An Easy Way to Find Winning Stocks
Investors never stop looking for the next big stock. They'll use any number under the sun, except one of the most simple, obvious ones out there. Investors that ignore this number could be missing out on the next ten-bagger.

Olympic Fever: Yet Another Reason to Invest in Brazil
Brazil is making headlines with its winning bid for the Olympics, but there are plenty of other reasons that make the country a compelling investment candidate. Learn what they are and the easiest way to profit from Brazil's rise as an economic force.

This Strategy Delivers a +9.4% Payoff in a Week -- Again and Again
Investors who used this simple strategy made an average of +9.4% in one week. Not just once, either: It happened 11 times last year. And it should keep happening.

Dodge the Next Market Meltdown With These Unique Funds
These unique funds didn't lose any ground during the last downturn and are just entering what could be one of their most profitable periods -- ever.

Three Obvious Things No One Realizes About the Market
Hardly anyone talks about this affordable way to invest in great companies. Learn how to sidestep your broker and harness one of the most powerful forces in the universe on your way to early retirement.

Take a Peek at Your Congressman's Portfolio
How did members of Congress make out with their investments during this downturn? Find out what were the most widely-held stocks in Congress and how Obama avoided losses in the market.

Find Safety Amid Crisis with Gold
Some investors believe that efforts by the U.S. government to restore order to the financial system will ultimately mean a reacceleration of inflation and renewed weakness in the dollar. If that's true gold should assume its traditional role as a store of value. Alternatively, if the financial crisis drags on for a while longer, investors should continue to invest in gold as a hedge against instability. Either way, gold looks to be on solid footing at current prices.

Taking a Cue from the Richest Woman in the World
Hetty Green was one of the savviest investors of all time. Her steely resolve, unwavering discipline and glacial patience are every bit as important to market success today as they were a hundred years ago. In this article, we'll take a brief glimpse at the career of "The Witch of Wall Street" and consider where she might look for the best investments in this downturn.

McCain vs. Obama -- What to Add to Your Portfolio Depending on Who Becomes Our Next President
In just a little more than a week, Americans will select a new president. The candidates of both major political parties, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, have promised change. Both candidates have also announced a long list of platforms, campaign promises and policy goals. While these proposals aren't always diametrically opposed, there are some key differences that will likely have a profound impact on your portfolio.

Quench Your Thirst for Gains with Water ETFs
Water is the world's most vital commodity. Investing in water resources and infrastructure now can offer investors strong long-term returns.

Follow the Smart Money and See Gains of Nearly +200%
At one point or another, nearly all of us have received some type of "hot" stock tip.
Typically, this friendly advice is best ignored. However, that doesn't mean there aren't ways of sniffing out big stock moves before they happen. They key is to block out the speculation and go right to the source -- a company's top executives.

Decoding the Dividend Yield Formula
The Pythagorean Theorem isn't going to make you any money. Nor the quadratic equation. But there is a financial formula -- an immutable law of investing -- that can help you choose stocks that will pay a double-digit yield for as long as you own them.

Invest in the Exclusive Venture Capital Markets with Business Development Companies
Business development companies are lending money to the next great growth stories in business. And they often find the best opportunities when the markets are bad. Here's how to cash in.

Warming Relations with China are Heating Up Taiwan's Market
One of the surest beneficiaries of China's growth is Taiwan. One of the wealthiest and most developed economies in Asia, Taiwan has a robust technology industry that is a natural complement to China's low cost and efficient industrial base.

Companies Turning the Corner to Profitability
Investors who ignored the 1990s hype and focused solely on profitability were amply rewarded. Those who bought Amazon at the end of 2002 are now up more than +280%, equivalent to almost +28% annualized. And Amazon is by no means an isolated example.

A New Frontier for Gains
Investors may not have heard of Namibia, but the Namibian stock market is up more than +200% since the S&P 500 hit its October 11, 2007 high. Vietnam's Ho Chi Mihn Stock Index has been delivering annualized gains of nearly +25%. And the markets in oil-rich countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have been sizzling. Learn about these "new frontier" markets.

You Can't Build a Strong Portfolio without BRICs
With investors racking up an abundance of big winners in places like China, the prospecting for gains in these high-flying markets almost seems like a modern day gold rush. However, this boom is not based on speculation, but the most impressive economic development since the Industrial Revolution.

Harness the Powerful Investment Potential of the Atom
There are plenty of obstacles that have delayed the transition to alternative energies, but one of the biggest is cost disparity. And despite recent technological improvements, many forms of alternative energy simply aren't price competitive with oil, coal and natural gas. But nuclear power can actually cost less, and hundreds of new plants are in the planning stages.

The Land of the New Gold Rush Has Glistening +310% Gains
Increased commodity prices have made the South African stock market one of the world's most profitable of late, with its major index up nearly +310% over the last five years -- trouncing the S&P's performance by a 7-to-1 margin.

Turning Garbage into +25% Returns
The waste management industry is an essential service that sees constant demand -- even in weak economies. Americans don't stop throwing away paper, bottles or disposable diapers just because the economy slows down. That means the industry is largely insulated from the threat of recessions and a perfect investment idea for challenging times.

Mining for Coal's +267% Returns
Oil prices have been grabbing the majority of the headlines lately, but it may be a different energy sector that grabs the majority of the gains in the foreseeable future. The price of coal, or "Black Gold" as they're are now calling it on Wall Street, increased by +73% last year.  And the forces driving up prices look like they will continue, making this sector attractive for new investors.

Liquefied Natural Gas Powering +72% Annual Returns
As domestic production of natural gas decreases, a relatively new technology known as liquefied natural gas is increasing in importance and enriching early investors in the process. This new trend is due to the ease of shipping gas around the world now. Previously natural gas took up too much space to ship economically, but when natural gas is liquefied it takes up less than 0.2% of the space that it does in gaseous form.

Harnessing the Earnings Power of Alternative Energy
Currently, solar power accounts for just a tiny fraction (one-tenth of one percent) of the nation's electricity. According to the International Energy Agency, the United States currently produces about 480 megawatts of solar power each year. By 2010, that total could easily reach 3,000 megawatts. Of course, all of this will translate into billions in revenues for solar energy companies.

Grow Your Portfolio with Agriculture
For many years, agriculture was considered a mundane sector -- hardly befitting the eye-popping gains of the past year. But as headlines about food prices and localized shortages are starting to surface, investors are sensing that agriculture stocks still have room to run.

Is This Tiny Stock the Next Exxon -- Or the Next Budweiser?
This investment could make anyone who listens filthy rich. The company owns a unique living compound with huge potential in the production of cellulosic ethanol -- a market with +15,900% government-mandated growth ahead. Who knows how high this stock is headed? I don't. But it's so cheap now that making 100x your money is possible once the technology goes mainstream. Click here for more details.

Turn Pain at the Pump into Profits with Big Oil
Historically, big oil companies have proven to be extremely profitable no matter what the price of oil is. With access to the world's best reserves and near complete vertical integration, investors in these companies are substantially rewarded in all market environments.

How to Save $127,883 with ETFs While Earning 10%-Plus Yields
Investors can't seem to get enough of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In the mid-1990s, less than two dozen of these funds were trading. Today, more than 600 different ETFs are available. And luckily for income investors, the explosion of popularity has created dozens of ETFs geared toward yield-hungry investors.

Profit from the Bulging U.S. Budget with Defense and Security Contractors
Most investors have heard the argument for defense stocks on countless occasions. The basic pitch goes something like this: if there's one consumer that never stops spending, even in the weakest economies, it's Uncle Sam. There is truth to this argument, but don't make the mistake of buying just any defense and security stock.

How to Spot a Modern-Day Monopoly
Pure monopolies are rare, but investors can always seek out the next best thing: powerful market share leaders in highly concentrated industries with daunting barriers to entry. Such firms might not fit the classical textbook definition of a monopoly, but their size, brand names and dominance alone are more than enough to scare away most would-be rivals.

Beat the S&P by Investing in Canada's Energy and Economic Boom
The Canadian economy has been on fire for the past few years. The Toronto Stock Exchange has increased +178% from the end of 1999 through 2007, compared to just about +4% for the S&P 500, and there is no reason for it to stop. With skyrocketing oil prices, the 1 trillion barrels of oil in the Canadian oil sands region means that this is likely just the beginning.

The Secret "European Aid Program" Making Millions for Investors
After World War 2, western Europe was devastated. The U.S. Secretary of State at the time, George Marshall, outlined his now famous "Marshall Plan" in Harvard Yard to help rebuild the war-torn countries. This created huge opportunities for investors as infrastructure and economic power was restored. Present day investors now have a similar opportunity, one that hasn't been seen for 60 years.

Australia: The Little-Known Haven for Income Investors
Australia is a conundrum to most Americans. We feel a connection to the English-speaking, individualistic and informal Australians, and to their sprawling country, with its modern coastal cities and rugged, sparsely-populated frontier. But most Americans know little about Australia's financial markets and rarely think to invest in them.

Investing in Today's Russian Economic Boom
In the past seven years, the Russian economy has returned more than +1,000%. Evidence points that the Russian rally is for real and the market will continue to rise in the coming years.

Profiting from Rising Global Demand for Natural Gas
Natural gas is by far the world's fastest growing mainstream fossil fuel. In fact, since 1965, global consumption of natural gas has nearly quadrupled to more than 260 billion cubic feet per year. And going forward, this trend is likely to continue.

Profit from Short-Squeeze Candidates
As long investors, we can always take comfort in the fact that our stock picks can never drop below zero. But that is not the case for short sellers, which is why short sellers are quick to bail out in a rally, which causes the price to appreciate further. This is the perfect time for a long investor to act.

Using Free Cash Flow to Uncover Profitable Firms
Earnings may be the most widely watched gauge of corporate performance, but with various legal accounting tricks you may not get the whole picture. Cash flow is much harder to color, and Free Cash Flow is the first step to understanding what a company has in the bank.

Investing Internationally with American Depository Receipts (ADRs)
Imagine going to a supermarket and shopping in just half of the aisles, or opening a restaurant menu and limiting your dinner choices to the entrees listed on just one of the pages. This is essentially what investors with no foreign exposure are doing with their portfolios. Fortunately, there is an easy way for U.S. investors to gain access to lucrative foreign stocks -- American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

Profiting from Spin-Offs
Aggregating different businesses into a conglomerate typically produces an unwieldy and inefficient corporate structure and sub-par stock market performance. Sometimes, however, the opposite can also hold true -- breaking apart large firms into smaller more nimble companies often unlocks shareholder value and produces superior market gains.

Investing in Firms With Stock Buyback Plans
A buyback sends the message that management is confident about its future cash flow generation and fundamental prospects. Of course, Wall Street is well aware of all this, which is why the very announcement of a share repurchase program can send a stock immediately higher.

How to Find Probable Takeover Targets
We've all seen it many times before. A stock moves quietly along for months, when boom! All of a sudden, the shares rocket higher, often to a new multi-year peak. Increasingly, such sharp moves are the result of a proposed takeover. We've compiled a list of items to look for when searching for firms likely to be taken over.