Filter Archive
Don't Buy Gold

Demand for gold never let up in India... The pandemic hit India hard. Many people lost their jobs and struggled to make ends meet. But even through the worst of it all, demand for gold remained strong...  In fact, India has been a consistent buyer of gold, second only to China in terms of market […]

Securities Analyzed
  • CPER
  • JJU
  • PEP
  • YUM
What Remains the Same in a Post-Pandemic World

I'm in the Philippines for the first time in over two years... This past week I was on a flight to the Philippines for the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. When I left in early 2020, I had no idea it would be so long before I returned.  On the flight […]

Securities Analyzed
  • DPZ
  • GS
Why Bill Ackman Is Betting Big on This Railroad Company

It's been an interesting week for prominent hedge fund activists... In an amusing twist of fate, we're talking about two activist investors this week.  On Tuesday, we talked about Carl Icahn and how he has been targeting McDonald's (MCD) for the mistreatment of farm animals.  Those familiar with the history between these two activists might […]

Securities Analyzed
  • CP
  • HLF
  • MCD
Steve Jobs' Final Prediction Is Like Investing in Apple in 2005

Very few products anticipate consumer needs before they exist... In the early 2000s, the mobile phone industry was dominated by the European telecom giant Nokia (NOK). Nokia's market share was as high as 49% in 2007, selling a record 437 million handsets that year. Its cellphones did everything you'd expect – they were durable, had […]

Securities Analyzed
  • AAPL
  • BB
Carl Icahn Is Changing How Things Are Done at This Fast-Food Chain

Carl Icahn made his fame with his activist investment strategy... Carl Icahn has been labeled harshly as a corporate raider, an aggressive activist investor, and a man who can get whatever he wants out of a company. Over the last 50 years, his track record speaks for itself, thanks to his unorthodox investment strategy. As […]

Securities Analyzed
  • HLF
  • MCD
If You're Worried About the Market, Take a Look at This Chart 

Analysts have been calling for nothing but a crash this entire year...  What began as market volatility has become a market rout. First came the high inflation... then came the de-risking due to uncertainty around the Ukraine crisis.  As prices rose further and Russia's invasion of Ukraine progressed, investors started worrying about a new looming […]

The Economic Data Reveals Why Ukraine Wasn't Ready for the Russian Invasion

Important lessons for global leaders reemerge... While the saying goes that there's "nothing is certain except death and taxes," too many have missed the connection between taxes and war. There is an undeniable, direct relationship between war and raising taxes from the earliest days of taxation in the U.S. to ancient Greece. Some of the […]

This Investment Shop Generates Returns That Endowments Dream About

Alternative assets aren't so alternative anymore... Pensions and endowments have been looking to break into the world's alternative assets for a long time. You can get a diverse stock portfolio by adding asset classes like private equity and real estate. And this helps big investment shops reduce correlations in their portfolios.  Alternative investment firms like […]

Securities Analyzed
  • BX
  • KKR
  • STEP
How Steve Jobs Became Disney's Biggest Shareholder

While most people know how Steve Jobs changed computing, few know how he changed movies... The late Apple (AAPL) founder famously revolutionized the world of computers in the 1980s by bringing a graphical user interface ("GUI") to personal computing. In 1985, Jobs created NeXT after being forced to resign from Apple. NeXT began as a […]

Securities Analyzed
  • AAPL
  • DIS
War in Ukraine Is Changing the Outlook for Defense Stocks

Russia's invasion of Ukraine hasn't gone according to plan... Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine came after years of rising tensions between the two countries.  The world was surprised by the speed with which the invasion began. Even more surprising is how Russia appears to be stunned by the firm resistance Ukraine forces have shown.  No […]

Securities Analyzed
  • GD