Goldilocks is famous for being very particular about her porridge. It couldn’t be too hot or too cold. It had to be just right. #-ad_banner-# That reminds me of mid-cap stocks: Not too big, but not too small — just the right mix of growth and stability. Unlike small caps, mid-caps are multi-billion-dollar companies and sometimes even market leaders. That provides these companies with a nice touch of stability that small caps with values dipping below $1 billion usually don’t offer. But unlike global mega-caps such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) worth hundreds of billions and… Read More

Goldilocks is famous for being very particular about her porridge. It couldn’t be too hot or too cold. It had to be just right. #-ad_banner-# That reminds me of mid-cap stocks: Not too big, but not too small — just the right mix of growth and stability. Unlike small caps, mid-caps are multi-billion-dollar companies and sometimes even market leaders. That provides these companies with a nice touch of stability that small caps with values dipping below $1 billion usually don’t offer. But unlike global mega-caps such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) worth hundreds of billions and long past peak growth, mid-caps valued between $2 billion and $10 billion still have the ability to grow many times over in the long run. These unique qualities have made mid-caps popular with investors looking for a balance between growth and stability. They have also produced market-crushing gains. In the past 12 years, the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (NYSE: IJH) is up 223% against the S&P 500 Index’s 62% return. Take a look at the big gain below. But if you missed out on those gains, don’t worry. The third-quarter earnings season has revealed a… Read More

A rising tide lifts all boats.It’s one of the great sayings about the impact of a bull market. But what this pearl of wisdom fails to convey is how different groups of stocks respond to that movement in different ways.  #-ad_banner-#​ That has once again been on display in the strong market of 2013. The S&P 500 Index is up 19% on the year, but the iShares Core Small Cap ETF (NYSE: IJR) has gained an outsize 28%. With the market going “risk-on” this year, small-cap stocks and growth stocks have logged a strong performance. Those big gains… Read More

A rising tide lifts all boats.It’s one of the great sayings about the impact of a bull market. But what this pearl of wisdom fails to convey is how different groups of stocks respond to that movement in different ways.  #-ad_banner-#​ That has once again been on display in the strong market of 2013. The S&P 500 Index is up 19% on the year, but the iShares Core Small Cap ETF (NYSE: IJR) has gained an outsize 28%. With the market going “risk-on” this year, small-cap stocks and growth stocks have logged a strong performance. Those big gains shouldn’t come as a surprise to investors who have been following small caps for the past dozen years. While the S&P 500 is up just 23% since 2001, small caps have returned an eye-popping 235%. Take a look at the amazing divergence in the chart below. There’s no question that small caps are risky and can be very volatile. Inevitably, some will declare bankruptcy and go out of business. But in the long run, these smaller companies have tremendous upside that most blue-chip stocks have long outgrown. But just because small caps have been surging and offer the… Read More

The death of cash has been fueling a gold rush for payment processors. Industry leaders Visa (NYSE: V), MasterCard (NYSE: MA) and Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) have all posted market-beating gains of at least 29% this year. But while these well-known blue chips have been surging, one of their lesser-known industry peers has been struggling. After losing market share and reporting a disappointing quarter early in the year, shares are down 50% in the past 18 months.  VeriFone Systems (NYSE: PAY) is a global leader… Read More

The death of cash has been fueling a gold rush for payment processors. Industry leaders Visa (NYSE: V), MasterCard (NYSE: MA) and Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) have all posted market-beating gains of at least 29% this year. But while these well-known blue chips have been surging, one of their lesser-known industry peers has been struggling. After losing market share and reporting a disappointing quarter early in the year, shares are down 50% in the past 18 months.  VeriFone Systems (NYSE: PAY) is a global leader in the electronic payments industry, making point-of-sale (POS) machines that consumers use to swipe credit and debit cards. Its clients include some of the biggest and most successful retailers in the world, including Costco (Nasdaq: COST), Lowe’s (Nasdaq: LOWE) and McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD).#-ad_banner-# But despite that market-leading position, VeriFone has struggled in the past year and a half. And that’s exactly why it’s a great time to check out the payment systems leader and recent industry laggard: Shares and sentiment are low, but the seeds of a turnaround are beginning to sprout. One of the biggest factors weighing on VeriFone’s… Read More

It’s not just food scarcity causing riots.  Last week, thousands of protestors in over 50 countries and 47 U.S. states took to the streets to rally against Monsanto (NYS: MON), a global leader in genetically modified seeds and food products. That violent reaction and growing resistance to genetically modified food is one of the biggest drivers in the incredible growth of the organic food industry. While domestic food sales continue to grow at just 1% annually, organic food sales are on pace to reach $42 billion in 2014, a 31% increase from $29 billion in 2010. That same… Read More

It’s not just food scarcity causing riots.  Last week, thousands of protestors in over 50 countries and 47 U.S. states took to the streets to rally against Monsanto (NYS: MON), a global leader in genetically modified seeds and food products. That violent reaction and growing resistance to genetically modified food is one of the biggest drivers in the incredible growth of the organic food industry. While domestic food sales continue to grow at just 1% annually, organic food sales are on pace to reach $42 billion in 2014, a 31% increase from $29 billion in 2010. That same trend is unfolding across the world, with global organic food sales expected to top $100 billion by 2016. More than half of this demand is expected to come from the United States, with more than 40 million organic customers. And today I am going to share one of my favorite stocks to cash in on the bullish trend. With the organics industry growing by leaps and bounds, this is one of the few small caps left in the space. That has lifted shares to a market-crushing 62% return in 2013. Take a look below. SunOpta (Nasdaq: STKL) is… Read More

Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) has been one of the best ways to cash in on the growing demand for electric cars. After climbing steadily for three years, shares have shot higher this year, surging 390% in just the past nine months.#-ad_banner-# But despite that very bullish move, shareholders got a… Read More

“Sin stocks” are popular because they benefit from extremely loyal customers. But the problem for growth investors is that most of these companies are fairly mature and well past their years of producing big capital gains.#-ad_banner-# Phillip Morris (NYSE: PM) is a good example. Although PM pays… Read More

The rules of modern warfare are changing quickly. Traditional battle lines have been replaced by global terror networks with no boundaries or state affiliations. That’s one of the biggest reasons for the huge growth of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry, with U.S. spending jumping to $5 billion from $550… Read More

A forest fire is extremely destructive in the short run. But in the long run, the few trees left standing are sitting pretty. Not only do they have a monopoly on the sun, they also have all the room they need to grow to new heights. That’s… Read More

There are currently more than 118,000 people in the U.S. waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. But if a group of groundbreaking scientists has its way, that number will soon be zero. In a massive medical and technological breakthrough, scientists are now successfully producing living human kidneys with a mind-bending… Read More

It’s virtually impossible to value a human being. To a company, a human being is valued at an hourly or annual rate. To the military, highly trained personnel are worth millions. To a family, a human being is priceless. But in spite of the obvious challenges, there is one little-known… Read More