The selloff in the equity market should be expected. None of us should be surprised…and why you ask? Here are several reasons why:

1. Interest rates (and the fed funds rate in particular) were so low, for so long that it made money “cheap” and induced a borrowing frenzy of epic proportions. The effective fed funds rate dipped below 2% for the first time in almost 40 years. (For those unfamiliar with the fed funds rate, it is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions, usually overnight.)

From a “macro” standpoint, promoting low interest rates will give corporations the incentive to borrow which in turn creates an expansionary environment thus higher economic growth. And, as you will see later, higher cash flows and earnings growth will lead to higher asset prices.

2. Inflation rates never forced …

Last time I was screening top yielding stocks among S&P500 components and this time I run my fundamental stock screen for growth stocks. I set as a criteria "Estimated earnings growth for next 5 years" to be at least 25% per year. There are 18 companies with such a projected growth. For better picture I've also added P/E ratio and share price return on yearly and quarterly basis.Investing strategy based on strong projected EPS growth shows following results. S&P 500 index is yearly down by -18% and average return for selected stocks is up by 20%. On quarterly basis S&P 500 down by -9% and again beaten by growth stock with average return -2%. ...

In this environment, unlike most of the past 2 months we have to pick spots and assume our purchases (as we layer in) will lose money in the near term. This is different than when we buy a pullback in a market that is generally in an uptrend (mid March to late May) - where when you make a purchase on a pullback, you expect a quick bounce. So with that in mind, I am continuing to rebuild a position in DryShips (DRYS), the dry bulk shipper (with deep sea drilling thrown in); but not expecting any sustained move up in the near term. But my first buy target has been reached, so I am executing a purchase.Now, as the rest of Wall Street joins my thesis (eventually) of a global slowdown these stocks could take it on the chin from a perception point ...

Whenever it comes to buying a stock I always let technical analysis make my final decision. However, since I know everyone invest in their own way I am going to bring a stock to your attention that I am looking to take a large position in sometime in the future.

This stock is Natural Gas Services Group Inc (NGS). Not only is the name of the company nice enough to draw investor interest the fundamentals in this stock has it prepared to make large gains. Now, of course all of this depends on its business model not coming under tremendous competition.

Now while too many people focus on the wrong mettics when hunting for stocks I always focus on what matter to make the stock make the big gains.
CANSLIM.

The C is for current quarterly earnings and those are taking off with EPS growing 67%, 27%, 29%, 120%, 40%, 58%, and 32% the …

My latest column is up at RealMoney.

I think Rent-A-Center (RCII) can benefit from the slowdown in consumer spending and the tightening of credit standards.

If Rent-A-Center were to receive the same price-to-book multiple as Aaron Rents, it could trade above $28 per share today. While I don’t believe that will happen overnight, over the next five years Rent-A-Center could see high-single-digit earnings per share growth and also expand its price-to-book multiple to the 1.9 level. The combination of earnings growth and valuation expansion could generate annual returns averaging 15% or more.

Here’s how the company scores on the Stock Market Beat models:

Earnings momentum: Positive Earnings quality: Positive Price momentum: Neutral Free cash flow: Positive Return potential: Positive

Disclosure: At time of publication, William Trent has no financial position in the companies mentioned in this article.

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Knock on wood but we continue a strange streak of no major earnings blowouts from the myriad fund holdings. I had reduced both positions going into earnings to reduce risk, but looks like both came through quite well. As opposed to Huron Consulting (HURN) which we sold out of yesterday, peer FTI Consulting (FCN) just continues to execute quarter after quarter; beat estimates and raise guidance - par for the course for these guys. All the drivers that should be driving HURN are in fact driving FCN. All this earnings growth even with a large share count increase (nearly a quarter) - even more impressive. Business advisory firm FTI Consulting Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter profit more than doubled, surpassing Wall Street's expectations, as fallout from the subprime mortgage mess spurred strong revenue growth across all business segments. For the three months ended March 31, the company reported income ...

Let's see quick comparison between emerging markets and developed economies. I used ETF as a tool. IShares MSCI EAFA (EFA) as a benchmark for international stocks from developed economies. And IShares MSCI E.M.I.F. (EEM) for emerging markets. You can see there is only slight difference in P/E valuation.P/E ratio:EFA 11,5EEM 12,8Someone can say EEM is not real ETF to measure emerging market performance. That's partially true. More than half (53%) holdings are listed on US markets as ADR. In addition to that big share is from already developed countries like South Korea, Taiwan.The important thing is to compare EPS growth. From attached chart you can see that estimated earnings growth for 2008 is by 4,6 % faster than for EFA. Moreover both ETF are traded currently with premium against ...