The Tycoon Report

Tycoon readers, tomorrow is Independence Day. And with that theme in mind, today I would like to help you to declare your independence from average returns in the stock market. Last week I wrote about traveling a great distance to find value in the Real Estate market.  Today I am going to share one method with you for how to find tremendous value in the stock market.  But in order to find it, we are once again going to turn on the time machine, and go back into the past to find great opportunities for the future.  Fortunately, since our last journey of a few weeks ago, I've modified the time machine's engine, and I've subsequently increased my gas mileage! My wealth building time machine....10 years to the gallon! Let's face it, everybody and his uncle talks about Buy low, Sell high, as the ultimate way to get rich.  Yet we all know that this is easier said than done, and that few people will ever achieve this goal.  But why is that?  First, let's review ...

Before you dive into this week's most popular finance and investing questions, I ask that you take a minute to check out some of the exciting new features we've just added to TickerHound.com.  We've added a suite of Investing Education tools that I hope you'll really enjoy and learn a lot from. Simply go to TickerHound.com and click the "Tools" menu -- please send any and all feedback to feedback@tickerhound.com. This Week's Most Popular Investing Questions 1.  Are index funds a good idea? 2.  How often do you check your portfolio/ watchlist? Every couple of minutes? hourly? daily? 3.  Has Ford stalled? 4.  Do you think the oil stock correction is going to an end soon? 5.  What indicators do you use? 6.  Is the crazy drop in the DOW last week a signal for things to come this summer? 7.  Do you think the Blue Chips are going lower? 8.  What is happening to RIM? It keeps going down. Should I keep my stock or get rid of it? 9.  ...

The outlook for equities in the U.S. continues to be somewhat bearish at least for the near term. There is always a possibility of an upside catalyst, which could conceivably take the form of a black swan event as it would have such dramatic impact on the market. By definition, a black swan appears totally out of left field and has a highly dramatic effect. It is only by looking in the rear view mirror by much post mortem analyses, that reasons appear to suggest that the phenomenon was not as random as first thought.. Finding oil in one's backyard can be considered to be a black swan event on a personal level as many people in North Dakota are coming to discover. Google is considered to be a black swan as is was almost impossible to predict before hand that the company would achieve its current position of dominance across the industry and indeed, the world. Outside of such an occurrence as it pertains directly to the current market environment, an interesting trading strategy could ...

June sales tallies from retailers are set to be released on July 10, and in our view there will be a two part story. Right off the bat, we must say that investors should not foresee strong sales readings by any stretch of the imagination as June weather conditions were skewed towards unfavorable (there were pockets of warmth in key regions, though one must keep in mind the Midwest flooding and cool down in temperatures at month’s end). So, the first part of the story will be second quarter earnings guidance. Retailers held their guidance ranges steady on the May sales releases as they awaited more appropriate temperatures in June. We expect a host of earnings warnings from specialty apparel retailers as they were quite aggressive in terms of promotional inducing measures during May and June. Department stores should follow in similar fashion to their smaller counterparts; we observed meaningful clearance sales at the likes of JC Penney (JCP) and Macy’s throughout the month. Big ...

Time, Effort, and the inteligent use of LeverageIs a good investment composed of value, or is composed of profit? They are not the same thing. Value is an important criteria when I'm buying something I want, or might need to buy either way, generally not stock in someone elses business. Although value is a generally overall good indicator when used in conjunction with other analysis.Profit is what I invest or trade for, and profit is composed of price change and TIME. The one thing almost every value investor convieniently forgets. The way to make a lot of money in the market is to target movement. Value oriented, growth oriented, sentiment oriented, it doesnt matter, as long as it moves in a reliable and predictable fashion. This could mean targeting value, but not stagnant or falling value, unless your intentionaly trading that particular condition.The best percurser of movement, is movement. This could be a trend, or an ocsilating range. As long as it is reasonably predictable, and the ...

Editor's Note:  Our weekly telephone call to answer your questions has been posted.  Listen now to hear Teeka answer more reader questions, including ... Should you ignore the low-volume market action around a major holiday weekend? Are there any oil plays left that have room to run and are buys right now? What are the best technical indicators to look at when trying to spot a market bottom? Click Here to Listen >> If this market were a horse, I think we would have shot it already to spare it further misery. The one ray of light that investors have to hold onto is that we are very, very oversold. Yesterday's upside close was certainly a surprise, but I don’t know that it was enough of a move to say that the bottom is near. As mostly self directed investors, we have to readjust our perspective of the US equity markets. This is not a buy and hold the S&P 500/DOW 30 market, and it probably won’t be so again until about 2015 ...

First I want to thank you again for the nice e-mails.  I have to quickly answer one common question and then I'll get into my article. Many readers are asking about the S&P put options I recommended as a hedge against a likely decline in the stock market.  (Click to read the article).  On May 27th I said, "With Crude gunning through $135.00/barrel last week, and the stock market running into resistance right around the old support level (below), you should consider hedging your account with deep in-the-money puts on the S&P 500."  The puts I told you to use are up about 35% since I wrote that article about 1 month ago. Chart from FRIDAY May 23rd - after the week's close - applicable to one trading day prior to the article's publication People are asking when they should sell out of the put option.  Well I stated in the May 27th article that I would think about getting out when you see the CBOE volatility index (Symbol: VIX) in the 26 - 30 ...

Over the weekend the big news was that a Chinese investment manager won the bidding to have lunch with Warren Buffet. Consider that the winner of the lunch last year got the chance with a bid of $650,000 it is rather mind-boggling that a year later the winning bid is $2.1 million! Even more telling is the winning bidder is a Chinese investment manager. How appropriate since China is the world's fastest growing economy. Of course from an investing point of view China has been anything but hot. On the contrary the Chinese stock market has been the worst performer of 2008 after more than doubling last year. In the meantime the Chinese economy keeps growing, increasing non-stop like a juggernaut, but there are some areas of concern. Inflation in 2007 was just 4.7% in the most recent reading it was 8.7% - the highest in 12 years.It is almost amazing the degree which Chinese stocks have fallen this year. While retracements aren't unusual after massive rallies this correction suggests ...

Did you see Chris Rowe's most recent market wrap up? Every Monday afternoon at 6:30pm EST. he's posting a SUPER FAST market wrap-up for those of you who want to take a quick peek at the market, and go back to enjoying your life! Check out what moved the market, one topic or event affecting the value of your portfolio, and find out where the current bull market can be found - Because "there's always a bull market somewhere!!!" Let's grow our wealth together folks - Intelligently!! CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO!

For all the analysts and pundits in the financial media, there is still no better judge of a company's health and future prospects than the owners and executives of those companies themselves, along with major institutional shareholders. That's why insider buying and selling is a critical piece of data that is monitored by people who invest for a living. As part of our continuing effort here at The Tycoon Report to level the playing field between individual investors and the fat cats on Wall Street, we're keeping you informed -- on a daily basis and at no cost whatsoever -- of the most significant insider buying and selling. Below is a weekly re-cap of the past week's activity.  We publish this re-cap every Monday, and it can be accessed in your email issues or on the Tycoon Report website. Very important note:  While these Monday re-caps are available on the Tycoon Report website, if you want the most timely information we provide on insider buying and selling you've got ...