Stocks To Buy

Investors tend to spend bull markets looking for opportunities in high-growth areas. But the economy isn’t always moving at full blast. For slower times, it may be prudent to focus on businesses that aren’t as cyclical, opting instead for companies more likely to be recession resistant. There are many sectors that fit the bill. Some are heavily regulated like utilities and telecoms. Others are more open, such as consumer goods. One niche of the consumer goods space is pet supplies. There’s a ...
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The stock market’s love of mergers and acquisitions has slowed in the past year, amid rising interest rates and declining stock prices. But there have been a few deals announced. Mergers can make companies bigger overall by providing an immediate and established source of revenue. Some deals will end up garnering regulatory scrutiny. Regulators want to ensure that a company doesn’t come to dominate the market it’s in via acquisitions. The FTC has come out against Microsoft’s (MSFT) proposed acquisition of gaming ...
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A company generating cash flow has a number of ways to put that money to work. They can expand the business, whether through internal growth or acquisitions. When a company gets large enough, it may also make sense to reward shareholders with cash dividends. But a company can also buy back its shares. That also rewards existing shareholders, as it reduces shares outstanding and increases earnings per share without growing the underlying business. In today’s market, beaten down stocks embracing bigger buybacks ...
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Typically, the stock market doesn’t mind when a company announces layoffs. In a bull market, it can be a sign that a company is finding ways to do the same (or more) work with fewer people. But in a bear market, it’s often treated as bad news, even as it lowers costs. That’s particularly true in financial markets, where companies can be quick to hire and quick to right-size when the market changes. Right now, the market has sold off shares of ...
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Stocks had a pretty strong rally on reports that the Federal Reserve would lower the rate at which it increases interest rates. But that rally ended as traders realized that rates would still rise—and a slower pace would allow the increases to continue for longer. However, we’re likely closer to the end of the rate hike cycle than the beginning. And for investors looking for year-end buys, it could be time to pick up some beaten-down names, particularly in big tech. That ...
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There’s always some technological revolution going on somewhere. The past decade has seen a number of trends, and those growing trends have been great for investors in the right place. One of the most interesting trends today is the shift by major automakers from conventional gas-powered cars to hybrids and electric vehicles. While some challenges remain, it’s clear that investors like the trend overall, and rising EV sales tend to prove a boost for share prices. One company seeing its EV sales ...
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Some traders are betting the worst is over for markets. That’s based on the view that the Fed will start tapering its interest rate hikes. But as long as interest rates are being hiked, they’ll continue to weigh on stocks. For investors who don’t want to get whipsawed while this plays out, there are a number of investment strategies to focus on instead. The simplest and arguably best is simply to buy and hold dividend-paying stocks in industry-leading companies. While such a ...
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The past few years have seen a number of companies come to compete for cloud services. Most have focused around providing the hardware itself. That oligopoly looks fairly secure. But there’s still a rich environment for cloud services providers to benefit. Some are new players to the tech space, built up quickly over a few years. Other players aren’t new to the tech space, but have adapted with the times. One of those latter players is performing surprisingly strongly now. That company ...
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