They’re a staple of most high-yield portfolios. Just about every income investor has at least a few thousand dollars invested in this group. There are good reasons for their popularity. These businesses throw off enormous amounts of cash. By law, they have to pay at least 90%… Read More

Looking over the most recent short-interest data, a very unusual company jumped out at me: EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC). Short-sellers are increasingly convinced the storage giant is headed for a fall. In the last two weeks of April, they boosted the short position in EMC by 18%… Read More

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) released its latest 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, May 16, to detail its stock portfolio holdings as of the end of the first quarter. The release is highly-anticipated each quarter and, though the first quarter ended more than six weeks ago, it offers the timeliest way to see which stocks Warren Buffett bought, sold or held during the 12-week period. The latest twist at Berkshire is that Warren Buffett hired 39 year-old Todd Combs from CastlePoint Capital Management back… Read More

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) released its latest 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, May 16, to detail its stock portfolio holdings as of the end of the first quarter. The release is highly-anticipated each quarter and, though the first quarter ended more than six weeks ago, it offers the timeliest way to see which stocks Warren Buffett bought, sold or held during the 12-week period. The latest twist at Berkshire is that Warren Buffett hired 39 year-old Todd Combs from CastlePoint Capital Management back in October 2010 to help him manage Berkshire’s $53.6 billion portfolio. As such, this represented the first full quarter in which Combs’ picks will be commingled with Buffett’s. Previously, Lou Simpson from Berkshire insurance subsidiary Geico had picks that showed up in Berkshire’s quarterly filing, but Simpson retired in August 2010 at the age of 73. #-ad_banner-#Only three stock trades took place during Berkshire’s first quarter. The first consisted of a sale of integrated energy firm ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), which Buffett has been steadily selling off over since an admitted bad call on his part when he… Read More

When analysts received word on March 30 that Medicare would cover Dendreon’s (Nasdaq: DNDN) pricey drug Provenge, used to treat prostate cancer, shares of the drug maker steadily rose from $35 to $43 in just one month. Read More

If Memorial Day holidays plans are on your mind, then this online travel and reservation company should be front-and-center. Not only can it help you save money on travel costs, but trading the stock could also boost your portfolio. However, the opportunity to substantially profit from the trade may… Read More

There are two moves every investor should make at the end of every earnings season. First, look at companies that just announced major stock buybacks, and second, look at companies where insiders have been spending their own cash to load up on their company’s stock. Both of these… Read More

Despite the recent bearish effort, the stock market‘s still up 6% for the year. Some sectors and groups, however, are up more than others. Such outperformance begs the question: are these leading industries already over-baked, or is… Read More

#-ad_banner-#It seems I struck a chord in my April 29 article “A Utility Stock with Triple-Digit Upside,” which described Chinese electric utility Huaneng Power International (NYSE: HNP). The article got a very strong response, though I admit I’m not surprised. Why? Huaneng is about as close as… Read More

In the past few years, the global investment landscape has undergone massive change. Some of the smallest and riskiest economies saw their stock markets soar, in many instances exceeding the quite impressive gains secured in the United States. As I noted back in December, some stock markets roughly tripled in value in just two years. The go-go era of emerging-market investing has come to an abrupt halt. Not a single stock market outside of Europe has risen even 10% this year. And some formerly hot emerging markets such as India and… Read More

In the past few years, the global investment landscape has undergone massive change. Some of the smallest and riskiest economies saw their stock markets soar, in many instances exceeding the quite impressive gains secured in the United States. As I noted back in December, some stock markets roughly tripled in value in just two years. The go-go era of emerging-market investing has come to an abrupt halt. Not a single stock market outside of Europe has risen even 10% this year. And some formerly hot emerging markets such as India and Peru are off by more than 10%.   The fact that European stock markets have been top gainers thus far in 2011 comes as a bit of a surprise. After all, the European Union is still wrestling with potential debt bombs in places like Greece and Portugal and voices calling for dissolution of the euro currency have not grown any quieter. But investors are willing to give some credit for a degree of corporate belt-tightening underway, and if the currency crisis can be tamed, these markets could rise yet further,… Read More

In Omaha during Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK-B) annual shareholder meeting, Tom Gaynor, chief investment officer of Markel Corp. (NYSE: MKL), detailed an asset class he follows — SID — which stands for “stocks in drag.” This was meant to highlight that certain “safer” securities… Read More