They say success comes at a price. The same thing applies to capital gains. Most investors forgot that lesson in the 1990s, when high-growth “dot-com” stocks were all the rage. Growth at any price was the name of the game, and some investors paid dearly for it. Read More

“There has never been,” President Obama proclaimed this week, “a program of this scale, moved at this speed, that has been enacted as effectively and as transparently as the recovery act.” This is Mr. Obama’s assessment of his $787 billion stimulus package, which marked its first anniversary… Read More

Every company has a life cycle. Some, like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) or Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), seemingly come out of nowhere to dominate their industries. Others, like Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) or General Electric (NYSE: GE), have delivered steady returns to shareholders for decades. But let’s face it:… Read More

Throughout the 1990s tech boom, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) made life miserable for any other firm trying to sell computers. Its lean operations enabled it to generate solid profits even as price wars kept most rivals’ bottom lines in the red. First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) has taken a page from Dell’s… Read More

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently cut the nation’s biofuel output quota for 2010. It wasn’t a token cut, either. It was a -94% reduction in cellulosic ethanol, to 6.5 million gallons, from 100 million gallons. (Cellulosic ethanol… Read More

If you’ve ever been to Mexico, then Carlos Slim owes you a gracias. It’s almost impossible to go a day in this country without spending a peso in one of his business. Slim is the third richest person in the world, behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett,… Read More

Uganda, the East African nation sandwiched between the Congo and Kenya, is blessed with significant mineral resources. Its rich, fertile land is not prone to drought, and although agriculture has long encompassed a majority of the country’s economy — coffee is its most significant… Read More

This week brought a significant bit of news in the ethanol world. Industry-watchers might assume I’m talking about President Obama’s Wednesday announcement with the Energy and Agriculture secretaries that a federal biofuel output quota schedule had been finalized, a move that… Read More

The vast majority of investors regret not having bought Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) or Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) 20 years ago, long before they became the behemoths they are today. Consider this, though: Many investors in 20 years from now will probably look back at the opportunities available in today’s market with… Read More

Many investors focus on short-term trends, buying or selling stocks in anticipation of how the current quarter will play out. This myopic approach can keep them from finding great long-term investments. Touch-screen maker Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA) is a prime example. The company recently reported a tepid fiscal… Read More