Daily Posts Archive
A few weeks ago I asked the question: “Why are gun stocks strong?” The first reason is that many Americans fear the president and his associates will soon make guns more difficult to buy, so they’re buying them now. The second reason is fear of burglary and robbery, and the other crimes that tend to increase during recessionary times. I followed that with profiles of the three top-performing stocks in the sector, Sturm, Ruger (RGR) and Smith & Wesson (SWHC), who make guns, and Cabela’s (CAB), who sells them to the public. In the three weeks since then, all three stocks have done very well. Sturm, Ruger is up 13%, Smith & Wesson is up 10% and Cabela’s is up 18%.
Yesterday, you heard from Timothy Lutts, who wrote about the stock market’s three-week rally and why it’s time to buy. He wrote, “My charts tell me the worst has passed, and this correction will soon be replaced by a new leg up in the Bull Market of 2009. So my goal today is to get you back into the market, so you’ll be one of the early winners!” And he recommended that you follow the guidelines in Cabot Stock of the Month Report, of which he is the editor. Today, I want to delve into the history of that publication and explain why it’s so popular among investors, especially those new to the stock investing game.
The early bird gets the worm ... except in the stock market.
Most of the market’s biggest winners get going in a real powerful way four to six weeks (a couple of weeks for a buy signal ... plus another two to four weeks after that) after the market has bottomed. Many times, the investor who rushes to be the first to buy after the market bottom will miss out on the real leaders, instead buying what he thinks are the real leaders. That’s why, in the stock market as in life, patience is a virtue.
Today, the USPS is the third-largest employer in the United States, after the Department of Defense and Wal-Mart. It’s also the largest civilian operator of motor vehicles. Considering its great size, it’s done a very good job of adapting to changing times. But the growing operating losses (just as at GM) warn us that if bigger changes are not made, the USPS will be next in line for a government bailout. And I think Americans have had enough of bailouts.
It’s March and that means it’s time for the NCAA tournament, the gauntlet of games that will eventually crown a school the king of college basketball. I filled out my bracket before the games began, but I didn’t have high hopes, especially since I’m no basketball expert. However, after a few days of play I ranked at the top of my friends’ bracket pool and decently high on the nationwide ESPN.com competition as well. But I don’t apply my basketball team selection methods to the stock market because investing is a whole different ball game.
So let’s just suppose that you actually want to retire at some point in the future. If you’re like most people, you’re probably a little behind in funding that retirement--especially after the wealth-gutting market of the last year--and you’re wondering if you can catch up. We clearly believe that investors who are willing to invest the time, energy and (of course) money in a disciplined and systematic way can indeed make AND KEEP big money over time.
I was talking with a long-time subscriber last week--a professional money manager--when the topic of education came up. He told me, “The thing I’ve always liked about Cabot is you educate your readers. You don’t just tell them what to buy and sell, you explain why.” Today, recognizing the value of that thought, I’m going back to basics, bringing you five rules for successful growth investing, complete with the all-important reasons why.
Last week, I wrote about the problems facing the newspaper industry and some possible solutions. I asked for your feedback and I got a huge (and insightful) response. So today I’m going to feature many of the best letters submitted via email and on our blog, The Iconoclast Investor. If you haven’t shared your view on this yet, either send me an email or post it on the blog, where it’ll get shared with your fellow readers as well. Thanks for writing in!
In preparation for today’s Cabot Wealth Advisory, I went back and read our in-house recap of a recent survey we sent you. While it was expressed a few different ways, the most common response was some form of “Help me make money by helping me know when to buy, sell, be in and out of the market ... " and so on. Today I want to give you 10 nuggets to put in your investing toolkit.