High interest rates have led to a standstill in the housing market. And it’s also led to car payments soaring, which in turn has reduced activity there. More parts of the economy could likewise freeze up as interest rates stay higher for longer. However, while some areas freeze up, opportunities can emerge in other parts of the market. Investors who lean into those trends now can likely see solid returns, even as other places continue to trend lower. For instance,Copart (CPRT), an auctioneer of salvaged vehicles, is able to obtain cars at a low price. Those can be sold off for parts,...

This earnings season came at a time of market weakness. That set the tone for how most stocks have fared. Companies that have beaten earnings haven’t had much of a move higher on the news. However, those that missed on earnings have been heavily punished. Fortunately, the earnings move could mean investors have a longer-term opportunity. That’s because a company that’s been hard hit from earnings may start to trend higher in the weeks ahead. Despite good earnings relative to the impact of the writer’s strike,Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) took at a hit as the media giant noted that ...

Many companies go public before they’re able to fully earn a profit. Selling shares to the general population spreads around the risk, and allows a company to raise capital to fund operations. Once a company goes public, moving to profitability is key. The past few years saw a surge of early-stage companies going public, but many failed to grow and become profitable. Of those that have moved to profitability, chances are shares can move higher in the years ahead. One such company becoming profitable this year isUber (UBER). The ride-share giant reported a record number of drivers thi...

Investors have plenty of ways to play a seasonal rally for stocks. The past few weeks have seen stocks get hit hard to the downside, then surge higher. Highly volatile stocks have led the way in both directions. Going into the end of the year, companies that are disliked tend to perform best. That may be because they’ve gotten more oversold than other stocks, or are more prone to being squeezed higher. Either way, investors can buy disliked stocks for a stronger rally. One example is media giantParamount (PARA). Shares just got a double downgrade as the company has been reticent to s...

The reverberations of the AI trend are still being felt throughout the economy. Investors have clamored into hardware plays, with some interest in software plays. But there are ripple effects that have yet to be felt. As those effects play out, investors may have a chance to profit from a trend that was popular a few years back before fizzling out. That trend? The standby of all of today’s technology, the personal computer. That’s because computers have more processing power than a smartphone. And they’re inexpensive enough to provide connectivity to the cloud and the latest AI techn...

Rising interest rates and falling bond prices have hit some stocks particularly hard. That includes utilities and telecoms, as well as consumer goods companies. These firms tend to act as defensive stocks, holding up well in down markets while still moving higher in rallying markets. Some of these stocks may have formed a bottom in recent weeks. But with the potential for an economic slowdown in the next year, these stocks could still be a bargain. Should interest rates move lower, they’ll look more attractive than bonds. One company that looks interesting now isClorox (CLX). Shares ...

This year, the stock market may have had its rally almost entirely thanks to the interest in AI. It’s pushed many big-cap tech stocks higher. Thanks to their high weighting, in turn, that’s helped stock indices rise. That trend may not be over, given the long-term opportunities as AI moves out of its early stages. If so, many companies that can benefit from the trend may be a long-term buy as the market moves out of correction mode. One example is with chipmakerAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD). The company provided weak guidance on its AI chips, but shares soared anyway. Meanwhile, th...

This quarter’s earnings season has shown that investors are less interested in AI, at least as far as big tech names are concerned. Instead, the concern is how those companies are managing their major cash cow, cloud services. Yet that’s a space where AI tools could enhance returns in the future. And investing with companies that can provide AI tools specifically for cloud services could see big gains outside the well-known big tech names. The leading player for this intersection of trends isArista Networks (ANET). Their work in developing software for data centers puts them at th...

The market’s selloff in the past few months has largely occurred between earnings seasons. The past few weeks, we’ve seen companies report solid earnings. The market hasn’t been in a position to reward those earnings yet, but could in the weeks ahead as stocks form a base and look to move off their current prices into the end of the year. Picking through today’s earnings winners could lead to solid returns in the months ahead. For investors who are still cautious about markets, considerMcDonald’s (MCD). The company reported a big jump in same-store sales, a key metric for the industr...

Companies can do a lot of things with the profits they make. They could continue to expand the business, but after a certain size, most companies start to pay a dividend or buy back shares to reward shareholders. A handful of great companies are able to continually grow their cash flows, and from there reward shareholders with growing dividend payouts, on top of being able to further grow the business. That’s the case withExxonMobil (XOM). The energy production company is making progress on its projects to keep production growing for years to come. And thanks to strong energy prices,...