Trading Tips Blog

Most companies rejected the conglomerate business model. Once in fashion, the logic was that a company would have a division that would thrive whenever a different one was out of favor with the market. That model just created a lot of headaches for management instead. However, there are a few surviving examples. Run properly, a conglomerate tends to be a relatively strong performer in a weak economy, but may take time to rally when an economy recovers. That may be the case ...
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One old-school technology company has been making a few acquisitions in recent weeks. Rather than play to the company’s core advantages, however, the recent buys point to a new direction for the firm. The direction is toward cloud-based communications. Specifically, this company wants smarter and faster customer engagement solutions, but that also includes interactive video, messaging, and voice channels. In short, a tech company best known from the 1990s is now working to outdo Zoom Video Communications (ZM) in video networking. The ...
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Elio Sceti, a director at The Kraft Heinz Co (KHC), recently picked up 90,000 shares. The buy is an initial stake in the firm, and the total purchase price of shares came out to $2.98 million. Insiders have a mixed trading record at the company, as 3G Global Food Holdings makes regular sales of millions of shares each year to reduce their stake. However, directors have been large buyers of shares overall in the past few years as well. The packaged ...
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Shares of uranium mining giant Cameco (CCJ) have risen in recent sessions. At least one trader expects that uptrend to continue. That’s based on the July 2021 $20 call options. Those options saw over 3,230 contracts trade recently, a 20-fold rise in volume from the prior open interest of 161. Expiring in 220 days, the options would move in-the-money if shares rose about 70 percent higher from their current price near $11.70. The trader paid $0.34 to make the trade. Shares have ...
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Gold prices jumped in 2020. For most of the year, the metal has outperformed the stock market. Since the start of October, gold prices have been trending down from their highs, but are starting to see some resistance to that drop. It’s likely that gold prices will continue their long-term uptrend into 2021, and with talk of more stimulus fueling fears of inflation and out-of-control government spending, traders may want to start placing their bets now for the next upswing in ...
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Shares of semiconductor giant Micron Technology (MU) have been soaring higher in recent weeks. Traders expect the trend to continue. The April 2021 $77.50 call option just saw over 8,450 contracts trade, against a prior open interest of 196. That’s a 43-fold rise in volume. The trader is betting that shares will rally another $4 from their current price near $73.50 in the next 130 days. The trader paid about $6.75 for the options. Over the past few years, shares of Micron ...
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Steven Lykken, a Senior Vice President at Hormel Foods Corp (HRL), recently bought 6,873 shares. The buy increased his stake by over 25 percent, and came to a total cost of $322,000. This is the second buy from insiders in as many months, following a small sale by a Group Vice President in November. Generally, insiders have been nearly exclusively sellers of shares over the past three years. Insiders currently own over 47 percent of shares, however, so the relatively large ...
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Many retail firms will report numbers monthly, not just quarterly. That allows traders to see what’s happening much faster than a quarterly earnings report. Even better, for a company showing tremendous growth, it can give investors a reason to stay invested ahead of earnings. But sometimes Wall Street gets overly excited—or depressed—about a company. When that happens, it can create a short-term disconnect on a company and create a trading opportunity. That’s the case with Costco (COST). For November, it reported that ...
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