Although investors typically seek out stocks that are poised to rise, they also need to closely monitor what’s happening among short-sellers. These short-sellers often identify red flags well before Wall Street analysts or the financial media spot them. And if you are long a stock that is heavily shorted, you’ll need to dig deeper to try to find out why. (For example, you can go back to archived version of the most recent conference call to listen to what concerns arose during the Q&A). Twice a month, the Nasdaq and the… Read More

Although investors typically seek out stocks that are poised to rise, they also need to closely monitor what’s happening among short-sellers. These short-sellers often identify red flags well before Wall Street analysts or the financial media spot them. And if you are long a stock that is heavily shorted, you’ll need to dig deeper to try to find out why. (For example, you can go back to archived version of the most recent conference call to listen to what concerns arose during the Q&A). Twice a month, the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange issue updated information about stocks that are heavily shorted. You can find that data on their websites, shortsqueeze.com, or in the Market Data section of The Wall Street Journal. Here’s a key breakdown of the short interest lists you need to know: Biggest Short Positions — Stocks on this list are not necessarily there because they are in trouble. Instead, they may simply be seen as a negative bet on the broader stock market or a particular sector. In the most recent data, three of the most five heavily shorted investments are… Read More

Can you name the oldest stock index still in use? Here’s a clue: it’s even older than the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Ten points if you guessed the Dow Jones Transportation Average (also known as the Dow Transports). Charles Dow dreamed up the index nearly 130 years ago, as he presumed that the share price movements of transportation-related companies would provide a clear read on the amount of goods being sold (and trafficked) across the country. (As a side note, Dow… Read More

Can you name the oldest stock index still in use? Here’s a clue: it’s even older than the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Ten points if you guessed the Dow Jones Transportation Average (also known as the Dow Transports). Charles Dow dreamed up the index nearly 130 years ago, as he presumed that the share price movements of transportation-related companies would provide a clear read on the amount of goods being sold (and trafficked) across the country. (As a side note, Dow also noted the importance of the Dow Transports and the DJIA moving in tandem. If only one was rallying, you shouldn’t trust it. This is one of the six tenets of the Dow Theory, which is best left for another day). Had Dow been around today, he might have stopped focusing on the Dow Transports and simply watched FedEx (NYSE: FDX), the world’s largest shipper. As you look at FedEx’s stock chart in the last year, you can get a clear read on investor expectations about the… Read More

Investors have got the fever. After seeing 3PAR (NYSE: PAR) jump from $10 to $30 a share and ArcSight (Nasdaq: ARST) zoom ahead from $25 to $43 in the last month, they are pushing up shares of any name they think might be the… Read More

Investors breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday morning when Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) delivered a fairly impressive quarter. Shares, which had been close to a 52-week low, are up more than +6%. Were it not for the large group of investors that see real danger in the consumer economy, shares would have posted even stronger gains. Six months from now, when Best Buy is discussing holiday season sales, those concerns should be officially put to bed. Meanwhile, shares are awfully cheap, which sets the stage for… Read More

Investors breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday morning when Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) delivered a fairly impressive quarter. Shares, which had been close to a 52-week low, are up more than +6%. Were it not for the large group of investors that see real danger in the consumer economy, shares would have posted even stronger gains. Six months from now, when Best Buy is discussing holiday season sales, those concerns should be officially put to bed. Meanwhile, shares are awfully cheap, which sets the stage for one of the best retail plays ahead of the holiday season. Before we look ahead, it’s important to see what is driving profits in the near-term. To be sure, consumer spending remains cautious: same-store sales fell -0.1% in the quarter, which is actually below the +2% growth rate in consumer incomes seen in recent periods. There is also a dearth of hot new items that consumers must own right now. #-ad_banner-#But that’s about to change. In the next few months, expect to hear about a wave of new consumer electronics devices, especially those that… Read More

Every Monday, I like to look at all the stocks that saw fresh rounds of insider buying in the previous week. Such so-called insider buying can alert you to undervalued stocks before most investors take note. That’s because insiders (defined as any officer or director of a company, or any… Read More

Sometimes you don’t have to scour the market for a good trade. Occasionally, it can be found in some of the most visible stocks on the market. Clorox (NYSE: CLX), also known as “the bleach company,” looks to be one of those trades. As a top manufacturer… Read More

Anybody with a home theatre has known for some time that the DVD’s days are numbered. Eventually, streaming movies will be the standard. Eventually, films will also be streamed directly to a movie screen. There will be no front projection. Movie theatres will be nothing more than a choice between… Read More

I have been warning readers of my premium Mastering the Markets service for the past few weeks that mid-September looks to get ugly unless you plan on being short the market — which is my plan. Below is my time-cycle forecast for the S&P 500 for the next few weeks: This coming week looks to be a shorting opportunity. I will be selling into an expected rally that will last only until either the end of this week or early next week. Then, as you can see, if the time-cycle… Read More

I have been warning readers of my premium Mastering the Markets service for the past few weeks that mid-September looks to get ugly unless you plan on being short the market — which is my plan. Below is my time-cycle forecast for the S&P 500 for the next few weeks: This coming week looks to be a shorting opportunity. I will be selling into an expected rally that will last only until either the end of this week or early next week. Then, as you can see, if the time-cycle forecast proves to be correct, the market could begin a stair-step move from about 1120 to near 1020 — a decent opportunity to make money if the trend holds. #-ad_banner-#I prefer to buy inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in falling markets, rather than shorting individual stocks. The reason is entirely due to risk. A positive exogenous event can occur at any time with any individual company that could push it from a declining trend to a spike higher. It is the risk of these potential upward spikes that put more risk on an individual short trade than I… Read More

To pull off a successful initial public offering (IPO), bankers need to drum up lots of interest. That’s bad news for companies that went public last month. Many investors and traders tend to take time off in August, and demand for… Read More

Executives at Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and privately-held Cox Communications have taken their customers for granted for far too long. Even as consumer income has barely kept up with inflation in recent years, cable bills soar ever higher. Here in upstate New York, Time Warner gets $130 from me every month so I can get high-speed Internet access, a DVR and far more channels than I ever bother to watch. I have long vowed to cut the cord, as soon as it was practical. Read More

Executives at Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and privately-held Cox Communications have taken their customers for granted for far too long. Even as consumer income has barely kept up with inflation in recent years, cable bills soar ever higher. Here in upstate New York, Time Warner gets $130 from me every month so I can get high-speed Internet access, a DVR and far more channels than I ever bother to watch. I have long vowed to cut the cord, as soon as it was practical. That day is finally here. Technologies are rolling out that will expand consumer’s choices. And most ominously for those big cable companies, many of those choices will be either free or far cheaper. Breaking it down As I look over my monthly cable bill, a few things stand out. I like to record shows and watch them when it’s convenient. Time Warner charges me $13 a month for the service. Trouble is, to get a DVR, I also need to get digital cable ($7) and the “Standard Service” ($43), which is largely comprised of obscure channels… Read More