Republic Services Inc. (NYSE: RSG), currently trading at $33.15 at Friday's closing bell, is in demand. As the waste industry moves to consolidate, three of the top players are jockeying for the dominating position. The current industry leader, Waste Management (NYSE: WMI) originally announced $ 34/ share bid for Republic Services on July 11th, and more recently raised that offer to $37/ share. Republic Services has rejected both bids saying that the company is worth substantially more than that as an independent entity. Waste Management made its initial offer as a response to the merger, announced June 23rd, between Republic Services and Allied Waste Industries (NYSE: AW). The merger would combine the 2nd and 3rd largest solid waste services companies in a bid to rival the current dominance of Waste Management.

Continue reading "Waste Services Industry Consolidation Attempts" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:52 AM | Permalink

After initially announcing job cuts of 6350 employees in July, Wachovia (NYSE: WB) this week said that as many as 6950 employees may now be out of work. That doesn’t include recent announcements of the departure of CFO Thomas J. Wurtz, and Chief Risk Officer Don Truslow. Wachovia is expecting the job cuts to cost as much as $650 million as it restructures it workforce. Recent days have seen the announcement of a class action lawsuit from shareholders, regulatory investigations, and increases in the amount estimated losses originally announced just a few weeks ago. Wachovia stock closed Monday at $18.21 per share off from its 52 week highs of more than $50.

Continue reading "Wachovia Worsens but Still Survives" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 8:06 AM | Permalink

The ailing housing market is driving widening losses at Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM). According to their latest earnings report, released on August 8th, Fannie Mae showed a net loss of $2.3 billion for the second quarter alone. This comes on top of a $2.2 billion loss reported for the first quarter of this year. This time the loss was primarily driven by higher than expected mortgage defaults and foreclosures. Fannie Mae reports that based on their mortgage portfolio performance in July, they expect things to get worse going forward. Loss reserves were increased by $3.7 billion in the quarter with more cash expected to be reserved against losses in Q3.

Continue reading "Fannie Mae – The Next Six Months are Key" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:26 AM | Permalink

The stock market volatility of the past few years has taught some valuable lessons about the stock market. In essence, the stock market tends to revert to the mean. Avoid strategies designed to “get rich quick” in the stock market, and diversify, diversify, diversify.

Continue reading "Stock Market Lessons From the Past" »

Posted by Nickie - Editor at 7:29 AM | Permalink

It should come as no surprise in this economy that US auto sales are down dramatically. General Motors (GM) last week posted a $15.5 billion loss for the most recent quarter. Fully $9.2 billion of this loss was related to one-time expenses as the company wrote down assets, dealt with restructuring costs and expenses related to ailing Delphi. For the balance of the loss, General Motors cited plummeting SUV prices and poor sales overall along with corresponding declines in its financing operations as the primary contributors to the loss. July 2008’s sales for General Motors fell more than 27 percent compared to the same month a year ago. This compares to Ford’s 15 percent year on year sales decline for July.

Continue reading "General Motors Sales and Stock Price Continue to Decline" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 8:57 AM | Permalink

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) announced its second quarter earnings on August 1st. Although Chevron didn’t match Exxon’s $1500 per second for the quarter, they did earn over $760 for each second of the second quarter. Chevron reported net income of $6 billion up 11% from the same quarter a year ago. That translates to earnings of $2.90/ share diluted, a shortfall from analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.03. Strong oil prices were the biggest contributor to the gain. Natural gas prices were also a strong contributor.

Chevron also reported in their August 1st press release that their refining operations were hurt by the high cost of crude as the price of gasoline did not keep pace with the rising cost of oil. As a result Chevron reported a loss of $734 million in its refining operations.

Continue reading "Chevron's Q2 Earnings" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:00 AM | Permalink

When evaluating a stock, you’ll typically look at a variety of historical figures. One of the most important statistic is earnings, which is also used as a basis for several other important statistics.

Continue reading "The Basics of Stock Earnings Calculations" »

Posted by Emma - Editor at 6:59 AM | Permalink

Whether you’re interesting in earning money through investing for your retirement, or to purchase a future big-ticket item, investing can really pay off for you. One thing that you must be sure of is that you invest in companies that are going to produce money instead of the opposite. Buying stock into the wrong company can really wreck havoc on your finances, which is why you need to do your homework on the businesses that you wish to invest in before making a final decision. You don’t necessarily need the assistance of a stock broker in order to make wise investing decisions, but if you have the money to pay a reputable broker, it might prove to be a great idea.

Continue reading "Four Great Businesses to Choose When Investing" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 8:13 AM | Permalink

When a stock’s price declines substantially, you might wonder what you should do. If you own the stock, should you sell before the stock declines more or purchase more shares at the lower price? If you are interested in the stock, should you purchase now or stay away from it? Before you decide, you need to assess the cause of the price decline. Typically, the stock’s price is reacting to one of three things:

Continue reading "How to Handle Stock Price Declines" »

Posted by Nickie - Editor at 9:03 AM | Permalink

When designing an investment program, your expected rate of return is a critical element in determining how much to periodically invest to help reach a future goal. Since no one can predict future returns, the expected rate of return is typically estimated based on an analysis of past returns for various investments. So what return can you expect in the future for stock investments? The average annual return for the Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) for the period from 1926 to 2006 was 10.4%, but you don’t want to simply use this return without determining whether it is reasonable for the future.*

Continue reading "How to Assess Stock Returns" »

Posted by Nickie - Editor at 7:03 PM | Permalink

You should thoroughly analyze a stock before purchase. However, if you pick up a company’s annual report you can quickly become overwhelmed by all the numbers. What figures should you concentrate on when evaluating a stock? At a minimum, you should look for answers to these eight questions:

Continue reading "How to Evaluate a Stock Investment" »

Posted by Nickie - Editor at 10:07 AM | Permalink

Before we write about small cap stocks it is important to understand what the term means. Companies are usually broken down into sizes based on their capitalized values. This value is determined by multiplying the number of shares of the company by the current market value of those shares as determined on the relevant stock exchange. For example, if we have a company with 100,000,000 shares outstanding and the stock id trading at $9.00 per share then the capitalized value is $900,000,000 ($9.00 per share X 100,000,000 shares). In the investment world a small cap stock is generally considered to be a company with a capitalization of less than $1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars).

Continue reading "Overview of Small Cap Stocks" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 6:45 AM | Permalink

How has your portfolio performed compared to the major indexes? Has it experienced sharper or milder fluctuations? The answer to these questions will help you determine your portfolio’s risk. Different measures of risk exist for stocks versus bonds.

Continue reading "Measuring Your Investment Risk" »

Posted by Emma - Editor at 6:50 AM | Permalink

Bad weather, soft real estate home sales, and subprime lending problems appear to be catching up with Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement supply chain.

Continue reading " Home Depot 1Q profit drops 29.5 percent" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:19 AM | Permalink

ManagingMoney.com recently came across another way our users can Save Money. How about Free Stock Trades? That's right, free. You can't get a much better deal than that.

Zecco.com, a division of Equinox Securities out of Ontario, California, is billing themselves as the industry's first online trading website that provides zero commission stock trading. Investors can make up to 10 trades in any one day up to a total of 40 trades a month at no cost with a minimum initial investment of only $2,500 in cash or securities. If you manage to do over 40 trades in one month the cost is only $3.50 per trade.

Continue reading "Free Stock Trades and Hot Dogs" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 12:44 PM | Permalink

On December 19th, right before the Holidays, State Street Global Advisors launched the first Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) designed to track overseas real-estate stocks. The streetTracks Dow Jones Wilshire International Real Estate ETF is traded under the symbol RWX on the American Stock Exchange.

Continue reading "First International Real Estate ETF Launched" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 9:54 AM | Permalink

Intuit (INTU), the Mountain View California based maker of the hugely popular TurboTax, Quickbooks, and Quicken software titles announced this month a new collaboration with The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.

Continue reading "Intuit Teams Up With Kiplinger" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 5:01 PM | Permalink

American Depository Receipts (ADRs) are the form in which foreign stocks trade on U.S. stock exchanges. An ADR is a negotiable certificate issued by a U.S. bank (the depositary), representing shares of a foreign stock. The original foreign stock certificates are owned by the bank and held in the issuer’s country. Each ADR can represent a multiple or fraction of the original foreign stock. This ratio is set by the depositary so the ADR’s price falls within a range considered typical for U.S. stocks. ADR's offer several benefits for individuals wanting to purchase stocks on foreign stock exchanges.

Continue reading "What Are American Depository Receipts" »

Posted by Nickie - Editor at 11:52 AM | Permalink

It’s always difficult to determine the proper time to sell a stock. What if you sell and the stock price increases dramatically? Or what if you hold onto the stock and its price declines? To help you decide when to sell, consider these signals:

Continue reading "Determining When to Sell a Stock" »

Posted by Emma - Editor at 8:09 AM | Permalink

Shareholders of Vanda Pharmaceuticals (VNDA) are not the only happy people today as the stock currently is up over $10 per share on news of a successful Phase III trial of their antipsychotic drug Iloperidone. Another happy party is MedImmune Ventures , Inc., a wholly owned venture capital subsidiary of MedImmune (MEDI). MedImmune Ventures, Inc. was formed in 2002 and seeded over the course of the year with $200 million.To date they have invested in ~15 early and mid-stage biotech companies with Vanda Pharmaceuticals being one of those. Over the last couple of weeks MedImmune Ventures, Inc. has registered to sell 964,000 shares of Vanda. At $25 per share this equals $24,100,000, not a bad start for this young venture capital company.

Posted by Mike - Editor at 10:50 AM | Permalink

Amazon.com is best known for being the largest online book seller, a somewhat dubious distinction as the profit margins in selling books are razor thin. So thin in fact, that a few years ago Barron's ran a front page story calling the company Amazon.bomb. However, despite the low margins and Barrons' forecast of doom, Amazon is making money and has diversified into other higher margin online products like Consumer Electronics and more. In a relatively unnoticed event this month, Amazon also started beta testing of a Search product modeled after Google and Yahoo keyword ads.

Continue reading "Amazon Starts Competing with Google and Yahoo" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 3:05 PM | Permalink

October is traditionally a scary month for investors. Does anyone remember the 1987 Stock Market Crash? This October was, however, quite good for investors, with a number of major indices hitting 5 year highs. This October and Halloween were especially good for an independent film company out of Vancouver named Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF).

Continue reading "Halloween Was a Treat for Lions Gate Entertainment" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:26 PM | Permalink

Warren Buffett, perhaps the greatest investor alive today, has an amusing way to describe his rules for investing:
Rule #1 — never lose money
Rule #2 — don’t forget rule #1
Although this may seem like an overly simple and conservative way to succeed, I hope to show you that these simple rules hold the key to successful investing for the vast majority of people: understand when you are playing a loser’s game and then play accordingly.

Continue reading "The Loser's Game" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 10:38 AM | Permalink

Your asset allocation mix represents your personal decisions about how much of your portfolio to allocate to various investment categories, such as stocks, bonds, and cash. How much you allocate to each category depends on your financial objectives and personal circumstances. However, it is a percentage that is likely to change over time. As your needs for safety of principal and a steady income stream become more important, the percentage of stocks you own is likely to decrease. Some factors to consider when deciding how much to allocate to stocks include:

Continue reading "Stock Allocation" »

Posted by Emma - Editor at 5:52 AM | Permalink

Intuit, the maker of the popular Quickbooks accounting software, and Google, the Search giant, announced this week their intent to imbed Google's search and advertising products into the new 2007 Quickbooks software.

Continue reading "Quickbooks Teams Up With Google" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:25 PM | Permalink

The two basic investing styles are growth and value. While one style tends to perform better at any given time, the dominant style varies over time. The basic elements of each style include:

Continue reading "Should You Favor Growth or Value Investing" »

Posted by Emma - Editor at 7:33 AM | Permalink

Consuelo Mack on Wealthtrack recently interviewed three top value managers, David Winters, Susan Byrne, and John Montgomery. David Winters is portfolio manager for the Wintergreen Fund and specializes in global value investing, Susan Byrne is CEO of Westwood Management that runs the Westwood Large-Cap Equity Fund and focuses on large-cap U.S. stocks, and John Montgomery with Bridgeway Funds uses quantitative computer models in his search for value. Each gave their perspective as to where they are finding value despite stock markets and interest rates both at recent highs.

Click Here to Read the Interview Transcript

Posted by Mike - Editor at 12:33 PM | Permalink

The stock market volatility of the past few years has been painful to endure, but that pain can teach some valuable lessons about the stock market:

Continue reading "Stock Market Lessons" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 10:09 AM | Permalink

With thousands of stocks to choose from, developing a systematic approach to evaluating stocks can make it easier to make your selections. The first step is to narrow the options from the thousands of possible choices to ones most likely to meet your objectives. That typically involves screening companies based on criteria important to you. For instance, if you are interested in growth stocks, you might look for earnings growth over a certain percentage. Or for value stocks, you might look for companies with low price/earnings ratios or low price-to-book values.

Continue reading "Evaluating Potential Stock Investments" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 6:48 PM | Permalink

During the bull market of the 1990s, dividends fell out of favor. With stock prices rising so dramatically, dividends didn’t seem to matter. Historically, however, dividends have been a significant component of stocks’ total return. For instance, from 1926 to 1985, dividends equaled approximately 49% of the total return of the Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500), with an average dividend yield of 4.8%. In contrast, from 1998 to 2004, the average dividend yield was 1.5%.*

Continue reading "A Return to Stock Dividends" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 12:58 PM | Permalink

Price/earnings (P/E) ratios are a common measure of stock value, both for individual stocks and the overall market. Calculating a P/E ratio is straightforward — it is simply the price of a single share of stock divided by the company’s per share earnings. For example, a stock selling at $50 per share with $2 per share of earnings would have a P/E ratio of 25. However, P/E ratios can be calculated using different earnings numbers. Trailing P/E ratios, which are typically reported in newspapers, use earnings per share for the most recent four quarters, while forward P/E ratios use forecasts of future earnings per share.

Continue reading "A Look at Price/Earnings (P/E) Ratios" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 1:14 PM | Permalink

With all of the volatility in the stock market over the past several years, it can be difficult to determine how to devise an investment strategy to help achieve your financial goals. To help you determine a reasonable rate of return to expect on your stock investments, it might be helpful to review some “facts” about the stock market:

Continue reading "Coming to Terms with Stocks" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 1:08 PM | Permalink

Looking for a way to invest in specific foreign companies without learning all the intricacies of other countries’ stock markets? You may want to consider American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

Continue reading "Investing in Foreign Stocks at Home" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 1:57 PM | Permalink

Reports of slowing growth or earnings declines can severely punish a stock’s price. So that you aren’t surprised by this type of news for your stocks, look out for these three warning signs when you review financial reports:

Continue reading "Using Financial Reports to Predict a Slowing Economy" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:34 PM | Permalink

It’s always difficult to determine the proper time to sell a stock. What if you sell and the stock price increases dramatically? Or what if you hold on to the stock and its price goes nowhere or declines? To help you decide when to sell, consider these signs:

Continue reading "Signs It's Time To Sell A Stock" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 8:28 PM | Permalink

A primary reason to invest in international stocks is to diversify your portfolio to reduce its risk. If world markets do not move in perfect harmony, owning stocks from different countries should reduce the impact of a downturn in one stock market. But as investing becomes more global in nature, there is concern that stock markets are becoming more correlated.

Continue reading "Are Stock Market Correlations Increasing?" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:20 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "The Basics of Stock Market Indexes" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:08 PM | Permalink

Continue reading "Measuring a Stock's Risk - Market Risk & Nonmarket Risk" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:05 PM | Permalink

Continue reading "Convertible Bonds - Part Bond, Part Stock" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:57 PM | Permalink

Continue reading "Should You Invest Globally?" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:21 PM | Permalink