The Journal
Blog
Market insights and trading education from the Alpha Sentinel team.
The Disposition Effect: Why Investors Sell Winners Too Soon
The disposition effect makes investors sell winners early and hold losers. Learn how to recognize it and set a stock alert routine that keeps you steady.
Capital Allocation: How to Judge What Management Does With Cash
Capital allocation is how management spends a company cash. Learn the five main uses, the questions to ask of each, and where to check them in filings.
Anchoring in Investing: Why Your Purchase Price Should Not Drive Decisions
Anchoring in investing ties your decisions to a number the market ignores. Learn why purchase price misleads and how a stock alert routine can reset it.
Competitive Moats: How to Think About Durable Advantages
A competitive moat is a durable advantage that protects a company profits. Learn the main types, how to test one, and how moats erode over time.
Gross, Operating and Net Margins: What Each Tells You
Gross, operating and net profit margins each answer a different question about a company. See what each reveals and which line to read when profits shift.
Return on Equity and Return on Invested Capital Compared
ROE vs ROIC: see how return on equity and return on invested capital differ, why debt can flatter one, and what each ratio says about a company.
Share Dilution: How New Shares Affect Your Ownership Stake
Share dilution shrinks your percentage ownership when a company issues new shares. Learn how it works and what to read in the filings before it costs you.
Loss Aversion: Why Losses Feel Twice as Bad as Gains Feel Good
Loss aversion explains why losses feel about twice as painful as gains feel good, and how it bends decisions. Learn three habits that keep it in check.
Growth Versus Value Investing: Definitions and Trade-Offs
Growth versus value investing explained: what each style means, how it is measured, and its trade-offs. Read the definitions before you pick a side.
Large-Cap, Mid-Cap and Small-Cap Stocks: How They Differ
Large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap stocks differ in size, trading and risk. Learn how market cap works, then check it against your holdings.
Oil Prices and the Stock Market: How the Connection Really Works
Oil prices and the stock market are linked in five main ways, not always the way headlines say. Learn the channels, then test the story.
How the U.S. Dollar Affects Multinational Company Earnings
How a stronger or weaker U.S. dollar changes the reported earnings of multinational companies, through translation, transaction effects and hedging.