Instavest Blog

Page 4


Apple Makes Wireless Carriers Take Notice

Among the deluge of information from Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) recent product announcements, it would be easy for investors to miss the implications of the company’s iPhone Upgrade Program. With new iPhones, a bigger iPad, reduced iCloud pricing, and more, it’s easy to ignore an offering that was barely mentioned. That being said, Apple might have just turned wireless carrier’s equipment plans on their ear.

10 Million Reasons to Think This is Important

If Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program is going to be worth it to consumers, there is one big question that needs to be answered. Do iPhone owners want warranty coverage for their devices? A quick search on Google for “Apple iPhone repair” turns up well over 10 million results. Since the Upgrade Program includes AppleCare+, it’s a good bet that Apple believes customers want some type of protection for their investment.

T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS) is...

Continue reading →


Three Ways Chipotle Can Grow Inside Its Existing Stores

Many growth investors are well aware of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG). The company’s plan for new restaurants seems to get a lot of press, while same-store sales are the wild card, which either help, or hurt the stock in the short-term. With Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) rolling the Panera 2.0 concept out to more locations, this competitor could become a bigger challenge. At the same time, Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) is reporting impressive growth at the Taco Bell chain. The good news is there are three ways Chipotle can continue to grow within its existing locations.

Low No More?

It seems like for the last few years, Chipotle has been offering same-store sales guidance of, “low single-digit growth.” In the past, price increases have helped prop up same-store sales, yet this year appeared to be different. As menu price increases from last year expired, the company’s same-store sales...

Continue reading →


Five Red Forces Driving The Selloff

Wall Street could be in for a long period of volatility as investors continue to eye China and await indications on the timing of a rate hike from Friday’s jobs report.

Here’s what’s driving the market decline.

Slide1.jpg

Get $50 to replicate the world’s best investments on Instavest now.

View →


Verizon: Dividend Contender or Pretender?

It should come as no surprise that investors looking for safety and income have turned to dividend paying stocks recently. A perennial favorite among dividend investors is the telecom sector. One of the leaders in this sector is Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). With its present yield roughly double that of a 10-year Treasury Bond, can investors trust this company to deliver on its dividend in the future?

The Story Behind the Numbers

The first issue that needs to be resolved to determine if Verizon’s dividend is sustainable is, can the company compete effectively against its peers? If we are looking for sustainability, it doesn’t make much sense to buy stock in a company that can’t keep up with its competition.

Verizon faces multiple competitors, but two of the most obvious threats are AT&T (NYSE: T) and Sprint (NYSE: S). On the one hand, AT&T carries a yield that is higher than...

Continue reading →


How we got here: Crashes and recoveries since the financial crisis

This week has marked one of the most significant stock market crashes since the collapse of the financial markets in the fall of 2008. However, stocks have overall gained over 200% since then, despite a number of events throughout the years that moved the market significantly.

After the S&P 500 crossed the 2,000 point mark in August of 2014, the fall in the price of oil, Greek debt crises, and the devaluation of the Yuan have had major impacts on the markets.

Our infographic below shows the activity of the S&P 500 over the years, and the events that got us to this point. The S&P 500 was up nearly 70 points after two days of major losses, closing at 1,940 on August 26th, 2015.

Crashes v001.jpg

Use promo code FLY05 and get $50 to sign up and replicate the world’s best investments on Instavest.

Continue reading →


The Donald Trump Index

5440002785_7b1ed0ac3e_z.jpg
Photo by Gage Skidmore

Two months ago, when Donald Trump rode the Trump Tower escalator to the podium where he announced his presidential candidacy, he insulted American politicians in language a 5-year-old would understand. “We have losers,” he said of America’s political leaders. “We have people that don’t have it.”

Trump had just spent several minutes discussing his business career and claiming that he was worth over $9 billion. “I’m proud of my net worth,” he told the audience. “I’ve done an amazing job.” Trump’s message was clear: His wealth proved that he was a winner who could “make America great again.”

Few people in business are as branded as Donald Trump, who shamelessly self-promotes to make his name synonymous with success. Trump slaps his name on fancy buildings. Trump has published more than 10 autobiographies and business books with titles like Midas Touch and How to...

Continue reading →


Should your startup use Heroku?

Note: For the purpose of this piece, Heroku is synonymous with other analogous services like EngineYard and Clever Cloud. AWS is synonymous with Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engine (although they aren’t quite the same).

Projects and companies usually consider the tradeoffs in using Heroku or AWS in early stages. The focal point of this consideration is usually time; Heroku allows you to focus on your app by removing the need to maintain web infrastructure.

What do we mean by web infrastructure? This may include but is not limited to: database hosting/backups/replicas, static file hosting, web server & asynchronous work server configuration and scalability, configuration management, managing dependencies for software, and deployment of updates to your application.

Simply enumerating web infrastructure tasks doesn’t give a clear picture for why we’d consider Heroku. Let’s assume...

Continue reading →


Infographic: Two Days of Devaluation - Aftershocks of the Yuan

China v003.jpg

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/11/5-aftershocks-from-chinas-devaluation-of-the-yuan.html


Use promo code FLY04 and get $50 to sign up and replicate the world’s best investments on Instavest.

View →


Infographic: McDonalds & Shake Shack - Changing of the Guard?

Burgers v002.jpg

Use promo code FLY03 and get $50 to sign up and replicate the world’s best investments on Instavest.

View →


Coffee: Wall Street’s Original Cocaine

On his first day of work at LF Rothschild, Jordan Belfort received some unexpected advice from Mark Hanna, a successful stockbroker. According to Belfort, Hanna advised him to take frequent breaks to cope with his new, crappy job, during which he recommended jerking off. “And I also strongly recommend the use of drugs, especially cocaine,” Hanna added, “because that’ll make you [call clients] faster.”

A few hours later, while enjoying cocaine and martinis at lunch, Hanna told Belfort again, “I promise you that cocaine can definitely help you get through the day around here!”

Now famous as the protagonist of The Wolf of Wall Street, Belfort quickly became the epitome of the alcoholic, greedy, cocaine-snorting stockbroker of the 1970s and 1980s. Men like Belfort believed that cocaine powered them through endless hours of work and parties – as if the mantra “work hard, play hard” could be...

Continue reading →