Stephen Benz

Editor's Choice

• A Shot Across the Bows of Software Developers?

  By Stephen Benz - July 9, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, GME, MSFT, ORCL |

  On July 3^rd, the Court of Justice of the European Union made a ruling with potentially giant ramifications for the software industry.  Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) sued a German company that resells software licenses, UsedSoft, on the grounds that UsedSoft was violating copyright law for reselling Oracle software that customers had downloaded from the internet. 

  Physical copies of software that are sold on CD-ROMs or DVDs are legally permitted to more »

• In Search of New Ideas

  By Stephen Benz - June 12, 2012 | Tickers: CRR, ^DJI, RGR |

  Investors who are new to the game face a serious challenge right from the start.  There are over 5,000 companies on just the NYSE and NASDAQ, and only a small fraction of them are big name companies a typical investor would be familiar with. 

  To make matters worse, the primary source of investing ideas for the individual investor, the financial media, focuses primarily on large cap companies or popular more »

• Looking Beyond the P/E

  By Stephen Benz - May 11, 2012 | Tickers: SWY, KR, WFM |

  On 11 July 2011, I made what may be one of my dumbest CAPS calls: I predicted that Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) would underperform the market.  I won't say it was a bad call based on the fact that Whole Foods has since outperformed by 34%.  I will say it was a bad call because it was based on one simple metric: the P/E.

  What is Overpriced more »

• Forget Solar, Let's Talk about Wind!

  By Stephen Benz - May 10, 2012 | Tickers: AMSC, GE, KDN, SI, ZOLT |

  I like to think I’m an investor with a conscience.  I’ll stay away from owning cigarette companies, even knowing that if I had invested in Altria Group back when I became old enough to buy their products I’d be a rich man. 

  Then there are companies I’d like to own because I want to be a part of achieving what I consider moral imperatives.  To this more »