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Stock Screen
Jack Hough
3 Stocks With Real Earnings Surprises; Hough: Here's how to tell companies that truly beat expectations from those that merely set the bar low.
SmartMoney.comStudies have long linked upside earnings surprises with handsome future stock returns. The problem with today's upside surprises, however, is that most aren't especially surprising.
3 Stocks for Those Seeking Safety; Hough: Worried about a summer sell-off for the market? Consider these shares.
SmartMoney.comDon't expect the stocks below to escape losses entirely if the broad market slides this summer. But history says they hold up relatively well in downturns, making them a good fit for jittery investors who want to stay in the market.
The Frugal Fund Company That's Up 38%; Hough: This value manager's shares look a lot pricier than its holdings.
SmartMoney.comAn investment company known for its frugal approach to stock selection has seen its own shares reach lofty levels on Wall Street. WisdomTree Investments shares have gained 38% this year -- nearly four times the broad U.S. stock market's ...
3 Stocks With Scattered Earnings Estimates; Hough: As earnings season approaches, forecasts for these companies are all over the place.
SmartMoney.comEarnings season kicks off next week amid high uncertainty on Wall Street--especially concerning the companies below. Analysts have spent more than seven months steadily lowering their first-quarter earnings forecasts for the broad market. ...
3 Stocks Short-Sellers Are Targeting; Hough: Investors who bet on falling share prices have turned their attention to these companies.
SmartMoney.comAs share prices broadly rise, some investors are betting big against the three stocks listed below. Each has seen heavy "short-selling" in recent weeks. That's a trading tactic that involves selling shares without actually owning them in ...
How to Spot a Company That's at the Top of its Game; Hough: Sometimes the next big thing is the current big thing.
SmartMoney.comStarbucks has been the subject of punch lines about chain store ubiquity at least since the summer of 1998, when The Onion, a satirical newspaper, ran a headline about the opening of a new Starbucks inside the restroom of an existing one. ...
3 Stocks Bucking the Earnings Slowdown; Hough: Profit growth is slowing for most of the market, but not for these firms.
SmartMoney.comOver the past three years, corporate profits underlying the S&P 500 index have rebounded from a negative number to a record sum. Soaring profits, in turn, have helped to justify a quick rise in stock prices. But profits for the current ...
The Surprising Truth About Positive Earnings Surprises; Hough: Shares not only leap after good earnings news, they drift higher for months.
SmartMoney.comTwo companies report earnings that surpass Wall Street estimates by 10 percent. Shares of the first company jump, but those of the second are unchanged. Why?
3 Retailers Betting Big on Shares; Hough: These chains are spending richly on stock repurchases. That could help or hurt investors.
SmartMoney.comA trio of retailers has lately spent massive sums on a single investment: their own stock. Stock repurchases are one of two ways companies return the cash they earn to investors. Dividends are the other. The long historical record for stocks ...
The Mystery of Closed-End Fund Discounts; Hough: A pot of stocks and bonds worth $15 a share can sometimes be had for $13. What that means for investors.
SmartMoney.comInvestors are rational agents, economists like to say. In other words, for the most part, we're not nuts. If IBM trades at $190 a share, Uncle Hank isn't going to offer his lot at $150 -- and if he does, it's time to talk to ...
Ugly Acronym, Handsome Stock Returns; Hough: Why investors should learn to love the "EV/Ebitda" ratio.
SmartMoney.comMany investors use the price-to-earnings ratio to tell whether stocks are cheap. It shows how many dollars a buyer must pay for each $1 in yearly earnings the company produces. There are other such measures that show how much investors must ...
3 Stocks That Could Start Dividends in 2012; Hough: These firms sit on excess cash and may feel pressured to pay, given investor appetite for yield.
SmartMoney.comCisco stock has been a poor performer since the dot-com stock bubble of more than a decade ago. But it's up 14% since last March, when the maker of networking equipment announced it would start paying quarterly dividends.
10 Stocks Analysts Say to Sell; Hough: Eastman Kodak is only the latest example of why Wall Street's pans, while rare, are worth heeding.
SmartMoney.comOn Wall Street, "sell" recommendations are exceedingly rare. Perhaps for that reason, they tend to be worth following. Among companies with the most sell recommendations is Eastman Kodak, which the Wall Street Journal reports this ...
2 Cheap Tech Stocks With Analyst Upgrades; Hough: Wall Street has recently turned keener on these battered shares.
SmartMoney.comBoring stocks are basking in popularity. The utilities and consumer staples sectors within the S&P 500 index are 12% and 22% more expensive, respectively, than the broader index based on 2011 earnings forecasts.
Dividend Stock Guide for Boomers; Hough: Firms that supply boomers with steady dividends will be in high demand.
SmartMoney.comBy 2030, around 20 percent of the U.S. population will be 65 and older, up from 13 percent today, reckons the Census Bureau. There's a gloomy theory on how that will affect stocks. As boomers earned and saved in the 1980s and 1990s, ...
3 Cheap Stocks Hitting 2011 Highs; Hough: Not all rising shares are pricey. These sell for less than the market based on earnings.
SmartMoney.comU.S. stocks have rallied fiercely since Thanksgiving, but the S&P 500 index is still 8% below its 2011 high, reached in May. The stocks listed below have done better. On Monday, they all hit new highs for the year.
$100 Billion for Facebook? Buy This Instead; Hough: The dotcom's rumored valuation could get investors a lot more.
SmartMoney.comLarge numbers are difficult to conceptualize. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Facebook is targeting a spring initial public offering that would value the company at $100 billion. Is that a lot or a little for a website with ...
Bottom-Fishing: Netflix Vs. H-P; Hough: Both stocks have been shattered of late. Which offers investors the better deal?
SmartMoney.comNetflix and Hewlett-Packard are dissimilar companies that have met a common fate: a spectacular loss of popularity on Wall Street. The causes of these declines are more alike than different.
AAA-Rated Companies With 3% Dividends; Hough: These firms have better credit scores than the U.S. government--and their shares pay plenty.
SmartMoney.comInvestors already had two good reasons to lighten up on U.S. Treasury bonds. This week they got another. The first reason is a puny payoff. The 10-year Treasury note recently yielded less than 2%, or less than one-third of what it has paid, ...
4 Stock Traits That Will Outperform; During a down economy, investors should look for a combination of low price, low risk, high quality and size when picking stocks.
SmartMoney.comIf your stocks are plunging, your income is stagnant, and your spouse just lost his or her job, economists have "good" news. According to their definition of prosperity, the current period may not qualify as a recession. Hosanna!
3 Small-Company Stock Bargains; Small-cap indexes look pricey, but among individual shares are plenty of good deals, writes Jack Hough.
SmartMoney.comSmall-company stocks look expensive as a group, and their performance has underwhelmed this year. But that's no reason to ignore all of them, because many small-company stocks are bargains.
3 Cheap Stocks That Trounced Estimates; Upside surprises in sales and earnings bode well for these affordable shares.
SmartMoney.comUpside earnings "surprises" aren't all that surprising nowadays. The percentage of U.S. companies that beat Wall Street projections come reporting time jumped from 49% in the late 1980s to 76% in 2000, and it has stayed high ...
Industrials Post Strong Earnings -- 3 Names to Watch; Caterpillar and Boeing are the latest manufacturers to beat forecasts. That bodes well for the sector.
SmartMoney.comLarge U.S. companies are nearly halfway through earnings-reporting season, and predictably, the news is mostly good. Despite some high-profile forecast misses from Apple and Amazon, only 21% of companies have done worse than projected. ...
What Store Closings Mean for Retail Stocks; Lowe's and Gap are the latest chains trying to grow by shrinking. Will it work?
SmartMoney.comLowe's announcement Monday that it will close 20 underperforming stores sent its shares 1.5% higher by midday, bucking a broad market selloff. For retailers, judicious store closings can reduce long-term expenses and improve profit ...
Where to Find 7% Yields; Preferred shares issued by real estate trusts are one of today's few sources of healthy investment income.
SmartMoney.comIncome investors have scant choices as the moment. The 10-year Treasury bond pays just 2.1%, and safe corporate and municipal bonds are similarly stingy. U.S. stocks have dividend yields averaging just over 2%--but they've frightened ...
10 Cheap Stocks With Dependable Earnings; Bargain hunters should focus on companies that can deliver on forecasts. The evidence favors these names.
SmartMoney.comCheap stocks are suddenly abundant. The S&P Composite 1500 index of large, midsize and small U.S. companies has lost 12% in three months. More than 300 of its members now have price-to-earnings ratios in single digits, suggesting a ...
A Holiday Hit to Buy Now: GameStop Shares; While the world frets over Europe and recession, bargain hunters should think "Batman" and "Gears of War."
SmartMoney.comThere are fewer than 100 shopping days until Christmas, but with Europe flirting with a financial crisis and America at risk for a second recession, few investors are thinking about retail stocks.
3 Stocks That Fetch 60 Times Earnings; As economic growth slows, investors are paying richly for companies that can expand
SmartMoney.comFor bargain hunters, U.S. stocks offer a mixed message. The S&P 500 index trades at 12 times forecast 2011 earnings, a slight discount to its historic price. Companies in sectors with sturdy demand sell for modest premiums--big food ...
Growth Stocks Look Pricey. Favor Free Cash; Firms with glowing growth projections have gotten expensive. Here are some better bets.
SmartMoney.comAs economic growth slows worldwide, stock investors are competing fiercely for shares of companies with the best earnings growth prospects. But that has made shares of such companies expensive. A better approach might be to target firms ...
For 4% Yields and Safety, See Defense Stocks; They pay twice as much as Treasurys. And budget fears look overblown.
SmartMoney.comMilitary suppliers have gotten clobbered. Among S&P 500 members, aerospace and defense firms have lost 22% of their value in six months, versus 16% for the broader index. These companies were cheap to begin with relative to their ...
3 Stocks Under $15; Low-price stocks tend to outperform, studies show. Three to consider
SmartMoney.comNominal stock prices shouldn't matter. If Groucho Tech and Harpo Corp are identical companies, it should make no difference to investors that Groucho has 10 million shares outstanding priced at $4.50 apiece, and Harpo has one million ...
Dividends Should Jump. These 3 Just Did; Companies look likely to increase payments to shareholders. Here are three that already have.
SmartMoney.comWall Street projects handsome increases to both profits and dividends for large U.S. companies in coming years. Investors should view the profit forecast with suspicion, but the dividend outlook seems believable. Below are listed some ...
Ditch the IPOs; Try These Old-School Stocks Instead; IPOs tend to underperform the broad stock market over long periods, so it may be smart to avoid all the hoopla and stick with tried-and-true companies.
SmartMoney.comI'm waiting for Smurfler and Who-jitsu to file for initial public offerings. Prices for recent IPOs with more recognizable names are high enough to signal a bubble like the one that popped in 2000. All that's missing are a string ...
5 Stocks For Buying Into the Correction; The market's recent decline produced some bargains for investors.
SmartMoney.comFor investors brave enough to buy while the market's falling, below are a handful of stock ideas. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 7% during the five trading days through Thursday. These shares lost at least that much, and they ...
3 Stocks Prospering From Housing. Really; These shares are paying off because of the real estate bubble, not despite it.
SmartMoney.comIf there must be a financial bubble in something, maybe real estate isn't so bad. When the tulip bubble popped in 1637, traders were left with nothing but fragrant, mocking bulbs and lists of unenforceable contracts. When U.S. real ...
3 Stocks Turning Research Into Returns; These firms are suddenly spending more on product development -- an excellent sign, studies show.
SmartMoney.comAnyone can call a stock cheap on a gut feeling. To screen for stocks that are cheap based on evidence, however, it's useful to compare their prices to some measure of underlying value that isn't altered by investor fervor. Common ...
3 Companies Slashing Their Debt; As policy makers haggle over raising America's borrowing limit, these companies are paying off what they owe.
SmartMoney.comHistory's most prosperous nation is nearing default on its debt, not because it can't afford to pay, but because a handful of top policy makers can't agree on how to cut spending and whether to raise revenues. Here's ...
Look Beyond Company Earnings for Safe Bets; U.S. Company earnings may be reaching unsustainable levels, so other factors -- like sales and price-to-sales ratios -- may be better predictors of stock returns.
SmartMoney.comU.S. companies have rarely been more prosperous. That's not cause for investors to celebrate, however. Two of history's most reliable indicators say earnings are so good that they're about to turn bad. Here are the details ...
3 Stocks With Safe 3% Yields; These companies offer income backed by financial strength.
SmartMoney.comIf the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 151-point drop Monday seemed less than shocking, it's because fully one-quarter of trading days this year have produced triple-digit moves in the average. Below are listed the sort of ...
3 Stocks Sitting At Takeover Prices; At these valuations, these firms might be appealing to suitors.
SmartMoney.comThe value of U.S. mergers and acquisitions jumped 39% during the first five months of this year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Companies are sitting on $1.1 trillion in cash, which suggests the second half of the year will see plenty ...
3 Big Tech Stocks Trading at Serious Discounts; Investors may be down on large-cap technology companies, but these stable earners are too cheap to ignore.
SmartMoney.comBig Tech is stuffed with cash and trading at a significant discount to the broad market. That's a sign of investor pessimism, and earnings for the group might indeed be due for a dip, but a handful of companies are too cheap to ignore. ...
3 Retailers With Superb Returns on Capital; These stores produce hefty profits relative to the money they invest--an excellent sign for investors.
SmartMoney.comNot all growing retail chains are healthy. To see what I mean, head to the nearest Circuit City, Linens n' Things or Chi-Chi's. If you have trouble finding them, it's because all three have closed most or all of their stores. ...
3 Simple-Food Stocks With Caviar Prices; Pantry shares satisfy in a shaky economy, but not when they cost this much.
SmartMoney.comFood stocks make sense right now. U.S. unemployment is up, house prices are down, European debt looks shaky and growth has slowed a bit in China and Brazil. When the economy looks shaky, food-makers can be counted on to deliver stable ...
3 Stocks With Suddenly Higher Yields; The market's recent selloff provides dividend hunters with opportunities.
SmartMoney.comGreed is said to push stock prices higher, but if anything, the doubling of U.S. shares during the two years ended March suggests buyers aren't greedy enough. They're settling for the mere hope of fast gains while making only ...
Stock Pickers Prepare for Sweeping Budget Reform; These dividend-paying, market share-taking companies should thrive and offer investors strong returns in the changing economy.
SmartMoney.comThe government Accountability Office runs two sets of numbers when forecasting the nation's long-term financial health: "baseline" and "alternative." Right now they might as well be called bad and worse. ...
Companies With 11-Figure Cash Balances; Together these six firms are sitting on more than $160 billion.
SmartMoney.comTen billion dollars is an almost unfathomable sum. Invested in humble Treasury bonds yielding 4% it will gush more than $1 million per day of income. Worldwide, 81 people have amassed such a fortune, one-third of them Americans, according ...
3 Stocks the Recovery Has Missed; Most shares have soared over the past two years. Not these.
SmartMoney.comHere's a challenge: Think of a stock whose price has fallen since the stock market bottomed in March 2009. The S&P 500 has roughly doubled since then, so these are shares that have missed out on a stunning rally.
3 Stocks Priced for Unrealistic Growth; The performance needed to support these shares seems unlikely, a research firm says.
SmartMoney.comWall Street analysts should work backwards. The price targets they assign to stocks -- "United Snorkle, currently $35 a share, should hit $42 in 18 months" -- are based on projections of how sales, margins, cash flow and more will ...
3 Stocks With Free Cash Flow and Dividends; These companies offer two things that are surprisingly difficult to find now.
SmartMoney.comEarnings for U.S. companies are forecast to hit a record high this year. So it should be little trouble to find companies that generate a respectable amount of cash relative to their purchase price, and that pay a fair portion of that cash ...
3 Stocks for Beating Inflation; These stocks offer handsome yields and protection against rising prices.
SmartMoney.comTreasury inflation-protected securities offer meager interest: 0.9% on 10-year issues, versus 3.2% on standard bonds of the same duration. The tradeoff, of course, is that the principal is adjusted for the rate of inflation, keeping ...
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Arends: Is it true that stocks are cheap "when compared with bonds"? That's the line on Wall Street.