Follow this Election Trend for Profits

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 ...
Read More
|

Free Cash Flow Makes this Dividend Play a Buy Now

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 ...
Read More
|

This Non-FAANG Stock is the Best Name in Big Tech

Although shares of Microsoft (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 ...
Read More
|

This Beverage Giant Is Restructuring for a Rally

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 ...
Read More
|

One Pension Fund Is Bullish on this Best-of-Breed Fintech Company

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 ...
Read More
|

Big Tech Still has Room to Run: Consider this Monopoly Play

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 ...
Read More
|

Mid-Cap Value Might About to Shine

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 ...
Read More
|

Big Banks Are Buying into Fintech — Consider this Top Play Instead

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 ...
Read More
|