The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital.' So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. As with many other companiesSingapore Airlines Limited(SGX:C6L) makes use of debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. However, a more usual (but still expensive) sit

I remember when I was a rookie investor back in 2005. After reading a few investment books on value investing and Warren Buffett, I believed I had sufficient knowledge to dip my toes into the stock market. As with most beginners, I had limited capital as I was new to the corporate world. I proceeded to load up on smaller, fast-growing companies such as C&O Pharmaceutical, Sembawang Kimtrans, Global Voice, Olam International Limited (SGX: VC2) and offshore and marine support firm Ezra Holdings. The prevailing thought I had back then was that these fast-growers could multiply my capital quickly. A nasty surprise But what I had conveniently neglected was that such companies were also inherently riskier. Pharmaceutical distribution companies can be squeezed by larger players while commodit

$Alibaba(09988)$ $Alibaba(BABA)$ Is the worst finally over for Chinese technology giant Alibaba ? After a year of pain, BABA stock looks to have bottomed at $76.76 a share on March 15. Since then, the stock has risen 40% to now change hands at $107.68, giving hope to investors and analysts who still believe in the potential of Chinese securities. However, despite the recent move higher, BABA stock remains down 30% over the past six months and is currently 56% lower than its 52-week high of $245.69, reached in April 2021. This demonstrates just how big the collapse in Alibaba’s share price has been over the past 12-months. Government Crackdown The rise in Alibaba’s share price since mid-March coincides with re

SoFi(NASDAQ:SOFI) CEO Anthony Noto has been on a buying spree this year, and the purchases haven’t stopped in June. So far, Noto has purchased SOFI stock onfive separate occasionsthis month. Year-to-date (YTD), he has purchased shares 16 times.Last week, it was revealed the fintech company is potentially considering areverse stock split. In a proxy statement, it was disclosed that shareholders will be able to vote on whether or not to allow the company’s board to initiate a reverse split in the next 12 months. The results of the vote will be shared at Sofi’s annual stockholder meeting on July 12.The potential split would reduce outstanding shares by a factor in a range between 1-for-2 and 1-for-10. The company noted that a higher stock price would make SOFI more attractive to institutional

Warner Bros. Discovery(WBD) stock is caught in a downward spiral. The recent spin-off fromAT&T(T) and merger of media assets hasn't done anything to arrest this slide. Morningstar'sNeil Macker believes shares are worth $40 versus today's $14 stock price. Warner Bros. Discovery(NASDAQ:WBD) emerged from the recent spin-off of the folks who brought us Bugs Bunny fromAT&T(NYSE:T) and subsequent merger with Discovery. This corporate repositioning has done little to stop the slide in WBD stock, which is now down 44% since the April 12 separation.Shares are getting hammered for a variety of reasons.Valuations are comingdown across the media industry. Investors fear the impact of a recession onadvertising budgets.Also, the content game has gotten more costly as additional players rush to c

This week we got the answer that theS&P 500is in bear market territory. Now it’s up to the bulls to stave more short-term damage. Meanwhile, the bulls now risk falling for traps chasing mini rallies. Every pop will seem like the end of the correction, so caution is necessary. As such, investors should spend more time looking for stocks to buy after the correction.Trying to time the bottom perfectly is not realistic. Besides it may open up investors to undue risk from overconfidence. If they assume a bottom, they are more likely to go all in. It’s important that we only take small bites for the next month at least. As for the likely zones for support, they are still below current levels.I am more optimistic that most, but I also know that the target is likely 3,600 for the S&P. Once

There are very few stocks that can move as fast asUpstart(NASDAQ:UPST). In its short public life, UPST stock gave whiplash to those who were watching the charts. It does not like to move in moderation, so it is always in extreme mode. This summer, it could be ready to make another run at $50 per share.A debate is raging among experts on the future of the stock market this summer. With that, I offer this necessary caveat that comes with all investment ideas. Regardless of the quality of the trades, they need a healthy stock market. If the indices are correcting, stocks cannot sustain rallies on their own. Be aware of the extrinsic risk layer stemming from the economic risks, especially the actions of the Federal Reserve.UPST is a momentum stock, so it needs low volatility to rally. Right ou

As the market reacts to recent labor reports, there are plenty of stocks to watch for big moves.Tech companies have been bogarting the headlines this year for reasons they probably wouldn’t like. Aside from the broad-based market sell-off and legal tussles, we’ve also seen several layoffs in the industry.The low-interest rate environment saw tech companies soaring to new heights, but that trend has reversed dramatically of late. Amidst rising interest and inflation rates, most companies have been cutting back on costs, and their workers are bearing the brunt of the belt-tightening measures.Multiple tech companies have frozen or laid off many workers in recent months. Understandably this has people worried. A report fromInsight Globalshowed that 78% of American workers fear they won’t have

Alphabet(GOOG,GOOGL) is rising alongside its Q2 2022 earnings report. That comes amid strong ad revenue during the period. This is despite revenue and earnings per share missing estimates. Alphabet(NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock is on the rise Wednesday as investors react to the tech giant’searnings report for the second quarter of 2022.The big news from that earnings report is Google advertising revenue of $56.29 billion. That’s a strong jump compared to the $50.44 billion reported in Q2 2021. YouTube ad revenue also came in at $7.34 billion, as compared to $7 billion from the same time last year.Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, said the following in the earnings report. “In the second quarter our performance was driven by Search and Cloud. The investments we’ve made over the

AMTD Idea(AMTD) andAMTD Digital(HKD) are both jumping today. AMTD Digital is a subsidiary of AMTD Idea. HKD stock is being viewed by some as a metaverse play. Source: ShutterstockAMTD Idea(NYSE:AMTD) andAMTD Digital(NYSE:HKD) are both jumping in pre-market trading today, with AMTD stock soaring more than 400% to $11.61 at one point and HKD stock advancing 14.6% to $799. Hong Kong-based AMTD Ideais an investment bank, while its subsidiary, AMTD Digital, hascreated digital toolsthat perform functions related to financial services.One of AMTD Digital’s tools,AMTD SpiderNet, is beinglabeled by someas a metaverse.InvestorPlacecontributor Dana Blankenhorn reported that SpiderNet seeks “to connect all AMTD’s financial operations and intellectual property into a controlled digital ecosystem.”Since