Aggressive

The Canadian consumer sector is highly competitive. Aside from other domestic retailers, Canadian retailers face rising competition from large U.S. discount retailers, like Wal-Mart and Costco. As well, consumer stocks are more exposed to swings in the overall economy than companies in some other sectors, such as utilities.

That’s especially true when you indulge in aggressive investing in consumer stocks …read more »

Investors often comment that we sometimes differ with the mainstream view on which stocks make good investments. That’s especially true with drug stocks.

The general view on these stocks seems to be that they are can’t-miss investments because the baby boomers are reaching an age when they will need drugs for a number of medical conditions, and are willing to …read more »

We’ve had lots of success with the junior mining stocks we recommend in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing.

For example, in a recent issue of Stock Pickers Digest, we updated our buy/sell/hold advice on a junior mine that’s risen more than 300% for us in the past year. See below for further details on this up-and-coming diamond …read more »

Gold now trades at $1,240.70 U.S. an ounce. That’s up 32.7% from $935 a year ago, but down from its all-time high of $1,256.50 U.S., where it closed on June 18, 2010.

Investor fears about European sovereign debt — Greek and Spanish debt in particular — have been a major factor in gold’s recent rise. These fears are prompting more …read more »

It pays to be skeptical of growth stocks that rely too heavily on acquisitions.

That’s because the buyer of something rarely knows as much about it as the seller. So it follows that if a company makes enough acquisitions, it might eventually buy something that has hidden problems. At some point, those problems will come out into the open and hurt …read more »

Members of our Inner Circle service often ask for our portfolio investing advice on stocks they are thinking of buying that we don’t cover in our newsletters. These companies range from the most speculative penny mines to large multinational corporations.

Many of these stocks fall into a grey area. Sometimes our advice is that they are “okay to hold,” but we …read more »

Hidden value is one of the key factors we look for when we’re picking high return investments to recommend in our investment advisories, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that covers the U.S. stock market.

By hidden value, we mean valuable assets that are not getting the attention they deserve from investors. When a company’s assets are wholly or partially …read more »

Buying and selling stock options is different from regular stock transactions. You can make money in options investing, of course, but to be successful in this complex, often risky area, it’s crucial to have a firm grasp of how options investing works (and how to avoid the pitfalls that can expose you to serious risk).

How options investing works

An option …read more »

Whether you’re an aggressive or more conservative investor, we feel you can improve your results in stock market investments — and cut your risk — by understanding and avoiding these 5 common investment errors:

1. Focusing on three or fewer of the 5 main economic sectors: Manufacturing and Resources stocks expose you to above-average risk, Utilities and Canadian Finance stocks involve …read more »

Investors generally look to aggressive stocks for capital gains and to more conservative stocks, like utilities, for income. However, there are some aggressive stocks that pay dividends that are as high — or even higher — than more established companies.

(We’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on a high-dividend aggressive stock in a just-published issue of Stock Pickers Digest. See below …read more »