When you think of the phrase “victim of its own success” and you might think about consumer technology giant Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL). The company’s track record of groundbreaking innovation has set the bar of expectation at such a high level that even its billions in annual R&D research struggles to meet expectations. What Have You Done For Me Lately? Apple’s status as the world’s most valuable brand, not to mention its position as the largest publicly-traded company, makes Apple an unusual case for an investor to consider. Whether fairly or unfairly, Apple must always answer the question, “What… Read More

When you think of the phrase “victim of its own success” and you might think about consumer technology giant Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL). The company’s track record of groundbreaking innovation has set the bar of expectation at such a high level that even its billions in annual R&D research struggles to meet expectations. What Have You Done For Me Lately? Apple’s status as the world’s most valuable brand, not to mention its position as the largest publicly-traded company, makes Apple an unusual case for an investor to consider. Whether fairly or unfairly, Apple must always answer the question, “What have you done for me lately?” That said, the company’s estimated $237 billion in cash on the balance sheet, which is more than even the U.S. Treasury ever hopes to amass, gives Apple plenty of resources to answer that question multiple times each year. Estimates from International Data Corporation (IDC) suggest that 1.45 billion smartphones will ship in 2016, a rise of less than 1% year-over-year. That compares to a rise of over 10% in 2015 and represents a huge fall from the 47% rise in 2012. Right now, the market values Apple on the assumption that it won’t grow… Read More

Is the Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) story still intact or is time to turn the page? As with several other technology stocks, shares of the social media giant have been under heavy selling pressure ever since Donald Trump’s surprise victory. Both retail and institutional investors have abandoned high-growth stocks like Facebook in favor of banks, industrials, and biotechs. Where Facebook Stands In the case of Facebook, it’s debatable how much of the stock’s recent decline has to do with investors shifting out of tech and into other areas. The shares have fallen as much as 15% since reaching a… Read More

Is the Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) story still intact or is time to turn the page? As with several other technology stocks, shares of the social media giant have been under heavy selling pressure ever since Donald Trump’s surprise victory. Both retail and institutional investors have abandoned high-growth stocks like Facebook in favor of banks, industrials, and biotechs. Where Facebook Stands In the case of Facebook, it’s debatable how much of the stock’s recent decline has to do with investors shifting out of tech and into other areas. The shares have fallen as much as 15% since reaching a 52-week high of $133.50 on October 25 after management spooked investors in the third-quarter conference call by warning that ad revenue growth will slow in the quarters ahead. Add in the fact that Facebook hinted of high capital expenses in 2017, which may yield lower earnings per share, and investors quickly moved on to looking for the next great stock. #-ad_banner-#Those who have stuck with the company are now questioning their decision on the heels of recent missteps such as misreporting video ad metrics and a failure to deal with fake news. All of that said, it’s still too early… Read More

While investors have a responsibility to research the companies they are interested in, knowing how to research sets apart the good investors from bad ones. Think about when you were in high school.  What separated good students from bad students? It often comes down to their studying habits, right? Student who struggle with grades and can’t study well — whether because they don’t know how or lack the time — can’t survive without a tutor, or in some instances, summer school. Similarly, investors who don’t know how to research or lack the time to do so effectively must come to… Read More

While investors have a responsibility to research the companies they are interested in, knowing how to research sets apart the good investors from bad ones. Think about when you were in high school.  What separated good students from bad students? It often comes down to their studying habits, right? Student who struggle with grades and can’t study well — whether because they don’t know how or lack the time — can’t survive without a tutor, or in some instances, summer school. Similarly, investors who don’t know how to research or lack the time to do so effectively must come to terms with this by knowing their strengths and weaknesses. How would someone know what to research if he or she doesn’t first know what they don’t know? By and large, sound research is where so many investors consistently struggle. The easiest way to compensate is to limit your research to only a handful of companies. Here’s why… Research Rule No. 1: You Can’t Follow Everything As of the most recent quarter, the New York Stock Exchange traded stocks for some 2,800 companies, while the Nasdaq has listed somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,100 others. Combined, this comes out to… Read More

Shares of Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) were under heavy selling pressure late last week, falling as much as 6.2% to a session low of $29.61 even though the company reported fiscal first-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s estimates on both the top and bottom lines. The problem? The network equipment giant spooked investors with weak guidance for the fiscal second quarter. #-ad_banner-#But does the guidance justify the punishment? If you recall, Cisco in July basically telegraphed the level of weakness within the telecom sector by issuing a combination of mixed fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and downbeat order metrics. Cisco hinted that… Read More

Shares of Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) were under heavy selling pressure late last week, falling as much as 6.2% to a session low of $29.61 even though the company reported fiscal first-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s estimates on both the top and bottom lines. The problem? The network equipment giant spooked investors with weak guidance for the fiscal second quarter. #-ad_banner-#But does the guidance justify the punishment? If you recall, Cisco in July basically telegraphed the level of weakness within the telecom sector by issuing a combination of mixed fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and downbeat order metrics. Cisco hinted that telecommunication companies such as AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) and Comcast Communications (NYSE: CMCSA) were delaying purchases, and in some cases, not buying anything at all. These headwinds culminated on what Cisco announced on November 16. For the three months that ended October, the San Francisco-based company reported fiscal first quarter adjusted earnings per share of 61 cents, marking a 3% rise year over year, on revenue of $12.35 billion, which climbed about 1% year over year. Both measures surpassed analyst estimates of 59 cents per share on $12.33 billion in revenue, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The beat… Read More