stocks LDK Solar Co Ltd

Some companies haven't had the luxury to make acquisitions since the financial crisis and instead have been using ventures and business line fire sales to stabilize bleeding operations.

Chipmaker Qualcomm, holding its annual analyst event Wednesday, looks set to hold the pole position in the race to 4G networks, according to experts.

Focusing on companies with earnings growth at a reasonable price, a strong balance sheet and financial condition, and dividends.

TheStreet has narrowed down the hundreds of bank stocks trading below $5 to five names with up to 100 percent upside implied by analysts' consensus price targets.

Here are five alternatives to stock and bond investments worth considering.

Individual investors will be up against political gridlock as the economy grows slowly next year, prospects that may damp stock-market gains even if Congress pushes through a trillion-dollar budget cut.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, dogged by agency miscues, isn't about to take chances in letting the $1 trillion exchange traded fund industry expand into derivatives — no matter what Nasdaq and other ETF providers request.

It's going to take a lot more than Thursday's 3.4 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 index to lure fed-up mutual-fund investors back to the fold.

Given the weak earnings showings from these tech favorites, investors may be wary of taking steps into this sector. Shunning technology, however, is not the best strategy going forward. This is especially true now that the holiday season is nearly upon us.

The U.S. stock market has risen almost 10 percent so far in October, one of the best monthly performances in two decades. But investors in high-momentum companies including Netflix and First Solar have been left out of the rally.

Over the weekend, it was leaked that Google was interested in helping at least a couple of private equity players to finance a purchase of Yahoo. Most folks have protested loudly against this possibility by concluding that such a deal would never get past the U.S. government.

Here's five dumb things that happened on Wall Street, running the gamut from Research in Motion to coffee.

Corporate insiders sell their own companies' stock for a number of reasons. But insiders usually buy their own shares for one reason: They think the stock is a bargain and has tremendous upside.

How many times have you heard a real estate agent say: "It's a great time to buy." Well, that's finally true, given the collapse in home prices, record low mortgage rates, and the vagaries of investing in just about anything else these days.

Google looks set to report decent third-quarter results after markets close on Thursday, although Facebook-shaped clouds could be gathering on the horizon.

Can an everyday pawn broker, unsupported by a major television show, be a profitable investment? The answer is a resounding yes.