Uncertain economic conditions have proven to be a good time to think about stocks that most people tend to overlook because they’re “boring.” These are stocks that also tend to operate in counter-cyclical fashion. It’s been interesting – but not surprising – to see a bit of a resurgence in stocks in the Food Products […]
Read MoreOne of the classic benchmarks of the economy’s health and strength is the housing market. Stocks of retail companies like Home Depot (HD) and Lowe’s (LOW) often serve as proxies of to guide the market’s perception of the housing market, but it also isn’t uncommon to see experts and analysts referring to homebuilders like D.R. […]
Read MoreGetting ready to close out a year that most of us are probably anxious to put behind us and look ahead to the future has been a common theme lately on social media. I think it’s certainly true that exhaustion about COVID and everything associated with it has most people hoping for better things in […]
Read MoreOne of the surprising areas of strength in the economy in 2020 are the Homebuilders and Construction industries. With historically high unemployment numbers since the outset of the pandemic, it’s natural to think that the economically sensitive industries like Homebuilders, Construction, and others would see decreases in demand; but it has been interesting to see […]
Read MoreGood news about continued vaccine approval and deployment, along with Congress’ approval of a second stimulus package over the weekend has the major indices very near the highs they set last week. There is a not-too-surprising temptation to think about the end of the pandemic and start looking for all of the ways that the […]
Read MoreMoving closer and closer to Christmas means that most people’s focus is on end-of-the-year celebrations and time with family. I think that’s true this year, even though for many of us 2020 has meant maintaining distance from family members and loved ones; for me and my family, that has also impacted our normal, end-of-the-year massive […]
Read MoreLooking for value in extended bull markets often means gravitating to industries and sectors that have fallen out of favor with the broad market. In a COVID-19 world, it has seemed a bit ironic to see the market not only reclaim its losses from its early year plunge to bear market lows, but then to […]
Read MoreThe Consumer Discretionary sector includes stocks that cover a wide variety of the Retail industry. Because there are so many retail companies that offer different products to consumers, it’s hard to pinpoint any kind of specific niche. In the sporting goods niche, there were significant challenges even before COVID-19 became a global pandemic. Declining revenues […]
Read MoreThroughout the year, the Aerospace industry, which includes commercial airlines has been one of the biggest, unquestioned losers in the stock market. Yes, the biggest portion of that drop comes from the reality that the industry took some of the biggest drawdowns in the market starting in February as commercial travel dried up to practically […]
Read MoreEver since coronavirus found its way to American shores, a large amount of media attention has been given to the Healthcare sector – and especially to the Biotechnology industry, where many of the biggest names across the world have been working hard to develop effective treatments for the disease. From the market’s bearish low in […]
Read MoreOne of the big headlines to start the week has been the long-anticipated FDA approval of the first coronavirus vaccine in the United States. News media were all over shipping companies in the early hours of market trading today outlining in detail how the vaccine was being distributed on a nationwide basis. The scrutiny and […]
Read MoreWhile most of the Tech sector has been leading the market throughout the year, there are some stocks that have definitely not kept pace. That is always true in any sector, not matter what the broad sector momentum looks like, there are always individual companies that will diverge from the normal pattern. In 2020, the […]
Read MoreFor the last few years, one of the worst underperformers in the market has been General Electric Company (GE). While the stock has seen a sizable month in the last month, and more than doubled from its March, bear market low as of this writing, it remains in an extremely extended downward trend that began […]
Read MoreSometimes, answering the question of whether a stock represents a legitimate, attractive value opportunity can be hard to do. A company could be struggling not only to grow its business, but may be forced to restructure its business in a way that makes most of the traditional measurables investors like to use look very unfavorable. […]
Read MoreThe Consumer Discretionary sector cuts a wide swath across the economic landscape of the United States. It’s easy to think about the sector as the place you’ll find retail stocks, but the truth is that there are a lot of other businesses within the sector that are much more than just the department stores and […]
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