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To determine the best stocks for new money, you need to know two things:
Investors seeking great stocks often start by looking for robust top- and bottom-line growth. Unfortunately, that's also where many people stop looking. Respected fund manager Bill Nygren couldn't be happier about that unfortunate trait -- if only because it gives him an edge.
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, coal producer Alliance Resource Partners L.P.(Nasdaq: ARLP) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
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Margins matter. The more Armstrong World Industries (NYSE: AWI) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why I check on my holdings' margins at least once a quarter. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, comparisons to sector peers and competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Armstrong World Industries' competitive position could be.
Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.
Big Pharma giants are gathering in Chicago this week to wine and dine doctors at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, hoping docs will keep prescribing their multi-billion-dollar heart drugs. Not many little biotechs can compete in this league, but Hayward, CA-based Anthera Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ANTH) is hoping to lay some groundwork for a new drug that could give Big Pharma another way to generate billions from treating heart attacks.
Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.
It's never easy to hit a moving target, but there appear to be a million gamers moving around as the result of the early success of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT)Kinect.