wall street
We were pleased to learn in November 2011 that Warren Buffett had made a major investment in IBM. Indeed, Mr. Buffett was recently quoted as saying that he was “late to the IBM party,” but even so he has committed a good deal of money to it. He now owns 6% of the company. We made IBM our #1 U.S. Stock of the Year in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter in 2010. The price was $126—yet it has risen over 60% since then. We think IBM will go still higher in years to come, and it appears Warren feels the same way....
Aeropostale, $18.63, symbol ARO on New York (Shares outstanding: 80.8 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; www.aeropostale.com), is a recommendation of our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. It’s a buy. A: American Eagle, $14.69, symbol AEO on New York (Shares outstanding: 193.7 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; www.ae.com), sells clothing, shoes and accessories, mainly to 15- to 25-year-old men and women. The company’s 937 Canadian and U.S. American Eagle stores are mainly located in shopping malls. It also operates 158 stand-alone Aerie outlets and 21 77kids locations....
APPLE INC., $545.18, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, hit an all-time high of $548.21 this week, mainly due to speculation that the company will unveil the next version of its iPad tablet computer, the iPad 3, in the coming days. Apple has sold more than 55 million iPads since it first launched the device in 2010. Even though many of the company’s competitors now sell tablets, iPads still account for over 60% of this fast-growing market. Separately, Apple has recently agreed to let China Telecom sell its new iPhone 4S smartphone; China Telecom is China’s third-largest wireless carrier, with 15 million customers. Apple already sells the iPhone though China Unicom, China’s second-largest carrier. Apple also hopes to work out a deal with China Mobile after it upgrades its systems to handle the iPhone 4S. China Mobile is the country’s largest wireless provider, with 650 million subscribers....
Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, there was a question about a stock that has been on the rise, Canada’s biggest private liquor store operator. Pat examines the company’s prospects for future growth in Canada as well as the possible risks and rewards of U.S. expansion....
Just a few years ago, the North American automobile industry was in a deep slump and some long-established names appeared to be on the verge of failing. But while General Motors is still struggling to regain profitability, its biggest Detroit rival has engineered a strong turnaround and is making expansion plans. FORD MOTOR CO. (New York symbol F; www.ford.com) is the second-biggest carmaker in the U.S., and the world’s fifth-largest....
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $197.76, New York symbol IBM, is now developing software that helps prevent online data theft. The company’s analytics software already helps businesses and governments quickly gather and analyze a wide range of data. This technology is used in many ways, from easing traffic congestion in cities to making power grids more efficient. This week, IBM demonstrated software that can detect and prevent unauthorized access to databases by analyzing certain patterns, such as failed login attempts. This product could be in huge demand, particularly in light of recent high-profile attacks on U.S. government websites....
Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, one Inner Circle question concerned a potentially fast-growing stock market investment, convenience store chains. Pat looks at how one U.S. chain is doing following its successful fight to resist a takeover bid from a big Canadian chain. ...
As the stock market rebounded in 2009 from one of the worst crises in years, Pat McKeough was invited by Jonathan Chevreau of the Financial Post to appear on his ‘Wealthy Boomer’ telecast. In a two-part interview, Pat aired his views on a wide variety of investment subjects. Now, with the stock market coming off last autumn’s lows, we think it’s an appropriate time to replay the interview. Pat discusses not only specific solutions for volatile markets, but also how his investment advice applies in all market conditions. Here is part two of the interview, entitled “Spreading investments” on YouTube. (View part one here: Pat McKeough’s investment ideas as shown on YouTube.)...
GOOGLE INC., $604.64, Nasdaq symbol GOOG, announced that U.S. and European competition regulators have approved its purchase of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (New York symbol MMI). In August 2011, Google agreed to pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility. That’s equal to 6% of Google’s $196.6-billion market cap. Regulators in China and other countries where Motorola Mobility operates still need to approve the takeover. Still, Google plans to close the deal in the next few weeks....
Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, one Inner Circle member asked about one of the largest telecommunications firms on the world stock market. Pat looks at the prospects and potential pitfalls ahead for a company that seeks to expand its presence in international markets. ...
