Browse by ▼

Gaurav Seetharam

All Posts

  • 3 Reasons Why Housing Prices Will Keep Rising

    By Gaurav Seetharam - April 3, 2013 | Tickers: IYR, XHB

    When the Federal Reserve releases the FOMC minutes, or Chairman Ben Bernanke give a press conference, Wall Street investors pay close attention. The events are always much-anticipated, but hardly ever surprising, since it makes no sense to alter current monetary policy until we have seen a full recovery.

    Instead of engaging in that nonsensical game of ‘what-ifs’, let’s take a look at Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke’s more »

  • Federal Reserve Governor: "House price gains will continue"

    By Gaurav Seetharam - March 19, 2013 | Tickers: BAC, IYR, JPM, VNQ, WFC

    When the Federal Reserve releases the FOMC minutes, or Chairman Ben Bernanke give a press conference, Wall Street investors pay close attention. The events are always much-anticipated, but hardly ever surprising, since it makes no sense to alter current monetary policy until we have seen a full recovery. Instead of engaging in that nonsensical game of ‘what-ifs’, let’s take a look at Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke’s more »

  • The Fed's Stress Tests Are Meaningless

    By Gaurav Seetharam - March 9, 2013 | Tickers: BAC, BCS, C, JPM, UBS

    The Federal Reserve just released stress test results for the nation's largest financial institutions. It paints an altogether flattering impression of the U.S. banking sector as a resilient, functional financial system; an impression that is not entirely accurate. Also, according to Bloomberg Law, the U.S. Department of Justice is now seeking guilty pleas from bank subsidiaries that were involved in creating the financial crisis. Its stated reason more »

  • Google's Untapped Gold Mine, and Apple's Biggest Obstacle

    By Gaurav Seetharam - February 11, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, NOK

    Wall Street spent the opening weeks of this year bemoaning the underwhelming quarterly performance of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), but they have been quick in pivoting to happier tidings. The news that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) had exceeded market expectations drove the stock to a new 52-week high at $786.67, showing that this giant is still capable of growth. Both these market reactions are based on the same metric: growth (or more »

  • Salesforce's Fatal Flaw, and Oracle's Golden Opportunity

    By Gaurav Seetharam - February 1, 2013 | Tickers: ORCL, CRM, SPLK

    It seems to me that investors looking to go long on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry are faced with a distinct choice. Either they go with a specialized cloud computing company like Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), or they bet on a larger company like Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) that offers cloud computing both independently and as part of a package. I am bullish on the industry as a whole, but companies like more »

  • On Santander, Take the Warren Buffett Approach

    By Gaurav Seetharam - January 23, 2013 | Tickers: BSBR, SAN, BSAC, BSMX

    Part of the Warren Buffett philosophy is to look at troubled sectors in search of a diamond in the rough. He believes that you should buy companies whose stocks are depressed by factors other than their underlying business, because fundamentals will always win out in the end. This got me thinking about Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN) and whether or not Europe's current economic woes make it a buying opportunity more »

  • In 2013, Gain Big With Blue Chips

    By Gaurav Seetharam - January 11, 2013 | Tickers: HRL, PG, UL | Editor's Choice

    Now that the manufactured drama of the fiscal cliff is done, we can examine how to weather the actual headwinds of 2013. Europe has a genuine growth crisis and the expiration of the payroll tax cut will hurt the pocketbooks of average Americans. In such times it may be necessary to recall that the Darwinian principle is "survival of the fittest" and not "survival of the biggest." When uncertainty is more »

  • Regulation Won't Change Gun Demand

    By Gaurav Seetharam - December 22, 2012 | Tickers: SWHC, RGR | Editor's Choice

    Last week's tragic mass shooting in Connecticut sparked the age-old debate of gun control. It has been a no-man's zone for moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats who feared political retribution from the National Rifle Association (NRA). The powerful gun lobby has a singular focus and has been successful at keeping gun control off the policy agenda. However, since Newtown investors have added a regulatory risk premium to stocks more »

  • Europe's 2013 Outlook

    By Gaurav Seetharam - December 19, 2012 | Tickers: F, GM, GREK

    In October, new IMF research revealed that fiscal consolidation by governments during an economic recovery does greater than expected damage to growth. It is a not-so-subtle message to the European Union that the prioritization of deficits over unemployment is harmful not only to a nation's domestic economy, but also that of its trading partners. In return, the ECB has responded by saying that austerity instills confidence in a nation more »

  • Three "Fiscal Cliff" Stocks To Watch

    By Gaurav Seetharam - December 13, 2012 | Tickers: LLL, LMT, OSK

    All the confusion and uncertainty that surrounds the United States's so-called "fiscal cliff" dilemma makes it difficult for investors to get a clear picture of what's happening. So let's take a step back to see what the actual problem is, what the complicating political factors are and which stocks are heavily exposed to the downsides of a sequestration nightmare.

    The Problem
    We all remember the 2011 summer more »