Tim Harford produced a brilliant one-scene dialogue between a father edifying his son on the eternal, universal power of compound interest and his confused offspring, seeking in vain the interest necessary to apply the principle. Excerpt: “I learnt about Albert Einstein.” “Aha! A fascinating fellow. And an economist, too, in […]
Monthly Archives: May 2011
130 posts
There’s mounting pressure for large multinationals to report to their shareholders on the working standards at their international suppliers. On 5/30, the New York Times noted that Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is the latest to face these questions: At its annual shareholder meeting on Friday, the New York City pension funds, which […]
Robert Gay manages Global Equity Analytics and Research Services LLC (GEARS) which manages several Covestor models, including the Luxury Liner model. Robert recently sold Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) from that portfolio. We asked Robert to share his reasons for selling. His response follows. *** My decision report for FCS is […]
Darren Taylor uses a bottom-up fundamental approach to stock selection for Covestor’s Top 5 Screener model. He recently bought CACI International (NYSE: CACI) for the model. CACI is an international IT services corporation. We asked Darren to share his reasons for buying CACI. His response follows. *** I developed my […]
Vivian Lewis manages Covestor’s International Yield model, which focuses on high-yield investments in closed-end funds, stocks and preferred shares of companies located outside the United States. Lewis recently sold Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE: CEL) from the portfolio, so we asked her to share her reasons for moving out of the stock. […]
Chris Dixon points out one of the key reasons Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) became one of the great contemporary business success stories. There’s a lesson here for contrarian investors of any stripe. – – – When Google released its search engine in 1998, its search results were significantly better than its […]
Have a hard time waking up in the morning? Try this alarm clock, which begins shredding a dollar bill (your choice of denomination) from the time the alarm goes off. Be careful, though – Mashable reminds us that willfully destroying American currency is a federal offense. Source: “Money-Shredding Alarm Clock […]
The Australian satirical comics Clarke and Dawe take on the European debt crisis and the fragile world economy: Source: “Clark and Dawe: Lending merry-go-round” YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D0VhS8qXT0
Timothy Sykes manages Covestor’s Contra Hype model, which seeks to identify price movements of small cap stocks that are susceptible to unusual short term price movements due to media hype or investor exuberance. Tim recently shorted Jammin Java Corp. (OTC: JAMN), formerly Marley Coffee Inc., which is a development-stage company engaged in the […]
John Fattibene of Harvest Financial Planners manages Covestor’s Domestic Dividend model, which seeks to invest in high-quality, well-managed companies that pay a dividend. Fattibene recently added Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to the model, so we asked him to share his reasons for the transaction. His response follows. *** We bought […]
Model manager Brendan Ruchert-Dixon runs Covestor’s Alpha Trapper model, which follows a long-short strategy, aiming for balanced growth in the long portion while using short positions in poorly-structured ETFs to both hedge risk and aim for extra returns. Brendan recently added Asta Funding, inc (NASDAQ: ASFI) to the model. ASFI is engaged […]
fuel prices will lead to a decrease in international trade, as companies reduce fuel use by assembling things closer to markets. This facile intuition can lead