mirza kadic Introduction The abrdn Australia Equity Fund, with almost 4 decades of listing history, is a close-ended fund (‘CEF’) that focuses on a small pool of stocks (around 33, most of which are large-caps with an average market-cap of $33bn) that are listed on the Australia Stock Exchange. Over the past six months, IAF…
Smile Historically speaking, my investment calls usually turn out quite well. But just like every other investor in the world, I am not without mistakes. One of the biggest that I have made over the past few years involves the home discount retailer known as Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE:BIG). The last article that I wrote…
Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images Introduction & Investment Thesis Hims & Hers (NYSE:HIMS) is a consumer health platform that has outperformed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 YTD. The company recently reported their Q1 FY24 earnings, where revenue and earnings grew 46% and 434% YoY, respectively, beating expectations. For the full year FY24, the management…
Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images This week the Associated Press reported that the US Drug Enforcement Administration will reschedule cannabis from a Schedule 1 drug to Schedule 3. Without exaggeration, this is the most important development in the US for cannabis in recorded history. Investors recognized the importance of the reports, and many cannabis stocks…
tadamichi What is driving this stock market melt-up that is not underpinned by extraordinarily strong fiscal flows and runs in the face of the usual seasonal patterns? The table below shows the US sectoral balances up to the last month. The information is prepared from the US national accounts. US Treasury and Author calculations In…
SlavkoSereda/iStock via Getty Images In the world of closed-end funds, (“CEFs”) there are three types of fund structures. Perpetual: As it sounds, the fund has a perpetual mandate and continues to operate ‘forever’ Term: This fund has a specified date in the future when it will self-liquidate at NAV. Target Term: This type of fund…
SARINYAPINNGAM Vanguard Long-Term Treasury Index Fund ETF Shares (NASDAQ:VGLT) is an ideal way to buy longer duration U.S. Treasury Bonds and lock in a yield of about 4.5% (SEC 30-day yield). This yield is close to what money market funds currently offer, but investors who remain in money market funds are likely to see yields…
Nikada Right at the end of 2023, I wrote an article about PIMCO Corporate and Income Opportunity Fund (NYSE:PTY), which is a fixed income biased CEF managed by PIMCO. In the article, I was rather optimistic on PTY’s prospects to register price appreciation in 2024 due to the forthcoming normalization in the interest rates that…
Eetum/iStock via Getty Images When I last covered Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) for Seeking Alpha in December, the Bitcoin (BTC-USD) network was experiencing a dramatic surge in transaction fees as a percentage of total block reward. The potential long term stickiness of transaction fees would be hugely beneficial to BTC miners like Marathon because it would…
SerrNovik Market rotation seems dead these days, with just three stocks accounting for about 50% of the gains in the S&P 500 and five stocks accounting for almost 60%. That means that of the 462.62 points the S&P 500 (SPX) has gained in 2024, 268 points of those gains have come from Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft…
William_Potter Investment Thesis Vanguard Mega Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:MGC) warrants a buy rating due to its low-cost ability to capture strong returns of mega-cap, big tech holdings including the “Magnificent Seven.” Additionally, MGC can achieve this quality while offering the greatest diversification of compared, peer mega-cap funds while also seeing the lowest relatively volatility and greatest…
koto_feja Investment Overview In a note for Seeking Alpha in May last year, I gave Longboard Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LBPH) a “Buy” recommendation, citing upcoming data catalysts for the company’s two clinical stage assets – the 5-HT2C Superagonist LP352, now known as bexicaserin, being developed to treat developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), and LP659 – and a…
Maksim Labkouski Global PMI rises for fourth straight month to hit eight-month high S&P Global’s PMI surveys indicated that the global economy gained further growth momentum in February. At an eight-month high of 52.1, against 51.8 in January, the headline PMI covering manufacturing and services over 40 economies has now risen for four consecutive months….
FotografieLink We previously covered CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) in December 2023, discussing why we chose to downgrade the stock as Hold, with it already pulling forward most of its upside potential thanks to the generative AI hype. While we maintained our conviction surrounding its long-term prospects, we also believed that there might be moderate volatility in…
Dilok Klaisataporn Crescent Capital (NASDAQ:CCAP) could be the right option for a dividend portfolio due to its potential to generate solid returns over the long term. Moreover, the BDC offers downside protection as its debt investment portfolio is substantially diversified with an average investment size of 0.5% and a high concentration on non-cyclical sectors. Moreover,…
Michael M. Santiago Introduction Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) has been a key driver in my portfolio and allowed me to outperform the market since 2020. During the pandemic, I bought the stock dirt cheap close to $30, when the entire world was buying tech, growth, and alternative investments like crypto and pictures of rocks. However, I…
koto_feja/E+ via Getty Images Strategic Shifts and Scientific Strides: Analyzing Denali’s Latest Moves Shares of Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) have been flat since my last update in October. Seeking Alpha Which is especially disappointing because the biotechnology sector (XBI) is up some 20% in the same time period. The company reported earnings last month and highlighted…
damircudic With a market capitalization as of this writing of nearly $6 billion, Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WTFC) is one of the larger banks that I like to write about. In the middle of June of last year, I wrote a bullish article wherein I discussed the tumble that the stock had seen following the start…
da-kuk The weather may be cold during winter, but stocks were scorching hot last month, fueled in part by the surge in performance from AI (Artificial Intelligence) stocks. More specifically, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up +2.2% to 38,996. The S&P 500 surged +5.2% to 5,096. And the AI-heavy Nasdaq index climbed the most…
JohnnyGreig/E+ via Getty Images The last year has primarily been a period of relative strength for mega-cap tech stocks. Strategies focused on yield and other forms of equity diversification have largely been underperformers. But are trends shifting? Consider that the Magnificent Seven stocks have undergone significant diverging single-stock performances, with shares of Apple (AAPL), Tesla…
rep0rter/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Japan has emerged as a hotbed of bullish equity activity. The Nikkei 225 Index recently notched all-time highs, finally eclipsing its December 1989 peak near 39,000. Times are starkly different today compared to 34-plus years ago, however. Back then, the Japanese stock market was at the peak of one of…
Maskot/Maskot via Getty Images Thesis It’s now been just over 10 years since Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA) was spun off and became publicly traded. While its revenues and earnings have not been exciting, the share price has been for medium and long-term investors. Earnings for 2024 are expected to rise by mid-single digits, but share…
Prykhodov Six IPOs priced this past week, joined by two blank check companies. One larger deal did not get done: Fortegra (TFG) pulled its $297 million offering ahead of its expected pricing. The specialty insurer had previously attempted to go public in early 2021 but scrapped those plans ahead of pricing as well. Autoimmune disease…
Manuel Augusto Moreno/Moment via Getty Images China is finally giving up on China. Last week, Bloomberg reported that the country’s investors purchased US and Japanese funds, among other geographically focused ETFs, at the expense of Chinese funds. It has the feeling of near-capitulation following a more than 60% drawdown in the iShares China Large-Cap ETF…
So, 2023 has been pretty epic for Bitcoin. It’s like Bitcoin woke up and decided to flex its muscles big time. We’re talking a massive leap, over 140% in value – that’s huge! It’s not just about topping traditional rivals like gold; it’s also about leaving other cryptocurrencies in the rearview mirror. Let’s dive into…
PM Images In October, we called for a buy in The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) for reliable dividend growth and capital gains. The stock, like the company, is a reliable slow grower and was in our opinion attractively valued. We liked it because insurance is a requirement in most states and a must-have for many…
NicoElNino Dynatrace: A “stealth” hyper-growth story Dynatrace (NYSE:DT) shares have moved in a well-trod trajectory over the past couple of years. The shares made a high of almost $79/share in Oct. 2021, fell to $32/share a year later and have since recovered to the mid $50/share range. More recently, the shares were as low as…
wdstock The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) underperformed for the third year in a row in 2023 due to investors’ concerns over its growth potential in a fintech market. However, I believe it is the best time to initiate a position in a prominent company in the fast-growing transaction and processing sector. In particular, the company’s…
Matteo Colombo Introduction I have to say, chances are I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI) stock. The telecommunication real estate giant with a market cap of roughly $50 billion is not growing very fast. Full-year 2023 adjusted funds from operations (“AFFO”) are expected to grow by 2%, followed by an 8%…
WANAN YOSSINGKUM One company went public this past week, completing the year’s first US IPO. Georgia-based homebuilder Smith Douglas (SDHC) priced at the high end to raise $162 million at a $1.1 billion market cap. Operating in the Southeastern and Southern US, the company builds and sells single-family homes, catering to first-time home buyers and…
Andranik Hakobyan/iStock via Getty Images A month ago, I entered UiPath (NYSE:PATH) as my selection in Seeking Alpha’s Top 2024 Long/Short Pick investment competition, writing that the stock was set to benefit from seeing reaccelerated growth and more efficient sales and marketing. With the stock up nearly 40% in the past month before we even…
Carl Court Amid sharply renewed enthusiasm for growth and tech stocks, Snap (NYSE:SNAP), the disappearing-chat social media company, has been the beneficiary of a sharp year-to-date rally. Investors have latched onto the company’s user growth in developing markets, in spite of advertising industry headwinds that have dented revenue to just single-digit growth. Year to date,…
Marcus Lindstrom/iStock via Getty Images U.S. residential real estate as an asset class has had a mixed performance over the last two years. On the one hand, home prices on aggregate have held up really well despite some analysts warning that aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed) would crash home prices. Home price…
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A new variant of Covid-19 is spreading rapidly across the US this holiday season, even as Americans’ interest in getting vaccinated has faded. JN. 1, a sub-variant of Omicron that has an additional mutation…
Vladimir_Timofeev Amid a stock market that is rallying to YTD highs, it’s still never too late to move more of our portfolios into “growth at a reasonable price” stocks. In my view, these names have both downside protection in case bearish attitudes return, while also having upside potential because their valuation multiples have room to…
batuhanozdel/iStock via Getty Images Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT) has had a stellar year against wider doom calls from bears about the end of urban US office real estate. The REIT is up 44% year-to-date to cap a stunning recovery from a Fed-induced selloff. Whilst there are concerns about whether or not the rally…
Pgiam/iStock via Getty Images Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) is a stock for which we previously outlined a rather successful trade back in the spring, and then outlined another trade in late September. Here is how we suggested you play in DRI stock in that column: The play Target entry 1: $145.00-$146.00 (30% of position) Target…
The recent price surges seen in both the USTC and LUNC, once again highlight the undying resolve and commitment of the Terra Classic community to bring value to both assets. Algorithmic stablecoin TerraClassicUSD (USTC) has received a massive boost in the last 24 hours, posting over 283% gains within the period. As of publication, CoinMarketCap…
The commission now has access to all of the exchange’s records, which could serve as a catalyst for uncovering additional instances of mishandled funds or suspected fraudulent activities. The recent news of Binance’s former CEO pleading guilty to money laundering charges has undoubtedly made headlines, adding to the circumstances that led to his decision to…
Both currencies remain in the down zone on the daily chart, registering 2.6% and 9.34% declines respectively. Bitcoin (BTC) and Binance Coin (BNB) have regained the losses they registered the day before. This follows after crypto exchange Binance resorted to settling with the United States Justice Department by paying fines totaling over $4 billion. Similarly,…
Cardano Foundation CEO Frederik Gregaard recently noted that the development of the smart contract-enabled ecosystem has been slow due to the high academic approach, which has been considered boring but important. Amidst the ongoing altcoin breakout fueled by the optimism revolving around the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States,…
Last week’s rally may have been directly linked to a more recent announcement by the TON Foundation. Toncoin (TON), the cryptocurrency linked with popular messaging platform Telegram, is arguably the biggest gainer among the top 100 digital assets at the moment. This follows after the token price surged by over 8% overnight, signaling a bullish…
primeimages The S&P 500 is fighting (unsuccessfully at this point) for its eighth positive session in a row today (the longest winning streak for the index in exactly two years). But looking under the hood at the past two sessions, there has been some underlying weakness. Although Monday and Tuesday saw the S&P 500 rise…
Kateryna Kolesnyk/iStock via Getty Images Looking for relative strength into year-end? Check out Poland. Ranked 1 out of 400 in its Asset Class, the iShares MSCI Poland ETF (NYSEARCA:EPOL) has outperformed the S&P 500 over several timeframes lately, after undergoing severe underperformance for years since its 2010 inception. I have a buy rating on the…
Nikola is expected to report its third-quarter earnings result on November 2, amid a push by the management to make the company profitable. Nikola Corp (NASDAQ: NKLA), an American-based manufacturer of heavy-duty electric vehicles, is now prepared to face a brighter future after a New York arbitration panel ordered former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and…
The US stock futures were slightly down early this morning as the third-quarter earnings season gained momentum. According to reports, futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX: .DJI) lost 46 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP: .INX) fell 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were also down 0.12%. US Stock Futures: Monday’s Optimistic…
Binance burned about 2.13 million BNB coins during the last three months thus bringing the total coins removed from circulation to about 50.2 million units. Binance, a leading blockchain ecosystem with the largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange by Bitcoin’s daily traded volume and globally registered users, has announced the completion of the 25th quarterly auto-burn of…
Michael M. Santiago Introduction JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) is a household name in the financial sector. With a market capitalization of approximately $415B and a worldwide brand recognition, the bank is seen as a leader in its sector. Its financial performance is strong, and although there’s a push from US regulators forcing the banks to shore…
Hispanolistic/E+ via Getty Images Introduction I have been following Canacol Energy (TSX:CNE:CA) (OTCQX:CNNEF) for several years now, but I haven’t really been too happy with the share price evolution. Despite being able to sell its natural gas at very flat prices (which could perhaps explain why investors abandoned the Canacol ship to pursue an investment…
redtea Overview: Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET) is the largest pipeline in the United States, with more than 100,000 miles of pipelines. Energy Transfer Energy transfer is one of the most controversial stocks on Seeking Alpha, and in fact, I have written 15 articles on Energy Transfer, invested in it, and got out of it multiple times…