Want Huge Long-Term Gains? Look For These 5 Barriers To Entry... [View Online](=)|[Unsubscribe]( [Street Authority Daily] -[]Recommended Link Sponsored Content [Beware of the Value Hype and The Growth Stock Lie]( It's time to pull back the curtain on the tech sell-off, reveal the truth about rising rates and tech stocks, and discuss how the recent pullback could present investors with an incredible buying opportunity. Plus 5 tech trends that are benefiting from the current market environment. [Download your copy today!]( March 11, 2022 Want Huge Long-Term Gains? Look For These 5 Barriers To Entry... By Nathan Slaughter [Nathan Slaughter] In the beginning, the lone supplier of any new disruptive good or service can pretty much name their own price. But once the cash registers begin to overflow, others inevitably take notice. Success invites competition. Before long, a second player joins the game, and then another follows and then a few more. As they elbow for room, prices always drop to attract or retain customers. Over time, returns on capital in highly competitive industries will fall down toward the cost of capital. It's Management 101. -[]Recommended Link [20X your money from Steve Jobs's "final gift"?]( Back in 2008, just a year after the release of the iPhone, Steve Jobs was already dreaming up Apple's "Next big thing." [A product that's been buried in secrecy for over a decade...]( It wasn't the iPad, the Apple Watch, a pair of headphones or some futuristic set of "smart" glasses. But it could hand you a $190,717 fortune in the weeks and months to come. [Click here to discover the secret behind Steve Jobs's Final Gift.]( Consider this... The grocery chain Kroger (NYSE: KR) now ekes out a razor-thin profit margin of 1.2%. That means it retains just 1.2 pennies of net income for every dollar of sales. And it's one of the most efficient in the cutthroat grocery business. But what if that pie is never divided into tiny slivers? What if the entire dish is served up to two or three lucky recipients? That way, each could feast on a heaping portion that spills over the edges of the plate... If this sounds appetizing, then you understand why barriers to entry can be so valuable. They scare away potential competitors like a fierce guard dog. Let's take a look at five of the most common barriers. Once you see an example, you'll immediately understand what makes them so powerful for companies (and lucrative for investors who own shares)... 5 Common Barriers To Entry 1) Regulatory Hurdles:
Some industries require stacks of permits just to get a foot in the door, followed by layers of rules, regulations and oversight. The hassle (and cost) of ongoing compliance scares away potential players. One textbook example is the credit-ratings agency. Every major corporate borrower in the world must get a credit check, but there are only a small handful of accredited organizations that can issue them. Cracking into this business isn't easy. Doing so requires advance certification from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a nationally recognized statistical ratings organization (NRSRO). Until recently, there were only five to obtain this designation, including Standard & Poor's, Moody's (NYSE: MCO) and Fitch. In other words, the SEC itself is standing as the guard dog at the gate. With global credit issuance surging over the past decade, Moody's has delivered a market-crushing total return of roughly 1,800% since 2009. ?2) Concessions and Licenses:
Be on the lookout for situations where a local municipality or other state or federal agency awards an exclusive operating license to a single vendor or contractor. Here's one example that comes to mind... Securing "right of way" clearance to build new rail lines is a costly, time-consuming, and politically-charged process. In fact, many believe there will likely never be another rail line built in North America again. That means the eight existing Class I freight haulers will continue to divvy up all the wealth. I'm a fan of Canadian National Railway (NYSE: CNI), which owns 20,000 miles of track that stretch across the entire continent from Vancouver to Halifax and down to New Orleans. Then there is Lamar Advertising (NYSE: LAMR), another company benefiting from barriers erected by the government itself. The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 placed strict limits on the installation of new roadside billboards, thus preserving a monopoly in many markets. Lamar owns tens of thousands of billboards along rural highways and busy city intersections. In many places, competition isn't just discouraged, it's illegal. Even trash haulers such as Waste Management (NYSE: WM) are protected by government permits. After all, nobody wants to see a new dump or landfill built in their backyard. Obtaining zoning and environmental approval can be almost impossible -- so existing sites are as good as gold. You can see how that's worked out for WM over the last 10 years... 3) Capital Requirements:
Some lines of work require immense start-up capital and ongoing expenditures. The heavier the cost, the higher the barrier... It doesn't take too much to open a pet-grooming facility. But building a state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing plant is a whole different ballgame. Same story for nuclear submarines. There are only six shipyards capable of building these vessels on the Navy's speed-dial, and General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) owns three of them. 4) Specialized Expertise:
Sometimes, the roadblock might simply be a lack of qualified personnel. We see this in industries that require the services of highly-skilled professionals in short supply. Anybody with a camera and a steady hand can open a photography studio. By contrast, technical consulting firm Exponent (Nasdaq: EXPO) has a staff of more than 600 physicists and engineers that deal with disciplines ranging from biomechanics to epidemiology. These experts (over half of which have Ph.D. degrees) don't exactly grow on trees. 5) Patents/Intellectual Property:
This last category is self-explanatory. By their very nature, patents allow innovative companies to milk their breakthroughs free of competition for a fixed period. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are the most notable beneficiaries. But there are plenty of examples outside the pharmaceutical world... Take Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), which has a patent-protected monopoly on the backbone of wireless communication. The industry has undergone innumerable changes since these patents were first issued in the 1990s. But decades later, Qualcomm still rakes in billions each year from licensing and royalty income tied to the sale of 4G-enabled devices. Incidentally, that cash has allowed for a 172% surge in quarterly dividends over the past 10 years. Source: Yahoo Finance
Just The Tip Of The Iceberg This list is by no means all-inclusive. But the lesson here is that just like in politics, incumbents can be tough to unseat. They already benefit from a well-known brand and established relationships with vendors and customers. Unknown entrants must spend buckets of cash on advertising and marketing just to make a name and start chipping away. But the less financial incentive for future rivals to throw their hats in the ring, the better. That's why barriers to entry can be an investor's best friend. It can be well worth your while to seek them out. Editor's Note: If you're looking for more income -- and safety that allows you to sleep at night -- then you need to see this... I've identified 5 safe, high-yield stocks that allow you to keep it simple. Each one has proven to hold up well in any market -- providing some of the best long-term returns in the market and paying increasing dividends every single year. You can forget about meme stocks, volatile cryptocurrencies, and complicated trading strategies... With picks like this in your portfolio, you may never have to worry about what the market is doing again! [Click here to learn more now.]( -[]Recommended Link [Think you're ]( [Think you're "out of luck" when it comes to finding income in THIS market? Think again]( No matter who you are or how much you make⦠EVERYONE could benefit from more incomeâ¦especially now. But "old school" income plays?like CD's, Money Market accounts, and treasuries⦠just don't pay out like they used to. But that doesn't mean you're out of luck when it comes to finding incredible income opportunities â¦no matter what the market does. I've uncovered [12 of the safest and most generous income plays you may ever see]( - the kind with the potential to pay $210â¦$236â¦$250 or more⦠Every single month! [Get the full details NOW.]( To ensure that you receive these emails, [please add us to your address book.]( Disclosure: StreetAuthority doesn't own shares of any securities mentioned in this article. Members of our staff are restricted from buying or selling any securities for three days after being featured in our advisories or on our website. StreetAuthority is a publisher of financial news and opinions. StreetAuthority is not a securities broker/dealer or an investment advisor and we do not recommend or endorse any brokers, dealers or investment advisors. This work is based on SEC filings, current events, interviews, corporate press releases and publicly available information which may contain errors. All information contained in our newsletters and/or on our website(s) should be independently verified with the companies or sources mentioned. You are responsible for your own investment decisions and should always conduct your own research and due diligence and consider obtaining professional advice before making any investment decision. This message was sent by an automated message delivery platform. Please do not reply to this email address. Any messages sent to this address will be automatically deleted. We sincerely hope that you benefit from your subscription to this complimentary newsletter, and we're willing to do whatever it takes to keep you as a satisfied subscriber. You may contact our customer service department by [visiting this link](. To update your subscription or unsubscribe, please [click here](. Copyright (c) 2022 StreetAuthority, 7600A Leesburg Pike, Suite 300 Falls Church, VA 22043. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution, in whole or in part, is prohibited. [Terms]( | [Privacy]( | [Unsubscribe](