Fuel Your Portfolio With BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP): The Best-Run Commodities Company In The World

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

Some companies just stand out – both in their own sectors and in the larger market.

Australian firm BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) is one of them.

As the largest and most diversified commodities producer in the world, BHP has leading positions in most key, low-cost, metal and mineral deposits in the world.

And as if that weren’t enough, it also has a solid position in oil, thanks to its petroleum division, which had operating profits of $4 billion last year.

Impressively, that total only made the petroleum division BHP’s third-best performer in 2008. Its iron ore segment scooped up $6.23 billion, while base metals enjoyed a $4.62 billion operating profit.

Crucially, that sets BHP’s oil division apart from its competitors. Not only

hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG): The Only Retail Stock Worth Buying Right Now

by Louis Basenese, Advisory Panelist

For the first time in six months, retail sales ticked higher in August.

Granted, it wasn’t by much – a scant 0.7% higher than July. But it’s inevitable that consumers will eventually get back to their spending ways as this recession subsides.

And if you’re looking for a way to play it, consider hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE: HGG). Here’s why…

hhgregg, Inc: This Retailer is Bucking the Industry Trend

Based in Indianapolis, the hhgregg operates 111 retail stores selling consumer electronics and home appliances. Yes, I know that’s the same stuff you can get at your typical Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), or Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW).

But this company is hardly typical.

While most retailers are focused on

What Corporate Insiders Are Telling Us

by Alexander Green, Chief Investment Strategist

Last week, Vickers Weekly Insider Report noted that corporate insiders are dumping shares like there’s no tomorrow.

Insiders sold 6.31 shares for every share they bought. Contrast that with the seemingly brilliant move insiders made at the market low in March, buying three shares for every share they sold.

Some analysts are saying there is only one interpretation to this recent turn in insider activity: The market is due for a spill.

But not so fast…

Do Corporate Insiders Really Have All the Answers?

Let’s start with an obvious fact: To a great extent, the future is always cloudy. Corporate insiders don’t know what the market is going to do any more than you or me.

For example, Vickers was already ringing the alarm back in July,

A couple weeks ago, I explained why it is imperative to run trailing stops behind your individual stocks.

Sell stops ensure that your capital is protected and your profits don’t slip through your fingers.

However, one subscriber took me to task, saying that a trailing stop guarantees you won’t “sell at the top.”

Quite true.

However, “selling at the top” and its corollary, “buying at the bottom,” are not realistic investment goals. Here’s why…

The Danger of Selling High and Buying Low

For one thing, you never know the top or the bottom until you’re looking in the rear view mirror. And given enough time, all-time highs and lows are usually exceeded.

For example, you may sell a stock at its 52-week high – not a good idea since you should always let your winners run – and find that it goes on to double or triple from there. Likewise, if you buy

Investing Without Trailing Stops: Here’s Why 75% of Stocks Are a Sucker’s Bet

by Alexander Green, Advisory Panelist

A couple weeks ago, I explained why it is imperative to run trailing stops behind your individual stocks.

Sell stops ensure that your capital is protected and your profits don’t slip through your fingers.

However, one subscriber took me to task, saying that a trailing stop guarantees you won’t “sell at the top.”

Quite true.

However, “selling at the top” and its corollary, “buying at the bottom,” are not realistic investment goals. Here’s why…

The Danger of Selling High and Buying Low

For one thing, you never know the top or the bottom until you’re looking in the rear view mirror. And given enough time, all-time highs and lows are usually exceeded.

For example, you may sell a stock at its 52-week high – not a good

It’s official: You can reduce your investment risk simply by chucking darts at a list of stocks, then buying them.

That’s if you believe a Nobel economist, of course. His crude “experiment” was the start of “modern portfolio theory” decades ago. The downside, however, was that with a reduction of risk came a dampening of profits. So scratch that idea.

How about this? A startling study in the late 1970s showed that owning a portfolio of large U.S. companies with international divisions drops your risk 10% below a domestic stock portfolio. Much better. But that wasn’t the eye-popper…

The study also found that owning stocks in international companies cuts your risk in half…

Take that, “efficiency” theorists! Yet the stuffy professors still tried to refute these results. It was a losing battle, though, as more studies emerged, laden with more evidence that international stocks reduce risk.

But the

How to Grab Significant Short-Term Profits From Technical Analysis

by Mark Skousen, Advisory Panelist

“The overwhelming majority of economic theories, market forecasts, trading strategies, investment systems, hot tips and sure-fire speculations never pan out.” ~ Alexander Green

In the August 14 Investment U issue, Alexander Green urged you to stick with the tried-and-true method of fundamental analysis.

He did so using this mantra: “There is only one thing that dictates where a stock will go: earnings.”

I agree that earnings are the ultimate determinant of stock prices in the long run. But that’s not the only way to gauge where a stock is headed next.

I firmly believe that technical analysis – volume, trading patterns and historical trends – can enhance your returns tremendously and can keep you out of trouble in many cases. Here’s why…

The Problem with a

Momentum Investing: The Secret to a Red-Hot Stock Portfolio

by Alexander Green, Advisory Panelist

The investment landscape isn’t pretty right now.

The federal deficit is ballooning. Credit is tight. Home prices are still falling. The dollar is weak. Fuel prices have jumped. The economy is in the tank. And last year the stock market experienced its worst year since 1931.

Who in his right mind would buy stocks now?

I would. In fact, it’s only because so many investors keep repeating the mantra in the paragraph above - as the national media does endlessly - that they don’t.

And when they realize how many momentum investing opportunities they’ve missed, they’re really going to regret it.

So do yourself a favor and turn off all the talking heads on TV. They don’t know any more than you what the economy will do in the second half… or where interest rates will go… or

The Philosophy of Money: What It Means to Be Truly Wealthy

by Alexander Green, Oxford Club Investment Director

As a young man in my twenties, I worked as a stockbroker in a local firm. Before long I was earning a six-figure income. Then came the brand-spanking-new lakefront house, the ski boat, the Jaguar XJ-6, and all the other toys.

I saved virtually nothing. When my friends came over for parties - which were frequent - most of them assumed I was rich.

I was nothing of the sort, I hadn’t learned about the true philosophy of money.

Wealth is not the same thing as income. If you earn a lot of money and blow it every year, you’re not rich. You’re just living high.

Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you earn. And it certainly can’t be measured by what you spend.

How does the average person get rich?

Investment U’s Outlook: Bull or Bear?

Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

We keep hearing over and over again that we’re vacillating on our market position and that we’ve taken bullish and bearish stances over the past few weeks. Specifically, readers have cited Alex Green’s article for its bearishness and Mark Skousen’s article for his bullishness.

If Alex Green’s article title suggested bearishness, then I’ll admit fault and suggest that the addition of “Red” might incorrectly indicate that he is bearish when he is not – Alex remains cautious, but bullish.

Let me set the record straight if there has been any confusion concerning our outlook…

In the long-term we are, have been and will continue to be, bullish on the future. In the short-term, we see a number of challenges