Some companies have fared better than others this year. The restaurant space has been decimated, as sales have plummeted. But while that’s been hard-hitting for family-owned operations, large, publicly-traded firms have held up well. These are the companies that were already capable of providing their goods via pickup (such as drive-thru) and delivery options. So it’s no surprise that these restaurants have held up better, and will likely continue to do so. However, since the announcement of a Covid vaccine, a number of restaurant companies have seen declines. The view is that takeou...

It’s been an off year for apparel companies. With rising unemployment and work from home trends, a number of categories of sales have slumped. One analyst sees that changing. With companies increasingly moving staff back to the office, and with a vaccine in sight, a number of apparel companies look poised for a sales rebound in the coming year. That should lead to an attractive move higher. One such player isNike (NKE). Best known for shoes and sports apparel, sales haven’t been too impacted. Goldman Sachs recently updated their view on the company, citing the firm’s pricing power, i...

Income investors are a shy bunch. If a company looks like it’s not going to provide investors with the same (or a growing) level of income, they’ll leave. When that happens, a price drop occurs, sometimes creating a value opportunity. While investors may not want to stay in a company that’s cut their dividend, sometimes buying a company after it cuts its dividend makes sense. The lower price paid may offset a decline in yield. That looks to be the case withDominion Energy (D), a utility that recently shed its payout by about one-third. That led to a drop in shares, which now makes th...

While toys sell throughout the year, the holiday season tends to see the biggest volume of sales. That’s a boon to toy makers in general. So it’s no surprise that this sector is seeing a holiday upgrade, courtesy of analysts at Citigroup. But the analysis has one key trend this year. Toy making has gone beyond simply manufacturing physical products. It also involves being in the entertainment industry, integrating its toys with intellectual property and technologies to create a bigger experience. With that development underway,Hasbro (HAS) looks like the big winner here. That’s becau...

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 today with one of the greatest conglomerates of all time,Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B). Run by Warren Buffett, the ...

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 outdoZoom Video Communications (ZM) in video networking. The company is no brash upstart. It’sCisco Systems (CSC...

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 gold. Demand for the metal exploded this year amidst the pandemic and shutdowns, and we’re not out of the wood...

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 withCostco (COST). For November, it reported that same-store sales rose a staggering 14.6 percent. And its e-commerc...

Investors love companies with a recurring revenue model. Rather than selling a one-off product like a refrigerator or car, selling a monthly subscription to, say, a streaming service creates steadier cash flows. That kind of steady growth is why any company with a subscription service reports their growth numbers. It’s also why they’re on the lookout for ways to increase the number of loyal subscribers as well. In the e-commerce world,Amazon (AMZN) came to dominate thanks to the use of free shipping on orders over $25. Once they started Amazon Prime, however, those who paid $99 per y...

Earnings season can be full of surprises. A company can miss on earnings, but still do better than expected. As a result, shares may end up rallying! The opposite is quite common too. A company can report fantastic earnings and growth, yet not meet expectations. That tends to result in a selloff in shares. In that case, however, there’s a buying opportunity as the company is clearly growing over time. That seems to be the case withZoom Technologies (ZM). The company reported a 367 percent rise in revenue from a year ago, and reported a profit. That following a 355 percent rise in rev...