As I wrote recently, mortgage REITs as a sector are trading at some of the steepest discounts to book value in their histories. I consider mortgage REITs trading at eighty to ninety cents on the dollar to be a fantastic bargain. But I also know that those bargains exist for a reason. With bond yields–and...Read More

Editor’s note: This column is part of our Best Stocks for 2015 contest. Charles Sizemore’s pick for the contest is Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC). I have a reputation to redeem. After winning InvestorPlace’s Best Stocks contest in 2011, coming within a hair of winning in 2012, and then winning it all in 2013, I’m at...Read More

Well, it happened — again. The 10-year Treasury fell all the way to 2.3% last week on a string of bad geopolitical news and mixed economic data. The last time yields were this low was June of last year, in the early stages of the “Taper Tantrum.” Could yields continue to go lower? Sure, they could....Read More

I was digging through an old file cabinet that had belonged to my grandfather, and I found this little blast from the past: a Walmart (WMT) letter to shareholders from 1985, signed by Chairman and company founder Sam Walton. As a child in the 1980s, I actually remember my grandfather proudly showing me a paper...Read More

And then there were two.  Two of the three remaining American “Big Tobacco” companies announced today that they would be merging: Reynolds American (RAI) will be buying Lorillard (LO) for $27.4 billion, including debt assumed. Reynolds and Lorillard combined have sales of $13.3 billion and a market cap of $55.3 billion as of yesterday’s prices,...Read More