investment
An investment is an asset or property acquired to generate income or gain appreciation. Appreciation is the increase in the value of an asset over time. It requires the outlay of a resource today, like time, effort, and money, for a greater payoff in the future or for generating a profit.
An investment involves using capital in the present to increase an asset’s value over time.
Investments may include bonds, stocks, real estate, or alternative investments.
Investments can be diversified to reduce risk, though this may reduce the amount of earning potential.
In business contexts, investments are financial; however, consider how some people spend time to make higher incomes in the future (i.e. invest in a college education).
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“Theme investing” can pay off from time to time. Recent investment themes have included renewable energy and emerging markets such as China and India. Today’s most popular investment themes include social media. However, theme investing can turn out badly for investors, especially those who get in late or forget about investment quality....
Cirrus Logic, $39.66, symbol CRUS on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 64.6 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; www.cirrus.com), supplies high-performance computer chips, with a focus on audio applications. It sells its products under the Cirrus Logic and Crystal brands. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, the company’s revenue rose 7.3%, to $99.0 million from $92.2 million a year earlier. Earnings fell 24.5%, to $6.9 million from $9.2 million, but that was mainly because Cirrus spent a lot more on research as it prepares to launch several new products: the company’s research spending jumped 32.7%, to $24.9 million (or 25.1% of revenue), in the latest quarter from $18.8 million (or 20.3% of revenue). When it released its latest results, Cirrus also issued a forecast for revenue of between $170 million and $190 million for the three months ended September 30, 2012. That was well above the consensus estimate of $129.7 million. A large part of the revenue jump will come from sales of the iPhone 5; Cirrus is the audio-chip supplier for the new device....
CALIAN TECHNOLOGIES (Toronto symbol CTY; www.calian.com) operates in two areas: the business and technology services division (which supplies 70% of Calian’s revenue) provides engineers, health care workers and other skilled professionals to clients on a contract basis. The systems engineering division (30% of revenue) sells hardware and software for testing, operating and managing satellite and other communication systems. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, Calian’s revenue rose 1.4%, to $59.3 million from $58.5 million a year earlier. Earnings rose slightly, to $3.48 million, or $0.45 a share, from $3.45 million, or $0.45 a share....
This is the time of year when many Canadians prepare to spend part or all of the coming winter in warmer weather down south. For some, this could raise the question of time-shares as an option for cheaper vacations. If you visit a resort this winter, you may receive an invitation to a party or other event whose object is to try to sell you and other guests time-shares. It could be worthwhile to attend, depending on what else you have to do. But our view is that investing your money in a time-share rarely provides you with any real advantage....
Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions about buying stocks and other investment topics 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 the Inner Circle. This week, an Inner Circle member asked about one of the world’s biggest toy companies. Hasbro’s revenue and earnings fell off in the most recent quarter and Pat analyzes the company’s different divisions to see where future growth may come from....
When markets rebound, we tend to hear from more investors asking whether they should invest in junior mines. My first answer is that you should have your portfolio spread out among the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry, Resources & Commodities, the Consumer sector, Finance and Utilities). Still, junior mining stocks can play a role in that part of your portfolio you have for more aggressive investments. Even then, it is important to realize just how long the odds against success can be before you proceed....
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 stock trading tips and other investment advice that will help you develop a successful approach to investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Selling a poor performer may seem like an obvious way to improve your portfolio, but make sure you are not ditching a possible winner.”...
The U.S. and other countries are running vast federal budget deficits these days. This hurts the broad economy, but it brings opportunity to one small slice of it. That’s the investment marketers who focus on hyperinflation risk to market their overpriced gold coins, gems and other collectibles. The marketers say these products can protect your assets in a period of hyperinflation, but this is by no means certain. Hyperinflation is extremely rare. The term refers to inflation that becomes so intense that money soon loses all its value. This is quite different from today’s mild inflation. The hyperinflation industry has been around at least since the high-inflation days of the 1970s and 1980s. Back then, hyperinflation marketers used to try to put on a scholarly air. Now many simply wing it. For example, one of our portfolio management clients sent us a quote from a hyperinflation marketing piece and asked what we thought....
Aston Hill VIP Income Fund, $8.70, symbol VIP.UN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 36.0 million; Market cap: $313.2 million; www.astonhill.ca), is a closed-end fund that holds a portfolio of mostly Canadian stocks, as well as bonds and some U.S. stocks. The fund used to be called the Brompton VIP Income Fund. The Aston Hill VIP Income Fund first sold units to the public at $10 and began trading on Toronto in February 2002. Manulife Asset Management, a division of Manulife Financial, is the fund’s investment manager. The fund’s management fees are 0.85% per year. The units yields 9.7%....
MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. (Toronto symbols TPX.A and TPX.B; www.molsoncoors.com) has completed its $3.4-billion purchase of StarBev LP, which owns nine breweries in Central and Eastern Europe (all amounts except share prices in U.S. dollars). In the three months ended June 30, 2012, this acquisition contributed $19.7 million to Molson Coors’s pre-tax earnings. That helped push up the company’s overall earnings by 8.0%, to $250.1 million from $231.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 12.2%, to $1.38 from $1.23, on fewer shares outstanding....