One of the reasons I think the economy, and the financial markets are such a fascinating thing to watch is because of the way companies in different aspects of business relate to each other. It’s one thing to look at a retail store, for example and think about basic fundamental elements like sales, earnings, and […]
Read MoreSome of the early-morning market commentary today focused on the fact that with yesterday’s close, the S&P 500 has moved above its pre-pandemic high – leading those participating to call for the “official” end to the shortest bear market in history. While that may technically be true, it doesn’t automatically mean that investors should take […]
Read MoreIn the early stages of the arrival and spread of COVID-19 in the United States, I wrote in this space about my belief that one of the best places a smart investor should focus their attention is on healthcare stocks, including companies in the pharmacy space. Vaccine commentary and speculation continues to be a daily […]
Read MoreThe “herd mentality” can be a funny thing to think about in societal terms – but it’s a real thing in the stock market. The sheer number of publicly traded stocks on U.S. exchanges alone creates a wave of market data that no single person can handle alone, and that’s a big reason why it […]
Read More“Coronavirus exhaustion” may not be a real term – but I do believe it’s a real thing. There seems to be a real sense of exhaustion about the pandemic that is contributing to a number of factors in the United States – including, to some degree, the market’s seeming resilience and resistance over the last […]
Read MoreThe market is focusing most of its attention on an expanded list of companies reporting earnings this week, with investors eager to see if earnings provide indications that corporate America is weathering the pandemic storm successfully and to measure the odds that the economy will continue to recover. News over the weekend that lawmakers in […]
Read MoreOver the last week, the market has been set on pushing to new higher highs, with the Nasdaq setting a new all-time high at the beginning of this week and the S&P 500 breaking above its last pivot high in May. The start of a new earnings season seems to have lifted investor sentiment, as […]
Read MoreMy approach to value-oriented investing can’t really be called pure value analysis. The main reason for that is because traditional value investing doesn’t worry about what a stock’s price has been doing; it is only concerned with what the stock’s price is now versus what the combination of fundamental and value metrics suggest it should […]
Read MoreThe market seems intent on keying off of encouraging news on the vaccine front, using it as the primary reason to keep pushing the market higher this week. It’s tempting to think that a fast-tracked vaccine is good news across the board, and so you should be “all in” on the market. I think that […]
Read MoreBeing a value-oriented investor means that the general mindset around a stock’s historical trading ranges is a bit different than what most investors, who tend to focus primarily on growth, tend to pay attention to. Value means looking for stocks trading at a nice price, and that usually means that stocks trading at or near […]
Read MoreOver the past couple of weeks, uncertainty has started to creep back into the market, after enthusiasm from the reopening of the economy on a national scale even as COVID-19 remains a concern that will persist into 2021. Unemployment is trending lower, but not as quickly as many economists and “experts” seem to expect, and […]
Read MoreThe analysis I apply to the stocks that I write about in this space reflects my preference for value-oriented investing strategies. That’s because, even though value investing falls in and out of favor with popular market news media types and talking heads depending on the shifting winds of change at any given time, I think […]
Read MoreBeing a contrarian investor can mean a few different things. To some, contrarian investing is correlated with value investing, and I think that makes sense in a lot of ways. For one thing, being a contrarian means recognizing that all price trends – up or down – are finite in length and duration. That means […]
Read MoreIf you’re like me, you’re undoubtedly getting tired of the seemingly endless discussion and examination of COVID-19. Latest infection numbers, speculation about vaccine development progress, whether governments will reimpose restrictions or mandate common sense measures like wearing masks in public – let’s face it, it gets tiresome to be confronted with what appears to be […]
Read MoreIn the last three months since the market hit a bear-market bottom, we’ve seen a number of stocks rally from extreme lows to new highs. A lot of the buzz is around companies that facilitate work-from-home business operating models or encourage other activities that make self-isolation and the social restrictions associated with living through a […]
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