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Monthly Archives: September 2011

CARBO Ceramics Benefits from Simple–and Profitable–Innovation

September 19, 2011
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CARBO Ceramics Benefits from Simple–and Profitable–Innovation

Make no mistake, becoming more ingenious is necessary to keep up with the world’s increasing energy consumption. Even in this difficult economic time, world energy usage is growing–the Energy Information Agency said in its September briefing that the slower than-expected energy growth will still require a drawdown of reserves to meet demand by year’s end. And a drawdown of reserves means more oil needs to be drilled to replace it. In the 1940s and 1950s, when the giant oil fields of the Middle East were being discovered, getting oil out of the ground was akin to making a hole...

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Good Questions Outrank Easy Answers

September 17, 2011
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Good Questions Outrank Easy Answers

Now for this week’s Contrary Opinion Button. Remember, you can always view all of the buttons by clicking here. Good Questions Outrank Easy Answers Attributed to Paul A. Samuelson, the first American to win a Nobel Prize in economics. In my mind, the big questions for investors include these: What’s the major market trend? What’s the state of investor sentiment? What’s the weakest stock in my portfolio, and what should I do about it? Even if you can’t answer these questions definitively, it’s important to ask them … more important than answering the easy questions. And when you can...

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Stock Market Video: New Buy Signal

September 16, 2011
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Stock Market Video: New Buy Signal

In this week’s Stock Market Video, Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report Editor Paul Goodwin says that after weeks of mostly bad news, we finally have something good to report. Positive action in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq has led to a new buy signal for Cabot’s proprietary market timing indicators. It’s time to do a little buying, but don’t go overboard … let the market pull you back in. Stocks discussed: China Unicom (CHU), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Las Vegas Sands (LVS) and New Oriental Education (EDU). Click below to watch!

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Planning Your Trade With Mako Surgical (MAKO)

September 16, 2011
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Planning Your Trade With Mako Surgical (MAKO)

One of the most common questions I get, especially after the market has suffered through a few bad weeks, is this: “I own XYZ stock at 50 and now it’s 38.  I like the prospects but am sitting on a big loss; I don’t want to take the loss, but I’m torn on whether the stock still has a bright future. Your thoughts?” A variant of this email that I’ve received many times is, “I invested 30% of my portfolio in XYZ at 50, and now it’s at 38. I can’t take that loss! What should I do?” I...

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Shades of Gray in the Stock Market

September 15, 2011
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In a way, writing a stock market newsletter is a bit like politics–you’re serving a broad audience (some would argue many politicians serve no one but themselves … but just play along with me) and every member of that audience has a different viewpoint on the market and certain stocks. So it’s really impossible to satisfy 100% of my subscribers–if I can keep 80% happy, it’s like a landslide win in an election. This thought popped into my mind recently when I was responding to a couple of different emails in the same day. First, some background: In the...

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