Latest Posts

  • Finance 0

    Hasbro Dividend Stock Analysis

    This is a guest post by Mike, aka The Dividend Guy. He authors The DividendGuy Blog since 2010 and manages portfolios at DividendStocks Rock. He is a passionate investor. Founded in 1923, Hasbro (HAS) designs, manufactures and markets games and toys for children and families. It owns several toy brands and also excels in producing licensed toys related to movies and TV shows. Their main competitors are Mattel (MAT) for toys and Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel (DIS) for viewers, advertising revenue and distribution. Seven Year Revenue Growth Rate: 1.56% Seven Year EPS Growth Rate: 7.18% Seven Year Dividend Growth Rate: 15.18...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Eurozone Embarks On QE Venture

    Late to the party, perhaps, but today sees the start of the Eurozone’s open ended quantitative easing programme (QE). It is anticipated that the ECB will pump at least €1.1trillion of new money into asset purchases over the next 18 months as it seeks to apply CPR to the quivering heart of the Eurozone economy. The move was announced on 22/01/15 by ECB President, Mario Draghi and was set to commence in March. The medicine will be given to the patient at a rate of €60 billion per month and is slated to continue until September of next year – at the earliest. The ECB QE programme has several goals one of which is to reverse deflation wit...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Euro Remains Heavy Ahead Of ECB

    The US dollar is broadly firmer though the Antipodean currencies continue to enjoy residual strength. The Canadian dollar is not being dragged up with them on account of Bank of Canada meeting today.   Although Governor Poloz dampened expectations for a cut with last week’s reiteration that the January rate cut was an insurance policy to buy time. Yesterday’s somewhat firmer than expected Q4 GDP (2.4% vs 2.0% consensus) would have seemed to have solidified such expectations, the details were less encouraging, keeping some wary of a cut today. Inventory accumulation accounted for 0.4 percentage points and the two sectors the ce...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Today’s Trading Tips & Market Analysis – March 4, 2015

    Video Length: 00:02:31 See Today’s Trading Opportunities Below ñ Watch The Video For Full Market Analysis 1 – The EUR/USD pair continues to do nothing during the session on Tuesday, and as we go into Wednesday we see no real trading opportunity beyond the fact that we can buy puts on short-term rallies. We believe that the 1.12 level is going to continue to offer bit of resistance, and we know that the 1.15 level well. If we can break down from here, we could go down to the 1.11 level, and then perhaps the 1.10 level. 2 – The S&P 500 fell during the session on Tuesday, but we continue to see plenty of support below. With that, ...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    US Follows Asia’s Lead Into The Red, Points To Lower Open Wednesday, March 4th, 2015

    TM editors’ note: This article discusses a penny stock and/or microcap. Such stocks are easily manipulated; do your own careful due diligence. This week has certainly been historic so far as the DOW reached levels significantly higher than it’s previous all-time high. As of this morning, however, the DOW is pointing to a lower open, indicating down -60 points as of 04:11 A.M., EST. The S&P is showing lower as well, down -6.80 points. And the NASDAQ is indicating lower as well, down -12.00 points. American markets will look to rebound after yesterday’s giveback. In the foreign world markets, the Asian markets suffered some bad l...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Here’s What Will Send Oil Prices Back Up Again

    Oil’s rapid decline since August of last year has been dramatic. To listen to some commentators you would also think it is unprecedented and irreversible. Those claiming that oil will continue to fall from here and remain low for evermore, however, are flying in the face of both history and common sense. The question we should be asking ourselves is not if oil prices will recover, but when they will.   Figure 1: Inflation adjusted WTI since Jan 1985. Chart from Macrotrends.net From June of 2014 until now, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has fallen approximately 57 percent. As the above chart shows, there h...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Taiwan Government On Alibaba Fund: Mainland China “Not A Good Environment For Entrepreneurship”

    “The NDC states that mainland China’s legal environment is not transparent, with many unwritten rules increasing the risk of entrepreneurship. Mainland China is not the region of choice for Taiwan’s young entrepreneurs, and is not a good environment for entrepreneurship.” – Statement by the NDC  Image Credit: Shuttterstock/ Business man refusing money offered by business man isolated on white Over the past several days, a conflict has emerged between Alibaba, China’s leading e-commerce company, and the Taiwan government. Just as Alibaba announced it would establish a US$315 million fund to support entrepreneurs on the island,...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Palo Alto Networks Impresses Again With Quarterly Report

    Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) posted their fiscal second quarter 2015 report on March 2nd. The cyber security company’s report topped estimates following large-scale breaches at Sony and Target that garnered media attention. The cyber security company now has over 22,000 customers, or 6%-7% of the market share as stated by CEO Mark McLaughin on CNBC. Palo Alto Networks enjoyed a successful quarter in which they introduced new hardware and launched a global user group intended to share best security practices across a variety of industries. In the fiscal second quarter of 2015, the cyber security company posted total revenue of $217.7 bil...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Business Activity Contracts In Japan, Modest Expansion In China; PBOC Rate Cut Seen

    Markit has new reports out today on service activity in China and Japan. The former shows a bit of growth, the latter contraction. Because the reports are diffusion indices that give no weighting to the size of the companies reporting, one must look at these reports with a broad brush. Japan Business Activity Contracts The Markit Japan Services PMI shows service sector business activity contracts in February.  Key points Service sector activity falls, while new business remains just inside growth territory Input price inflation eased at Japanese services firms Business sentiment strengthens Japan Composite PMI Summary Latest data highlight...
    On March 4, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    One Potential Weakness Of Berkshire Hathaway

    As I mentioned yesterday, there wasn’t anything that amazing and new in the annual letter of Berkshire Hathaway. Lots of people found things to comment on, and there is always something true to be reminded of by Buffett, but there was little that was new. Tonight, I want to focus on a few new things, most of which was buried in the insurance section of the annual report. Photo Credit: Fortune Live Media Before I get to that, I do want to point out that Buffett historically has favored businesses that don’t require a lot of capital investment.  That way the earnings are free to be reinvested as he see fit.  He also appreciates having moa...
    On March 4, 2015 / By