#-ad_banner-#If you can handle risk, I’ve found a potentially very lucrative investment idea for you — a stock that could triple your money, or better, in the next three to five years. The stock’s risky for a couple reasons. First, it’s a small cap. As you probably… Read More

For clean energy investors, 2010 finished on a dismal note. A change of political control in Congress signaled diminished support in Washington for any kind of major financial incentives in alternative energy. In Europe, fiscal challenges led countries such as Italy and Germany to scale back their previous commitments to… Read More

When a company decides to split its stock, it’s usually a good sign for shareholders. For one reason or another, the company has decided it would like more shares outstanding on the market. This is usually accompanied by a run-up in the share price… Read More

There’s something more to insurance giant Aflac (NYSE: AFL) than just the funny (and wildly successful) duck mascot. Weighing in at a hefty $26.8 billion market cap, Aflac (originally the American Family Life Assurance Co.) writes supplemental health and life insurance in the United States and Japan. Read More

Friday’s employment report has created an even hazier backdrop for stocks. Recent economic data showed an economy starting to cool, but with 244,000 jobs created in April — the best showing in 11 months — this expansion still may have legs after all. The key distinction: the economy‘s areas of support are not what you would have expected a few months ago. In recent weeks and months, investors have been trying to assess stocks in the context of a sharp spike in commodities — from oil to silver to… Read More

Friday’s employment report has created an even hazier backdrop for stocks. Recent economic data showed an economy starting to cool, but with 244,000 jobs created in April — the best showing in 11 months — this expansion still may have legs after all. The key distinction: the economy‘s areas of support are not what you would have expected a few months ago. In recent weeks and months, investors have been trying to assess stocks in the context of a sharp spike in commodities — from oil to silver to wheat. Only recently, we’ve seen how the massive flooding in the Midwest is leading to forecasts of sharply falling farm output and eventually, higher food prices. Consumers didn’t need to hear that while gasoline prices were eating a hole in their pocketbooks. #-ad_banner-#Despite that, stocks were able to rally through much of April, thanks to a declining dollar that was boosting prospects for U.S. blue chips. In effect, the domestic economic picture looked troubling, while the rest of the world promised to provide at least a decent tailwind. That scenario now looks backward, as… Read More

My colleague, High Yield Investing newsletter guru Carla Pasternak, often advises subscribers to look off the beaten path for the best yields. Sometimes, the best dividends can be found in asset classes that are… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Years ago, when my cousin Andrea was in law school, she and my dad were talking about the “hottest” area in the law — water rights. This was probably 15 years ago and today Andrea is one of the nation’s leading experts on the death penalty. Dad and I were… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Thanks to recent troubles, I knew shares of Axcelis Technologies (Nasdaq: ACLS) were cheap. But I had no idea how cheap. When Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) announced plans to buy a rival, an apples-to-apples comparison revealed a massive gap in how investors are assessing these firms. After a… Read More

What would you do if you had a stock that returned 20 times your initial investment over a span of two decades? Would you sell some or all and lock in the huge gain? That would seem reasonable. After all, the stock may have run its course. Read More

It’s been a heck of a run for small-cap stocks. The Russell 2000 Index has risen roughly 80% in just two years and a number of individual stocks have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled. The move is understandable; Small stocks were so badly beaten-up… Read More