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Ted Cooper

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  • Online Travel Booking: Great for Consumers, Bad for Business

    By Ted Cooper - June 18, 2013 | Tickers: EXPE, OWW, PCLN

    The Internet has changed the fundamental operations of a multitude of industries. In general, the move online has been great for consumers, but bad for business.

    For instance, consumers can now have books delivered to their doorstep for less money than they would have to pay to go to Barnes & Noble to pick them up in person. This means consumers' dollars go further than they did in the pre-Internet era more »

  • The Best Company You've Never Heard Of

    By Ted Cooper - June 14, 2013 | Tickers: PKI, TMO, WAT

    Some of the best companies in the world are household names: Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and General Electric, to name a few.  However, there are countless other great companies that few outside their industries have even heard of. Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) is one of those hidden greats.

    Outsized profits

    A quick look at Waters' return on invested capital (ROIC) immediately tells you that there is something special about the company more »

  • Two Metrics That Will Boost Your Investment Returns

    By Ted Cooper - June 14, 2013 | Tickers: KO, F, WU

    Warren Buffett made the bulk of his fortune by paying low prices for companies with durable competitive advantages. Though he is universally considered to be one of the greatest investors of all time, few investors follow in his footsteps by purchasing great businesses at low prices. The allure of popular companies like Apple, Tesla, and Lululemon distract investors from the opportunities where money is really made. If, instead of buying more »

  • How Market Leadership Enables This Company to Earn Outsized Profits

    By Ted Cooper - June 14, 2013 | Tickers: CBS, CCO, LAMR

    Investors seeking safety of principle and long-term out-performance would do well to only buy companies that dominate their markets. Market leaders often earn outsized profits and dictate what the rest of the market participants can or cannot do. This sets the market leader up for long-term success.

    Market leaders include well-known companies like Coca-Cola in carbonated beverages, PepsiCo in salty snacks, and American Express in consumer credit. Each of these more »

  • Why You Should Put This Stock on Your Watch List

    By Ted Cooper - June 13, 2013 | Tickers: OMC, IPG, WPPGY

    Most investors would drastically improve their long-term track records if they only bought wide-moat companies at attractive prices. The latter part of the equation is a near impossibility now that stock prices have run up 150% since their 2009 lows, but identifying wide-moat companies when the market is up enables investors to quickly pull the trigger when stocks get cheap.

    The wide-moat company discussed in this article, Omnicom (NYSE: OMCmore »)

  • Little Followed Company Earns Outsized Profits in Pet Industry

    By Ted Cooper - June 13, 2013 | Tickers: IDXX, PETM, WOOF

    The pet products industry is populated by great businesses. Companies like PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM) and PetMed Express earn stable margins and high returns on capital.

    It is not hard to see why these companies are doing well; U.S. consumers reliably spend more on their pets each year than they did in the last. The trend has been marked by a steady climb in spending that shows little sign of more »

  • Should You Add This Wide-Moat Company to Your Portfolio?

    By Ted Cooper - June 12, 2013 | Tickers: HOG, HMC, PII

    Wide-moat companies invariably make the best long-term investments. Average companies come and go, but great businesses compound shareholder value year after year. Therefore, the best long-term risk-adjusted returns are found in wide-moat companies like Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG).

    Harley-Davidson is the highest-regarded brand in motorcycles. Although many competitors, including Honda Motor (NYSE: HMC) and Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) have caused it headaches through the years, Harley-Davidson is still the gold standard more »

  • Are Housing Stocks Overpriced?

    By Ted Cooper - June 11, 2013 | Tickers: HD, LOW, LL

    The market tends to underprice securities that are in a cyclical downturn and overprice securities that are in the midst of a cyclical upturn. Determining whether or not a security is severely underpriced or severely overpriced is not a difficult task, but making a determination about the investment merits of a security that is not priced at one of those extremes can be a difficult task.

    Unfortunately, it is at more »

  • A Special Source of Pricing Power

    By Ted Cooper - June 11, 2013 | Tickers: CRR, IFF, MKC

    Although all companies want it, only a handful of companies have significant pricing power -- the ability to raise prices without significant customer defections. Pricing power is only available to companies with competitive advantages, and it is only worth something to long-term investors when the competitive advantages are durable.

    McCormick & Company (NYSE: MKC) is an example of a company with pricing power derived from a durable competitive advantage. The company has more »

  • This Company's Widening Moat Swallows Competitors

    By Ted Cooper - June 11, 2013 | Tickers: CVS, ESRX, WAG

    Rare is it for a company to push around the likes of Walgreen(NYSE: WAG) and CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), but that is just what Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) is managing to do.

    The massive pharmacy benefit manager ended a year-long standoff with Express Scripts coming out ahead while Walgreen suffered irreversible damage. Meanwhile, CVS is quaking in its boots as it is now the last remaining giant for more »

  • Is Coca-Cola Finally Cheap Enough to Buy?

    By Ted Cooper - June 8, 2013 | Tickers: KO, DPS, PEP

    Rarely does a wonderful business sell at an extremely cheap price and Coca-Cola's (NYSE: KO) stock price does not represent an exception, but investors who make a long-term investment in the company at current prices will likely earn market-beating returns over the course of several years.

    Does one thing really well

    Coca-Cola sells carbonated soft drinks. It has done so for its entire existence and likely will continue to more »

  • What Makes Wells Fargo a Special Business?

    By Ted Cooper - June 7, 2013 | Tickers: BAC, C, JPM, WFC

    Warren Buffett likes special businesses. For many of the businesses he owns, the uniqueness is obvious; anyone can see that Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and American Express are not replicable and enjoy significant competitive advantages. However, for one Buffett favorite -- Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) -- the word 'special' may not jump out at the average investor.

    Wells Fargo is the second-largest U.S. bank by deposits, but it is not just any more »

  • Time to Scoop Up This Health Care Company

    By Ted Cooper - June 7, 2013 | Tickers: AET, UNH, WLP

    The passage of Obamacare has created uncertainty in the health care sector. As the landmark health care legislation nears full implementation, many investors still do not know exactly what is in the law, or what impact it will have on companies in the sector. However, the uncertainty has created opportunity for long-term investors.

    One area of the health care sector that is particularly uncertain is managed care organizations. Companies like more »

  • DirecTV Bears Will Get Slaughtered

    By Ted Cooper - June 7, 2013 | Tickers: DTV, DISH, TWC

    It is rarely a good idea to bet against Berkshire Hathaway's investment wisdom, but that is just what short-sellers of 12.4 million DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) shares were doing as of the middle of May. Meanwhile, Buffett's hand-picked investment managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, continue to load up on the satellite television provider. Investors who follow their lead will likely reap large gains, while short-sellers will continue more »

  • Recent Dip Provides Buying Opportunity for This Stock

    By Ted Cooper - June 3, 2013 | Tickers: LTM, NTRI, WTW

    Weight Watchers International(NYSE: WTW) is among the many stocks that have experienced sharp price increases over the last six months. However, the stock recently pulled back from its yearly high and now trades at a level that may be attractive for long-term investors.

    Market leader

    Weight Watchers is the unquestionable leader in the weight-loss industry. The company's strong member network and regular group meetings has proved to be more »

  • This Railroad Stands Out from the Others

    By Ted Cooper - June 3, 2013 | Tickers: KSU, NSC, UNP

    Investors often have a set of metrics that they use to analyze and value each company they investigate. Each of these metrics can be useful, but it is dangerous to apply one set of analytical tools to all companies. Instead, investors should customize the set of metrics used to evaluate potential investments on a company-by-company basis.

    For instance, investors who are interested in investing in a bank are not going more »

  • The Last Remaining Play on the Housing Recovery

    By Ted Cooper - June 3, 2013 | Tickers: PCL, RYN, WY

    Investors who are just now recognizing that a broad recovery in the U.S. housing market is well underway are almost too late to the party -- nearly every stock connected with the housing industry has run up already. However, despite the broader run-up in prices, some of the uglier and more cyclical businesses still trade at decent prices for investors who want to catch the tail-end of the rally.

    Most more »

  • Wide-Moat Company Offers Long-Term Outperformance

    By Ted Cooper - May 24, 2013 | Tickers: ADP, MSFT, PAYX

    The biggest mistake most investors make is focusing on valuation instead of focusing on businesses. Any simple screen will turn up hundreds of companies trading at low multiples of earnings, but few of those companies are even worth considering as a long-term investment.

    A "cheap" stock is not a great investment if the business does not assure some base level of earning power that offers safety of principle and a more »

  • High ROIC Makes This Stock an Attractive Long-Term Holding

    By Ted Cooper - May 23, 2013 | Tickers: CHRW, EXPD, JBHT

    The chief aim of substantially all business ventures is to invest cash in a manner that returns a larger amount of cash than could be earned in another endeavor of equal or lesser risk. For investors, return is measured by compound annual gains or losses of a particular portfolio. For businesses, the return is often measured by return on invested capital (ROIC), or some variant thereof.

    ROIC is crucial to more »

  • Is This Stock Set to Shoot Up?

    By Ted Cooper - May 22, 2013 | Tickers: RSG, WCN, WM

    Boring industries are generally the best place to find bargains. While high-flying stocks like Tesla Motors receive all the attention, companies with more mundane prospects often go neglected. Enterprising investors will find the neglected industries much more interesting than the highly touted, and overvalued, stocks of the day.

    For instance, the waste management industry has shown its maturity over the last decade; growth has slowed to a creep over the more »

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