Very early Saturday morning I’ll leave my farm in North Central Kansas and drive to Omaha for a sit-down with Warren Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) annual meeting. With his longtime partner and vice chairman Charlie Munger, Buffett will speak without notes and answer every question until the… Read More

Sometimes it pays to do some “meta-analysis.” That’s when you analyze the analysts that follow a company. Often times, these analysts tend to think in cautious terms, and look to the past to make assessments about the future. As a result, they can overlook powerful industry changes that render the… Read More

Now may be the optimal time to trade the financial sector. During the week of April 16, shares of many financial companies fell, following news of fraud charges against The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). As a result, many financial… Read More

Fact: The S&P 500 is up more than +68% since the lows of March 2009. In light of this bit of information, it might be tempting for investors to become discouraged. After all, how much farther can the market rise? But looking at the past will only… Read More

The beer market is very mature in developed markets as has been around for hundreds of years. Case in point: Molson has been in operation since 1786 while Coors was founded in 1873. Legend has it that beer is as old as civilization itself, dating back thousands of years and… Read More

Back in August 2009, Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) unveiled plans to acquire Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) in a $4 billion cash/stock transaction. The deal valued Marvel at approximately $50 per share, a +30% premium to the $38.65 it fetched before the deal was announced. Marvel shareholders… Read More

Bill Gross — perhaps the most famous and successful bond investor in history — had a recent quote that made me chuckle. Talking to The New York Times about interest rates, Gross said, “Americans have assumed the roller coaster goes one… Read More

Everyone likes a good stock tip: a hot new Internet company, a disruptive technology, an acquisition rumor — anything that gets the adrenaline pumping. This type of hearsay-based buying and selling can net investors a buck or two now and then, but rest assured, someone already knows what you know… Read More

Thanks to the recent credit crisis, much of which was its own doing, the financial services industry has experienced one of the most volatile operating environments in its history. Fortunately, a heavy dose of government stimulus and calmer capital markets have brought the majority… Read More

Commodities shape just about every aspect of our lives, from the cost of a tank of gas to the price of a gallon of milk. But instead of being subjected to the whims of volatile commodities, smart investors find a way to soften the blow. Let me explain… During the summer of 2008, when crude oil prices were near $150 a barrel, drivers felt a sting in their wallets. But while prices were high, companies like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) raked in record profits. This example doesn’t just apply to oil, either. Many other commodities traded near record… Read More

Commodities shape just about every aspect of our lives, from the cost of a tank of gas to the price of a gallon of milk. But instead of being subjected to the whims of volatile commodities, smart investors find a way to soften the blow. Let me explain… During the summer of 2008, when crude oil prices were near $150 a barrel, drivers felt a sting in their wallets. But while prices were high, companies like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) raked in record profits. This example doesn’t just apply to oil, either. Many other commodities traded near record highs during that time. Take corn. Thanks to ethanol subsidies, the price of corn flour in Mexico nearly quadrupled in a matter of months in the summer of 2007. And while that country’s poor rioted over the cost of corn tortillas, companies like Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) made mounds of cash. During the subprime crisis in the United States, people began stripping abandoned homes of copper wiring, hoping to capitalize on high copper prices. And when metals prices were near their highs in 2008, stories began to pop up about some who even… Read More