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Monthly Archives: August 2011

A Winning Stock in the Oil Patch

August 5, 2011
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My view on the market is that it’s clearly not healthy here. It’s not a disaster, but during the latest downleg, one of our key market timing indicators, which measures the number of stocks hitting new 52-week lows, has been flashing yellow. That is a warning sign that the broad market is weaker than the major indexes are letting on. On the other hand, many leading stocks are still holding their own. Not a lot of money is being made, of course, but institutions aren’t completely bailing out on every stock and sector. I wouldn’t say that’s encouraging, per...

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A Top Stock Pick for 2011

August 4, 2011
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Today’s stock pick is inspired by a few good articles I’ve read lately: two about very good businesses, and one about a bad business. Let’s start with the bad news: Borders is going out of business. According to most sources, Borders simply couldn’t compete with Amazon.com (AMZN) and other online book retailers. The company’s own announcement of its decision to liquidate cited three “headwinds” that led to its demise: “the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution and turbulent economy.” But there had to be another problem as well: Barnes & Noble (BKS) is facing all those same challenges, and...

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How to Become an Instant Expert

August 3, 2011
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How to Become an Instant Expert

For the last 18 years, I’ve been leading film discussions at The Music Hall, a wonderful old theater in the heart of downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Once or twice a month, I do some research on a movie that’s showing there and talk it over with a small group of film enthusiasts after the film has screened. I give a little background on the film–who directed, who wrote it, how it got made, etc.–and we talk it over. The Music Hall supplies the coffee and popcorn. I realized the other day that the process of familiarizing myself with a...

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Sina.com (SINA): A Chinese Stock to Watch

August 2, 2011
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My stock pick today is a recommendation for your watch list. I included Sina.com (SINA) in the portfolio of the Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report on October 1, 2010. SINA was trading at 51 then, and I was attracted by the company’s consistent revenue and earnings growth and by the beautiful 10-month base the stock etched beginning in November 2009. There was a lot of value stored up in SINA, and when it broke out above its old resistance, I recommended buying it. After taking profits twice, we finally sold our SINA holdings in early June, as the...

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Rogers Communications: A Long-Term Buy

August 1, 2011
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For my stock pick today, I have something a little different. I recently read through your responses to the survey found at the bottom of each Cabot Wealth Advisory and wanted to address one of the most-requested topics: dividend stocks. So my recommendation for this issue comes from the latest issue of Dick Davis Dividend Digest (though it was originally recommended by Richard J. Moroney of Dow Theory Forecasts): “Rogers Communications (RCI–yield 3.70%), a sprawling media conglomerate, keeps a high profile in Canada. The company operates Canada’s largest publishing company, 51 radio stations, and the Toronto Blue Jays baseball...

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