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 short term pains for oil, natural gas, and coal highlight the long term appeal of the exchange traded funds for oil United States Oil (NYSE: USO), natural gas (NYSE: UNG), and coal Market Vectors Coal (NYSE: KOL). There are many reasons for the short term decline as there are factors that make the long […]

Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC), an auto parts distribution company, has pretty much been in drive coming out of The Great Recession.  It is up for the last quarter, month, six months, and year of market action (chart below).  For 2014, Genuine Auto Parts is up must over 7 percent.  Now trading around $88.50 a […]

Westpac Banking Corporation (NYSE: WBK) is the largest financial services company in Australia. It has many features that makes it more appealing than American money center banks such as Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup(NYSE: C).  Due to these attributes, Westpac Banking Corporation is up for the last week, month, quarter, six months, and […]

Manufacturing is recovering from The Great Recession which means there is a bullish outlook for Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW).  While Illinois Tool Works has recovered strongly from The Great Recession, it is still appealing (chart below).  Here are 3 reasons why long term investors should be interested in Illinois Tool Works. There is a […]

There have been a number of reports that should have investors bullish on shipping stocks such as Frontline (NYSE: FRO), DryShips (NASDAQ: DRYS), and Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ: EGLE) (chart below), among others. During The Great Recession, the shipping industry was battered by a “perfect storm” of adverse market conditions. Shippers overbuilt due to strong […]

Previous articles on this site have detailed how Big Oil stocks like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) are ideal candidates for writing covered call options. Add Sherwin Williams (NYSE: SHW) to that list. Sherwin Williams makes paints, coatings, and other products related to housing and other sectors.  Like other […]

Many previous articles on this site have focused on the bullish outlook for Big Oil stocks such as BP PLC (NYSE: BP), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM). That outlook has been justified by the performance of those stocks. Over the last year of market action, BP is up more than 25 percent.  ExxonMobil […]

  Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are publicly traded companies that invest in real estate.  REITs come in many types, ranging from those owning apartment buildings to prisons.  For investors, REITs offer an ideal way to profit from the real estate industry.  Overall, there are three main reasons to own REITs rather than the actual […]

While the housing market is cooling down, the remodeling segment of the sector continues to be hot. There should be strong growth, according to the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.  The increase is expected to be in the double digits.  Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is ideally situated to […]