Early sales numbers for the last quarter of 2020 are starting to come in. There’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is that sales are rising. The bad news? The rate of the rise is slowing down. That’s understandable. Many major retailers were able to see sales rise thanks to increased ecommerce trends. As customers have completed that shift, the rate is starting to stabilize. However, there’s still some trading opportunities as a result. Case in point:Costco (COST). The warehouse club retailer saw its ecommerce sales rise 61.6 percent in December. That’s a big move, but...

Analysts are upgrading shares ofApple (AAPL) ahead of earnings. Shares of the tech play are still off the highs set back in September, but look set to continue higher. While earnings day itself may play a wild card, so far, all the early indicators are for an earnings beat. The first hint is the company’s $1.8 billion in revenue on the App Store the week of Christmas, a record for the firm. Second, the company’s production numbers on the iPhone 12 suggest reasonable sales. The company will also be announcing numbers for its latest line of Mac laptops. All in all, the company is fi...

Nothing moves in a straight line. For investors who make short-term bets on a company, this fact can produce large losses quickly. But for investors willing to play trends, waiting for a pullback on a stock in a long-term uptrend can prove worthwhile. That’s especially the case when a short-term drop has no apparent rationale behind it. That can happen fairly often in the tech space, as investors look to lock in profits quickly. That appears to be the case withQuantumScape (QS). The electric-vehicle battery company saw its shares drop 40 percent on the first trading day of the year. ...

A number of companies were obvious beneficiaries from the pandemic. Work-from-home trends were the clear winners. But consumer spending changed in other ways as well. For instance, spending on business apparel dropped and sales rose on more comfortable apparel (especially items that wouldn’t be seen during a Zoom meeting). But despite the rising trend of athletic and leisure ware, many of these names have seen strong growth but a relatively poor stock performance. That seems to be the case withUnder Armour (UA). Shares of the athletic apparel company got an upgrade to kick off the ye...

A number of companies focus on one product or service. Those concentrating in areas affected by travel bans and small businesses fared poorly in 2020. But with an end in sight, these underperforming names may thrive in the coming year. That’s also true for companies that service these firms. One such name?American Express (AXP). The credit card company caters to a more affluent crowd, like those that travel and own small businesses. It’s one of the few big-name financials to see shares close 2020 lower as a result, with shares losing 5 percent.  But with travel trends improving into ...

Since the first Covid vaccine was announced in early November, airline stocks have beaten the overall stock market. That trend is likely to continue in 2021. Holiday travel trends showed an uptick, even as air travel levels were still 75 percent below 2019 levels. With future gains in passengers likely, and with adequate government support, it’s likely that the sector will continue to surge higher as trends improve. That bodes well for the space as a whole, although some names will fare better than others. With most airlines looking to survive for now and to thrive in 2021, however, ...

The stock market’s solid run this year has allowed companies to quickly shake off one of the fastest and steepest bear markets in history. A number of companies rightly remain below their pre-pandemic highs. But outside of airlines, cruise ships, and theater chains, a few other plays have likewise struggled. One of the top blue-chip manufacturing plays, which produces thousands of products has been a laggard here. And that’s in spite of the fact that some of its products have been essential to dealing with the pandemic. This performance suggests a better relative performance in 2021....

Funds can have a bad name. But when they have a manager on a hot streak, who runs a concentrated portfolio, and who can invest in strategies such as shorting the market and in SPACs, it might just be a top play of 2021. That’s the case withPershing Square Holdings (PSHZF). Run by Bill Ackman, the fund is coming off a great year following Ackman’s bet against the market earlier in the year. The fund also owns some top-performing brands that have also beaten the overall market this year, including names such as Chipotle Mexican Grille, Starbucks, and Lowes. As a result, the closed-end ...

Many investment ideas run on the idea of a reversion to the mean. That’s just a fancy way of saying that stocks that have performed well will eventually underperform the overall market. And companies that have performed poorly will start to fare better. With the turning of the calendar year, a strategy of buying underperformers is appealing, depending on the name. One such name?Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), which has lagged the market by 44 points since early 2019. The case for outperformance is a relatively simple one. The company has been making more investments in high-tech areas. I...

Shares ofWalmart (WMT) have been trending down for a few weeks. To add insult to injury, the U.S. department of justice sued the company right before the holidays. Why? Because the firm’s pharmacies may have been underfunded, which in turn may have helped fuel the opioid crisis. While that headline sounds dire, it’s anything but. Walmart sued the DOJ earlier in the year, seeking clarification on the role of pharmacies, their employees, and their role under the law. In short, while this lawsuit sounds dangerous, it’s really just some legal jockeying. In any event, the news was enough ...