Surveying the stock market right now is an interesting mix of contradictions. It seems that with very few exceptions, every industry in almost every sector has had to absorb some kind of impact from the global pandemic that that plagued the world through 2020, and remains an ongoing concern even as the first practical vaccines […]
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 MorePandemic conditions have put a lot of pressure on sectors across the economy, but at the same time there have been pockets of the economy that have performed remarkably well. Most of the attention throughout the year has naturally been focused on sectors tied to the health crisis, or to the shift to work-from-home models. […]
Read MoreOne of the really remarkable stories about 2020 in the stock market is the way that the Tech sector has led the way after a pandemic-induced drop to bear market levels back to new highs. The biggest winner over the last eight months has been the Tech sector, where a number of stocks not only […]
Read MoreCisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) is one of the most recognizable and established companies in the Technology sector. With a market cap of about $167 billion, they are also one of the largest, if not THE largest player in the Networking & Communications segment. They are, without question, the standard that all other networking businesses are […]
Read MoreThroughout the year, I’ve been fascinated to watch market and consumer trend shift and adjust to pandemic-induced conditions. Not all of those shifts have been pleasant, even if they were necessary; as an analyst, though it is important to understand where those changes fit into the current market and economic landscape. It is also useful […]
Read MoreOne of the interesting threads that comes out of periods of market volatility is a wave of investor rotation into “defensive” sectors, which usually includes Utilities, Consumer Staples and other pockets of the market that investors tend to think of as safe havens when market uncertainty is high. Another favorite topic analysts seem to like […]
Read MoreThis week, I’ve turned my attention back to the Pharmacy industry – but specifically focusing on the distributors that supply the biggest pharmacies in the U.S. Understanding how some of those relationships work for a company you may have been following for a while can help identify new opportunities to think about. Over the last […]
Read MoreOne 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 MoreAs a value-focused investor with more than a bit of a contrarian bent, I tend to get nervous when stocks keep making one new high after another, and I like it when I see stocks trading at or near historical lows. That’s pretty different than the mindset of most investors that focus on growth first, […]
Read MoreAnd Druckenmiller isn’t the only big name sounding the alarm…
Read More“Enough is enough,” the analyst wrote. This stock is “too cheap on any reasonable sum-of-the-parts valuation.”
Read MoreIt’s no big surprise to say that trade tensions are continuing to play out at the forefront of investor’s famously short attention span. So far this week, rumors that the eagerly anticipated “Phase One” of a trade deal between the U.S. and China might not happen before the end of the year seem to have […]
Read MoreI’m wrapping up my run through the Healthcare Equipment industry by looking at a stock that, like just about the entire rest of the industry, is at the extreme high end of a very long-term upward trend. Part of the reason that this industry has drawn my attention this week is because of the extended […]
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