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We should place a bet on how many times the terms "tax" and "middle class" and uttered in the same sentence by Barack Obama and John McCain ahead of the November election.    My under/over on each would probably fall somewhere around 1,000.  That's 1,000 times each word is uttered, not combined. While I know what the word "tax" means (believe me, living in New Jersey you do), the problem is ... read more

Its a story that hasn't gotten much attention but should.   LandSource Development Communities, a California real estate partnership, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this weekend.    The company was a real estate venture involving homebuilder Lennar (NYSE: LEN), a unit of private equity firm Cerberus, and MW Housing Partners. The problem is that one of the major investors in ... read more

You may want to file this one under the "law of unintended consequences" heading. This weekend in Washington, D.C. I hopped into a cab.   I noted to the driver that it was the first time I'd been in one with a meter (as opposed to the old, much-maligned system was that of "taxi zones" where you were charged based on which zone you went in and out of).   This opened up an energetic ... read more

With many retailers struggling in a slowing economy, one small cap Nebraska-based retailer has been posting surging same store sales numbers. Kearney, Nebraska (population 27,341) based The Buckle (BKE) just rolled out its May numbers and they are staggering.   May same store sales (stores that have been open at least a year, this does NOT include new store openings) rose 34.7%.   No, I ... read more

We do this segment every Tuesday, finding companies that have been growing and posting solid sales and revenue numbers without getting a lot of attention from Wall Street or the media. Today's company: Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW). Watson Wyatt says its focus is "human capital," which is a fancy way of saying consulting.   Whatever the focus is, it's been working.   The 3 year average ... read more

There is an old Wall Street adage that reads "sell in May and go away."  Its based on the historical concept that stocks tend to do most of their moves from Labor Day to Memorial Day and then slow down when the weather gets nice. The credit and mortgage crisis has changed this. Investors now know that with negative headlines on housing and credit able to cross at any time, any day, its ... read more

Business news has increasingly become "stock and bond news."  What's worse, it's become "the same 50 stocks news" with very little attention paid to the thousands of small and mid cap companies in America churning out solid earnings and sales growth quarter after quarter, year after year.   That's why every Tuesday I'm bringing you the "stocks you've never heard of, but should have" ... read more