The start of the year brings new companies into focus for investors, particularly those that had a poor showing in the prior year. There are a few different ways to classify these opportunities, but most are based on being a “dog” of some sort.Originally, the strategy was to buy the five highest-yielding companies in the Dow Index—hence the name Dogs of the Dow. But there are variations, like using 10 names, or using the S&P 500 index, or sorting by other means.One of those means should i...

With the end of the year, there are all sorts of predictions about the next. But more important than predictions are specific investment ideas.There are a few ways to take advantage of the changing calendar and find profitable investments. By focusing on a few key areas and concepts, traders can find specific investments that play to these opportunities. First, investors can look to buy stocks that have been out of favor with the market. By doing so, investors are taking advantage of the...

One of the best-performing stocks of the 2010’s was Netflix. And, with 2019’sbig push for new streaming services, the competition is heating up.The most interesting competitor to emerge this year was The Walt Disney Company (DIS), with its Disney+ streaming service launch.Taking advantage of its massive library of content spanning nearly a century,the company could have gotten away with pricing its service at a premium. But instead, Disney went with one of the most accessible prices...

Decades of investment data can reveal a lot of interesting patterns. A fun seasonal one right now is that of the Santa Claus Rally. Simply put, it’s the propensity for stocks to rally into the end of the year.Originally, this trend was noticed in the last week of December and into the first few trading days of the next year. However, looking at the data, the last six weeks or so of the year tends to be good for the market on average.Investors can expect an average move of 1.5 to 2 percent hig...

Tesla Motors Continues to Innovate, But Will Shareholders Benefit?There’s no room in life for complacency. Capitalism has been described as a form of “creative destruction,” whereby new products and services lower costs and shift demand to new products.In the past few years, Tesla Motors has shaken up the automotive industry. With a push for an all-electric car at a time when many of the major manufacturers were simply considering hybrid vehicles, Tesla’s existence has forced the industry to ...

Markets often top out for a while—or go through a multi-month correction—when greed gets rampant. There are a lot of ways to look at this phenomenon. It can happen when everyday folks are suddenly interested in the stock market.But a more important one comes from corporations themselves. Specifically, one warning of a market top occurs when there’s a record-setting buyout offer from one company to buy another.When big companies merge, it takes big bucks to make it happen. And the acquiring co...

Typically, celebrities and investing seem like two entirely different subjects. That hasn’t always been true. There’s actually been a rich history of celebrities getting involved with publicly-traded companies as investors, active partners, and even board members.To use one historic example, actress Grace Kelly once served on the board of 20th Century Fox. Today, a myriad of celebrities can be seen as getting involved with a company. That may include a celebrity investment, like that of ...

There are many ways to invest—and many potential ways to beat the market.But one way, more than any other, will result in different returns than the market. Done right, it means beating the pants off of the index. Done wrong, it means underperforming.This secret has to do with portfolio allocation.While most investment professionals discuss the importance of diversification, they tend to do so to stress an investment that could go wrong. Having no more than 10 percent of your wealth in one po...

We all come into some extra money from time to time. Whether it’s from a birthday card from a relative, some cash found in the pocket of an old jacket, or even just literally found on the street, that extra money can be put to good use.In today’s age, it’s easy to even take that money and invest it. While most say you need thousands to start investing, even with as little as $50 you can start to get yourself on a financial track to wealth.Of course, even $50 that grows quickly will still only...

What Warren Buffett’s Investment Strategy Tells Us About Today’s ValuesOnly a few investors have come close to Warren Buffett’s track record. Over the decades, he’s beaten the market handily. That success all comes down to one factor: Value.Whenever you buy shares of a company, if you don’t have an idea of what the company is worth, and will be worth in the future, it’s impossible to know if you’re buying at a great price or not.In Buffett’s early investment years, the 1950’s, this could be t...