In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that call, the fact that the company had warned upcoming earnings would tumble about 6%, and that Goldman Sachs had changed its opinion of McDonald’s from “buy” to merely “neutral.”#-ad_banner-# To be fair, the stock is now trading… Read More

In June of last year, I penned an optimistic commentary suggesting the king of the fast food chains, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), was a solid buy. This came despite the 11% pullback leading up to that call, the fact that the company had warned upcoming earnings would tumble about 6%, and that Goldman Sachs had changed its opinion of McDonald’s from “buy” to merely “neutral.”#-ad_banner-# To be fair, the stock is now trading about where it was then, so the “buy” call hasn’t bore fruit yet. But a handful of new factors has materialized that continue to convince me this iconic stock is being underestimated. That was then The seven months since that detailed look at McDonald’s haven’t been easy. Shares have moved as high as $94.09 and as low as $83.31 before finding the $92 level again. The prods for all that volatility were mostly earnings-based, some good and some bad. As expected, when McDonald’s posted its second-quarter earnings, they were lower by 2.2%. Even… Read More

Everyone knows fashion retailing is a cyclical business. The better the economy is, the more consumers spend. Conversely, when the economy is weak, people tend to stay at home and keep their purse strings tied tight. As a result, when it looks an… Read More

Everyone knows fashion retailing is a cyclical business. The better the economy is, the more consumers spend. Conversely, when the economy is weak, people tend to stay at home and keep their purse strings tied tight. As a result, when it looks an economic rough patch is on the horizon, investors steer clear of retailers that sell anything but the basic necessities of life. After all, looking good isn’t quite as important during tough times. But there’s just one problem with that strategy: Sometimes that mindset doesn’t quite work to investors’ advantage. Right… Read More

Everyone knows fashion retailing is a cyclical business. The better the economy is, the more consumers spend. Conversely, when the economy is weak, people tend to stay at home and keep their purse strings tied tight. As a result, when it looks an economic rough patch is on the horizon, investors steer clear of retailers that sell anything but the basic necessities of life. After all, looking good isn’t quite as important during tough times. But there’s just one problem with that strategy: Sometimes that mindset doesn’t quite work to investors’ advantage. Right now, for example, there’s one retailer that’s managed to grow its top and bottom line for years now, no matter what kind of economic environment. Better yet, the stock has shrugging off bear markets on its way to becoming one of top-performing stocks for the past 10 years, rising more than 650%. And the next several years don’t look like they’re going to be any different. Amazing stats The Buckle (NYSE: BKE) is… Read More

To say that natural gas has been on a roller coaster ride for the past 10 years would be an understatement. Gas prices soared from $1.96 per MMBtu in early 2002 to a peak of $15.78 in late 2005 and back to a low of $1.90 early last year. … Read More

To say that natural gas has been on a roller coaster ride for the past 10 years would be an understatement. Gas prices soared from $1.96 per MMBtu in early 2002 to a peak of $15.78 in late 2005 and back to a low of $1.90 early last year.  For investors, the ride has been no less wild. Natural gas exploration stocks were irrelevant in 2002, yet were all the rage by 2008 when natural gas became a stunningly profitable business to be in. Then, these stocks fell off investors’… Read More

To say that natural gas has been on a roller coaster ride for the past 10 years would be an understatement. Gas prices soared from $1.96 per MMBtu in early 2002 to a peak of $15.78 in late 2005 and back to a low of $1.90 early last year.  For investors, the ride has been no less wild. Natural gas exploration stocks were irrelevant in 2002, yet were all the rage by 2008 when natural gas became a stunningly profitable business to be in. Then, these stocks fell off investors’ radars again in 2011 when plunging gas prices — and a plethora of supply — pushed nearly all of them back into the red.#-ad_banner-# Still, the implications are clear. With an abundant supply (thanks to advanced drilling techniques), it looks like cheap natural gas is here to stay for the time being. But if the natural gas drillers aren’t making money, then how can investors profit? Andy Obermueller, editor of StreetAuthority’s Game-Changing Stocks… Read More

Sometimes, the best stock-picking strategies are the simplest ones. The “Dogs of the Dow“ theory is certainly simple enough, yet amazingly, this aging strategy still has some proven merit. What it is The Dogs of the Dow theory is now… Read More

In late November, I dissected the current and projected valuations for all the major sectors, further breaking them down by market cap. The purpose of the exercise was to pinpoint which slivers of the market were the best-positioned to make big… Read More

In his book “How to Make Money in Stocks,” famed investor and founder of the Investor’s Business Daily publication William J. O’Neill suggested that the performance of the sector and industry in which a stock is categorized ultimately determines one-third of an individual stock’s performance. In other words, just by… Read More

They say timing is everything, particularly when it comes to stock investment. I don’t disagree. That’s why I recommended caution with most of the major super-discount retail stocks back in April — it just wasn’t the right time to take on a… Read More