Tag Archives: MCD

The Major Bubble That Nobody Is Talking About

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By Eric Parnell:

“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”

–Warren Buffett

A major bubble is currently inflating in investment markets. Yet nobody is talking about it. It’s not that the category in question isn’t getting any attention. To the contrary, it is being talked about at length nearly every day. But what is missing from the discussion is the fact that all of the signs of a massive bubble are now falling into place.

For the purpose of this article, I have taken a different approach with the analysis. Instead of introducing the investment that is showing signs of a bubble, I will be exploring the evidence first in order to avoid any behavioral biases associated with the specific investment in question.

While the bull market for this investment has been underway for nearly two years, it has only recently entered into a parabolic advance over the


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Escape Strategies For When The Stock Market Starts To Burn

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By Eric Parnell:

It was one of the most infamous building fires in U.S. history. The date was November 28, 1942. The place was the Cocoanut Grove, arguably the finest nightclub in all of New England. Up until that fateful day, The Grove was the place to be seen and was frequented by sport stars, celebrities and power elites. It was also, however, a place with dubious ties and there was a tragic accident just waiting to happen. And so it did on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 1942 when a fire rapidly engulfed the establishment in just 15 minutes, killing 492 guests and severely injuring another 166. The Cocoanut Grove fire resulted in important changes in building code fire safety as well as advancements in the treatment of burn victims. And over 70 years on, it also provides some important lessons about the strategies that should accompany investing in the stock market


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Key Signals To Watch For A Major Stock Market Top

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By Eric Parnell:

It is a question that is on the minds of many investors today. They are watching the stock market relentlessly rising nearly every single trading day, with even the smallest of dips being bought in pushing the stock market to new highs. Yet they stand back and look at the fundamental data and see a complete disconnect between the direction of stock prices and the underlying economic reality. And believing that the rally is being completely fueled by the flood of monetary liquidity that continues to flow into the markets, they remain convinced that this will all end badly just as it has a few times before since the start of the new millennium. But this leads to the key question – exactly when will the market finally reach a major market top and plunge into a sharp correction? Fortunately, the recent past has provided us with some key signposts


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Team Alpha Retirement Portfolio: Impressive Returns Plus Impressive Dividend Hikes

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By Regarded Solutions:

This month’s update for the Team Alpha Retirement Portfolio is unique. Not because the month was wonderful, actually the gains were minor, but because for the month of April, we made no major changes to the portfolio aside from swapping PFF for WFC. When all was said and done, the portfolio continues to show impressive gains.

The Team Alpha portfolio consists of Ford (F) Chevron (CVX) Apple (AAPL), McDonald’s (MCD), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), AT&T (T), General Electric (GE), BlackRock Kelso Capital (BKCC), KKR Financial (KFN), Procter & Gamble (PG), CSX Corp. (CSX), Realty Income (O), Coca-Cola (KO), Annaly Capital (NLY), Cisco (CSCO), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Healthcare Select Sector SPDR (XLV), and Wells Fargo (WFC).

I wrote this article, in which I stated that there are


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Buy McDonald’s For Both Its Dividend And Growth

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ByAlbert Alfonso:

On April 19, McDonald’s (MCD) reported its Q1 2013 results. While McDonald’s did post higher revenues, it also saw comparable sales and operating income decline. McDonald’s is a prototypical dividend-growth stock, with yearly dividend increases and large share buybacks. Due to the weaker than expected earnings, McDonald’s fell about 2%, however the stock is still up over 13% YTD. As of this writing, McDonald’s offers a $0.77 per share quarterly dividend, and yields about 3.10%.

(click to enlarge)

During the quarter, McDonald’s saw its global comparable sales decreased 1.0% and operating income decrease 1% when compared with the prior year. However, McDonald’s did see its revenues increase 1% and earnings per share (EPS) increase 2% to $1.26.

(click to enlarge)

In the U.S., comparable sales decreased 1.2% in Q1, and operating income declined 3%. However, despite these results, McDonald’s U.S. operations outperformed the competition and was actually able to


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Cramer’s Mad Money – 16 Things To Watch In The Week Ahead (3/12/13)

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By SA Editor Miriam Metzinger:

Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV Program, Friday April 12.

16 Things To Watch In The Week Ahead: Citigroup (C), Google (GOOG), General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Coca-Cola (KO), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Core Labs (CLB), Kinder Morgan Partners (KMP), The Gap (GPS), Union Pacific (UNP), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Honeywell (HON), Under Armour (UA), Kimberly Clark (KMB), McDonald’s (MCD). Other stocks mentioned: Pepsi (PEP), Barrick (ABX), BlackBerry (BBRY)

Earnings season revs up in the week ahead, and companies will indicate whether this miraculous rally is on borrowed time or is the real thing. Cramer would avoid trading around earnings, except for Google (GOOG) or General Electric (GE), a holding in Cramer’s charitable trust. If Intel’s (INTC) report is disappointing, and Microsoft (MSFT) declines to $27, those who are bullish on MSFT could buy some ahead of the earnings on Thursday.


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The Dow Weekly: 5 Cheapest Price-to-Book Stocks

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ByMichael Fu:

This is the second edition of the weekly series called The Weekly Dow (for last week’s article on the Top 5 Dividend Plays, click here). This week, we will look at the 5 cheapest Price-to-Book multiple stocks in the Dow Index Industrials Index (DIA). By the way, please reference my prior article on the pros and cons of looking at book value, specifically as it applies to bank and insurance stocks.

The 5 Cheapest P/B Stocks

As of April 9, 2013, the 5 cheapest P/B stocks in the Dow are Alcoa (AA) at 0.7x, Bank of America (BAC) at 0.9x, JP Morgan (JPM) at 1.2x, Travelers (TRV) at 1.3x and Verizon (VZ) at 1.7x.

Note that 3 of these stocks (BAC, JPM and TRV) are bank and insurance stocks. Note that bank stocks and insurance stocks are levered, and the financial assets that are held on their balance


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A Flight To Safety Or Crash And Burn?

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By Regarded Solutions:

I have been thinking about what will happen when (if?) the market, and our Team Alpha Retirement Portfolio, corrects (view the latest update here). Make no mistake about this; at some point the market will correct. I say IF, tongue in cheek, because throughout history every bull market corrects. This bull market will be no different.

Actually there is ONE difference, especially for us retired folks. In past market corrections, investors could park portfolio assets into fixed income securities, like Treasury Bonds. Since the equity markets were in a bull mode, interest rates for Treasuries were decent and the actual cost of the bonds were at or below par. A pretty good place for a “flight to safety”. In the very least, our money was just about keeping pace with inflation, and was safe by virtue of the fact that it was backed by the USA.

Now,


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