iPhone 5S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4: As Good as Gold in Brazil

If you live in Brazil and want to purchase the latest Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 5S, you'll pay the equivalent of $1,585 for the 16 GByte model that costs about $200 (with a contract) in the U.S. The new PlayStation 4 from Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) costs about $400 in the U.S. and a whopping $1,850 in Brazil. And the Xbox One from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) that was launched Friday and costs around $500 in the U.S. will sell for $1,016 in Brazil.

The Motorola division of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) launched its low-cost Moto G model in Brazil earlier in November and the base 8 Gbyte unlocked version is expected to cost the equivalent of $280 ($179 in the U.S. when it becomes available next year).

Part of the problem, at least for the iPhone, is that Apple does not have a contract with any Brazilian carrier, so there are no subsidized phone prices. An iPhone 5S that costs about $199 to manufacture (not including software and marketing costs) and sells unlocked in the U.S. for $649 should probably not cost more than twice what it does in Brazil. Ah, but then, there are Brazilian taxes.

According to a Sony spokesperson, the base price for a PlayStation 4 on arrival in Brazil is $468. Taxes of one sort or another add more than $1,100 and the rest is retailer profit. Some 63% of the cost of a PlayStation 4 in Brazil goes to pay a variety of taxes.

The onerous taxes are intended to encourage companies to bring manufacturing operations to the world's fifth most populous country where they will support jobs and the local economy.

Apple is looking to circumvent the whole tax issue by building a plant in Brazil with its Taiwan-based manufacturing partner Foxconn. Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have also announced plans to build plants in Brazil. Under Brazilian law products manufactured in Brazil do not pay the hefty taxes for imported finished goods.

Brazil's economy, like other emerging economies over the past few years, has been booming, but inflation is beginning to take a toll on the country's spending power. Unemployment is rising as domestic demand falters, and foreign investment plans could be slowed or abandoned altogether.

J.C. Penney: Not Dead Yet, cont.

JC Penney (JCP) has surged today, despite earnings that were pretty terrible.

Deutsche Bank’s Paul Trussell and Matt Siler explain why investors like JC Penney’s results:

Relative to expectations, JCP reported solid 3Q earnings, in our view. With SSS of -4.8% already known, we see 4 positives and 1 negative in today's print: (1) 3Q GPM was down 300 bps to 29.5%, above our 29.0% estimate and buy-side expectations of 27%-29%; (2) guidance for 4Q GPM is expected to improve sequentially and YOY (a positive vs. our estimate of 27.5% and Street at 29.6% GPM); (3) core SG&A dollars fell 7.5% YOY, more than the modest 1% reduction we forecasted; and (4) the company paid $200 million down on its revolver, suggesting it is comfortable with its liquidity position. One key item of focus for the Bears will be that inventory is up 11.5% YOY and the guidance is for inventory to be up 22% at year-end – presenting future GPM risk.

Sterne Agee’s Charles Grom and team believe time will tell for JC Penney:

The bull vs. bear debate on JC Penney continues. On the one hand, the company has shored up NT liquidity and is returning to its historical private brands/basic focus. On the other hand, while comp trends have improved directionally, we've been surprised that the "slope" of the improvement has not been greater, particularly considering the compares from LY. We remain sidelined – prefer Macy's (M) in the dept. store arena.

Shares of JC Penney have gained 7.6% to $9.38 at 3:40 p.m., while Macy’s has risen 1% to $50.92.

Stocks Hitting 52-Week Lows

Point.360 (NASDAQ: PTSX) shares reached a new 52-week low of $0.528. Point.360's trailing-twelve-month ROE is -12.69%.

QC Holdings (NASDAQ: QCCO) shares tumbled 3.68% to reach a new 52-week low of $1.83. QC Holdings shares have dropped 42.60% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 31.67% in the same period.

Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AGIO) shares touched a new 52-week low of $18.83. Agios Pharmaceuticals' trailing-twelve-month profit margin is -102.87%.

UBIC (NASDAQ: UBIC) shares fell 6.36% to touch a new 52-week low of $5.30. UBIC's trailing-twelve-month revenue is $58.74 million.

Posted-In: 52-Week LowsNews Movers & Shakers Intraday Update Markets

(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Lay’s to roll out chocolate-covered potato chip

The chocolate-covered potato chip is going mainstream.

Lay's, the nation's largest salty snack maker, on Friday will announce plans to roll out next week Lay's Wavy Potato Chips Dipped in Milk Chocolate.

For Lay's, it's all about growing beyond the constraints of the salty snack. There are, after all, growing consumer demands for flavor mash-ups. And others want to snack healthier. Even then, snack foods are a $31 billion market — and growing, reports IBISWorld, the market research specialist.

At $3.49 for a 5-ounce bag, the Lay's Wavy dipped in chocolate is just the latest in a flood of sweet and salty products that have caught the national taste bud in the past few years, from ice-cream stuffed with pretzels to pretzels coated with chocolate. The chocolate-covered chip also ties in with a flood of seasonal, limited-time-only snacks that increasingly hit the market between Halloween and New Years. And both trends tie-in to a third even larger trend: the overall increase in snacking. Some 43% of consumers now snack three to four times daily vs. 24% in 2009, according to Symphony IRI, the research specialist.

"Flavors are getting more sophisticated and complex," says Tom Vierhile, innovation insights director at DataMonitor, the consumer products research firm. "We are seeing more products that may pair traditional flavor opposites" like sweet and salty, he says.

Because the move into sweet snacks is still unusual for a salty snack giant like Lay's, the roll-out will be limited on two counts. The chocolate-dipped chips will only be sold at Target stores. At the same time, the initial test is for limited-time-only distribution to stretch through the holidays. But if the chip is a major hit, it could ultimately become permanent, says Ram Krishnan, vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay.

"When you try something drastically different, you have to walk before you can run," says Krishnan. "We wanted to test our way through this before we go big."

Plenty of sma! ller rivals already have chocolate-dipped chips on the market. But -- except for its Rold Gold pretzels dipped in chocolate -- mixing chocolate and salty snacks is new territory for Lay's. If consumers buy it, says Krishnan, "it gives us latitude to offer other flavor combinations that we've never done." Among them, he says, would be dark chocolate, white chocolate and even peppermint.

The combo of sweet and salty snacks has recently become as American as, well, snacking. Over the past year, or so, the market exploded with Kettle Maple Bacon Potato Chips, Planter's Sweet & Salty Snack Mix, ConAgra's Crunch 'n Munch and even Sweet 'n Salty Bugles.

For Lay's, the growing consumer cry for a combo of sweet and salty "opens a world of possibilities that we haven't explored before," says Krishnan.

And if weird flavor combos are what you're looking for, here's a recent one from Nabisco that may taste just a wee bit stale the day after Halloween: Candy Corn Oreos.

.

Japan stocks slip on rising yen, earnings caution

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- With the yen holding on to its gains and investors cautious as earnings season kicks off, Japanese stocks slid lower Friday after closing the previous day with some late-session gains. The Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NIK) fell 0.9% to 14,358.28, with the Topix down 0.8%, as the dollar bought 97.36 yen, little changed from 24 hours earlier. The relatively strong yen weighed on some names with high global exposure, as Sharp Corp. (JP:6753) (SHCAF) lost 1%, Pioneer Corp. (JP:6773) (PNCOF) dropped 1.6%, and Bridgestone Corp. (JP:5108) (BRDCF) fell 1.2%. An outlook cut from Canon Inc. (JP:7751) (CAJ) helped send its shares down 1%, while rival Nikon Corp. (JP:7731) (NINOF) lost 1.8%, though Olympus Corp. (JP:7733) (OCPNF) gained 1%. Telecoms were weak, with Softbank Corp. (JP:9984) (SFTBF) falling 2.5%, KDDI Corp. (JP:9433) (KDDIF) down 1.7%, and NTT DoCoMo Inc. (JP:9437) (NTDMF) off 1.1% as a Nikkei business daily report said it would post a mild rise in operating profit for the previous quarter. Among the top gainers, Hitachi Construction Macheriny Co. (JP:6305) (HTCMF) rallied 3.4% on a separate Nikkei report that the company will post a first-half operating profit well above the consensus estimate, while Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (JP:7211) (MMTOF) climbed 4.2% after hiking its fiscal-year profit outlook by 40%. The market appeared to show little reaction to consumer inflation data out just ahead of the open, which printed in line with expectations.

Read the full story:
Asian shares mostly lower; techs struggle in Seoul

U.S. Steel Beats Q4 Earnings - Analyst Blog

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) recorded adjusted net income of $38 million or 27 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2013 versus net loss of $59 million or 41 cents per share posted a year ago. Adjusted income excludes an after-tax non-cash restructuring and other charges of $302 million, or $2.09 per share and a tax benefit of $142 million, or 98 cents per share. The results exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 26 cents.

After including one-time items, net loss for the reported quarter was $122 million or 84 cents per share compared with net loss of $50 million or 35 cents per share recorded in the year-ago quarter.

For full-year 2013, net loss was $2,064 million or $14.27 per share compared with net loss of $124 million or 86 cents per share. The net loss in 2013 include a favorable tax-related item as well as goodwill impairment and restructuring charges.

Revenues for the fourth quarter fell roughly 4.9% year over year to $4,269 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,331 million. For the full year, revenues declined 9.9% to $17,424 million.

Segment Highlights

U.S. Steel's Flat-rolled segment reported a profit of $87 million in the fourth quarter compared with a profit of $11 million in the year-ago quarter and $82 million in the third quarter of 2013. The sequential upside was due to increased average spot and market based contract prices. Average realized price of $752 per net ton was however at par with the third quarter due to higher percentage of hot rolled shipments.

The U.S. Steel Europe (USSE) segment recorded a profit of $12 million in the quarter, up from last year's profit of $7 million and a loss of $32 million in third-quarter 2013. The segment posted profit in the quarter due to higher shipments and reduced facility repairs and maintenance costs as a blast furnace outage was completed in the previous quarter. Average realized price of $692 per net ton declined 3.6% year over year and 3.1% sequentially.
 
U.S. Steel's Tubular segment profit was flat year over year but decreased 34.7% sequentially to $32 million. The sequential decline was mainly due to lower shipments and average realized prices as end users lowered drilling activity to operate within their 2013 capital budgets. Average realized price declined 7.1% year over year and 2.2% sequentially to $1,509 per net ton.

Profit for the Other Businesses segment rose 66.7% year over year and 7.1% sequentially to $15 million.

Financial Condition
 
U.S. Steel had cash and cash equivalents of $604 million as of Dec 31, 2013, up 6% from $570 million as of Dec 31, 2012. Long-term debt was $3,616 million as of Dec 31, 2013, down 8.1% from $3,936 million as of Dec 31, 2012.

Outlook

Moving ahead, results from the Flat-rolled segment are expected to increase in the first quarter of 2014 on the back of higher average realized prices and shipments and lower repairs and maintenance costs. The company also expects to have reduced idled facility costs after the shut down of the iron and steelmaking facilities at Hamilton Works.  U.S. Steel forecasts raw materials costs, primarily for purchased scrap, and energy costs to increase.

U.S. Steel expects the European segment to post first-quarter results that are comparable to the fourth quarter. Average realized prices are expected to increase compared with the fourth quarter but this is expected to be offset by an increase in raw materials costs, primarily iron ore, and other operating costs.

Results from the Tubular segment are expected to decrease as gains from lower operating costs and increased shipments will be more than offset by lower average realized prices and a rise in substrate costs. Shipments are expected to increase as drilling activity begins to improve.
U.S. Steel currently carries a short-term Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Other players in the steel industry worth considering are Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (NYSE: SID), ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) and AK Steel holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS). While Companhia Siderurgica Nacional and ArcelorMittal carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), AK Steel has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

 AK STEEL HLDG (NYSE: AKS): Free Stock Analysis Report ARCELOR MITTAL (NYSE: MT): Free Stock Analysis Report CIA SIDERUR-ADR (NYSE: SID): Free Stock Analysis Report UTD STATES STL (NYSE: X): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

The following article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

Posted-In: Earnings News Markets

Originally posted here...

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3 Big Stocks Close To New 52-Week Highs With Still Single Digit P/E's

The markets are at all time highs and the valuations are getting increasingly more expensive, as measured by earnings multiples. Not all stocks are highly priced. There are still quite a few opportunities with a single P/E multiple.

Today I would like to show you those stocks that are close to new 52-Week-Highs and having a single earnings multiple at the same time. In order to reduce the results, I observed only companies with a market capitalization over $10 billion.

Ten stocks fulfilled my criteria of a very low forward P/E and a stock price up to 3% below new highs. All ten have a current buy or better rating.

Here are the biggest results:

BP (BP ) has a market capitalization of $136.37 billion. The company employs 85,700 people, generates revenue of $388.285 billion and has a net income of $11.816 billion. BP's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $39.891 billion. The EBITDA margin is 10.27 percent (the operating margin is 5.08 percent and the net profit margin 3.04 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 16.26 percent of BP's assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 41.21 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 10.07 percent was realized by BP. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $8.07. Last fiscal year, BP paid $1.98 in the form of dividends to shareholders. Forward P/E: 8.16.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 5.37, the P/S ratio is 0.35 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.17. The dividend yield amounts to 4.98 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 1.48.

Eni (E) has a market capitalization of $87.84 billion. The company employs 77,838 people, generates revenue of $176.203 billion and has a net income of $6.761 billion. Eni's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $39.104 billion. The EBITDA margin is 22.19 percent (the operating ma! rgin is 11.67 percent and the net profit margin 3.84 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 17.52 percent of Eni's assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 41.32 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 7.32 percent was realized by Eni. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $1.75. Last fiscal year, Eni paid $2.96 in the form of dividends to shareholders. Forward P/E: 9.97.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 27.65, the P/S ratio is 0.50 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.09. The dividend yield amounts to 5.98 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 1.15.

Ford Motor (F) has a market capitalization of $69.06 billion. The company employs 171,000 people, generates revenue of $134.252 billion and has a net income of $5.664 billion. Ford Motor's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $13.338 billion. The EBITDA margin is 9.94 percent (the operating margin is 4.68 percent and the net profit margin 4.22 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 55.13 percent of Ford Motor's assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 658.79 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 36.58 percent was realized by Ford Motor. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $1.52. Last fiscal year, Ford Motor paid $0.20 in the form of dividends to shareholders. Forward P/E: 9.93.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 11.54, the P/S ratio is 0.51 and the P/B ratio is finally 4.34. The dividend yield amounts to 2.28 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 2.01.

Take a closer look at the full list of cheap large cap stocks close to New 52-Week Highs. The average P/E ratio amounts to 13.02 and forward P/E ratio is 9.18. The dividend yield has a value of 3.47 percent. Price to book ratio is 1.33 and price to sales ratio 0.6! 2. The op! erating margin amounts to 14.36 percent and the beta ratio is 1.62. Stocks from the list have an average debt to equity ratio of 1.59.

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5 Stocks With Awful Operating Margin Growth — CTEL TWGP TSRA NYNY SCHN

Popular Posts: 4 Pharmaceutical Stocks to Buy Now4 Biotechnology Stocks to Sell Now8 Oil and Gas Stocks to Buy Now Recent Posts: 5 Stocks With Awful Operating Margin Growth — CTEL TWGP TSRA NYNY SCHN 5 Stocks With Awful Sales Growth — HTS MITT MNKD UEC IDIX 10 Metals and Mining Stocks to Sell Now View All Posts

This week, these five stocks have the worst ratings in Operating Margin Growth, one of the eight Fundamental Categories on Portfolio Grader.

City Telecom (H.K.) Ltd. () provides fixed telecommunications networks and international telecommunications services for residential and corporate customers. CTEL also gets F’s in Earnings Growth and Sales Growth. .

Tower Group International Ltd. () is a provider of property and casualty insurance products and services. TWGP also gets F’s in Earnings Momentum, Equity, Cash Flow and Sales Growth. The price of TWGP is down 3.7% since the first of the year. This is worse than the Nasdaq, which has remained flat. .

Tessera Technologies, Inc. () invests in, licenses and delivers miniaturization technologies for electronic devices. TSRA gets F’s in Earnings Growth, Earnings Momentum, Analyst Earnings Revisions, Equity, Cash Flow and Sales Growth as well. Since January 1, TSRA has fallen 4%. .

Empire Resorts, Inc. () is a gaming and resort management company. NYNY gets F’s in Earnings Growth and Equity as well. .

Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. Class A () is a recycler of ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal, a recycler of used and salvaged vehicles and a manufacturer of finished steel products. SCHN gets F’s in Earnings Momentum, Analyst Earnings Revisions and Cash Flow as well. Shares of the stock have declined 5.4% since January 1. .

Louis Navellier’s proprietary Portfolio Grader stock ranking system assesses roughly 5,000 companies every week based on a number of fundamental and quantitative measures. Stocks are given a letter grade based on their results — with A being “strong buy,” and F being “strong sell.” Explore the tool here.

Contrary Trio to Bet Against Shorts

These outperformers have seen a significant spike in short interest; in light of their technical prowess, they could end up benefiting from this increase in skepticism, making them fodder for potential bullish trades, suggests Terri Stridsberg of Schaeffer Investment Research.

Southwest Airlines (LUV) has been an outperformer on the charts, gaining nearly 43% year-to-date, and about 62.5% on a year-over-year basis.

What's more, the stock tagged a new multi-year high of $14.83 yesterday. Meanwhile, the equity's late August/early September pullback was contained by its 40-week moving average, which has acted primarily as a floor since late May.

However, there is still plenty of skepticism levied against the passenger airline. Short interest soared by more than 94% during the past two weeks, and now represents over four days' worth of pent-up buying pressure, at LUV's average pace of trading.

Should the shares continue to trek higher, they could benefit from a wave of short-covering activity down the road.

Elsewhere, the brokerage bunch is divided toward Southwest Airlines Co., as the security maintains six strong buy endorsements, compared to four holds, and two sell or worse suggestions.

Additionally, the stock's average 12-month price target of $15.46 reflects expected upside of just 6% to LUV's current perch at $14.59.

This leaves plenty of room for a round of upgrades and/or price-target hikes, which could end up serving as tailwinds for the airline concern.

Activision Blizzard (ATVI) has enjoyed a banner 2013, boasting a year-to-date advance of more than 57% to trade at $16.70.

Furthermore, the shares have outperformed the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by roughly 11 percentage points during the past three months. Also, a look at the charts reveals that the $16.60-$16.80 area has emerged as an area of support in recent weeks.

Nevertheless, the stock continues to be pummeled by pessimists. During the latest reporting period, ATVI saw a 28.7% spike in short interest, bringing the number of shares sold short to almost 11 million.

This ample amount of available sideline cash could fuel a short-squeeze scenario, should the equity continue along its upward trajectory.

Meanwhile, data from the International Securities Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, and NASDAQ OMX PHLX shows a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.83 for Activision Blizzard, confirming puts bought to open have nearly doubled calls during the past two weeks.

In fact, this ratio ranks higher than 95% of similar readings taken over the past year, signaling speculators have been snapping up puts over calls at a near-annual-high pace. An unwinding of these bearish positions could add more fuel to ATVI's tank.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (KORS) has also been a solid performer on the technical front, climbing more than 48% so far this year—and outshining the SPX by about 15 percentage points over the most recent three month time frame—to hover at $75.76.

The security also reached a fresh record peak of $78.62 on September 19, and the subsequent pullback was cushioned by its 40-day moving average.

Even so, the clothing designer remains surrounded by naysayers. KORS saw a 24.5% jump in short interest over the past couple of weeks, and now these pessimistic positions account for a healthy 4.3% of the stock's available float.

With north of 6.4 million shares currently sold short, the security could be poised for further gains, should this group of skeptics hit the exits.

Also, Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for Michael Kors checks in at 1.02, conveying puts slightly outweigh calls among options expiring in the next three months.

This ratio registers in the 77th annual percentile, implying near-term traders are more put heavy toward the equity than usual right now.

This host of put positions—particularly at the underfoot October 72.50 and 75 strikes, which collectively hold open interest of 3,054 contracts—could end up translating into options-related support in the short term.

Subscribe to Schaeffer Investment Research here…

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Don't Miss 50% Upside Because Of Short Sellers

When short sellers start circling the wagons, they can drive a stock down and keep it down for quite some time. 

That goes even for a company that has no debt -- and has been consistently increasing shareholders' equity. 

One such company also has high margins and generates impressively high returns on invested capital. Over the past four years, this company has maintained a return on invested capital (ROIC) of 35% or higher. 

This company is Vera Bradley (NYSE: VRA), which, with a short interest of more than 50%, is one of the most shorted stocks in the market. While VRA has more than disappointed investors over the past 12 months, the market could be offering investors a great entry point for the long term.

The short interest in Vera comes as competition in the women's accessories market has been heating up. The success of Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) over the past year and a half has kept the short interest relatively high at Vera. But Kors appears to be much more of a threat to Coach (NYSE: COH) than to Vera. Rising inventory levels had also managed to catch short sellers' attention. This was a result of too many Vera products flooding the market, but a refocus on strategy should improve inventory management.  

Any sign of a turnaround over the next several quarters could well spur a short-covering rally, with the days to cover (that is, how many days it would take for all shorts to cover their position based on average trading volume) at 35. So once the market realizes that Vera is for real, then the short squeeze could be fierce.

Vera is a leading designer and retailer of accessories for women. The company is best known for its handbags, and bills itself as a lifestyle brand. Its products are in the accessible luxury category, which appeals to a larger clientele base. The company has a cultlike following. This comes as the company's products offer immense versatility. 

New designs are released frequently to keep the brand fresh and encourage customers to shop for the company's latest offerings. This allows the brand to appeal to all demographics. 

Irrespective of how the short-sellers feel, there is money to be made in Vera. The investment thesis is supported by three pillars. First, shares are extremely undervalued, and the company is incredibly cheap compared with its peers. Second, the company has a great business and a strong customer base. Third, the company has no debt. 

	Flickr/Jungle Jim's International Market
	Vera is best known for its handbags, and bills itself as a lifestyle brand. Its products are in the accessible luxury category, which appeals to a larger clientele base.

While CEO Michael Ray has done a great job in managing the company, he's not a "retail guy" -- he's more of a "finance guy" (which shows in how well run the company is financially). Ray is also the son-in-law to one of Vera's co-founders. Overall, his decision to retire as CEO is a major tailwind for the company. 

Vera needs to bring in a retail/marketing CEO to increase sales and better connect with customers. The company's products are still in favor, as can be seen in Vera's sales, which more than doubled between 2009 and this year.

The new CEO also needs to reduce the overall merchandise assortment. Even Ray has acknowledged that the company has too many patterns, too many styles and too broad a selection. The company needs to reduce the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) and improve product line management. The good news is that the company is aware of this issue and has already cut 20% of the SKUs from next spring's collection.

There is also a need for the company to expand its outlet stores, which it has the balance sheet to do. This is where the company can sell its discontinued items. Vera can then increase the exposure of its latest items -- not discontinued items -- on its website. An increase in outlet stores would help drive sales and move discontinued products. 

The company needs a sales outlet strategy that doesn't weaken the brand, but strengthens it. This is especially true with Vera, where it has found that its full-price and outlet shops cater to different clientele. The outlet stores cater to those who don't mind last year's style at a discount, and the other group favors the latest and most recent styles.

Vera already has a strong e-commerce business. In the second quarter, website traffic increased 20% compared with last year. Vera has had 45 million visitors to its website this year, and its Facebook page has 1.4 million followers. The retailer now has more than 2 million customers in its growing database.

Vera has a strong relationship with Dillard's (NYSE: DDS). The company invested in Vera Bradley fixtures for more than 100 Dillard's locations. Dillard's has 283 locations across the U.S., and the company has shown an increased willingness to support the Vera Bradley brand.

Vera is also compelling from a valuation perspective, trading below major peers. Vera trades with a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 10.5, where Coach is at 12.8 and Michael Kors is 22. On an enterprise value/EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) basis, Vera is at 6.6, compared with Coach's 8 and Kors' 19. 

Risks to Consider: The first risk is that the overall macro environment remains weak, where the accessible luxury category is consumer discretionary. The company's handbags are not necessities, and so their purchase can be delayed. That has had a significant effect on the company over the past two years.

Action to Take --> Vera is in the early innings of its long-term growth story, and investors with patience will be well-rewarded. The company has high insider ownership, and once a new CEO is appointed, a lot of uncertainty will be removed. The potential upside is to $30, which is a price-to-sales multiple of 2 on Wall Street's 2015 sales estimates, driven by a returns to positive comparable store sales and improvements in its merchandise assortment.

While the ebb and flow of apparel and accessory trends make Vera a tough stock to own forever, there are a select group of world dominating companies that investors can actually own forever. We call these "forever" stocks, because investors can literally buy, forget about and hold -- forever. To learn more about these stocks -- including some of their names and ticker symbols -- click here.

Next Banking Crisis an 'Easy Call': Mayo

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A sudden, sharp rise in interest rates will drive the next banking crisis, according to CLSA analyst Mike Mayo, who says the issue is an "easy call."

During a panel discussion after receiving the Daniel J. Forrestal III Leadership Award for Professional Ethics and Standards of Investment Practice from the CFA Institute, Mayo dismissed a question about efforts by regulators to improve mortgage underwriting standards.

"That's not the next problem. Let me interrupt. Mortgages are going to be fine," he said. "Number one on my list is going to be interest rate risk at these large institutions. We haven't had a big interest rate shock since 1994. So if I pick one risk in the next five to 10 years I have to come back to this room it's going to be interest rate risk. We should reallocate a lot of examiners from the mortgage area to the interest rate risk area. It's an easy call."

Mayo cited JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) more than $6 billion in trading losses on credit derivatives during 2012 -- many of them tied to a former trader named Bruno Iksil who became known as the "London Whale" -- as an early harbinger of the potential problems that may arise from a sharp rise in interest rates.

"I do think it was simply a canary in the coalmine: JPMorgan's whale. The way it came about is unique to JPMorgan but as far as having excess deposits which are invested and having a mismatch -- that's the canary in the coalmine. It's not even a tough call. You know we're going to have an interest rate spike at some point -- we don't know when -- and when that happens, that's when we're going to see damage," Mayo said.

Another problem area Mayo foresees is commercial lending.

"Some of your traditional banks... are making overly aggressive commercial loans right now," he says, adding the problem is something "we're hearing from all the banks."

-- Written by Dan Freed in New York.

Follow @dan_freed

Ford Targets 'Common Sense' in Robocars

Ford Motor (F) announced on Wednesday that it would start working with two U.S. universities to initiate research for driverless cars. The carmaker has teamed up with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to work out ways to overcome "technical challenges" surrounding this segment.

The Detroit automaker recently flaunted the automated version of the Ford Fusion Hybrid research car at the Washington Auto Show. This sounds really exciting, but is having connected cars on the road really possible?

Driverless Ride – Dream or Reality?

Making a driverless car is no easy job. However, there are quite a few big names involved in examining the possibility of such cars. Mark Fields, chief operating officer of Ford, considers that connected cars are going to be the next big thing in the automobile space. He believes that it is possible to have such cars on the road that could "communicate with each other" and improve navigation and safety without harming the environment.

The company has plans to develop such cars which would be self-driven with some control from of a driver. The car would have sensors that would be able to sense moving objects like other cars and pedestrians.

Ford joined forces with MIT to develop technology that would help in foreseeing the action of such moving objects, so that the automated car could plan its own move and take a safer path to avoid collision. Its collaboration with Stanford University, on the other hand, is focusing on engineer technology that would enable the car to identify obstructions. The basic purpose is to add common human-like instincts in the vehicle that would ensure a safe ride. The automaker preferred to keep mum with regard to the amount it is putting in the R&D.

Other Players Working in This Space

Tesla Motors (TSLA), mostly known for its electric cars, is also working on a similar concept which would require minimum supervision of the driver. Last September, the carmaker announced that it plans to build an "auto pilot" car in the next three years that would be 90% auto driven. This means that it would require only 10% of the driver's control.

Search engine giant Google (GOOG) is also excited to come out with a driverless car. The company made seven "self-piloting" Toyota (TM) hybrid Prius which have already covered a total of 140,000 miles on road. Other than outfitting Toyota, Google has also developed self-driving cars for Audi and Lexus. Japan-based Nissan (NSANY) and German giant Daimler are both working to make driverless cars.

The Road Ahead

Ford has set its road to develop techniques to build automated systems which would take over driving functions. The company is quite optimistic about the future of connected cars and believes that such vehicles would pave the way for next-gen vehicles.

People are mostly skeptical about auto pilot cars, but they happen to be safer than normal human driven cars. Automated cars are safer, environmentally friendly and most important of all, they don't get distracted by the surrounding. The company is therefore investing in these technologies, making new collaborations and teaming with partners to build relevant systems to come out with the model by 2025. Are such robocars really viable? Would it really be possible to add basic instincts in cars? It's just a matter of time.

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Bill Ackman Selling Out of J.C. Penney Stake Entirely

J. C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) has been a real pain in the backside of activist investor Pershing Square and other value and turnaround investors. This is Bill Ackman’s fund, and we already had seen speculative reports that Ackman was dumping his stake after having withdrawn all efforts against the company and after having withdrawn from the board of directors.

Now we have an SEC filing showing that Pershing Square has filed for the resale of 39,075,771 shares of common stock by Pershing Square affiliates. J.C. Penney itself will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares of common stock. According to SEC filings, this appears to be the entire Pershing Square stake in the company.

While this is a formal filing, the reality is that this has been anticipated in some form or fashion. When an activist sends a letter to his investors telling them that mistakes were made and that all in all they are still up considering other investments, the writing was on the wall.

JC Penney shares closed down 1.2% at $13.35 on Monday and the after-hours quotes have shares down another 2% at $12.99 against a 52-week trading range of $12.34 to $32.55. Where this stock stops is anyone’s guess. With a $2.9 billion market cap and its old historical price charts, JC Penney shares might be headed to slightly under $10.

Monday’s SEC filing is under Rule 424(b)(7), and this allows for the resale of up to the amount listed. The sale process here may happen at any point now, but Bill Ackman is formally calling it a day.

How Much Economic Bang for a Gasoline Dollar?

Since reaching a peak of more than 3 trillion miles driven in 2007, the number of miles driven in the U.S. has fallen by 2.9% to around 2.95 trillion miles driven. That works out to about 48 million barrels of gasoline that U.S. drivers not longer burn. What does the U.S. get for all that gasoline?

Professor Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has recently completed a study of how much economic impact all that driving creates. Using GDP figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and mileage data from the Federal Highway Administration, he has computed the amount of GDP generated per mile driven for each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

In 2011, the "state" with the highest GDP per distance driven was the District of Columbia, which generated $30.04 in GDP for every mile driven. Alaska was second with $11.16, followed by New York ($9.16), Connecticut ($7.23), and Delaware ($7.13).

The least economic bang per mile driven was generated in Mississippi ($2.51), followed by Alabama ($2.75), New Mexico ($3.12), Arkansas ($3.23), and Oklahoma ($3.29). The median GDP was $4.66 per mile driven in Wisconsin.

Calculated as a percentage increase from 1997 to 2011, the state with the largest growth in GDP per mile driven was Wyoming (+115%), followed by the District of Columbia (+99%), North Dakota (+95%), Alaska (+94%), and Oregon (+89%). The states posting the least growth were Michigan (+28%), Florida (+32%), Ohio (+36%), Mississippi (+37%), and New Jersey (+42%).

As Professor Sivak points out, a high GDP per mile driven can be a function either of high GDP or low miles driven. High GDP may be a function of natural resources (Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota, for example), local tax policies, availability of a skilled work force (New York and Connecticut), or other factors. Lower driving distances may be influenced by more compact urban areas and the locations of large employers.

Perhaps an unexpected conclusion is related to the size of the state and its population density:

[W]hile the direction of the effect of density of population was in the expected direction (high population density was associated with high level of GDP per distance driven), the effect of land area was the opposite of what was expected (large land area was associated with high level of GDP per distance driven).

Professor Sivak also noted that since 1997 inflation in the U.S. is up by 40%. That means that the four states with the smallest increases in GDP per distance driven did not even keep up with inflation.

SEC’s Structured Products Chief to Exit

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that Kenneth Lench, chief of the Enforcement Division’s Structured and New Products Unit, will leave the agency for the private sector at the end of July.

Lench, who’s been at the SEC for more than 23 years, has led the unit since its inception in January 2010. The unit conducts investigations into complex financial instruments including asset-backed and derivative securities, and has 45 staffers in eight SEC offices across the country.

“Ken’s determination to always seek the right answers and his devotion to protecting investors by working tirelessly with his staff and colleagues made everyone around him better,” said George Canellos, co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in a statement. “The Enforcement Division is stronger today because of Ken’s unwavering leadership.”

During Lench’s tenure, the SEC says that the unit filed “significant enforcement actions” against financial services firms that violated federal securities laws during the financial crisis relating to the structuring, marketing, and sale of collateralized debt obligations (CDO) and residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

The CDO and RMBS cases filed under Lench’s leadership include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan (CDO case and RMBS case), Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Mizuho, Wells Fargo/Wachovia, Option One, Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., and RBC Capital Markets.  These cases provide for approximately $1.7 billion in financial recovery for harmed investors.

Lench joined the SEC’s Enforcement Division as a staff attorney in 1990. He was promoted to branch chief in 1995, assistant chief counsel in 2000, and assistant director in 2004. As an assistant director, Lench spearheaded the SEC’s major auction-rate securities settlements with a number of major broker-dealer firms that provided more than $60 billion in liquidity to tens of thousands of investors.

He also led significant investigations into matters involving financial and accounting fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, and hedge fund fraud cases.

Besides serving in the Enforcement Division, Lench was in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance from 1999 to 2000.

Lench, who was in private practice prior to his arrival at the SEC, received his B.A. from Brandeis University and his J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

---

Check out How the SEC Stacks the Deck on ThinkAdvisor.

How returns, liquidity & risk play role in asset allocation

Flashback to the start of 2008: the markets are roaring and everyone�s who�s been left out of the equity ride up is rushing to enter. Cut -- to the start of 2009: equity is worse than a four-letter bad word by now.

Nobody can get it right 100% of the time; and, at both these times, the investor would have been protected with the asset allocation approach � taken out profits when his weightage of equity shot up beyond his risk-taking ability; and entered when no one dared to even look towards the markets in 2009.

Look at the whole picture

The allocation to debt is met for the salaried class through regular deductions and investment in the employee provident fund (EPF) scheme; and others create their safety net through Public Provident Fund, bank deposits, Post Office deposits, National Savings Certificates and the like. We all spend more time on analyzing why we made a loss of 10% on one share, even when that share is a miniscule proportion of one�s total financial assets. The focus needs to move away from making a profit in every transaction to having a suitable risk-adjusted return portfolio.

Beyond just debt and equity

Asset allocation is a way to reduce risks but it goes beyond the accepted debt and equity allocation. The starting point of reducing risks is to spread your assets across different countries and currencies. While we all believe that India is the place to invest in for the long-term, we do understand that in case of a war-like situation on India�s borders, the price of all assets � debt and equity, as well as real estate � will fall.

The liquidity factor

Assets can also be classified based on their liquidity. Why investors like property as an asset class is that there is no price ticker and a �Fill it; shut it; forget it� approach works. However, you may have realized during 2008 that the value of this asset was just on paper (even if you wished to assign a discount to it), as there were just no transactions taking place. And you cannot manage your daughter�s wedding expenses from a piece of paper that will gain value only on her first wedding anniversary.

�How much sugar do you take in your tea?�

This is a question I have often asked my prospective clients, and I get a straight-forward answer almost always. My logical mind wants to ask two questions instead: What is the size of the cup? What is the size of the spoon? When your cup of worries is huge (for example, in 2008), the spoon (of investments) that you dip into your equi-�tea� definitely needs to be larger.

How your financial planner will address asset allocation

There are three key factors that need to be considered and communicated correctly: financial objectives (returns required), liquidity requirements (a factor of the time horizon for investments) and risk profile (what is the loss the investor can bear). 

Let us assume that fixed deposit rates for 3 years or more are at 7.5% pa, or 5% pa post-tax. If 86% of the total funds are invested in deposits, the portfolio will be capital protected at the end of three years.

If the period of investment is 10 years, only 61% of the funds need to be locked into fixed deposits. The incremental benefit of investing the �riskable� funds in equity will be huge, and you do not want to miss this opportunity.

Disclaimer: While we have made efforts to ensure the accuracy of our content (consisting of articles and information), neither this website nor the author shall be held responsible for any losses/ incidents suffered by people accessing, using or is supplied with the content.

John Hussman’s Biggest Fourth-Quarter Buys

John Hussman's primary aim at his Hussman Funds is to invest for long-term returns while managing risk. In 2008, when the S&P lost 37% in its worst year of the decade, Hussman's Strategic Growth Fund (HSGFX) lost just 9%. His average return since inception is 6.52%, compared to 0.55% for the S&P. He has a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University, a double masters in education and social policy from Northwestern University, and a bachelor's degree in economics. Hussman is also a prolific writer and author of the Hussman Weekly Market Commentary.

His fund's principle investment strategy involves buying common stocks that demonstrate favorable valuations and/or market action. He primarily considers the relationship between the current price and the present value of expected future cash flows, but takes into account other valuation measures, such as P/E and stock price to revenue, analyzed in relation to expected future growth of cash flows to determine underlying value and probable long-term returns.

John Hussman just released his fourth-quarter buys and sells, according to GuruFocus' Real Time Picks. His three biggest new buys are: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX), Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) and Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO).

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. discovers, develops and markets small molecule drugs that address major unmet medical needs. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a market cap of $7.25 billion; its shares were traded at around $34.74 with and P/S ratio of 50.5. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 13.3% over the past 10 years.

Hussman bought 1.8 million shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter at an average price of $35 per share.

Vertex's shares sunk to their 52-week low of $26.50 in November 2011, off of a 52-week high of $58.57. Meanwhile, the company was working on FDA approval of the first drug to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, called Kalydeco. The drug rec! eived approval on January 31 and sent shares up 9%.

The company's revenue has been slipping over the last several years, but saw a major jump in the third quarter of 2011 to $659.2 million, compared to $23.8 million for the third quarter of 2010. The increase was primarily a result of $419.6 million in net revenues from INCIVEK, a treatment for people with chronic genotype 1 hepatitis C, which became available in the third quarter. More than 25,000 Hepatitis C patients have begun treatment with INCIVEK as of Jan. 8, 2012. The company also received $200 in milestone revenues from collaborator Jannsen in the quarter.

In January, it set forth its 2012 key business objectives. Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., who will become Vertex's CEO on Feb. 1, 2012, commented, "Entering 2012, we are focused on becoming a sustainable business with strong revenues from INCIVEK and the planned global launch of KALYDECO for cystic fibrosis. Importantly, we are pursuing opportunities to further improve treatment with our all-oral regimens in development for hepatitis C and efforts to study our cystic fibrosis medicines in a larger group of people with this devastating disease. As these and other pipeline programs advance, we will manage our business with financial discipline and focused investment to ensure the greatest benefit for patients waiting for new treatments and for our shareholders."

Procter & Gamble Co. (PG)

The Procter & Gamble Company manufactures and markets a broad range of consumer products in many countries throughout the world. Procter & Gamble Co. has a market cap of $173.91 billion; its shares were traded at around $63.21 with a P/E ratio of 16.1 and P/S ratio of 2.1. The dividend yield of Procter & Gamble Co. stocks is 3.3%. Procter & Gamble Co. had an annual average earnings growth of 8.9% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Procter & Gamble Co. the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.

Hussman dealt in Procter & Gamble shares at least twice previously. He b! ought 1 m! illion shares in the second quarter of 2008 at an average price of $66.50, and sold all 1 million in the next quarter at an average price of $68. Then, in the second quarter of 2010, he bought 986,000 shares at an average price of $62, and sold 686,000 shares in the fourth quarter of 2010 at an average price of $63 per share, and the remaining 300,000 shares in the first quarter of 2011 at about $63 per share. Most recently, he bought 500,000 shares in the fourth quarter of 2011 at an average price of $64.

Donald Yacktman commented on the rare cheapness of blue-chip stocks the market has proffered recently. "I've been doing this for over forty years, and I can't remember another period of time where I've seen so many high quality, profitable businesses selling at prices relative to the market this cheaply. To give you an illustration, the 30 year treasury today [January 5th, 2012] has a lower yield than many of these companies like Pepsi (PEP) or Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) or Procter & Gamble (PG). That's a very unique period of time," he said in an interview with Consuelo Mack on WealthTrack in January.

Procter & Gamble has achieved 7.2% revenue per share growth in the last 10 years, and book value growth of 21.3%. No doubt the P/E ratio of around 15 in the fourth quarter appealed to Hussman. In the last five years it has been much higher, as high as almost 22 in late 2007, and has fallen to much lower levels since then.

PG pe Interactive Chart

The P/E is even lower now as the stock price has fallen 5.5% year to date.

PG pe Interactive Chart

The stock price has declined on news that the company's second quarter profit dipped to $1.69 billion or $0.57 per share, from last year's $3.33 billion or $1.11 per share. Yet the company's net sales increased 4% to $22.13 billion, from $21.35 billion last year. The company also cut its earnings per share forecast to $3.85 to $4.08, from a previously anticipated $4.15 to $4.33. They lowered expectations mainly d! ue to the! negative impact of foreign exchange.

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO)

Marathon Oil Corporation is an energy company engaged in the worldwide exploration, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas. Marathon Oil Corp. has a market cap of $21.79 billion; its shares were traded at around $30.96 with a P/E ratio of 7.2 and P/S ratio of 0.3. The dividend yield of Marathon Oil Corp. stocks is 1.9%. Marathon Oil Corp. had an annual average earnings growth of 10.5% over the past 10 years.

Marathon Oil become extremely cheap when it dropped 38% on July 1, the day it spun off its downstream business into an independent, publicly traded company called Marathon Petroleum Corporation. Marathon Oil shareholders received one share of MPC common stock for every two shares of Marathon Oil common stock held at the close of business on the record date of June 27, 2011. Marathon Oil is now an independent upstream company.

"As an independent upstream company, we have the capacity to perform at a higher level by focusing on strategic priorities while providing greater transparency for investors. Operationally, we're poised to capitalize on a broad base of opportunities by exhibiting the speed, agility and flexibility of an independent and retaining our proven ability to accomplish large and technologically challenging projects," said Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon Oil's chairman, president and CEO, in a statement.

Marathon Oil's revenue increased from $9 billion in 2009 to almost $13 billion in 2010, with net income of $1.5 billion in 2009 and $2.6 billion in 2010. Management had also increased cash flow to a record $3.2 billion in 2010.

On November 1, the day it announced its third quarter results, the company closed on the Hilcorp acquisition of 141,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford shale, largely in the core of the play. The company reported that they had already seen better-than-expected performance from the assets. The assets will contribute the most to the company! 's prod! uction growth, enabling them to achieve 5% to 7% compound average production growth from 2010 to 2016. Production for 2012 is expected to grow by 5% over 2011.

See more of John Hussman's portfolio here.

A look at Kinder Morgan Earnings

On January 15, the Kinder Morgan family of companies, Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI  ) , Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.  (NYSE: KMP  ) , and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P.  (NYSE: EPB  ) reported earnings.

The earnings, and some takeaways
The distribution for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners increased 5% quarter over quarter to $1.36. For 2013, the declared cash flow was $5.33, an increase of 7% from 2012. 

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners had positive distribution coverage of $36 million for the quarter and of $22 million for the year. A large part of the growth in the unit's distributable cash flow was due to the success of its natural gas pipeline segment. The smaller El Paso Pipeline Partners kept its $0.65 quarter distribution stable from the previous quarter. For the full year, it distributed $2.55 per unit, a 13% increase over 2012.  El Paso Pipeline Partners had positive distribution coverage of $16 million for the full year.

Because it receives distributions from both aforementioned companies as general and limited partner , Kinder Morgan is also doing well. Its quarterly dividend is $0.41 per share, which is in line with the previous quarter. The cash flow available to pay dividends grew 21% for the full year from $1.4 billion in 2012 to $1.7 billion in 2013. 

Solid tailwinds
Because they are the market leaders in each of their business segments, the Kinder Morgan family of companies enjoys several competitive advantages.

First, the companies have been investment grade since inception, meaning they have a lower cost of debt, and can realize higher margins and distributions to shareholders.

The U.S. shale boom is showing no signs of slowing down. According to BP forecasts, the United States will be self-sufficient in supplying its energy needs by 2035. 

As shale boom continues, the amount of oil and natural gas that flows through pipelines will increase. Since pipelines generally make money from the volume that flows through their pipes, those pipeline companies will see greater profits. 

Kinder Morgan can also take business away from railroads, which are currently benefiting greatly from the boom in the Bakken and other shale plays. It generally costs $12 to $15 a barrel less to ship oil through pipelines than railroads.  

CEO Richard Kinder bought 828,000 shares of Kinder Morgan in December 2013. He now collectively owns more than 230 million shares. The CEO buying his own company is a big vote of confidence since he is the investor with the most information.  

The bottom line
The Kinder Morgan family of companies is very well run and each has an excellent track record.

Because MLPs cannot retain their earnings and need to raise money to grow, Kinder Morgan and other MLPs depend on investor sentiment. While most trends are positive, some investors are concerned about the effect that rising interest rates will have on Kinder Morgan. Because the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has steadily increased over the past year, some investors are concerned that the rising 10-year will crowd out other fixed income securities.

In terms of actual interest rate risk, Kinder Morgan is hedged pretty well. According to an investor presentation, a 100 basis point increase in interest rates equates to a $48 million increase in interest expense for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners. El Paso Pipeline Partners has no current floating rate debt exposure. 

In terms of investor appetite, because Kinder Morgan stock has performed relatively well in a rising interest rate environment, it should continue to do so, and I believe each company in the Kinder Morgan family still makes for a solid investment.  

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Green Mountain Upped to Strong Buy - Analyst Blog

On Jul 9, 2013, Zacks Investment Research upgraded Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) as it has secured numerous strategic alliances with other beverage giants for its single-serve Keurig brewers and K-cups.

Why the Upgrade?

Since March 2013 Green Mountain is roping in more and more beverage giants into its Keurig distribution system to increase the popularity of this single serve brewer. In March 2013, it formed a strategic alliance with Unilever plc.(UL) under which the Lipton iced teas will be available in the K-cups of GMCR's Keurig business unit. Again, in May 2013, the coffee giant joined forces with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to launch the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf K-Cup for Keurig single-cup.

Green Mountain aims to popularize the single-cup brewing system in America and has therefore, entered into several strategic distribution agreements to rope in popular brands like Dunkin' Brands Group Inc. (DNKN), Starbucks Corporation (SBUX).

Through these agreements, Green Mountain is aligning with the strongest beverage brands to support a range of consumer choices and taste profiles in Keurig Single-Cup Brewing system.

Estimates were mostly revised upwards following the strategic alliances of the company and its effort to gear up the Keurig brewer and K-cups. For fiscal 2013, the estimate moved up 1.0% to $3.16 over the last 60 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2014 increased 2.0% to $3.56 over the same period.

Green Mountain also gave an encouraging outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2013, when it expects earnings per share in the range of 71 cents – 78 cents and sales growth in the range of 11% to 15%. The guidance reflects the company's continuous efforts to increase brand investments and product innovations.

Moreover, GMCR delivered a stellar second-quarter fiscal 2013 earnings (announced on May 09, 2013) on the back of solid top line growth during the quarter. The results we! re ahead of both the year-over-year results as well as the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Bank of America Corp Posts Higher Q4 Earnings; Beats Estimates (BAC)

Before the opening bell on Wednesday, Bank of America (BAC) reported its fourth quarter earnings, posting higher net income and revenue than last year’s Q4 results.

BAC Earnings in Brief

Bank of America posted quarterly revenues of $21.7 billion, up significantly from last year’s Q4 revenues of $18.9 billion. The company’s net income was also up considerably, coming in at $3.439 billion for the most recent quarter from last year’s Q4 figure of $732 million. EPS came in at 29 cents, which was up from last year’s Q4 EPS of 3 cents. BAC beat analysts’ estimates of 26 cents EPS on revenues of $21.24 billion. For the full year, BAC posted revenues of $89.8 billion, net income of $11.4 billion and EPS of 90 cents; all of these figures were significantly higher than 2012′s results.

CEO and CFO Commentary

Brian Moynihan, BAC’s CEO, had the following to say about the bank’s results: ”We are pleased to see the core businesses continue to perform well, serving our customers and clients. While work remains on past issues, our two hundred forty thousand teammates continue to do a great job winning in the marketplace.”

BAC’s CFO, Bruce Thompson, went on to say: "We enter this year with one of the strongest balance sheets in our company's history. Capital and liquidity are at record levels, credit losses are at historic lows, our cost savings initiatives are on track and yielding significant savings, and our businesses are seeing good momentum."

No Dividend Change

Bank of America did not mention any change to its dividend payout in its most recent earnings release. At the beginning of 2009, during the financial crisis, BAC cut its quarterly dividend from 32 cents to 1 cent, and the company has still not raised it. With positive earnings reports like this, investors will be looking for higher dividends in the near future.

Stock Performance

BAC stock was up 52 cents, or 3.1%, in pre-market trading, after finishing Tuesday’s trading up 34 cents, or 2.07%. So far this year, BAC is up 4.16%.

5 Rocket Stocks to Stomp the S&P in 2014

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Yes, 2013 was a great year to be a stock investor. All told, the venerable S&P 500 Index gained 29.6% last year, in the best calendar year for the big index since all the way back in 1997.

But one small subset of stocks made the S&P's performance look anemic last year. I'm talking about the Rocket Stocks.

While the big index turned out impressive gain numbers for the year, our concentrated set of Rocket Stocks beat the S&P by 11.6 percentage points, gaining 41.2% for the year. That's material outperformance -- and they're set to drive bigger gains in 2014 as well.

For the uninitiated, "Rocket Stocks" are our list of companies with short-term gain catalysts and longer-term growth potential. To find them, I run a weekly quantitative screen that seeks out stocks with a combination of analyst upgrades and positive earnings surprises to identify rising analyst expectations, a bullish signal for stocks in any market. After all, where analysts' expectations are increasing, institutional cash often follows. In the last 231 weeks, our weekly list of five plays has outperformed the S&P 500 by 84.81%.

Without further ado, here's a look at this week's Rocket Stocks.

Blackstone Group

$18 billion asset management firm Blackstone Group (BX) is coming off the heels of a blockbuster year for shareholders. In the last 12 months, Blackstone has rallied 91%, besting the S&P's impressive returns last year by a factor of three.

That's not hugely surprising, though. As an investment advisory firm, Blackstone is basically a leveraged bet on the public and private equity market. That means that the firm is positioned to continue to outperform in 2014.

Blackstone offers its clients exposure to a wide array of alternative investments, ranging from private equity funds to real estate and hedge funds. That non-traditional asset base is the reason why BX outperformed other investment firms by such a wide margin. As correlations across traditional investment options remain high, high-net-worth and institutional investors should remain willing to shell out more cash for the alternatives that Blackstone provides.

Scale matters a lot for Blackstone. Because the firm is one of the largest private equity names in the world, with around $250 billion in assets under management, it's able to orchestrate big-ticket deals that smaller names can't. The firm's expertise in guiding privately held portfolio companies has also borne a lucrative advisory business, a high-moat business that newcomers can't simply hold out a shingle and expect to succeed in.

With rising analyst sentiment in shares this week, we're betting on Blackstone.

Western Digital

Hard-disk maker Western Digital (WDC) is another name that enjoyed market-crushing momentum last year, dishing out 94% gains to investors who bet on the computer storage stock this time last year. The computer storage business still has some enormous tailwinds pushing at its back right now, and those should continue to propel the world's biggest hard drive maker to new highs in the year ahead.

Worldwide, demand for storage is increasing like never before. That's because, today, consumers carry around devices that record HD video and photos, store data-intensive applications, and store it all in the cloud. That means that storage is critical both on consumers' local PCs and on the server farms that continue to sprout up.

For conventional hard drive makers, solid state drives represent the future. For now, their costs are keeping SSDs from all but the most performance-demanding tasks, but eventually it's likely they'll supplant HDDs as the standard storage medium. While that's been a threat to firms like WDC, recent acquisitions like STEC should help to boost Western Digital's SSD capabilities.

Western Digital currently has a solid cash position: around $2.5 billion net of debt as of the most recent quarter. And that number is likely to be closer to $3 billion by the time next quarter rolls around. That's enough dry powder to pay for around 12.5% of WDC's current market capitalization right now, a fact that helps reduce the risk in shares after such a big run higher.

If WDC can continue to use cash in a smart way, investors stand to keep benefiting.

Ingersoll-Rand

Industrial manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand (IR) owns a diverse collection of brands that includes Club Car golf carts, Trane air conditioners, and its namesake line of industrial equipment. Until last quarter, IR also owned a big security business that were spun off as Allegion (ALLE), a separate $4.4 billion firm. While the deal removes Ingersoll-Rand's highest-margin business, it should give the firm considerable wherewithal on its balance sheet in 2014.

Ingersoll-Rand owns market leading positioning in most of its businesses. After the security unit spinoff, IR's exposure to HVAC equipment has increased considerably, growing to 60% of revenues. With commercial and residential construction enjoying new life this year, IR should benefit in a big way as demand stays at the high-end of its recent range.

While Ingersoll-Rand's business is certainly cyclical, the firm has been battling its cost structure to keep margins high. That'll be particularly important now that the high-margin security business is off the books.

With rising analyst sentiment in shares of this Rocket Stock in January, we're betting on shares.

Moody's

Despite the residual warts from the financial crisis of 2008, credit rating agency Moody's (MCO) still boasts a lucrative, high-moat business. As one of the "big three" ratings firms, Moody's controls around 40% of the market for debt ratings, a position that gives the firm ample cross selling opportunities among its user base. With interest rates sitting near zero right now, debt issuances are up as firms make the prudent choice of refinancing debt loads at higher rates. That gives Moody's a steady stream of business to keep up with now.

The regulatory and public scrutiny that Moody's faced in the wake of 2008 provided some good lessons for management, making it much less likely that MCO will make the same mistakes twice. Moody's business extends beyond debt ratings; like its peers, the firm also sells research and quantitative databases, products that (like ratings) are capital-light and produce impressive margins. In many ways, Moody's dominance has held because it's one of the only games in town, and that edge is a big plus for investors.

Financially, Moody's is in good shape. The firm maintans a balance sheet that's nearly debt-neutral, and the firm operates in a high net-margin business with few major capital costs.

As momentum drags shares of MCO higher in 2014, investors should continue to get rewarded for their patience.

AutoZone

As I write today, the average age of a car on the road here in the U.S. is older than it's ever been before. That's providing some big opportunities at auto parts retailer AutoZone (AZO). As drivers seek to extend the lives of older vehicles, AZO's parts business should continue to enjoy big organic growth. AutoZone's network spans around 4,700 stores here in the U.S. and another 321 in Mexico, making it the largest aftermarket car part seller in North America.

AutoZone has size advantages over its peers. That means that it's able to negotiate better pricing deals with its suppliers, and it means that it's able to generate bigger margins on its private-label parts business such as Valucraft and Duralast. The firm's business isn't relegated to do-it-yourselfers either -- AutoZone also boasts more than 3,000 commercial locations within its retail stores, providing parts for repair shops and service stations. While margins on the commercial side of the business don't match the profitability that AZO enjoys on the retail side, volumes help make up for the shortfall.

Mexico is a big growth driver for AutoZone, particularly because the trends of lengthening cars' useful lives are magnified down there due to a much older national car fleet. Expansion into other Latin American countries could provide much higher growth rates than the firm's current earnings multiple implies.

To see all of this week's Rocket Stocks in action, check out the Rocket Stocks portfolio at Stockpickr.

-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

RELATED LINKS:

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar
>>4 Unusual-Volume Stocks in Breakout Territory
>>5 Toxic Stocks to Sell in 2014

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji

LinkedIn Can Become Facebook Before Facebook Can Become LinkedIn

During the early rise of social media, Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB  ) similarities to LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD  ) were only skin-deep.

Both are social networks, but one company focused on personal friendships while the other was all about professional networking. The two companies still have entirely different monetization strategies. Facebook's business is built on advertising at 85% of revenue last quarter, while only 23% of LinkedIn's sales come from advertising.

Nowadays, Facebook and LinkedIn are finding themselves more at odds than ever. Facebook has been trying to grow its professional status, and LinkedIn is aggressively expanding into content and launching new social feeds. LinkedIn has just fired another shot.

The professional networker is announcing new Sponsored Updates, which will allow businesses to broaden their reach within LinkedIn's user base of 225 million members -- for a fee. The new Sponsored Updates will be available on a wide range of devices including desktops and mobile gadgets. They're not unlike Facebook's Sponsored Stories, which appear throughout the company's social feeds.

This isn't exactly a surprise considering LinkedIn's recent focus on content. After all, advertising is easily the most common way to monetize content on the Internet.

Growing the marketing business is an incremental opportunity for LinkedIn, and one that shows how asymmetrical its rivalry with Facebook will be. To the extent that LinkedIn can grow its content offerings, traffic, and advertising business, it can compete directly with Facebook for ad dollars. Meanwhile, its core business of connecting recruiters with job candidates is somewhere Facebook can't venture.

Facebook has reiterated countless times that it will never impose a membership fee, greeting prospective new Facebookers with the assurance that "it's free and always will be." Facebookers also loathe the idea of the social network selling their data to advertisers, although that probably doesn't dissuade most people from using the site.

In those two ways, LinkedIn has advantages. LinkedIn members want the company to sell their data, because they might end up with a better job, and many users find enough value to pay membership fees. Recruiters pay handsomely for an efficient way to find talent. LinkedIn gets to play both sides of the matchmaking, while Facebook users have no particular interest in hooking up with advertisers more than they already have to, and Facebook's had limited success at cracking the professional segment.

LinkedIn is still much smaller than Facebook in terms of users, revenue, net income, market cap, and many other metrics. LinkedIn also trades at much higher premiums, but its business is much more sustainable than Facebook's.

It's incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out "Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?" in The Motley Fool's latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now

lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU  ) , which started out as a Canadian yoga-wear seller and has expanded to fitness gear around the world, has had an impressive run since March 2009.� The company has expanded to more than 280 stores worldwide, and its stock has appreciated more than 2,900% since then.

But even though the company's recent earnings report beat expectations, the stock is down significantly since CEO Christine Day -- who has been at the helm for all of this wild ride -- announced she'll be leaving the company once a replacement is found.�

In the following video, Fool contributor Brian Stoffel discusses why he thinks shares of Lululemon stock are worth looking into, given today's prices.

The future for Lululemon and retail
The retail space is in the midst of the biggest paradigm shift since mail order took off at the turn of last century. Only the most forward-looking and capable companies will survive, and they'll handsomely reward investors who understand the landscape. You can read about the 3 Companies Ready to Rule Retail in The Motley Fool's special report. Uncovering these top picks is free today; just click here to read more.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Mad Catz Interactive Inc(MCZ)

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, sells, and distributes accessories for videogame platforms and personal computers (PC), as well as for iPod and other audio devices. Its products include videogame, PC, and audio accessories, such as control pads, video cables, steering wheels, joysticks, memory cards, light guns, flight sticks, dance pads, microphones, car adapters, carry cases, mice, keyboards, and headsets. It markets its products primarily under the Mad Catz, Saitek, Cyborg, Eclipse, Joytech, GameShark, Tritton, and AirDrives brands. The company also develops flight simulation software; operates flight simulation centers under its Saitek brand; operates a videogame content Website under its GameShark brand; publishes games under its Mad Catz brand; and distributes games and videogame products for third parties. It distributes its products through retailers in the United States, Europe, and Canada, as well as in Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zeal and, and Singapore. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in San Diego, California

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  If the name Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (NYSEMKT:MCZ) rings a bell, it might be because yours truly penned some bullish thoughts on the video-gaming hardware (joysticks, control pads, headsets, etc.) back on August 20th. Neither MCZ nor my write-up were received as anything partially special at the time - it was just another stock dissected by just another guy, and you may or may not have given it a second thought. The 37% rally in the meantime, however, may garner a little more attention.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited(CNR)

China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the development and operation of agricultural logistics and trade centers in northeast China. It also involves in purchasing, processing, assembling, merchandising, and distributing pearls and jewelry products. The company markets its pearls and jewelry products to wholesale distributors and mass merchandisers in Europe, the United States, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia. In addition, it develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial properties in Hong Kong and the People?s Republic of China. The company is based in Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Katie Brennan]

  Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR) added 0.9 percent to C$104.93 and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. rose 1.7 percent to C$131.73.

  Niko Resources surged 3.4 percent to $8.64 after the company entered an agreement for a $60 million loan that will be funded by a group of institutional investors. Net proceeds from the loan will be used to fund working capital requirements.

10 Best Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014: Higher One Holdings Inc.(ONE)

Higher One Holdings, Inc. provides technology and payment services in the United States. It offers a suite of disbursement and payment solutions for higher education institutions and their students. The company provides OneDisburse Refund Management product that offers higher education institutional clients with a technology service for streamlining the student refund disbursement process. It also offers CASHNet Payment suite that includes software-as-a-service products and services, such as ePayment to securely accept online payments for tuition, charges, and fees from students through credit card, pinless debit, and ACH; eBill to automate payer billing and processing functions; MyPaymentPlan to personalize students? payment plans; eMarket that allows academic, athletic, and other departments to take alumni donations, sell event tickets and other merchandise, and accept payments of event and conference registration fees; and Cashiering to operate and manage cashiering fu nctions, back office payments, and campus-wide departmental deposits. In addition, the company provides OneDisburse ID, which offers an option to combine the company?s debit card with the institution?s ID cards; OneDisburse Payroll to distribute payroll and other employee-related payments; OneDisburse PLUS product to distribute Parent PLUS loan refunds to parents on behalf of the school; and Financial Intelligence to students with an online class. Further, it provides student-oriented banking services to campus communities. Additionally, the company offers OneAccount product for students, as well as faculty, staff, and alumni, with an FDIC-insured online checking account and a debit MasterCard ATM card. Higher One Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Higher One Holdings (NYSE: ONE  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Higher One Holdings (NYSE: ONE  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One under-$10 business services player that looks poised for a run higher is Higher One (ONE), which provides technology-based refund disbursement, payment processing and data analytics services to higher education institutions and students. It also provides banking services to campus communities. This stock has been hit hard by the bears so far in 2013, with shares down by 26%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Higher One, you'll notice that this stock has been downtrending badly for the last three months, with shares plunging from its high of $11.93 to its recent low of $6.97 a share. During that downtrend, shares of ONE were consistently making lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, shares of ONE have recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $7.05 to $6.97 a share. This stock has now started to rebound sharply off that double bottom and move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ONE if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance at $7.85 a share and then once it clears its 50-day moving average at $8.11 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 196,360 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ONE will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $9 to its 200-day moving average of $9.77 a share. This stock could even tag $11 a share if that 200-day gets taken out with volume.

  Traders can look to buy ONE off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support at $7.39 a share, or below $7 a share. One can also buy ONE off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: TotalFinaElf S.A.(TOT)

TOTAL S.A., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated oil and gas company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemicals. The Upstream segment engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. It also involves in the transportation, trade, and marketing of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as in LNG re-gasification and natural gas storage operations. In addition, this segment engages in the shipping and trade of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); power generation from gas-fired power plants, nuclear, or renewable energies; production, trade, and marketing of coal, as well as in solar power systems and technology operations. As of December 31, 2010, it had combined proved reserves of 10,695 Mboe of oil and gas. The Downstream segment involves in refining, marketing, trading, and shipping crude oil and petroleum products. It also produces a range of specialty products, s uch as lubricants, LPG, jet fuel, special fluids, bitumen, marine fuels, and petrochemical feedstock. This segment holds interests in 24 refineries located in Europe, the United States, the French West Indies, Africa, and China, as well as operates a network of 17,490 service stations. The Chemicals segment produces base chemicals, including petrochemicals and fertilizers, as well as engages in rubber processing, resins, adhesives, and electroplating activities. TOTAL S.A. was founded in 1924 and is based in Paris, France.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  But BP wasn�� done yet. The second major deal for BP was a huge $45 billion project with partners such as Norway�� Statoil (STO) and France’s Total (TOT). This project will tap the plethora of natural gas trapped under Azerbaijan�� massive Shah Deniz field, then pipe that bounty all the way into Italy and Europe. Bringing gas from Azerbaijan to Europe is being seen a strategic move that will lessen the reliance on Russian exports and Gazprom�� (OGZPY) current monopoly.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  ABB (NYSE: ABB  ) is spending $1 billion to buy Power-One (NASDAQ: PWER.DL  ) , a major player in solar inverters. This is the latest move by a large energy company to buy into solar following Total (NYSE: TOT  ) and General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) . Will we see more solar buyouts? Erin Miller sat down with Fool contributor Travis Hoium to find out.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  For the largest oil companies, however, the story is much different. For them, even new discoveries that have opened up opportunities for oil fields that were thought to be entirely played out are relatively insignificant compared to the massive amounts of oil and gas that they currently produce. As a result, big oil stocks have to rely on innovation and asset purchases just to stay even with natural declines in existing-well output. During the first quarter, Exxon reported a 3.5% drop in production compared to the year-ago period, while France's Total (NYSE: TOT  ) saw 2% production declines.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: AmerisourceBergen Corporation (HOLDING CO)

AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a pharmaceutical services company, provides drug distribution and related services to healthcare providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The company distributes brand-name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to various healthcare providers, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical and dialysis clinics, physicians, and long-term care and other alternate site pharmacies. It also offers various services, such as pharmaceutical packaging, pharmacy automation, inventory management, reimbursement and pharmaceutical consulting and staffing services, logistics services, and pharmacy management. In addition, AmerisourceBergen provides scalable automated pharmacy dispensing equipment, medication and supply dispensing cabinets , and supply management software to various retail and institutional healthcare providers. Further, the company offers distribution and other services to physicians, who specialize in various disease states; distributes plasma and other blood products, injectible pharmaceuticals, and vaccines; and provides drug commercialization, third party logistics, reimbursement consulting, data analytics, and outcomes research services for biotech and other pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as practice management and group purchasing services for physician practices. Additionally, it delivers unit dose, punch card, unit-of-use, and other packaging solutions to institutional and retail healthcare providers; and offers contract packaging and clinical trial material services for pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company serves customers through a network of distribution and service centers, and packaging facilities. AmerisourceBergen was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Chesterb rook, Pennsylvania.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: (AUQ)

AuRico Gold Inc. engages in the exploration, development, and production of gold and silver projects and properties in Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Its principal property includes the Ocampo mine covering approximately 15,000 hectares located in Chihuahua State. The company was formerly known as Gammon Gold Inc. and changed its name to AuRico Gold Inc. in June 2011. AuRico Gold Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Then there's the company's El Cubo mine, which it purchased in 2012 from AuRico Gold (NYSE: AUQ  ) with a combination of its own shares and cash for up to $250 million ($50 million is contingent on mine productivity over a three-year period). As fellow Fool Christopher Barker has commented previously, AuRico did a disastrous job of managing the El Cubo mine, which leaves Endeavour with a tremendous opportunity to reap the rewards of AuRico's failures.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Abbott Laboratories(ABT)

Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of health care products worldwide. The company offers adult and pediatric pharmaceuticals for rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, and Crohn's disease; dyslipidemia; HIV infection; prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, and anemia caused by uterine fibroids; respiratory syncytial virus; adult males who have low or no testosterone; secondary hyperparathyroidism; hypothyroidism; and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, as well as anesthesia products. It also provides diagnostic products, such as immunoassay systems; chemistry systems; assays used for screening and/or diagnosis for drugs of abuse, cancer, therapeutic drug monitoring, fertility, physiological, and infectious diseases; instruments that automate the extraction, purification, and preparation of DNA and RNA from patient samples, and detect and measure infections agents; genomic-b ased tests; hematology systems and reagents; and point-of-care diagnostic systems and tests for blood analysis. In addition, the company offers a line of pediatric and adult nutritional products. Further, it provides coronary, endovascular, vessel closure, and structural heart devices, such as drug-eluting stent systems, coronary metallic stents, balloon dilatation products, coronary guidewires, vessel closure devices, carotid stent systems, percutaneous valve repair systems, and drug eluting bioresorbable vascular products. Additionally, the company provides blood glucose monitoring meters, test strips, data management software, and accessories for people with diabetes; and medical devices for the eye, including cataract surgery, lasik surgery, contact lens, and dry eye products, as well as branded generic pharmaceutical products. Abbott primarily serves retailers, wholesalers, hospitals, and health care facilities. Abbott was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Don't look now, but Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT  ) is about to buy itself a bit more growth.

  Simultaneous with its announcement of a $310 million acquisition in the vascular stent space Monday, Abbott also announced that it will be spending a further $250 million -- and perhaps as much as $400 million with subsequent milestone payments -- to acquire privately held cataract surgical equipment maker OptiMedica.

• [By Keith Speights]

  Has anyone noticed a common theme among the first-quarter results for many of the big medical-device companies? In case you missed earnings announcements from Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT  ) , Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX  ) , Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW  ) , Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) , or Stryker (NYSE: SYK  ) , the following chart shows how their medical-device business fared during the quarter.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Don't look now, but Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT  ) is about to buy itself a bit of growth.

  On Monday, the Abbott Park, Ill.-based medical products giant announced that it has agreed to buy privately held medical device-maker IDEV Technologies for $310 million, net of cash and debt. In return, it will gain IDEV's portfolio of products that include, importantly, the SUPERA Veritas self-expanding nitinol stent system, used for opening blocked blood vessels. Approved for use in Europe, SUPERA Veritas has only limited approval for use in the U.S. but is in the process of seeking FDA approval for expanded usage.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Tim Hortons Inc.(THI)

Tim Hortons Inc. develops, franchises, and operates quick service restaurants primarily in Canada and the United States. Its restaurants serve coffee and other hot and cold beverages, baked goods, sandwiches, soups, and other food products. As of April 03, 2011, the company and its restaurant owners operated 3,169 restaurants in Canada and 613 restaurants in the United States under the Tim Hortons name; and had 274 primarily self-serve licensed locations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom Tim Hortons Inc. was founded in 1964 and is based in Oakville, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Tim Hortons (NYSE: THI  ) will have a new nameplate on the door of its chief executive's office starting this summer. The company announced that it has named Marc Caira as CEO, effective July 2. He succeeds Paul House, who will remain in his post as chairman of the board.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Iamgold Corporation(IAG)

IAMGOLD Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral resource properties worldwide. It primarily explores for gold, silver, zinc, copper, niobium, diamonds, and other metals. The company holds interests in eight operating gold mines, a niobium producer, a diamond royalty, and exploration and development projects located in Africa and the Americas. Its advanced exploration and development projects include the Westwood project in Canada; and the Quimsacocha project, which consists of 3 mining concessions covering an aggregate area of approximately 8,030 hectares in Ecuador. The company was formerly known as IAMGOLD International African Mining Gold Corporation and changed its name to IAMGOLD Corporation in June 1997. IAMGOLD Corporation was founded in 1990 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  He increased his holdings in gold companies in the fourth quarter accordingly. Gold stocks he found attractive in the fourth quarter are: Novagold Resources (NG), Randgold Resources (GOLD), Iamgold Corp. (IAG), Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), Agnico Eagle (AEM) and International Tower Hill (THM).

• [By Namitha Jagadeesh]

  HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Europe�� largest bank, slid 2.1 percent. International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) declined 2 percent as it canceled some of its flights following a disruption caused by one of its planes at Heathrow airport. Next Plc (NXT) retreated 2.4 percent as Morgan Stanley cut its recommendation on the shares.

• [By Daniel Putnam]

  The second factor working in gold stocks��favor is that analysts are growing optimistic again. Yesterday, HSBC put out a bullish note on gold and upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), Yamana Gold (AUY), Barrick Gold, Iamgold (IAG), and Goldcorp. Most gold stocks are ranked ��old��or ��uy��(as opposed to ��trong Buy�� by the majority of analysts, meaning that there�� plenty of room for continued positive news flow on this front.

Top 10 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Talisman Energy Inc.(TLM)

Talisman Energy Inc., an upstream oil and gas company, engages in the exploration, development, production, transportation, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. It primarily operates in North America, the North Sea, and southeast Asia. The company was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Companies backing out of Poland
  In addition to the above-ground risks of regulatory, licensing, and taxation uncertainty, disappointing initial results from shale test wells have led some companies to rethink doing business in the country. Last month, Poland's shale prospects were further dashed when Talisman Energy (NYSE: TLM  ) and Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO  ) decided to pull out from their operations in the country.

• [By Sue Chang , Saumya Vaishampayan]

  $TLM: Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM) �shares fell 2.5%. Activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a 6% stake in the oil and gas producer on Monday. Icahn said in a tweet he might discuss strategic alternatives and board seats with the company.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Faced with growing uncertainty, some operators are even scaling back investments and reducing cash flow guidance. Talisman Energy (NYSE: TLM  ) , Canada's sixth-largest independent oil producer, cut its capital budget forecast for the year by 25%, while Cenovus Energy (NYSE: CVE  ) in December lowered its cash flow forecast for the year by 16% to as low as C$3.1 billion. And Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE: CNQ  ) said that it plans to reduce spending on thermal sands production.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  In Pennsylvania, for instance, several hundred wells have been drilled but not completed because the takeaway capacity to get their production to market simply isn't there. Several operators have been forced to drastically reduce their rig counts in the region. For instance, both EXCO Resources (NYSE: XCO  ) and Talisman Energy (NYSE: TLM  ) have just one rig each remaining in the Marcellus.