Are you worried about a stock market drop? I’m afraid the worries are completely justified. The Dow passed 18,000 yesterday for third time ever. Each time though it has failed to pass 19,000 and there are no clear catalysts to drive it past those highs. Technical analysts call that “resistance” and it’s often a major…
DetailsIn late 2014, shares of Pain Therapeutics plunged from a high of $4.25 to less than $1.75 after Pfizer ended an agreement to help it develop and market the Remoxy pain drug along with Durect Corporation. Since then, PTIE has been greatly ignored. However, in July 2015, we found value, recommending the stock at just…
DetailsIn January 2016, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost up to 2,200 points. Since then, the index has had a tremendous 16% rally from 15,503 to more than 17,926. Stocks have rebounded well out of bear market territory. Oil has rallied from a low of $26.05 to a high of $42.65 on hopes OPEC and…
DetailsStocks are in the most precarious position they’ve been in in years. The fundamental value of the stocks — that is the earnings they produce — has been declining steadily for over a year now. Meanwhile, the overall markets have jumped back to within a few percentage points of their all-time highs. Something’s gotta give.…
DetailsWhat a jerk! That’s what I’m betting a few of your fellow Profit Alert readers are thinking about your editor. I don’t blame them either. Earlier this week we detailed what to watch for in this earnings season including specific notes on Alcoa’s (AA) earnings report. The report came in and it was, in our…
DetailsHitting a high of $144.32 in 2008, oil slipped 82% to $26.05 just eight years later. Why? Supply outweighed demand. Storage levels at Cushing (the world’s largest crude oil storage facility) neared full capacity, renewing concerns the price of oil could come under intense pressure. The U.S. oil patch suffered, and tens of thousands of…
DetailsI never saw my attorney get this close to losing his temper. He’s a bright guy. Experienced. Resourceful. Direct. Honest. Everything you could want in an advisor. When the conversation turned to stocks though, his frustration was visible. Like most part-time investors, he buys what’s in the headlines. In this case it was Apple (AAPL).…
DetailsThere’s nothing real about the U.S. recovery. Markets may have rallied well off January 2016 lows, but there’s a great deal of underlying weakness. “This economy would have to improve dramatically to get to mediocre,” noted Peter Schiff early Monday morning. “The Fed can’t raise rates because they don’t’ want to poke too many holes…
DetailsThe first quarter of 2016 came in a whimper and ended with a bang… In the first week of the year, the Dow Jones fell 2,200 points, wiping out trillions of shareholder value. Investors had many concerns — the China slowdown, falling oil and commodity prices, and the Federal Reserve’s actions. Fears of a global…
DetailsWhen all else fails, try sex. It’s one of the oldest and irrefutable laws of advertising… Sex sells. GoDaddy (GDDY) used sex to parlay its web domain registration business into a $5 billion empire. There are hundreds of companies which can register the domain address for you. Hover, Namecheap, Gandi, Name.com, Google and more provide…
DetailsIt would be laughable it if it wasn’t going to be so painful for so many. As you surely know by now, California and New York have passed (or are about to pass) $15/hr minimum wage laws. At first glance, it’s an economic death sentence for millions of workers in their respective states. The politicians…
DetailsAfter more than $605 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), 2015 became the hottest on record for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Even though the first quarter of 2016 showed slower M&A activity, I can assure you the trend is far from over. Just last year, AbbVie (ABBV) paid $21 billion for Pharmacyclics, a…
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