by Robbin Carols

When you buy stocks, you have two ways to make money. You can make money through dividends that the company pays for each share you own. For example, they might pay 25 cents per share each quarter. Dividends are not guaranteed, though.

The other way to make money is through capital gains. This means that you have bought the stock at one price and then sell it at a higher price. The difference between the price paid and the price sold is your capital gains.

When someone buys shares of stock, they do so in hopes of profiting through capital gains. High dividend paying stocks are often sought after by retirees who are looking for a stable source of income.

In order to make capital gains, the stock price has to go up. The stock price can go up or …

Brian Just finished your book, and all I can say is WOW!!! I was a market maker on the CBOE for several years, and all I can say is I wish I had read a book like that 20 years ago my career would have been a little less frustrating. Thanks again for all your hard work and sharing with others. Richard R Hi Brian, I was very impressed with your book "Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes” and I read it with great enthusiasm. Your book is not overly technical or complicated and the methods taught are extremely sound and brilliant. Your book provided me with the psychology behind the charts and clearly explained ...

Ken Fisher recommended the following stocks in the July 21 issue of Forbes:

Dow Chemical:

a. superbly managed largest chemical company in the U.S.

b. Should overtake BASF someday as largest in world

c. sells only at 60% of revenue, 12 times 2008 earnings

d. 4.5% dividend

Rohm & Haas

a. owns Morton Salt

b. produces specialty chemicals

c. bought back 18% of shares in past four years

d. Sells at 1.1 times annual revenues, 11x 2008 forecasted earnings

e. 3.1% dividend

Franklin Resources

a. world leader in mutual funds

b. as stock prices rise, Franklin’s revenues rise

c. great CEO

d. should sell for more than 12.5x 2008 earnings

Ball

a. U.S. leader in metal and plastics containers

b. growing market share in a slow growth field

c. stock should do well when U.S stocks rally

d. sells at 70% of revenues and 12x 2008 earnings forecast

Merck and Pfizer

a. both are too cheap

b. congress isn;t going to kill prescription industry

c. selling at 10x and 7x 2008 forecasted earnings

...

“I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do declare that said national emergency still continues to exist and pursuant to said…” With those mealy words, America’s Depression-era president ventured from bad luck into treachery. The Executive Order he issued on the 5th of April 1933 confiscated Americans’ private holdings of gold, then valued at $20.67 per ounce. Then, in January, 1934, the U.S. president fixed the price of gold at $35. All of sudden, Americans’ dollars had been devalued by 69.3%. Whether this act of nationwide larceny did the economy any good or not, we cannot say. It was not until after World War II that the economy fully recovered the spring in its step. And U.S. stock prices didn’t return to their ‘29 highs until 1950. But there is hardly an act of government so foolish or so maladroit that subsequent politicians won’t provide an encore. This week, ...

Innovation does not relate to patented products, or to branded services alone. Indeed, some of the most productive creativity within an organization resides in its processes, away from the public eye. Even senior executives may be guilty of neglecting significant symbols of innovation during times of rapid business expansion. Acute adversity brings creativity to the surface. Stock market conditions during the first half of 2008 are the sort that foster innovation. That is why we find just a few gems of stock price advances in growing swells of declines.

Most cases of positive Beta relate to structured innovation in organizations. These movements tend to generate their own energies and become self-sustained once ignited by capable management teams. Creativity, contrary to popular misconceptions of individual brain-waves, is a continuous and team effort in professionally-run organizations. Innovation applies to all levels of hierarchy, and no extremity should escape its searching inspection. Some

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As today progressed it seems bulls wasted good buying power. I left for the airport at noon amid a strong rally, but when opening the laptop to check on things at the hotel the rally had fizzled despite a “stick save” into the close.

Yesterday I noted the McClellan Oscillator as oversold and it didn’t take much in the way of news to kick-start stocks higher. The retail sales data got Uncle Buck going too as bond yields rose which also hit gold hard early. That data was of course the result of refund checks Chucky was quick to spend. But, it also included higher food and energy prices that goosed the reading some. And, hey, we’re supposed to exclude food and energy prices according to Big Brother aren’t we? It’s only right. No matter how you …

Make sure you get paid. The massive bull market of 1982-1999 changed the investment landscape dramatically, making growth investors out of everyone new to investing. Thanks to discount brokerages like E*trade and Ameritrade, investing was more accessible than ever before. Throw in the creation of 401(k)s and other investment focused retirement plans and you’ve got a genuine investing boom. Between 1983 and 1999, the percentage of US households involved in the market jumped from 19% to 49%. Amidst all the hubbub, dividends and income plays became unfashionable. With stock prices soaring to new highs almost every day in the late ‘90s, investors wanted growth, not boring payouts. And we all know how well this philosophy performed during the Tech Crash. One of the most quoted statistics regarding the stock market is the view that stocks have returned average annual gains of 10% since 1926. Far ...

Get both Steve Reeves and Master Picks along with Four other newsletters at WallStNewsletters.com for only $99 for a 12 Month subscription. We bring you all of our newsletters for one price and at one location. The Stockmasters, ValuePlays, the Peridot Capitalist, Jelly Roll Capital Stock Reports, and Steve Reeves have teamed up to bring you the Full Monte and it's only at WallStNewsletters.com. Our Original newsletter that has enlightened our subscribers for over a year. It contains What to Buy, What to Sell, and Market Commentary. We have a ...

I have not written in some time about a theme that I think is an important one. Skeptics could probably argue that the reason I haven’t written about it was that the recent facts have contradicted my belief, though the fact is just that I haven’t gotten around to it. So, to put the cards back on the table, it is time to talk about valuation cycles. Many people can tell you that the average market P/E over the long term is something like 15 times. Of course, “average” doesn’t imply that the P/E is always 15. About half the time it is higher, and about half the time it is lower. The trick is figuring out in advance which half is which. In behavioral finance, some would argue that the market follows long-term trends in valuation. Rising valuations spark investor interest, and additional investors adding money to the market causes ...

The individual names do not matter at this point so I am going to just consider this mini basket to be "1 position". Last Thursday as the chickens were running around with their heads cut off about the "strong dollar", I was incrementally adding to my coal stakes [May 1: Incrementally Beginning to Add to Coal] so today I am simply reversing those purchases plus taking out some Alpha Natural Resources (ANR). Let's look at them as a group since that is how I look at these 4 names - I had a 10% weighting going into day with Arch Coal (ACI), Massey Energy (MEE), ANR, and Consol Energy (CNX) They have come a long way in just a few days ACI from $53s to $62s (+17%) MEE from $48s to $57s (+19%) ANR from $46s to $58s (+26%) CNX from $75s to $89s (+19%) Please note I did not buy at the lows Thursday, ...