Traders know to play the airlines and cruise lines on any pandemic related headline. But there’s a secondary category of companies that have been impacted by this year as well. On the positive side, many tech names have gotten market attention. But a number of consumer names without a technology angle have been reasonable winners right now. Some even offer investors high dividends in today’s zero percent interest world. One such company isNewell Brands (NWL). The maker of Rubbermaid containers cited the strength of Amazon Prime Day as a sign that consumers are still embracing stay-at...

Certain sectors of the economy tend to be more susceptible to an election than others. Defense spending can impact the value of defense contractors. One of the bigger areas that tends to see big swings? Managed-care companies, also known as health insurers. History shows that these companies tend to decline before an election, and then recover. A recent analysis shows that these stocks tend to underperform the stock market by over one-third heading into an election. That’s a good argument for some of the bigger managed-care companies in the space. One standout name isAnthem (ANTM). T...

2020 has been a tough year for companies trying to reward shareholders interested in income. Some have voluntarily suspended, reduced, or cut their dividends. Others have not acted voluntarily. But a few companies have continued to fare well. And a high-yielding company that has managed to maintain its dividend this year is likely to be a big winner in the years ahead. A company that can thrive amidst a pandemic is the kind of company long-term investors want to own. One surprising player?AT&T (T). The recent market selloff has pushed the company’s dividend yield to 7.8 percent. ...

Although shares ofMicrosoft (MSFT) dropped on Wednesday, the culprit wasn’t the company’s earnings. They were stellar. Rather, the reason was the overall decline in markets as traders moved to cash. That creates a buying opportunity, particularly as Microsoft continues to grow its market share in the cloud services space as well as in the gaming space. The company reports that Microsoft Teams has moved from 44 million users to 115 million… since March. It’s clear that the company has been a big winner from pandemic-driven changes in work life, with an overall 30 percent revenue growt...

One of the world’s biggest and best-known brands has been a laggard in today’s market. Now a lumbering behemoth,Coca-Cola (KO) has lagged the market and peers in the beverage and defensive consumer sectors. However, the company has announced that it’s trimming its lineup of products. And with the company’s massive global reach, it’s possible that a reopening will be huge for the company’s operations. That’s the view at Barron’s, with the note that shares of Coca-Cola have traded basically sideways for the past five years. Shares are down 11 percent over the past year, lagging the ove...

PPGM, a Netherlands-based public pension fund, just reported its latest securities holdings to the SEC. The fund scaled back on some of its tech trades, and also started a position in a video game company. The fund’s most interesting buy, however, came in the fintech space. The timing is especially interesting, as the sector has been seeing tremendous growth this year and embracing alternative currencies such as Bitcoin. The fund’s buy?PayPal (PYPL). That company made headlines last week when it announced it would allow its users to buy and store the cryptocurrency on its platform. T...

Large companies in the technology space are facing increased regulatory scrutiny. Lawmakers of all political stripes are concerned with the abilities of big tech companies in nearly all facets of life. But for all the concerns about these companies buying up competitors or engaging in monopolistic practices, at least one analyst sees more upside ahead for the big-tech stocks. Why? Because these companies are big because they continue to innovate. That’s the logic of RBC Capital’s internet analyst. All the big-tech names were once small startup companies, either creating a new industr...

The stock market has been increasingly driven by mega-cap corporations in recent years. Those companies have offered huge growth, but have also been largely in the tech space. That’s left a lot of potential great investments off-the-radar. Passive investors have driven more capital to the mega-caps, driving up their valuation. But with the tech companies petering out recently, investors may be interested in some of the small names out there, which offer a better value now. That’s the idea behind the T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value Fund, which just opened up to new investors earlier this ...

One of the biggest trends in the past few years has been in the payment space. A number of companies are offering alternative ways to clear payments that bypass the existing credit card system or the banking system as well. Naturally, big banks have noticed, and are starting to get into the trend themselves.JPMorgan Chase (JPM), for example, just launched QuickAccept. The new service offers a mobile app and contactless card reader. The move is a shot across the bow of fintech companies likePayPal (PYPL) andSquare (SQ). The key competitive feature? Waived fees for those who do daily v...

There’s an entertainment sector that was bigger than the movie box office before the pandemic. That industry? Video games. Over the years, the space has grown to include a number of publishers and sales in the billions. And it’s a trend likely to continue. This sector was just upgraded by MKM Partners, who sees further gains in the space as next-generation consoles start to hit the markets. The biggest players in the space areActivision Blizzard (ATVI),Electronic Arts (EA) andTake-Two Interactive Software (TTWO). The new consoles, and with higher prices for games on those consoles, a...