Mara Lindqvist covers ETFs and portfolio construction for StockVane — index versus sector funds, asset allocation, and how to think about a 401(k) or IRA without overtrading it. She previously worked in financial planning before moving to full-time writing. Her articles are analysis and opinion, not personalized advice — see StockVane's Editorial Standards and Disclaimer.
NVIDIA ranks 11th of 258 large stocks for cheapness against its own P/E history. We ranked every $55 billion-plus stock by its five-year percentile: ten sit at the bottom, ten at the top, and Honeywell’s…
In 2022 the priciest third of 278 stocks fell 16.3% while the cheapest third gained 7.0%; a year later the order reversed. Here is what a growth and value blend cost and kept over five…
The 20 highest yields pay 5.8%, a screened basket 3.2%, the market by weight 1.28%. We built both baskets from 300 stocks to test whether chasing yield or buying a fund builds income faster, and…
A 4% bond fund can lose 2.7% in a year when rates rise one point. Duration explains most of the damage, and dividing yield by duration shows how big a rate move each fund can…
Goldman’s $942 share pulls the Dow nearly three times as hard as Apple’s $336, though Apple is worth 18 times more. What price-weighting means for DIA, how it trails SPY by 3.3 points off the…
In semiconductors, one stock rose 525% and another 3% in the same year. We ran three industry groups and every three-stock portfolio to see where a sector fund helps most, where picking is cheap, and…
Of 300 stocks, 59 yield 3% or more. Payout ratios flag 13 that pay more than they earn, but cash cover changes the picture: BP looks fine, pipelines look thin, and UPS fails both tests.…
The Russell 2000 is a size band with no profit screen, not a smaller S&P 500. IWM’s 52-week range ran 34% wide against 24% for SPY. What that means for rate sensitivity, liquidity, alternatives and…
Gilead’s trailing P/E is negative because one quarter carried $12.9 billion of special charges, while operating profit stayed positive. At about $150, here is what the stock is priced for, the HIV concentration, and the…
Fourteen funds rarely beat three. This piece shows what a three-fund portfolio costs in dollars, why the international slice is the hardest one to hold, and the one-sentence test that decides whether any extra fund…