Cloud Computing: How To Beat The Markets This Week? Markets This Week: Cloud Computing

August 29, 2010

Nobody likes to see a shaky economy. The risk that major companies across the globe could earn less this year than projected has lots of investors worried. That’s why I’m looking to cloud computing for salvation. Now, please understand that the cloud computing sector is not a fundamental or a value play. It’s a play on growth, and a very risky one at that. Right now, the major names in the cloud computing sector, like Salesforce.com (CRM) and F5 Networks (FFIV) are substantially outperforming the market. That’s good, right? The answer is: maybe.

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How To Learn Stock Charts In 5 Easy Steps

August 25, 2010

Most worthwhile goals require a bit of perseverance. After all, you wouldn’t want visit a dentist who had just decided to work on teeth that morning! And many pursuits demand some preparation and tenacity to build a knowledge base. That’s definitely true when you decide to learn about stock-market investing. A key step in that process is learning to read stock charts, a process also known as technical analysis.

Anyone can learn technical analysis. All you need is a stock charting program. There are many free options available on the Internet, such as Free Stock Charts by Worden Brothers. There are also many services you can pay for. Some of the paid services contain additional information, such as a complete database of company fundamentals, but you can absolutely master chart-reading basics with a free program.

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Growth Stocks Riverbed, Stericycle Holding Up Well

August 23, 2010

Even as the market struggled last week, many top-performing growth stocks continued to hold up well.

For example, Riverbed Technology (RVBD), which helps business customers minimize bandwidth usage and speed up data access and backup.

Sales accelerated four quarters in a row, and earnings accelerated in the past two quarters.  In the most recent quarter, earnings grew at a rate of 79% and sales grew 39%. Those are excellent, especially in a shaky economy, when many companies are suffering from lackluster sales.

Wall Street expects profit to grow 50% this year, and 25% in 2011. Earnings have grown every year since 2007.

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Is The Smart Money Shorting Treasury Bonds?

August 18, 2010

In economic uncertainty, the smart money flees stocks and heads to bonds until the storm is over. There’s nothing wrong with not participating in a volatile market. Being risk oriented is often a poor decision for everyone but the most experienced traders. Still, I’m not convinced that treasury bonds are the right place to be. In my opinion, all the signs point to an upcoming selloff in the treasury bond market.

Here are some reasons why it’s wise to be cautious about treasuries now.

1. Shorting Treasuries

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Will New Rules Help Or Hurt Goldman Sachs?

August 8, 2010

Goldman Sachs to Spin Off Proprietary Trading Unit

Goldman Sachs announced that they are likely to spin off their proprietary trading operations to third-party asset management companies in compliance with the Volcker Rule. Though the proprietary trading desk will no longer be seeded with the money of Goldman’s clients, Goldman will establish management contracts and continue to operate a proprietary trading division. Though full implementation of financial regulation is likely five or ten years away, Goldman is getting its ducks in a row and will likely establish the management companies as early as this month.

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Caterpillar Jumps, Not Crawls, Into Second-Quarter Profit

July 29, 2010

Though I’m a growth investor at heart, I don’t dismiss other opportunities which may present themselves. For example, heavy machinery maker Caterpillar (CAT) could hardly be called a growth name, but it appears intriguing lately.

That’s especially true as industrials and techs have replaced many of the retailers and consumer-oriented big caps that have shown leadership in recent months.

Last week, the company reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings, which gave the stock a lift in heavy volume. Take a look at this weekly chart, to see the volume spike.

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Apple Has Room To Run Beyond New Price Highs

June 18, 2010

This week, Apple (AAPL) made new highs, closing at $274 on Friday. A lot of traders are expecting the momentum to stop, and at some point, it will, but how high will Apple climb before it does?

To all the bears who think Apple is an $11 stock and will always be an $11 stock, I scoff at you! Apple stock is hilariously undervalued for a stock that has so many eyes on it. Although technical indicators are crucial, too many traders are looking for bad news on the chart, expecting to find “resistance” at certain levels. They are failing to realize how good of a fundamental play the Apple stock remains.

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Fears of Financial Regulation Dictate Market Movements

June 14, 2010

This morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 100 points in early trade to reflect a bullish sentiment in a relatively uncertain market.

The only sector not participating in this rally? Financials. On an otherwise strong day, JPMorgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and other big banks are all down by about 1%. An upward move with one sector lagging, particularly the financial sector, can be very good news or very bad news.

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Lululemon Athletica Holds Strong Pose Even In Volatile Market

June 10, 2010

Lululemon Athletica (LULU), which jumped more than 4% Wednesday, had its best-ever Q1 this year when its earnings tripled from the previous year. Analyst projections were for $0.21 earnings per share, and actual earnings beat this by a healthy margin for $0.27 per share.

Lululemon has raised revenue projections for the rest of 2010 by about 20%. LULU currently operates around 100 stores across North America, so there’s plenty of room for growth with this company, whose customers are women who participate in yoga and other sports.

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Market Fear? Not As Necessary As “They” Want You To Believe

May 17, 2010

With all the volatility and uncertainty that’s returned to the market in recent weeks, it would be easy to fall back into panic. On Thursday, May 6, financial TV channels showed endless loops of a few Greeks protesting in the streets. To the networks’ delight, police in riot gear were challenging the protesters.

I say “of course” because such images play right into the agenda of the media, which is to frighten you.

Here’s an excellent article by Alexander Green on this very topic.  He actually goes on to address the bigger issue of using television as a substitute for real life — and I agree with that, though it’s a longer discussion for another day.

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