Top U.S. Stocks To Watch For 2012

AAON, Inc. at its Peak Price of the Year - NASDAQ:AAON

2012-02-16T13:53:00.001-08:00

AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) achieved its new 52 week high price of $23.44 where it was opened at $22.05 UP 0.14 points or +0.64% by closing at $22.08. AAON transacted shares during the day were over 209,642 shares however it has an average volume of 66,885 shares.

AAON has a market capitalization $545.69 million and an enterprise value at $541.86 million. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 2.14 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 4.55. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 8.01% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 12.01%.

The company made a return on asset of 11.59% in past twelve months and return on equity of 16.92% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $255.16 million gaining $10.23 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 21.50% holding -28.70% quarterly earnings growth.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $11.48 million cash in hand making cash per share at 0.46. The total of $7.64 million debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 6.37. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 2.18 and book value per share was 4.85.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 13.78% where the stock price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average with $21.58 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average with $20.11.

AAON holds 24.71 million outstanding shares with 18.74 million floating shares where insider possessed 28.80% and institutions kept 62.40%.

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Market Milestones to Watch for in the Months to Come

2012-02-16T10:03:00.001-08:00

When I had my heart broken, the first thing I thought that came to my mind was that I wanted to get my guy back!

I followed some good advice and I did get him back!

If you will do what I did, you too will have your guy back and fast!

Step 1: Leave him alone for a while.

Do not contact him in any way, shape or form.

Give him some time to think.

This will be very hard to do when all you really want is to hear his voice, but hold back!

Let at least a week pass without any contact and then you will be ready to move on to step two.

Step 2: Go back to the woman you were in the first place

Remake yourself into the woman you were before the relationship began.

You need this time for yourself as well.

Anything that will boost your self-esteem will be good for emotionally and help to prepare you for what you are going to do next.

The grand finale will take lots of strength and courage so build it up now!

Step 3: Contact your ex and be casual about it.

This was the hardest part for me when I was going through the process to get my guy back.

You will want to break down and cry out that you love and miss him but do not!

This will ruin everything and you may not have another chance to make things work.

What you need to tell him is that you need to see him as soon as possible.

Set the date and time to meet and say no more!

This will make him wonder what it is you want to say to him and anytime he is thinking about you is another point in your favor!

Step 4: Put on your game face and go to meet your ex.

Keep in mind exactly what you want to happen and what you have been planning on all this time.

You are about to do something that may be completely out of character for you but you are ready for this!

Get pumped up because you are about to lay down the law to your ! ex!

< p>While others may tell you that you should not be pushy and emotional when trying to get your ex back, I am telling you that you must do both of these things.

Do not cry and beg though. Instead be firm and forthright.

Lay your cards on the table and tell him that you love him and want to be with him but you are not willing to wait forever.

Tell him that you have thought over the problems the relationship had. Tell him you are willing to work on things if he is, but for him not to take too long to decide if that is what he wants.

End it there and head on home.

You have taken back the power and he will not know how to respond at first.

After he picks his jaw up off the floor he will call you back and be ready to really talk.

And that is how I was able to get my guy back and stay married to him.

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P&G faces growing skepticism on Wall St.

2012-02-16T05:40:00.001-08:00

Procter & Gamble, the world��s largest maker of daily household essentials, faces growing skepticism on Wall Street as it continues to lose ground in most of its core product markets. And this isn��t exactly good for the struggling stock.

On Monday, P&G, maker of billion-dollar brands Pantene shampoo and Tide laundry detergent, was downgraded by two stock-equity analysts who are growing concerned the consumer staples giant can reverse the trend.

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P&G PG ? shares fell almost 2% to $63.18 in afternoon trades.

UBS cut the stock to neutral from outperform, while BMO Capital lowered its rating to market perform from outperform. In addition, they and other analysts slashed their fiscal 2012 profit estimates and stock-target prices.

In its earnings report Friday, P&G dashed investor hopes that it would ��improve earnings growth�� this year as CEO Bob McDonald had pledged three months ago. Market share losses, a weak euro and price-wary consumers didn��t help. P&G cut its June 2012 fiscal earnings outlook to between $4 and $4.10 a share. Analysts had expected $4.33 a share.

So how did price hikes on Cascade dishwasher detergent and other items affect business in the recent quarter?

P&G said it lost market share on 13 of its 24 brands that make more than ! $1 billi on in sales a year. Demand was weaker in economically-richer markets like North America and Western Europe. Volume rose 1%, not close to the growth rates in fiscal 2011.

Reuters

Meanwhile, gross margin slipped to 49.7% from 51.8% of sales as P&G continued to absorb lofty costs for resins and other commodities.

P&G shares, historically seen as a good stock investment during volatile economic times, haven��t been the leader that one would assume.

Since January 2009, P&G shares �� including dividend payments that aren��t reinvested back into the stock �� have returned 24% based on current trading prices. The S&P 500 has returned 56% on a comparable basis, according to FactSet Research data.

Over the past year, P&G��s stock is down 1.6% (excluding its annual dividend payment of $2.10 a share) compared with a 10% gain for the S&P Consumer Staples Index.

��P&G is the company that investors look towards to absorb volatility instead of falling victim to it. From where we sit today, it is hard to see how the next one to two years will [be] any different than the last five,�� UBS analyst Nik Modi wrote in his report Monday.

On a forward basis, P&G is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.5 times the consensus profit estimate of analysts. That valuation is a premium to the S&P 500, which is trading at 13.6 times e! arnings.

/quotes/zigman/238894/quotes/nls/pg PG 64.55, +0.07, +0.11%
/quotes/zigman/3870025 SPX 1,343.23, -7.27, -0.54%

Despite the company��s recent setback, Oppenheimer analyst Joseph Altobello still thinks P&G shares are worth owning.

��We believe there is some reason for optimism, and that the worst is behind us, as market shares should improve and commodity pressures wane,�� Altobello wrote. He kept his outperform rating on P&G.

If so, P&G shares could climb 12% over the next 12 to 18 months, according to the average target price of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

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Introducing the 24/7 Wall St. Wire

2012-02-16T01:46:00.001-08:00

Since Monday, when several news items (1. Citigroup (NYSE: C) said it would be profitable, 2. Fed Chairman Bernanke addressed mark-to-market issues, and 3. Barney Frank said he expects to see the uptick rule back sometime within a month) sparked a rally in financials, volatility in two 3x leveraged ETF’s has been off-the-charts. The Financial Bull 3x (NYSE: FAS) and Financial Bear 3x (NYSE: FAZ), two fairly new ETF’s, have had double-digit percentage moves in 2 of the last 4 trading days.

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Angel Investors Directory – What Is It?

2012-02-15T17:45:00.001-08:00

An Angel Investor directory is an important capital raising tool which is used constantly within the industry. These databases become integral resources which can save time and money for both you and your organization. The key aspect to remember, is that your specialty is focused on your product or services. Your time and attention should be focused on building your resources and cultivating relationships with potential angel groups instead of finding potential avenues. This article is aimed at providing a detailed description of investor directories in angel industry and how they can be used by you starting today.

Whats inside- Included within all professional and high quality database materials, are the contact details of Angel Investors. These investors are typically found throughout North America, and around the globe. However, when purchasing a list of investors the following information should be used to determine which database to buy and what to look for. In addition to the provided names of angel investors, the contact information for those firms is the most important piece of information.

Information such as the physical office location and mailing address, internet website, primary contact within the organization, their cell phone number, office phone numbers, fax number, assets under management (A.U.M.) and business operation details. This key information is what is typically included within directories, databases or listings of angel investors.

The key aspect to remember is what should be included within a directory, and on the flip-side, how do you plan to use the resource.

The information provided has been gathered by industry professionals who have spent hundreds of hours creating the resource. By knowing what is included within a database or directory, you and your team will be able to decide whether this type of resource can save you both time and money and allow you to focus your capital raising potentials.

Note: ! Without the right Private Equity Directory you will end up wasting time trying to obtain hard to find contact details for private equity firms.

Access the most trusted private equity directory by visiting http://PrivateEquityDirectory.com

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Here's Why Brady's Latest Report Might Worry You

2012-02-15T13:37:00.001-08:00

Here at The Motley Fool, I've long cautioned investors to keep a close eye on inventory levels. It's a part of my standard diligence when searching for the market's best stocks. I think a quarterly checkup can help you spot potential problems. For many companies, products that sit on the shelves too long can become big trouble. Stale inventory may be sold for lower prices, hurting profitability. In extreme cases, it may be written off completely and sent to the shredder.

Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Brady (NYSE: BRC ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Brady doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, OK, it seems. Trailing-12-month revenue increased 7.0%, and inventory increased 8.4%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks OK but not great. Revenue grew 1.9%, and inventory grew 5.3%.

Advanced inventory
I don't stop my checkup there, because the type of inventory can matter even more than the overall quantity. There's even one type of inventory bulge we sometimes like to see. You can check for it by examining the quarterly filings to evaluate the different kinds of inventory: raw materials, work-in-progress inventory, and finished goods. (Some companies report the first two types as a single category.)

A company ramping up for increased demand may increase raw materials and work-in-progress inventory at a faster rate when it expects robust future growth. As such, we might consider oversized growth in those categories to offer a clue to a brighter future, and a clue that most other investors will miss. We call! it "pos itive inventory divergence."

On the other hand, if we see a big increase in finished goods, that often means product isn't moving as well as expected, and it's time to hunker down with the filings and conference calls to find out why.

What's going on with the inventory at Brady? I chart the details below for both quarterly and 12-month periods.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of latest fully reported quarter. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of latest fully reported quarter. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

Let's dig into the inventory specifics. On a trailing-12-month basis, finished goods inventory was the fastest-growing segment, up 19.9%. That can be a warning sign, so investors should check in with Brady's filings to make sure there's a good reason for packing the storeroom for this period. On a sequential-quarter basis, work-in-progress inventory was the fastest-growing segment, up 11.7%. Brady seems to be handling inventory well enough, but the individual segments don't provide a clear signal.

Foolish bottom line
When you're doing your research, remember that aggregate numbers such as inventory balances often mask situations that are more complex than they appear. Even the detailed numbers don't give us the final word. When in doubt, listen to the conference call, or contact investor relations. What at first looks like a problem may actually signal a stock that will provide the market's best returns. And what might look hunky-dory at first glance could actually be warning you to cut your losses before the rest of the Street wises up.

I run these quick inventory checks every quarter. To stay on top of inventory and other tell-tale metrics at your favorite companies, add them to your free watchlist, and we'll deliver our latest coverage right to your inbox.

Add Brady ?to My Watchlist.

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Is the Plunge in Commodities a Bear Market Signal for Stocks?

2012-02-15T09:39:00.001-08:00

The biggest slump in commodity prices since 2008 is undermining confidence on Wall Street and fueling speculation that a new bear market has been born.

Despite forecasts for accelerating economic growth and higher prices, commodities, with the notable exception of gold, are taking a big hit.

The Journal of Commerce (JOC) Commodity Index that tracks the growth rate of steel, cattle hides, tallow and burlap plunged 57% in May, the most since October 2008 - something that gave analysts a sense of déjà vu.

In 2008, commodities nosedived when the index fell 56% to its lowest level since 1949. What followed was the greatest stock market crash since the Great Depression.

The JOC index reflects clearer signs of supply and demand than futures markets because half the items it tracks don't trade on exchanges used by speculators, Lakshman Achuthan, the managing director at Economic Cycle Research Institute told Bloomberg News.

Burlap, used for industrial packaging, is down 9.7% this year, almost matching its 9.9% drop in 2008, while tin is down 9.5%.

Commodities extended their slump last week, led by declines in industrial metals and energy prices, as separate reports showed manufacturing slowdowns last month in China, Europe and the United States.

Copper, a commodity widely seen as an economic indicator, declined 7.4% in May, the biggest monthly slide since January. Recent reports showed the rate of manufacturing slowed in China and the United States, the world's biggest copper users.

Now, "the collapse in the commodity index is telling us that the peak in global industrial growth is imminent, it's here right now," said Achuthan. "Markets are going to have to deal with the reality of a slowdown."

While the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on May 26 raised ! its grow th forecasts for this year and next, investors are dumping holdings at the fastest pace since February.

"As risk-taking falls, expected growth is reduced," Colin P. Fenton, the chief executive officer of Curium Capital Advisors LLC in Boston, a former commodity analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) told Bloomberg. "Demand for commodities is going to be softer than it might otherwise have been."

China Cuts Raw Material Imports

Chinese policymakers are reigning in stimulus measures this year after a $1.4 trillion lending binge sparked growth in 2009. Officials are targeting a 22% reduction in new loans and have raised banks' reserve requirements to suck money out of the financial system.

In April, China posted a significant drop in imports of raw materials, leading some analysts to speculate China's appetite for commodities has waned. If that's the case, demand for certain commodities could plummet as China further tightens monetary policies to slow growth.

Take lead, for example. China consumes about 40% of the world's lead, primarily to make auto batteries. Since mid-April, prices for lead have plunged as much as 26%, compared with an 11% decline in the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index.

China said last month that it would crack down on the price speculation and hoarding of some food commodities in an effort to limit inflation to about 3% this year. Consumer prices jumped 2.8% in April from a year earlier, the fastest pace in 18 months.

"Chinese economic growth remains a significant risk in the eyes of investors, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding other regions, particularly the euro-zone," Tim Schroeders, at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne told Bloomberg.

But several analysts who visited China recently maintain that domestic demand remains strong. In fact, some say commodity imports are declining at least partl! y becaus e the country and its industrial companies are tapping reserves, possibly because they expect prices to fall further.

After a field trip to China in mid-May, analysts at Macquarie Securities told The Wall Street Journal that some end users of steel, such as automakers and home-appliance producers, are "choosing to eat into their own inventory, rather than continue to purchase" goods on the open market.

It's a typical "buyers' strike" when prices are falling, the analysts wrote. "Why buy steel today when it'll be cheaper tomorrow?"

Copper & Steel Prices Hammered

Demand for copper declined in May as manufacturing in the United States and China slowed.

Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) and Codelco Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, the world's two largest copper producers, said China's plans to curb its economy threaten to reduce demand for the metal after prices slumped 15% in two months.

"China is the biggest user, so any concerns about demand there will continue to be a drag on copper," Donald Selkin, the chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. in New York, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview.

The copper market will be "volatile" for possibly another year, Codelco Chief Executive Officer Diego Hernandez said in an interview with Bloomberg last week. While Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson said the Asian nation is a "risk to the world's market place in the near term."

Still, both companies are investing in expansion plans with the expectation that demand in China and other emerging economies will rise in the future. Combined, they account for about 20% of the world's copper output.

Codelco will invest $15 billion over the next five years to revamp production at its aging mines, Hernandez said. Production will rise to o! ver 2 mi llion tons a year from about 1.7 million tons through the increased spending.

China, India and other emerging economies need copper "for their growth, urbanization, programs that they have and I don't see how that could stop," he added.

Meanwhile, the world's steel mills are ramping up production so quickly that prices in some markets are expected to fall 5% or more in June, and inventories are growing, The Journal reported.

Mills in China and Eastern Europe are churning out record amounts of steel. Chinese production rose 20% in April from a year earlier. It was up 13% in the Middle East and 4.1% in South Korea. European steelmakers boosted output 2.5% even though the European economy has stalled. Only the United States and Japan cut output, and just by 1% and less than half a percent respectively.

Annualized global steel output, based on a record April, is expected to climb to 1.5 billion metric tons from about 1.25 billion metric tons in 2009. At the forecast 2010 rate, output will exceed consumption of 1.3 billion metric tons, according to the World Steel Association.

Gold Bucks the Trend

Throughout the recent meltdown in commodity markets, gold has been the exception to the across-the board plunge.

Investors who have been spooked by a confluence of worrying global economic trends yesterday (Tuesday) pushed the price to an all-time high above $1,250 per ounce.

Gold's reputation as a "safe haven" investment causes the metal's price to move inversely to investor confidence, which has been rattled by the Greece debt crisis and last week's plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Lower Commodities Demand Hurts Corporate Earnings

Most analysts expect the slowdown in demand for commodities to last awhile longer.

Raw materials may drop another 10% because the economy is on the "cusp&qu! ot; of d eflation, Philip Gotthelf, the president of Equidex Brokerage Group Inc. told Bloomberg. That would drive the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodity futures down 22% from a Jan. 6 peak and into a bear market. The gauge plunged 8.2% in May, the most in 18 months.

Gotthelf correctly predicted in October 2008 that oil would fall below $40 a barrel and said he is now shorting most commodities and buying gold.

So how will a slump in commodities demand hurt the stock market?

As manufacturing slows and commodity prices tank, analysts say corporate earnings estimates for coming quarters will probably need to be revised downwards.

"If commodity prices are coming down, there is some downside risk to the manufacturing sector," Chris Rupkey, the chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd (NYSE ADR: MTU) told Bloomberg. "It's too early to see it in people's numbers yet, but if I had to guess, people will shave their estimates" for growth this year, he said.

News & Related Story Links:

Bloomberg: Commodities' Biggest Drop Since Lehman Seen as Bear Signal
Bloomberg: Most Asian Stocks Drop; Mining Shares Decline on Demand Concern
Wall Street Journal: China Bites Into Commodities Reserves
Bloomberg: Freeport, Codelco See Copper Market Risk From China
Wall Street Journal: Steel Prices Under Pressure
Money Morning: Gold Prices Surge and Will Keep Climbing as Investors Protect Against European Debt Crisis
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Survey: Most Americans Underestimate Retirement Healthcare Costs

2012-02-14T21:12:00.003-08:00

This is the new retirement plan: Work out, eat right and hope that you can keep healthcare costs to a minimum.

Americans are so freaked out at the prospect of going broke to pay medical bills that the majority of them are making lifestyle changes now, according to the Sun Life Financial (SLF) "Flying Blind" survey released Wednesday. A whopping 53% reported dieting and exercising more, quitting smoking or reducing stress in order to reduce medical costs later. And it's not just the 40 to 50 crowd -- thirty-somethings are also taking action.

They'd better do something, given how clueless the majority of those surveyed were in terms of how much healthcare would cost during their golden years. More than 90% didn't have a clue as to how much money they'll spend on healthcare after leaving the workforce. About 75% are not formulating any kind of strategy to meet expenses from illness or even the common maladies of old age. And 43% reported being "not at all confident" that they will meet healthcare costs.

"People will live happier, more fulfilling lives in retirement if they can better plan for unforeseen healthcare needs," said Janet White House, senior vice president and general manager of Sun Life Financial's Individual Life Insurance Division. "If you take action because you've reasonably anticipated your future healthcare needs, your sense of well-being increases, and you can focus on living life to the fullest."

So it looks like it's time to dust off the stationary bike and put the cake back in the fridge, America. Your retirement plan awaits you.

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Greece: Sunday Night Deadline for Deal

2012-02-14T21:12:00.001-08:00

Greece's finance minister said negotiations for the bailout deal his country needs to avoid defaulting on its debts must be completed by late Sunday, but that a breakthrough is being held up by demands from debt inspectors for more austerity measures.

Evangelos Venizelos said Saturday the negotiations in Athens with rescue creditors for a new 130 billion euros ($171 billion) bailout deal are at "a very crucial stage."

Earlier, he joined a two-hour conference call with other eurozone finance ministers, and resumed talks with debt inspectors from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- known as the "troika" -- after a 12-hour meeting with them on Friday.

Venizelos also met with Greece's ministers of health, labor, defense, interior and public sector reform to discuss demands for wage cuts in the private sector and faster staff cuts, including dismissals, in Greece's large public sector.

"The euro group conference call was very difficult. There is great anxiety and great pressure from (the troika) as well as individual eurozone member states, each of which has its own priorities," Venizelos told reporters, without providing details or naming any of the countries."There is a very small margin separating a successful end in (negotiations) from an impasse that could be due to a misunderstanding," he said. "We stand at the razor's edge."

He said the negotiations must be completed by Sunday night, without saying why.

Venizelos said the talks are being held up by demands from debt inspectors to impose cuts in private sector pay and new austerity measures to keep Greece within its tight deficit-reduction targets.

"We are at the point when we must make decisions and commit to them. Two major issues remain outstanding: labor relations and private sector pay, and fiscal measures required to stay absolutely on target in 2012," the finance minister said.

Heavily in debt and suffering a fourth year of recession, Greece needs the 130 billion euro ($171 billion)! rescue deal, backed by eurozone countries and the IMF, to avoid bankruptcy next month.

Tied to that agreement is a proposed deal with banks and private investors who hold nearly two-thirds of Greece's debt that would slash the country's borrowing costs and save it from a default. The investors, who hold around 200 billion euros ($263.2 billion) in Greek bonds, could forgive about half of that in exchange for a cash payout and new bonds with more favorable repayments terms.

Top bank negotiators arrived in Athens on Saturday night for more talks.

Unions and employers have failed to reach agreement on voluntary cuts in wage costs, arguing that a series of emergency taxes imposed by the crisis-hit government over the past two years have already seen workers lose 14% of their income.

Stathis Anestis -- deputy leader of GSEE, Greece's largest union -- described the latest austerity measures being considered by the government as "a recipe for catastrophe" that would sink Greece into deeper recession. "They must respect collective wage deals that have been signed and implemented," he said.

On Saturday morning, about 100 Communist unionists demonstrated outside the prime minister's official residence.

Without additional international support, Greece would go bankrupt, since it is unable to cover a 14.5 billion euro ($19.1 billion) bond repayment on March 20.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is to meet with the leaders of three political parties backing his three-month-old coalition government.

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Introducing the 24/7 Wall St. Wire

2012-02-14T17:12:00.001-08:00

Any time you have a shareholder talking up a company, you have to understand that they are talking up their book.? Billionaires do this, and they tend to be listened to more than others when it comes to money.? After the close of trading on CNBC, Maria Bartoromo?interviewed Prince Alwaleed?bin?Talal of Saudi Arabia.

The prince is a very long-term investor in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).? He is also apparently its largest holder.? This evening he noted that he expects Citi?to begin returning capital to shareholders soon.? The stress tests should be finished in March and the prince said is pushing for a dividend hike.? He even noted that he held a conversation with Citigroup CEO Vikram?Pandit late last week and his opinion is that the new Citi is doing very well.?

Citi is one of the ‘too big to fail’ banks and it has paid only a one-cent dividend since it has gotten out from the TARP.? After a 1-for-10 reverse stock split, many investors have moved on.? The adjusted dividend back in 2007 was $5.40, but it is going to be quite some time before investors expect that to remain.

Thomson Reuters is predicting that Citi?will have normalized earnings at $4.04 EPS in 2012 and $4.70 EPS in 2013.? If the bank is ever allowed to return 40% of its normalized earnings, Citi could pay out $1.60 or so per share in annualized dividends.? That is a big if, but at $33.30 it would generate a dividend yield of 4.8%.

Again, that IF is a really big ‘if’ based on the regulatory climate of today.? The one bank that is expected to be among the very first to raise the common stock dividend is J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).? Its $0.25 per quarter dividend used to be $0.38 per quarter before the bubble burst.? We also expect a?higher dividend coming down the pipe from Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) as its $0.12 per quarter dividend compares to $0.34 before the bubble burst.

JON C. OGG

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The Good News / Bad News Story Persists At CSX

2012-02-14T13:05:00.001-08:00

Rail operator CSX (CSX)has been having one of those fundamental performances increasingly typical of companies acutely sensitive to economic fundamentals:conditions got worse throughout the second quarter of 2009, but as they closed out the period, those things stopped deteriorating at the pace to which they’d become painfully accustomed.

Take its coal business: the slump in coal shipments widened significantly in the period, falling 21% in the second quarter, three times the rate of decline the rail experienced in the first quarter of the year. Reduced usage by electric utilities, lower natural gas prices and slumping exports all contributed to the downturn.

But management said that the slide is expected to moderate in the third quarter, but without saying the trend is going to improve.

Overall, the recession continued to hurt volume. That’s bad. But hasn’t had an impact on pricing. IN fact, CSX said it expected its planned increase in 2009 core prices to come in higher than the 5% to 6% it previously forecast for the full year.

CSX recorded a 20% decline in year-over-year profits with its second-quarter results. But the operating number didn’t decline as much as analysts anticipated, coming in at 72 cents a share, not including some items, versus the 62 cents that had been anticipated. The takeaway from the conference call would appear to be that its end markets are stabilizing at current levels. That’s good enough to allow some investors to get a little optimistic about its outlook. But, with the stock up about 5%, they’re not exactly racing the engine to the crossing.

It’d likely turn out encouraging if CSX’s results are repeated when the other rail operators – most of whom have faced comparable fundamental challenges – report their numbers. Burlington Northern (BNI), which reports July 23, saw its revenue fall about 24%; ditto, for Union Pacific (UNP), which! likewis e reports July 23.

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Money Games for Kids

2012-02-14T09:02:00.001-08:00

A galaxy of new web tools and games have popped up that are designed to teach children about "financial literacy"—the buzzword for the stuff you are supposed to know to stay out of debt and save enough for retirement.

Few schools formally teach skills such as budgeting, balancing your checkbook or the difference between a stock or a bond, so families, of course, are left to fill the void.

Unfortunately, most don't. Since the nonprofit JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy started surveying high-school students in 1997, they have consistently flunked.

Enlarge Image

Edison

I recently tried out a few online games and calculators with my son, and I was embarrassed to realize how few money concepts my husband and I have exposed our second-grader to so far.

Although he can build complicated Lego models in a few hours, it turns out my son doesn't know the first thing about the trade-offs between saving in a low-interest bank account versus a potentially higher-paying, but riskier, stock. This, despite the fact that we dutifully trotted him to a community bank at age three to open a savings account and gave him a framed share of stock for his seventh birthday.

Timothy Knotts, a certified financial planner in Red Bank, N.J., has four children, ages 22 to 17, and says h! e has le arned the hard way that "the thing we need to focus more on with children as teenagers is this whole concept of overspending."

His oldest son was overwhelmed with credit-card offers in college and wound up with $600 in debt, Mr. Knotts says. "For a kid who doesn't have a source of income, it's a nightmare."

The father chose to use the experience as a "teachable moment." He paid off his son's debt and together they set up a summer-job repayment schedule.

The good news is that many of the same tools that can help parents identify the gaps in their children's understanding of basic financial concepts also can help fill them, relatively painlessly and at little or no cost. Be careful, though, whenever a game is backed by a financial-services firm. In theory, there could be a conflict of interest.

Here are some of the latest offerings.

At Visa's financial-literacy website, a number of games target different ages (practicalmoneyskills.com/games). Peter Pig's Money Counter is a fun way for 4- to 7-year-olds to become more facile with change. In Money Metropolis (aimed at children ages 7 to 12), players make choices about how to spend and earn money.

These games seemed best suited for desktop computers that use a regular mouse. My son can't go that fast yet with the built-in mouse on my laptop, but he liked playing them anyway. For older kids, there is Financial Football, which sports cool NFL graphics.

The Great Piggy Bank Adventure (piggybank.disney.go.com) is a virtual board game with lots of sophisticated graphics and animation on Disney's website, backed by T. Rowe Price Group. My son and a colleague's 9-year-old son tried this one out. In both cases, the moms had a hard time getting the game up and running. But once we did, the boys loved it.

The 9-year-old chose to play for an hour, proclaiming it, "The best computer game I have ever played." He was required to set financial goals, such as saving for a basketball hoop (level 1), a vacation (level 2) and a ! sailboat (level 3). Players are frequently tempted to buy smaller items that would set them back. He quickly learned not to spend along the way, his mom says.

There also is an "inflation wolf" that steals money from your piggy bank. The game poses questions, too, such as: What is an example of wasteful spending at a burger joint? Answer: Buying nachos that you don't eat.

A number of other games target a specific skill, such as budgeting. The Be Your Own Boss Challenge at themint.org, for example, points out characteristics that entrepreneurs need, and a true-false quiz underscores that many millionaires live modestly.

Other sites are more nuts-and-bolts. An allowance-management tool—allowancemanager.com—offers a spreadsheet to track a child's money, along with chore charts. Another one, hellowallet.com, offers a free one-month trial, and then charges $8.95 a month for individualized financial guidance that uses behavioral research to try to help users build their savings. Lucy Snyder, a high-school senior in Brooklyn, N.Y., checked out HelloWallet and found it "more appropriate for older teenagers who are already familiar with some [personal-finance] concepts."

Parents who want to teach their children about philanthropy, along with short-term and long-term savings goals, might like kidworth.com. The site lets parents and children set goals in those three categories and then send out "ecards" to grandparents or other family and friends asking for donations or a specific gift or investment.

So what self-respecting 7-year-old would prefer to ask for money for charity or college rather than Legos? Mine, it turns out. This site led to a great conversation about "needs" and "wants," the cost of piano lessons, our tiny church's goal of raising $1 million to repair its sanctuary ceiling and the cost of college.

Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts can earn badges for learning to manage their finances. High schools are starting to offer financial-literacy programs at night, sometimes! led by financial planners. And a few states are starting to develop a financial-planning curriculum for schools, Mr. Knotts, the financial planner, says.

Henry Montag, a father of five and a certified financial planner in Uniondale, N.Y., leads sessions aimed at teens and their parents or grandparents. Among the concepts he covers: distinguishing between wants and needs; sticking to a budget; building good credit; and basic saving and investment strategies.

He has found that it is as important to reach parents as their children. "Because we want to make our children's lives better," he says, "we wind up inadvertently doing things that make our kids dependent on us."

—Anne Tergesen contributed to this article.—Email: familyvalue@wsj.com

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Strange Volume of Hansen Medical, Inc - NASDAQ:HNSN

2012-02-14T05:07:00.001-08:00

Hansen Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNSN) witnessed volume of 3.84 million shares during last trade however it holds an average trading capacity of 1.40 million shares. HNSN last trade opened at $4.51 reached intraday low of $4.38 and went +3.49% up to close at $4.75.

HNSN has a market capitalization $259.10 million and an enterprise value at $210.65 million. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 13.49 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 5.64. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at -116.15% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at -224.26%.

The company made a return on asset of 40.37% in past twelve months and return on equity of -59.59% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $19.20 million gaining $0.36 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 94.70%.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $45.07 million cash in hand making cash per share at 0.83. The total of $5.35 million debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 11.65. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 2.50 and book value per share was 0.84.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 22.32% where the stock current price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average price $3.06 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average price $2.44.

HNSN holds 54.55 million outstanding shares with 48.51 million floating shares where insider possessed 13.52% and institutions kept 38.30%.

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Is Coca-Cola's Stock More Expensive Than Its 12.0 P/E Ratio?

2012-02-13T20:57:00.001-08:00

Numbers can lie -- yet they're the best first step in determining whether a stock is a buy. In this series, we use some carefully chosen metrics to size up a stock's true value based on the following clues:

The current price multiples.
The consistency of past earnings and cash flow.
How much growth we can expect.

Let's see what those numbers can tell us about how expensive or cheap Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) might be.

The current price multiples
First, we'll look at most investors' favorite metric: the P/E ratio. It divides the company's share price by its earnings per share (EPS) -- the lower, the better.

Then we'll take things up a notch with a more advanced metric: enterprise value to unlevered free cash flow, which divides the company's enterprise value (basically, its market cap plus its debt, minus its cash) by its unlevered free cash flow (its free cash flow, adding back the interest payments on its debt). As with the P/E, the lower this number is, the better.

Analysts argue about which is more important -- earnings or cash flow. Who cares? A good buy ideally has low multiples on both.

Coca-Cola has a P/E ratio of 12.0 and an EV/FCF ratio of 24.2 over the trailing 12 months. If we stretch and compare current valuations with the five-year averages for earnings and free cash flow, we see that Coca-Cola has a P/E ratio of 20.0 and a five-year EV/FCF ratio of 25.9.

A positive one-year ratio of less than 10 for both metrics is ideal (at least in my opinion). For a five-year metric, less than 20 is ideal.

Coca-Cola is 0-for-4 on hitting the ideal targets, but let's see how it stacks up against some of its competitors and industry mates.?

Company	1-Year P/E	1-Year EV/FCF	5-Year P/E	5-Year EV/FCF
Coca-Cola	12.0	24.2	20.0	25.9
PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP )	15.7	22.3	16.8	24.6
Kraft	20.6	28.3	20.9	29.7
Campbell Soup	13.1	12.7	11.8	17.2

Source: S&P Capital IQ; NM = not meaningful because of losses.

Numerically, we've seen how Coca-Cola's valuation rates on both an absolute and relative basis. Next, let's examine ...

The consistency of past earnings and cash flow
An ideal company will be consistently strong in its earnings and cash-flow generation.

In the past five years, Coca-Cola's net income margin has ranged from 18.7% to 27.6%. In that same time frame, unlevered free cash flow margin has ranged from 14.8% to 23.1%.

How do those figures compare with those of the company's peers? See for yourself:

Source: S&P Capital IQ; margin ranges are combined.

Source: S&P Capital IQ; ranges are combined.

In addition, over the past five years, Coke has tallied up five years of positive earnings and five years of positive free cash flow.

Next, let's figure out ...

How much growth we ca! n expect
Analysts tend to comically overstate their five-year growth estimates. If you accept them at face value, you will overpay for stocks. But even though you should definitely take the analysts' prognostications with a grain of salt, they can still provide a useful starting point when compared with similar numbers from a company's closest rivals.

Let's start by seeing what this company's done over the past five years. In that time period, Coca-Cola has put up past EPS growth rates of 19.4%. Meanwhile, Wall Street's analysts expect future growth rates of 10.2%.

Here's how Coke compares with its peers for trailing-five-year growth:

Source: S&P Capital IQ; EPS growth shown.

And here's how it measures up with regard to the growth analysts expect over the next five years:

Source: S&P Capital IQ; estimates for EPS growth.

The bottom line
The pile of numbers we've plowed through has shown us the price multiples that shares of Coca-Cola?are trading at, the volatility of its operational performance, and what kind of growth profile it has -- both on an absolute and a relative basis.

The more consistent a company's performance has been and the more growth we can expect, the more we should be willing to pay. We've gone well beyond looking at a cheap-looking 12.0 P/E ratio, and we see that Coke's EV/FCF and 5-year multiples are more dear. This is because its earnings were juiced by a gain from an asset sale.

On a five-year basis, Coke's shares are tr! ading at a premium to its main competitor, Pepsi. But for that premium we see higher margins, more past growth, and more expected future growth (from analysts). It's important to note that we're comparing two premier blue-chip companies here. The operational numbers for both Coke and Pepsi are impressive.

Despite the premium multiples, our CAPS community rates Coke (and Pepsi) five stars out of five. Coke is one of my favorite long-term companies, but I've been waiting for an opportune buy-in price. But all this is just a start. If you find Coca-Cola's numbers or story compelling, don't stop here. Continue your due-diligence process until you're confident one way or the other. As a start, add it to My Watchlist to find all of our Foolish analysis.

I wrote about a stock that's flying under the radar in our brand new free report: "The Stocks Only the Smartest Investors Are Buying." I invite you to take a free copy to find out the name of the company I believe Warren Buffett would be interested in if he could still invest in small companies.

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Two Bear Stearns Hedge Funds Declare Bankruptcy, a Third Freezes Assets

2012-02-12T04:22:00.001-08:00

Taiwan��s too-close-to-call election this weekend could be a rewarding one for investors who gauge the market correctly.

Citi analyst Peter Kurtz said in a research note earlier this week that the island��s smaller-capitalized stocks, which have been poor performers of late, could benefit in the event of a victory by the ruling Kuomintang party.

The small-cap stocks have performed poorly because of declining volume and a risk-adverse mood among investors over the last two years, with the segment trailing the main Taiwan stock index, the Taiex, by 17% in 2011 and 12% in 2010.

Reuters

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou at a campaign rally.

Taiwanese equities in general have underperformed regional Asian markets by 9% over the past three months, according to Credit Suisse research released earlier this month.

The weakness set in around the time polls indicated a narrowing gap between President Ma Ying-jeou and rival candidate Tsai Ing-wen, resulting in a drop in market turnover as investors moved to the sidelines, the investment bank said.

In the final polling allowed before a pre-election ban on voter surveys, Ma was ahead of Tsai by three percentage points, equivalent to the margin of error, according to Agence France-Presse.

Many analysts view a victory by the Ma��s Kuomintang (KMT), seen as more open to econo! mic and other ties with mainland China, as more positive for the equity market than a victory by Tsai��s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Reuters

Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen waves to her supporters.

Credit Suisse even described the election as ��a risk�� for the Taiwanese share market in its 2012 outlook, as fears of a deterioration in relations with Beijing, perceived as likely in the event a DPP victory, would weigh negatively on retail investors�� mood.

Weakness in Taiwan shares in the months leading up to Saturday��s election was the market��s way of discounting an ��adverse�� outcome, the investment bank said, adding that shares would likely rise ��if the election result is a status quo�� win for Ma��s KMT.

Nomura also viewed a KMT victory as economically beneficial, saying it would bolster relations between Taipei and Beijing, even helping speed up a fiscal stimulus package seen as necessary at a time when Taiwan��s economy is forecast to contract modestly in the first quarter on an annual basis.

Citi��s Kurtz didn��t offer any forecasts on how the small caps, dominated by retail and industrial companies, would perform in the event of Ma��s reelection, saying that any gains were unlikely to be significant in 2012. But he did hint at better things to come.

! Click to Play

China looms over Taiwan vote

Campaigning goes into high gear for Taiwan's presidential election, with China relations weighing heavily on this week's vote.

If past performance is any guide, a second term for Ma and the KMT should spark a modest rise in Taiwan��s small caps, followed by a pause lasting up to a few months, then further gains in 2013, Kurtz said.

Small stocks rose during the five months that followed the KMT��s 2008 victory over incumbent president Chen Shui-bian of the DPP.

The gains ran out of steam around the middle of that year, but an even larger advance was seen in 2009 as Taiwanese retail investors took an interest.

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Stocks Close Higher Again

2012-02-11T20:10:00.001-08:00

Shares drifted up Thursday as investors took stock of a Greek refinancing deal and continued improvement in the U.S. labor market.

Shares drifted up Thursday as investors took stock of a Greek refinancing deal and continued improvement in the U.S. labor market. Brendan Intindola has details on The News Hub. Photo: AP

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6.51 points, or 0.1%, to 12890.46. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 1.99 points, or 0.1%, to 1351.95, and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 11.37 points, or 0.4%, to 2927.23.

Technology and consumer-staple stocks led sector gains. United Technologies was strongest among Dow members, rising 2.5%.

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Stocks rece! ived an initial boost after Greek leaders reached a consensus on austerity measures to secure a bailout. If the deal is adopted, Greece will receive $172 billion to keep it from defaulting on debts next month. Final details are still being worked out.

"There's some optimism about Europe. I don't know whether it's justified or not from one day to the next," said John Carey, portfolio manager at Pioneer Investment Management in Boston. "I think people are probably waiting for the details. There've been so many stories in the past that the issue was resolved, so people are rightly skeptical until the details are there."

U.S. stocks advanced as investors digested news that Greece's political leaders reached an agreement on key austerity measures and better-than-expected domestic weekly jobless claims. Steven Russolillo reports on Markets Hub. (Photo: AP)

In the U.S., separate readings on jobs and business activity were better than projected. Initial unemployment claims fell more than expected last week, down 15,000 to 358,000, compared with a consensus estimate of 370,000. And U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1% to $473.17 billion in December from the prior month, more than the expected 0.5% increase, a signal businesses restocked at the end of last year to meet rising demand.

European markets rose on news of the Greek deal but pared earlier gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.2%, its first gain in four sessions. Asian exchanges were mixed after an unexpected increase in the Chinese inflation rate. China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average slipped 0.1%.

In corporate news, Diamond Foods tumbled 37% after the company said the company's audit committee concluded financial statements for fiscal 2010 and 2011 will need to be restated and noted "mat! erial we aknesses" in the company's internal controls. The company said it was taking corrective actions, including appointing a new chief executive, chief financial officer and chairman of the board.

Groupon slumped 14% after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss against expectations of a slight profit.

Lorillard's fourth-quarter earnings jumped 20% as the cigarette maker reported higher shipments and gains in Newport and Maverick brands. Shares gained 9.7%.

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Auto sales on pace for big rebound

2012-02-10T20:06:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- After a grim couple of years, auto sales finally began to rev up a bit in 2011.

Light vehicle sales for 2011 -- including cars, trucks and SUVs marketed to consumers -- will hit nearly 12.8 million, according to industry research firm TrueCar.com. That's up from 11.6 million last year and is the highest annual total since the 13.2 million vehicles sold in 2008.

TrueCar expects the recovery to continue into next year, when it projects that 13.8 million vehicles will be sold.

Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Insights for TrueCar, said 2011 sales were characterized by a "slow and steady recovery."

10 car questions for 2012

"This year was absent of a blockbuster sales month but we see this pace of growth as healthy and sustainable in the coming year," Toprak said in a statement.

2012 auto preview: New car bonanza

GM (GM, Fortune 500) was the industry leader with 18.9% market share in December, TrueCar said, followed by Ford (F, Fortune 500) with 16.5% and Toyota (TOYOF) with 14.1%.

Fellow research firm J.D. Power and Associates said last week that 2011 light vehicle sales would hit 12.7 million before rising to 13.8 million next year.

Still, the industry has a long way to go to get back to pre-recession sales totals; vehicle sales for 2006 hit 16.5 million, according to TrueCar.

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Union Pacific Corporation achieved New Top Price of 12 months - NYSE:UNP

2012-02-09T07:37:00.001-08:00

Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) achieved its new 52 week high price of $107.04 where it was opened at $104.60 UP 2.36 points or +2.26% by closing at $106.76. UNP transacted shares during the day were over 2.70 million shares however it has an average volume of 2.57 million shares.

UNP has a market capitalization $52.37 billion and an enterprise value at $60.32 billion. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 2.93 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 2.84. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 16.60% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 29.07%.

The company made a return on asset of 7.37% in past twelve months and return on equity of 16.47% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $17.49 billion gaining $35.37 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 13.20% holding 23.80% quarterly earnings growth.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $1.25 billion cash in hand making cash per share at 2.54. The total of $9.20 billion debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 50.96. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 1.25 and book value per share was 36.78.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 31.01% where the stock current price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average price of $101.62 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average price of $97.45.

UNP holds 490.52 million outstanding shares with 488.74 million floating shares where insider possessed 0.24% and institutions kept 85.10%.

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Introducing the 24/7 Wall St. Wire

2012-02-08T19:11:00.001-08:00

The current word in the news media is that Chrysler chief Robert Nardelli will keep his job, unlike his counterpart at GM (GM). That seems odd since, so far, the heads of Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC), which are much more successful than Chrysler, have been replaced. The head of Peugeot is also gone.

Nardelli may have dodged a bullet for all of the wrong reasons. Like Ford’s (F)?Alan Mulally, Nardelli was not in Detroit when the current downturn in the US car business began. Nardelli can say he has clean hands, although that is not true. He joined Chrysler in August 2007 and the No.3 US car company has performed much more poorly than its peers since then. Chrysler has been too slow in cutting workers and has done little to revamp its line of light vehicles to?make sales to?consumers who want more fuel-efficient cars.

Nardelli could still be out of work within a month. The Administration wants a marriage between Chrysler and Fiat. If the does not happen, Chrysler could still be forced into Chapter 11. Creditors, suppliers, and the UAW may want to have fresh blood in the corner office. Other car companies have set the precedent. The CEO is expendable if dumping him is the key to a better future.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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Stocks set to swing higher

2012-02-07T23:01:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks point to a higher open Tuesday, as investors weigh a tentative deal to fund the government into next year and await the Federal Reserve's meeting.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were up slightly ahead of the opening bell. Stock futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Investors continue to keep a wary eye on Europe's debt crisis, but are anxious to hear if the Fed has anything else up their sleeve to help the economy.

"The market is oscillating between Europe and then how U.S. companies are actually doing," said Peter Tuz, president at Chase Investment Counsel.

U.S. stocks tumbled in a broad sell-off Monday, amid growing investor doubt that Europe's debt crisis will be resolved, and a sales warning from chipmaker Intel.

Europe debt saga far from over

World markets: European stocks advanced in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 (UKX) ticked up 1%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany added 0.8% and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) edged higher 0.2%.

Asian markets ended lower. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) lost 1.9%, the Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong shed 0.7% and Japan's Nikkei (N225) declined 1.2%.

Companies: Former MF Global (MFGLQ) CEO Jon Corzine will be back to testify before Congress Tuesday, this time flanked by two former colleagues from the brokerage's parent company, MF Global Holdings: Chief operating officer Bradley Abelow and chief financial officer Henri Steenkamp.

Seeking shelter in FDIC banks

Shares of electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) got slammed after the company reported earnings that fell far short of forecasts.

Intel warned that it will badly miss its sales forecast for the current quarter on Monday, because of the worldwide hard drive shortage caused by massive floods in Thailand. Shares of Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) dropped nearly 4% in trading Monday, making the chipmak! er's sto ck one of the biggest losers among Dow issues.

Netflix's (NFLX) stock jumped 6% Monday, on chatter that the company could be acquired by Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500). A spokesman for Netflix said the company doesn't comment on speculation.

Economy: Retail sales for the month of November rose 0.2%, which was much lower than expected, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. But the disappointing report had little impact on futures.

Retail sales were expected to have increased by 0.6%, after a 0.5% increase the month prior.

Investors will also be awaiting news from the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold interest rates at 0.25% for the month of December.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar lost ground against the euro and the Japanese yen, but was flat against the British pound.

Oil for January delivery rose 64 cents to $98.41 a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery rose 40 cents to $1,668.60 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, pushing the yield up to 2.04% from 2.01% late Monday.

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Mercer International Inc. Yearly Performance Remained More than 202% - NASDAQ:MERC

2012-02-07T02:38:00.001-08:00

Mercer International Inc. (NASDAQ:MERC) recently hit 52 week peak price $12.18, opened at $11.50 scored +4.92% closed $11.95. MERC traded on over 1.31 million shares in comparison to average volume of 0.344 million shares.

MERC has earnings of $72.79 million and made $1.11 billion sales for the last 12 months. Its quarter to quarter sales remained 50.05%. The company has 43.00 million of outstanding shares and 32.83 million shares were floated in the market.

MERC has an insider ownership at 0.96% and institutional ownership remained 38.23%. Its return on investment (ROI) for the last 12 month was 5.79% as compare to its return on equity (ROE) of 34.51% for the last 12 months.

The price moved ahead +34.05% from the mean of 20 days, +48.65% from 50 and went up 103.65% from 200 days average price. Company��s performance for the week was 22.06%, +41.76% for month and yearly performance remained 202.53%.

Its price volatility for a month remained 5.08% whereas volatility for a week noted as 6.48% having beta of 3.27. Company��s price to sales ratio for last 12 months was 0.46 while its price to book ratio for the most recent quarter was 1.93 and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) remained 248.17 million for the past twelve months.

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LG Tops Media Tablet Display Market: IHS

2012-02-03T05:21:00.001-08:00

South Korea's LG Display (NYSE:LPL) is leading the tablet display market, thanks to its technology, devices like Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook depend on, says research firm IHS.

According IHS, LG leads the display market with a 51 percent share of global unit shipments in the second quarter of 2011, with South Korean rival Samsung at a distant second with a 35 percent share.

Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble all depend on LG Display as the main supplier of their display panels because of its advanced in-plane switching (IPS) display technology, IHS said.

"LG Display's amorphous silicon LCD panels utilizing IPS technology offer faster response speeds, wide viewing angles up to 179 degrees, and no after image��all while consuming 30 percent less power than conventional LCDs," said Vinita Jakhanwal, senior manager of small and medium displays at IHS.

LG Display also enjoys a competitive advantage in terms of economy of scale, as it devotes more capacity than other manufacturers to making media tablet displays. "Such generous capacity��as well as being Apple's main supplier��has catapulted LG Display to a favorable position in the market," IHS said.

Acoording to IHS, shipments of media tablets are expected to soar 273 percent this year compared to 2010 and will maintain a robust compound annual growth rate of 45 percent from 2011 to 2015.

"With the tablet wars ensuing in earnest, the technology that comes out ahead may well determine which display supplier shines brightest in the years to come," IHS said.

{$end}

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Owe the IRS Back Taxes? IRS Offers Relief

2012-02-02T21:18:00.001-08:00

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced help for taxpayers who are struggling to pay their personal and small business back-taxes. The intent, the IRS announcement on Thursday stated, is to “help individuals and small businesses meet their tax obligations, without adding unnecessary burden to taxpayers.”

The IRS is “significantly increasing” the dollar amount beyond which the IRS would attach liens to taxpayers’ assets; making liens easier to remove after the tax is paid; and generally withdrawing a tax lien if the taxpayer agrees to a “Direct Debit Installment Agreement (DDIA).”

The IRS also says it will make “Installment Agreements” more accessible for small businesses, and expand its “Offer in Compromise Program.”

“We are making fundamental changes to our lien system and other collection tools that will help taxpayers and give them a fresh start,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in the release. “These steps are good for people facing tough times, and they reflect a responsible approach for the tax system.”

Tax Liens

The point at which a lien would generally have been placed on taxpayer assets was $5,000. Now it will be $10,000, IRS spokesperson Dean Patterson told AdvisorOne.

“The new dollar amount is in keeping with inflationary changes since the number was last revised. Currently, liens are automatically filed at certain dollar levels for people with past-due balances,” the announcement stated.

Doubling the threshold is significantbecause, according to the release, “A lien informs the public that the U.S. government has a claim against all property, and any rights to property, of the taxpayer. This includes property owned at the time the notice of lien is filed and any acquired thereafter. A lien can affect a taxpayer's credit rating, so it is critical to arrange the payment of taxes as quickly as possible.” Once the tax is paid in full the IRS will “withdraw” the lien “if the taxpayer requests it,” the release said.

“Raising the lien threshold keeps pace with inflation and makes sense for the tax system,” Shulman said in the announcement. “These changes mean tens of thousands of people won’t be burdened by liens, and this step will take place without significantly increasing the financial risk to the government.”

When taxpayers agree to a DDIAand owe $25,000 or less, and in certain other circumstances, the IRS said it would also withdraw a lien if they convert to a DDIA from a “regular installment agreement;” and “upon taxpayer request,” for those already using a DDIA.

Offer in Compromise

The IRS as also changed its “Offer in Compromise (OIC)” program, in which the taxpayer and IRS agree to settle the taxpayer’s tax liability at a discount from the original tax owed.

The “OIC is being expanded to allow taxpayers with annual incomes up to $100,000 to participate. In addition, participants must have tax liability of less than $50,000, doubling the current limit of $25,000 or less,” according to the release.

Small Businesses

Small businesses will also benefit from an expanded DDIA program. The IRS will raise the limit for participation from under $10,000 owed to under $25,000 if the taxpayer will use a DDIA. Businesses that owe more than $25,000 in taxes would be eligible for the DDIA program if they pay the back-tax down to the $25,000 limit. The DDIA gives small businesses filing as individuals or businesses 24 months to pay.

“These steps are in the best interest of both taxpayers and the tax system,” Shulman added, in the release. “People will have a better chance to stay current on their taxes and keep their financial house in order. We all benefit if that happens.”

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Introducing the 24/7 Wall St. Wire

2012-02-02T17:12:00.001-08:00

Sony's (NYSE: SNE) revenue fell 9% in the September quarter and the company posted a loss, one of a long series. The Japanese firm also said that its P&L problems would not improve soon. The cause of the losses are built into the current Sony business models, which means new management could take years to correct them. And that is only if new management makes proper decisions.

Sony named Kazuo Hirai as president and CEO. He replaces Sir Howard Stringer, who has run the corporation since 2005, and over the past seven years has run it into the ground.

Stringer's biggest mistake has been to stay in two segments of the consumer electronics industry. The first is the manufacturing?and marketing of LCD screens, which is a low-margin business, if not a losing one. The other is that Sony continues to make PCs, although there are a number of other PC makers with much larger market share. And, of course, there is the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Mac.

During Stringer's tenure, he was slow to get a world-class?video game console into the market. PS3 sales have not been a disaster, but Sony has allowed its PS2 sales advantage to wither as Nintendo and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) have made market share gains. Whether Hirai's engineers can upgrade the PS3 enough to take substantial market share, particularly from Microsoft, is an open question. Certainly, the process will be hard.

Stinger also made the odd move of taking?over the half of the Sony Ericsson smartphone joint venture that Sony did not already own. Sony Ericsson sits in the market well behind the Apple iPhone, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and a number of Android-powered products from electronics giant Samsung and nimble operators such as HTC. Even Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) has a better share than Sony Ericsson, which is extraordinary, given the Canadian?company's missteps. Stringer believes that Sony smartphones somehow can be tethered to its content and consumer electronics products. In other words, there is a hidden synergy between Sony's! current businesses and the smartphone?company it has taken over in full.

Sony lost its lead in a number of consumer electronics arenas a decade ago. Stringer made the problem worse as Sony's attempts at innovation failed. Now Hirai has to make Sony a success again, and that is too much to ask of any executive.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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Interphase Corporation Quarterly Earnings Growth Remained more Than 111% - NASDAQ:INPH

2012-02-02T09:11:00.001-08:00

Interphase Corporation (NASDAQ:INPH) shares were transacted unexpectedly with a volume of 2.03 million shares as compared to its average volume of 194,399.00 shares. INPH opened at $6.10 dropped -1.52% closed $5.84. Its 52 week price range is $1.17 - $6.60.

INPH has earnings of -$8.42 million and made $18.21 million sales for the last 12 months. Its quarter to quarter sales remained 24.47%. The company has 6.83 million of outstanding shares and 6.13 million shares were floated in the market.

INPH has an insider ownership at 4.66% and institutional ownership remained 21.52%. Its return on equity (ROE) of -76.31% for the last 12 months.

The price moved ahead +123.11% from the mean of 20 days, +188.94% from 50 and went up +232.81% from 200 days average price. Company��s performance for the week was +42.44%, +224.44% for month and yearly performance remained +148.51%.

Its price volatility for a month remained 12.66% whereas volatility for a week noted as 22.95% having beta of 0.93. Company��s price to sales ratio for last 12 months was 2.19 while its price to book ratio for the most recent quarter was 3.63.

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A Santa Claus Rally, For Real?

2012-02-01T16:52:00.001-08:00

by Tim Parker

Investors are taught never to use hope as a reason to invest, but after 2011 has left the majority of professional money managers lagging the market, there is still, albeit fading, hope of an upcoming Santa Claus rally.

Even with the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) down another 1.06% on Wednesday, there is still time for a turnaround in the next two weeks.

So just what is a ‘Santa Claus Rally’ and what does it mean for your portfolio? (For related reading, see The Frosty, Festive World Of Investing.)

What Is It?
If there is an academic explanation that explains a Santa Claus rally, it would be a strong move to the upside that occurs between Christmas and the New Year. There are as many explanations for this rally as there are lights on a Christmas tree, but some of the more common include the euphoria of the holiday season and excitement about the New Year, positioning portfolios for maximum tax benefits, and the absence of some of the market’s more pessimistic traders who are still on vacation.

This year, the Santa Claus rally has been extended. On November 28th and 29th of 2011, when the S&P 500 added more than 3%, financial media including CNBC, called it the beginning of the Santa Claus rally. It seems that Santa is expected to come earlier this year.

Show Me the Facts
If the Santa Claus rally is real, the facts should support it, and according to Bespoke Investment Group, they do. Going back to 1990, December has seen average returns of 2.02% with positive returns 81% of the time. In the past 100 years, the average December return is 1.39% with positive returns 73% of the time.

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UAW Review And Bonus

2012-02-01T12:49:00.001-08:00

This article is all about where you can get access to the best Unique Article Wizard bonus.

This has never been available to the public before. There is a good reason why many of the best online marketers use UAW. It is great for link building. It is great for getting traffic to your website.

It is also great for getting to Page 1. The problem is that if you do not use it correctly you get get your website de-indexed.

Yes there are other bonus’s you could try but many are just hundreds of dollars of crappy info products that will just waste your time. To view the bonus, you can see the links in the resource box below.

There are also some people that will offer you $100 worth of low quality rubbish to buy through them or you could start to dominate with your SEO campaigns right away with a special bonus.

To view the bonus, you can see the links in the resource box below. In the rest of this article you will see why UAW is so popular with top Internet marketers and bloggers.

Basically for a small monthly fee you can make everyone one of your blog posts 100x more powerful.

This why UAW is a secret weapon for many savvy Internet marketers.

You will first need to work out how you can get a return on the monthly investment. Once you are making 2 sales per month you are in profit and UAW will be paying for itself many times over.

This why UAW is a secret weapon for many savvy Internet marketers. The good news then is that with the right lining strategies with UAW you can completely dominate the front page.

For example you need to make sure that 50% of your links go to the home page with the URL as the anchor text.

If you do not know how to properly link you can get a Google Slap!

Want an additional bonus? Click here, or visit Nathan’s blog at www.InternetMarketingToFreedom.com.

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BP Can¡¯t Collect Part of Gulf Spill Costs From Transocean

2012-02-01T00:41:00.001-08:00

BP Plc (BP) can��t collect from TransoceanLtd. (RIG) part of the $40 billion in cleanup costs and economiclosses caused by the 2010 oil well blowout and Gulf of Mexicospill, a judge ruled. Transocean shares rose on the news.

BP must indemnify Transocean for pollution-related economicdamage claims under its drilling contract, U.S. District JudgeCarl Barbier in New Orleans ruled yesterday. London-based BP (BP/)sued Transocean in April to recover a share of its damages andcosts from the spill.

Any awards for punitive damages against Transocean or civilpenalties under the U.S. Clean Water Act won��t have to becovered by BP, the judge wrote in his 30-page decision. Hedidn��t say whether Transocean will be liable for punitivedamages or Clean Water Act penalties. Transocean has alreadyaccepted responsibility for equipment losses and paying personalinjury and death claims, citing contract provisions.

��This confirms that BP is responsible for all economicdamages caused by the oil that leaked from its Macondo well, andcompletely discredits BP��s ongoing attempts to evade both itscontractual and financial obligations,�� Transocean said in ane-mailed statement. ��Transocean is pleased to see its positionaffirmed, consistent with the law and the long-established modelfor allocating risks in the offshore oil and gas industry.��

Transocean��s Risk

The decision leaves Transocean at risk for Clean Water Actpenalties and possible punitive damages. The U.S. sued BP andTransocean in December 2010, alleging violations of the CleanWater Act, and seeking penalties for each barrel of oil spilled.

��Under the decision Transocean is, at a minimum,financially responsible for any punitive damages, fines andpenalties flowing from its own conduct,�� BP said in astatement. ��Transocean cannot avoid its responsibility for thisaccident.��

Transocean, based in Vernier, Switzerland, rose as much as9.3 percent in Zurich, the most intraday in more than fivemonths. The stock was 2.3 perc! ent high er at 44.46 francs at 4:43p.m. Swiss time.

BP fell 2.3 percent in London to 465.6 pence as of 3:52p.m. local time.

Halliburton Co. (HAL), which is seeking a similar indemnificationruling, climbed $1.20, or 3.3 percent, to $37.36 at 11:01 a.m.in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Transocean asked Barbier to find that its drilling contractwith BP promised indemnification for damages from oil spilledbelow the surface of the Gulf of Mexico and should be enforcedfor claims over the Deepwater Horizon accident.

BP argued that Transocean��s conduct voided the agreement.

Deferred Ruling

��BP is required to indemnify Transocean for compensatorydamages asserted by third parties against Transocean related topollution that did not originate on or above the surface of thewater, even if the claim is the result of Transocean��s strictliability�� or negligence or gross negligence, Barbier wrote inyesterday��s decision.

Transocean said that contract required indemnification evenif there was gross negligence. BP disagreed.

Barbier said he would defer ruling on ��BP��s arguments thatTransocean breached the drilling contract or committed an actthat materially increased BP��s risk or prejudiced its rights.��

Eleven Killed

The April 2010 Macondo well blowout and the explosion thatfollowed killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oilspill in U.S. history. The sinking of Transocean��s DeepwaterHorizon drilling rig and spill led to hundreds of lawsuitsagainst BP and its partners and contractors.

Halliburton, which provided cementing services for theproject, is also seeking indemnification for compensatorydamages. Barbier hasn��t ruled on Halliburton��s request.

��Halliburton has a similar motion pending in thelitigation and we look forward to the ruling on that motion,��Beverly Stafford, a company spokeswoman, said yesterday in an e-mail.

The case is In Re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig DeepwaterHorizon in the Gulf of Mexico o! n April 20, 2010, MDL-2179, U.S.District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).

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Small, Mid-Size Plans Hit DC ¡®Sweet Spot¡¯

2012-01-31T20:34:00.001-08:00

More than one-third of the defined-contribution plan market is made up of small and mid-size plans, Cerulli Associates announced Thursday. The report notes that sponsors in this “sweet spot” have been underserved for years, opening opportunities to catch their business for recordkeepers, advisors, and third-party administrators who are able to meet their needs.

Small plans are those with between $1 million and $9 million, while mid-size plans have between $10 million and $49 million.

In fact, the report notes that some firms that typically service large and mega plans have “outlined plans to target service delivery” to companies with mid-size plans. “They recognize the sweet spot that this market has become for firms with expert services and strong brands,” according to the report.

The report notes that an additional opportunity exists among employers who have yet to offer their workers a 401(k) plan.

"This sweet spot in the small- and mid-sized plan segments can also be seen in the segmentation by assets," Bing Waldert, director at Cerulli Associates, said in a statement. "There is a healthy cut of these plans that demand an elevated measure of services and support, but at a level where margins can be maintained due to plan simplicity and a diminished demand for open architecture."

While large and mega-plans, those with more than $50 million, have just 1% of plans, they account for about 58% of the 57 million active participants. Small plans have nearly 19% of active participants; mid-size plans have 17.4% of participants.

"For national recordkeepers, DC advisors, and third-party administrators, these more equitable proportions mean that it may be possible to benefit from economies of scale-even with small- and mid-size plans (since more participants help to mitigate the costs of technology and administration," according to Tom Modestino, associate director at Cerulli.

The report notes that if recordkeepers or TPAs miss their scale targets, they could become targets for consolidation. Having a significant base of DC plan participants can help a firm capture rollover opportunities.

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2010 Q4 Earnings: LPL Financial Posts Big Jumps in Revenue, Adjusted Net Income

2012-01-31T16:30:00.001-08:00

LPL CEO Mark Casady (right) and CFO Robert Moore on LPL's IPO day in November 2010.

LPL Financial announced its first quarterly and FY results on Monday as a public company, and other than significant charges related to its IPO in the fourth quarter of 2010, it posted more than solid gains in revenue and profitability.

For the fourth quarter, the largest independent broker-dealer posted a net loss of $116.6 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, on an 11.6% increase in net revenue of $820 million.

For 2010, LPL had a net loss of $56.9 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, on a 13.2% rise in net revenue of $3.1 billion.

Absent the charge of $220 million taken in the fourth quarter, partly representing the offering price of LPL’s $30.00/share multiplied by 7.4 million shares that were issued to advisors under a 2000 stock bonus plan, the company had a 33% rise in adjusted net income for 2010 to a record $172.7 million, or $1.71 per diluted share. Absent the IPO and other charges for the fourth quarter, adjusted net income rose 6.2% for the fourth quarter to $44.7 million, or $0.42 per diluted share.

These adjusted quarterly earnings beat the consensus estimates of equity analysts by $0.02, while revenues came in ahead of estimates by roughly $23 million.

In a statement, CEO Mark Casady (left), said “the commitment of our financial advisors to help their clients meet their financial goals, coupled with the strength of our business model and breadth of support we provide our customers, enabled us to deliver record profitability to shareholders despite the challenging operating environment of 2010."

At year-end 2010, LPL had 12,444 registered representatives, or 494 net new advisors. Total advisory and brokerage assets rose 13% in the year to a record level of $315.6 billion. LPL said 206 of those advisors had transferred their licenses from National Retirement Partners (NRP) during the fourth quarter. LPL announced last July that it would acquire parts of NRP and give NRP advisors the opportunity of joining LPL; 206 did so in the fourth quarter, along with 3,800 client accounts and brokerage and advisory assets of $564.3 million.

LPL’s RIA custody operations grew assets to $13.5 billion at year-end from 114 advisory firms, compared to $7.3 billion in assets under custody from 92 RIA firms at year-end 2009.

Also, assets in the Company’s fee-based platforms rose 20.5% for the year to $93.0 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010, and net new advisory assets rose 21.4% during the year, closing at $8.5 billion, which the company said was primarily driven by strong new business development in 2009 and shift toward a higher percentage of advisory business.

Also in a statement, CFO Robert Moore said the record "Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income, were achieved through a combination of factors that include diverse sources of revenues, the majority of which are recurring; growth in advisory and brokerage assets; a continued focus on disciplined expense management; and instituting operational efficiencies across the organization."

Read AdvisorOne's 2010 Q4 earnings calendar for the financial sector for release dates and links to earnings stories.

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Apple Doubles Capital Expenditures and Looks at Big Data

2012-01-31T12:29:00.001-08:00

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)?appears to be expanding its data center capacity, after a 10-K filing in October disclosed capex plans for 2012 at $8 billion against the 2011 amount of $4.6 billion. It seems that?some of the increased outlay may go toward building a large server facility in Oregon, a stone��s throw from Facebook��s server farm.

Apple would also be in the company of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)?who have built data centers in Oregon to take advantage of its mild weather, low power tariffs and lucrative tax incentives.

Earlier this year, Apple unveiled a giant data center in North Carolina prior to launching its iCloud service. Apple is likely to grow its data center capacity in order to cater to its iTunes music service and the newly-launched iCloud service.

Though Apple did not comment on a query regarding these plans, a team from the company was on an inspection of Facebook��s Prineville facility last summer.

Here’s how these stocks are trading:

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL): AAPL shares recently traded at $391.08, down $1.93, or 0.49%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $310.50 to $426.70. Volume today was 6,801,981 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 19,210,000 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 14.13, while trailing earnings are $27.68 per share.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN): AMZN shares recently traded at $191.29, down $4.95, or 2.52%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $160.59 to $246.71. Volume today was 3,665,481 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 7,042,280 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 100.84, while trailing earnings are $1.90 per share.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG): GOOG shares recently traded at $622.77, down $2.88, or 0.46%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $473.02 to $642.96. Volume today was 1,436,558 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 3,159,890 shares. The company’! ;s trail ing P/E is 21.23, while trailing earnings are $29.34 per share.

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Part of his new legal team¡¯s strategy, the plea comes as UBS shifts focus to wealth management from investment banking

2012-01-31T08:24:00.001-08:00

After he said in a September court hearing that he hearing that he was ��sorry beyond words�� for ��his disastrous miscalculations�� as the UBS (NYSE:UBS) trader who caused the largest loss from unauthorized trading in British history, Kweku Adoboli might have an uphill battle to escape long-term confinement. But his legal defense team had to start somewhere, and so this week Adoboli pleaded not guilty to fraud and false accounting.

The trader��s ��miscalculations�� C which, he told bank officials, included falsifying counterparty agreements in trades whose risks were masked by fictitious positions �C caused a $2.3 billion loss and prompted the resignation of the bank��s CEO, Oswald Gruebel, and the co-heads of its global equities business.

As noted in a recent Bloomberg Businessweek post, Adoboli, who has a Ghanaian passport and was remanded into custody on Monday, has a new legal team led by Paul Garlick, of London-based Bark & Co. UBS��s new CEO, Sergio Ermotti, says that the bank set a target for profitability, announced its first cash dividend in five years, and will shrink its investment bank to concentrate on wealth management.

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Drilling Down Into Seadrill's Intangibles

2012-01-30T00:06:00.001-08:00

Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL ) carries $1 billion of goodwill and other intangibles on its balance sheet. Sometimes goodwill, especially when it's excessive, can foreshadow problems down the road. Could this be this be the case with SeaDrill?

Before we answer that, let's look at what could go wrong.

AOL blows up
In early 2002, AOL Time Warner was trading for $66.27 per share.

It had $209 billion of assets on its balance sheet, and $128 billion of that was in the form of goodwill and other intangible assets. Goodwill is simply the difference between the price paid for a company during an acquisition and the net assets of the acquired company. The $128 billion of goodwill in this case was created when AOL and Time Warner merged in 2000.

The problem with inflating your net assets with goodwill is that it can -- being intangible, after all -- go away if the acquisition or merger doesn't create the amount of value that was expected. That's what happened in AOL Time Warner's case. It had to write off most of the goodwill over the next few months, and one year later that line item had shrunk to $37 billion. Investors punished the stock along the way, sending it down to $27.04 -- or nearly a 60% loss.

In his fine book It's Earnings That Count, Hewitt Heiserman explains the AOL situation and how two simple metrics can help minimize your risk of owning a company that may blow up like this. Let's see how Seadrill holds up using his two metrics.

Intangible assets ratio
This ratio shows us the percentage of total assets made up by goodwill and other intangibles. Heiserman says he views anything over 20% as worrisome, "because management might be overpaying for the acquisition or acquisitions that gave rise to the goodwill."

Seadrill has an intangible assets ratio of 7%.

This is well below Heiserman's threshold, and a sign that any growth you see with the company is prob! ably org anic. But we're not through; let's also take a look at tangible book value.

Tangible book value
Tangible book value, which is simply what remains after subtracting goodwill and other intangibles from shareholders' equity. If this is not a positive value, Heiserman advises you to run away because such companies may "lack the balance sheet muscle to protect themselves in a recession or from better-financed competitors."

Seadrill's tangible book value is $5 billion, so no yellow flag here.

Foolish bottom line
Seadrill appears to be in good shape in terms of the intangible assets ratio and tangible book value. You can never base an entire investment thesis on one or two metrics, but there are no yellow flags here. If any companies you're researching do fail one of these checks, make sure you understand the business model and management's objectives. I'll help you keep a close eye on these ratios over the next few quarters by updating them soon after each earnings report.

Keep up with Seadrill, including news and analysis as it's published, by adding the company to your free, personalized watchlist.

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PHH Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

2012-01-29T15:52:00.001-08:00

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 mortgage and fleet-management company PHH (NYSE: PHH ) had a nice tailwind today, gaining as much as 15% in intraday trading after a hedge fund revealed a large new stake in the stock.

So what: For many investors, the names Hayman Capital and Kyle Bass may not mean a whole lot. But for those invested in, or even just interested in, PHH, those names are the key today. Just a week ago, PHH's shares were swooning on the company's plans to sell new debt. Today, they're doing exactly the opposite after Bass' hedge fund Hayman revealed that it's snapped up a 7.9% stake in PHH.

In short, Bass is a tack-sharp money manager who made oodles of money betting against the financial world ahead of the housing meltdown and financial crisis. And now he's taken a position in mortgage company PHH? You better believe that's interesting.

Now what: As smart as Bass may be, he's still just one investor and there's still the possibility that he could be very wrong on this one -- lest we forget John Paulson's epic 2011 meltdown. For that reason, it's probably a bad idea to rush to buy PHH today simply because Bass has jumped in. This could, however, be a good excuse for investors that had the stock on their radar to tune in more carefully to see if they can figure out what Bass found so appealing.

Want to keep up to date on PHH? Add it to your watchlist.

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Analysts' Actions: C, CRM, AXP, EV

2012-01-29T11:49:00.001-08:00

CHANGE IN RATINGS

American Express(AXP) downgraded at Morgan Stanley from Overweight to Equal-weight. Spending expected to decline, especially in Europe, Morgan Stanley said. $51 price target.

Bank of NY Mellon(BK) was downgraded at Morgan Stanley from Equal-weight to Underweight. Company is leveraged to a volatile equity market and lower interest rates, Morgan Stanley said. $22 price target.

Chemtura(CHMT) was initiated with a Sell rating at TheStreet Ratings.

China Kanghui(KH) was downgraded to Sell at TheStreet Ratings.

Citigroup(C) was downgraded at Morgan Stanley from Overweight to Equal-weight. $30 price target.

Salesforce.com(CRM) was upgraded at Needham from Hold to Buy. $125 price target. Expect CloudForce event to generate positive momentum for the company, Needham said.

Electronic Arts(ERTS) was upgraded at Citigroup from Neutral to Buy. $26 price target. Valuation call, Citigroup said.

Eaton Vance(EV) was downgraded at Credit Suisse to Underperform. $21 price target. Estimates also cut, as the company could face net asset outflows.

Foot Locker was upgraded at UBS from Neutral to Buy. $30 price target. NBA overhang lifted, UBS said.

Fluor(FLR) was upgraded from Neutral to Outperform at Robert Baird. Valuation call, based on a $70 price target, Robert Baird said.

Green Dot(GDOT) was rated new Outperform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. $36 price target. Company has a unique business model and a strong brand.

Google(GOOG) was upgraded at Citigr! oup from Neutral to Buy. $680 price target. Taking advantage of 10% correction.

Kellogg(K) was downgraded at BMO Capital from Outperform to Market Perform. $53 price target. Company is reversing cost-cutting efforts, BMO Capital said.

PetSmart(PETM) was initiated with a Buy rating at Needham. $57 price target. Company can continue to gain market share over the coming quarters, Needham said.

Research In Motion(RIMM) was downgraded at Sterne Agee from Buy to Neutral. Forward consensus estimates are likely too high in light of heightened competition, Sterne Agee said.

T. Rowe Price(TROW) was upgraded at Ticonderoga Securities from Neutral to Buy. $57 price target. Company is seeing better asset flows and will likely repurchase stock, Ticonderoga said.

Texas Instruments(TXN) was upgraded at ThinkEquity from Hold to Buy. $35 price target. Checks show that the company is delivering solid growth, ThinkEquity said.

U.S. Bancorp(USB) was upgraded at Morgan Stanley from Equal-weight to Overweight. $31 price target. Company has limited exposure to Europe and pays a solid dividend, Morgan Stanley said.

Verizon(VZ) was upgraded at UBS from Neutral to Buy. $42 price target. Attractive valuation with solid growth, UBS said.

Wynn Resorts(WYNN) was upgraded at Keybanc from Hold to Buy. Macau should continue to help drive growth. $145 price target.

STOCK COMMENTS / EPS CHANGES

Anadarko(APC) numbers were reduced at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $100. Adjustment based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Buy rating.

Chesapeake Energy(CHK) price target, estimates were reduced at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $35. Estimates were lowered based on a new natural gas price deck. Buy rating.

Cabot Oil & Gas(COG) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $93. Adjustments are based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Buy Rating.

Deere(DE) estimates were increased at Morgan Stanley through 2013. Construction demand remains strong, Morgan Stanley. Underweight rating and $74 price target.

Dollar General(DG) target was raised at Guggenheim. Shares are now seen reaching $46. Dollar stores should see more traffic in a cautious economy, Guggenheim said. Buy rating.

Devon Energy(DVN) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $94, according to Jefferies. Estimates also lowered based on new natural gas price deck. Buy rating.

EOG Resources(EOG) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $120, according to Jefferies. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Buy rating.

Energy XXI(EXXI) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $32. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Hold rating.

Forest Oil(FST) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $17. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck. Buy rating.

Quicksilver Resources(KWK) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $7. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Hold rating.

McMoRan Exploration(MMR) numbers were lowered at Je! fferies. Shares are now seen reaching $16. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck. Hold rating.

Netflix(NFLX) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares of NFLX now seen reaching $75, according to Jefferies. Estimates also lowered on the announcement to sell coupon convertible notes and common stock. Hold rating.

Newfield Exploration(NFX) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $43. Estimates also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Hold rating.

Qualcomm(QCOM) was added to the Priority List at Wells Fargo. New products should continue to drive growth. Outperform rating.

QEP Resources(QEP) target was lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $48. Adjustment based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Buy rating.

Range Resources(RRC) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares of RRC are now seen reaching $72. Estimates also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Hold rating.

Swift Energy(SFY) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $35. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Buy rating.

SM Energy(SM) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $108. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Buy rating.

Unum Group(UNM) was added to Top Picks Live! at Citigroup. $25 price target. Stable earnings outlook and predictable capital management flexibility, Citigroup said.

Ultra Petroleum(UPL) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares ! are now seen reaching $47. Estimates also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies. Buy rating.

Whiting Petroleum(WLL) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $69, according to Jefferies. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies said. Buy rating.

W&T Offshore(WTI) numbers were lowered at Jefferies. Shares are now seen reaching $22. Estimates were also lowered based on new natural gas price deck, Jefferies. Hold rating.

>To submit a news tip, email: tips@thestreet.com.

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Kelly Clarkson sales spike after Ron Paul endorsement

2012-01-29T07:47:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A word of advice to prospective American Idol contestants: vote libertarian.

One day after she announced her support for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Twitter, sales of pop singer Kelly Clarkson's most recent album were surging Friday on Amazon.com.

Sales of Clarkson's album Stronger shot up 442% between Thursday and Friday afternoon on Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500), moving the album from #38 to #7 on Amazon's sales list.

While there's no way to tell whether her support for Paul was the only reason for this jump, the endorsement clearly made a difference for some fans.

"I must admit I have not really followed you but your recent stance on Ron Paul made me check you out," one fan wrote Friday in a review of the album on Amazon. "If you are smart enough to support Ron Paul then you are probably talented too."

"JUST DISCOVERED YOU...BECAUSE OF RON PAUL!" another wrote. "The energy of these songs would be great as Ron Paul event background music."

On Thursday, Clarkson wrote on Twitter that if the libertarian candidate "wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he's got my vote."

"I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last republican nomination and no one gave him a chance," she wrote in an extended tweet.

Although she identified herself as a Republican, the former American Idol champ said she "voted Democrat last election." And this go-round, "Out of all of the Republican nominees, he's my favorite," she said.

The Paul campaign thanked Clarkson for her "kind words" in a tweet on Thursday.

News of Clarkson's Amazon sales was picked up Friday by the Hollywood Reporter. Her album sat at #39 on the Billboard album charts as of Friday afternoon, though it was up to #13 on Apple's iTunes charts.

CNN's Political Unit contributed to this report.

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Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Next Week's Game Plan (Final)

2012-01-28T19:35:00.001-08:00

"European news barely made a dent in our markets today," Jim Cramer told his "Mad Money"TV show viewers Friday.

He wondered how long it will last as he laid out his game plan for next week's trading.

On Monday, Cramer said all eyes will be on Alcoa (AA), which has already prepared us for miserable earnings. Cramer said that won't stop the analysts from cutting estimates even more for this embattled stock. Also on Monday, a global health conference begins, and that should be good news for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) and Celgene (CELG).

Cramer said he also still likes the high-yielding drug names, like Bristol Meyers-Squibb (BMY) and Pfizer (PFE).

Tuesday brings the French industrial production numbers and a global auto conference. Cramer said he's anxious to see if ratings downgrades cause turmoil in Europe and if auto sales really are as strong as they appear. On Wednesday, investors will get a read on the U.S. housing market when homebuilder Lennar (LEN) reports. Cramer said this company's earnings don't matter, but its sales and cancellations do.

For Thursday, it's back to Europe for Italian and Spanish bond auctions. Will that matter to the markets? Also on that day, there will be U.S. retail sales numbers for December. Cramer said this average will likely be lower than some are expecting and he would use the weakness to buy stocks like Macy's (M), TJX Stores (TJX) and Ross Stores (ROST).

Finally on Thursday, Domino's Pizza (DPZ) reports. Cramer said he expects great things from this pizza purveyor.

Then on Friday, Cramer said that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) ! should r eport a good number, probably the only good number among the big banks. He still likes the regional plays like BB&T (BBT) and US Bancorp (USB), a stock which he owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS

Boeing Soars

In the final installment of his "Diamonds of the Dow" series, Cramer said the last "ace up his sleeve" is Boeing (BA), which is poised to have some of the best earnings it has seen in years.

Cramer said the demand for new, fuel-efficient planes is so great that even the bankrupt American Airlines was allowed to buy 32 new planes from Boeing. That explains why the stock of Boeing is only getting started after it rose by 10.8% last year.

Boeing's stock trades in correlation to its new orders, Cramer explained, and the company hasn't seen its order books this full since 2005. Boeing saw orders surge 52% last year, and has a backlog of 3,771 planes, and that's only the beginning as its new 787 Dreamliner begins to ramp up.

Cramer said the Dreamliner will be a big deal for Boeing, just as the introduction of the 757 took shares of the company up 239% over the three years that followed its roll-out. Shares of Boeing are only up 25% since the 787 began shipping, said Cramer, but the company is just now ramping production.

Boeing is of course, also a defense contractor, a fact that worries some investors. But Cramer noted that while the U.S. may be cutting, much of Boeing's defense business is international.

Shares of Boeing offer a 2.4% yield and are insanely cheap, said Cramer, trading at just 14.8 times earnings with a 13.4% long-term growth rate. Cramer called Boeing a bargain.

Super Bowl Champs

In his "Mad Money Stock Super Bowl," the stocks of Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) squared off against Alexion Pharmaceut! icals (ALXN) for the title of best stock for 2012.

During the two play-off games earlier this week, Cramer demonstrated that both companies have low PEG ratios, great takeover potential and catalysts that could surprise investors to the upside. Tonight's match up looked at three more metrics: technical analysis, leadership and geo-political risk.

Cramer turned to colleague Dan Fitzpatrick for the technical analysis. Fitzpatrick said that Alexion has a reliable uptrend, and noted that Cabot also displayed a positive pattern, albeit a more volatile one.

Turning to leadership, Cramer said that Alexion has delivered a 3,153% gain since going public in 1996, so obviously management knows what it's doing. Cabot is also strong in the leadership department, delivering a 1,099% gain since its current CEO took over in 2002. Cramer said this category was a tie.

The match-up then came down to geo-political risk, where Cabot faces dangers if the U.S. elections don't go their way. The oil and gas company is also in danger if weakness in Europe or troubles in Iran damage the price the oil. The same is not the case for Alexion, as this orphan drug maker has no worries from any of these factors.

Cramer said after tallying up all of the results, Alexion came out on top, with a total of 6.5 points compared to 3.5 points for Cabot Oil and Gas. He said when all is said and done, Alexion gives investors similar growth potential with far less risk than Cabot.

Mad Mail

In this segment, Cramer followed up on Infospace (INSP) and Newcastle Investments (NCT), two stocks that stumped him in earlier shows.

He said that Infospace, a meta-search company, is interesting but the stock price would need to come down and an accounting irregularity would need to be resolved before he would buy in. He also said that the! 12.6% y ield of Newcastle may look attractive, but not when compared to the 85% decline in its share price over the past five years.

When asked about leaving Micron Technology (MU) for MagnaChip Semiconductor (MX), Cramer said he would absolutely bless that trade.

Cramer was also bullish on Oneoak Partners (OKS), but more cautious on Chesapeake Energy (CHK), which has a "tough road" ahead.

When asked about Microsoft (MSFT) and Costco (COST) on Twitter, Cramer said that Microsoft is a cheap stock without a catalyst. He said that he likes Costco below $80 a share.

Lightning Round

In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), Nordic American Tanker (NAT), Public Service Enterprise (PEG), Annaly Capital (NLY) and Walt Disney (DIS).

Cramer was bearish onBreitburn Energy Partners (BBEP), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Navios Maritime Partners (NMM),Transocean (RIG) and Vail Resorts (MTN).

Short-Squeeze Push

In his "No Huddle Offense" segment, Cramer said it appears that the short sellers have declared victory and are ringing the register on a slew of stocks, sending their shares higher.

Most notable is Netflix (NFLX), a stock that is now the best performing stock in the S&P 500 for 2012.

But Cramer said the short-squeeze can be seen in the for-profit schools, like Apollo Group (APOL), and also in JC Penney (JCP), Best Buy (BBY) and even Amazon.com (AMZN), a stock that's been a permanent short since it last reported earnings.

Cramer said that all of these stocks are rallying as of late, as the short-sellers are leaving the table. To contact the writer of this article, click here: Scott Rutt.

Follow TheStreet on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

To submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.

To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC.

Want more Cramer? Check out Jim's rules and commandments for investing from his latest book by clicking here.

For more of Cramer's insights during the Lightning Round, clickhere.

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Roubini Sees ¡®Significant¡¯ Slowdown in China

2012-01-28T15:31:00.001-08:00

China��s economy will slow in 2012,prompting policy makers to reduce interest rates and loosenlending restrictions, said Nouriel Roubini, the economist whopredicted the 2008 financial crisis.

��It��s going to be a significant growth slowdown thisyear,�� Roubini, co-founder of Roubini Global Economics LLC,said in a Bloomberg TV interview today. ��Housing is deflating.Export growth is slowing down. If they don��t do something --stimulus in monetary and fiscal credit -- the risk is that thegrowth will slow down well below 8 percent.��

China��s gross domestic product increased 9.2 percent lastyear, matching the slowest pace since 2002, as the housingmarket cooled and the European debt crisis eroded export demand.The central bank cut the amount banks must keep in reserve lastmonth for the first time in three years, and the government hasallowed its five biggest banks to boost first-quarter lendingand may relax capital requirements, people with knowledge of thematter said this week.

The world��s second-largest economy, China will furtherreduce the reserve-requirement ratio for banks in the first halfof this year and reduce benchmark rates for the first time since2008 to ��jump start the economy,�� Roubini said. Growth below 8percent will create ��political noise�� as China undergoes aleadership transition, he said.

China is in the midst of a planned shift in its rulingelite that will culminate late this year at the 18th CommunistParty Congress. The meeting, which occurs every five years, willprobably see Vice President Xi Jinping tapped as China��s nextpresident and Li Keqiang, currently vice premier, put forward asprime minister.

Roubini, a professor at New York University, predicted theU.S. housing bubble before the market peaked in 2006, whilefailing to foresee a rebound in global stocks in 2009.

Home prices fell last month in 52 of 70 Chinese cities fromNovember, according to government data released on Jan. 18.Exports increased 13.4 percent in December from a y! ear earl ier,slowing from 24.5 percent in August, according to customs bureaudata.

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Full House star Dave Coulier owes back taxes

2012-01-28T11:27:00.001-08:00

Who could have imagined that a Bullwinkle imitating, television sidekick could ever get in a jam with the IRS?

Apparently, Full House's Joey (Dave Coulier) has done exactly that. Perez Hilton reported today that tax liens totaling nearly $50,000 have been filed against that TV uncle with a talent for cartoon character voices.

According to Detroit News: "The state of California filed an $11,793 lien against him on May 4 in the Los Angeles County Recorder of Deeds office.The IRS filed a $37,063 lien against him on March 17, 2008, in Los Angeles County.

Checking up on Dave Coulier's Official website, I found no mention of his little tiff with the taxing authorities. He does however, indicate that he'll be visiting close to my home in Wisconsin next month. I also checked Dave's Twitter feed to see if he tweeted about the situation. He hasn't yet mentioned his back taxes on Twitter, but he does indicate that becoming a senator may be one way to pick your nose in peace - or not.

This much I can tell you for certain; It's better to pay our taxes when they are due, than it is to try retrospectively prying the IRS off our backs. I always suggest leaving tax form preparation to a professional tax accountant, because being able to talk in comical voices won't make a tax audit one bit funnier.

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11 Things You May Not Know About Your IRA

IRAs have built-in flexibilities. Here are some little-known features that will help you get the most out of your contributions.

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Some Examples Of The Differences Between The Job Of A Business Speaker And A Celebrity Speaker

2012-01-27T07:07:00.001-08:00

Motivational speakers are generally called upon to help an audience deal with particular needs or issues as well as the morale to succeed. The audience always comprises of individuals who share a common interest and need to learn a thing or two related to that specific area of interest. Depending on the need and audience, there are a number of speakers that can be asked to come address an audience. One should be able to pick out a business speaker or celebrity speaker depending on what goal they have set.

A celebrity speaker is not popular due to their speaking abilities but rather as a result of roles in different field such as music, acting or entrepreneurship. In the case of business speakers, they are speaking professional. Business speakers are hired specifically because of their capability in delivering effective sessions. They gain popularity due to speaking and not anything else though most end up writing books after spending some significant amount of time in the speaking industry.

The one main difference is the audience addressed by these two types of speakers. Business speakers are quite specific when it comes to their audience. The business speakers are invited to address an audience that needs to hear more about how to succeed in the trade world and mostly in a particular area such as marketing or human resource management. On the other hand, a celebrity speaker can be called upon to address a variety of audiences. Since they are noted as celebrities and not speakers first, they are mostly called upon because of their status. Their speaking abilities are not always the first factor considered when looking to bring them into an event. The event planner decides on which celebrity speaker will fit with the audience based on the age of the audience and their basic interests and not on the agenda at hand. On many occasions, celebrity speakers are hired for entertainment and not necessarily to speak on an issue. Business speakers are however almost never hired f! or enter tainment.

The other evident difference between business and the celebrity speaker is involvement. A large number of prosperous business speakers choose to get in touch with the event and get details on what the event planners are set to promote long before the day. This familiarity enables them get better acquaintance with the event and predict the kind of audience to expect thus being equipped to prepare for a suitable presentation. The speaker also ensures that they are there for the whole event and not just their presentation.

This helps the audience feel that they have not been abandoned and can even create an avenue for some of them to get acquainted with the speaker after the event. Unlike business speakers, celebrity speakers always appear a few minutes before their performance and leave right after. It is a common and expected character in their main area of business. After evaluating the differences between these two speakers an individual should be able to pick one that will be suitable for their next event.

For assistance selecting your speaker call Speakers Associates. Speakers Associates specialise in finding the right celebrity speakers.

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Google Earnings Trend Becomes That of Disappointment (GOOG)

2012-01-27T03:01:00.001-08:00

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has another round of earnings which are not going to be good enough for many.? The search behemoth posted earnings of $6.45 EPS on ex-TAC revenues of $5.09 billion.? Thomson Reuters has estimates of $6.52 EPS and $4.99 billion in ex-TAC revenues.? This will mark the second big move downward after earnings in a row, and it should be noted that the earnings estimate was $0.02 per share less at the earnings release than what Thomson Reuters listed a week ago.? We broke each unit of measurement out and comparative data on each.

Google-owned sites generated revenues of $4.50 billion, or 66% of total revenues.? While this represents a 23% increase over second quarter 2009 revenues of $3.65 billion, a quarter ago the Google-owned sites generated revenues of $4.44 billion, or 66% of total revenues and that was static from the quarter before.

Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.06 billion, or 30% of total revenues.? This is compared to $2.04 billion, or 30% of total revenues, last quarter and compares to 31% two quarters ago.

International revenues were $3.53 billion, representing 52% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2010.? This is down from 53% a quarter earlier.

Traffic Acquisition Costs as a percentage of advertising revenues rose to $1.73 billion and was 26% of ad revenues.? It was 26% a quarter ago and 275 a year ago.

Paid clicks were down 3% sequentially after showing a 5% sequential a quarter ago, but this is still up 15% from a year before.

Operating expenses (other than cost of revenues) were $1.99 billion in the second quarter of 2010, or 29% of revenues,? up from 29% of revenues last quarter.

Stock-Based Compensation was $309 million versus $291 million last quarter and versus $276 million a quarter before.? Google is still sticking with 2010 guidance of $1.2 billion for stock based compensation.

Cash and equivalents came in at a whopping $30.1 bill! ion, up from $26.5 billion last quarter and up from $24.5 billion just two quarters ago.? What is interesting is that Google noted that the cash increase included cash collateral of $2.9 billion that the company received in connection with its securities lending program, partially offset by $1.1 billion of tax payments and $704 million of shares repurchased related to the AdMob acquisition.? In addition, Google’s Board authorized debt financings of up to $3 billion through the issuance of commercial paper and it established a $3 billion revolving credit facility, which is to be used for general corporate purposes.

Google’s headcount was 21,805 full-time employees, up from 20,621 last quarter and up from 19,835 two quarters ago.

All in all, this is a report of a maturing company that still is growing and still has growth ahead.? This another semi-disappointment on the bottom-line as margins are coming in.

Shares closed up 0.55% at $494.02 in trading today, and the after-hours stock reaction is down about 4.1% at $473.50.? Google was at $595.30 the day of its last earnings report and shares fell on some of the same issues down to $550.15 the next day.

Again, there is not really any bad news here on the surface.? Margins may be coming down some as it spreads out its wings into newer areas, but the growth is still happening here.? If it gets too broad on its efforts it will become unmanageable for the young billionaires.? But growth is growth, and unfortunately share price reactions are share price reactions.

Two quarters a trend makes… at least as far as a stock reaction to the actual earnings report.

JON C. OGG

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Hoarders' Latest Turn-On: Lightbulbs - SmartMoney.com

2012-01-26T22:58:00.001-08:00

Karen Beseth is all about energy conservation. She shuts off the lights when leaving the room and sets the thermostat at 67 degrees through her small town's blustery winters. But there's one concession the DeWitt, N.Y., insurance consultant won't make -- she loves her incandescent lightbulbs. No surprise then that in advance of the federal phaseout of traditional bulbs starting Jan. 1, she's stocking up. Her garage and basement shelves are filled with 100-watt four-packs. "There's just some things we put our foot down on," she says.

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Insurance for Everything

Polls show that many Americans aren't even aware of the pending ban, but 13 percent say they are hoarding to prepare for a time when the 134-year-old technology joins heroin and sea-turtle meat in the banned-products pantheon. Home Depot, which supplies nearly a third of the bulbs that plug into the nation's 4 billion light sockets, says that as 2011 drew to a close, incandescent sales jumped.

Experts like Bill Hamilton, Home Depot's merchandising VP for electrical, say alternatives to incandescents have vastly improved -- light quality is up, and prices are falling fast. But not everyone's convinced. I just tried replacing the incandescent bulb on my nightstand lamp, and the results weren't pretty. The $3.50 halogen bulb was decent, but halogens don't save many watts. LEDs use 80 percent less energy, but the $40 bulb was dim and the angular device looked clunky in my lamp. The real shocker was the $6.50 compact fluorescent. Its thin, cold glow gave my bedroom the look and feel of a state-run psych ward (don't ask me how I kno! w this). Even my dog looked sickly.

Of course, for many folks, the objection to the bulb ban goes beyond aesthetics. Bulbs.com CEO Mike Connors says most of his business clients, like hotels, happily embraced the new technology -- they love the savings. The hoarders are often consumers with a political agenda: They don't like the government dictating choices. "There's a combative feeling," he says.

In the House of Representatives, some Republicans are still hoping to see the ban repealed. And in Texas, the state legislature passed a bill declaring it legal to manufacture and sell incandescent bulbs within state lines -- never mind the fact that there's not a single bulb factory in Texas. "Everyone loves it," says a spokesperson for George Lavender, the representative who wrote the bill.

This is hardly the first product ban to meet resistance. The Department of Energy recently cracked down on showerhead makers that were circumventing water-flow restrictions with multiple-head systems. On eBay, opportunists sell used '60s-era toilets that offer a "big flush" -- for $700. John Maly, a Colorado intellectual property strategist who uses a high-flush toilet imported from Calgary, Alberta, says he gets several hundred hits a day to his website, FreeExistence.org, which provides instructions on how to install your own commode and jimmy your showerhead to remove the regulator.

Of course, the lightbulb ban could create new opportunities. In Europe, where the phaseout launched in 2009, retailers that stocked up are making out like bandits. LightBulbs Direct in the U.K. says demand is huge for its stash of 100- and 60-watt bulbs, which sell for about $1.50 -- a fat markup over the pre-ban price of 60 cents or so.

And in Germany, a genius entrepreneur concocted the ultimate work-around. He's marketing his bulbs as miniature space heaters. Billed as "the best invention since the lightbulb," his "heatballs" sell for around $2.30. Who says government regulation stifles creativity?

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China¡¯s Yuan Drops as PBOC Lowers Fixing By Most Since November

2012-01-26T18:53:00.001-08:00

The yuan dropped after the centralbank lowered the daily reference rate by the most in more thanseven weeks amid concern the European debt crisis will cooldemand for Chinese goods.

The People��s Bank of China set the fixing 0.18 percentweaker, the biggest reduction since Nov. 15, at 6.3115 perdollar. Global economic growth prospects are dim and downsiderisks are escalating, Zhu Min, deputy managing director at theInternational Monetary Fund, said at a conference in Singaporetoday. France plans to sell as much as 8 billion euros ($10.3billion) of bonds today as credit-rating companies threaten tocut the nation��s AAA ranking.

��The lingering European debt crisis will harm China��sexports and the central bank is taking account of this factor,��said Kenix Lai, a Hong Kong-based currency analyst at Bank ofEast Asia Ltd. ��Investors are buying the dollar as they becomemore risk averse today.��

The yuan fell 0.11 percent to close at 6.3017 per dollar inShanghai, the biggest one-day drop since Dec. 20, according tothe China Foreign Exchange Trade System. It touched 6.2919yesterday, the strongest level since the country unifiedofficial and market exchange rates at the end of 1993. Thecurrency is allowed to trade 0.5 percent on either side of thedaily fixing.

In Hong Kong��s offshore market, the yuan weakened 0.02percent to 6.3125 per dollar. Twelve-month non-deliverableforwards dropped 0.19 percent to 6.3405. The contracts traded ata 0.6 percent discount to the onshore spot rate.

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Average daily volume remains on record pace

2012-01-26T14:51:00.001-08:00

Options Volume Drops 12% in May

Options trading volume fell nearly 12 % in May with about 360 million contracts changing hands at the nine US options exchanges, according to the Options Industry Council. In May 2010, more than 405 million contracts traded.

However, average daily trading volume last month was a little more than 17 million contracts, a rise of nearly 11% from full-year 2010.

Year-to-date volume and average-daily volume in the options marketplace are on a record pace this year despite May��s downturn. Year-to-date 1.8 billion options have traded, a rise of more than 9% from last year. The average-daily volume through May is at 17.9 million options, up almost 8% from the same period a year ago.

Volume on the equity option side in May hit 336.2 million contracts, down 9.3% from May 2010. The average daily volume for equity options was 16 million contracts, down nearly 14% from the same month a year ago.

Your intraday options trading update.

High Options Volume by Strike

Weekly contracts in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) are topping the active list today. The SPY Jun Weekly 133 Put traded more than 96,000 contracts, and is up .70 to .90.The SPY Weekly Jun 132 and 134 Puts also busy with both trading a combined 112,000 contracts. A SPY Jun 132 Put traded more than 70,000 contracts and is up .87 to 1.63

Most active equity is Nokia (NYSE: NOK) with its NOK Jun 7 Call down .06 to .18 on 49,000 contracts. Nokia was creamed following Goldman downgrade.

The iShares Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) trades busy in its IWM Jun 82 Put, up .58 to 1.10 on 47,000 options.

Find more option analysis and trading ideas at Options Trading Strategies.

Stocks/Underlying �C Big Daily Ch! ange in Option Volume

Dollar General (NYSE: DG) trades nearly 12,000 option contracts as stock falls 1.76 to 32.31.

Pharmaceutical HOLDRS (NYSE: PPH) has option volume of more than 2100 as it falls .20 to 20.77.

The ProShares UltraShort FTSE China 25 (NYSE: FXP) trades about 11,000 options as it rises .87 to 26.17.

Total Volume Leaders

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) trades 1.6 million options as it falls 2.19 to 132.71. The S&P 500 Index Options (CBOE: SPX) trades more than 381,000 option contracts and falls 22.17 to 1323.03.

The iShares Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) trades 322,629 contracts and falls 1.86 to 82.98.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) trades more than 253,000 options and is a rare riser today, up .11 to 347.94.

Nokia falls .34 to 6.69 and traded 216,000 options.

The CBOE Volatility Index (CBOE:VIX) sees more than 170,000 options trade as it rises 1.88 to 17.33.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is down .41 to 11.33 and 137,000 options trade on the big bank.

Burney Simpson is the managing editor of InvestorPlace options pages.

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Pacific Ethanol, Inc. Signs Operations and Maintenance Agreement With Zeachem

2012-01-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 20, 2011 (CRWENEWSWIRE) — Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (Nasdaq:PEIX), the leading marketer and producer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the Western United States, entered into an agreement with Pacific Ethanol Management Services, Corp, (”Pacific Services”) a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pacific Ethanol, Inc. and ZeaChem Inc. (”ZeaChem”), to provide operations, maintenance and accounting services for ZeaChem’s 250,000 gallon per year cellulosic integrated biorefinery in Boardman, Oregon. ZeaChem is a developer of biorefineries for the conversion of renewable biomass into sustainable fuels and chemicals.

Neil Koehler, Pacific Ethanol’s president and CEO, stated: “This agreement reflects the value of our diversified business model as we extend our asset management expertise beyond the four Pacific Ethanol plants to provide plant operating and maintenance services to ZeaChem. We are well positioned to leverage our extensive knowledge of low-carbon renewable fuel production to operate and maintain ZeaChem’s advanced cellulosic biorefinery. “

Under the terms of the agreement, Pacific Services will provide operating services for ZeaChem’s 250,000 gallon per year cellulosic integrated biorefinery, which is adjacent to Pacific Ethanol’s Columbia plant, starting in the fourth quarter of 2011.

About Pacific Ethanol, Inc.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. is the leading marketer and producer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the Western United States. Pacific Ethanol also sells co-products, including wet distillers grain (WDG), a nutritional animal feed. Serving integrated oil companies and gasoline marketers who blend ethanol into gasoline, Pacific Ethanol provides transportation, storage and delivery of ethanol ! through third-party service providers in the Western United States, primarily in California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho and Washington. Pacific Ethanol has a 20% ownership interest in New PE Holdco LLC, the owner of four ethanol production facilities. Pacific Ethanol operates and manages the four ethanol production facilities, which have a combined annual production capacity of 200 million gallons. The facilities in operation are located in Boardman, Oregon, Burley, Idaho and Stockton, California, and one idled facility is located in Madera, California. The facilities are near their respective fuel and feed customers, offering significant timing, transportation cost and logistical advantages. Pacific Ethanol’s subsidiary, Kinergy Marketing LLC, markets ethanol from Pacific Ethanol’s managed plants and from other third-party production facilities, and another subsidiary, Pacific Ag. Products, LLC, markets WDG. For more information please visit www.pacificethanol.net.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

With the exception of historical information, the matters discussed in this press release including, without limitation, the ability of Pacific Ethanol to continue as the leading marketer and producer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the Western United States are forward-looking statements and considerations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The actual future results of Pacific Ethanol could differ from those statements. Pacific Ethanol refers you to the “Risk Factors” section contained in its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, 2011 and in its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 11, 2011.

Source: Pacifric Ethanol, Inc.

Contact:

Company IR Contact:
Pacific Ethan! ol, Inc.
916-403-2755
866-508-4969
Investorrelations@pacificethanol.net
IR Agency Contact:
Becky Herrick
LHA
415-433-3777
Media Contact:
Paul Koehler
Pacific Ethanol, Inc.
503-235-8241
paulk@pacificethanol.net

THIS IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY OR SELL ANY SECURITY!

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Spinoffs Just in the Nook of Time?

2012-01-26T06:44:00.001-08:00

The following video is part of our "Motley Fool Conversations" series, in which consumer goods editor/analyst Austin Smith and industrials editor/analyst Brendan Byrnes discuss topics across the investing world.
In today's edition, Brendan and Austin talk about some of the recent spinoff rumors that have swirled regarding whether eBay should part ways with its PayPal division, and whether Barnes & Noble would be better off letting the Nook run free.
Every now and again, we come across a stock that has us so excited we can hardly contain our investing enthusiasm. We've uncovered one such stock with so much promise we've dubbed it "The Motley Fool's top stock for 2012." We've created a special free report for investors to uncover this soon-to-be rock star. The report highlights a company that is revolutionizing commerce in Latin America, and you can get instant access to the name of this company by?clicking here. Thousands have already requested the report, which is free today, but it won't be forever -- so click here to access it now.
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2 Sunny Metrics for Suntech

2012-01-26T02:44:00.001-08:00

Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP  ) carries $433 million of goodwill and other intangibles on its balance sheet. Sometimes goodwill, especially when it's excessive, can foreshadow problems down the road. Could this be this be the case with Suntech?
Before we answer that, let's look at what could go wrong.
AOL blows up
In early 2002, AOL Time Warner was trading for $66.27 per share.
It had $209 billion of assets on its balance sheet, and $128 billion of that was in the form of goodwill and other intangible assets. Goodwill is simply the difference between the price paid for a company during an acquisition and the net assets of the acquired company. The $128 billion of goodwill in this case was created when AOL and Time Warner merged in 2000.
The problem with inflating your net assets with goodwill is that it can -- being intangible after all -- go away if the acquisition or merger doesn't create the amount of value that was expected. That's what happened in AOL Time Warner's case. It had to write off most of the goodwill over the next few months, and one year later that line item had shrunk to $37 billion. Investors punished the stock along the way, sending it down to $27.04 -- or nearly a 60% loss.
In his fine book It's Earnings That Count, Hewitt Heiserman explains the AOL situation and how two simple metrics can help minimize your risk of owning a company that may blow up like this. Let's see how Suntech holds up using his two metrics.
Intangible assets ratio
This ratio shows us the percentage of total assets made up by goodwill and other intangibles. Heiserman says he views anything over 20% as worrisome, "because management might be overpaying for the acquisition or acquisitions that gave rise to the goodwill."
Suntech has an intangible assets ratio of 8%.
This is well below Heiserman's threshold, and a sign that any growth you see with the comp! any is p robably organic. But we're not through; let's also take a look at tangible book value.
Tangible book value
Tangible book value, which is simply what remains after subtracting goodwill and other intangibles from shareholders' equity (also known as book value, see box). If this is not a positive value, Heiserman advises you to run away because such companies may "lack the balance sheet muscle to protect themselves in a recession or from better-financed competitors."
Suntech's tangible book value is $1 billion, so no yellow flags here.
Foolish bottom line
Suntech appears to be in good shape in terms of the intangible assets ratio and tangible book value. You can never base an entire investment thesis on one or two metrics, but there are no yellow flags here. If any companies you're researching do fail one of these checks, make sure you understand the business model and management's objectives. I'll help you keep a close eye on these ratios over the next few quarters by updating them soon after each earnings report.
Keep up with Suntech Power Holdings, including news and analysis as it's published, by adding the company to your free, personalized watchlist.
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DrStockPick.com Stock Report! 7/31/09, KDN, SGRP, OCLS, BW, SCMP, AUXL

2012-01-25T22:45:00.001-08:00

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!
Friday July 31, 2009

Kaydon Corporation (NYSE:KDN) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a 5.9 percent increase in its regular quarterly dividend, to $.18 per share from $.17 per share. The dividend is payable on October 5, 2009 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 14, 2009. The indicated annual dividend rate will now be $.72 per share. This is the third consecutive year in which the Company has increased its quarterly dividend.
SPAR Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGRP) today reported financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2009. Net revenues for the 2009 second quarter were $13.5 million, compared with $18.9 million a year ago. The company reported net income for the 2009 second quarter of $236,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared with net income of $3,000, or $0.00 per share, for the 2008 second quarter. Included in the 2009 second quarter results was other income of $285,000, resulting from a credit for prior legal expenses. Results for the 2008 second quarter included $458,000 in non-recurring litigation costs and a $170,000 tax benefit. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the 2009 second quarter decreased 13% to $3.9 million from $4.5 million a year ago.
Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCLS) today announced the closing of an offering to sell securities to selected investors for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $6.0 million. The offering was made pursuant to a registration statement that was filed by Oculus with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and declared effective by the SE! C on Jul y 24, 2009. The offering closed on July 30, 2009.
Brush Engineered Materials Inc. (NYSE: BW) today reported second quarter 2009 results. Both sales and EPS exceeded the Company’s expectations. Second quarter sales were $174.1 million, ahead of the previously announced guidance of $150.0 to $160.0 million. The reported net loss for the quarter was $0.04 per share versus the previously announced guidance of up to a $0.20 per share loss. Additionally, the Company also updated the outlook for the year, noting an improvement in order trends.
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCMP) today announced that it will sponsor a conference call to discuss its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. These results are expected to be released on Thursday, August 6, 2009, after the capital markets close.
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL), a specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Arthritis Advisory Committee confirmed it will review XIAFLEX(TM) during an advisory committee hearing at the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg, MD on September 16, 2009. The Arthritis Advisory Committee is an official advisory committee of the FDA’s Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Rheumatology Products (DAARP). Advisory committees provide the FDA with independent expert advice on scientific, technical, and policy matters.
Source: E-Gate System from Alphatrade.com
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The SEC and Wall Street: Cozier Than You Thought

2012-01-25T14:36:00.001-08:00

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is supposed to be the cop patrolling the Wall Street beat. But according to a new article in Rolling Stone, the SEC has been acting more like an accomplice than a regulator.

The SEC allegedly destroyed the files of some 18,000 investigations, thus whitewashing the records of countless financial firms and Wall Street players - some of whom played a key role in the financial collapse of 2008.

Some of the destroyed files included a 2002 inquiry into financial fraud at Lehman Brothers, a 2009 preliminary investigation of insider trading by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), and information pertaining to the Bernie Madoff case, according to Rolling Stone.

The discovery was illuminated by Darcy Flynn, an SEC attorney-turned-whistleblower, who recently came forward to Congress.

The practice of systematically destroying past inquiries into insider trading, fraud and market manipulation is incomprehensible at best and, at worst, illegal.

Under a deal the SEC worked out with the National Archives and Records Administration, all of the agency's records were supposed to be maintained for at least 25 years.

But that's not all.

Flynn is not permitted to speak to the press, but apparently presented evidence to the SEC's inspector general and three congressional committees earlier this summer that suggests high-ranking officials at the SEC are merely the puppets of Wall Street firms.

In one case, a senior official in the enforcement division of the SEC kept investigators from bringing a case against an influential bank. That same senior official then turned around and accepted a lucrative job at that bank.

In all, Flynn's report and the Rolling Stone article suggest that while many had just presumed the SEC to be inept, the agency is, i! n fact, corrupt.

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Playing the Rally in Transport Stocks - SmartMoney.com

2012-01-25T10:33:00.001-08:00

After a disastrous 2011 which saw a financial implosion in Europe and an economic downturn worldwide, risk assets have rebounded strongly so far in 2012, pushing the S&P 500 index to a five-month high. But as we pointed out earlier this week, new trends are emerging.

Also See

Stocks and the Dollar: A New Correlation?
Stocks That Could Sail in 2012
Time to Take Your Medicine Stocks?

Charles Dow's original stock index wasn't the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but the Transportation Index, first calculated in 1884 as a leading harbinger of the economy. In today's often erratic market, transport stocks have been quiet leaders: The Dow Jones Transportation Average, made up primarily of trucking, delivery and airline shares, rests only 7% off its all-time-high reached last spring, closer than either the Dow Jones Industrial (down 12%) or Utility average (down 18%). Trucking stocks like J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT), as well as rail operators like Kansas City Southern (KSU), Union Pacific (UNP) and Norfolk Southern (NSC), have been notably strong.
What Doesn't Sink Could Sail:

Guggenheim Shipping ETF (SEA) 1 year

For those investors with dividends on the brain, one way to play might be via The Guggenheim Shipping ETF (SEA), an under-the-radar screen basket of shipping stocks, inc! luding 7 0% domiciled outside the U.S.
At first glance, it might seem like a suicide mission. With the exception of a shortlist of names like Kirby (KEX), Textainer Group (TGH) and Rand Logistics (RLOG), shipping stocks were pummeled in 2011 -- so much that, as we pointed out a few months back, many trade below book value, or the replacement cost of the assets themselves. The Guggenheim fund's holdings trade at a price/earnings ratio of seven and a price/book value of 0.6, meaning you're technically buying one dollar worth of assets for only 60 cents.
And while I don't advocate buying any investment simply to receive a dividend, encouraging price action in stocks like Seaspan Corp. (SSW), Safe Bulkers Inc. (SB) and Nippon Yusen (NPNYY) suggests a tradable bottom could be in place. At current prices, the fund is yielding you nearly 6.5% to wait as the herd realizes ships are, in fact, transportation stocks, too.
After suffering losses in 2011, it would be easy to brush off shippers with the old saying that "even a stopped watch is right twice a day." Yet when it comes to the markets, timing is everything. With transportation shares rallying and prices still historically depressed, now might be that time.
Jonathan Hoenig is managing member at Capitalistpig Hedge Fund LLC At the time of writing, Hoenig's fund held positions in many of the securities mentioned.
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Google (GOOG) And Yahoo! (YHOO): Newspapers Are Not Dead

2012-01-24T18:21:00.001-08:00

Yahoo! (YHOO) has made a big deal about its deal to sell online advertising for almost 200 US newspapers. It will also index their content to run on the big portal. According to The New York Times "for the newspapers, which have struggled in recent years as readers and advertisers have flocked to the Internet, the deal represents an effort to earn a greater share of the fast-growing amount spent online on all types of ads."
Google (GOOG) seems to have come up with a simpler system which it will launch in Europe. It will simply auction off ad space in newspapers using a ruthless supply and demand system. MarketWatch writes "bidders would offer the price they are willing to pay for the ads, and newspaper publishers would then decide whether to accept the offer. Google stands to take a piece of the advertising sales from every deal between advertisers and publishers."
The new announcement indicates that newspapers are still an attractive target for advertisers even in the eyes of search giant Google. It believes that there is money to be made in an industry which many analysts believe is dying. Perhaps they are right.
The danger for newspapers is that once media inventory become a commodity, the value of the content is also marked down. What a newspaper writes may no longer be more important than what its ads can fetch at auction.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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All About Safety Signs

2012-01-24T14:12:00.001-08:00

People normally follow the rules and regulations in the workplace that are provided by the safety signs. However, they don’t realize that these signs play an important role in preventing accidents and providing protection for them. There can be no doubt about the fact that particularly in these days of the modern world, that warning labels, tags, and safety signs, need to play an important part on the safety in the office or the shop. The fact is that safety Signs need to be given the first priority when a workplace is being designed.
Safety signs consist primarily of pictorial symbols that have various colors, sizes, ands shapes, messages, and words. These signs reflect specific meanings with clear messages with regards to safety and the prevention of accidents and are standardized. It’s always in the best interest of any business to offer the first line of defense for its employees with regards to an accident that might affect their health. Therefore, companies need to invest in logical and clear safety signs.
The categories of these signs are also important from the companies’ point of view including the signs in restrooms. These symbols are very recognizable and they help everybody easily find a restroom in all types of businesses such as shopping malls, department stores, hospitals, and schools. This familiarity can be a great source of reassurance and comfort for a business’ customers and therefore make them very willing to purchase their goods or services from your business. Employers are now required to install safety signs wherever and whenever there is any uncertainty about any risk being involved as a result of recent legislation.
Finally, the regulatory agencies and the authorities have been continuously trying very hard and are considering ways to implement precautionary measures in the workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is one of these regulatory agencies that is completely committed to the prevention of occupatio! nal fata lities, job related illnesses, and injuries that are related to the workplace by enforcing safety standards in the workplace.
The safety signs recommended by OSHA mainly range from signs to indicate emergency exits in case an evacuation is requires as a result of a fire to signs indicating a first aid station. It seems apparent that the complete implementation of these signs everywhere might be somewhat hard to deal with, but with the proper awareness and knowledge, companies will begin to see their benefits and usefulness and then adopt them.
Click here for more information about floor tape and safety signs.
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China¡¯s Stocks Decline Most in a Week as Hopes for Monetary Easing Wane

2012-01-24T10:08:00.001-08:00

China��s stocks fell, dragging thebenchmark index down the most in a week, as speculation thegovernment would loosen monetary policies waned.
China Vanke Co. (000002) and Poly Real Estate Group Co. paced lossesby developers after the China Daily said Beijing will restricthome purchases. CSR Corp. (601766) and China CNR Corp., the nation��sbiggest train makers, declined more than 1 percent as the ChinaBusiness News said the railway ministry may spend less on newlocomotives. Changjiang Securities Co. and Huatai Securities Co.fell after net income slumped last year.
��An immediate reserve-ratio cut probably won��t come soongiven policy makers�� concern about a possible rebound ininflation,�� said Wu Kan, a fund manager at Dazhong InsuranceCo., which oversees $285 million. ��The tight liquiditycondition won��t change soon. Earnings risks have yet to be fullyexposed with the reporting season kicking off.��
The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) dropped 30.43 points, or 1.3percent, to 2,244.58 at the close. The CSI 300 Index declined1.7 percent to 2,394.33. The ChiNext index of Shenzhen-listedstart-up companies tumbled 6.2 percent. The Bloomberg China-US55 Index (CH55BN), the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinesecompanies, retreated 0.3 percent in New York yesterday.
The Shanghai Composite rallied 6.4 percent in the threedays through Jan. 10, the most for such a period since October2010, as slowing trade data boosted speculation the governmentwould act to spur growth and Premier Wen Jiabao called formeasures to support the stock market. The index fell 1.8 in thepast three days as Credit Suisse Group AG and Royal Bank ofScotland Group Plc said inflation would hamper the government��sability to ease monetary policy.
Interest Rates
Swaps traders are also reining in expectations forinterest-rate cuts in the world��s second-largest economy afterincreases in lending and manufacturing. The derivatives reflectbets that the People��s Bank of China will lower its benc! hmarkone -year deposit rate to about 2.75 percent from 3.50 percent inthe coming 12 months, after indicating one percentage point ofreductions at the start of the year, according to data compiledby Bloomberg.
Manufacturing unexpectedly expanded in December and newloans exceeded all 18 economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey,official data in the past week show. Consumer prices rose 4.1percent from a year earlier in December, compared with 4.2percent in November, a government report showed yesterday.
Data released today also showed foreign-exchange reservesdropped for the first time in more than a decade as foreigninvestment moderated, the trade surplus narrowed and Europe��scrisis spurred investors to sell emerging-market assets.
Property Curbs
A gauge tracking property stocks in the Shanghai Compositelost 1.8 percent. Poly Real Estate, China��s second-largestdeveloper by market value, fell 1.1 percent to 10.28 yuan.Vanke, the biggest, dropped 0.8 percent to 7.46 yuan. GemdaleCorp. (600383) slipped 2.3 percent to 5.09 yuan.
Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong pledged to restrict propertypurchases and build more government subsidized housing this yearto cool the real estate market, the China Daily reported today.China��s home prices fell for a fourth month in December afterthe government reiterated plans to maintain curbs that includehigher down-payment and mortgage requirements, according toSouFun Holdings Ltd., owner of the nation��s biggest real estatewebsite.
Declines among developers helped make the ShanghaiComposite the worst performer among the world��s 15 biggestmarkets in the two years through 2011 with a 33 percent drop.Today��s losses pared the Shanghai gauge��s gain this year to 2.1percent. The index is still up 3.8 percent this week, the firstweekly advance in two months.
Stock Support
The Shanghai Composite trades at 9.2 times estimatedearnings, near the record low of 8.9 times reached on Jan. 6,according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg.
! Premier Wen called for measures to reform initial publicofferings and boost dividend payouts, the Shanghai SecuritiesNews reported this week. China��s stocks regulator will��actively�� push pension and housing funds to begin investingin capital markets, and encourage long-term investors such asinsurers and corporate pension plans to buy more shares, theChina Securities Regulatory Commission also said this week.
��Stocks climbed earlier this week on signs of governmentsupport for the stock market and the economy but nothingconcrete has yet materialized,�� said Wei Wei, an analyst atWest China Securities Co. in Shanghai. ��Now we��re entering theearnings season investors may turn more cautious.��
Changjiang Securities dropped 3.3 percent to 7.25 yuan. Thecompany said net income decreased 65 percent last year. HuataiSecurities sank 0.8 percent to 7.87 yuan after saying profitslumped 47 percent in 2011.
Earnings Growth
Chinese companies have started to announce annual earningsreports and will finish before the end of April. Elevencompanies in the Shanghai Composite have released annual profitsfor 2011 so far, with an average gain of 22 percent, accordingto data compiled by Bloomberg. That compared with an increase of38 percent in the previous year.
China��s foreign-exchange reserves, the world��s biggest,fell to $3.18 trillion on Dec. 31 from $3.2 trillion Sept. 30,People��s Bank of China data released in Beijing showed today.The quarterly drop was the first since the midst of the Asianfinancial crisis in the second quarter of 1998, according todata compiled by Bloomberg.
Rail Investment
CSR, the nation��s biggest train maker, lost 1.1 percent to4.47 yuan. CNR, the second biggest, slipped 2.5 percent to 4.31yuan.
The railway ministry��s purchases of locomotives may fall to80 billion yuan ($13 billion) this year from a planned 126billion yuan in 2011 and 107 billion yuan of actual buying in2010, the China Business News reported today, citing anunidentified p! erson cl ose to the ministry. A deadly train crashon July 23 that killed 40 people prompted the government toreduce the speed of bullet trains and delay new projects.
China��s economic growth may have slowed to 8.7 percent froma year earlier in the fourth quarter of 2011, according themedian estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey. The dataare scheduled to be released Jan. 17. UBS AG estimates the paceof expansion may slow to 7.7 percent this quarter. The centralbank cut lenders�� reserve requirement ratios for the first timesince 2008 on Nov. 30.
The government will accelerate the pace of approvingqualified foreign institutional investors, the China SecuritiesJournal said today, citing Wang Lin, head of the ChinaSecurities Regulatory Commission��s funds department.
--Zhang Shidong. Editors: Richard Frost, Darren Boey
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Here's How FirstEnergy May Be Failing You

2012-01-24T06:06:00.001-08:00

Margins matter. The more FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong FirstEnergy's competitive position could be.
Here's the current margin snapshot for FirstEnergy over the trailing 12 months: Gross margin is 54.3%, while operating margin is 16.3% and net margin is 6.2%.
Unfortunately, a look at the most recent numbers doesn't tell us much about where FirstEnergy has been, or where it's going. A company with rising gross and operating margins often fuels its growth by increasing demand for its products. If it sells more units while keeping costs in check, its profitability increases. Conversely, a company with gross margins that inch downward over time is often losing out to competition, and possibly engaging in a race to the bottom on prices. If it can't make up for this problem by cutting costs -- and most companies can't -- then both the business and its shares face a decidedly bleak outlook.
Of course, over the short term, the kind of economic shocks we recently experienced can drastically affect a company's profitability. That's why I like to look at five fiscal years' worth of margins, along with the results for the trailing 12 months, the last fiscal year, and last fiscal quarter (LFQ). You can't always reach a hard conclusion about your company's health, but you can better understand what to expect, and what to watch.
Here's the margin picture for FirstEnergy over the past few years.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Because of seasonality in some businesses, the numbers for the last period on the right -- the TTM figures -- aren't always comparable to the FY results preceding them. To compare quarterly margins to their prior-year levels, consult this chart.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.
Here's how the stats break down:

Over the past five years, gross margin peaked at 57.5% and averaged 52.6%. Operating margin peaked at 23.5% and averaged 19.8%. Net margin peaked at 11.3% and averaged 9.2%.

TTM gross margin is 54.3%, 170 basis points better than the five-year average. TTM operating margin is 16.3%, 350 basis points worse than the five-year average. TTM net margin is 6.2%, 300 basis points worse than the five-year average.
With recent TTM operating margins below historical averages, FirstEnergy has some work to do.
If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're probably ahead of 95% of the market's individual investors. To stay ahead, learn more about how I use analysis like this to help me uncover the best returns in the stock market. Got an opinion on the margins at FirstEnergy? Let us know in the comments below.

Add FirstEnergy to My Watchlist.
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Home Depot: Buy on Ramp-up in Home Spending, Says Analyst

2012-01-24T02:02:00.001-08:00

RBC Capital Markets analyst Scot Ciccarelli upgraded Home Depot (HD) to Outperform form Sector Perform today, as he thinks that people are people are beginning to spend more on their homes.
Home Depot has beaten Lowe’s (LOW) on same-store sales growth by more than three percentage points for the past three quarters, and that momentum should continue for the near future at least Ciccarelli argues.
“Spending on home-related activities are NOT skyrocketing by any means, but they do appear to have stabilized and are starting to improve slightly despite the negative macro backdrop. With better basic retail execution (like in stock levels and customer service capabilities), greater usage of technology (like their First Phone, which lets them check customers out right from the aisles) an SGA run rate that is roughly $1 billion less than its peak (7%-8%), along with an aggressive stock buyback program, there is substantial earnings leverage if same store sales performance improves.”
That said, Lowe’s should begin to gain momentum in about a year, Ciccarelli argues.
“Rather than simply making a relative call on HD vs. LOW, we believe investors should now overweight BOTH HD and LOW (we expect better relative performance from HD for 6-9 months, with better relative performance from LOW over the next 12-18 months).”
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(INFN, RVSN, CLNO, RXII) Stock in Review by DrStockPick.com

2012-01-23T17:54:00.001-08:00

Infinera Corporation (Nasdaq:INFN) unveiled the DTN-X, the first multi-terabit packet-optical transport (P-OTN) network platform based on groundbreaking 500 Gb/s Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), and designed for global service providers facing increasing demands for bandwidth driven by video, mobile and cloud-based services. The DTN-X is purpose-built to integrate switching with DWDM without trade-offs in capacity. The architecture of the DTN-X extends the ease of use and reliability of Infinera’s successful DTN in a new multi-terabit platform that scales for the future, is simple to operate and efficiently reduces the number of elements in the network.
Infinera Corporation provides optical networking systems based on photonic integration technology in the United States.
Radvision Ltd. (Nasdaq:RVSN), a leading technology and end-to-end solution provider for unified visual communications, announced the interoperability of both the SCOPIA Elite MCU Series and SCOPIA iVIEW Management Suite with BroadSoft’s BroadWorks?? voice application server. The combination of SCOPIA video conferencing and telepresence solutions with BroadWorks enables service providers to incorporate SIP-based virtualized and hosted visual communications as part of their unified communications (UC) platforms.
RADVISION Ltd. engages in the design, development, and supply of products and technology that enable real-time voice, video and data communications over packet and mobile third generation (3G) networks, including the Internet and other networks based on the Internet Protocol (IP).
Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO)

The use of biomass can be environmentally friendly because the biological mass is reduced, recycled and then re-used. Innovations and ideas in which biomass can be used are continually being invented. One such way is the production of ethanol, a liquid alcohol fuel. Ethanol can be used in special types of cars that have ! been man ufactured to accept alcohol fuels instead of petrol. This innovation helps reduce our dependence on oil. The use of biomass can help reduce Global Warming. Plants use and store carbon dioxide (CO2) when they grow. When it burns or decomposes, it releases the CO2. Replanting plants, crops or trees etc. ensures that the C02 is reused. If the plants are not replanted the biomass will disrupt the natural carbon equilibrium and thus continue to contribute towards Global Warming.
Cleantech Transit Inc. was founded to capitalize on technology advances and manufacturing opportunities in the growing clean energy public transportation sector. The Company has expanded its focus to invest directly in specific green projects. Recognizing the many economic and operational advances of converting wood waste into renewable sources of energy, Cleantech has selected to invest in Phoenix Energy (www.phoenixenergy.net). This project could benefit the Company’s manufacturing clients worldwide.
Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO) is pleased to announce it has met its funding requirement to secure the Company’s ability to earn in 25% of the 500KW Merced Project.
The Company is in the final stages of closing its initial interest in the Merced Project and is currently working on completing the necessary documentation and expects closing the transaction soon. As previously announced Cleantech has the option to earn up to 40% of the Merced Project and the Company plans to continue to work towards increasing its interest in the Merced Project as they move ahead.
For more information about Cleantech Transit, Inc. visit its website www.cleantechtransitinc.com
RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Nasdaq:RXII), a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative therapies addressing major unmet medical needs using targeted biotherapeutics, announced a clinical trial update on its lead program, NeuVax(TM) (E75 peptide vaccine with GM-! CSF adju vant), a cancer immunotherapy targeted for low-to-intermediate HER2 expressing breast cancer patients not eligible for trastuzamab (Herceptin(R)). RXi received official notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) partial clinical hold has been lifted. RXi has satisfied all requirements specified by the FDA and has initiated a clinical trial material manufacturing plan to remain on schedule to meet the planned trial start date.
RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a biotechnology company, engages in discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative therapies addressing unmet medical needs using targeted bio therapeutics.
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The online auctioneer doesn't need to re-invent the wheel

2012-01-23T09:47:00.001-08:00

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) on a roll since hiring John Donahue as CEO in 2008, with the stock up 30% in the past year, and there��s reason to think the good times will continue.
Donahue laid out a strategy earlier this year that has eBay focusing on four sales arenas: local, mobile, digital, and social. The company has made big strides in its local and mobile initiatives — it acquired local deals start-up Milo back in December and as well as Where.com in April. Now it’s moving to its social projects. eBay just? hired former Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) community honcho Don Bradford as its VP of social commerce.
Like every other business on the web, eBay has been toying with social networking features for four years, testing out a number of projects like the “eBay neighborhoods” service that gathers members into communities around certain products as well as tools for its shoppers and merchants that let users “like” auctions on Facebook.
But eBay has never found a sure-fire way to marry its addictive auction business with the obsessive behavior inspired by Facebook and Twitter. Here are three strategies Bradford and his team can explore to make sure social initiatives help keep eBay growing.
Acquisition
While more spending might make shareholders nervous, one or two more buys to secure companies with solid footholds in social media makes sense. One potential buy: UberMedia. The developer behind hugely popular Twitter apps for smartphones by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) is a hot commodity right now, valued at around $40 million, cheap compared to the $135 million purchase of Where.com. UberMedia’s business is solid on its own, but eBay could leverage its technology to bring its auctions to Twitter i! n any nu mber of ways to get consumers excited.
Avoid starting a new social network
In the past 18 months, some of the biggest technology and web businesses in the U.S. have tried to launch their own social networks and most have failed miserably. Google is still taking drubbings for Google Buzz and Apple’s only real misstep in recent memory is the weak Ping social network tied into iTunes. eBay shouldn’t pour any resources into creating new networking tools. The very nature of its business as a community of merchants and customers negates the need to build something else with “like” buttons.
Strengthen the partnership with Facebook
eBay already has a relationship with Facebook –sellers can share their items via their Facebook page by allowing the network to link with their eBay account. However, given Facebook’s moves to grow itself as a shopping destination in the past year, an opportunity exists for both companies to allow eBay auctions to be hosted and accessed directly through Facebook. Nothing would get consumers frothing quite like seeing auction updates in their Facebook news feed. That sort of initiative could make eBay’s social commerce division a valuable asset this year.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at?@ajohnagnello?and?become a fan of?InvestorPlace on Facebook.
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24/7 Wall St. 2007 Break Up Values: Apple $84 (Current Price $86)

2012-01-23T05:46:00.001-08:00

By Ryan Barnes. Edited by Douglas A. McIntyre
Apple Computer (AAPL; $85.94, breakup value $84)
Apple is another company that would likely never be split up; it receives a premium in the market because of the Apple name, and any division would likely erode some of this premium. Apple is a company all about culture and brand. Who else would have the audacity to sell a $500 cell phone right out of the gate? Only Apple; our breakup value provides a possible floor for the stock and from there you can debate amongst yourselves the relative value of the brand and future prospects for things like the upcoming iPhone.
Computer products and Music Products (iPods) are the two main operating segments, with two smaller segments in Software and Hardware Peripherals. For the sake of analysis we will include the iTunes software and services with the iPod segment due to the similar revenue growth rates.
We will consider selling off the 2 small units, which would easily get gobbled up by a competitor in order to capture the AAPL storage products and graphic software. By assigning a multiple on the low end of industry averages (to reflect the tame single-digit revenue growth at the segment) of 5x sales, the two units would sell for about $10 billion.
The computer segment would have to fetch a lower multiple than software to reflect the industry averages; those who love their Macs really love their Macs, but we should remain as conservative as possible when applying metrics. That being said, considering that the computer segment is still producing revenue growth of 40%, we can feel safe applying a multiple at the top end of industry averages. We will use 1.5x sales, which brings the value of this segment to just over $12 billion.
No w for the all-important iPods & related software product group. This segment is still growing revenue at 25% plus as is already the biggest contributor to company earnings. While specific operating margins are not reported, most of the company multiple is attributed to this product group, so we use the company-wide 3.5x sales figure, bringing the value of the segment to $40 billion.
A balance sheet liquidation would give us another $9b and change, bringing the total breakup value to $84, just below current trading levels. Considering that we've erased all of the brand value from the Apple name, the $84 level is a nice security blanket for owning such a culturally integrated company.
Ryan Barnes
Ryan Barnes has over 10 years' experience in portfolio management and investment research, covering equities, fixed income, and derivative products. Ryan spent the past 5 years working as an institutional trader & manager for high-net worth investors, working with Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley, and many others. Ryan is currently working as a writer and financial modeling consultant on hedging and capital appreciation strategies, and does not own securities in the companies being covered.
Methodology
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In Weakened Car Industry, Toyota (TM) Still Dominate Quality

2012-01-23T01:40:00.001-08:00

American car companies can always hope that as the economy emerges from recession and car sales pick up that they will have a reasonably good chance to keep market share and return to being profitable businesses.
Research about car consumer satisfaction shows that keeping market share may be hard for US car firms in both a recession and better times.
According to Dow Jones, “Toyota (TM) dominated Consumer Reports’ annual review of what it considers the best cars and trucks, while Detroit automakers captured only a single category.”
Whether the measurement was of large cars, small cars, SUVs or small pick ups, the US companies lost out.
Where did an American company “win”? In large pick-ups which no one buys. The Chevrolet Avalanche took the crown there.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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Investors Don't Get Zynga

2012-01-22T21:40:00.001-08:00

Mr. Market finally invited Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA  ) to a game called Investing with Friends on Friday.
Shares of the social gaming giant moved 5% higher on Friday -- and continue to ascend today -- after the latest round of gaming data showed a cruel December for traditional video game companies.
Media tracker NPD Group's data for last month is brutal. Industry sales fell 21%, fueled largely by a 28% plunge in hardware sales at the retail level, but also stung by a 14% slide in software.
Shares of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI  ) and GameStop (NYSE: GME  ) fell 2% and 3%, respectively, while Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA  ) led the losers by falling nearly 8%.
Critics will argue that NPD's data is incomplete since it focuses primarily on new sales at the bricks-and-mortar level. Ignoring the sale of used games isn't going to matter to Activision Blizzard and EA. They don't see a dime of the resale money. However, this clearly is a big part of GameStop's business. The small-box retailer makes its juiciest margins by reselling trade-ins.
NPD's numbers also don't cover digital sales, an area where EA and Activision Blizzard are thriving.
However, the market's assumption that what's bad for GameStop is good for Zynga doesn't make sense.
Zynga went public last month at $10 a share, but it has closed in the single digits every single day. It certainly didn't help that analysts pegged the stock's fair value as low as $6 before the IPO even hit the market.
Zynga is profitable -- unlike many of the other busted IPOs that went public in 2011 -- but this doesn't mean that the social gaming speedster is worth its current $6 billion market cap.
The same level playing field that helped grow Zynga into a sensation with FarmVil! le is also open to developers big and small. We really don't know if Zynga will be able to keep its popularity growing, as proven by the failure of Mafia Wars 2 to gain traction after the original Mafia Wars was a hit.
The NPD data doesn't tell us anything that we didn't already know. Folks aren't buying new games the way they used to. The real story is how we're engaging with older games through multiplayer online game play and how the smartphone, tablet, and Facebook revolutions have opened the playing field to a large number of companies reaching out to a very fickle gaming audience.
Sure, send the gaming stocks lower -- but don't give Zynga a free pass here. It will have to earn it, and so far it hasn't.
Even though the next trillion-dollar revolution will be in mobile, it may not involve Zynga. A free special report will get you up to speed.
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Safety Stocks: Three Ways to Profit From Market Mayhem

2012-01-22T17:33:00.001-08:00

There's never been a better time to invest in "safety stocks."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 14% since July 22 and the Standard Poor's 500 Index is down 15% in that time. The U.S. economy is grinding to a halt, and a double-dip recession could be in the offing. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to undermine the dollar with expansive monetary policy.

Indeed, with so much bad news and chaos, there's never been a better time to stock up on the essentials - gold, guns, and cheap food. These are the things people turn to when the going gets tough - and the companies that provide these bare necessities shine the brightest when everything else seems to be falling apart.

That said, here are three safety stocks that are worth a look:

Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM).

McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD).

And Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. (NYSE: RGR).
Let's examine each in a little more detail.

Newmont Mining Corp.
Gold has been the can't-miss profit play of the past three years.

The yellow metal settled at yet another record high yesterday (Tuesday), surging 1.7% to $1,743.00 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). And Money Morning Contributing Editor and global resources specialist Peter Krauth says it could more than double from there.

"I expect gold to reach $5,000 before this bull market peaks," said Krauth. "I'm very open to the possibility that gold could correct from here, but I'd expect that to be nothing more than a short-term pullback."

Indeed, developed nations' debt problems remain unresolved and the Fed's monetary policy continues to weaken the dollar, making the outlook for gold very bright.

That's go! od news for Newmont Mining Corp., which has 93.5 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves. The company generated nearly $10 billion in revenue and gross profit of $6 billion in its trailing 12 months.

Newmont's stock price does not yet reflect its true value, as the company has a Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio of just 11.27. But what's even better is that Newmont is pegging its dividend payout to the price of gold.

For instance, gold settled last Friday at $1,659 an ounce, leaving the dividend at 30 cents a share. But at Monday's record high price of $1,718 an ounce, the dividend jumped to 35 cents a share. The stock currently yields about 2.2%, but you can expect that to rise, and rise quickly, as the price of gold continues to soar.

McDonald's Corp.
McDonald's Corp. is the quintessential "recession-proof" stock. It's a huge company that's very active globally. It's made a big splash in fast-growing emerging markets - particularly in Asia - and hard economic times make its affordable menu even more appealing.

The company's same-store sales increased 5.1% in July. Sales were up 5.3% in Europe, 4% in Asia, and 4.4% in the United States.

McDonald's reported a second-quarter profit of $1.41 billion, or $1.35 a share, up from $1.23 billion, or $1.13 a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 16% to $6.91 billion.

A strong global brand, low prices, and growing revenue were enough to land McDonald's on Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s (NYSE: GS) prestigious "Conviction Buy" list. The firm set a $96 price target on MCD, which suggests an 11% upside to the stock's Monday closing price of $82.11.

Goldman noted it sees a total potential return of 20% for the stock when including its dividend.

McDonald's stock is up 10.5% year-to-date, compared to a nearly 10% decline for the S&P 500.

Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc.
Finally, there's Sturm, Ruger & Co. - the firearms ! manufact urer that's blowing away the competition.

Sturm Ruger's net income rose 32% to $10.8 million, or 57 cents per share in the second quarter. The company also is raising its dividend and buying back shares - two hallmarks of a good company.

Ruger has raised its dividend twice lately -- most recently when the company announced earnings on July 27, 2011. The new dividend rate is now 56.8 cents per share on an annualized basis. This brings the current yield to about 2.3%.

Meanwhile, the company bought back 133,400 of its 18.9 million outstanding shares in the first half of 2011. Those purchases absorbed $2 million; another $8 million in authorized purchases remain.

Ruger's large cash stockpile made all of this possible. The company had cash and equivalents and short-term investments of $76.5 million as of July 2.

The stock is up nearly 77% in the past year, compared to the S&P 500, which is flat.

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Smart Ways to Sell Your Gold

2012-01-22T13:32:00.001-08:00

When a local jewelry store went out of business, Janet Fritz of Hilton, N.Y., bought boxes of its gold jewelry. She thought shed resell some through her "The Primrose Garden" eBay store and sell some to cash for gold Internet sites.
SEE ALSO: Our Quiz on What You Need to Know About Gold
To find out how the sites work and which pay the most, Fritz devised an experiment: She sent identical, simple gold bands to nine sites to see how they responded. The results were neither identical nor simple. A couple of the sites offered decent deals, but the rest left her frustrated or underwhelmed. One dealer said it had lost her ring, one wouldnt send it back when requested, and some of the offers were ridiculously low, says Fritz.
Her experience underscores the difficulty of finding a good deal when youre selling gold jewelry. And as the price of gold rises, so does the number of complaints about precious-metal dealers. The Better Business Bureau reported 574 complaints against gold, silver and platinum dealers for 2010, a figure we could easily double this year, says BBB spokeswoman Kelsey Owen. Some complaints involve inflated offers in advertising. Other consumers say they mailed gold pieces but never received a check, nor did they get their jewelry back.
Figure the Value

So if you need cash, whats the best way to unload gold jewelry? Unless you know a buyer you can absolutely trust -- maybe a local jewelry store -- you must first figure out the value of the gold before trying to sell it. Thats based on the golds weight and purity, and its not hard to calculate.
To determine the weight, you can use a kitchen scale, ask a jeweler for help or see whether your local post office will do the job. Gold is measured in a number of ways. A generic U.S. scale measures 28 grams per ounce, while jewelers use Troy ounces, each of which is made up of 31.1 grams. Also, some dealers use pennyweights (abbreviated dwt), each of which is equivalent to 1.! 56 grams .
The purity should be inscribed somewhere on the piece. It wont be 24-karat gold, which is pure gold and too soft for jewelry. But youll see markings such as 12k, which means 50% pure; 18k, which means 75% pure, and so on. Some gold pieces have no karat markings, but a scratch test can reveal the purity. Buy a test kit online for about $30 on Amazon.com or eBay, or take your metal to a jeweler.
You could do the math to figure out the value of the gold in the jewelry, also called its melt value. But its better to use an online calculator that will accept all different types of weights and purity measures. The one at Dendritics.com will also look up the latest price of gold -- or you can enter a price yourself. The current price is available at many Web sites, such as GoldPrice.org.
The rings Fritz used were 4.4 dwt of 14k gold, and at the time of her experiment in May, gold was hovering at about $1,500 an ounce. Given that weight and price, the melt value for each ring was about $192. (Fritz says the retail price of each ring was $298, which gives you an idea of the markup on simple gold items.)
Fritz sent the rings to the nine cash-for-gold outfits via certified mail. What generally happens is that the dealer inspects the item and tells you the price its willing to pay. Then you can choose to accept or reject the offer. There are exceptions, however. Some outfits just send you a check directly. If you reject the offer or the check, the dealer is supposed to mail the gold back to you -- at your expense.
Other transaction details vary widely. Some vendors e-mail their offers, and others send them by regular mail. Among the dealers that Fritz contacted, the time frame in which she could accept or reject an offer ranged from as little as one day to as many as 15 days. If you accept an offer, some sites will pay by certified check, and some will offer to deposit the money directly into a bank account.
Always pick a vendor that allows you at least a few days to respond. If! you don t respond on time, some buyers assume that youve accepted their offer and will mail you a check. And if you dont like the amount youve been paid, they may claim the gold has already been melted down, leaving you little recourse.
In Fritzs case, offers for her identical rings were all over the map. The top bid was 60% of the melt value, and the lowest was 9%. After rejecting a host of low offers, Fritz reports that some of the vendors were practically going out of their way not to return my property. One sent her a check, and when she rejected the amount and asked for the ring back, she was sent a check for a higher (but still low-ball) amount. Another dealer sent her a check for a small amount without giving her the option to accept or reject the offer.
The bottom line to Fritzs experiment? Despite the runaround she got from a few dealers, she found a couple of vendors with whom she felt comfortable doing business.
Whats a Fair Price?

When you sell gold coins or bars, you should expect to receive at least 90% to 95% of the current market value. But with gold jewelry, youre likely to get only 70% to 80% of the melt value. The difference reflects the dealers profit, plus the cost of melting and refining your gold and turning it into new gold jewelry or bullion.
If your gold has some designer cachet -- think Cartier or Tiffany items -- or is valuable as an antique or heirloom, you shouldnt be selling it for scrap. In those cases, its worth more than the melt value, says Michael Gusky, owner of Goldfellow.com, a cash-for-gold dealer. (Gusky also owned a gold jewelry manufacturing business that he sold to Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway in 2007.) But Gusky says such higher-value gold jewelry is a very small percentage of the market.
If you decide to sell your gold through the mail, take these prudent steps:
Establish that your gold has no special value above its melt value, and figure the value of the gold content. Vet money-for-gold sites by checkin! g with t he Better Business Bureau for complaints. Also consult the list of approved vendors at the Web site of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, an industry ethics group. Both groups can help you avoid bad vendors, but neither can help you find those that will offer a good price for your gold.
Find out what the vendor is willing to pay for gold as a percentage of the current gold price. If its less than 70%, move on (with one exception, noted below). Some vendors will pay a higher percentage of the price the more gold you send. Gusky says his business might pay as little as 50% of the melt price for a small pair of broken gold earrings, but his firms average payment is 72%. Deal only with sites that give you the option to accept or reject an offer before they send you a check.
Include your estimate of the value of your gold in a cover letter, and ask to be contacted by the vendor if it comes up with a different estimate.
Do not use regular mail to ship gold. Use a service that tracks delivery and receipt. And insure the package, especially if youre sending a large amount.
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(GBLHF.PK, ASCA, ZHNE, VDSI) Stock in Focus by DrStockPick.com

2012-01-22T09:33:00.001-08:00

Global Hunter (GBLHF.PK)
Copper was the first mineral that man extracted from the earth and along with tin gave rise to the Bronze Age. As the ages and technology progressed the uses for copper increased. With the increased demand, exploration for the metal was extended throughout the world laying down the foundations for the industry as we know it today. Copper is an excellent conductor of electricity, as such one of its main industrial usage is for the production of cable, wire and electrical products for both the electrical and building industries. The construction industry also accounts for copper’s second largest usage in such areas as pipes for plumbing, heating and ventilating as well as building wire and sheet metal facings.
Global Hunter Corp. (GBLHF.PK) is pleased to announce initial assay results from its previously announced surface sampling program. The results are encouraging with new gold showings as well as very positive copper oxide assays over wide-spread areas.
Highlights of the entire program
9 mineralized shear and/or alteration zones sampled total of 13.5 kilometres of strike length along know copper bearing shear and alteration zones tested with 205 rock chip samples
Good grades of soluble copper (oxide) over a significantly large area have been identified, however they represent only about 50% of the total copper grade indicating a mixed oxide-sulphide zone. Numerous iron oxide structures have also been mapped but no iron assays have been received to date.
The Company is planning to re-assay samples for iron to determine if iron is present in significant quantities to represent another target.
Global Hunter’s focus is on strategic and base metals, with an advanced stage copper! oxide p roject in Chile and a highly prospective molybdenum property in British Columbia, Canada. Our exploration and development teams are on the ground rapidly advancing the La Corona de Cobre property near La Serena, Chile and the Rabbit South property in British Columbia, Canada. Either one of these projects could carry the company forward on a stand-alone basis, but together they bring the company additional stability, strength and value.
For more information please visit: http://www.globalhunter.ca

Ameristar Casinos Inc. (Nasdaq:ASCA) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $75 million of its outstanding common stock in a stock repurchase program. The shares may be repurchased from time to time through Sept. 30, 2014 in the open market or privately negotiated transactions at the Company’s discretion. “The decision to initiate this stock repurchase program reflects our confidence in our current business and growth prospects,” said Gordon Kanofsky, Chief Executive Officer. “Our solid financial performance, demonstrated by our healthy balance sheet and strong free cash flow generation, allows us to opportunistically return capital to our shareholders in a manner we anticipate will have a positive effect on our earnings per share.”
Ameristar Casinos, Inc. operates as a gaming and entertainment company in the United States.

Zhone Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:ZHNE), a global leader in FTTx network access solutions, announced immediate availability of the MXK 194 and MXK 198 platforms, new high-density 1U form-factor Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Optical Line Terminal (OLTs), as an expansion of the industry-leading MXK OLT portfolio. Enabling high-bandwidth fiber connectivity, the MXK 194/198 platforms provide service providers a highly cost-effective solution for small to mid-scale deployments. Zhone will showcase the brand new MXK 194/198 platforms i! n its bo oth at the FTTH Conference in Orlando, Fla., September 26-30, 2011.
Zhone Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and manufactures communications network equipment for telecommunications, wireless, and cable operators worldwide.

VASCO Data Security International Inc. (Nasdaq:VDSI), a leading software security company specializing in authentication products, announces IDENTIKEY Server 3.3. IDENTIKEY is VASCO’s authentication server for strong user authentication and e-signature validation. This new version offers PCI DSS compliancy, which is important for financial institutions and all other organizations that store, process or transmit card information.
VASCO Data Security International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, marketing, and support of hardware and software security systems that manage and secure access to information assets worldwide.
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Will New iPhone Give Boost to Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Shares?

2012-01-22T05:34:00.001-08:00

The buzz surrounding the long-awaited release of a Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) iPhone is reaching a fevered pitch as it appears the telecom giant is ready to bring the device to market.

Verizon is expected to confirm it will start providing service for the iPhone early next year, according to a report last week in The Wall Street Journal.

January may be a strange time to launch the much-anticipated product, but AT&T (NYSE: T) reportedly convinced Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) to give it one last holiday season as the iPhone's exclusive U.S. provider, according to a report in Tech News World.

With millions of frustrated AT&T network users making noise and millions of loyal Verizon customers anticipating the iPhone's release, investors are wondering if the iPhone could give shares of both Apple and Verizon a shot in the arm.

Verizon iPhone Marks End of an Era
Verizon has been testing its networks and capacity to handle the heavy data load by iPhone users, seeking to avoid the kind of bad publicity that plagued AT&T after booming sales of data-hungry iPhones crippled its network.

AT&T insists that it provides excellent network coverage and service to its wireless customers, in spite of the fact that a new Consumer Reports survey suggests they're deeply dissatisfied with their carrier. The ones who complained the loudest were users of the iPhone.

By making the iPhone available to Verizon customers Apple is striving to fend off an assault on its business from several fronts. The move is expected to help the iPhone compete in its battle with Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android handset software, which has made significant inroads on Apple's market share.

While Apple is on track to sell 40 million! iPhones across the globe this year, it is under serious pressure from Android in the United States. The innovative iPhone and its operating system software package, known as iOS, was knocked from its lofty perch among U.S. technophobes by Android software in the second quarter of this year.

Android handsets, which have been heavily promoted by Verizon, had 27% of the U.S. market in the second quarter among new U.S. smartphone users, compared with 23% for iOS, market research firm Nielsen Co. said on its website

Nevertheless, introducing an iPhone to Verizon's vast customer base is likely to boost the shares of both companies.

18 Million New Customers for Apple?
Apple could double its earnings in the United States when Verizon becomes a carrier, according to some observers.

In fact, some complicated math reveals that the Verizon handset could boost iPhone sales by a cool 18 million.

Here's how the numbers add up:

A recent survey by Changewave showed that 34% of users would purchase an iPhone if it were available on their network.

As of the third quarter this year, Verizon reported it had 93.2 million subscribers in the United States.

Another study shows that 57.1% of Verizon subscribers access data on their phones.

If 34% of Verizon smartphone users switch to the iPhone, it works out to 18.09 million.
Not all of the data users will be current smartphone customers and not every Verizon user will switch devices. But a Verizon iPhone will still garner a significant number of disgruntled existing AT&T subscribers who currently put up with patchy service coverage in order to get their Apple fix.

It also may take awhile for either AT&T users or Verizon customers to make the switch because existing service contracts could keep customers locked down! . Custom ers that break their contracts will be subject to a termination fee.

But considering that every iPhone sold represents several hundred dollars of revenue, Apple may not mind waiting 24 months to welcome an extra 18 million customers to the fold.

Verizon Profits on Hold
The addition of the iPhone should reinforce Verizon's market share lead over AT&T, which has widened since the iPhone launched in mid-2007.

During that period, Verizon has out-gained AT&T in adding customers with handset contracts, signing 14.5 million customers, compared to 12.8 million for AT&T, The Journal reported.

However, any impact is unlikely to be immediate. The iPhone's subsidy costs will probably cut into Verizon's 2011 earnings, The Journal reported.

Verizon also is pushing hard to complete an expensive roll-out of its LTE (Long Term Evolution) high-speed, post-3G network, and it's locked in a war with AT&T and T-Mobile to get there first.

Initial plans called for Verizon to release its iPhone on the slower 3G network. But if Verizon scraps the 3G iPhone for the faster LTE network, it could delay the launch into the second quarter of 2011.

"There will be a lot to pack into the new device if it's to be an LTE iPhone," Chris Hazelton, a research director at the 451 Group, told MacNewsWorld. "It will have to be familiar with Verizon's CDMA network -- it must have the entire CDMA stack...and other technologies."

AT&T will launch LTE in mid-2011, but will roll it out nationally much more slowly than Verizon. In the meantime, AT&T's ability to deliver LTE speeds will be limited by network congestion from its iPhone data use.

Indeed, with LTE's higher speeds, data use at Verizon is likely to rise further. Assuming Verizon continues to ! tier pri cing that reduces unlimited data plans, revenue per customer should increase.

And starting in 2012, the impact of subsidizing all those new iPhones at Verizon will be minimized. That's also when the full effect of increased data revenue from its LTE network should begin to filter through.

How to Play the Launch
The impact from a Verizon/Apple deal not only will affect those two bellwethers, but it may stretch across the entire business, giving telecom companies room to widen their reach and expand their profits. Early on, even AT&T may benefit as customers who switch to Verizon reduce the load on its network, convincing some to stay.

It's tough to say if Verizon will get flooded with AT&T refugees or how many of those will stay put. And with the uncertainty about when Apple and Verizon will actually begin to reap significant revenues and profits, investors may be best served by spreading their bets around the telecom spectrum.

There are several exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that give a decent amount of exposure to the industry:

Telecom HOLDRS (NYSE: TTH)

Vanguard Telecommunication Services ETF (NYSE: NYSE: VOX).

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Sector ETF (NYSE: IYZ).

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund: FDL)
All of these ETFs have significant holdings in the telecom sector including integral exposure to Verizon.

For exposure to Apple and other innovators in the telecommunications industry you might consider adding technology ETFs.

While telecom is often a dividend play, technology offers relatively rapid earnings growth and a chance to ride a wave of merger and acquisition activity.

Together, telecom and tech give investors a "barbell" approach to the market: growth on ! one side , dividends on the other, according to MarketWatch.

There are nearly two dozen technology ETFs, including these long-only plays:

SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF (NYSE: XLK)

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Technology Sector Index ETF(NYSE:IYW)

Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3x Shares (NYSE: TYH)
News & Related Story Links:

Wikipedia:
LTE Advanced

Wall Street Journal:
Investors Should Start to Hear Verizon Now

Consumer Reports: AT&T Still Worst Wireless Carrier

Money Morning: Google's Android an iPhone Killer?

Tech News World: Will iPhone Give Verizon Some Post-Holiday Cheer?

MobileBlorge: Verizon iPhone deal could mean 18 million extra sales

MarketWatch:
Tech and telecom: together but apart

Money Morning: Verizon iPhone On the Way - But Not Before Christmas
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Top Oil and Gas Stock; Hercules Earnings Review

2012-01-22T01:26:00.001-08:00

Hercules Offshore Inc. (NASDAQ: HERO) shares gained nearly 5% on the day though shares slumped in after-hours trading. The company earlier this week posted its fourth quarter and full fiscal year results, reporting a net loss from continuing operations at $(84.6 million) or $(0.74) per share as compared to a net loss of $(26.9 million), or $(0.03 )per share, during the corresponding quarter of the last year. The company was expected to report its loss at $0.11 per share. Hercules Offshore said that its net loss figure includes non-cash writedown on property and equipment.
Hercules Offshore reported its revenue for the quarter at $172.3 million, down from $176.4 million it had earned a year ago. The company's annual revenue stood at $657.5 million. Its annual revenue for the preceding fiscal year was at $742.9 million. Hercules Offshore announced that its loss from continuing operations for the fiscal year stood at $(134.6 million). The company had incurred a loss of $(90.1 million) during the preceding financial year. The company also reported 18% decline in its operating costs during the quarter.
At December 31, 2010, the company had unrestricted cash and cash equivalents totaling $136.7 million and unused capacity of approximately $163.5 million under its revolving credit facility. As of December 31, 2010, Hero's balance sheet reflects total debt of $858.1 million.
Hercules Offshore is engaged in the business of shallow water drilling. It also provides marine services to the oil and natural gas exploration industry. The company is operational in the United States and overseas. The company serves a wide range of clients such as natural gas operators, independent oil producers and integrated energy companies. As on February 24, 2010, the company owns 30 jackup rigs, 17 barge rigs and 60 lifeboat vessels. The company was formed in 2004 and is based out of Texas.
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Acer, Intel’s Ultrabook Dreams Hinge on Price, Says ISI

2012-01-21T21:17:00.001-08:00

ISI Group’s Brian Marshall this afternoon reflects on news today that Taiwanese computer maker Acer (2535TW) believes so-called ultrabook laptop computers will become the 25% to 35% of its total notebook shipments this year, as related by Brian Westover of PC Magazine this morning.
Marshall writes that given Acer’s position as the number two notebook maker in the world, after Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), that would tend to imply there will be 8 million to 10 million ultrabooks shipped by the company this year. He thinks that projection is “aggressive,” on Acer’s part, as he’s modeling 8% of total notebook shipments to be ultrabooks this year.
But it all hangs on cost, writes Marshall:
With cost as the greatest barrier (most are above ~$1,000), we believe many vendors will look at hybrid (SSD+HDD) storage solutions (rather than pure SSD) which can cut prices by ~$300 and help get near ~$700 price points needed for mainstream adoption. In addition, AMD is expected to launch its new ultra-portable platform in June that is targeting 10-20% lower BOM costs than Intel‘s (INTC) s platform.
Intel’s own projection is even more aggressive than Acer’s, notes Marshall, projecting 40% of notebooks to be ultrabooks. Moreover, almost half — 45% — of the 18 million ultrabooks shipping this year, by his calculation, will be not the PC ultrabook proper, but its inspiration, Apple’s (AAPL) MacBook Air laptop.

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Top picks 2012: athenahealth

2012-01-21T17:15:00.001-08:00

The courts will decide the fate of ObamaCare, but the real winners in the health-care sector are actually the result of the stimulus bill, which provided funding for digital medical records.

Obama allocated tens of billions of federal dollars toward upgrading the nation��s medical records infrastructure, taking it out of the 18th Century filing room and into the 21st Century cloud.

Using the Medicare program (which buys most of the health care in this country) the administration required every hospital, clinic, pharmacy and diagnostic center to switch to digital records.

Proponents of the measure, who can be found on both sides of the aisle, say the cost savings �C stemming from fewer duplicated medical tests, reduced errors, increased professional work flow and other efficiency gains �C could reach into the billions of dollars per year.

The plan also would help improve both patient care and the patient experience. Once implemented, people will wait less for better care. Well, whatever.
Whether these gains materialize ultimately will be a matter for the Congress to deal with. ?

In the meantime, from now until the 2015 deadline, there��s basically a land rush going on, and the handful of companies that can build digital medical records software are cashing in huge.

The estimated spend on these new systems is $100,000 per licensed hospital bed.

With 944,277 hospital beds in this country, that��s a $95 billion chunk of business to get the ball rolling �C federal dollars will cover about half -- and then a whole new industry will emerge to support and maintain the new system.

My best pick of 2011, and one that I see continuing at the top of the leader board throughout the next year, was one of the leading providers of el! ectronic medical records systems.

This company, athenahealth (ATHN) focuses on small and mid-sized hospitals and clinics. ?

Because of the surge in business, it��s seen its top-line grow quarter by quarter and year by year �C 20% in the past four quarters alone and more than 150% in the past four years -- and shareholder equity has followed suit.

The company has no long-term debt, it��s sitting on more than $110 million in cash or near-cash on top of $50 million worth of receivables.

The shares have been on a tear this year, rising more than +40% since I first recommended them. ATHN continues to post stronger and stronger earnings, and despite a heady P/E ratio, one need not look too far to find a $75 price target. ?

I think that��s conservative, and so do a number of institutions, who have snapped up most of this company��s shares. They��re worth adding to your portfolio for 2012 if you can get your hands on a few.

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How to Buy Bonds in King Harald's Norway - SmartMoney.com

2012-01-21T13:15:00.001-08:00

Everyone knows the U.S. government faces a budget crisis. Everyone, it seems, except the bond market. Investors are still willing to lend to Uncle Sam for 2 to 3 percent interest, even for 30 years. Money continues to pour into bond funds.
I'm sorry to be a skeptic, but I think investors are making a mistake. These bonds may turn out okay, but they involve big risks -- not of default, but of currency debasement and inflation, which destroy a bond's value.

Also See

Time to Invest in China?
Analysts' Picks No Better Than Throwing Darts
Is Your Broker Tweeting Lies?

So, should we all be considering buying foreign government bonds? If so, which ones are the best bets? And how can you go about getting them?
Many foreign "sovereigns" seem to offer a much more compelling trade-off between risk and return. Start with the safe ones. According to the International Monetary Fund, the industrialized-world governments with the strongest finances include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia.
Norway is in a league of its own. The country has invested its North Sea oil windfall sensibly: While we have a national debt, King Harald V is sitting on net assets. His government's assets exceed its liabilities by about $800 billion, or 170 percent of GDP. I'd be happy to lend this man money.
People in finance still call the interest rate on Treasury bonds the risk-free rate, but for my money, that term ought to apply to King Harald's bonds. And yet 10-year Norwegian bonds recently yielded about 2.5 percent, compared with around 2 percent for U.S. Treasurys -- showing that investors have more faith in Uncle Sam than in the Norse.
The other strong nations are also sit! ting far prettier than the U.S. Sweden has net assets equal to one-fifth of its economy. Denmark, Australia and New Zealand have net debts, but each is less than 12 percent of GDP. The figure for the U.S. is 80 percent and rising.
Dan Fuss, the bond guru at Loomis Sayles, is a fan of all these countries. Your main risk is exchange rates: If the dollar rises against other currencies, it will eat into your returns. There are country-specific risks, too. Australia and New Zealand have inflation and are exposed to the commodities boom, for good or ill. So is oil-rich Norway. Fuss notes New Zealand has geological risks as well: It contains two of the world's supervolcanoes.
At the other end of the spectrum is Ireland. The fallen Celtic Tiger is trying to fight its way out of depression and austerity. There is a risk of default and a "haircut" on the bonds. But the 30-year bonds yield 9 percent. You could take a serious buzz cut on those, watching their yields plunge, and still beat someone who owned Treasurys.
Mutual funds aren't a great avenue for owning these bonds; funds tend to spread investors out among bonds from a bunch of other nations, including Japan, whose bonds pay squat. The good news is that some brokers can help you buy these bonds directly; though you'll likely have to get on the phone to make it happen. You don't need to be a high roller, either. E-Trade, for example, can usually trade in lots of 25 bonds for developed countries. That typically works out to be around $25,000. And they can deal in Norwegian bonds for around $5,000 -- not bad for a piece of Harald's kingdom.
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Sino-Forest Bondholders Agree to Default Waiver, Cutting Bankruptcy Risk

2012-01-21T05:05:00.001-08:00

Sino-Forest Corp. (TRE), the Chinesetimber company fending off allegations of fraud, said it reacheda waiver agreement with a group of bondholders, reducing therisk of bankruptcy.
Holders of a majority of its senior notes due 2014 and 2017agreed to waive the default, Hong Kong- and Mississauga,Ontario-based Sino-Forest said yesterday in a statement. InDecember, the company said it received notices of default afterannouncing it wouldn��t publish its third-quarter financialresults on ��a timely basis.��
��It keeps Sino-Forest out of bankruptcy for the timebeing,�� Geof Marshall, who helps oversee C$5 billion ($4.9billion) of fixed-income funds at CI Investments Inc. inToronto, said in a telephone interview.
A special committee of directors has been investigatingallegations in a June report by short seller Carson Block��sMuddy Waters LLC that Sino-Forest overstated its timber assetsin China. After the report, the shares fell 74 percent beforetrading was suspended by the Ontario Securities Commission inAugust, reducing the company��s market value by C$3.3 billion.
Sino-Forest, which is also under investigation by the OSCand the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, denies the allegations.
Trading Suspension
The company is also negotiating terms of an extension of ashare-trading suspension by the OSC, Canada��s main securitiesregulator, which was due to end Jan. 25, according to thestatement.
Greenheart Group Ltd. (94), Sino-Forest��s unit, was unchanged at85 Hong Kong cents as of the 4 p.m. close. The benchmark HangSeng index climbed 0.6 percent.
Greenheart, 64 percent controlled by Sino-Forest, surged 50percent on Jan. 11 when its parent said it��s ��optimistic�� ofreaching a waiver agreement with bondholders.
Sino-Forest said yesterday it will complete and make publica final report on the special committee��s investigation of theMuddy Waters allegations by Jan. 31. The company said last monththe report wouldn��t be completed until some time in 20! 12.

The waiver agreement with the bondholders gives them a sayon appointments of Sino-Forest directors and senior executives,access to the company��s offices, accounts, books and records, aswell as updates on significant transactions, according to thestatement.
Sino-Forest said it has agreed to make the $9.78 millioninterest payment due last month on its 2016 convertible notes.The company will also pay a waiver fee totaling $9.99 million,or 1 percent of the principal amount, to all holders of the 2014and 2017 senior notes.
Minimum Cash
Sino-Forest agreed that it and its subsidiaries will keepat least $165 million in cash in China, excluding Hong Kong, anda minimum of $140 million outside of China, including Hong Kong,according to the statement. The company also agreed to��monetize�� assets to repay debt.
Sino-Forest said it also pledged to provide a strategicplan to the committee of bondholders before the end of March.
Chief Executive Officer Judson Martin said in November thatSino-Forest may consider going private, selling a stake orseeking a merger to raise funds. Martin took over from companyco-founder Allen Chan in August and is also CEO of Greenheart.
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And none of the country-specific funds target Brazil or China
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This High-Yield Portfolio Will Beat the Market

2012-01-21T01:00:00.001-08:00

Forty-eight weeks ago, I invested my cold, hard cash into 10 high-yield dividend stocks I believe will beat the market. Let's see the results so far:

Company

Average Cost

Shares

Recent Price

Total Value

Return

Altria $24.86 40 $28.50 $1,140.00 14.64%

Philip Morris (NYSE: PM  ) $61.83 17 $74.02 $1,258.34 18.79%

National Grid $45.63 22 $48.12 $1,058.64 5.46%

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY  ) $17.55 57 $16.59 $945.63 (5.47%)

Frontier Communications $8.71 149 $4.89 $728.61 (43.86%)

Southern $37.87 26 $45.07 $1,171.82 19.01%

France Telecom (NYSE: FTE  ) $22.23 45 $14.91 $670.95 (32.93%)

Vodafone Group (Nasdaq: VOD  ) $28.69 38 $27.65 $1,050.70 (3.62%)

Eli Lilly $34.48 29 $39.90 $1,156.98 15.71%

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY  ) $25.37 39 $32.72 $1,276.20 28.98%

Cash ? ? ? $128.06 ?

Dividends Receivable ? ? ? $32.49 ?

Total Portfolio ? ? ? $10,618.42 6.18%

Investment in SPY ? ? ? ? 1.44%

Return vs. SPY (percentage points) ? ? ? ? +4.74
Source: S&P Capital IQ, as of Jan. 20.
Since my last report, the SPDR S&P 500 rose 1.5%. Our portfolio actually fell somewhat, with our outperformance moving from beating the market by 7.77 percentage points to a 4.74-point advantage. While outperformance is always good, it should be taken with a grain of salt. We're investing for the long term, and it's only been 11 months.
Movers and shakers
Our largest mover since last time was Bristol-Myers Squibb, which fell 5.75%. The market has responded negatively to Bristol-Myers Squibb's plan to purchase Inhibitex for $2.5 billion, a 163% premium to its closing price.
Money!
There are four upcoming dividends for the portfolio:

Annaly Capital Management will pay a $0.57 per-share dividend on Jan. 26. The ex-dividend date was D! ec. 26.< /li>
Vodafone will pay a dividend of 0.705 pence (roughly $1.12, not included in Dividends Receivable, as exchange rate won't be determined until close of market today) per share on Feb. 3. The ex-dividend date was Nov. 16.

Southern will pay a $0.4725 per-share dividend on March 6. The ex-dividend date is Feb. 2.

Eli Lilly will pay a dividend of $0.49 per share on March 9. The ex-dividend date is Feb. 13.
Reinvestment
With the dividends from Annaly and Vodafone, by Feb. 3, we will have just over $200 in cash in our portfolio. As I said last week, personally, I'm partial to investing in Annaly, Vodafone, or France Telecom. With Philip Morris down from over $80 per share, I'd also consider the tobacco giant as well.
While Frontier looks cheap, we have already made two sizable purchases, and to add a third would be overallocating to one stock. Annaly had a good year in 2011, and with low rates expected to stay until 2013 or even 2014, its high dividend looks safe. Vodafone also had a good year, finally receiving its first dividend from its 45% ownership of Verizon Wireless. The company is using the money to buy back shares and pay out a special dividend, which we'll receive on Feb. 3. France Telecom has been beaten down due to its debt level and exposure to the European crisis. So, Fools, what should I buy?
My Foolish bottom line
I'm highly confident in this portfolio's ability to crush the market over the next decade, and that's why I put $10,000 of my personal cash into these stocks. My strategy is simple. I'm buying strong companies with outsize dividends, reinvesting those dividends, and holding them for the long run. Over the coming year, I'll track my performance, update you on when I'm going to reinvest all my dividends, and keep you abreast of news affecting these companies.
Consider the 10 companies above along with the 11 names from a brand-new free report from Motley Fool's expert analysts call! ed "11 R ock-Solid Dividend Stocks." To get instant access to the names of these 11 stocks, click here -- it's free.
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The inverse ETN has returned 82% in its 6-month lifespan

2012-01-20T20:57:00.001-08:00

I have periodically made fun of the whole “Volatility as An Asset Class” notion. Not that there’s anything wrong with options trading investors tracking the CBOE Volatility Index (CBOE: VIX) and volatility, I mean that’s kind of what I do for a living. Just that the actual trading products designed to track said VIX often don’t work as an asset class for anything but short term trading. In other words, trade; don’t hold most of these products.
There is a glaring exception though, the VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term ETN (NYSE: XIV). But, alas, XIV is actually an inverse ETN, so it is designed to move in opposition to Our Favorite Dog of all, the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN (NYSE: VXX). As my friend Bill Luby noted yesterday “During the course of its first six months of trading, XIV has managed to return 82% to anyone who was fortunate enough to buy some of this ETN when it launched.”
Sounds great, but it took a quite bumpy ride to get there. As Bill reminds me, XIV pared a third of its value in a month around the time of the Japanese earthquake.
Now with only six months of history to go on, I really would refrain from making blanket statements about what XIV will do forever. Like any leveraged and/or inverse ETF, you have compounding issues to deal with. If VXX churns, it is possible XIV drifts just on simple math.
I will say this though. The last few months were relatively typical for any random six-month slice of VIX life. It spent most of its time alternating between flat lines and slow drifts, but with a couple brief spikes along the way (biggest being the Japanese nuclear meltdown fears that Bill mentions). And VXX as we know will drift on both flat and declining VIX. All of which of course bodes well for XIV going forward.
There’s less likelihood of sizable declines in VIX itself ! when you ’re starting at a 15 full, so it��s not real likely XIV repeats that 82% lift over the next half year. And you always have random volatility explosions to deal with. You can pretty much expect to see two to four of those per year. But all that being said, I would agree with Bill’s points, XIV should continue to rally over time.

Follow Adam Warner on Twitter @agwarner.
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Top Stocks in the News; Starbucks and Green Mountain Coffee ink Sweet Deal

2012-01-20T16:58:00.001-08:00

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) traded in the green today, gaining nearly 10% to close at $37.97, moving on its strategic relationship with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) for the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sale of Starbucks and Tazo tea branded K-Cup portion packs for use in GMCR's Keurig Single-Cup brewing system.
Per the agreement, Starbucks will be the exclusive, licensed super-premium coffee brand produced by GMCR for the Keurig Single-Cup brewing system. Starbucks and GMCR plan to make Starbucks K-Cup portion packs available through food, drug, mass, club, specialty and department store retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada beginning in the fall of 2011. Starbucks brand Keurig single-cup portions and Keurig brewers are expected to be sold in Starbucks stores and through Green Mountain’s and Starbucks’ Web sites beginning in 2012.
The partnership strengthens Starbucks’ presence in the nearly $2 billion single-cup coffee market, which the coffee giant entered last year with the launch of VIA Ready Brew. It also ends speculation that Starbucks will debut its own single-cup brewer.
Green Mountain sold 2.9 billion Keurig cup portion packs in 2010, up 75% year- over-year, and increased penetration of Keurig brewers is expected to drive additional growth in Keurig pod volumes in 2011. Starbucks and Green Mountain did not disclose financial terms of the agreement but Starbucks is speculated to receive a gross profit of $0.5 or more per Starbucks brand Keurig cup sold.
Starbucks stock is currently trading at $37.21. The stock is up 7.70% from its previous close. Starbucks shares touched the high of $37.56 and lowest price in today's session is $36.99. The company stock has traded in the range of $22.50 and $37.56 during the past 52 weeks. The company's market cap is $27.71 billion.
Green Mountain is currently trading at $56.02. The stock is up 28.39% from its previous close. Starbucks shares touched the high of $57.71 a! nd lowes t price in today's session is $54.73. The company stock has traded in the range of $21.83 and $57.71 during the past 52 weeks. The company's market cap is $7.93? billion.
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China Dumps the Dollar as Yields Sink

2012-01-20T04:44:00.001-08:00

China cut its holdings of Treasury notes and bonds by the most ever in June, instead favoring the debt of Europe, Japan and Korea. The move has fueled speculation that plummeting U.S. yields are driving away the Asian giant, which has ambitions for its currency, the yuan, to replace the dollar as the world's main reserve currency.

China's holdings of long-term Treasuries fell by $21.2 billion in June to $839.7 billion, a U.S. government report showed recently. Total Chinese investment in U.S. debt declined 2.8% to $843.7 billion, the smallest in a year, following a 3.6% slide in May.

The shift comes as President Barack Obama increases U.S. debt to record levels, making it harder to finance sales to sustain the U.S. economic expansion.

The People's Bank of China on June 19 ended its currency's two-year peg to the dollar, saying it would allow greater "flexibility" in the exchange rate. The yuan has since appreciated by 0.5%.

Prior to letting it float, the central bank had been limiting the yuan's appreciation by selling the currency and buying dollars, a policy that led to the accumulation of the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves and the build-up of its Treasury holdings.

But the Treasury sales and the rapidly appreciating yuan may be signaling China has bigger things in mind for its currency.

The People's Bank of China said on Monday that it would allow foreign central banks and overseas lenders to increase investment in its domestic interbank bond market.

Analysts interpreted the move as a way of promoting the renminbi, while reducing China's exposure to the U.S. dollar.

"This is an integral part of pushing the internationalization of the renminbi," Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) told the Financial Times. "In order to encourage foreign institutions to get involv! ed in r enminbi settlement, you need to give them somewhere to invest."

Money Map Press Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald believes the Chinese have a long-term plan to replace the dollar as the international reserve currency.

"The Chinese yuan is already well on its way to becoming that globally accepted standard unit of exchange and the proverbial genie, as they say, is out of the bottle," Fitz-Gerald wrote in a column last year for Money Morning. "At the very least, China's currency is likely to be granted a global status on par with the current major currency trading pairs for purposes of settling international transactions, whether the West wants that to happen or not."

China also is turning more bullish on European and Asian economies.

China said earlier this week it had been buying "quite a lot" of European bonds, and Japan's Ministry of Finance said on Aug. 9 that China bought $20.3 billion more Japanese debt than it sold in the first half of 2010, the fastest pace of purchases in at least five years.

Additionally, China has more than doubled South Korean debt holdings this year.

China [will] allocate some reserves to "financial assets in major Asian economies," Ding Zhijie, a former adviser to China's sovereign wealth fund, told Bloomberg in an Aug. 16 interview.

"The significance of both the dollar and euro has declined because of the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis, while the role of some emerging-market currencies rose," said Ding, dean of finance at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics.

While China may have long-term ambitions for its currency, some analysts think the Treasury sales are a simple reaction to shorter term developments - cashing in on an investment that has appreciated significantly since the U.S. began buy! ing its own debt to keep interest rates low.

"This may have been opportunistic," James Caron, head of U.S. interest-rate strategy in New York at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), one of 18 primary dealers that trade with the Federal Reserve, told Bloomberg News. "Look at the level of yields. If you've held a lot of Treasuries, you've done well."

Also, with rates at record lows, buying more treasuries now could be a losing proposition for China. Two-year rates will climb to 0.85% by year-end, according to a Bloomberg survey of financial companies. The two-year note yielded a record low 0.48% earlier this week.

Investors who purchased the securities today would lose 0.4% if that projection proves correct.

"Buying now is a big risk," Hiroki Shimazu, an economist in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc., a unit of Japan's third-largest publicly traded bank told Bloomberg. "I don't recommend it."

News & Related Story Links:

Bloomberg: China Reduces Long-Term Treasuries by Record Amount
Financial Times: Beijing looks to broaden renminbi use
Money Morning: China Seeks to Dethrone the Dollar, Transforming the Yuan into the Dominant Global Currency
Bloomberg: China Doubles Korea Bond Holdings as U.S. Debt Sold
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S&P Losers: Peabody Energy and 2 Stocks Taking Heat

2012-01-20T00:40:00.001-08:00

The S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) closed Friday down 0.49% at 1,289. Here are three notable stocks that experienced some of the largest declines.
Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR): Patriot Coal’s warning infected the entire coal market. The concern is that the production of high-end coal used for steelmaking is lagging, and may portend slower global industrial output. Alpha Natural Resources closed down 10.47%.
Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU): According to David Alton Clark, BTU is among the top 7 stocks destined to double in 2012. For now, Peabody isn��t doing well as a result of the entire sector’s sell-off sparked by Patriot Coal. However, this is a stock that deserves close scrutiny.? BTU ended Friday down 3.98%.
Genworth Financial’s (NYSE:GNW) mortgage insurance business is still experiencing losses, though the magnitude of loss has narrowed in the?third quarter. The company also sold its tax and accounting unit this week in an effort to focus on its core business of wealth management. The stock fell 2.72% to close the week.
To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Gillette at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com
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Here's 1 Reason Fuel Systems Solutions Looks Weak

2012-01-19T12:36:00.001-08:00

Margins matter. The more Fuel Systems Solutions (Nasdaq: FSYS  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Fuel Systems Solutions' competitive position could be.
Here's the current margin snapshot for Fuel Systems Solutions over the trailing 12 months: Gross margin is 23.3%, while operating margin is 2.3% and net margin is 0.9%.
Unfortunately, a look at the most recent numbers doesn't tell us much about where Fuel Systems Solutions has been, or where it's going. A company with rising gross and operating margins often fuels its growth by increasing demand for its products. If it sells more units while keeping costs in check, its profitability increases. Conversely, a company with gross margins that inch downward over time is often losing out to competition, and possibly engaging in a race to the bottom on prices. If it can't make up for this problem by cutting costs -- and most companies can't -- then both the business and its shares face a decidedly bleak outlook.
Of course, over the short term, the kind of economic shocks we recently experienced can drastically affect a company's profitability. That's why I like to look at five fiscal years' worth of margins, along with the results for the trailing 12 months, the last fiscal year, and last fiscal quarter (LFQ). You can't always reach a hard conclusion about your company's health, but you can better understand what to expect, and what to watch.
Here's the margin picture for Fuel Systems Solutions over the past few years.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Because of seasonality in some businesses, the numbers for the last period on the right -- the TTM figures -- aren't always comparable to the FY results preceding them. To compare quarterly margins to their prior-year levels, consult this chart.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.
Here's how the stats break down:

Over the past five years, gross margin peaked at 32.8% and averaged 28.1%. Operating margin peaked at 17.8% and averaged 12.3%. Net margin peaked at 11.0% and averaged 6.3%.

TTM gross margin is 23.3%, 480 basis points worse than the five-year average. TTM operating margin is 2.3%, 1,000 basis points worse than the five-year average. TTM net margin is 0.9%, 540 basis points worse than the five-year average.
With recent TTM operating margins below historical averages, Fuel Systems Solutions has some work to do.
If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're probably ahead of 95% of the market's individual investors. To stay ahead, learn more about how I use analysis like this to help me uncover the best returns in the stock market. Got an opinion on the margins at Fuel Systems Solutions? Let us know in the comments below.

Add Fuel Systems Solutions to My Watchlist.
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Fannie-Freddie Bailout: What It Means to You

2012-01-19T04:29:00.001-08:00

This weekend I took my daughter to her swim class held at a school located in a suburban strip mall. While waiting for her to finish her class, I wandered around the mall to kill time.
One shop in particular caught my eye: The Army Recruiting Station. It seems our Army has improved its marketing skills over the last few years or so. This particular storefront was as compelling as any young adult retail store. So out of sheer curiosity, I meandered into the store.
I have always been moderately interested in joining the reserves, especially after September 11th. Like many though, I never could pull the trigger on enetring the service, given my other pursuits.
That being said, I continue to do this dance of interest and seeing the Army recruiting station really stoked that little fire burning inside. I wanted to learn more. Boy was I crushed that day!
It turns out that the cut-off age for enlistment is 42. I turned 43 in June. I was shocked and just didn’t get it. I’m in great physical and mental shape and clearly have many years of service to offer, and yet my country will not take me even if I manage to put signature on paper. Not even a call to a Senator could get me into the Army at this point in my life!
Anyway, something else occurred this weekend that makes as little sense. The government announced that it was finally taking over mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE).
Citing the all too familiar too big to fail, Treasury and Federal Reserve leaders decided the time has come to take action. With mortgage lending becoming more restrictive and expensive, something had to be done to solve the problems of these two big operators (see also, “Fannie Finally Gets Off Its Fanny?“).
Well, so much for free market capitalism. Equity and preferred shareholders who are already hurti! ng, will see massive dilution as the government is poised to take a huge ownership position in the entities.
The goal is to keep the money flowing. An absence thereof exacerbates an already struggling home market in the United States. I get it. But I still have to ask: Will this stem the tide?
What Ever Happened to Good Old-Fashioned Capitalism?
On Monday, world markets cheered and the U.S. markets followed suits. Stocks are higher across the board assuming that the government action will bring stability to the credit markets.
Can I ask a dumb question? Does anyone else remember what happened to state-sponsored economies like communism? They failed. So I ask, how can this action be positive for stocks?
At the end of the day, the real estate market will stabilize when there is a balance of buyers and sellers. At the moment, we have far too many sellers. That causes prices to fall and they will continue to fall until supply dwindles (see also, “A Healthy Dose of Reality“).
Yes, it is true that FNM and FRE have created a market that is too big to fail. These entities facilitate a lending market that lowers rates and provides greater access to more borrowers. In their absence, we would see chaos and most likely, higher rates. That means fewer buyers, and the continuing malaise in real estate. The problem now is that we really don’t know if this would be the reaction in the market should FNM and FRE fail.
We may find that other lenders step up to the plate. Assuming a profit can be made in making home ownership available to the largest market rates should be the same or lower than what we see now. Of course, nobody wants to take the risk of seeing what happens by letting FNM and FRE fail. However, with the government stepping in we will never know.
The market may be higher in the immediate aftermath of this historic intervention, but in realit! y I&rsqu o;m not sure what, if anything, has really changed. The market is still all about supply and demand and this action may or may not help in that regard. What it does do is protect those that lend money to FNM and FRE. Maybe it is they that we are protecting by acting this way. Who knows? None of this makes sense to me and my Rational world.
The good news is that inflationary pressures are abating and the economy is building a base for future growth. Let this nonsensical move pass and focus on what is really important: Corporate profits!
Forget about the banks and the homebuilders�Cthey’re going to be in rough shape for a long time. You need to focus on the great secular growth areas of the economy where investors can make some nice profits in ’08. Want in? Now is the perfect time! Sign up today and get Louis Navellier’s Blue Chip Growthhalf-off PLUS 6 months FREE! Subscribe to to Louis Navellier’s Blue Chip Growth today!
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Prince One Step Closer To Leaving Citigroup

2012-01-19T00:23:00.001-08:00

There is an update to why Citigroup’s (C-NYSE) Chuck Prince is one of the 10 CEO’s that need to go.
CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino just noted that Prince Alwaleed bin Talal (Citigroup’s largest holder) has reportedly put Chuck Prince effectively on notice that if he doesn’t bring in expenses and start a real turnaround that he will call for his resignation. Charlie Gasparino said that Chuck Prince has to do something in a couple months or he is going to start calling for a new leadership team and the re was even the note of it being broken up. Citigroup (C) shares have started recovering on this news, and there is no telling what the perceived valuations could be if Citigroup was really put on the block for a break-up. It is unclear if that is real, but that would be a major development and one that doesn’t come around very frequently.
Jim Cramer already said he thinks that Prince will go by the end of the year. Charlie Gasparino has also been covering this one quite well and just covered this last week. Here is our 24/7 Wall St. article on why he needs to go from December 15, 2006.
Shares of Citigroup are down 0.3% at $54.56, but have been as low as $54.32 today. The 52-week trading range is $44.81 to $57.00, and the reason the stock is closer to the highs of the year is because of the hope for change rather than on its fundamentals now. Maybe a record label could get involved this will become the saga of "The Banker Formerly Known as Prince."
Jon C. Ogg
February 2, 2007
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Making a T-Mobile iPhone is harder than it sounds

2012-01-17T15:56:00.001-08:00

(gigaom.com) -- Last week, Apple-loving T-Mobile customers were all in a titter as the carrier’s CTO Neville Ray hinted at CES that the next iPhone might work on the T-Mobile’s network. Ray only told Cnet that the next radio chipset Apple procures for the smartphone will support the AWS bands that T-Mobile uses for its HSPA+ network, but the resulting slew of speculation about a T-Mobile iPhone forced T-Mobile to put out a statement saying it had no knowledge of Apple’s future iPhone roadmap.
Adding a new band to the iPhone may sound like a simple matter, but it’s a much more difficult task than it appears. In an interview with GigaOM, Barry Matsumori, chief marketing and strategy officer for adaptive antenna maker Ethertronics, explained why.

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Vendors like Apple simply can’t slap a new antenna into a handset and start shipping. There’s about a $1 cost per device when adding a new band, which isn’t small in the low-margin world of handsets, Matsumori said — though it’s a cost Apple can more easily absorb than most. The real cost is engineering. Adding a new band requires a manufacturer to fundament! ally red esign the device, building it around its new antenna configuration. “The big issue is the ripple effect it causes throughout the phone,” Matsumori said.
A new band requires not only a new antenna, but also new power amplifiers, filters and a new radio chipset – all of which have to be crammed into the ever-shrinking confines of the handset. The vast majority of space in today’s slim smartphones is dominated by the battery and display. All the other components are stuffed into the niches alongside the battery. But even if a handset designer can find the space for a new band’s components, he faces an even bigger problem: interference.
Any time you add a new emitting component like an antenna, it changes the radio frequency profile of the device, Matsumori said. Each new radio wave-emitting element can interfere with every other element in the device. A designer not only has to find room for the new antenna and supporting elements, but it has to place them in relation to other components so they don’t degrade the overall performance of the device. Ultimately, the more bands a vendor adds, the poorer signals each of those bands will transmit, Matsumori said.
The iPhone already has signal strength problems, as many iPhone 4 users discovered in 2010. That could be a reflection of the number of bands and technologies it already supports, or it could be a decision by Apple to sacrifice radio performance for industrial design. But the bottom line is Apple needs to think carefully if it wants to extend the iPhone to T-Mobile as any tinkering with the design will not only add cost, but potentially degrade performance for all its customers – not just T-Mobile’s. The next generation of smartphones will start using adaptive antenna technologies developed by companies like Ethertronics and SkyCross, which will help solve some of those interference problems. If Apple has the will, it can definitely find a way to technically fit T-Mobile into its schemes. ! But the even bigger obstacle T-Mobile faces to getting its sought-after iPhone would be a business one.
“It boils down to a simple business decision,” Matsumori said. ”Will these guys give me enough volume to justify the expense? Or will [supporting the new band] be a strategic enough decision for me to buy in?”
Apple justified that engineering expense when it created a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 for Verizon Wireless. Verizon, however, is not only a much bigger operator than T-Mobile; the CDMA iPhone variant had much more exposure beyond Big Red. Sprint, other smaller U.S. operators and international carriers have since picked up the device. Subsequently, the new iPhone 4S supports both CDMA and GSM/HSPA, but in that case, Apple didn’t have to add any new bands to the device, just a new multi-mode radio chip. An iPhone to support T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network would have a much smaller reach — essentially T-Mobile and a few Canadian operators.
When the iPhone 5 comes along, Apple could finally discover that the math adds up. T-Mobile’s Ray is right that the Apple’s next smartphone will almost certainly have AWS antennas, since AWS is where both Verizon and AT&T will launch a good hunk of their LTE networks. But that doesn’t mean Apple will support HSPA+ on that band. The antennas will be in place, but Apple will still have to procure radio chipsets that recognize T-Mobile’s network on AWS. Considering the huge number of bands and technologies the next iPhone will need — covering new LTE networks as well as legacy 4G, 3G and 2G technologies — there’s a chance T-Mobile’s specialized configuration still won’t make the cut.
In fact, Apple will find it very difficult to continue its strategy of building a single iPhone that works across global networks. My recent GigaOM Pro analysis (subscription required) explores how the fragmentation of LTE into dozens of bands across the world and within the U.! S. will create a big dilemma for handset vendors who will be forced to pick and choose which LTE bands they can feasibly support in a single device. The biggest impact of those choices will be felt by the smaller carriers who don’t have the clout of Verizon to get devices made for their LTE networks.
iPhone/drill image courtesy of Flickr user floorvan
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MySQL IPO May Be In The Works

2012-01-17T12:00:00.001-08:00

There is a lengthy article from Computer Business Review stating that Linux distributor MySQL is prepping for an IPO. This would be a big win for consumers and for open source if it is able to IPO. The Swedish-based company would follow Mandrake’s offering on Euronext over 5 years ago and would follow another small Linux player in Norway called Trolltech. As of now traders have to trade Red Hat (RHT), Novell (NOVL), VA Software (LNUX) or SCO (SCOX); and the latter two are hardly traded for the Linux exposure any longer. They have somewhere around 10,000 paying customers now, and the article says this translates to close to 10 million installed users.
MySQL is one of the companies we have had on the IPO-radar for some time, and even if this will take until the end of the year it is one to watch ahead of time.
The NY Times DealBook has also covered this today.
Jon C. Ogg
January 31, 2007
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Oil Futures Head for Weekly Decline on Plans to Delay Iranian Embargo

2012-01-17T07:48:00.001-08:00

Oil headed for its biggest weeklydecline in a month on signs that the European Union may delaythe enforcement of a ban on Iranian oil imports.
Futures have lost 2.3 percent this week after a EuropeanUnion official said sanctions on Iran may be postponed by sixmonths to allow some countries to find alternative petroleumsupplies. The measures are also likely to include an exemptionfor Italy so crude can be sold to pay off debts to Eni SpA, thenation��s largest oil company, the official said.
��I think it��s in no one��s interests for this to escalatebeyond words, which will probably keep tension high,�� saidMichael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets in London, whichhandles about $240 million a day in U.S. crude contracts. ��Anyflare-up in the Straits of Hormuz would obviously send oilspiking sharply but that would be something that both partieswould want to avoid.��
Crude for February delivery on the New York MercantileExchange was at $98.98 at 12:59 p.m. London time. The contractyesterday fell $1.77 to $99.10, the lowest close since Dec. 30.
Brent oil for February settlement fell 61 cents to $110.65a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. TheEuropean benchmark contract��s premium to West Texas Intermediatefutures was at $11.67, compared with a record $27.88 on Oct. 14.Brent February futures�� premium over the March contract was 7cents, after briefly falling to zero.
Upside Risk Increasing
Oil gained as much as 1.1 percent earlier today afterNigerian labor unions said they will continue a strike thatthreatens oil exports from Africa��s top producer.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the risk of higher oil pricesin 2012 is ��increasingly skewed to the upside.�� The risk ofoil prices rising in 2012 is increasing amid the threat ofsupply disruptions and shrinking spare capacity in theOrganization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Goldman Sachssaid in a research note today.
��Risks to the upside in oil are substantially greatergiven the s! tronger fundamentals and recent events surroundingIran and Nigeria,�� the bank said. ��We continue to see a strongcase for crude oil fundamentals tightening further in 2012.��
Oil prices could rise to $150 to $200 a barrel if theStrait of Hormuz is closed, or they could plunge to $50 if theglobal economy worsens significantly, former OPEC PresidentChakib Khelil said. OPEC members including Saudi Arabia would beable to make up for a drop in Iranian supplies to Europe, Khelilsaid today in a Bloomberg Television interview in London.
Nigeria Strikes
��It should be possible to replace, at least, the Europeanconsumption of Iranian oil,�� Khelil said. This year will be��exceptional�� for global oil markets, partly because ofdisruption in Nigeria, he said.
The U.S. government has warned Iran that closing the Straitof Hormuz would provoke an American response, the New York Timesreported, citing unidentified U.S. officials.
Nigeria��s general strike entered its fifth day afterPresident Goodluck Jonathan and labor leaders failed to end adispute over fuel subsidies. Jonathan and union leaders willresume talks tomorrow after holding ��fruitful�� negotiationsyesterday in Abuja, the capital, Abdulwaheed Omar, president ofthe Nigeria Labour Congress, told reporters.
The March Brent contract in London was at $110.58 a barrel,7 cents below February futures. The difference between the twobriefly shrank to zero. The second-month contract hasn��t settledabove the first month since Aug. 8.
Short-term supplies were more expensive than latercontracts, a price structure known as backwardation, for most of2011 because of the cessation of exports from Libya, whichproduces a type of crude comparable to Brent.
New York oil may fall next week on concern that the U.S.economy is slowing, curbing fuel demand in the largest crude-consuming country, a Bloomberg News survey showed.
Fifteen of 30 analysts, or 50 percent, forecast oil willdecline through Jan. 20. Ten respondents, or 33! percent ,predicted prices will increase and five estimated there will belittle change. Last week, 47 percent of surveyed analystsexpected a decrease.
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Altria	$24.86	40	$28.50	$1,140.00	14.64%
Philip Morris (NYSE: PM )	$61.83	17	$74.02	$1,258.34	18.79%
National Grid	$45.63	22	$48.12	$1,058.64	5.46%
Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY )	$17.55	57	$16.59	$945.63	(5.47%)
Frontier Communications	$8.71	149	$4.89	$728.61	(43.86%)
Southern	$37.87	26	$45.07	$1,171.82	19.01%
France Telecom (NYSE: FTE )	$22.23	45	$14.91	$670.95	(32.93%)
Vodafone Group (Nasdaq: VOD )	$28.69	38	$27.65	$1,050.70	(3.62%)
Eli Lilly	$34.48	29	$39.90	$1,156.98	15.71%
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY )	$25.37	39	$32.72	$1,276.20	28.98%
Cash	?	?	?	$128.06	?
Dividends Receivable	?	?	?	$32.49	?
Total Portfolio	?	?	?	$10,618.42	6.18%
Investment in SPY	?	?	?	?	1.44%
Return vs. SPY (percentage points)	?	?	?	?	+4.74