Stock Analysis

Micron Technology, Inc.

Micron Technology, Inc. Executive Summary Micron (MU) is a manufacturer of high-performance memory & storage technology products with great returns on capital, attractive margins, growing product demand, and an impressive financial position (minimal liabilities) with a notable near-term catalyst. Despite Micron’s recent run up from $29 per share in late December to its current standing at $41.58 per share (a 43% rise), no insiders have sold shares. Additionally, Micron announced a $10 billion share buyback […]

Stock Analysis

In Defense of Cameras

The Underdog Keeps Barking If you were to search news on $Snap roughly six months after it’s IPO, you would see headlines like the one I got at the top of my results today: Snapchat is in the middle of an Identity Crisis. Snapchat is beleaguered in an arena of misapplied comparisons. Alongside the article above, you’ll find a headline advising that Snap cannot keep up with its brothers, Facebook (Instagram) and Twitter. These narratives: […]

General

The Greatest Recession

The greatest recession, according to many of the smartest guys in the room, could also be the most boring. Words like collapse, crash, flashing signals, are the usual adjectives we use to describe the abnormal. However, the decline of the credit cycle has a new look, and like most trends in the techno-age, it emerged in Japan first. The private sector began paying down debt after the debt-financed asset bubble collapsed, leaving only debt in […]

Commentary, General, Reviews

Government Shutdowns

Pretext The recent concern over the threat of another government shutdown related to the Border all resolution deadline this past Friday (Feb 15th) motivated me to look into the effects of past government shutdowns on the markets. As many are aware, the recent 2018-2019 governmental shutdown was the longest in history, spanning from December 22nd 2018 to January 25th 2019, running for 35 consecutive days. As pretext, this government shutdown resulted directly from Congress and […]

Commentary, General

The Buyback Effect

Back In The Spotlight One topic of conversation that has garnered interest over the past couple weeks has been that of stock buybacks and questioning their acceptance in the markets today. The conversation surrounding this topic has been around since stock buybacks were allowed to begin again in 1982 thanks in large part to the Reagan administration. Prior to 1982, stock buybacks were banned on the premise that they were largely considered to be a […]

General, Stock Analysis

Lagging & Leading Economic Indicators

Throughout this post I’ll introduce some of these indicators & share my thoughts on others. While this list doesn’t encompass every leading or lagging indicator, it’ll highlight a bunch of ones I’ve ran across over the past few years. Also to note, I typically review the release of many of the reports related to these indicators via Econoday. Economic Leading Indicators: Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) – Reported monthly based off data collected from purchasing executives from […]

Commentary

The Facebook Flop: Or, why you don’t need to be a genius to be an investor

Without a doubt being a genius helps, in all things. Studies show a correlation with a longer lifespan and higher quality of late-stage life, even less injuries. However, it has not been shown quantitatively or subjectively (see Jack Schwager’s Market Wizards) to provide any consistent edge in the marketplace. Personally I find this equalizing feature of the markets one of its most attractive and fascinating features. All it takes to lose or win is being […]

Commentary, General, Stock Analysis

Fundamentals (Part Deux)

Fundamentals (Part Deux) To follow up on Part 1 of this series on Fundamental Analysis tools, throughout this post I’ll touch on Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) & Return on Total Capital (ROTC) & explain their importance along with how to use these measurement tools. If you haven’t checked out the first part of this series, I’d definitely recommend it prior to jumping into this post. A couple terms to be familiar with […]

Stock Analysis

Fundamentals (Part 1)

Fundamental Tools Explained With the way the market has moved throughout the year & the unreliability seen amongst the biggest names of the past decade, I figured I’d start a series of posts to touch on some of the most common fundamental analysis tools that anyone can use to analyze the value of a stock’s current price. Fundamental Analysis Fundamental Analysis in a nutshell involves analyzing a company’s financial statements in order to assess the […]

General, Stock Analysis

Stock Types & Classifications

To add to the previous informative post on Order Types, I’ll be posting a series of additional informational articles on different investment “vehicles” (i.e. types of investments). Over the next couple of my posts, I’ll be looking to cover the various types of stocks, bonds, mutual/hedge funds, Index/Exchange-Traded funds, & Real Estate Investment Trusts/Private Equity investments along with various ways of breaking each down to into further categories for a deeper level of classification. As […]