1) Wall Street Journal investing columnist Spencer Jakab recently underscored an investment lesson I've been preaching for years, although I frame it differently... In any portfolio, whether a concentrated 10-stock one or even an entire index or market, a small number of big winners will drive nearly all of the long-term returns. As such, you […]

As you've surely noticed, the headlines have been bad recently... And being the contrarian value investor that I am, that makes me... well, not exactly bullish on stocks, but more "constructive" than I was at the beginning of the year. Here's a headline from the Wall Street Journal yesterday: U.S. Stocks Post Worst Quarter Since […]

1) Apparel company Lululemon Athletica (LULU) is back on my radar screen after plunging more than 14% on Friday to close at $293.06... The company reported fourth-quarter earnings after the close on Thursday, which were decent – revenue rose 8% (adjusted for an extra week of fiscal 2024) and earnings per share rose 16% – […]

1) It appears that other investors share the skepticism I expressed in yesterday's e-mail about GameStop's (GME's) pivot toward being a bitcoin play... As I noted, shares of the video-game retailer surged nearly 12% on Wednesday in the wake of the news, but then gave back those gains yesterday. By the end of the day, […]

1) On a down day for the market yesterday, video game retailer GameStop (GME) popped nearly 12% after announcing that it's going to adopt the approach from MicroStrategy – which changed its official name to Strategy (MSTR) – of buying bitcoin... This Wall Street Journal article from yesterday has more details: GameStop's Rapid Shrinkage Is […]

A high dividend yield can signify an undervalued stock and be an important component of the return an investor earns... But it can also be the sign of a value trap – in particular, if the company isn't generating enough free cash flow ("FCF") to sustain the dividend and is forced to cut it. Today, […]

When it comes to scanning the markets for new ideas, among my favorites are blue-chip stocks that hit 52-week lows... That's what happened to transportation/logistics/delivery giant FedEx (FDX) last week after it reported earnings and lowered guidance for 2025. This gets me interested enough for my usual quick "first look." And while I'm at it, […]

My two highest priorities in my daily e-mails are sharing ways to make money and warning about ways to lose money. Today, I'd like to give four examples of the latter... 1) Other than meme coins and 0DTE ("zero days to expiration") options, it's hard for me to think of a faster way to lose […]

1) Regular readers will recall that I've written many times about discount retailer Five Below (FIVE)... It started last July with my "first look" analysis when the stock was trading for around $79. And most recently, I discussed it on January 17. That day, it closed at $90.64. Since then, due to investors' concerns about […]

1) The major stock indexes rose yesterday because the Federal Reserve... did nothing. With all eyes on the Fed, its interest-rate forecast remained unchanged from its projection three months ago. Take a look at this chart from an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal titled, Fed Projections See an Economy Dramatically Reset by Trump's Election: […]