Insurance stocks often look like lousy investments in a slow economy. Demand for policies can shrink as unemployment rises, and rivals undercut each other on price to snag whatever market share still remains. But you want… Read More

In a highly uncertain environment, one thing is clear. The demand for health care will not merely continue… It will dramatically increase in the years to come. Health care has always been a “defensive” industry, as people get sick no matter… Read More

Certain stocks are either loved or hated. Investors shun them when sales and profits are sliding, yet become quickly enamored when results start to improve. But any rebound in a company’s operating picture can come in fits and starts, so when speed bumps emerge in the story, momentum-chasing investors tend… Read More

Investors have suffered through 14 bear market plunges in the post-WWII era. Fortunately, those declines have been followed by 14 bull markets. The bounce-backs are typically far more powerful, but predicting the inflection points… Read More

In each issue of High-Yield Investing, we include a “Dividend-Capture Dates” section. The strategy is pretty simple: You buy a dividend-paying stock right before it’s… Read More

Just when it seemed the auto industry was beginning to rebound, Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has gone into reverse. Toyota — the world’s number one selling auto manufacturer — recently recalled 2.3 million cars in the United States, due to faulty floor mats which trap accelerator… Read More

A year ago, high-yield bonds were outcasts. The financial world braced for Armageddon, and investors fled riskier high-yield bonds in droves in anticipation of widespread defaults. Yield spreads — in this case, the difference between yields on high-yield bonds and yields on “AAA”-rated corporate bonds — soared to a record… Read More

One thing more than any other makes searching for value difficult these days: Loans. The best way to search for discounted companies is to set up a screen that looks at net asset value — assets minus liabilities. (To see… Read More

Next week the market will be focused on the nation’s banks, as the top U.S. financial institutions report their quarterly earnings. Their earnings parade actually started today, with a quarterly report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM),… Read More

The phrase “failure of imagination” has returned to the lexicon. It may turn out to be an appropriate catchphrase for the just-ended 2000s. It also applies to a few situations on Wall Street, where investors seem unable to wrap their arms around the idea that things won’t… Read More