The markets end mixed on the day as the rumor mill surrounding
all things Europe and Greece continued to turn in every which
way.
Earnings results out this morning helped push up shares of
well-known consumer brands H.J. Heinz (
HNZ
) (
full
earnings report here
) and Campbell Soup (
CPB
) (
report here
). On the flipside, investors took some profits in shares of
Nordstrom Inc. (
JWN
) (
more
here
) as well as General Mills (
GIS
) (
read
more
), which came out and cut its profit guidance this morning. It was
a strong week for oil prices (stock symbol
USO
) and unfortunately for consumers, this trend will likely translate
to continued rising gas prices in the near term.
The Guy on TV Said to Buy It…
Investors sometimes miss key market developments, especially
when watching business television. It's tough to glean any real
analysis when a pundit on TV gives nothing more than a quick
3-minute rundown of why the stocks they like are headed higher. If
you act on everything you hear in these brief snippets, your
performance will likely suffer. Timing is everything in investing
(particularly in trading), and by the time big trends make the
business news stations, the bulk of the move is probably already
over.
The key phrase to focus on is "going forward." Anyone can look
to the past and see how well a stock has done. Is the company
well-positioned moving forward, though, or are its best days behind
it?
Think back to the early 2000′s when Microsoft (
MSFT
) was one of the most widely-held stocks, along with the likes of
Cisco Systems (
CSCO
), Yahoo (
YHOO
), and other tech giants. The gains we saw in the 90′s with these
names were immense, but if you kept pouring capital in these stocks
upon the recommendation of TV analysts who were still betting on
the old performance, you would have put your portfolio in a
terrible spot.
So avoid a knee-jerk reaction to analyst commentary. Too often
investors act on impulse because someone on TV said "XYZ stock is a
great buy and is one of their top holdings". Always dig a bit
deeper before you decide to make moves with your hard-earned
money.
The Missing Piece
It's a real sad day for New York Mets' fans like myself,
learning of the passing of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter from
brain cancer yesterday.
When I remember "The Kid" (as he was known), I think back to the
day I first heard the Mets had acquired Carter in a blockbuster
trade from the Montreal Expos. Right at that moment, I said to
myself, "this is it, we can really win a championship now." Lo and
behold, the Mets became World Series champions the year after Gary
Carter joined the team. All sports fans have similar special
memories surrounding their favorite teams, players, and games.
Sometimes, it's as simple as fondly remembering going to the
ballpark with your dad, close relatives, or other special people in
your life.
Just as I knew Gary Carter was the missing piece to my favorite
baseball team's success, we all have moments in our own lives that
can make us complete. It could be getting married to that special
someone, having children, finding the right business to start or
acquire, getting that perfect job, or even adopting a new
investment strategy that helps you achieve financial peace of mind.
The missing piece doesn't always just reveal itself to you -
sometimes you have to go out there and find it. When you do, your
life is changed forever, almost always for the better.
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A Look to Next Week and a Weekend Preview
Looking ahead to next week, just a reminder the markets will be
closed for President's Day on Monday, but starting Tuesday, we will
be keying in on retailer earnings out from the likes of Home Depot
(
HD
), Target (
TGT
), Wal-Mart Stores (
WMT
), J.C. Penney (
JCP
), and more.
Be sure to catch up with our latest watchlist updates this
weekend on
Dividend.com Premium
, including reports on earnings/story stocks, analyst
upgrades/downgrades, dividend ETFs, and much more. And as always,
you can view our current recommendations on our industry-leading
Best Dividend Stocks List
.
We will be putting a holiday edition post up on Monday so be
sure to check it out. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you this
weekend! P.S. Please pass this e-mail on to someone you think can
use some financial motivation as well as being kept in the
financial news loop that could affect them.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.