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“Fallen Angels” – why you should be cautious + new research report

No matter whether experienced or not, almost every investor is on the hunt for undervalued stocks to make money. What could be less welcome than a stock which has fallen in price and become cheaper? The problem is, “cheap” is not automatically “cheap”. In fact, buying cheap can become a costly mistake. I see a strict urgency to clean up with this dangerous myth that a stock only has to fall enough to become attractive.

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From hype to bust – the story of 22nd Century Group

Likely, everyone will know a story that kicked a stock into hyposphere, only to fall into dust later. The respective companies either did not recover anymore or went entirely bust. They all share one commonality: a nice story that catches the interest of especially retail investors. But where there is excessive greed without the support of fundamentals, the fall from grace is just around the corner. Here’s an example that was set to disrupt an undisruptable industry: tobacco.

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Why I don’t care about the Lindy effect

There are many rules of thumb and well-intentioned advice for younger investors. One such “rule” says that it is better to buy stocks of older and proven companies. While I do not disagree with this on an isolated basis, I am missing the second part, namely that every business has a certain life expectancy. There comes inevitably a time for every company to either step into the background or to disappear altogether. History is full of examples.

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Canon – the next big semiconductor supplier?

It was hard not to notice over the last few weeks alerts about Canon’s breakthrough announcement. The Japanese conglomerate has been working for a decade on a completely new technology compared to ASML’s EUV monopoly of how to produce small, state of the art semiconductors. Canon has an own approach that will soon enter the market. Could the stock of Canon be in the starting blocks for a new era?

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(Why) You should not try to outsmart the market + new research report

It is no secret that many retail investors tend to act on the stock market exactly contrary compared to what they do in everyday live. A special discount or promotion – let’s get it! When stocks fall – panic. When stocks or themes are en vogue, they jump in to not miss the (rolling) train – despite the next coming. Often, this behavior is explained by emotions of fear and greed. However, it goes further than that. There’s a component to it, I call “pseudo-logic”. Why you should be cautious with logic when investing is today’s topic.

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“Everything-resistent” iconic consumer stocks are tanking – but why?

In times of economic or political stress it is always good to have defensive, iconic consumer stocks in the portfolio – at least this “common wisdom” applied in the past. However, during the current market decline which in technical terms was not even a correction (the peak to trough drop was less than 10%), the overall sentiment already showed first signs of a panic. Not only that, the highly praised “defensive” stocks actually lost disproportionately. How come? And was it foreseeable?

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Not all that glitters is gold – a critical look at Barrick Gold

Everyone who engages with gold mining companies, very early stumbles upon Barrick Gold. It’s a household name and a darling of many. Even though the company describes itself as “world class”, the performance of the underlying business has been terrible – no understatement. There are so many myths about gold, silver and miners that I want to clean up with another such. It is not always the go-to strategy to just pick a household name, assuming size is all that matters.

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What you should know about ETFs and dividends

Especially stock market beginners get in touch early with ETFs and / or dividend investing, in part thanks to the respective communities and influencing faces. You can see both strategies separately or also in combination. However, a common thing I see e.g. on Twitter / X and YouTube is that these people promote them as being bullet-proof, save strategies. As a risk-focussed investor myself, I am clearly missing this crucial element.

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Zooming in on Zoom after –90% from its all-time high – what’s next?

Barely anyone will know somebody who does not know the video conferencing tool zoom. Especially during the last three years, it has become an everyday companion for many people who shifted to working from anywhere. The shares of Zoom were first hyped up to the stratosphere, but are back down to earth again. Is the stock now worth a second look as the sentiment is rather negative? Let’s find out.

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