best stocks

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you advice on stock market trading and other investment topics. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Worrying about things like the direction of the economy—rather than about the long-term strengths and weaknesses of the stocks you own—can lead investors into disastrous buy-sell decisions.” Many investors spend a lot of time worrying about the wrong things, while paying little attention to anything that has a direct impact on the value of their investments. For instance, at times they may mull over every tidbit of economic information that comes out, and how it differs from its predecessor of a week or a month earlier. They hope to detect a pattern—a sign that the economy is mending and headed for a return to steady growth, or deteriorating and doomed to plunge into a renewed recession....

Many investors spend a lot of time worrying about the wrong things. In particular, they worry about things that are unpredictable. Even if they happen, these things may have only an indirect impact on their long-term profits. As a result, they have little time to pay attention to things that have a direct impact on the value of their investments. For instance, at times they may mull over every tidbit of economic information that comes out, and how it differs from its predecessor of a week or a month earlier. They hope to detect a pattern—a sign that the economy is mending and headed for a return to steady growth, say, or perhaps deteriorating and doomed to plunge into a new recession. Others look for patterns or omens in domestic or international politics, or in demographic data, or in the price of gold. This can eat up an awful lot of time....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on stock picks as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on how you to find the best investments for your portfolio. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investment strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “While insider trading can sometimes be a useful indicator for investors, there are also occasions when it can be misleading.”...

Here’s the text of the quarterly letter I recently sent to our Portfolio Management clients: “In my last couple of quarterly letters, I talked about my belief that we’re in a secular bull market. This is a long-term stock-market rise that carries the market to successively higher levels over a period of a decade or two, if not longer. Secular bull markets generally start after a period of financial distress, when many investors feel at least somewhat negative toward the stock market. This period of financial distress may have lasted up to a decade, or longer. It’s a time when corporate earnings are weak or irregular, and investors assume they will stay that way indefinitely. Investor sentiment becomes extremely negative, and investors take it for granted that the market may be headed for another big downturn. The secular bull market begins around the time when investors begin to swing back to a more positive view of the stock market....

Our investment advice is that your in-the-limelight holdings are the ones you need to watch most closely. When investor expectations are high, it pays to be skeptical and wary.

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “The best analyst research reports are full of valuable data, but that alone doesn’t mean investors should fall in line with their buy, hold or sell recommendations.”...

Pat McKeough responds to many requests for specific advice on the best stocks to invest in and other questions on investment strategy and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week, we received a question from an Inner Circle member about a stock that may not be well known to Canadian investors, but has a product which has made headlines. Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems has seen its profits rise thanks to the sale of unmanned air vehicles, or drones. Pat looks at the company’s overall outlook and how much emphasis investors should put on one ‘hot’ product like drones....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions about the best stocks to invest in and other topics on investment and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week, one Inner Circle member in search of a U.S. stock asked us about one of the most iconic brands on the American market, Coca-Cola. Pat looks at the company’s penetration of international markets and its efforts to broaden its market with healthier products, while taking into account the increasing appeal of private-label beverages to price-conscious consumers. ...

Many investors spend a lot of time worrying about the wrong things, while paying little attention to anything that has a direct impact on the value of their investments. For instance, at times they may mull over every tidbit of economic information that comes out, and how it differs from its predecessor of a week or a month earlier. They hope to detect a pattern—a sign that the economy is mending and headed for a return to steady growth, or deteriorating and doomed to plunge into a renewed recession. These investors often feel they can cut their investment risk by selling some or all of their stocks in times of high risk, and buying them back when risk is low. This never works well for long. It’s hard to pinpoint market turning points, if only because so many smart people are trying to do the same thing. You’ll rarely if ever sell near the top, nor buy back near the bottom. If you could do that with any consistency, after all, you’d wind up owning a measurable proportion of all the money in the world. If you constantly worry about the “big picture,” you may at times manage to sell at just the right moment to sidestep a serious downturn. But you may only do that after sitting through a series of downturns. The downturn you avoid may turn out to be the last in a series—the “final leg downward,” as short-term traders like to refer to it....