A Business Development Company (BDC) is a public corporation that helps small- and mid-sized companies with financing.  What is appealing to income investors is that BDCs must pay out 90 percent of its taxable income each year to investors in dividends.  That can result in high dividend yields from such BDCs as Apollo Investment (NASDAQ: […]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) have been on a bull market stampede since March 2009. But the overall American economy has not been feeling as bullish. The policies under Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke favored the stock market.  Low interest rates made stocks more […]

For patient, savvy investors looking for long term gains, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) is a very appealing stock for a variety of factors. Caterpillar, a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA), is the world’s largest heavy equipment maker. It is also a very volatile stock.  The beta for Caterpillar is 1.65.  That means […]

For those looking for bullish indicators in the energy sector, BP BPC (NYSE: BP) just announced plans to increase oil production by 900,000 barrels a day by 2020. BP PLC is the second largest oil company, Big Oil in every way with operations around the world. Like so many others in the oil and natural […]

There is much to be said for investing in the best-run companies in a sector, such as Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV). Many previous articles on this site have been bullish on Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines is up for the last month, quarter, six months, and year of market action.  For 2014, Southwest Airlines has soared […]

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) is continuing to expand in areas such as Africa and the Arctic, among others, even with the falling price of oil and natural gas. The largest oil and natural gas firm in the world, Royal Dutch Shell is “Big Oil” by every meaning. But its stock price is not as […]

BP PLC (NYSE: BP), the second largest energy company in Europe, is down for the last week, month, quarter, six months, and year of market action. For 2014, BP PLC is down by nearly 17 percent. This is the same with other oil and natural gas firms like Chevron (NYSE: CVX), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), and […]

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) in that it is a “Big Oil” company that has not spun off units like so many others. As a result, Chevron, again like ExxonMobil, has not fallen in recent stock market action like so many other energy companies. Chevron is down for the last week, month, […]

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) is the world’s largest natural resources company with operations spanning the globe from its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. It is very profitable, more than three times the average of around ten percent for a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (NYSE: SPY). But that still has not prevented BHP […]

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), the drug and consumer product maker, is a classic blue chip that all should all have in their portfolio, That is shown in that more than two-thirds of the stock is owned by institutional investors such as mutual funds, pensions groups, and others. It is always a bullish when institutional […]