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By Richard Band, editor of Profitable Investing

 

Why do investors keep repeating self-destructive (money-losing) behavior?  You can see the syndrome at work in the recent explosive rally among the real estate trusts.

Since Feb. 9, the Morgan Stanley U.S. REIT Index (RMZ) is up about 25%. The same index has skyrocketed over 150% from its March 2009 low -- about double the gains for the broader market.

 

As a result, dividend yields in the sector have collapsed... And low-risk dividend investors somehow are getting duped into thinking REITs are solvent investments. Many of them aren't. Meanwhile, the Street still loves to hate telecom leaders Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) despite low P/E ratios and hefty dividend yields.

 

By Michael Shulman, editor of ChangeWave Shorts

 

The headlines are screaming that the Greek debt issue is resolved, and it's time to move on. This is simply not true, and European authorities have made the crisis worse by creating a serious moral hazard by pledging help to Greece.

• Buys and Sells in 8 Top Greece Stocks

The nature of the aid and the trigger for it are still unclear -- classic European political fudge -- and the current actions to backstop Greece's ability to borrow will now lead to similar demands from Portugal and Spain. The Irish could use help, too, but are too stubborn and angry at the rest of Europe to ask.

 

So how do you play this as an everyday investor? After all, Unless you are a fairly expert day trader living behind screens, trading currencies is out of the question. But don't despair -- cashing in on Greece's debt woes is easier than you think.

 

The Financial Tide has become the Red Tide. There was a line in the Pogo comic strip: " We have met the enemy....and he is us!" What scares me the most is that all this deficit spending that is going on at the local, state and federal level all has to come from the same pocket book -- mine! I was watching one of the Tea Bagger rallies on TV and a woman had a poster with the picture of a baby and the caption:" I'm only 6 hours old and I'm already $46,000 into debt"

Back in the first quarter of 2007 when the stock market was down and looking like it was going to continue downward for a while, I personally started cutting back. I moth-balled my credit cards and begin to use only my debit cards. If I didn't have the money, I didn't buy it. My government seems to have never gotten the word.

All I hear is how they are considering trimming next years budget. How about this years budget? I've asked my friends that work for "the Man" if they have been asked to cut back. They all say no. They have been told if it's budgeted go ahead and spend it.
 

You'll pardon me, I hope, if I'm nervous heading into Qualcomm's (QCOM) second-quarter earnings announcement Wednesday.

Last quarter, Qualcomm's shares dropped 14.3% -- or $6.72 a share -- on Jan. 28, the day after the company released first-quarter earnings and announced guidance for future quarters. In its guidance, Qualcomm executives predicted lower-than-expected revenue and earnings for the second quarter.

Since then, the company has restored most of the decrease it predicted three months ago. But Qualcomm has a record of delivering earnings surprises -- and the surprises aren't always pleasant.

 

The Double Down: Call it a marketing gimmick or a taste sensation. KFC is hoping to call it a money maker.

The fast-food chain, owned by Yum Brands (YUM), has been relentlessly promoting the breadless sandwich featuring bacon and cheese between two chicken filets. At 540 calories (for the original recipe version), the Double Down has received quite a bit of attention.

Taste-testers were less than thrilled. "My tongue hurts. Salt burn," wrote one newspaper reporter after trying it. But a New Jersey man ate almost five in 30 minutes.  

By Jeanine Poggi, TheStreet

 

Blockbuster (BBI) shares are rising, even as the rest of the retail sector limps along.

 

Shares of Blockbuster are gaining 40% to 57 cents today, following a 33% surge last week.

 

The company said on Friday it’s postponing its annual shareholders meeting until June 26 to give executives more time to devise a plan to restructure its debt and avoid being delisted. Management also said that it will ask shareholders to vote on a reverse stock split during the annual meeting.

 

As Wall Street gyrates around in the wake of the Goldman Sachs (GS) fraud allegations, investors are starting to feel the old doubts and fears creep up again. After surging over 70% from the March 2009 lows, the market appears to be stalling at least in the short term.

• 19 master limited partnerships – each with +6% dividend yields

One place low-risk investors can take refuge is low-risk dividend stocks in reliable industries – like healthcare giant Abbot Laboratories (ABT) with its 3.4% yield, or in energy giant Exxon Mobil (XOM) with its 2.5% yield. Those nice payouts ensure that you’ll see some returns on your investment even if things stay rocky on Wall Street. And since dividend stocks added $6.4 billion to payouts in the first quarter, the cuts we saw during the recession appear to have been reversed by many stocks.

 

But contrary to popular belief, dividend investors don’t have to limit their hunt for high yields to domestic stocks. While it’s true that the top 10 Dow dividend stocks all have yields of 3% or better, there are many ADRs that trade on U.S. exchanges that rival the same dividend yield but offer even greater upside potential for shares. It’s the best of both worlds – the high dividends of low-risk U.S. blue chips but with the power of global investing.

 

Goldman Sachs (GS) will lose the case the government is bringing against it.

 

If there were a betting line on the trial of the Securities and Exchange Commission vs. Goldman Sachs, the SEC would be the overwhelming favorite.

That's because unless Goldman gets a jury of its peers who live at 800 Fifth Avenue, the people who will debate the evidence most likely will side with the government. How could they not? When you have the government vs. public enemy No. 1, who would you think gets the benefit of the doubt? Who on Wall Street do you think is guilty until proven innocent these days, least of all the firm that President Obama and the SEC seem to love to hate?

 

Tight consumer spending has hurt all areas of the economy -- including the beer business. Once thought of as recession-proof, alcohol sales have suffered along with just about everything else. 

 

But 7-Eleven is defying the sales slump with the launch of its own private-label beer called "Game Day," produced by City Brewing of Wisconsin. Privately held 7-Eleven is mum on the details aside to say the beer is a premium offering with a budget price.

 

So will consumers pop the top, or is this a venture that's doomed to fall flat as beer sales have suffered in the last year?

 

 

Soon after passing one hurdle and getting approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, movie-futures trading hit a snag in Congress.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., who oversees the commission and is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, on Friday added a provision to financial reform legislation that would ban the commission from licensing firms to offer trading based on box office receipts.

Lincoln unveiled a new version of her proposed Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act that includes a movie-futures trading ban.

Lincoln's proposal was praised by a coalition

 

A picture is worth a thousand words -- and in the case of a select few growth stocks, 1,000% or more.

 

If you want to understand why a stock generates these sorts of gains, look no further than helpful visual of Wal-Mart's growth since its founding in 1962.

 

The graphic is stunning in its telling of the Wal-Mart (WMT) story. From very humble beginnings in Arkansas, the company executed a very careful expansion strategy based on proximity to its first locations.

 

• Three earnings breakout stocks for the second quarter

 

That story was repeated by other companies, including Starbucks (SBUX), McDonald's (MCD) and Home Depot (HD), that also generate huge returns.

 

How expensive (or cheap) are stocks right now?

 

That's the question that scores of strategists and pundits have been trying to answer lately, and they are coming to a variety of different conclusions. That's not surprising; valuing the broader market is, in fact, always tricky because of the array of methods you can use. Even within the often used price/earnings ratio there are a number of possibilities -- do you use trailing 12-month earnings? Projected earnings? Five- or ten-year average earnings?

• Check out my Buffett-inspired Top Stocks Tracking portfolio at Wall Street Survivor

But one perspective I found particularly intriguing came this week from Jeremy Siegel, the Wharton professor and Stocks for the Long Run author. In an interview with Knowledge@ Wharton, Siegel said investors need to take into account that we're coming out of a deep recession when they value the market. Right now, he said, stocks are selling for about 15.5 times projected 2010 operating earnings -- about the historical average. But coming out of recessions, Siegel says, the average market P/E for the next full year has historically been about 18.5. "That’s why I still think there is room for stocks to run up,” he says.

 

Siegel's not the only guru I follow who believes that -- though there are certainly others who disagree.

 

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

If Goldman Sachs (GS) owned a piece of Abacus, it is hard for me to believe this case is as open-and-shut as the government is making it. Yet that is my understanding of the situation. In other words, what is Exhibit A against the government's case? That Goldman believed in the paper itself.

• Video: Washington's war on Wall Street

I also think that there is simply an important issue here that the government is leaving out. Goldman does not sell washing machines. They do not sell vacuum cleaners. They sell pieces of paper that are fully disclosed, and you can go long or short them based on the info. There is no guarantee. There never has been.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Goldman Sachs (GS) with securities fraud, and the whole market has sold off. 

Friday afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) was down 126 points or 1.1%. The Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index ($INX) was off 1.6%. Goldman's shares tumbled 12.8%.

• Video: How to trade on Goldman scandal
  

What is the SEC charging and why is this such a big deal?