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Consumer Discretionary

  • Why Crude Oil Price Drop Makes McDonald's, Netflix and Dollar General Buys

    By Michael Mistaleski - May 16, 2012 | Tickers: DG, MCD, NFLX

    Oil futures are finally coming down instead of going up. The International Energy Agency said that the global oil supply rose 600,000 barrels per day in April even with the tightening of Iran's exports by sanctions! Yet on such wonderful news, the market is going lower with the price of crude.

    My opinion is that nothing is better for the global economy than for oil prices to come more »

  • Decisions, Decisions: Ford, Honda or GM

    By Tim Brugger - April 27, 2012 | Tickers: F, GM, HMC

    Let’s assume for a moment you – like many – feel pretty good about the prospects for automakers for the balance of this year, and even into next. And why not, there’s a lot to like. Setting Europe in general and Spain in particular aside for a moment, most domestic indicators point to a great year for car sales. Consumer confidence is improving right along with spending, the employment situation more »

  • Stick With Mickey D's

    By Frank Constantino - April 23, 2012 | Tickers: MCD, SBUX

    Mickey D's, as McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is affectionately called, has long been one of my favorite stocks.  I first started writing favorably about the company (in another forum) more than a year ago.  At that time McDonald's was trading at $74.21 per share, nearly 30% lower than Friday's closing price.  There are many attributes about the company that I like, the most of which more »

  • When Will the Robots Take Over?

    By Matthew DiLallo - April 17, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, BBBY, IRBT, KSS

    A couple years back our vacuum cleaner went kaput and as a long time shareholder of iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) I wanted to give their Roomba a try.  Using my shareholder discount on a refurbished model, I was able to pick one up for just over a hundred bucks.  I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth out of the little guy but its time for him to retire after more »

  • Does Planned Obsolescence Destroy Brand Loyalty?

    By Matthew DiLallo - April 12, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, DELL, HPQ

    I absolutely love businesses with recurring revenue models, whether it be a blade-and-razor or a subscription-based model. When customers keep coming back it's certainly a recipe for financial success.  However, when a company’s business line is such that it has to keep winning new customers to maintain and grow sales, it makes it much harder to keep growing.  These businesses tend to be more cyclical with lumpier cash more »

  • The Consumer is Back!

    By David Bernstein - April 3, 2012 | Tickers: F, HNNMY.PK, JCP, UAL

    After sorting through last week’s heavy dose of economic data, there is one theme that I can positively identify and construct a theory around: The American consumer is back! 

    Slowly but surely, growth is returning to the land of the free and the home of the brave. While some choose to focus on how slow the recovery is, and overanalyze the not so perfect data, I choose to follow more »

  • McDonald's: You Just Can't Please Some People

    By Tim Brugger - March 8, 2012 | Tickers: JACK, MCD, YUM

    Apparently 7.5% global growth -- including 4% in economically depressed Europe -- in February was disappointing to a lot of analysts. Why? Because they’d expected more from industry leading McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD). Overall consensus estimates put global same-store sales expectations at 7.7% -- what a disappointment huh?

    Pre-market trading hasn’t been kind to McDonald’s, dropping about 3%. So, what should investors make of all this? Once again more »

  • Home Depot: Great Quarter But Does Upside Remain?

    By Tim Brugger - February 21, 2012 | Tickers: LOW, HD

    Home Depot’s (NYSE: HD) earnings announcement was nothing if not spectacular. Yeah, they beat analyst expectations but even more importantly the company obliterated sales, margins and earnings vs. Q4 of 2010. The result was pre-market trading ended with a 3% jump in share price. And then something interesting happened on the way to the party, investors grabbed their 1.5% or 2% and got out. Hmm.

    HD remains in more »

  • Avon’s Cheap, and for Good Reason

    By Tim Brugger - February 14, 2012 | Tickers: AVP, RDEN, NUS, EL

    Though some things have changed, too many others have stayed the same since the first write-up of Avon (NYSE: AVP) in the middle of December. At that time Avon was trading at $16.81 a share and provided shareholders with a nice 5.5% yield. The company was undervalued, had recently announced that CEO Andrea Jung was getting kicked upstairs to the boardroom and there were some gains to be more »

  • The Week that Was: Hasbro, Microsoft, Discover, and LinkedIn

    By Tim Brugger - February 13, 2012 | Tickers: DFS, HAS, LNKD, MSFT

    Even with the nearly $2 a share rise Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) investors have enjoyed since posting our original article last week, HAS remains a great value play. Not at the 12 times earnings the company was last week, but still one of the cheapest in the industry. Mattel, Hasbro’s primary competition, is trading at over 15 times earnings, which is just about right after a solid quarter and the more »

  • Hasbro is an Absolute Steal Right Now

    By Tim Brugger - February 6, 2012 | Tickers: HAS, MAT

    If you like value, and who doesn’t, Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) looks like a gift from above right now. The drop in share prices after earnings were announced has put Hasbro on sale, and this is one deal well worth looking into.

    The Numbers

    The cause of investor’s consternation this morning was the drop in Q4 earnings compared to 2010. The slim 0.06% slide comes from a couple more »

  • Time to Clean Up with Whirlpool

    By Tim Brugger - January 4, 2012 | Tickers: WHR

    At this point, even slightly good news is going to be a catalyst for stocks as we move into 2012. The economists and investors that think we need to see a complete economic turnaround before it’s safe to go back in the proverbial water are going to miss out, big time.

    The latest news coming from the manufacturing sector -- that the demand for factory goods rose to its highest more »

  • Kudos to Netflix

    By Erin McBride - December 28, 2011 | Tickers: NFLX, LG

    Do you believe in investing in a company because they did something right? It is time to forgive Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) for some of their past mistakes, and thank CEO Reed Hastings for doing the right thing.

    Hastings is taking a 33% pay cut after a ridiculously and well-documented bad year for the company. In comparison, how many stories have we read about our Wall Street (and Detroit) friends taking more »

  • Looking For A Retail Stock? Think 'Sexy'

    By John-Erik Koslosky - December 28, 2011 | Tickers: LTD

    There’s a mall outside the Pennsylvania college town of Bloomsburg that doesn’t get many customers, even during the busy holiday season. It’s small, and there are bigger malls with better stores just a stone’s throw from here.

    But there’s one store inside that nearly always buzzes with customers: Victoria’s Secret.

    The company, owned by Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD), has been building a loyal following more »

  • Depending on dividends

    By Eric Volkman - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: CBRL, GCI, MCD, DIS

    Certain lucky investors got early Christmas presents this year when the companies behind their stocks increased dividends. It's always a happy occasion for a stockholder to get a little more scratch, but is it necessarily a good move for the Santas providing the gift?

    No matter what the circumstance of the dividend increase or the reasons behind it, companies are always at least a little hopeful that a dividend more »

  • 12 Stocks to Buy and Forget for 2012

    By Kirk Spano - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: APA, AMAT, BRK-B, DISH, EXAS, GE, GMO, KSS, MRK, MON, BTU, SPWR

    If you hold one stock in your portfolio, you carry 100% of the risk of losing all of your money.  As you diversify your holdings from one company to two to three, you are gradually reducing your risk of losing everything. We all know this. What most investors don’t know is that a 12 stock portfolio of domestic companies cuts your company specific risk about 90%.  There are some pretty strong arguments for owning these dozen stocks in your portfolio in 2012.

  • Can Zipcar Become Profitable?

    By Shawn Robinson - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: CSTR, HTZ, ZIP

    Zipcar (NASDAQ: ZIP) operates a car sharing business in 16 major cities and over 250 college campuses that is growing rapidly. The service is popular among college students and those living in dense metropolitan areas as it offers a convenient way of accessing a vehicle without the hassle of ownership. Even with 65% annual growth in members over the last five years, consistent profitability has been elusive for the 11 more »

  • Passively Achieving Your Goals With Options Part1

    By Nikhil Shamapant - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: AFL, HAS, KFN, PEP, PBR

    Part 1-Passive Strategies to Consistently Achieve Your Investment Goals

    Sounds like the perfect scam huh? That's why I added the word ‘passive.’ None of those penny stock pump and dump scammers advertise ‘passive investing.’ Why? No one looking for 1000% returns is at all passive about it. Actively managed portfolios tend to have higher goals for investment returns. Considering the fact that passively managed portfolios often don’t even more »

  • Themes From the New High List

    By David Talley - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: VALE, DECK, SI, SVU, KR

    The new high and new low lists serve as important places to gather information about which trends and spaces are working and which are not. Looking over today's new high list, two themes become abundantly clear: dividends and domestic.

    The list is dominated by high-yielding companies (nearly half of the companies yield more than 2.5%) and dividend payers in general (only a quarter of the companies on the more »

  • Skype and Microsoft: Together a Smart Strategy to Compete with Tablets and Smartphones

    By Elizabeth Magill - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: AAPL, CSCO, EBAY, GOOG, MSFT

    In May 2011, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced a brilliant deal with Skype. And a brilliant deal it was.

    While Skype is an internet phone company at its core, it's much more than that. Skype not only offers free calls over the internet, it enables calls to landlines and mobile phones and group video chats through Skype Credit and Skype Premium, respectively.

    The Acquisition

    Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 more »

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