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Jonathan Yates

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  • Global Urbanization will Lead to Greater Demand for Niche Food Products

    By Jonathan Yates - April 20, 2013 | Tickers: HRL, MCD, SBUX, YUM

    In a recent interview in Barron’s magazine , Carl Weinberg, Chief Economist for High Frequency Economics, stated that he was bullish on the future of China due to the urbanization of its population. Weinberg noted that each person who moved from the country to the city increased the gross domestic product of that country by 600%. As this is happening not just in China, but around the world, there will more »

  • Cover Calls Attractive with Market High

    By Jonathan Yates - March 26, 2013 | Tickers: CVX, INTC, MSFT, OXY

    With the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting record highs, this has become a market for writing covered call options. Last June, my first article as a blogger for The Motley Fool, “Writing Covered Call Options on Big Oil Could Yield Big Gains,“ detailed the benefits of writing covered call options on Big Oil stocks such as Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY). Now that the Dow has surged more »

  • Should This Major Airline Be the Next Warren Buffett Buy?

    By Jonathan Yates - February 20, 2013 | Tickers: BRK-A, HNZ, LUV, UAL, LCC

    Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) offers many features that should appeal to growth, income, and value investors, and yes, even Warren Buffett.  

    Although Buffett has been leery of investing in airlines since he fared poorly back in the early 1990s with US Airways (NYSE: LCC), here are some of the reasons that Southwest Airlines should be attractive to the "Oracle of Omaha," in addition to Foolish investors.

    Airlines like Southwest perform more »

  • Will the Fourth Time be the Charm for American Airlines?

    By Jonathan Yates - February 20, 2013 | Tickers: RJET

    The merger of American Airlines with US Airways (NYSE: LCC) is not the first for the Texas-based carrier.  

    American has merged with other airlines three times since 1986 in the hopes of delivering more value to its shareholders.  The culmination was the bankruptcy filing of American Airlines in November 2011.  Based on the rise in US Airways' stock since that unfortunate event for American, the stock market has been anticipating more »

  • Will Facebook become the Amazon of Big Data?

    By Jonathan Yates - February 19, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, FB, GOOG

    Even though it is best known as an on-line retailer, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is a major player in the cloud.  With its new Graph Search, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), the social media giant, could become just as prominent in Big Data.  For Foolish investors, that could provide a tremendous boost for the share price of Facebook.

    The cloud is the provision of computing services (hardware and software) over a network, generally more »

  • Apple's $137 Billion in Cash: What Would Buffett Do?

    By Jonathan Yates - February 14, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, BRK-A, GLRE, INTC, MSFT

    David Einhorn, billionaire Chairman of Greenlight Capital (NASDAQ: GLRE), has filed a lawsuit against Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).  

    The basis of the legal action is Apple's intent to put forth a proposal at the next shareholder meeting that would make it more difficult to issue preferred stock, in the opinion of Einhorn.  As Einhorn spent $250,100 to have lunch with Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A), back more »

  • Can Rite Aid Survive The Battle of the Last Mile?

    By Jonathan Yates - February 12, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, COST, RAD, WMT, WAG

    Up more than 50% for the last quarter, Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) is performing well despite competition from retail rivals such as Walgreen (NYSE: WAG), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Costco (NASDAQ: COST).  But there are three reasons that Rite Aid, a drug store chain, could be an eventual casualty in The Battle of the Last Mile.

    The Battle of the Last Mile is the fierce struggle more »

  • 3 Reasons This Dividend Aristocrat has a Recession-Proof Yield

    By Jonathan Yates - February 11, 2013 | Tickers: ABT, PBI, SHW, SYY, WAG

    Despite the worst housing market since The Great Depression, Sherwin Williams (NYSE: SHW), the paint maker and chemicals company, increased its dividend annually throughout The Great Recession.  As a “Dividend Aristocrat,” Sherwin Williams has raised its dividend for over 25 consecutive years.  Here are three of the major reasons that Sherwin Williams has a recession-proof dividend.

    *Sherwin Williams' revenue did not collapse like other companies during The Great Recession.  While more »

  • Is 4% the New $1000 for Apple?

    By Jonathan Yates - February 8, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, INTC, MSFT, NOK

    It was not that long ago that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was being touted as a $1000.00 stock. Now, trading at around $450.00 a share after a 52-week high of over $700.00, recent articles have called for Apple to increase its dividend yield to 4% in order to be more attractive to investors.

    Apple certainly has enough resources to raise its dividend from 2.34% to well over more »

  • Invest in Shipping With This One Stock

    By Jonathan Yates - February 8, 2013 | Tickers: DRYS, EXPD, FRO, NAT, TNK

    There is much allure to investing now in the shipping sector. 

    It is a basic industry that plays a vital role in global commerce.  Many of the stocks are trading at very low prices due to the impact of The Great Recession.  Some still pay big dividends.  Legendary investors like Wilbur Ross are buying.  But the best stock to profit from the rebound in the shipping sector is with a more »

  • Don’t be Fooled by this Double Digit Dividend Aristocrat

    By Jonathan Yates - February 6, 2013 | Tickers: ABT, PBI, SHW, SYY, WAG

    Pitney Bowes (NYSE: PBI) is a “Dividend Aristocrat,” which means it has increased its dividend payout for 25 consecutive years.  Unfortunately, there are many reasons why long term income investors seeking rising dividends should not expect this business supply company to continue these increases into the future.

    A major factor is that paying the dividend consumes way too much of Pitney Bowes' earnings.  As the table below shows, the dividend more »

  • 3 Reasons To Nix This Merger

    By Jonathan Yates - February 4, 2013 | Tickers: DAL, LCC

    According to reports, a deal between US Airways (NYSE: LCC) and American Airlines appears imminent.  Here are three reasons the shareholders of US Airways should hope it does not transpire.

    First, things are going too well for US Airways with the present operations to risk a major disruption as a merger or acquisition.  It just posted a record annual profit.   Fourth quarter revenues were higher.  Passenger traffic increased by 3 more »

  • 5 Reasons Shipping Stocks are Sailing Higher

    By Jonathan Yates - October 3, 2012 | Tickers: CMRE, FRO, GNK, SBLK, ULTR

    A "Perfect Storm" of factors has gathered that has shipping stocks sailing higher in recent trading.

    While The Great Recession sank many shipping companies, others have started to recover.   Over the last month of market action, Frontline Inc (NYSE: FRO) and Starbulk Carriers (NASDAQ: SBLK) were both up more than 20%.  For the last four weeks, Costamare Inc. (NYSE: CMRE) rose by 18.93%.  Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK) jumped more »

  • Will American Airlines be all that for US Airways?

    By Jonathan Yates - October 3, 2012 | Tickers: DAL, RJET, SAVE, UAL, LCC

    US Airways (NYSE: LCC) has taken another step closer towards a deal with American Airlines with the signing of a non-disclosure agreement that will facilitate more intensive due diligence before any transaction can be initiated.  Doug Parker, Chief Executive Officer of US Airways, has been very open about his desire to combine the two airlines.  US Airways even went so far as to negotiate with the unions of American Airlines more »

  • 5 Reasons Supervalu is a Value Trap, not a Value Play

    By Jonathan Yates - October 2, 2012 | Tickers: SVU, TGT, KR, WMT

    In a column in Barron's by Michael Stanoli earlier this year, "Buy Stocks Slowly as Prices Fall," JPMorgan Analyst Ken Goldman stated that Supervalu (NYSE: SVU), the grocery store chain, had an asset value for the stock near $11."

    Supervalu is now trading for around $2.40 a share.

    This plunge in price has resulted in valuations that have Supervalu appearing to be the dream stock for value investing more »

  • Sprint Needs to Resist the Urge to Merge

    By Jonathan Yates - October 1, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, T, S, TMUS, VZ

    If George Santayana were still alive, he would surely be going short on Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S).

    Santayana was the Spanish philosopher who observed that, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  At a recent press conference, Dan Hesse, the Chief Executive Officer of Sprint-Nextel, predicted that the telecommunications industry is likely to undergo a series of mergers and acquisitions as companies look to beef up operations more »

  • Will Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target make Safeway the next Supervalu?

    By Jonathan Yates - September 26, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, SWY, SVU, TGT, WMT

    As if Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Target (NYSE: TGT) and The Kroger Co. were not torment enough for Safeway (NYSE: SWY) Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is now moving into its space with even more punishment that will have the shareholders experiencing pain like those owning stock in Supervalu (NYSE: SVU)

    Supervalu is down about 70% for 2012.  

    It collapsed under a massive debt load from an ill-advised acquisition that was exacerbated by more »

  • Five Motley Fool Reasons to Sell Sears

    By Jonathan Yates - September 26, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, EBAY, SHLD, TGT, WMT

    Knowing when to sell any asset, particularly a publicly traded stock, is just as important as knowing when to buy, if not more so.  

    As such, The Motley Fool has five reasons that offer guidance as to know when to sell.  Sears Holding (NASDAQ: SHLD) fits all five, despite being up 72.56% for 2012.   Formed in 2005 from the merger of Sears and K-Mart by hedge fund manager Eddie more »

  • Invest in Dividend Aristocrat Stocks, Don't Speculate on Gold

    By Jonathan Yates - September 25, 2012 | Tickers: ABT, KO, XOM, GLD, WMT

    OG value investor Benjamin Graham, the intellectual force behind Warren Buffett, described an investor as one who sought to profit from the conditions of the company.  By contrast, according to Graham, a speculator was one who hoped to gain from the conditions of the market.  For speculators seeking to profit from buying gold, there also has to be the expectation that the "Greater Fool Theory" will prevail, too.

    This is more »

  • Five Reasons why Coal Stocks could Burn Brighter

    By Jonathan Yates - September 25, 2012 | Tickers: BHP, CLF, KOL, BTU, YZC

    While 2012 has been a bleak year for companies operating in the coal sector, there are five recent developments that should lead to a brighter future for Cliff Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF), BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP), Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) and Yanzhou Coal Mining Company (NYSE: YZC), and others in the industry.

    The first, and most significant, involves the biggest consumer of coal in the world, China.  Beijing announced in more »

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