iStar Financial Shares Popped: What You Need to Know (SFI)

iStar Financial Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Watch stocks you care about

The single, easiest way to keep track of all the stocks that matter...

Your own personalized stock watchlist!

It's a 100% FREE Motley Fool service...

Click Here Now

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of commercial real estate finance company iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI ) surged 27% on Tuesday after its board of directors approved a new $65 million share repurchase program.

So what: We Fools love stock buybacks, as they serve to reduce the number of shares outstanding and, in turn, increase earnings per share and the percentage stake that each shareholder has in the company. Given that the stock has been punished 45% in July alone, Wall Street seems to be applauding the timeliness of the announcement.

Now what: I wouldn't be so quick to jump in just yet. While today's share price boost is easily justified, iStar's long string of operating losses and hefty debt load continue to make it a questionable long-term opportunity. Throw in a stock price that swings nearly three times as violently as the market, and iStar is an easy pass for most investors.

Interested in more info on iStar? Add it to your watchlist.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.