underperform

America loves cars, but Wall Street analysts don't have much affection for the country's leading auto showroom operator. AutoNation has beaten its targets, is making strong profits, and is poised to grow. So what's wrong with its stock?

Market turbulence and economic uncertainty create fear and anxiety among investors. Unfortunately, many turn to advice freely dispensed by self-styled investment gurus -- who claim they can predict the direction of the markets or pick outperforming stocks.

Investment management giant BlackRock has sliced its Microsoft stake by almost 10%, joining several other large investors who took a machete to their holdings of the software giant this year as its share price significantly underperformed the market, according to a Reuters report.

With less than two weeks to go in the bitter proxy contest between Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio and billionaire Ron Burkle, one key analyst has changed his outlook on the company's stock for the worse and a leading proxy advisory firm has sided with the Riggio camp.

A reader asks this question: "I stumbled across some information on Vanguard's Web site about what they call the 'Investing Truths.' One of them is about costs and shows that a 1.2% expense ratio would eat up 46% of an 8% return over 50 years. Can that be true?" The short answer is "yes". Based on...