Free Investing

Trader Mark submits:Speaking of companies increasingly escaping the sphere of the U.S. economy, Cummins (CMI) just posted a ridiculous earnings number. I had a feeling I'd regret selling out this position. Confirmed! I mentioned last week I was looking at a few names to add to the portfolio but they had earnings reports this week and I did not want to buy ahead of that event - this was one of them. (Click to enlarge)Really this company exemplifies everything that is going on in the globe: "meh" results in America with Asia carrying the world. Dupont (DD) was also similarly set up this morning - a big beat, with Asia taking the lead and Europe even doing better than the U.S. (Again, I call on the parade of pundits who showed up on CNBC in 2008 and 2009 to utilize first grade logic of "first in, first out... therefore the U.S. will lead the global recovery" to have the cajones to say "I screwed up". It *is* different this time.) Looks like we're headed to S&P 1130.Complete Story »

Jesse Felder submits: The 10-Year Treasury Note currently yields just under 3%. The 15 Dow components above all sport dividend yields greater -- with a hypothetical portfolio yield nearly a full percentage point higher. Which would you rather own over the next decade? Disclosure: NoneComplete Story »

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
Below we highlight the performance of S&P 500 sectors from the market's 2010 high (4/23) to its July 2nd low as well as since July 2nd. As shown, the Financial sector is up the most since July 2nd with a gain of 10%, followed by Materials (9.5%), Technology (7.8%), and Energy (7.6%). The Financial sector was also down the most during the correction. The four defensive sectors -- Utilities, Consumer Staples, Health Care, and Telecom -- have all underperformed the S&P 500 since July 2nd.click to enlargeComplete Story »

Converting biomass into fuels, energy and chemicals has the potential to generate upwards of $230 billion to the global economy by 2020.The report--produced in collaboration with Royal DSM N.V., Novozymes (NVZMF.PK), DuPont (DD) and Braskem (BAK), finds that the majority of that revenue will be in the U.S.Complete Story »

Zacks.com submits:
After reporting a healthy last quarter of 2009, chemical giant EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (DD) is eyeing a further 20% compounded annual growth in earnings during 2010−2012. The company expects earnings of $2.50 to $2.70 per share in 2010. DuPont anticipates a 10% growth in top line for the 2010−2012 period. The company also plans to capture $1 billion in fixed cost productivity and $1 billion in working capital productivity gains during this period. In 2009, DuPont saw the emerging markets add about 30% to revenues. By 2012, the company expects sales from these markets to total about $12 billion, or 35% of total sales. Complete Story »

Investment Directions submits: In late March, just before the first quarter earnings reports came in, there was worry that companies and analysts had become overly optimistic. The symptom cited was less trimming of estimated earnings before the actual reports.On March 31st, I addressed the issue in “Earnings Reports Coming – What Does Less Trimming Mean to Investors?” My thought was that, given that other optimistic signs were not evident, the reduced trimming could be an indicator of even better earnings.Complete Story »

Investment Directions submits: Over the past year, corporate earnings for larger companies have benefited primarily from three factors:

1. Strategic company moves to cut costs and increase productivity
2. An economic turnaround from negative to positive conditions
3. Financial improvements, including shored up markets, support for troubled companies (especially financials) and access to low-cost funds for untroubled firms

These items have allowed building the current foundation of earnings. So, what’s next?Complete Story »

Miriam Metzinger submits: Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Monday May 17. 6 Ways to Stay Safe: Dupont (DD)Complete Story »

Gary Gordon submits: What a difference a few years can make. It wasn’t that long ago that investors had written off Starbucks (SBUX) for dead. Fast food chains like IHOP (IHP) were serving up free pancakes. And previous darlings like Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) had forfeited 70%+ of its market value. Yet recent upgrades to a number of food service giants may make PowerShares Dynamic Food and Beverage (PBJ) more attractive. PBJ has handily beaten the more aggressive S&P 500 over the last 3 months for momentum investors. ”Buy-n-hold-through-the-bear” investors have also done better with PBJ than with the S&P 500. (Click to enlarge)Complete Story »

Scott's Investments submits:Approximately once per month I run a high-yield momentum screen using the free service on Finviz and post the results. Last month's results are here and the strategy returned 6%+ for the month.To reiterate, the screen is more of a trading strategy and less of an income strategy (unlike some of my dividend aristocrat screens), although the dividends do play an essential component in the overall returns. Thus, turnover could be high and the strategy is not for everyone. Second, it is a screen and not a recommended or comprehensive portfolio. In other words, there could be sector imbalances so for investors looking to have exposure across different sectors and asset classes, this screen could potentially serve as a starting point for further research or one small piece to a much larger picture. The screen looks for high yielding high momentum stocks. I screened the S&P 500 for stocks yielding greater than 4% and then ranked them by 6 month returns. There were 52 results (versus 55 last month) and per a previous article, the highest momentum, high yield stocks have historically been the best performing so I have listed the top 20% based on 6 month returns, or 10 stocks (Altria, or MO, was the 11th ranked stock). I listed the payout ratios for informational purposes, but I would always recommend researching payout ratios in-depth since one year of poor earnings (and vice versa) can skew the ratio significantly. This strategy is one of several I track for free on the right hand column of my site: Ticker Company Free Trend Analysis Dividend Yield Payout Ratio Performance (Half Year) Q Qwest Communications International Inc. Here 5.90% 83.38% 49.72% TEG Integrys Energy Group, Inc. Here 5.70% 37.51% PCL Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. Here 4.19% 116.53% 36.78% DTE DTE Energy Co. Here 4.60% 65.60% 35.81% PLD ProLogis Here 4.27% 28.93% VTR Ventas Inc. Here 4.55% 159.03% 26.92% DD EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. Here 4.18% 85.44% 26.38% D Dominion Resources, Inc. Here 4.40% 80.95% 24.93% SE Spectra Energy Corp. Here 4.29% 77.22% 24.28% HCP HCP, Inc. Here 5.59% 716.07% 23.32% Disclosure: No positionsComplete Story »