Jim Woods has covered the economy and stocks for nearly two decades. His varied experience as a financial journalist, stockbroker and money manager provides him with unique insights into the often complex world of investing. He is the co-author of Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution. Jim holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. He celebrates the virtue of making money from his home on the California coast.

Analyst Articles

This Stock May Finally Live Up to the Hype and Return Double-Digits

Jim Woods
January 14, 2013

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every retail investor I knew wanted to own Facebook stock, and it became a symbol of the groupthink mentality that’s so often infects Wall Street and… Read More

In the 1980s, there was a famous rap music anthem titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype.” Well, I borrowed that admonition frequently last year when the overblown hype over the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) IPO reached a fever pitch. Nearly every retail investor I knew wanted to own Facebook stock, and it became a symbol of the groupthink mentality that’s so often infects Wall Street and Main Street.#-ad_banner-# The hype got so bad, that in May 2012, I actually had a friend ask me if they should borrow money on his home so that he could buy Facebook shares. Sadly, many people (thankfully not my friend) recklessly scrambled to buy Facebook shares immediately following the stock’s public debut, and many of those investors are still sitting on a losing position. I won’t go into the epic fails on the part of… Read More

This Sector Could Reward Traders With Double-Digit Gains

Jim Woods
January 11, 2013

A deal on the fiscal cliff — at least the tax part — caused the “risk on” trade to go into hyper-drive on Jan. 2. The first trading session of the year saw nearly every major average, and most sectors, soar between 2% and 3% on average. This relief rally over the certainty on tax policy wasn’t lost on the technology sector, as the Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLK) surged 3.33% in the first session of 2013. For the technology ETF, the gains are… Read More

A deal on the fiscal cliff — at least the tax part — caused the “risk on” trade to go into hyper-drive on Jan. 2. The first trading session of the year saw nearly every major average, and most sectors, soar between 2% and 3% on average. This relief rally over the certainty on tax policy wasn’t lost on the technology sector, as the Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLK) surged 3.33% in the first session of 2013. For the technology ETF, the gains are a welcome respite from the mostly downbeat trade that’s taken place since September. In fact, from the most recent high in September through the end of 2012, XLK was hit with a loss of nearly 9%. Thanks to an early 2012 run higher in the shares, technology seemed like it would be the place to be for most of the year. Then we started to see the sector falter. So, why was the September selling in the tech ETF so sharp? The one big answer is Apple (Nasdaq:… Read More

4 Black Swans That Could Jolt the Market in 2013

Jim Woods
December 18, 2012

If you think about a powerful creature plowing through the streets of Tokyo, then you probably think of Godzilla. However, I suspect there’s about to be another type of powerful animal running through one of the world’s greatest cities — and that’s a raging… Read More

Score Double-Digit Gains With These 2 Apple Plays

Jim Woods
December 6, 2012

The latest version of Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iconic smartphone, the iPhone 5, has been a huge sales hit. The phone saw record pre-order sales prior to its September release, and sales figures only got better once the device was released.#-ad_banner-# According to a recent report from… Read More