Top Stocks To Buy For 2014

No sooner had Life Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: LIFE  ) announced its successful purchase of KDR Biotech last week, then out came Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO  ) with a $13.6 billion bid to buy Life Technologies itself. This morning, Life Technologies announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell itself to Thermo Fisher for $76 per share, or about $13.6 billion in total plus assumption of $2.2 billion in net debt. That assumption raises the deal value to $15.8 billion in total, easily trumping what was being reported last week as an estimated $11 billion bid for Life Technologies from private equity powerhouses Blackstone, Carlyle Group, and KKR. The deal must be approved by shareholders and needs regulatory approval. Thermo Fisher CEO Marc N. Casper was quoted in the company press release as saying that “Life Technologies enhances all three elements of our growth strategy: technological innovation, a unique customer … Continue reading →

Retail sales figures from March started pouring in yesterday, and it looks like there are only a few winners. Gap (NYSE: GPS  ) saw comparable sales drop 1% in March. Buckle (NYSE: BKE  ) had flat sales, and even TJX (NYSE: TJX  ) had a 2% decline. The culprit — if you feel obligated to look further than branding and management — might be weather. The weather mentality Luckily, there are all sorts of interesting studies that people have done to indicate why we’re prone to shop in one kind of weather and not in another. The unsurprising conclusion of this research is that we get thrown off easily. If it’s supposed to be freezing cold and is, then we shop just fine. If it’s supposed to be freezing cold but it’s warm, we get flustered. It’s like going to your favorite restaurant only to discover that they’ve changed the menu, and now … Continue reading →

It’s easy to lose sight of the purpose of investing. Despite what CNBC might lead you to believe, investing is not about adroitly maneuvering in and out of the market on a daily, if not hourly, basis trying to beat the pros. The only one that gets rich when you do this is your broker — ever wonder why brokerage commercials show people with home offices far nicer than yours? The true purpose is instead much more pedestrian in nature — as billionaire George Soros has been known to say, “If investing is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money.” First and foremost, the purpose of investing is to preserve your hard-earned capital against inflation. And beyond this, it’s to generate a respectable return. So how do you go about doing this? Most people think the way to do so is to pick great stocks. I … Continue reading →