Thursday, February 20, 2014

P&G sells bleach business, rules out acquisitions

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley announced Thursday the divestiture of the company's worldwide bleach business, the reorganization of its global business units and a new "smart" toothbrush to help people improve their brushing habits.

Lafley acknowledged that other divestitures are being considered, providing no details but signaling that the sale of non-core business units or other assets is top of mind.

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He all but ruled out a flashy acquisition, saying the company wants to focus on selling existing brands to consumers.

"Our vision is clear, and we are single-minded about our goals," Lafley told a packed room of 600 influential Wall Street analysts and investment professionals at the annual Consumer Analysts Group of New York meeting in Boca Raton, Fla.

Analysts were eager to hear Lafley's strategy for jump-starting sales and profit growth at the nation's largest consumer products company, known for best-selling brands Tide, Pampers and Pantene. The annual meeting has become a prime forum for major news announcements.

Two years ago, then-CEO Bob McDonald unveiled a wide-ranging, $10 billion restructuring plan including 5,700 office job cuts that silenced the room.

This year, Lafley delivered no bombshell announcements but disclosed several incremental steps and decisions that indicate the direction he wants to take Cincinnati-based P&G (PG).

“Our vision is clear, and we are single-minded about our goals.”

— A.G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble

Lori Hudson, portfolio manager with Bahl & Gaynor, gave Lafley high marks for candor if not specifics. She also was relieved that acquisitions are not a priority.

"Acquisitions confuse things," she said. Company managers "risk taking their eye off the ball."

The bleach sale delivers on a Lafley pledge to exit non-core businesses it can't! grow fast enough.

The sale includes overseas bleach brands Ace, Magia Blanca and Lavansan Bleach in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. P&G doesn't sell bleach in the U.S. and began exiting the category elsewhere in the world last year.

Lafley said the company "wasn't ready to make announcements" about selling other unnamed businesses. Iams pet food, Duracell batteries and Braun small appliances top many analysts' short lists of candidates for sale.

The CEO also said 90% of P&G's brand portfolio is "core" and hammered home that the company is focused on execution and boosting productivity.

STORY: P&G hands reins of power back to A.G. Lafley

Toward that end, he announced P&G is reshuffling its market development organizations and renaming them sales organizations. The switch includes consolidating Eastern and Western Europe, while India will be combined with the Middle East and Africa.

Lafley hinted again at future plant closures, saying he wants to consolidate manufacturing at fewer facilities that produce a wider array of consumer goods. The company has more than 130 factories worldwide.

Lafley, CEO from 2000 to 2009, returned to the top job in May after embattled CEO McDonald abruptly announced his retirement. McDonald had been criticized for the company's high cost structure and inconsistent profit and sales growth that had stalled the stock price in the mid-$60 range for years.

Up until now, Lafley has reshuffled his top executive ranks, instituted shareholder return targets for business units and pledged to make efficiency a core priority like innovation.

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The CEO has noted that the company is ahead of its reorganization timetable, having cut 7,000 cuts in two years with plans to cut an additional 4,000 by June 2016. But he has cautioned that completion of the f! ull reorg! anization strategy will take "a couple of years."

Shares of Procter & Gamble closed Thursday at $77.92, down 22 cents.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Google spreading Fiber fingers to more cities

SAN FRANCISCO - Google unveiled big expansion plans for its fast Fiber Internet service on Wednesday, stepping up pressure on incumbent cable and Internet providers such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T.

Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, identified nine urban areas encompassing up to 34 cities across the U.S. as possible sites for deployment.

"We aim to provide updates by the end of the year about which cities will be getting Google Fiber," Google said on its blog. "Between now and then, we'll work closely with each city's leaders on a joint planning process that will not only map out a Google Fiber network in detail, but also assess what unique local challenges we might face."

Google Fiber is about 100 times faster than what most Internet users live with today, according to the company.

When the service started in 2011 in Kansas City, Mo., it was considered by some to be an experiment, rather than a serious new business for the web giant. But Wednesday's announcement may put such theories to rest, while also sending a message to existing cable, telecom and Internet providers that a new, cash-rich rival has arrived.

"Google Fiber is an attempt by Google to build a profitable, stand-alone business," Carlos Kirjner, an Internet analyst at Bernstein Research, wrote in a note to investors on Wednesday. "It may not make a huge difference for Google or for the incumbents in the next one, two or three years, but Google is taking the long view and we think in 5 or more years, it could turn out to be a significant, profitable business for Google and headwind for incumbents."

The 34 cities being considered are: Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe in Arizona; San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto in California; Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs and Smyrna in Georgia; Nashville-Davidson in Tennessee; Charlotte, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Garner, Morrisville and Raleigh i! n North Carolina; Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Lake Oswego and Tigard in Oregon; San Antonio in Texas; and Salt Lake City in Utah.

Fiber in Kansas City, Mo., costs $70 each month for an Internet connect that has data-transfer speeds of 1 gigabit per second. For $120 a month, users can get Internet, TV and a Nexus 7 tablet. A 5 Mbps service is offered at no monthly charge but costs $300 for a one-time construction fee.

In Provo, Utah, monthly prices are the same but require a one-time construction fee of $30.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Brandon Victor Dixon: A Star on TheStreet

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Tony Award-nominated actor Brandon Victor Dixon chats with former actor Cherella Cox, as TheStreet continues its coverage of African Americans during Black History Month. Dixon is playing Berry Gordy in Motown: The Musical, written by Gordy, and now playing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater.

Dixon is an actor who says he is not afraid of being typecast. The star has played a variety of characters, including Simba in The Lion King. He also received a Tony Award nomination for his role as Harpo in The Color Purple, which has opened up a lot of doors for the performer.

When asked his favorite song in Motown: The Musical -- out of more than the 50 songs from the '60s, '70s and '80s -- Dixon finally picks Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Me." (Cast member Bryan Terrell Clark is currently performing the part of Gaye.)

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Stock quotes in this article: SIRI 

Sunday, February 16, 2014

What Facebook knows about love, in numbers

NEW YORK (AP) — With 1.23 billion users in all the flavors and up-and-down stages of romantic relationships, Facebook knows a thing or two about love.

For example, two people who are about to enter a relationship interact more and more on Facebook in the weeks leading up to making their coupled status official — up until 12 days before the start of the relationship, when they share an average of 1.67 posts per day.

Then, their Facebook interactions start to decline — presumably because they are spending more time together offline. But while they interact less, couples are more likely to express positive emotions toward their each other once they are in a relationship, researchers on Facebook's data science team found.

Touching on everything from religion to age differences, Facebook has been disclosing such light-hearted findings in a series of blog posts this week, with one coming up later Friday and another, on breakups, Saturday. Friday, of course, is Valentine's Day.

Facebook data scientist Mike Develin, whose background is in mathematics, notes that the relationship stuff is sort a side project for his team, the findings geared more toward academic papers than Facebook's day-to-day business. His "day job" is Facebook's search function — how people use it, what they are searching for that isn't available and how to make it more useful.

But the patterns Facebook's researchers can detect help illustrate just how useful the site's vast trove of data can be in mapping human interactions and proving or disproving assumptions about relationships. Can horoscopes predict lasting love? Forget about it.

"We have such a wide-ranging set of data, including on places there may not be data on otherwise," Develin said, adding that because Facebook knows a lot about people's authentic identity, there are "almost no boundaries" to the kinds of questions the researchers can explore — about the structure of society, culture and how people interact.

Someday, researcher! s studying Facebook data may be able to predict whether a couple will break up, learn whether people are happy together or see what makes relationships last. Of course, the data has its limits — not everyone is on Facebook and not every Facebook user shares everything on the site.

Still, people share quite a bit. When looking at breakups through the lens of changed relationship statuses (see: "Joe Doe is single"), the researchers found couples who split up and got back together — and dutifully documented it on Facebook — 10 or 15 times a year. The maximum, Develin, recalls, was a couple who went in and out of a relationship 27 times in one year. While one may assume that a couple wouldn't want to broadcast so much relationship drama to the world, people actually "very faithfully update Facebook at each twist and turn," he says.

Facebook's researchers use aggregated, anonymized data from hundreds of millions of users on the site. This means that while they see information such as age, location, gender, a person's relationship status, for example, such data is not tied back to a specific person.

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It was in a study of 18 million anonymized Facebook posts exchanged by 462,000 Facebook couples that researchers delved into how "sweet" couples are to one another on the social networking site.

"For each timeline interaction, we counted the proportion of words expressing positive emotions (like 'love,' 'nice,' 'happy," etc.) minus the proportion of words expressing negative ones (like 'hate,' 'hurt,' 'bad,' etc.)," writes Facebook data scientist Carlos Diuk in Friday's blog post. The data is plotted on a graph, which shows a visible, general increase in the proportion of warm fuzzy feelings right at the start of a relationship.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

What if the Data Are Wrong?

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We've been closely tracking Canada's export activity not only because the Bank of Canada (BoC) is currently fixated on it, but also because many of our recommendations in the resource sector are dependent upon it. 

To be sure, the BoC hopes to resuscitate Canada's ailing manufacturing industry, while the major players in the resource space are already working toward diversifying their markets, particularly as the US is in the midst of an energy renaissance thanks to the shale boom.

But Canada is a few years away from being able to ship its energy products to emerging Asia. In the meantime, the US is still Canada's largest trading partner by far, so much of the commentary regarding the BoC's expectation that exports will soon drive Canada's economy again necessarily focuses on the US economy.

Although many of the recent data regarding Canada's export activity have been mixed or even downright gloomy, this week economists with CIBC World Markets published an intriguing analysis suggesting that official data may have been understating export activity.

In the most recent issue of Canadian Edge, we unpacked Canada's international merchandise trade data for December, which showed the trade deficit widening to CAD1.7 billion from the prior month's revised deficit of CAD1.5 billion. That number fell significantly short of the consensus forecast, which had called for the deficit to narrow to CAD650 million.

Though exports were up 0.9 percent month over month, imports grew by 1.2 percent from a higher base. Energy products were the main underperformers in the export sector, with their total value declining 4.5 percent sequentially and 0.1 percent year over year.

But even with this disappointing result, energy products still accounted for nearly CAD9 billion, or about 21.5 percent, of total exports for December. Exports of crude oil and crude bitumen were singled out as the pri! mary culprit in the energy space, with exports falling 5 percent, to just under CAD6 billion, on lower volumes.

Interestingly, economists with CIBC World Markets wonder whether Statistics Canada (StatCan), the government agency that tracks and reports most of the country's economic data, may be employing a methodology that's understating Canada's oil trade. They note that the US Census Bureau, the US Energy Information Administration, and Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) all report data that show rising volumes for Canada's energy exports, with the latter agency's data showing a 12 percent rise year to date through October versus the prior-year period.

But instead of relying on US import data for its calculations, StatCan instead aggregates data from Canada's provincial energy departments. As a result, its figures tend to be lower, which meant it reported a rise in export volumes that was about 33 percent lower during the aforementioned period than the one reported by the NEB.

CIBC says that if the NEB's data are indeed correct and had been used instead when calculating export activity, it would have reduced the country's trade deficit by CAD1 billion per month during the fourth quarter. That almost merits an exclamation point, because it means that Canada would have come much closer to a trade surplus during that time. In the fourth quarter, the country's trade deficit averaged CAD1.36 billion, so shaving CAD1 billion from that number would have meant an average monthly trade deficit of just CAD360 million.

If StatCan's methodology is problematic here, then at the very least CIBC does not believe it's affecting other important data, such as the agency's calculation of gross domestic product (GDP). The economists say StatCan's production data are largely in line with those reported by the NEB.

So while Canada's export-oriented manufacturers are still struggling, it's possible that export activity in the country's energy sector has been ! substanti! ally better than what's been reported.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now

LONDON --�Shares in life insurance specialist�Old Mutual� (LSE: OML  ) have stopped for breath in recent weeks, after earlier edging to their loftiest since May 2006 above 210 pence at the start of March.

I believe that the company offers great earnings growth and dividend prospects that are not factored into the price at current levels, and I therefore expect the stock to gain traction again sooner rather than later.

Insurance giant prints strong 2012
Old Mutual announced last month that profit before tax increased 18% to 1.6 billion pounds in 2012, with funds under management treading 3% higher to 262.2 billion pounds. Although new business profits fell, this was because of the sale of its Nordic division, and underlying new business profits from continuing operations rose 11% from 2011 levels.

And Old Mutual has significant scope to slash costs further to boost earnings after cutting expenditure 133 million pounds last year. In particular, RBC Capital notes that that the commission costs of major insurers should collapse by 50% as the Retail Distribution Review, which came into effect at the start of the year, delivers massive cost savings. This replaced the payment of commission to financial advisors with upfront product fees.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Senior Eng Grp(SNR.L)

Senior plc designs, manufactures, and markets high technology components and systems worldwide. The company operates through two divisions, Aerospace and Flexonics. The Aerospace division offers aerospace ducting systems, aerospace fabricated components, aerospace machined components, bellows and seals, couplings and valves, hydraulic and fuel systems, machined aero structures, machined airframe and interiors, and sensors and monitoring systems. The Flexonics division provides automotive common rail, drain tube, exhaust connector, flexible tube, heat exchangers, and high pressure lines; fabric expansion joints; fuel cells; industrial air ducts, dampers and diverters, flexible tubing, and metal bellows; and metal expansion joints and spring hangers. Senior plc serves original equipment producers in the aerospace, defense, diesel engine, exhaust system, land vehicle, and energy markets. The company was formerly known as Senior Engineering Group plc and changed its name to Se nior plc in 1999. Senior plc was incorporated in 1933 and is headquartered in Rickmansworth, the United Kingdom.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: El Paso Corporation(EP)

El Paso Corporation operates in the natural gas transmission, and exploration and production sectors of the energy industry primarily in the United States. It offers natural gas transmission services to a range of customers, including natural gas producers, marketers, and end-users, as well as other natural gas transmission, distribution, and electric generation companies through its interests in approximately 43,100 miles of interstate pipeline system. The company also operates approximately 240 billion cubic feet of storage capacity, and an LNG receiving terminal in Elba Island, Georgia. In addition, El Paso Corporation focuses on the exploration, acquisition, development, and production of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States, Brazil, and Egypt, as well as engages in midstream business. The company primarily sells its domestic natural gas and oil to third parties. As of December 31, 2010, it had proved natural gas and oil reserves of approximat ely 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents. The company was founded in 1928 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Hot Quality Stocks To Buy Right Now: Nike Inc.(NKE)

NIKE, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, marketing, and sale of footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessory products for men, women, and children worldwide. The company offers products in the categories of running, training, basketball, soccer, sport-inspired casual shoes, and kids? shoes. It also markets footwear designed for baseball, cheerleading, football, golf, lacrosse, outdoor activities, skateboarding, tennis, volleyball, walking, wrestling, and other athletic and recreational uses. In addition, Nike sells sports apparel and accessories, sports-inspired lifestyle apparel, athletic bags, and accessory items; and markets apparel with licensed college, professional team, and league logos. Further, the company sells performance equipment, including bags, socks, sport balls, eyewear, timepieces, electronic devices, bats, gloves, protective equipment, golf clubs, and other equipment designed for sports activities under the brand na me of NIKE; and various plastic products to other manufacturers. It offers products under the trademarks of Cole Haan, Converse, Chuck Taylor, All Star, One Star, Star Chevron, Jack Purcell, Hurley, and Umbro. The company sells its products through retail accounts, its own retail stores and Internet sales, independent distributors, and licensees. NIKE, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Shares of Nike (NKE) have fluctuated after the sportswear company reported better-than-expected earnings.

    REUTERS

    Nike reported a profit of 59 cents, above forecasts for 58 cents, on revenue of $6.4 billion, in line with estimates for $6.4 billion.

    Shares of Nike have dropped 0.8% to $77.71 at 4:21 p.m. in volatile trading that has seen shares rise and fall by as much as 1%.

    From Nike’s press release:

    “Our strong second quarter results show why NIKE leads the industry,��said Mark Parker, President and CEO of NIKE, Inc. ��ur powerful portfolio fuels growth across our categories and geographies. Because we never stop innovating, we enhance our ability to serve the athlete, inspire consumers and elevate the marketplace. We will continue to seize the best opportunities to drive sustainable, profitable growth for our shareholders.��

  • [By Jayson Derrick]

    Nike (NYSE: NKE) reported second quarter results after the bell. The company's EPS of $0.59 beat the consensus estimate of $0.58 while revenues of $6.43 billion missed the consensus estimate of $6.44 billion. Shares were trading slightly higher by 0.60 percent at $78.68 going in to the company's conference call.

  • [By Steve Symington]

    The pervasive swoosh
    Finally, I'm offering�Nike (NYSE: NKE  ) as another great dividend stock both you and your children can love.

    To be sure, few businesses enjoy a more significant global presence and greater brand visibility than Nike, which pays a 1.4% dividend while sporting a healthy 9.2% net profit margin. In addition, Nike has more than $4 billion in cash and equivalents, with just $161 million in long-term debt on its balance sheet.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    If yesterday’s market selling was a trickle, today was like a pipe bursting, as Nike (NKE), United Health Group (UNH) and Pfizer (PFE) tumbled.

    Reuters

    The S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 1,782.22, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8% to 15,843.53. Both were the biggest drops since Nov. 7.

    The Dow was weighed down by Nike, which fell 3% to $76.84 ahead of next week’s earnings, while United Health dropped 2.6% to $72.14 and Pfizer declined 2.2% to $30.65. Only five Dow components finished in the green, including Visa (V), which rose 3.1% to $205.66 after Mastercard’s (MA) big dividend/buyback/stock-slit announcement.

    Looking for the market fell today? Good luck finding one. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have attributed it to the budget deal, which could make the Fed feel more comfortable with tapering.�Fed-related news kept hitting the wires throughout the days, including reports that President Barack Obama would appoint Stanley Fischer to be the Fed’s number two, and that the Fed was considering new tools to help set interest rates.

    But was this enough to move markets–including stocks and Treasury bonds? CRT Capital Group’s Ian Lyngen is not so sure. He writes:

    There wasn�� much data around.� No Fedspeak.� And with the rumor that Stanley Fischer will be the vice chairman at the Fed another excuse was brought to the fore in that he somehow might be less dovish than��ell less dovish.� This stems from some comments he made on having reservations about central bank forward guidance…

    We won�� go on about who he is, but we��l steal a quote Paul Krugman cited from Fischer earlier this year who had said, �� still think Keynesian economics is extremely important, and if anybody didn�� think so, this crisis should have made them rethink.��/p>

    Nomura’s Richard Koo says a December taper would be good news for both outgoing Fed chief Ben Bernanke

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Medical Marijuana Inc (MJNA.PK)

Medical Marijuana Inc. (MJNA), incorporated on May 23, 2005, is the publicly held company vested in the medical marijuana and industrial hemp markets. The Company is comprised of a diversified portfolio of products, services, technology and businesses solely focused on the cannabis and hemp industries. These products range from patented based cannabinoid products, to whole plant or isolated high value extracts specifically manufactured and formulated for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical industries. In March 2013, it sold certain equipment and inventory, web domain names, phone numbers, and all existing and pending agreements with hemp production and processing facilities to CannaVEST Corp.

The Company�� services are varied, ranging from medical clinic management to the capitalization and development of existing industry business and product leaders. Services include development of cannabinoid based health and wellness products, and the development of medical grade compounds. MJNA provides over 50 and patented cannabinoid delivery methods that are more socially and medically acceptable than smoking.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Alan Brochstein]

    Taking into account all of the data I have shared, I want to introduce my take on the most important names to follow. My initial list takes into account not only the market cap, but also business model and interest level. These are the stocks that I think merit the most attention (in alphabetical order):

    CannaVest (CANV.OB)GW Pharma (GWPH)MedBox (MDBX.PK)Medical Marijuana, Inc. (MJNA.PK)

    CANV doesn't really trade, as it is held closely by insiders (99.7%, including MJNA). I have a few concerns, including the valuation and some near-term financial challenges typical of a start-up with just one client looking to expand its customer base, but I like the focus and the fact that it is an SEC filer with a relatively clean history (i.e. none of the baggage of some of these other companies). I have spoken to its outsourced CFO and am impressed by his background (has been CFO or held key financial roles at publicly-traded healthcare companies). CANV is the partner to MJNA that is responsible for manufacturing the CBD (Cannibidiol, the cannabinoid in marijuana that is increasingly viewed as offering substantial medical benefits). I am very concerned about the near-term financials, but this is a pure-play with probably a two-year lead over other companies. I don't see a moat in terms of intellectual property or brands, but they have a good lead in terms of sourcing of supply and penetration into potential customers. Quite simply, they don't appear to have competition at present. The company, then, is a call option on CBD demand taking off. It appears that it could be a supplier to even Big Pharma should medical marijuana research move into the mainstream.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF (RXI)

iShares S&P Global Consumer Discretionary Sector Index Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Standard & Poor�� Global Consumer Discretionary Sector Index (the Index).

The Index is a subset of the Standard & Poor�� Global 1200 Index, and measures the performance of companies that Standard & Poor�� deems to be part of the consumer discretionary sector of the economy. Component companies include manufacturing and service companies. The Fund invests in a representative sample of securities included in the Index that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Index.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Rolls Royce Group(RR.L)

Rolls-Royce Holdings plc engages in the provision of power systems and services for civil and defense, aerospace, marine and energy, and nuclear markets worldwide. It develops, manufactures, markets, and sells commercial aero engines, including aircraft engines and helicopter engines for passenger and cargo jets, and corporate and regional aircrafts; and military aero engines comprising engines for combat jets, helicopters, transporters, trainers, tactical aircrafts, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The company also offers marine power propulsion systems, such as automation and control systems, bearings and seals, electrical power systems, deck machinery solutions, marine gas turbines, diesel engines, gas engines, propulsors, ship lifts and transfer systems, reduction gears, and stabilization and maneuvering systems, as well as provides ship design and systems for offshore oil and gas, merchant, and naval vessels. In addition, it offers power systems consisting of gas engines , gas turbine engines, gas compressions, diesel engines, fuel cells, and automation and control systems to support the production of oil and gas, and power generation; and nuclear products, which include safety instrumentation and controls, components and systems manufacture, special purpose machinery and tooling, and remote vision systems, as well as steam generator services. Further, the company provides a range of services that comprise engine support services, helicopters services, financial services, training, technical publications, field shop services, spares and tools, technical support, upgradation, and repair and overhaul services, as well as safety licensing and environmental engineering, mechanical systems and component engineering, instrumentation and control, and reactor support services. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: H&E Equipment Services Inc.(HEES)

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. operates as an integrated equipment services company. The company rents, sells, and provides parts and service support for hi-lift or aerial work platform equipment, crane, earthmoving equipment, and industrial lift truck categories. It offers heavy construction and industrial equipment for rent on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. As of December 31, 2011, the company?s fleet consisted of 17,538 pieces of equipment. It also sells new heavy construction and industrial equipment in various categories. In addition, the company sells used equipment from its rental fleet, as well as inventoried equipment that is acquired through trade-ins from its customers and selective purchases; and new and used parts. Further, it provides maintenance and repair services; and ongoing preventative maintenance services and warranty repairs, as well as offers ancillary equipment support activities, including transportation, hauling, parts shipping, and loss damag e waivers. The company provides its services to industrial and commercial companies, construction contractors, manufacturers, public utilities, municipalities, and maintenance contractors, as well as for other industrial accounts. As of February 28, 2012, it operated a network of 65 full-service facilities, serving approximately 29,800 customers across 22 states in the West Coast, Intermountain, Southwest, Gulf Coast, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The company markets its equipment rental services, and new and used equipment through its sales force. H&E Equipment Services, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Margins matter. The more H&E Equipment Services (Nasdaq: HEES  ) 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 H&E Equipment Services's competitive position could be.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Group 1 Automotive Inc. (GPI)

Group 1 Automotive, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and sale of automotive products and services. It sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts. The company also provides vehicle financing services; service and insurance contract services; and automotive maintenance and repair services. The company has operations located in metropolitan areas in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas in the United States; and in the towns of Brighton, Hailsham, and Worthing in the United Kingdom. As of October 25, 2012, it owned and operated 121 automotive dealerships, 158 franchises, and 30 collision centers in the United States and the United Kingdom that offer 32 brands of automobiles. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ning Jia]

    In 2001, Advance Auto Parts acquires Carport Auto Parts, a regional retail chain with 29 stores in Alabama and Mississippi. The combination of Advance and Carport locations establishes Advance Auto Parts as the market leader in Alabama and Mississippi. In November of 2011, Advance acquires 671 Discount Auto Parts, Inc., a regional auto parts chain in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana. The acquisition strengthens the company's position as the market leader in Florida. Upon completion of this merger, Advance Auto Parts becomes a publicly traded company, listed as a common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AAP. After the Company went public in 2001, AAP continued to expand both organically and through acquisition. On October 16th 2013, Advance Auto Parts entered into a definitive agreement to acquire General Parts International, Inc. (GPI), a leading privately held distributor and supplier of original equipment and aftermarket replacement products for commercial markets operating under the CARQUEST and WORLDPAC brands, in an all-cash transaction with an enterprise value of $2.04 billion. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors for both companies. The deal creates the largest automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, with annual sales of more than $9.2 billion and more than 70,000 employees.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Apple Inc.(AAPL)

Apple Inc., together with subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, as well as sells related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications worldwide. The company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, retail stores, direct sales force, third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, it sells third-party Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores; and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The company sells its products to consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise, government, and creative markets. As of September 25, 2010, it had 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. The company, formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc., was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Tim Brugger]

    But Google CEO Larry Page wasn't fooling anyone; buying Motorola Mobility was a direct means to go after Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) and Samsung in the lucrative U.S. smartphone OEM market. Google's partnership with LG has already produced a Nexus smartphone, and Motorola has some, too, but that's so un-Google. If we've learned anything over the past couple of years, it's that Google isn't afraid to aggressively enter new markets with guns blazing: Google Fiber, the use of white space for wireless connectivity, self-driving cars, Glass -- the list goes on and on.

  • [By Markos Kaminis]

    Since the news about the metadata sharing was made public, rumors rose about another secret government program said to be named PRISM, which many major media providers are saying today is more than rumor. Under such a supposed program, the NSA is alleged to have access to emails and other Internet data. However, major service providers in the field have denied any knowledge of any such program and any participation in such a program. Apple (AAPL) says it does not provide any government agency with direct access to its servers. Google (GOOG) says it does not have a back door for the government to access data. Microsoft (MSFT), Facebook (FB) and Yahoo (YHOO) have also all denied being a party to any such effort. Still, at least one name remains tied to what many Americans seem to be feeling is an infringement on their privacy, and that is Verizon.

  • [By Bruce Kennedy]

    Some excellent journalism by Katie Fehrenbacher at the tech web site Gigaom is shedding new light on how internet companies ��and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in particular ��are aggressively moving into the business of generating their own power supplies.

  • [By Kevin Chen]

    NSS, which bills itself as "the world's leading information security research and advisory company," recenlty unveiled the results of its Browser Security Comparative Analysis: Socially Engineered Malware. Over the course of 28 days, from March 13 through April 9, the firm tested the five, most popular browsers against 754 samples of real-world malicious software. The browsers were�Apple� (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) Safari 5,�Google�Chrome 25/26, Microsoft�Internet Explorer 10, Mozilla Firefox 19, and Opera 12.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Newmont Mining Corporation(Holding Company)

Newmont Mining Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and production of gold and copper properties. The company?s assets or operations are located in the United States, Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico. As of December 31, 2009, it had proven and probable gold reserves of approximately 93.5 million equity ounces and an aggregate land position of approximately 27,500 square miles. The company was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Galliford(GFRD.L)

Galliford Try plc operates as a house building and construction company primarily in the United Kingdom. It provides building services to the accommodation, affordable housing, arts and entertainment, commercial, custodial and judicial, education, health, hotels, refurbishment and fit out, retail, sports facilities, and stadia sectors. The company also undertakes infrastructure projects focusing on data centers, energy from waste, flood alleviation, ground engineering, infrastructure security, rail, remediation, renewable energy, roads and bridges, telecommunications, and water projects, as well as engages in the international infrastructure projects. In addition, it develops various building and infrastructure projects through public private partnerships; and provides a range of facilities management and maintenance services for organizations in the public and private sectors. Further, the company undertakes regeneration projects through partnership with the Homes and Com munities Agency. Galliford Try plc is based in Uxbridge, the United Kingdom.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Baltia Air Lines Inc (BLTA)

Baltia Air Lines, Inc. (Baltia) focuses on providing scheduled air transportation from the United States to Russia and former Soviet Union countries. As of December 31, 2010, the Company�� principal activities included raising capital, obtaining route authority and approval from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), training crews, and conducting market research to develop the Company's marketing strategy. Baltia operate as a Part 121 carrier, a heavy jet operator airline in the United States. As of December 31, 2010, Baltia conducted the FAA Air Carrier Certification process under Part 121. Baltia has identified the market segments in the United States and Russia market, which include Business Travelers, General Tourism, Ethnic Travelers, Special Interest Groups, Professional Exchanges, and Government and Diplomatic Travel.

Baltia has two registered trademarks, BALTIA and VOYAGER CLASS, and five trademarks are subject to registration. Baltia focuses on providing customer service and reservations centers in New York and in St. Petersburg, to list Baltia's schedules and tariffs in the Official Airline Guide, and provide worldwide access to reservations on Baltia's flights through a major Computer Reservations and Ticketing System (CRS). With the Boeing 747 true wide-body aircraft Baltia focuses on providing cargo service from JFK to St. Petersburg, offering containers, pallets, and block space arrangements. Baltia has passenger service and ground service arrangements at JFK and at Pulkovo II Airport in St. Petersburg.

The Company competes with Finnair, Lufthansa, SAS, KLM, British Airways, Air France, Austrian Airlines and Swissair.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Marshalls(MSLH.L)

Marshalls plc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and supply of landscape, driveway, and garden products for use in construction, home improvement, and landscape projects to domestic, public sector, and commercial end markets primarily in the United Kingdom. The company provides various consumer landscape products, such as paving and walling products for use in domestic driveways, patios, greenhouses, and garages to home improvement and home building markets. It also offers a range of natural stone, concrete, and fabricated products, including paving, kerbs, edging, surface drainage products, and street furniture to public sector and commercial end markets that are used to transform landscapes in retail and industrial developments in new build, and repair and maintenance projects. The company?s customers include builders? merchant groups, independent builders? merchants, garden centers, contractors, local authorities, and domestic consumers. M arshalls plc is based in Huddersfield, the United Kingdom.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Market Vectors ETF Trust Market Vectors India Small Cap Index ETF (SCIF)

NA

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ankush Shaw]

    Therefore the�Market Vectors India Small Cap ETF� (NYSEMKT: SCIF  ) , with an asset base of $90.39 million, could be a good option for investor. The ETF has a large allocation toward banks and the financial sector (20%), which is an added advantage, as the Indian financial sector would be the biggest beneficiary of the latest policies.

  • [By Jon C. Ogg]

    Market Vectors India Small-Cap ETF (NYSEMKT: SCIF) is down 3.5% and hit a new 52-week low of $23.71 and its 52-week high was $46.60. This is now effectively down by 50%, and that is without any extreme leverage.

  • [By Jon C. Ogg]

    The small-cap ETF for India is the Market Vectors India Small-Cap ETF (NYSEMKT: SCIF), and its gain is only 0.5% to $24.48, against a 52-week range of $22.25 to $46.60. The recovery here is only almost 9% when it is still trading at about half the price of its 52-week high.

  • [By Jon C. Ogg]

    Market Vectors India Small-Cap ETF (NYSEMKT: SCIF) is down almost 3% at $22.38, and the new low was put in today, with its 52-week range now being $22.25 to $46.60. This one is now down over half from its high and without any extreme leverage other than holding smaller stocks.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Chicago Rivet & Machine Co.(CVR)

Chicago Rivet & Machine Co. operates in the fastener industry in North America. It operates in two segments, Fasteners and Assembly Equipment. The Fasteners segment involves in the manufacture and sale of rivets, cold-formed fasteners and parts, and screw machine products. The Assembly Equipment segment engages in the manufacture of automatic rivet setting machines, automatic assembly equipment, and parts and tools. The company primarily sells its products to manufactures of automobiles and automotive components. Chicago Rivet & Machine Co. was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois.

Best US Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Visa Inc.(V)

Visa Inc., a payments technology company, engages in the operation of retail electronic payments network worldwide. It facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company owns and operates VisaNet, a global processing platform that provides transaction processing services. It also offers a range of payments platforms, which enable credit, charge, deferred debit, debit, and prepaid payments, as well as cash access for consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company provides its payment platforms under the Visa, Visa Electron, PLUS, and Interlink brand names. In addition, it offers value-added services, including risk management, issuer processing, loyalty, dispute management, value-added information, and CyberSource-branded services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Mike Deane]

    On Wednesday, Visa (V) announced that it will be raising its quarterly dividend from 33 cents to 40 cents per share.

    Visa’s 21.2% dividend hike will bring the company’s annualized payout to $1.40. The dividend will be payable on December 3 to all shareholders on record as of November 15. The ex-dividend date is Novembers 13.

    Visa’s shares down $1.09, or 0.55%, at Wednesday’s market close, and were sinking lower in after-hours trading. The company’s stock is up 28.7% YTD.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    After five days of losses, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6% to 15,928.56, while the S&P 500�rose 0.6% t0 1,792.50, ending its three-day losing streak. The Dow got a boost from Pfizer (PFE), Visa (V) and General Electric (GE), while the S&P 500′s biggest winners included homebuilder DR Horton (DHI) and T. Rowe Price (TROW).

  • [By Chris Hill]

    Shares of Visa (NYSE: V  ) rose to an all-time high on Thursday after the company reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Should investors buy Visa, or is MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) the better bet? In this installment of MarketFoolery, our analysts discuss Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and the future of the payments industry.

  • [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

    Alamy Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From an underwhelming iPhone event to Pandora's new CEO, here's a rundown of the week's best and worst moves in the business world. Apple (AAPL) -- Loser Shares of the consumer tech giant had rallied heading into Tuesday's iPhone event, but the love didn't last. The stock began to sell off while Apple was still presenting its updated smartphones. There were no smartwatches, no high-def smart TVs, and no magical unicorns offered up at the presentation. The market was also unimpressed to find that the cheaper iPhone that everyone was hoping would make inroads into Android's 80 percent global market share wound up being just $100 cheaper than the new iPhone 5s. Apple only updates its iPhones annually, so it was also a letdown to see the company once again fail to produce phones with screens larger than four inches. Yes, Apple is spicing up the shell colors across both new iPhone lines, but the actual screens are too small compared to the larger Android devices that many consumers are choosing these days. Pandora (P) -- Winner The leading music streaming service had been searching for a new CEO for months, and it finally found one. Brian McAndrews -- who at one time ran digital marketing powerhouse aQuantive before selling it to Microsoft (MSFT) in a $6 billion deal -- will take control of the leading media platform that serves up 1.35 billion hours a month to its more than 72 million active listeners. It's a smart hire. Pandora didn't need a big terrestrial radio guru. Pandora isn't about content programming. It already has the technology in place that serves up timely music recommendations and adapts to a listeners preferences. Pandora's major challenge remains to monetize its growing airplay, and that's where McAndrews is the perfect fit for a fast-growing company that's just starting to impress marketers. The Dow -- Loser The Dow Jones Industr

Monday, February 10, 2014

Ariad Pharmaceuticals Has a "Calm Before the Storm" Thing Going On (ARIA)

If you're frustrated by Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA), you're probably not the only one. The stock's been maddening to trade since October, stopping in its tracks the minute a trend just seems to start, and then starting a trend out of nowhere (both up and down). Yet, there's a good case to be made just to buy ARIA and stick with it, and ride out the hot and cold phases as they materialize. Indeed, if history repeats itself, now may be a great time to wade in.

For those not familiar with it, as the name would imply, Ariad Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical name. Specifically, ARIA is the biotech company that makes Iclusig - the cancer drug that was taken off the shelves and saw its trials halted in October when it was feared it may cause blood clots. The stock tanked on the news, of course, falling more than 80% over the span of a couple of weeks ... most of it in one day.

As yours truly noted back on December 19th, however, sometimes the market overreacts, and in that overreaction lies opportunity. More directly, on December 19th, yours truly made his first of a few suggestions that Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was a buy-worthy stock.

Although it's continued to vex traders with its up and down action, when one takes a step back to look at the bigger picture, they find ARIA has actually gained 42%. It's just not taken a direct route to its current higher price of $7.90. It's getting there though, slowly but surely.

Fast forward to today. At first glance, the chart of Ariad Pharmaceuticals doesn't necessarily look all that compelling. The longer you look at ARIA though, the more a few things become clear: (1) The lows are getting higher, (2) the highs are getting higher. (3), and the really big 'up' days are unfurling on higher volume. Put it all together, and what you have is a stock worth taking a shot on.

But ARIA looks dead in the water right now? That's kind of the point. It looked dead in the water in mid-December, and shot up in late December. It looked dead in the water in mid-January, and shot up in late January. The early February lull doesn't look compelling on the surface, but if Ariad Pharmaceuticals simply continues to act the way it's been acting, it's going to surge within the next few days. In fact, with just a little more strength today - and a subsequent close above the ceiling at $7.85 - that could light the fuse.... again.

Top Communications Equipment Stocks To Buy Right Now

Bottom line? Time to take a swing.

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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Stocks stabilize; now it̢۪s up to Yellen, the consumer

Getty Images

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Stocks ended a big volume week with gains and a dose of stability. The next week's rush of consumer news, plus testimony from Janet Yellen and earnings from Cisco Systems Inc., will help determine whether that recovery is for real.

After a tough January, the worst month in over a year, stocks spent the first week of February in see-saw trade. Ultimately the bulls won out, and by Friday, some strategists were saying the correction was behind us.

/quotes/zigman/627449/realtime DJIA 15,794.08, +165.55, +1.06% Dow average over 5 days

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)  snapped a two-week losing streak to finish up 0.6%. Along the way, it posted three days of triple-digit moves, including Monday's 326-point loss. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) broke a three-week losing streak, finishing the week up 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)  answered two weeks of losses by closing the week up 0.5%.

Volume was tremendous, at least by recent weak standards. For NYSE-listed stocks, average daily volume of 4 billion resulted in the largest average weekly volume since May 2012. For Nasdaq-listed stocks, it was the biggest volume week since October 2011.

Positive sentiment—or simply bargain-hunting—won the day. Investors appeared to look on the brighter side of the Friday jobs report, focusing on the slight decline in the unemployment rate and higher labor force participation rate rather than the top-line jobs number, causing some analysts to maintain the recent correction in stock prices has run its course. But as of Friday evening, most MarketWatch readers participating in a poll said the late-week comeback was a dead-cat bounce.

Even with last week's gains, the Dow is down 4.7% since the beginning of the year, with the S&P 500 off 2.8%, and the Nasdaq is down 1.2%. Declines off the recent highs don't meet a common definition of a correction, that is, a 10% fall from a near-by peak. But they're the kind of healthy pause many like to see.

Click to Play Jaffe: Keep your cool, investors

Top 10 Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2015

From the turmoil in emerging markets to worries about Fed tapering, the more confusing the market seems to get, the more investors need to develop their voice of reason. Marketwatch's Chuck Jaffe joins MoneyBeat. Photo: Getty Images.

"Humans tend to get hung up on round numbers; hence the call for a 10% correct," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG. "But in reality, 10% corrections are somewhat infrequent, whereas corrections of 5% to 8% are quite normal."

While the recent emerging-markets situation may have spooked stocks into an adjustment, earnings season has gone pretty well considering the amount of fretting about company fundamentals from investors.

Both earnings growth and revenue improved in the past week, according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet. The blended earnings growth rate rose to 8.1% from the 7.8% rate in the previous week, up from the projected rate of 6.3% at the start of the year. The improvement came from consumer discretionary companies and the insurance industry last week. Similarly, the blended revenue growth rate is at 0.8%, whereas expectations at the start of the year were growth of 0.3%, with technology and health-care firms leading growth, according to FactSet data.

If earnings as a whole were disappointing this season, there would have done much more damage. Greenhaus characterized the recent pullback in stocks as a "normal correction" unless some large negative catalyst sparks another selloff.

What's also healthy about the recent pullback is that it's reconditioning investors to get used to such adjustments following 2013's 30% market gain, said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial.

What will follow is an adjustment period, but don't expect stocks to return to their previous highs anytime soon. Recovery will be slow, McMillan said, noting it will likely be "weeks to months" before we see a return to previous highs.

For the week ending Feb. 5, investors pulled a record weekly amount out of U.S. stock funds with about 95% coming out of exchange-traded funds, according to Citi Research.

It's those outflows that indicate a bottoming in the market correction from January highs, according to a recent note from Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Will Capstone Turbine Corporation Turn a Profit This Quarter?

Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST  ) will release its quarterly report on Monday, and investors have been increasingly optimistic about the microturbine maker's immediate prospects. Yet, even though the company's stock rose recently to its best levels in almost three years, Capstone still has to demonstrate that its niche offerings give it a viable market that is too insignificant for larger rivals General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) to go after.

Long-time Capstone Turbine shareholders have suffered more than their fair share of disappointments, as the stock has never come close to recovering from its 99% plunge between early 2000 and 2002. Lately, though, Capstone has managed to attract substantial orders that have led to dramatic revenue gains, with sales having quadrupled in the past five years. The question for Capstone, though, is whether it can start seeing enough of those revenues fall to the bottom line for the company to start posting profits. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Capstone Turbine during the past quarter, and what we're likely to see in its report.


Source: Capstone Turbine.

Stats on Capstone Turbine

Analyst EPS Estimate

($0.01)

Year-Ago EPS

($0.01)

Revenue Estimate

$40.33 million

Change From Year-Ago Revenue

21%

Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters

1

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Can Capstone earnings make it to breakeven this quarter?
In recent months, analysts have held their views on Capstone earnings steady, with expectations of a $0.05-per-share loss for the full fiscal 2014 and a $0.01-per-share profit in 2015. The stock has done well, jumping 24% since early November.

Capstone's most recent quarterly report showed just how much progress the microturbine maker has made recently. Revenue soared 17% from the year-ago quarter and by an even more substantial 45% sequentially compared to the previous quarter. Capstone's losses narrowed to just $0.01 per share. With a 6% jump in backlogs to almost $150 million, Capstone is in much better shape from a sales standpoint than at any other point in its history.

The biggest appeal of Capstone's systems is that they can provide power even in remote locations. For instance, in December, the company said it had sold several microturbines to customers on offshore oil and gas platforms, demonstrating the utility of having readily available electricity sources far from any established grid-based power. Those orders only add to Capstone's penetration of the energy industry, with many companies using Capstone products to get power to remote shale plays off the grid. Recent international orders from Russia and elsewhere also represent a small part of the global potential Capstone has.

Yet, Capstone has a couple of threats. One is that if microturbine solutions become popular enough, General Electric and Caterpillar might well start modifying their larger-scale high-efficiency power-generation offerings toward the smaller-customer market. The other could come from the solar industry. With the rise in residential and small-commercial solar installations thanks to the success of SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY  ) and SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR  ) in providing easy financing, demand for Capstone's microturbines could come under pressure as solar costs continue to decline.

In the Capstone earnings report, watch to see whether the company is able to keep its gross margins moving higher. With enough sales, Capstone could well reach profitability in the next year, marking an important milestone as it tries to overcome more than a decade of disappointment for loyal long-term shareholders.

Can Capstone keep profiting from the energy boom?
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Click here to add Capstone Turbine to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

2 Big Problems for Sony Spotted in the "Amazing Spider-Man 2" Trailer

Have you seen the new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2? I have, and as both a fan and as an investor, I'm nervous. I'll recount why in a moment. First, click the video to see more of what Sony (NYSE: SNE  ) has planned for Marvel's wall crawler:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in theaters on May 2, 2014. Sources: Sony, YouTube.

Where is filmmaker Marc Webb going with this story? Here's what Sony says on the movie's synopsis page:

It's great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there's no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: OsCorp.

Interesting. So perpetually troubled teen Parker, who already carries the burden of caring for a girlfriend and his Aunt May, now also has to bear the burden of keeping all of Manhattan safe while solving the mystery of what happened to his parents? Much as I hope the setup works, I can already see two problems:

1. At least three villains, and counting. We already know that Jamie Foxx assumes the role of Electro in ASM2 while Paul Giamatti plays the Rhino. But with Harry Osborn in the mix -- and Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn -- an appearance from either the Green Goblin or Hobgoblin seems likely. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may suffer from the same sort of crowded script that made Spider-Man 3 the worst of Sam Raimi's run on the character.

2. A complicated plot needs room to breathe. The trailer and Sony's description also suggest that Webb spends ample time working through the mystery of what happened to Peter's parents. A good idea, I think, but one that needs screen time to fully explore. A crowded script would make that difficult under the best of circumstances.

So is it time to panic? No, but I think we can fairly say that Sony needs The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to be a win when Columbia Pictures and Screen Gems have failed to put up good numbers recently. In fact, U.S. grosses are down nearly 39% year-to-date through Dec. 5, Box Office Mojo reports. Sony's motion pictures and TV productions accounted for about 21% of pre-tax operating profit in the fiscal year ended in March.

In simple terms: Spidey is a meaningful contributor to Sony's bottom line. Or at least he has been up to this point. Unfortunately, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and its conflated story may change that.

Now it's your turn to weigh in. What do you expect from Sony's next Spider-Man film? Do you plan to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Leave a comment below to let us know what you think.

Sony has already commissioned four films starring Spider-Man. Source: Sony/Columbia Pictures.

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Monday, February 3, 2014

What Bizarro Bogle's world might look like

john bogle, james grant, hedge funds, index funds, bizzaro Illustration by Julia Johns.

In the Superman mythos, there's a villain named Bizarro Superman that possess all of the same powers as Superman, but uses them for evil instead of good.

At a luncheon in New York Thursday honoring John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group Inc. and investing Superman, James Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, imagined what the world would look like if a Bizarro Bogle took the place of the real Mr. Bogle.

Imagine a child growing up in the Great Depression who forgets his lunch money on the dinner table one day and is scolded by his mother for it. “Don't leave money on the table!” she says. Those words would stick with Bizarro Bogle for the rest of his life, in Mr. Grant's alternate universe.

With that thought in mind, Bizarro Bogle is inspired to write his senior thesis on hedge funds instead mutual funds. “Why settle for 1% when I could get 2 and 20?” Bizarro Bogle muses. And he doesn't stop there. Instead of a single hedge fund structure, why not layer on the fees by using funds of funds?

Fees are all that matter in Bizarro Bogle's world and it leads to him becoming ridiculously rich. Meanwhile, index funds, one of the few financial innovations to truly benefit ordinary investors, are left undiscovered.

Luckily for the countless investors who have benefited from index funds, which Mr. Bogle created in 1976, Mr. Grant's imagination is not reality.

It's hard to say just how tremendous an impact Mr. Bogle has had on ordinary investors.

“We know more about the mating life of the whooping crane than we do about the quantitative impact passive investing has had over the last 30 years,” said Knut Rostad, president and founder of The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.

Only one person's even tried, Mr. Rostad said, noting that in a study, Kenneth French estimated that index investors saved about $1 billion in fees from 1977 to 2006. But critics of that study complained it was too conservative an estimate, Mr. Rostad said.

In truth, the power of Mr. Bogle's legacy exceeds any dollar amount.

“The financial industry is short on heroes,” said Alan Blinder, Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. “But John Bogle is one of the few.”

Saturday, February 1, 2014

State Dept. Assessment Of Keystone Project Expected To Anger Pipeline's Opponents

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Related TRP TransCanada Announces Start of Crude Oil Deliveries on Gulf Coast Project TransCanada to Sell Cancarb to Tokai Carbon for $190M

The U.S. State Department released its expected environmental impact statement of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project on Friday afternoon – and said the project is unlikely to alter greenhouse gas emissions or affect America's hunger for cheap oil.

"Approval or denial of any one crude oil transport project, including the proposed (Keystone) Project," the report noted, "is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refineries in the United States based on expected oil prices, oil-sands supply costs, transport costs, and supply-demand scenarios."

President Barack Obama is expected to make a final decision on the project in about 90 days. A senior State Department official, who asked not to be identified, told The Washington Post the study "is only one factor that comes into the consideration" of whether the Obama Administration will give energy giant TransCanada (NYSE: TRP), a final go-ahead on the project.

The pipeline, as proposed by TransCanada, would run nearly 1,200 miles, delivering 830,000 barrels of oil daily from tar sand deposits in Western Canada to oil refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Related: Is China Mobile Planning to Buy a Stake in Vodafone?

TransCanada already has a part of the Keystone pipeline operating, delivering close to 600,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Alberta to refining markets in the American Midwest.

For its part TransCanada has said the $5.3 billion pipeline would require "9,000 skilled American workers" for its construction, along with an estimated 7,000 U.S. jobs for the actual manufacturing of the pipeline, as well as its values, pumps and control devices.

But in an interview last year with The New York Times, President Obama disputed those figures.

"The most realistic estimates are this might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline -- which might take a year or two -- and then after that we're talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 jobs in a economy of 150 million working people," he said.

Others oppose the pipeline out of concerns oil spills and other pollution could affect both people and wildlife in America's heartland. And there is also the economic argument -- that the Keystone XL project won't contribute to America's drive towards energy independence.

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer describes Keystone as a "sucker's deal.

"The pipeline project," Steyer wrote in a recent Huffington Post column. "will threaten our land and livelihoods to pump Canadian tar sands' heavy crude through America and out to foreign countries, like China."

And the Chinese goverment he says, has invested over $30 billion in Canadian tar sands development, while owning controlling stakes in several Canadian oil sands projects.

Posted-In: Alberta Barack Obama China energy environment environmental issues Keystone XL oil and petroleum oil sands tar sands Tom SteyerNews Commodities Travel Economics Markets Tech Media General Press Releases Best of Benzinga

(c) 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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