IBM is being touted as a good defensive technology stock these days. They pay a very good dividend and isn’t as volatile as many tech stocks. Does this make it a good defensive play? Given that a lot of investors are at least a little skittish about the risk that holding stocks involved, and given […]
When a stock has lost 80% of its value since last March, and with some analysts forecasting another 50% decline from here, we need to be careful if we want to jump on this. For whatever reason, cannabis stocks have captured the attention of investors in a way that is entirely disproportionate to their size […]
In spite of only 1 in 5 active funds beating the S&P 500, plenty of investors still want to take their chances. There are better indexes than this, which active funds can’t touch. The S&P 500 is the benchmark for investing, and both individual investors and funds look to beat the returns of this index […]
The first month of the year isn’t even half over, and Tesla stock is already up by 25%. It has more than doubled over the last 3 months. How much higher could this stock go? Tesla serves as an excellent example of how it pays to ride a stock while it’s hot. Tesla has been […]
If we want to go with a stock that lags over ones that don’t, including the index itself, we should need some very good reasons to do it. Coke does have its time and its place. The news on Coca-Cola stock is that the Street sees more upside for it in 2020. It’s hard to […]
With the potential for conflict between Iran and the United States at hand, while we should not overestimate the risk to stocks, some are advising that we hedge our bets. Stock markets don’t like conflict, and especially do not like ones that risk putting up the price of oil considerably. While President Trump certainly raised […]
When it comes to designing a stock picking strategy, we tend to make things a lot more complicated than we need to. We can do well just by using a couple of basic principles. It is no wonder why so many investors throw up their hands when it comes to picking their own stocks. While […]
If you believe that price to earnings ratios are a big constraint on stock prices, you probably don’t expect much from stocks in 2020. This wall is only made of paper though. People are only calling for a very modest year for stocks next year, only expecting single-digit gains, and it’s actually pretty amazing that […]
When a stock gains 90% in a single year, as Applied Materials has in 2019, we may worry that the party may be ending soon. Things are set to improve even more though. Applied Materials has been one of the very best stocks out there in 2019, putting in a very impressive 90% gain for […]
Goldman Sachs is in agreement with the consensus that 2020 will be mildly bullish. Their use of the Sharpe index to pick individual stocks is what is most interesting. David Kostin, chief U.S. equity strategist for Goldman Sachs, is forecasting more of the same for stocks next year, although the consensus is that growth in […]