On August 2, 2018, Apple stock price hitting the $207.5 mark to become the world’s first trillion dollar company. The critic might say – Apple is not the first trillion dollar company. It was PetroChina in 2007. But there are two issue here. Only 2% of the PetroChina was floated in the initial public offer, and second it was on “China’s” Shanghai Stock Exchange. There is a common factor among these two biggest companies. It is “Warren Buffett”. He made an investment in both the companies. Apple stock price jumped on the back of strong earnings results provided on July 31th. Apple provided its third quarter numbers for FY2018. It reported the Earnings Per Share of $2.34 which was above $0.16 above consensus expectations. The Company reported Revenue of $53.3 Billion (+17.4% yoy) which was above $870 Million above consensus expectation. Below are the Top 5 Expert Opinions we found on Stockchase on the Apple Stock…. As of August 15th 2018, Apple had a 18.97 P/E Ratio. In comparison, Amazon has a 149.89 P/E ratio. While the market thinks Amazon will continue to grow faster than Apple, AAPL’s stock might still have some room to grow.

Week’s Ending on Jittery Note … Stock Market around the world ended on the cautious note last week. On Friday, Turkish Lira fallen to all-time low against the dollar and entered into crisis territory. The global central banks are looking at their country’s exposure (directly as well indirectly) to the Lira and Turkey as whole. Canada’s job data came above expectations in July. This is particularly because of large gains in part-time jobs and public sector positions. Oil prices provided the straight sixth weekly loss. The International Energy Agency raised its estimate of world oil demand growth for next year. However the agency also raised the flag that upcoming (possible) oil sanctions against Iran could bring turmoil to the market later in the year. Elon Musk’s tweet about the securing the funding and taking the Tesla private at $420, provided the stock with high volatility before Tesla stock trading was halted. On Friday, Reuters reported Tesla’s board seeking more information on Musk’s financing plan. We selected 5 stocks that stand out this week starting with … ENB-T Enbridge     On 3 August 2018, Enbridge provided its Q2 FY2018 earnings figures. Company provided record average volumes in its Liquid Mainline System. In the earnings […]

A positive week… Stock Market around the world ended on the positive note last week.  On weekly basis, the S&P500 and NASDAQ Index  provided showed positive gains, while the DJIA Index remained roughly flat. Because of Weak US Jobs Data and Trade war concerns, yields on 7-Year US Treasury notes led a fall across maturities. Investors must still remain cautious on an escalating trade tensions between US & China. In retaliation, China proposed $60 Billion worth of Tariffs on US Goods. We selected 5 stocks that stand out this week starting with Alimentation Couche-Tard… ATD.B-T Alimentation Couche-Tard (B) Last month, Alimentation Couche-Tard provided a great set of numbers for the Q4 FY2018. Company provided the Revenue of $13.6 Billion (Growth of +41.5%). Company’s  total merchandise and service revenues were of $3.2B (+25% yoy), Same-store merchandise revenues increased by 1.8% in the US, 4.3% in Europe, and by 3.6% in Canada. Stock almost touched the $63.50 price in few days after the earnings announcement. Its lost some of its gain and the stock is not seems to be settled at $60.0 price. The experts are bullish on the stock. Paul Gardner likes it as a defensive play… Bryden Teich sees further synergies going forward… BTE-T Baytex Energy […]

2018: Volatile year for drug manufacturers 2018 remains the volatile year for the drug manufacturers. The recent steep rise in US Pharma companies has pushed the overall Pharma index upwards. Upon May 11, 2018 announcement of President Donald J. Trump’s Blueprint To Lower Drug Prices  the pharmaceutical sector took a sigh of relief. The major point which everyone was fearful of were not included in the statement. Trump administration’s intervention, Competition from Generic and “Me-too” drugs were affecting the demands for Branded and Proprietary drugs. Overall this sector remain subdued since beginning of the year up till recently. The proposal excluded the recommendations like – allowing the government to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers or importing lower-cost prescription drugs from abroad, and others. Pharma ETF as a benchmark Looking at SPDR Pharma ETF (XPH-N) could be a good benchmark. It has been up more than 10% since last three months. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across the pharmaceuticals sector. It invests in stocks of companies across all market capitalizations, with a market capitalization above $500 Million. US Pharma companies has increased the prices in recent periods. This applies to both branded and the old generics drugs. XPH-N SPDR Pharma ETF Based […]

5 Top Picks to Trade this Week This week investors have received the much-needed trade tensions relief for the short term. And strong economic activity news to break the negativity that is causing lot of volatility in the markets from the past several months. Solid earnings reports from companies for the second quarter adds to the positivity in the markets. Fruitful meeting between Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has stopped the U.S. President from levying tariffs on cars imported in to U.S. Both agreed to resolve the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by U.S. and retaliatory duties levied by EU soon. The GDP of U.S. economy grew by 4.1% in the second quarter of 2018, the strongest in more than three years. Further, inflation increased to 2.9% in June of 2018 from 2.8% in May. These economic results strengthen the Federal Reserve’s view to increase interest rates at a faster speed that it has been implementing from the past one year to contain inflation. Amid strong economic environment and short-term relief from trade tensions, we present this week’s five top picks. BLK-N BlackRock Inc. Wolfgang Klein, Senior investment advisor at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management recommends BlackRock Inc. […]

Attention Baby Boomers: You Can Enjoy Life Without Breaking the Bank This is a guest post by Jim McKinley. Jim is a retired banker with almost 30 years of experience. He created MoneywithJim to share his advice and other resources on a variety of financial topics. Good news! There are ways you can live it up without getting out of control financially. Here are some inexpensive thoughts on kicking up your heels that balance your frugal habits with a little more fun. Free Up Some Cash Even if you’re used to stretching your dollars, there may be some ways to eke more funds out of your budget. For instance, you may be able to save money by shopping around for new health care coverage. Finding a plan that is more affordable is a smart choice, as you may be paying for more coverage than you need. You also may be able to free up some funds by evaluating your mode of transportation. Sometimes you can save money with a different car insurance company, carpooling with friends or family members, or taking public transportation. And of course, there are senior discounts. Never hesitate to ask for a senior discount, as you […]

You can find an ETF for just about any stock category you could think of : natural resources, clean energy, drones, marijuana, healthcare. You name it. While investing in a theme can be rewarding (see our post about 5 Emerging Markets ETFs you should Buy Now), other themes are clearly not optimized for your portfolio’s performance or gains. It’s probably not a good idea to think your social agenda is a good investment plan. Let’s look at 5 theme-oriented ETFs we would NOT recommend you to buy… IHI-N iShares DJ Medical Devices ETF   IHI and the medical devices theme by itself doesn’t sound bad. But with a PE of 40x it might be expensive and there is probably not a lot of room for growth (and gains). MIND-T Horizons Active AI Global Equity ETF   This is one that might be interesting but that is highly risky. ZWU-T BMO Covered Call Utilities ETF   ICLN-O iShares Global Clean Energy (ICLN-O)   HMMJ-T Horizon Medical Marijuana   That’s high risk too. If you want to play it, invest what you can afford to lose and, as suggested by Terry Shaunessy, go for the Canopy Growth stock not the ETF. You […]

Trade war to allow for Emerging Market ETFs rebound? With all the tariffs noise and a stronger US dollar, now might be a good time to buy emerging markets ETFs to benefit from the rebound when Trump’s trade war threats are over. When you invest in Emerging Markets you invest in countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and many more where you bet the growth will be in the future. We’ve selected 5 ETFs stock experts suggest you add to your portfolio… GEM-N Goldman Sachs Emerging Market Equity ETF   GEM-N was a top pick on Stockchase more than 1 year and a half ago. It was at its highest back in February and then went down a bit. It’s still up 13% from the latest Top Pick date. XEC-T iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets XEC-T has already been selected 3 times as a Top Pick on Stockchase this year. Last time was just a few days ago on July 13th, 2018. It was also a Top Pick on June 1st and it was up 5% in mid-July. This ETF gives you long-term access to the growth potential of emerging markets. With this ETF, iShare states you own over 1500 […]

The weekly Top Picks… As we do each week, we curated multiple sources of experts opinions to come up with our Top 5 Stocks Top Picks to Trade this Week. Our Top 5 selection is available weekly on Monday for Premium Members and on Wednesday to everyone that don’t mind the ads and the multiple pages. Let’s start with a short recap of the economic highlights of the week : Geopolitical issues… The U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh call to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Mexico and Canada has caused a hostile trade environment between developed economies. Euro Union issued a 10-page list of tariffs on U.S. goods and challenged the United States’ move in World Trade Organization (WTO). Amid increased U.S. supply and OPEC considering boosting production led oil prices to cool down. U.S. economy in the peaks… Apart from the heated trade turmoil, U.S. economy is in the peaks of its superior performance in decades. Unemployment rate in the U.S. declined to 3.8% in May 2018 the lowest rate since April 2000. Canadian Economy posted less than expected GDP rate of 1.3% (Annualized) for the first three months of 2018, but in […]

The DIY Toolkit… With new fintech tools, low-cost ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and powerful online brokerage, it has never been easier to be a DIY investor. Still, do-it-yourself investing is not for everyone. It requires time, money, a willingness to learn and dedication to succeed as a DIY investor. 1. You need discipline 2. You need an asset allocation plan 3. You need a brokerage account that enables automation 4. You need to stick to your plan 5. You need some guidance and help picking stocks 6. You need to track your progress 7. You need to prevent emotions getting in the way We’ll tell you how we do it. And we’ll tell you about 7 tools we use to do it better. Discipline Learn from the experts Experienced investors start with an edge, but you can catch up quickly by learning from the experts and start winning in the market too. In order to establish your own rule system for investing, we suggest you learn from the success and mistakes of those who have been in the game before. TOOL #1 OF 7 Build your disciplined approach with the free 72 rules for winning in the market eBook Robin’s Speziale’s 72 […]

The Trump Effect Stocks have soared since the election of Donald Trump but, according to many stock market strategists, the real rally may just be getting started and the honeymoon will continue. Stocks are still going up and economy has been growing non-stop since Trump’s election. “The market has assumed we elected pro-growth, tax-cutting, roll-back-regulation Donald Trump, and not tariff-oriented Donald Trump,” says Bob Doll, chief stock strategist at Nuveen Asset Management. Could this change? Maybe. Tariffs against China “Trump is preparing a new list of tariffs against China: Not the best news, obviously. Market reaction is muted.” noted Barry Schwartz. All good until tariff war escalates “As for Trump’s tariffs, these are nickels and dimes against the big scheme of themes–unless the tariff war escalates.” said Kim Bolton The biggest influence on the market “Trump is the biggest influence on the market, both tailwind and headwind: the U.S. tax reform to lower corporate rates, then starts a trade war, creating a vacuum of uncertainty. Is he doing this to open markets down the road? If so, they should play out by the end of 2018, which is a good impetus for markets. Investors should look at assets not as […]