Archive
Netflix Earnings Were Great but I’m Not Buying
While everybody has an opinion on Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), the Jan. 17 earnings report that it released after the markets closed didn’t change a lot of minds. The bulls who had talked the stock up 55 percent since Christmas were relieved to see the paid audience grow by 8.84 million people, well above the 7.6 million […]
Seven Investments to Protect Your Portfolio from a Stock Market Crash
Wall Street is nervous. Earnings growth is deteriorating and stocks that were once household names are cratering. The yield curve has signaled that there will be a recession sometime in the next five years. Add a government shutdown that could trigger another U.S. credit downgrade, tension overseas and the highest interest rates in a decade, […]
Call Me When Apple Is Below $110
So, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is having trouble selling iPhones in China. You’ve seen the headline and heard the chatter. Since Oct. 3, the stock has been down 40 percent from its all-time peak and $450 billion has been destroyed in the last 64 trading days. To a casual observer or an Apple hater, it looks like the […]
A Shutdown? Wall Street Doesn’t Mind
As the noise of the last few months is beginning to recede, it’s becoming clear what the market truly cares about and what’s only a matter of bluff and bluster. The prospect of slower earnings growth is a real issue as we look toward 2019 and the year-over-year impact of tax relief begins to fade. […]
Never Confuse the Fed with Santa Claus
It is hard to say what realistic outcome would’ve made Wall Street happy with regards to the latest Federal Reserve policy statement. People were clearly looking for Santa Claus at the press conference instead of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Anyone who has been watching the Fed knows they are clearly two separate people. After all, […]
ETFs Aren’t Always the Way to Play Exotic Themes
With the S&P 500 building a base and the VIX receding once again to historically normal levels, I’m seeing hints of the new market status quo. Conventional investments have a lot of work ahead of them. For instance, half the members of the elite Dow industrials, including the mighty Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), are 10 percent depressed […]
After Apple Corrects, Look for Real Market Leadership
With the biggest stock on Wall Street down more than 10 percent in five weeks, it is time investors cut through the chatter and face a few simple facts. It’s getting icy out there. Out of the 5,000 stocks I track, 3,000 are already in formal bear market mode, down 20 percent or more from […]
Working Longer, Trading Smarter: Longevity Stocks Change the Retirement Game
I was struck to hear that the average retirement age is “only” 62 and that’s when Millennials — benchmark driven as always — expect to quit working themselves. Leaving savings rates and 401(k) contributions aside, that’s an ambitious goal, because some of the very stocks that can best fund their golden years are also working […]
Wake-up Call on the Sector Map
For years, sector-based investors have struggled to achieve diversified exposure to telecom stocks, given the relatively small number of competitors left in that space after decades of aggressive consolidation. There wasn’t even any point in maintaining a sector fund if it was only going to own concentrated positions in AT&T (NYSE:T), Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Sprint (NYSE:S) and, for the […]
Nike and Other Brand Bubbles: Don’t Buy the Controversy
Wall Street is the most demanding audience companies like Nike (NYSE:NKE) will ever need to satisfy. Investors generally aren’t interested in the sneakers. They want to participate in the cash flow those products create. And when the executives decide to pander to the customers in ways that put that cash flow at risk, it makes […]
