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Value Stocks

SIX FLAGS ENTERTAINMENT CORP. $15 is a hold. The company (New York symbol SIX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 101.5 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; No dividend paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.sixflags.com) took its current form on July 1, 2024, when Cedar Fair L.P. merged with rival amusement park operator Six Flags Entertainment (old New York symbol SIX) in an all-stock transaction. The combined firm operates 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and 9 resort properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Value Stocks

Recall adds to Baxter’s risk

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $19 is a now a hold. The company (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 511.6 million; Market cap: $9.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) makes specialized equipment for hospitals, including intensive-care-unit beds and electronic diagnostic systems.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

Only one of these GE spinoffs is a buy

The three-way breakup of the old General Electric Co. (now operating as GE Aerospace) continues to benefit investors as the three new firms can better focus on their core businesses. We like the remaining two companies formed by the split. Still, we prefer GE HealthCare for new buying.

GE HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGIES INC. $81 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol GEHC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 457.9 million; Market cap: $37.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 0.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gehealthcare.com) makes X-ray equipment, MRIs and ultrasound scanners. On January 3, 2023, parent company GE handed its investors one share of GEHC for every three shares they held.

2 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

Fair Isaac changes a key policy

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $1,797 remains a buy for highly aggressive investors. The company (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 23.7 million; Market cap: $42.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 22.3; Dividend suspended June 2017; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) is best known for its FICO Scores software. It lets lenders make better decisions about customer creditworthiness.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Value Stocks

Their prospects remain strong after 10 years

In July 2015, eBay spun off its PayPal business as a separate firm—investors received one PayPal share for each eBay share they held. Since then, eBay has jumped over 210%, while PayPal has gained 70%. We still like the outlook for both.

EBAY INC. $82 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 452.0 million; Market cap: $37.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.7; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) operates e-commerce websites, in over 190 countries.

2 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

IFF cut its debt by a third

INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $70 remains a buy. The maker of compounds that improve the taste of food and the smell of consumer products (New York symbol IFF; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 256.1 million; Market cap: $17.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.iff.com) continues to sell its less-important assets under a plan to streamline its operations.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Value Stocks

Lower costs set to fuel earnings

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $72 remains a buy. The company (New York symbol SWK; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 154.9 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of hand and power tools.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

Better efficiency will offset the tariff hit

Tariffs are increasing the cost of raw materials for these three makers of industrial equipment. The tariffs are also adding to prices for their final products.

Even so, they are doing a good job offsetting these extra costs with better efficiency. Their high-quality operations will also let them keep winning new orders.

For now, however, we prefer Carrier and Otis over Howmet, which trades at a very high multiple in relation to its earnings.

5 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

New high for Alphabet

ALPHABET INC. is a buy for aggressive investors. The holding company (Nasdaq symbols GOOG $320 [class C: non-voting] and GOOGL $320 [class A: one vote per share]; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 12.1 billion; Market cap: $3.9 trillion; Price-to-sales ratio: 10.3; Dividend yield: 0.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.abc.xyz) is the parent of Google, the world’s leading Internet search engine. It also sells cloud computing services, and invests in emerging technologies such as self-driving cars.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

A lower-risk way to tap the AI surge

Since its founding in 1975, Microsoft has successfully adapted to rapidly changing technologies such as the spread of the Internet and the shift to cloud computing.

The company is now investing heavily in the latest technology revolution—artificial intelligence.

Concern over the size of Microsoft’s spending on new AI-related datacentres has hurt the stock recently, but we feel these outlays will benefit investors for years to come. That’s partly because many individuals and businesses already use the company’s products, which gives it a big advantage when it comes to launching new services. The company’s alliances with AI pioneers OpenAI and Anthropic also gives it access to their cutting-edge technologies.

4 min read

Pat McKeough

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Cannabis

Spinoffs

One of the ways a company can try to unlock its own hidden value is by creating a separate company out of a corporate subsidiary. The parent company can either sell stock in the new company to the public, or spin it off—hand the stock out to its own investors.

Dividend Stocks

Dividend stocks make cash payouts that serve as a way for companies to share the wealth they’ve accumulated. These payouts are drawn from earnings and cash flow and paid to the shareholders of the company. Typically, these dividends are paid quarterly, although they may be paid annually or even monthly as well.

ETFs

What are ETFs?

ETF is an acronym for exchange traded fund. These exchange traded funds are used to track indexes as closely as possible, since investors cannot actually buy an index outright.

Value Stocks

What are value stocks?

One of the sweetest and most profitable pleasures of successful investing is to buy high-quality “value stocks” (or stocks that are reasonably priced, if not cheap, in relation to its sales, earnings or assets), then hold on to them as mainstream investors recognize the value and push up the share price.

Blue Chip Stocks

Blue chip stocks are big, well-established, dividend-paying corporations with strong business prospects. These are companies that also have sound management that should be able to make the right moves to keep competing successfully in a changing marketplace.

Penny Stocks

A penny stock in general trades for under five dollars a share, and as the name implies, sometimes for pennies. Most of the time they’re young companies, or start-ups in speculative markets like mining or technology.

Growth Stocks

Growth stocks are companies that are likely to have sales and earnings growth well above market average. Frequently they pay few, if any, dividends. Instead they typically reinvest any extra cash flow to promote further growth. Chosen wisely—according to Pat McKeough’s advice—high-quality growth-oriented stocks can be worthwhile additions to most well-diversified portfolios.

Wealth Management

Wealth management is the practice of putting your savings to work so that it continues to grow over your lifetime and will also benefit your heirs. Wealth management encompasses many different areas of investing like long term investment planning and retirement planning.

Mining Stocks

Mining stocks are investments in companies that produce or explore for minerals. Some of these minerals include uranium, coal, molybdenum (which is used in steelmaking), copper, silver and gold. They are affected by fluctuating commodity prices in addition to their own business and operating risks.

How To Invest

Pat McKeough has been making investing for beginners simple—and profitable—by helping investors make big gains for more than 25 years. His advice to beginning investors is the same as it is for all investors: buy high-quality, mostly dividend paying stocks (or ETFs that hold these stocks) and evenly spread your investments over the five main economic sectors (Resources, Manufacturing, Finance, Utilities and Consumer). Pat also believes investors should avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight and focus on those with hidden or little-noticed assets.

Energy Stocks

What are energy stocks?

Businesses that work in the extraction, refining and delivery of energy sources such as natural gas, oil, uranium and coal, are considered energy stocks.