The month of September was a surprisingly great month for the overall market with indexes showing strong gains. The portfolio also performed well in the month.
You must continue to focus on the comparative value of stocks vs. bonds. You can barely get any interest rate on your cash, with no chance of growth and a good chance of seeing it shrink from inflation. If you buy a stock that gives you that yield or higher, you have a good chance of seeing an increasing dividend and increasing your principal.
In the Market Comparables model, manager Richard Moore uses refined financial models to pick stocks with the prospect of earnings growth and that have possible hidden value. Last week, he added many new positions to the model, but today we’re going to take a look at two of them. One […]
The waiting is over—today, several companies released financial results for the prior quarter and so far, so good. JPMorgan Chase and Co (NYSE: JPM), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) all released positive financial results and cheered investors into staging a major midday rally (click on each […]
The Federal Reserve released their minutes from their September 2010 Federal Open Market Committee meeting along with a summary of the meeting’s discussions. In the summary (which you can read here), the committee talks about the struggling recovery, contracted bank lending, high unemployment and slightly increasing household spending. The upshot […]
I continue to favor direct ownership in MLPs. Even beyond the taxation profile, I believe there are numerous MLPs in indexes inherently exposed to unbalanced risks. I believe Incentive Distribution Rights (“IDRs”) to certain MLPs general partners can represent a tremendous governance conflict of interest of long term consequence. The only way I can be certain I am taking only those risks I am comfortable with is having control of what goes into my basket.
In September I here added a Cohen and Steers Closed-End Fund which was subject to a distribution increase, RQI. Similar to a prior holding, SLS, which was discussed in the webinar, RQI allows me to diversify my portfolio so as to include categories of exposure to income assets whose income can be dynamic. There are risks in everything of course, but I want to pick and choose which risks I accept in what proportions, rather than embracing peak interest rate risk in all Taxable Income style holdings.
This week we’re going to look at some managers who’ve been on Covestor for a few months now, but who haven’t been highlighted on Covestor Live yet. Suncoast Equity was added to the Covestor roster in May. The company was founded in 1997 by former Polen Capital portfolio manager Donald […]
In the Fundamental Growth model, manager Sparrow Capital looks for companies with a proven ability to grow their sales as well as cash flows, earnings and book values over different economic cycles. In order to find the right kinds of companies, the fund’s managers review annual and quarterly reports. The […]
I continue to believe the market for Closed-End Municipal Income Funds is extremely inefficient. I’m certainly happy with what I observe in the daily fluctuations, income, prospects for monthly dividend hikes, and attractive valuations in the funds I hold.
At GEARS we have developed unique tools to find improving fundamentals companies when their share price is depressed and identify deteriorating fundamentals companies when their share price is extended. To perform that analysis, we have created an accurate set of fundamental performance metrics and a share price volatility calculator.
This week we asked Ben Dickey, one of the founding principals of BSG&L Financial Services, some questions about their two Covestor models, Pure Growth and Growth Plus Income. Covestor Live: Both of your models have been in the top 5 over the last 3 months. What do you find is the […]