Jon Quast
All Posts
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Are Solar Stocks Flying Too High?
By Jon Quast - May 20, 2013 | Tickers: RSOL, SCTY, SPWR
Several unlikely candidates -- all from the solar industry -- are giving a big-time boost to investor's portfolios since the start of this year.
Something huge is definitely going down in the solar sector that has investors buzzing. But with some of these stocks already tripling and quadrupling in such a short time, is it too late for potential investors? Or worse -- are these companies now overvalued more »
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What Yahoo! Needs Even More Than Tumblr
By Jon Quast - May 20, 2013 | Tickers: FB, GOOG, MSFT, YHOO
Rumors are swirling about Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) possibly acquiring Tumblr -- a company that fuses blogging with social networking -- for $1 billion. As Yahoo continues to mount a stock price comeback, a potential Tumblr acquisition has investors dreaming of how high this will send shares flying. To which I say: Forget about Tumblr. Yahoo! can give us something infinitely more valuable.
Monster Acquisitions Rarely Deliver
Here are the largest acquisitions from more »
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3 Ways Elon Musk Gobsmacked Doubters
By Jon Quast - May 18, 2013 | Tickers: SCTY, TSLA, BA
Paypal co-founder Elon Musk is one of the most widely known and celebrated businessmen of the past decade. The South Africa native has a knack for delivering results in some very unlikely areas. I intend to share with you why I was simply gobsmacked after looking at his recent accomplishments.
Space exploration, electric cars, and solar energy is the perfect recipe for failure. All three industries have mountainous obstacles to more »
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Don't Believe This Fast-Food Stock's Bears
By Jon Quast - May 17, 2013 | Tickers: BKW, MCD, YUM
Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) excited investors with phenomenal growth over the last several years. This year, however, the stock has moved sideways, leading some to believe that Yum!'s growth prospects have finally hit the wall, and investors will only be rewarded with 2% dividend from here. That belief may be overwhelmingly misguided.
Yum! and China
The most predominant bull argument for Yum! over the last couple years has been more »
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What Happened to Facebook's Money?
By Jon Quast - May 17, 2013 | Tickers: FB, GOOG, MSFT, SFLY
It's been one year since Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) went public. Its highly anticipated $100 billion IPO added a cool $6.8 billion to its coffers, bringing Facebook's total assets to over $12 billion at the time. What has since happened to all that money, and why should it matter to investors?
Facebook's prospectus noted that the company didn't have any specific ideas on how to use more »
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3 Great Stocks Trading at Trash-Bin Valuations
By Jon Quast - May 15, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, BIDU, CRUS, SCSS, WTW
When the market oversells a stock, value investors can sometimes score a great entry point into a promising company. Think of it like trash-diving; sometimes, terrific things get mistakenly thrown out. Here are five stocks that I found in the market's garbage today, trading way below their 52-week highs.
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Don't Invest Just for This Company's Cash Reserve
By Jon Quast - May 14, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) sits on an enormous $137 billion cash pile -- more than the gross domestic product of Vietnam. Until recently, Apple was also debt-free. That combination appears to leave Apple poised to unleash the next world-changing innovation. But without passion, it doesn't matter how much money Apple -- or any company -- has. Money alone can't drive a company to greatness.
A History Lesson
Samuel Pierpont Langley had an more »
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A New Hope for Star Wars 1313?
By Jon Quast - May 9, 2013 | Tickers: ATVI, EA, DIS, ZNGA
If you are a gamer, and specifically a Star Wars gamer, you are probably pretty excited that Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) have reached a deal that will allow EA to develop Star Wars video games.
But if you're an investor, what should your reaction be?
What's Up?
Just a little over a month ago Disney announced that they were shutting down LucasArts, the video more »
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How to Invest Despite Conflicting Versions of the Truth
By Jon Quast - May 1, 2013 | Tickers: BP, NFLX, QCOM
"Truth is that which affirms propositionally the nature of reality as it is.” – Ravi Zacharias
I believe truth is real. I'm not a person who buys the modern day notion that truth is relevant. There is reality, and there is not reality. Truth is that which accurately testifies to what reality is.
That said, it is possible for a true statement to be made, but not be entirely accurate more »
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Invest in Companies, Not Products
By Jon Quast - May 1, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, BBRY, NVDA, QCOM, SNE
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher George McQuillan took the mound on a day that I doubt he knew would be historic. The date was Sept. 6, 1909. It was the bottom of the 4th when Brooklyn Superbas catcher Bill Bergen stepped up to the plate. As the pitch sped towards him, Bergen took a mighty swing. There was a crack at the bat as the ball soared up, up, and over the more »
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Almost as Cool as Batman
By Jon Quast - May 1, 2013 | Tickers: GD, LMT, NOC, SSNLF, BA
Christopher Nolan really did something amazing when he revitalized the Batman movie franchise. Some of my favorite scenes in the trilogy are when Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox are walking around research and development at Wayne Enterprises. As they walk around, their conversation normally goes something like this:
Bruce: "What is this?"
Lucius: "Oh, that old thing? That is the F9JMK-3,000."
Bruce: "What does it do?"
Lucius: "We needed more »
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So Tell Me Shamu, What's the Plan?
By Jon Quast - April 29, 2013 | Tickers: FUN, SEAS, SIX
On April 19, SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE: SEAS) made a big splash with its IPO. Shares were up as much as 26% in the first day of trading. Now, you are probably used to seeing companies have a sensational first day of trading, followed by a steep drop. Rather than try to predict daily price swings, I think we would be a lot better off looking at what kind of company more »
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One Investor's Trash is Another Investor's Treasure
By Jon Quast - April 19, 2013 | Tickers: CAT, GFI, HLF, JBL, QCOR
Have you ever been dumpster diving? I have--it is a great past time. One thing I've learned is that you never know what some people will throw away. Sometimes there is a reason it is being thrown out, while other times you find something that proves the old adage: one man's trash is another man's treasure.
This applies to the stock market as well. Many an investor more »
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A Metric in McDonald's Favor
By Jon Quast - April 19, 2013 | Tickers: BWLD, CMG, MCD
From the get-go, I'll just go ahead and state that I'm a big fan of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG). This company is high growth, no debt, and has creative management. They have quite a lot to make one believe that this company will be a winner for a long time.
But it's not all positive when assessing Chipotle. While reading through the risks section of their more »
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Investing in Major Growth
By Jon Quast - April 19, 2013 | Tickers: DDD, APOL, LOPE, SSYS, ZNGA
An article came out toward the end of 2012 highlighting 10 of the fastest growing industries in America. What are some of the industries, and who is poised to cash in on this growth? Read on.
3D printing
You may already know it, but 3D printing is kind of a big deal. The industry has been growing almost 9% a year since 2002. But that is a little misleading, because more »
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So, You Just Hit a Home Run Investment. Now What?
By Jon Quast - April 18, 2013 | Tickers: BAC, F, SIRI, SBUX
It's been a wonderful few years to be an investor. Thanks to a crazy 2008/2009, and a subsequent raging bull market, many people have hit some home run investments. That's great! However, this can also lead to a bit of a pickle. Maybe you're unsure of where you need to go from here. So, you just hit a home run investment. Now what?
Some Home Runs more »
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One Investor's Trash is Another Investor's Treasure
By Jon Quast - April 17, 2013 | Tickers: CAT, GFI, HLF, JBL, QCOR
Have you ever been dumpster diving? I have. It is a great past time. One thing I've learned is that you never know what some people will throw away. Sometimes there is a reason it is being thrown out. Other times you find something that proves the old adage: one man's trash is another man's treasure.
This applies to the stock market as well. Many an investor more »
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So, you just hit a home run investment. Now what?
By Jon Quast - April 17, 2013 | Tickers: BAC, F, SIRI, SBUX
It's been a wonderful few years to be an investor. Thanks to a crazy 2008/2009, and a subsequent raging bull market, many people have hit some home run investments. That's great! However, this can also lead to a bit of a pickle. Maybe you're unsure of where you need to go from here. So, you just hit a home run investment. Now what?
Some Home Runs more »
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Image Change Isn't Easy, but Is It Profitable?
By Jon Quast - April 16, 2013 | Tickers: JCP, MCD, THI
News broke recently that McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) is trying to change their image. What image do they have? Well, it seems that McDonald's has the reputation of having unprofessional, and at times rude employees. That's not good news for a company already struggling with same-store sales. So in a valiant effort to provide their customers with a better dining experience (and to make more money of course more »
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Image Change Isn't Easy, but Is It Profitable?
By Jon Quast - April 16, 2013 | Tickers: JCP, MCD, THI
News broke recently that McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) is trying to change their image. What image do they have? Well, it seems that McDonald's has the reputation of having unprofessional, and at times rude employees. That's not good news for a company already struggling with same-store sales. So in a valiant effort to provide their customers with a better dining experience (and to make more money of course more »
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