Economic reports, especially those relating to the financial health of American citizens, have not been overwhelmingly positive lately. In fact, deflationary fears aren’t subsiding, and more quantitative easing from the Fed may be on the horizon, as evidenced by nuances in today’s statement.

The dismal consumer state makes the performance of Growth Portfolio member Apple (AAPL) all the more impressive. While most Americans are struggling to stay employed and pay their bills, Apple is struggling to keep their new offerings on the shelves. Yesterday, the company announced that they have sold 3 million iPads since their new tablet computer was released in early April. The demand has exceeded company and Wall Street expectations alike, and has strained supplies. With an iPad being purchased every two seconds, most retail outlets have resorted to customer waitlists as inventory struggles to catch up to the volume of purchases.Read more...

In Monday’s Market Update, we highlighted the few information technology companies that we feel qualify as franchises. With one exception, all of those companies are represented in our Growth Portfolio. Today, we add Qualcomm (QCOM) to the portfolio – completing our technology franchise portfolio. Read more...

With the market’s attention focused on the minute details of economic readings, the recovery of the fragile banking sector, and gold hitting all-time highs, some of the most stable companies have been left out of the headlines. However, that recently changed in regards to two Income Portfolio members over the last couple days, as both AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) made announcements that could shake-up the mobile phone industry. Read more...

We are in the full swing of earnings season, and the market is sorting through companies’ reports to find clues as to the state of the economy. Our read has largely been that only those companies that have significant operations in the developing nations are showing strength, while many domestic companies are still having trouble. In other words, we think that the American economy is not out of the woods yet. Today we’ll review two Growth Portfolio picks that reported earnings yesterday: Coca-Cola (KO), a multinational powerhouse, and Apple (AAPL), a predominantly domestic company that has bucked the trend of weak consumer spending.Read more...