Over the past two quarters I’ve noticed a pretty big divergence in the strategy that companies are starting to follow. A large portion (maybe 70% or more of large caps) are on the “return cash to shareholders” trend, while fewer and fewer seem to be executing a growth strategy specific to their business. I see…
Where Will Stocks Go Moving Forward?
It was an odd week for the stock market and I’m not yet seeing the things I would like to for confirmation that stocks should move higher. We’ll see where things take us in the week ahead. Here’s a video discussing the the things I’m watching: I hope everyone has a great weekend…
Why Emerging Market Stocks are Falling
The Emerging Markets were all the buzz this week, with India, Turkey and South Africa raising interest rates in an attempt to slow capital outflows. Since the 2008 crash, Emerging Market (EM) stocks have not been the same for US investors, significantly underperforming developed market stocks. Unfortunately I think they’re going to remain under pressure…
Why the Stock Market is Falling
Thanks to everyone who has participated in the survey! I received a suggestion asking to talk more about what is driving markets in the short-term. For example, why were stocks down yesterday. Here’s a short video looking at the investment capital flows over the past few weeks. It shows that we had a very strong…
Should I be Buying Stocks Right Now?
I think the answer to that question is always yes…but the real question is: which ones? I’m not a big fan of chasing new highs so sometimes you have to dig deep to find good value. I bought stock in a new company last week – Equinix (EQIX). They’re an owner/operator of large data centers…
What’s the most important metric when evaluating a company/stock?
Is it the P/E ratio? Is it revenue or profit growth? Or maybe the company’s market share? While all of these are important in analyzing a stock as a potential investment, I think the most important metric to evaluate isn’t quantitative but qualitative. I believe the answer is management – the executives of the company…
New Buys
I bought a new stock last week, and added a little more this week – Howard Hughes Corp (HHC). They’re a real estate development/management company that targets properties in higher-end areas like New York City, Honolulu, Houston and Las Vegas. The company has evolved over time from an initial master planned community purchased by Howard…
Are Stocks Fairly Valued?
I’ve noticed lately that way too many investment managers, analysts and economists interviewed by the financial media are saying the same exact thing: they think that stocks are fairly valued with the P/E ratio of the S&P 500 right at its historical average. Why is it that it seems people just regurgitate the same stuff everyone…