stock investing
Stock investing has grown in popularity with the advent of discount brokerages that reduced the fees involved in trading individual stocks. Along with investing, the appetite for stock advice surged, spawning books, newsletters and televisions shows related to the topic.
FedEx Corp. (New York symbol FDX) delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 other countries. The Memphis-based courier company reported earnings that fell short of consensus estimates on Thursday. However, it noted that shipments for the holiday season are much stronger than 2009 and 2008. (FedEx is one of the stocks we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter.) In its 2011 second quarter, which ended November 30, 2010, the company earned $283 million, or $0.89 a share. That’s down 18.0% from $345 million, or $1.10 a share, a year earlier....
Aéropostale, Inc. (symbol ARO in New York) is a specialty retailer of clothing and accessories. The company mainly targets 14- to 17-year-old women and men. Aeropostale also has 46 “P.S. from Aeropostale” stores, which are aimed at seven-to-12-year-old elementary-school students. The company is one of the aggressive stock investing picks we cover in our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. Aéropostale has nearly 900 stores located in 49 U.S. states, and 36 in Canada. The company also sells its clothing through its web site, www.aeropostale.com. The company’s low prices are one of the main reasons why it has attracted a devoted customer base in an industry where fashion trends change quickly. In the three months ended October 30, 2010, the company’s overall sales rose 6.1% to $602.8 million from $567.8 million in the same period last year. Same-store sales for the period were essentially flat. Aeropostale earned $58.5 million, or $0.64 a share, down 6.5% from $62.6 million, or $0.62 a share, a year earlier....
Growth stocks are companies whose earnings growth has been above the market average, and is likely to remain above average. These firms often pay little or no dividends. Instead, they invest their free cash flow in furthering their growth.
These stocks can be highly volatile, but they often make good long-term investments....
These stocks can be highly volatile, but they often make good long-term investments....
Members of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle enjoy a double benefit when it comes to taking advantage of our stock investing advice. They get to address investment questions directly to me and my research associates; AND they get to see all other members’ questions, and the stock investing advice we give in our answers (of course, we eliminate any personal information). Inner Circle members ask us about a wide range of investment questions, including questions about specific stocks they are considering buying. For example, here’s a recent member question about a highly speculative oil and gas explorer that could be set to tap into a vast deepwater reserve. I hope you enjoy and profit from it. Q: Dear Pat: I saw a story about oil and gas off the shore of Namibia. It gave a name, Chariot, but no details. The oil and gas formation is supposed to be same as that off the shore of Brazil on the other side of the Atlantic. What is your stock investing advice on this? Regards....
Investors sometimes ask us why we don’t publish price targets on the stocks we recommend in our newsletters and investment services.
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Focusing on targets puts too much emphasis on predictions
We don’t publish targets for several reasons. The main one is that they may lead investors to rely too heavily on predictions, which are the least reliable part of the investment decision-making process....
Online stock investing can look like a great way to build wealth, but it has many hidden dangers. Trading too frequently: The main risk is that the lower costs and higher speeds of online stock investing can quickly lead otherwise conservative investors to trade too frequently. That can lead you to sell your best picks when they are just getting started. Trading stocks online may even prompt conservative investors to take up short-term trading or day trading. That’s just another danger of trading stocks online, because there’s a large random element in short-term stock-price fluctuations that you just can’t get away from....
There’s a random element in stock-price movements that you just can’t get away from. Stocks sometimes ignore bad news for long periods, then suddenly take note of it and collapse. Stocks may overreact to bad news, or react to downbeat but irrelevant news. To top it off, stocks that are headed for a big rise often start their move with a slump. You can’t overcome this random element by intense study, reading charts, expensive computer programs or stock investing advice that aims at fine-tuning your market timing. (But our system can help you minimize this random element. Read on to find out how.)...
When building your portfolio, it’s crucial to follow our stock investing advice of downplaying stocks that seem to be near-universally recommended by brokers and are getting a lot of favourable media coverage. That’s because, in investing, familiarity can breed excessive feelings of comfort, security and performance. After all, brokers get information from the media, investment journalists spend a lot of time talking to brokers, and company managers listen to both. A feedback loop can develop that spurs high expectations, derails criticism, and leads companies (and their investors) to make devastating mistakes. You may get the feeling that these are can’t-miss investments, and that it’s safe to buy and forget them. That’s exactly the wrong thing to do with these stocks. Our stock investing advice is that your in-the-limelight holdings are the ones you need to watch most closely....
When investing in mutual funds, all too many amateur and professional investors and advisors try to take the easy way out. Instead of looking at the hard stuff — company fundamentals, industry trends, business plans and so on — they try to profit with a strategy called “momentum investing.” You might think of momentum investing as a mutation of growth-stock investing. Traditionally, growth-stock investors zero in on companies that have reported several years of growth and seem likely to keep on growing. Whether investing in mutual funds or stocks, growth investors tend to focus on investments that they plan to hold for years. Momentum investors also focus on growth stocks and funds — but with a shorter-term focus. They want to hold these investments only while prices are rising. They don’t mind paying a high price, because they plan to sell quickly if the rise begins to falter....
We’ve got four key Successful Investor investing for beginners tips that will help you profit from stock investing with less risk. No matter how widely or narrowly you cast your information net, some of your investments will disappoint you. But that won’t matter if you apply these three tips. That’s because your near-inevitable gains will overwhelm your all-but-unavoidable losses.
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Successful Investor Investing for beginners Tip #1: Hold mostly high-quality, dividend paying stocks or mutual funds that hold those stocks
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