapons. Before the survivalists start sending this article to everyone they know, let’s step back and take a look at the gun-making industry from a pragmatic point of view. We know that fear creates opportunities for profit, and this is reflected in the number of gun sales amid the Obama administration’s position on gun control. Shares of gun makers have soared this year: Smith & Wesson (Nasdaq: SWHC)… Read More

The road trip is one of the most popular American pastimes. Since the invention of the automobile, we have developed an entire culture around cars. Traveling across the country inspired generations of Americans and popularized colloquialisms like “get your kicks on Route 66.”#-ad_banner-# When I was growing… Read More

Entrepreneurs have a saying: “When everyone is digging for gold, we want to sell the shovels.” We’ve seen the effect technology has had in the past 30 years, in everything from cellphones and computers to the cars we drive. These kinds of technological marvels will continue to be staples of… Read More