Buy “Low-Density” … How to Take the Guesswork Out of Valuing Stocks

I don’t care what investing legend you idolize and try to emulate – Buffett, Graham, Rogers, Lynch – they all share a common recommendation.

Always buy undervalued stocks and sell them when they’re overvalued. Or more commonly: “Buy low, sell high.” Of course, if you’ve invested for more than a week, you know this is easier said than done.

Undervalued (cheap) and overvalued (expensive) are such subjective measures when it comes to investing. Most times we end up guessing and most times we end up overpaying.

But today, let me show you one amazingly simple way to always buy stocks that are truly…

Why You Need to Buy Apple (AAPL) and Sell Palm (Palm) Short

Regular readers, my colleagues and just about everyone else I come in contact with know I’m a big fan of Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL). I’ve written about it here on several occasions, my family and I own a number of its computers, and we’re all “packin’ iPhones”.

So when it comes to reporting on it, you could easily come to the conclusion that I’m about as far away from an unbiased journalist as you can get.

But you’d be wrong. You see, I also own a computer that runs the Windows operating system published by Microsoft (not because I necessarily want to, but…

Investing 101: Six Factors That Determine Your Investment Portfolio Value

Imagine trying to tackle algebra, geometry, or calculus without understanding basic mathematics.

Clearly, you wouldn’t get far.

Yet it’s not uncommon to run into investors who are knee deep in option trading, currencies, short selling, or sophisticated arbitrage strategies without mastering – or even understanding – basic investment principles.

Even seasoned hands can benefit from a refresher course from time to time.

So today we’re going to revisit Investing 101 and talk about the six factors that will determine the future value of your investment portfolio, whether it’s worth $10,000 or $10 million.

Six Factors That Determine Your Portfolio’s Future Value

Those six factors are:

• The amount…

Overvalued Timber REITs: Why Timber Investing Isn’t What It Used To Be

Ten years ago, it would be hard to imagine a more stable investment than timber, or those Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that bought millions of acres of harvestable trees.

The 1990s were an ideal period to have timber as an investment:

• Housing was doing well, and growth was beginning to take off in major cities.
• The world was still pre-digital, and business still relied heavily on shuffling paper.
• Electronic news was still a novelty; magazines and newspapers were still going strong.

What a difference a decade makes…

• Housing is in the dumper, with no clear sign of a resurgence on the horizon.
• Business has embraced the…

The M&A Market: When This Number Falls, Expect the Takeovers to Heat Up

When the credit markets froze solid last year, equities hit the skids, the economy tanked and so did the number of announced mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

But now the stock market’s on the mend. In my book, a 49% rally off the bottom for the S&P 500 qualifies as healing.

The economy’s showing signs of improvement. First-time jobless claims have dropped more than 15% since peaking in April.

As for the M&A market, well, it’s still suffering…

Through the second quarter, volume dropped 40.2% worldwide. Deals involving U.S. companies fared worse, dropping 57.5%, according to Thomson Reuters. And July marked the first month in over…