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Ulta Salon (ULTA): One Great Stock

December 5, 2011
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the past week has brought a fine rally in the market. You know the purported reasons: Europe, China, unemployment, consumer confidence, blah, blah, blah. My two cents says the market was ready for it! It had been down long enough. People were discouraged enough. And there were bargains enough. So it’s time to be less defensive, and more aggressive, in particular by seeking out the leaders of this new bull market. Leaders are favored, rather than laggards (which may look cheap) because history tells us the leaders are most likely to be higher in the months ahead.  Inertia tells...

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Game On! In China

December 2, 2011
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My stock pick for today is a Chinese Red Chip stock that has all the hallmarks of a big winner, but whose chart says a little more patience is necessary. The company is NetEase.com (NTES) a Chinese Web portal that offers a standard menu of Yahoo-like services, including news, blogs, search, matchmaking, social gathering spaces and so on. But what sets NetEase apart from other Chinese Web giants like Sina.com (SINA) and Baidu (BIDU) is that it derives 85% of its revenue from online gaming operations. The hot items among the company’s massively multiplayer online role-playing games are Fantasy...

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Three Yields for Current Conditions

November 29, 2011
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The market was only open for three-and-a-half days last week, and it still managed to lose approximately 5% of its value. I don’t have to tell you that’s not good. I’ve been discussing the overall market a lot lately (if you didn’t catch last week’s market video, you can watch it here) so today I think we’ll ignore it–and focus on stocks that ignore it too (more or less). Below are three recommendations from the latest Dick Davis Dividend Digest. Each one of these three stocks is a conservative dividend payer with relatively low correlation to larger market moves....

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5 Value Stocks for the Holiday Season

November 24, 2011
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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’ve been enjoying the festivities surrounded by family and friends (and that you’re over your food coma). You may have even decided to take part in a little holiday shopping tomorrow, the day of all days for retail stores: Black Friday. Last Saturday, I discussed five growth stocks that could benefit from holiday shopping. Today, I’ve got five value stocks that have been featured in Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter and could see a boost when consumers open their wallets. Without further ado … Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY): Bed Bath & Beyond is benefiting...

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Two Solid Companies with Good Value

November 23, 2011
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Let’s talk about making money. One of the best ways to make money is to ensure that you don’t lose money, or at the least, you don’t lose your shirt. When I recommend a stock to buy, I always make sure the company is solid. A couple of quick ways to test the quality of a company are to check the company’s ability to pay dividends and to check its balance sheet. Today I’ll look at balance sheets–I’ll save the lesson on dividends for another time. I am not an accounting professor by any means, so I’ll keep this...

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