Although the hottest car company of the 21st century made him famous, electrical engineer Nicola Tesla may also soon be as well known for a technology he pioneered in the late 19th century. #-ad_banner-#Back then, Tesla stunned the world by transmitting power over vast distances — without any wires. In the year ahead, his wireless power transfer (WPT) technology stands to become the hottest new technology in a whole range of industries. And investors need to brush up on this game-changing technology now, if they want to profit from it in the years ahead. Look ma, no wires We’ve… Read More

Although the hottest car company of the 21st century made him famous, electrical engineer Nicola Tesla may also soon be as well known for a technology he pioneered in the late 19th century. #-ad_banner-#Back then, Tesla stunned the world by transmitting power over vast distances — without any wires. In the year ahead, his wireless power transfer (WPT) technology stands to become the hottest new technology in a whole range of industries. And investors need to brush up on this game-changing technology now, if they want to profit from it in the years ahead. Look ma, no wires We’ve all suffered from the same fate. Our cellphone batteries die right at a time when we’re expecting an important phone call. Yet in recent quarters, WPT has already emerged as a solution. Simply place your phone in the vicinity of a WPT port, known as a “powermat,” and the need to remember to plug your phone in becomes a thing of the past. But we’re not just talking about phones. Toyota (NYSE: TM), for example, plans to roll out car-based WPT for homeowners, shopping mall operators and office parks. And it won’t stop there. Over the coming years, look for… Read More

With each passing month, it’s becoming evident that the current bull market has slowed from a gallop to a trot. The S&P 500, which rose 29% in 2013, will likely trail such a gain this year, as it is up only 7% in 2014 as of September 15. And by one key measure, the bulls advance may cease altogether, potentially resulting in a market reversal. Make no mistake, the market has been in rally mode for more than five years in large part due to the Fed’s easing hand, which is fueling ultra-low interest rates and ample liquidity… Read More

With each passing month, it’s becoming evident that the current bull market has slowed from a gallop to a trot. The S&P 500, which rose 29% in 2013, will likely trail such a gain this year, as it is up only 7% in 2014 as of September 15. And by one key measure, the bulls advance may cease altogether, potentially resulting in a market reversal. Make no mistake, the market has been in rally mode for more than five years in large part due to the Fed’s easing hand, which is fueling ultra-low interest rates and ample liquidity for stock buying. Yet it’s always wise to keep an eye on traditional market metrics, in case the market starts to become fully disconnected from the fundamentals. #-ad_banner-#Each investor can focus on their own sense of fair value. For example:  — Some investors like to compare the dividend yield on the S&P 500 to federal fund rates. The current dividend yield stands at around 2%, higher than short-term interest rates. Still an eventual upward move in short rates will pressure this valuation gauge. — Other investors like to see how stocks are trading in relation to their private market value… Read More

In the brief history of social media stocks, history is repeating itself. Both Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR) stumbled badly after much-hyped IPOs. And both are now gaining meaningful traction, cementing their roles as powerful platforms for the global ad market. Of course, we now know how wrong many investors were about Facebook. A little more than a year ago, it appeared as if the company’s management was ill-suited to the task of converting a massive user base into a profit machine — what’s known in the tech industry as “monetizing the base” —… Read More

In the brief history of social media stocks, history is repeating itself. Both Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR) stumbled badly after much-hyped IPOs. And both are now gaining meaningful traction, cementing their roles as powerful platforms for the global ad market. Of course, we now know how wrong many investors were about Facebook. A little more than a year ago, it appeared as if the company’s management was ill-suited to the task of converting a massive user base into a profit machine — what’s known in the tech industry as “monetizing the base” — and shares languished below $25. Investor cynicism toward Facebook surely proved short-sighted. 2015 sales will likely exceed $16 billion, more than double the company’s 2013 sales base, and shares now trade above $75. Twitter’s trajectory has uncanny similarities. By the time I profiled the company in June on our sister site, StreetAuthority.com, shares had fallen by more than half from their post-IPO high near $75, which was set in December 2013. Since then, Twitter delivered a rock-solid second quarter and shares have rebounded to the $50 mark. The way I see it, Twitter is… Read More

Investing in 2014 requires a considerable amount of faith — the faith that future profit growth will be sufficiently strong to offset currently robust valuations. #-ad_banner-#As I noted in a recent look at Warren Buffett’s next move, “Virtually every type of company that Buffett would seem likely to acquire has seen its value rise sharply in recent years, thanks to the extended bull market.” A rising tide has certainly lifted all boats, as most companies in the S&P 500 have at least doubled in value since early 2009. Many of these companies are up 200%, and even 300%, from their… Read More

Investing in 2014 requires a considerable amount of faith — the faith that future profit growth will be sufficiently strong to offset currently robust valuations. #-ad_banner-#As I noted in a recent look at Warren Buffett’s next move, “Virtually every type of company that Buffett would seem likely to acquire has seen its value rise sharply in recent years, thanks to the extended bull market.” A rising tide has certainly lifted all boats, as most companies in the S&P 500 have at least doubled in value since early 2009. Many of these companies are up 200%, and even 300%, from their lows. The problem with such an indiscriminate upward move is that tends to elevate shares of companies that are actually in the midst of slowing profit growth.  I looked at all of the companies in the S&P 500 that are expected to see earnings per share (EPS) growth begin to slow in 2015 and fall below 10% in 2016. From there I narrowed the list down to those stocks trading for more than 20 times projected 2015 profits. This equates to a robust price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio and anemic profit growth —  which are not the ingredients for share price gains. Read More

A longstanding investing maxim holds that “the U.S. consumer accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. economy.” It’s never clear how that math works out, but consumer spending is undeniably important. #-ad_banner-#Yet investors should never overlook the impact of corporate spending. Business investments in plants, equipment and many other long-term assets that fall under the label capital expenditures are a crucial component of economic activity. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), for example, spent a combined $16 billion on capital expenditures last year. In just the past few months, even as the consumer… Read More

A longstanding investing maxim holds that “the U.S. consumer accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. economy.” It’s never clear how that math works out, but consumer spending is undeniably important. #-ad_banner-#Yet investors should never overlook the impact of corporate spending. Business investments in plants, equipment and many other long-term assets that fall under the label capital expenditures are a crucial component of economic activity. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), for example, spent a combined $16 billion on capital expenditures last year. In just the past few months, even as the consumer portion of the U.S. economy has remained in a funk, corporate spending is starting to move higher. And once the process starts, a virtuous cycle kicks in whereby the providers of capital goods, as they see new orders come in, need to boost their own levels of spending on long-term assets to meet demand. That spending, in turn, then spreads to an ever broader base of smaller suppliers. Pivot from buybacks and dividends Over the past few years, we have noted how a wide range of companies have earmarked their cash flow for share buybacks and dividend hikes. Meanwhile, they… Read More

The super-rich are not like the rest of us. People like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates take on mythic status. As they build fortunes that exceed the Gross Domestic Product of many countries, every one of their financial moves is tracked as investors seek out the secrets to their success. South of the border, in Mexico, a man who has already amassed a net worth of more than $15 billion by focusing on commodities, is creating quite a buzz that investors may seek to replicate. He’s spending millions of dollars every week to build his exposure to one of the… Read More

The super-rich are not like the rest of us. People like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates take on mythic status. As they build fortunes that exceed the Gross Domestic Product of many countries, every one of their financial moves is tracked as investors seek out the secrets to their success. South of the border, in Mexico, a man who has already amassed a net worth of more than $15 billion by focusing on commodities, is creating quite a buzz that investors may seek to replicate. He’s spending millions of dollars every week to build his exposure to one of the most controversial commodities: Copper. The man in question is Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco, who controls Grupo Mexico, the third-largest copper mining firm in the world. Yet Mota-Velasco’s recent focus is on another miner that he also controls: Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO). This is where things get complicated. Grupo Mexico owns 75% of Southern Copper and Mota-Velasco is spending some of his personal fortune to acquire part of the remaining 25% of Southern Copper that is still in the public float. Clearly, he sees greater near-term upside in the affiliate than the parent. Just look at his buying spree. Date Number… Read More

One of the biggest challenges for commodity investors is the state of the global economy, as I stated in this article. Weak economic growth in 2012 has kept a lid on the sector, so most commodities have fallen in price from a year ago. Copper, which is used in a range of economically-sensitive industries such as construction, is especially vulnerable to the vagaries of the global economy. The China factor As has been the case since the Great… Read More

One of the biggest challenges for commodity investors is the state of the global economy, as I stated in this article. Weak economic growth in 2012 has kept a lid on the sector, so most commodities have fallen in price from a year ago. Copper, which is used in a range of economically-sensitive industries such as construction, is especially vulnerable to the vagaries of the global economy. The China factor As has been the case since the Great Recession of 2008, the only bright spot for commodities has been China, and even that country showed signs of slowing in 2012. The good news: China is perking back up and could again set a positive tone for commodities — especially copper — in 2013. Analysts at Goldman Sachs have tallied up the various stimulus packages the provincial governments in China have proposed, and they came up with a stunning $3.2 trillion in ongoing… Read More

It’s inevitable and undeniable that Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) growth is slowing. In fact, a few years from now, sales of iPhones, iPads and other hardware could slow to single digits. Apple’s amazing growth   Fiscal year ends September Consider that Apple’s sales have grown at least 20% in eight of the past nine years. This amazing growth should happen again in the current fiscal year that began in October. But after that, Apple’s days of 20%-plus sales growth may be over. That’s what happens when a company’s revenue base starts to approach $200… Read More

It’s inevitable and undeniable that Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) growth is slowing. In fact, a few years from now, sales of iPhones, iPads and other hardware could slow to single digits. Apple’s amazing growth   Fiscal year ends September Consider that Apple’s sales have grown at least 20% in eight of the past nine years. This amazing growth should happen again in the current fiscal year that began in October. But after that, Apple’s days of 20%-plus sales growth may be over. That’s what happens when a company’s revenue base starts to approach $200 billion.#-ad_banner-#   Make no mistake, boosting sales from under $10 billion in fiscal (September) 2004 to a projected $192 billion in the current year is the key factor behind Apple’s ever-rising stock price. But in the years ahead, it will be another factor that will help propel shares to fresh heights.   That factor: rising recurring revenue per user. We’ve known all along that Apple’s main goal was to seed the world with its hardware, so it can eventually sell software and services. The highly popular iTunes music… Read More

As I mentioned before, changing global climate has wrought havoc on the agricultural sector during the past year. Drought in the United States has stunted the yields of many crops, while unusual weather patterns elsewhere in the world led to sharp spikes — and drops — in farm yields across Asia, Latin America and Europe.#-ad_banner-# Yet it’s unwise to pay too close attention to these near-term events. Instead, focus on the clear long-term trend in place for global agriculture: Millions more people are joining the middle class in fast-growing places such as China, Brazil and India, and there is… Read More

As I mentioned before, changing global climate has wrought havoc on the agricultural sector during the past year. Drought in the United States has stunted the yields of many crops, while unusual weather patterns elsewhere in the world led to sharp spikes — and drops — in farm yields across Asia, Latin America and Europe.#-ad_banner-# Yet it’s unwise to pay too close attention to these near-term events. Instead, focus on the clear long-term trend in place for global agriculture: Millions more people are joining the middle class in fast-growing places such as China, Brazil and India, and there is a global push to ensure crop yields are maximized to meet this rising demand.  And the most surefire way to maintain robust farm output is through the judicious use of fertilizer. There are several key components to fertilizer, most notably potash and phosphate, both of which help soil to stimulate the ideal growing conditions for healthy crops.  The oligopoly pricing Just a handful of companies around the world control the production of key fertilizers such as potash and phosphate. For example, the top 10 producers of potash control 85% of the… Read More

During the past decade, dozens of Chinese companies began trading on U.S. stock exchanges, and more than a few were complete frauds, causing investors to lose 100% of their money. You can blame it on the auditors. The accountants who were tasked with digging deeply into these companies’ books never made much of an effort. They willingly signed off on the veracity of financial statements, even though many numbers were a work of fiction. #-ad_banner-#As a result, many U.S. investors concluded it’s wise to… Read More

During the past decade, dozens of Chinese companies began trading on U.S. stock exchanges, and more than a few were complete frauds, causing investors to lose 100% of their money. You can blame it on the auditors. The accountants who were tasked with digging deeply into these companies’ books never made much of an effort. They willingly signed off on the veracity of financial statements, even though many numbers were a work of fiction. #-ad_banner-#As a result, many U.S. investors concluded it’s wise to steer clear of Chinese companies altogether these days. And that’s a shame, because China, warts and all, has the most fertile economic climate in the world. Its economy has been growing at a fast rate for more than a decade and, by some accounts, will overtake the U.S. economy within a few decades. Swinging for the fences Investors’ troubles resulted when they erroneously equated high growth with small company size. The notion of a fast-growing economy immediately leads investors to think about finding… Read More