The earnings season excitement continues, with companies largely beating Wall Street estimates. Our recommendations have been no exception, so far. However, besting estimates doesn’t necessarily mean that a stock will rally – and this quarter we’ve seen many companies report impressive results for the period, only to see the stock fall in the subsequent market session.

One such example is cell phone chip-maker and Growth Portfolio member Qualcomm (QCOM), whose stock has been on a rollercoaster ride since the company’s last quarterly report in January. In that instance, the company reported a solid quarter, but its guidance (based on weaker demand from Europe), left something to be desired in the eyes of analysts. We agreed, but saw the short-term weakness in the stock as a buying opportunity. A couple months later, the company revised its guidance – essentially back to its original forecast – based on better than expected demand from its developed economy markets. The stock, as you might expect, gapped up.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...