The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Calling all Girl Scout cookies fans! You can now pick up Girl Scout Thin Mints at Costco. That's right -- you don't have to wait until the upcoming cookie season to satisfy your chocolatey-mint cravings. Some shoppers have reported seeing Girl Scout Thin Mint Bites at Costco. While these tasty treats aren't the original full-sized cookies you know and love, they have a similar taste and are a bite-sized version.

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Private Equity Insights

AUGUST 16, 2023

Private equity firm Bain Capital on Tuesday agreed to buy Fogo de Chão, in a deal people familiar with the matter said valued the Brazilian steakhouse chain at about $1.1bn, including debt. The deal marks a win for private equity firm Rhone Capital, which took Fogo de Chão private for $560m in 2018. Rhône made more than three times the money it invested in the restaurant operator, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is confidential.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Many stocks are up sharply this year as signs of economic resilience reinvigorated investors. The broad-based S&P 500 is up 15% year to date, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is up 29%. But Wall Street legends Warren Buffett and Michael Burry apparently see a reckoning for overvalued equities on the horizon, as both investors recently took steps to protect their portfolios from a stock market correction.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

David Tepper isn't as widely known as Warren Buffett. But like Buffett, he ranks as one of the top investors on the planet today. Tepper runs the global hedge fund Appaloosa Management. He also owns the Carolina Panthers NFL franchise and Major League Soccer's Charlotte Football Club. His net worth stands at $18.5 billion, according to Forbes. Many retail investors closely follow the stocks that Buffett buys.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Summer is commonly a popular time to travel , and you might have plans to hit the road this Labor Day weekend. But given the cost of gas right now and the potential for further hikes over the next couple of weeks, your holiday weekend road trip might prove to be a budget-buster. On a national level, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline reached $3.85 a gallon on Aug. 14, according to AAA.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

As Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) keeps bumping frustratingly into the $30,000 mark and down again, some cryptocurrency fans might lose patience and bail. That's a shame, as the HODL (Hold On for Dear Life) strategy has richly rewarded many of Bitcoin's long-term investors. Meanwhile, some investors would prefer to stay in the world of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) rather than dabble in direct cryptocurrency trading.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Many families struggle to afford food. Michigan is just one state impacted by food insecurity, leaving many families to go without. According to Feeding America, a nonprofit that provides food to more than 40 million people annually, one in nine people in Michigan faces hunger. The stats are even worse for children. One in eight children in the state faces food insecurity.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Cable television companies are still losing customers. in droves. That's the big takeaway from last quarter's fiscal results for the industry, anyway. All told, another 1.7 million people in the U.S. cut the cord during the second quarter. The contraction hasn't altered its pace since before, during, and now after the COVID-19 pandemic. And nothing credibly suggests these cancellations will slow down anytime soon.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Self-employment can really be a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's nice to set your own hours and, in some cases, work from anywhere. On the other hand, being self-employed means grappling with an income that might vary substantially from one month to the next. That could make it difficult to keep up with recurring expenses like car and mortgage payments.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Social Security has been around for so many years, you might assume that the rules are set in stone. To be clear, many of the program's basic rules don't change on an annual basis. For example, full retirement age for Social Security is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. That's been the rule for years, and so far, there are no indications that it's about to change.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is one of the world's largest companies. It's valued at $1.4 trillion as of this writing, and its stock features in both the FAANG group and the "Magnificent 7," alongside its other trillion-dollar peers in the technology sector. Most people know Amazon for its e-commerce business, which has become the largest in the world. But its industry-leading cloud services platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is the growth and profitability engine behind the entire company, and it's

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

AT&T (NYSE: T) has continued on a downward slide. Massive debt levels and the end of a 35-year streak of dividend increases rattled investors, and its dividend yield of 7.7% failed to stem the selling. However, the stock has attained a low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio amid a growing customer base. Also, with the stock trading at levels first seen decades ago, it might be time to start adding positions.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

The following article may be the source for a quiz question on a future fantastical industrial sector-focused game show. Which two industrial companies have raised their earnings guidance on every possible earnings call over the last three years, with the result being one stock up 131% and the other down 10%? The answer is nVent Electric (NYSE: NVT) and Honeywell International (NASDAQ: HON).

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Have you ever been in a long-term relationship with a credit card? While I recently closed my oldest active credit card , I have another account that's been open for nearly as long, and I intend to keep it that way. The overall net effect of keeping a credit card account open for a decade or longer is positive, but a lot can change in that period -- for both you and the credit card.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Telling someone they need to save for retirement is stating the obvious. The problem is most people want to do it as efficiently as possible. There is no universal strategy for planning for retirement, but there are good practices that can make the journey a lot smoother. Regardless of your age, it's never too early to begin financially planning for retirement.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

The past year has been difficult for the real estate investment trust (REIT) sector. Rising interest rates have raised financing costs for these companies. Because REITs often trade on the basis of dividend yield, determining the sustainability of the dividend is paramount. Realty Income (NYSE: O) is a classic triple-net lease with a 5.2% dividend yield.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

For more crisp and insightful business and economic news, subscribe to The Daily Upside newsletter. It's completely free and we guarantee you'll learn something new every day. Ash from the devastating Maui wildfires still covers much of the burnt land, property owners have seen homes and businesses razed, and emergency services are still finding victims.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

Things are starting to look up for Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) , which is still one of the most popular meme coins in the world. Shiba Inu is up 25% for the year, but the best may be yet to come. The cryptocurrency is about to launch a new tech upgrade known as Shibarium that has the potential to significantly boost the utility of its blockchain. Some Shiba Inu investors, as might be expected, predict that the launch of Shibarium will send the meme coin skyrocketing.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Image source: Getty Images Just ask the experts; they'll all tell you something different. Some say we're awaiting a recession, while others believe we've managed to skate by without the highly predicted economic downturn. And recently, there have been others who claim there was a recession, but none of us seemed to notice. If economic downturns weren't so serious, the sincere, differing opinions would almost be funny.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

During the second quarter, PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) reported revenue of $7.3 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.16, both of which exceeded Wall Street estimates. The stock hasn't performed well, though, and it's down 19% since the earnings announcement and 42% in the past 12 months. Investors are probably concerned that this fintech company isn't producing double-digit top-line growth anymore, especially after the monster gains of the past several years.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

Once upon a time in a land not very far away, Disney (NYSE: DIS) reigned as the leader of entertainment, reliable for dividends, growth, and profits. Today, it's still the leader in entertainment, but its long-lasting struggles are are making shareholders antsy. Disney released another report with nothing that really stood out to excite investors, but it wasn't all bad.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

The magic is gone for Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) stock -- at least, for now. The stock is within just $5 of its eight-year low and is down 56% from its all-time high. And it is underperforming the S&P 500 for the third straight year in a row. Investors are looking for answers and losing patience. And although there isn't a lot to get excited about for now, there's reason to believe the pessimism has gone too far.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

Dividend stocks are appealing for a lot of reasons. For most investors, the first reason is that they provide a steady source of income at a higher rate than is typically available from savings instruments and bonds. They're also typically regarded as reliable and less volatile than growth stocks and, despite their relative staidness, they can be strong long-term performers, providing both income and share growth.

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Taxes Accounting Shareholders Portfolios 246

The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

With earnings season in full swing, many stocks are on the move. Macroeconomic headwinds have continued to plague companies in the tech industry this past quarter that otherwise have solid long-term outlooks. As a result, now is an excellent time to fill your portfolio with tech stocks that could offer massive gains once the market fully recovers. Companies that are leading in industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and e-commerce have vast potential in the coming years

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Accounting Companies Returns Portfolios 246

The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

At the forefront of the burgeoning sector of decentralized finance (DeFi) , Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) stands as the undisputed leader. With its robust smart contract capabilities and first-mover advantage, developers have harnessed its potential to create innovative decentralized applications, ranging from lending ecosystems to stablecoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

The video focuses on the competition Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has in the AI accelerator market from Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). Check out the short video to learn what semiconductor investors Jose Najarro and Billy Duberstein had to say. Also, consider subscribing, and click the special offer link below. *Stock prices used were the market prices of Aug. 15, 2023.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 18, 2023

When it comes to saving for retirement, there's one strategy that stands out as both amazingly simple and tremendously powerful. It's such a potent tool for your retirement plan that it might be enough to make you a millionaire by the time you retire all by itself. Best of all, you can probably get set up with everything you need for success in under 15 minutes.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

Valued at more than $36 billion, the portfolio of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust includes 22 holdings based on its most-recent filing, many of which are dividend stocks. The Gates Foundation uses the sizable passive income that the portfolio generates to help fund its prodigious philanthropic work. Of the various stocks that return capital to shareholders, two that stand out among the trust's holdings are United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) and Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) , both of whi

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 17, 2023

Last year was a tough one for investors, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes posted huge declines. This year, however, has been a fantastic turnaround story, as both benchmarks are up double digits as of Aug. 14. But not all companies have benefited from the rally. Payments software and hardware provider Block (NYSE: SQ) has seen its shares fall 5% so far in 2023.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 16, 2023

What happened A day after more than doubling in its market debut, VinFast Auto (NASDAQ: VFS) is giving back some of those gains. Shares of the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker traded down 25% on Wednesday morning as investors continue to sort out what this start-up is really worth. So what VinFast is a small electric vehicle manufacturer with large ambitions.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 16, 2023

Dividends are a terrific way to make income outside of your main jobs, and definitely once you're retired. Millions of people count on that quarterly check to make ends meet or as money for life's little extras. High-yielding Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) is a battleground stock among income investors. It's followed by many, and most people have a strong opinion about it.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 16, 2023

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) is a top pharmacy retailer that millions of Americans trust and rely on for groceries and prescriptions. It got a boost from COVID-19 vaccinations and the traffic that brought into its stores. Although that demand has largely evaporated now, the company has been pivoting to primary care in an effort to bring in more customers.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 16, 2023

After the Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration's plan to forgive as much as $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower, the White House was quick to roll out several backup student loan relief plans. These included the finalization of the SAVE income-driven repayment plan, which should reduce student loan payments by hundreds or thousands of dollars for most federal loan borrowers, as well as a 12-month "on-ramp" to resuming payments.

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The Motley Fool

AUGUST 16, 2023

Moving abroad can yield huge savings for retirees on everything from housing expenses to food costs. Perhaps that's why a growing number of Americans are choosing to retire outside the U.S. If you're considering an overseas move in retirement, you may wonder: Can I still get Social Security if I retire in another country? Let's break down how retiring abroad affects your Social Security payments.

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