John Dorfman Columns category, Page 9

Very few chief executives have been buying their own company’s stock lately. In a computer search this weekend, I could find only three who bought shares in a significant quantity since the beginning of October. Biogen Michel Vounatsos, CEO of Biogen Inc. (BIIB), shelled out $748,061 on Nov. 30 to...

Weather, rust and sheer age attack the nation’s bridges and tunnels. Many of them are crumbling. The Minneapolis bridge collapse in August 2007, which killed 13 people and injured 145, was spectacular evidence of the problem. But it’s not an isolated example. About 46,000 U.S. bridges, including the Brooklyn Bridge...

Most of the stocks I own for clients are value stocks, selling for 15 times the company’s earnings or less. However, there is room in my heart — and in my portfolio — for a few GARP stocks. GARP stands for growth at a reasonable price. It’s the middle ground...

Kicking someone while they’re down is unsportsmanlike. But it happens every year in the stock market. In November and December, investors often pummel the stocks that have declined in the first 10 months of the year. Why? For tax reasons. Investors sell their losers to establish tax losses, which are...

Critics maintain that book value is an unreliable number, for various reasons. The reason cited most often is that it “distorts” book value when a company buys back its own stock. Buybacks are good, they say, yet they often paradoxically lower book value. I see no distortion here. Money spent...

Among all large-cap U.S. stocks, here are the five that are up the most this year through Oct. 30. Zoom (ZM) The pandemic has made “Zoom” a household word. With millions of people working from home, its group-conferencing software has made meetings possible — if sometimes interminable. No question that...

Many investors put most of their money in the largest companies. I’m fond of companies that straddle the borderline between small and mid-sized. I define large-capitalization stocks as those with a market value over $10 billion, mid-cap stocks as $1 billion to $10 billion and small-cap stocks as those under...

Major League Baseball punished the Houston Astros for the way they stole opponents’ signs. But there’s no penalty for an investment manager stealing ideas from another manager. In fact, I think one would be foolish not to. I peek from time to time at the holdings of other managers I...

The past year was horrible for dividend investing. Many investors these days are indifferent to dividends. They want a story, fast growth, momentum and a whiff of technology. No one buys Netflix (NFLX) or Tesla Inc. (TSLA) for the dividends — and, by the way, there aren’t any. Beginning in...

A few stocks continued to take it on the chin in the third quarter, even as many other stocks recovered from the previous quarter’s pandemic-induced slide. At the end of every quarter, I go hunting for stocks that have been smashed, and that I think have better things in store....

There are a few thousand stocks in the U.S. But a big part of the market value, the trading volume — in short, the action — is in the largest 20. Here are my ratings on the largest 20 stocks. Apple Inc. (AAPL, market value $1.92 trillion), Buy. Apple has...

I see very few chief executives stepping up to buy their company’s stock this summer. But I see scads of sellers. Corporate chieftains usually talk bullishly about their companies’ prospects. But if they’re selling some of their shares, it’s worth thinking twice. Of course, there are many reasons to sell....

Obscene profits. Don’t you miss them? Since the pandemic and recession began, fat profits have been hard to come by. Here are five stocks whose profit margins are still wide and whose prospects look good to me. Applied Materials Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT), based in Santa Clara, Calif., is one...

The market battered my Sane Portfolio in the past 12 months, as it posted its worst result ever. The Sane Portfolio is intended to provide investment ideas for middle-of-the-road, slightly conservative investors. I’ve been compiling this theoretical portfolio each August since 1999, with a three-year hiatus in 2007 through 2009....

The philosopher’s stone was a myth. So was the fountain of youth. But here’s something that sounds unlikely, yet is feasible. You can get both value and growth in the stock market. Value investors seek bargains. Growth investors seek companies with fast-growing earnings. There’s an inherent tension there. Bargain-priced stocks...

One sign of a good stock is rapid revenue growth. Sure, profits are what ultimately count. But you can’t grow profits for long unless revenue is growing too. Right now, some investors are chasing companies with fast revenue growth but scant earnings or none — the likes of Uber Technologies...

In 2015, one year before he became president, Donald Trump remarked that supermodel Heidi Klum was “sadly, no longer a 10.” Klum good-naturedly responded by wearing a T-shirt marked 9.99. What is always a 10? My Perfect 10 Portfolio. It contains 10 stocks, each of which is priced at 10...

Texas opened its bars and then closed them again. Apple Inc. opened its stores and then re-shut 32 of them. Walt Disney Co. has postponed the reopening of its theme parks. These are just some of the hundreds of ripple effects from the pandemic. In a climate of rampant uncertainty,...

On Wall Street, FOMO means fear of missing out. I think what many investors are feeling now is not FOMO but FOHAMO — fear of having already missed out. The stock market’s waterfall decline in February and March created some bargains, but with a virus-led recession starting, many investors were...

Ask some average investors how to identify a company that’s doing well. They will probably reply, “Good earnings growth and a rising stock price.” Well, sure, those things are fine. But I feel that most investors neglect at least two other important characteristics: high profitability and low debt. High profits...

February through May, my firm has been recasting our clients’ portfolios to reflect a continuing coronavirus epidemic and a recession of unknown length. We maintain a Model Portfolio, and about three quarters of our client accounts track it pretty closely. Here are the stocks in it, all of which I...

Three CEOs took million-dollar bites of their own cooking in May. At Carrier Global Corp. (CARR), which makes heating and air conditioning equipment, Chief Executive David Gitlin spent just over $1 million to increase his stake. At Greenbrier Companies Inc. (GBX), which manufactures rail cars, a trust connected with CEO...

Newmont Corp. (NEM), the largest U.S.-based gold mining stock, has doubled in the past year. Too late to buy? I don’t think so. I believe there are more gains to come. Despite the bear market brought on by the coronavirus, close to 4% of all U.S. stocks with a current...

Weeding isn’t just for gardens. I recommend that investors weed their portfolios at least once a year. Since the United States faces a recession — a stiff one, in my view — this is a good time to look at your holdings and weed out companies that have high debt,...

I love low-debt stocks. Companies with little or no debt have staying power when an unexpected emergency pops up — the current pandemic, for example. They almost never have to sell a promising division because they need cash. They may be able to launch new initiatives, make acquisitions or increase...