Top 5 Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now

Here are today's top news headlines from�Fool.com. Check back throughout the day as this list is updated, and follow us on Twitter at�TMFBreaking.

Netflix to Drop Microsoft Silverlight

Carnival to Reimburse Government for Cruise Ship Assistance

Petrobras Inks Subsea Services Agreement With FMC Tech

Raytheon Wins $38.6 Million in Missile, SIGINT Contract Awards

Royalty Pharma Willing to Pay More for Elan, Depending on Investor Demands

Greece Holds Out Hope for 2013 Budget Target

ECB's Draghi Urges Speedy Banking Union

American Express Picks a President

Alibaba Mobile OS Ramps Up Efforts to Take on Google, Apple

FINRA Fines Merrill Lynch $1.05 Million

Finally, Google Glass Specs Come Into Full View

Oil Down Again After Sharp Fall on Weak Demand

Top 5 Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Contango Oil & Gas Co (MCF)

Contango Oil & Gas Company (Contango) is an independent natural gas and oil company. The Company�� core business is to explore, develop, produce and acquire natural gas and oil properties onshore and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico in water-depths of less than 300 feet. Contango Operators, Inc. (COI), its wholly owned subsidiary, acts as operator on its properties.

Offshore Gulf of Mexico Activities

Contango, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, COI and its partially owned affiliate, Republic Exploration LLC (REX), conducts exploration activities in the Gulf of Mexico. COI drills, and operates its wells in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as attends lease sales and acquires leasehold acreage. As of August 24, 2012, the Company's offshore production was approximately 83.5 million cubic feet equivalent per day, net to Contango, which consists of seven federal and five state of Louisiana wells in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. These 12 operated wells produce through the four platforms: Eugene Island 24 Platform, Eugene Island 11 Platform, Ship Shoal 263 Platform, Vermilion 170 Platform and Other Activities.

This third-party owned and operated production platform at Eugene Island 24 was designed with a capacity of 100 million cubic feet per day and 3,000 barrels of oil per day. This platform services production from the Company�� Dutch #1, #2 and #3 federal wells. From this platform, the gas flows through an American Midstream pipeline into a third-party owned and operated on-shore processing facility at Burns Point, Louisiana, and the condensate flows through an ExxonMobil pipeline to on-shore markets and multiple refineries. As of August 24, 2012, it was producing approximately 22.5 million cubic feet equivalent per day, net to Contango, from this platform. The Company finished laying six inches auxiliary flowlines from the Dutch #1, #2, and #3 wells to its Eugene Island 11 Platform and is in the process of redirecting production from the Eugene Island 24! Platform to the Eugene Island 11 Platform.

The Company�� Company-owned and operated platform at Eugene Island 11 was designed with a capacity of 500 million cubic feet equivalent per day and 6,000 barrels of oil per day. These platforms service production from the Company�� five Mary Rose wells, which are all located in state of Louisiana waters, as well as its Dutch #4 and Dutch #5 wells, which are both located in federal waters. From these platforms, it can flow its gas to an American Midstream pipeline through its eight inches pipeline and from there to a third-party owned and operated on-shore processing facility at Burns Point, Louisiana. It can flow its condensate through an ExxonMobil pipeline to on-shore markets and multiple refineries.

The Company�� gas and condensate can flow to its Eugene Island 63 auxiliary platform through its 20 inches pipeline, which has been designed with a capacity of 330 million cubic feet equivalent per day and 6,000 barrels of oil per day, and from there to third-party owned and operated on-shore processing facilities near Patterson, Louisiana, through an ANR pipeline. As of August 24, 2012, it was producing approximately 44.6 million cubic feet equivalent per day, net to Contango, from this platform.

The Company�� owned and operated platform at Ship Shoal 263 was designed with a capacity of 40 million cubic feet equivalent per day and 5,000 barrels of oil per day. This platform services natural gas and condensate production from our Nautilus well, which flows through the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline to onshore processing plants. As of August 24, 2012, it was producing approximately 3.0 million cubic feet equivalent per day, net to Contango, from this platform. As of June 30, 2012, the Company owed a 100% working interest and 80% net revenue interest in this well and platform.

The Company�� owned and operated platform at Vermilion 170 was designed with a capacity of 60 million cubic feet equivalent per ! day and 2! ,000 barrels of oil per day. This platform services natural gas and condensate production from its Swimmy well, which flows through the Sea Robin Pipeline to onshore processing plants. As of August 24, 2012, it was producing approximately 13.4 million cubic feet equivalent per day, net to Contango, from this platform.

On July 10, 2012, the Company spud its South Timbalier 75 prospect (Fang) with the Spartan 303 rig. It has a 100% working interest in this wildcat exploration prospect. On July 3, 2012, the Company spud its Ship Shoal 134 prospect (Eagle) with the Hercules 205 rig. The Company purchased the deep mineral rights on Ship Shoal 134 from an independent third-party. It has a 100% working interest in this wildcat exploration prospect. On December 21, 2011, the Company purchased an additional 3.66% working interest (2.67% net revenue interest) in Mary Rose #5 (previously Eloise North). The Company has a 47.05% working interest (38.1% net revenue interest) in Dutch #5.

Offshore Properties

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), State Lease 19396 expired and was returned to the state of Louisiana. As of August 24, 2012, the interests owned by Contango through its affiliated entities in the Gulf of Mexico, which were capable of producing natural gas or oil included Eugene Island 10 #D-1, Eugene Island 10 #E-1, Eugene Island 10 #F-1, Eugene Island 10 #G-1, Eugene Island 10 #I-1, S-L 18640 #1, S-L 19266 #1, S-L 19266 #2, S-L 18860 #1, S-L 19266 #3 and S-L 19261, Ship Shoal 263, Vermilion 170 and West Delta 36. As of August 24, 2012, interests owned by Contango through its related entities in leases in the Gulf of Mexico included Eugene Island 11, East Breaks 369, South Timbalier 97, Ship Shoal 121, Ship Shoal 122, Brazos Area 543, Ship Shoal 134 and South Timbalier 75.

Onshore Exploration and Properties

As of August 24, 2012, the Company had invested in Alta Energy Canada Partnership (Alta Energy) to purchase over! 60,000 a! cres in the Kaybob Duvernay. Contango has a 2% interest in Alta Energy and a 5% interest in the Kaybob Duvernay project. On April 9, 2012, the Company announced that through its wholly owned subsidiary, Contaro Company, it had entered into a Limited Liability Company Agreement (the LLC Agreement) to form Exaro Energy III LLC (Exaro). The Company owns approximately a 45% interest in Exaro. Exaro has entered into an Earning and Development Agreement (the EDA Agreement) with Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. (Encana) to provide funding to continue the development drilling program in a defined area of Encana�� Jonah field asset located in Sublette County, Wyoming.

As of June 30, 2012, the Exaro-Encana venture had three rigs drilling, has completed five wells and achieved first production. As of August 24, 2012, the Company had invested to lease approximately 25,000 acres in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS), a shale play in central Louisiana and Mississippi.

Top 5 Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.(RCL)

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates in the cruise vacation industry worldwide. It owns five cruise brands, which comprise Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, and CDF Croisi�es de France. The Royal Caribbean International brand provides various itineraries and cruise lengths with options for onboard dining, entertainment, and other onboard activities primarily for the contemporary segment. It offers surf simulators, water parks, ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls, and shore excursions at each port of call, as well as boulevards with shopping, dining, and entertainment venues. The Celebrity Cruises brand operates onboard upscale ships that offer luxurious accommodations, fine dining, personalized services, spa facilities, venue featuring live grass, and glass blowing studio for the premium segment, as well as resells computers and other media devices. The Pullmantur brand provides an array of onboard activities and serv ices to guests, including exercise facilities, swimming pools, beauty salons, gaming facilities, shopping, dining, complimentary beverages, and entertainment venues serving the contemporary segment of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American cruise markets. The Azamara Club Cruises brand offers various onboard services, amenities, gaming facilities, fine dining, spa and wellness, butler service for suites, and interactive entertainment venues for the up-market segment of the North American, United Kingdom, German, and Australian markets. The CDF Croisieres de France brand offers seasonal itineraries to the Mediterranean; and various onboard services, amenities, entertainment venues, exercise and spa facilities, fine dining, and gaming facilities for the contemporary segment of the French cruise market. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 39 ships with a total capacity of approximately 92,650 berths. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was founded in 1968 and is headqua rtered in Miami, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Hawkinvest]

  Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) is one of Carnival's competitors in the cruise industry. Royal does not have the same issues as Carnival in terms of the Costa Concordia incident, but it could be impacted by discounting in cruise fares, as well as higher fuel costs. Royal Caribbean shares were recently downgraded to a strong sell by Zacks Investment Research, and a recent analyst report states:

  We are a bit doubtful about the cruising sector in the near term after Carnival's ship Costa Concordia ran aground in mid-January on Italy's west coast. The disaster hit the industry in the wake of the wave season between January and March. The recent tragedy resulted in subdued bookings. Royal Caribbean's overall booking volumes in North America came down. In Europe, where the incident took place, the cut in bookings has been steeper. Business in APMEA was also down slightly. The company expects a 20% decline in new bookings during the peak of wave season.

  This stock was trading below $26 in early January, but it has rallied with the markets. With oil prices trending higher, and the stock at the high end of the recent trading range, the shares look vulnerable to a pullback.

  Here are some key points for RCL:

  Current share price: $29.89

  The 52 week range is $18.70 to $45.45

  Earnings estimates for 2011: $2.32 per share

  Earnings estimates for 2012: $2.94 per share

  Annual dividend: 40 cents per share which yields about 1.3%

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Buy Right Now: Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (KOG)

Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (Kodiak) is an independent energy company focused on the exploration, exploitation, acquisition and production of crude oil and natural gas in the United States. Kodiak has developed an oil and natural gas asset base of proved reserves, as well as a portfolio of development and exploratory drilling opportunities on high-potential prospects with an emphasis on oil resource plays. The Company�� oil and natural gas reserves and operations are primarily concentrated in the Williston Basin of North Dakota. As of January 31, 2012, it had approximately 169,000 net acres under lease, including 157,000 net acres in the Bakken oil play in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana. In January 2012, the Company acquired Williston Basin oil and gas producing properties and undeveloped leasehold. On January 10, 2012, it acquired certain oil and gas leaseholds, overriding royalty interests and producing properties located in North Dakota.

Top 5 Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Schlumberger N.V.(SLB)

Schlumberger Limited, together with its subsidiaries, supplies technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas exploration and production industries worldwide. The company?s Oilfield Services segment provides exploration and production services; wireline technology that offers open-hole and cased-hole services; supplies engineering support, directional-drilling, measurement-while-drilling, and logging-while-drilling services; and testing services. This segment also offers well services; supplies well completion services and equipment; artificial lift; data and consulting services; geo services; and information solutions, such as consulting, software, information management system, and IT infrastructure services that support oil and gas industry. Its WesternGeco segment provides reservoir imaging, monitoring, and development services; and operates data processing centers and multiclient seismic library. This segment also offers variou s services include 3D and time-lapse (4D) seismic surveys to multi-component surveys for delineating prospects and reservoir management. The company?s M-I SWACO segment supplies drilling fluid systems to improve drilling performance; fluid systems and specialty tools to optimize wellbore productivity; production technology solutions to maximize production rates; and environmental solutions that manages waste volumes generated in drilling and production operations. Its Smith Oilfield segment designs, manufactures, and markets drill bits and borehole enlargement tools; and supplies drilling tools and services, tubular, completion services, and other related downhole solutions. The company?s Distribution segment markets pipes, valves, and fittings, as well as mill, safety, and other maintenance products. This segment also provides warehouse management, vendor integration, and inventory management services. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rebecca Lipman]

   Together with its subsidiaries, supplies technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas exploration and production industries worldwide. Market cap of $91.49B. EPS growth (5-year CAGR) at 24%. According to Morgan Stanley: "Thanks to an estimated $1 billion investment per year in R&D, Schlumberger has what we consider the most advanced technology portfolio in the industry."

Top 5 Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Caiterra International Energy Corp (CTI.V)

CaiTerra International Energy Corporation (Caiterra), formerly Cyterra Capital Corp., is a Canada-based company is engaged in the exploration and development of oil and gas properties. The Company�� project includes Faust, Amadou and Lac La Biche. On March 9, 2012, the Company completed its qualifying transaction with West Pacific Petroleum Inc. (WPP), pursuant to which the Company acquired all of WPP�� working interests in certain petroleum and natural gas leases and an oil sand lease in the Lac La Biche and Amadou Projects located in Alberta, Canada and certain other assets (the QT Oil and Gas Properties) from West Pacific Petroleum Inc. (WPP). On December 17, 2012 the Company acquired the Faust Property located just north of the Swan Hills oil field and south of the Town of Slave Lake.

AGCO Unveils Fuse Technologies - Analyst Blog

Top 5 Penny Stocks For 2014

AGCO Corporation (AGCO) announced a new global strategy to deal with every aspect of precision farming technology. The new technology strategy dubbed Fuse Technologies will help the customers of AGCO to improve productivity and profitability by optimizing their operations.

Precision farming or satellite farming is a farm management system which monitors intra-field variations with the help of new technologies like satellite imagery, information technology and geospatial tools.

The Fuse Technologies portfolio will include AGCO's existing telematics and data management systems and auto guidance solutions. The technology offers precision agriculture solutions to customers through seamless integration and connectivity across all farm assets.

In addition, Fuse Technologies will encompass AGCO's core products facilitating integration with technology suppliers. Professional growers will benefit from future developments of these core precision farming technologies. The technology will allow connection with current suppliers and Farm Management Information System (FMIS) software, resulting in lower input costs, less labor and higher yields.

This unique technology will provide global access to farmers through extensive dealer networks. It will also help them to gain proficiency through innovative product training in customer call center.

Duluth, Ga.-based AGCO is a global leader focused on the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery. AGCO supports more productive farming through a full line of tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage equipment, tillage, implements, grain storage and protein production systems, as well as related replacement parts.

AGCO, which belongs to the machinery and farming industry along with Kubota Corporation (KUB), Lindsay Corp (LNN) and Alamo Group, Inc. (ALG), remains committed to its plans o! f expanding business in international markets.

The company expects elevated agricultural commodity prices in 2013 which will drive farm income. However, soft demand for grain storage and protein production equipment, start-up issues at the Marktoberdorf plant and increased engineering expenses will weigh on the near-term results.

AGCO currently retains a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Technology Stock Roundup: Facebook Shines, Apple's in a ...

Last week saw technology stocks heading higher again, although some didn't quite keep up with the market.

Unlocking the Value in a Facebook "Like"

Facebook (FB) has announced a new service called Graph Search that allows users query-based access to social information in the form of posts, photographs and other content that others have shared. The service showcases the amount of personal and behavioral user data the company has accumulated, which along with its swelling monthly active users (MAUs), could be of great value to advertisers.

The single most important drawback is the quality of a Facebook like. Often, a "like" simply means "seen" or "acknowledged." Similarly, some sites require a user to "like" them for obtaining discounts. When the like doesn't reflect personal interest, it could affect the quality of search results the data generates, thereby leading to poor targeting of ads, which is the main concern. Facebook is roping in Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing to make good insufficient data, but only time will tell how effective this is.

Second, the mobile strategy has not been announced yet, although this is where it's likely to be more effective.

Another drawback is that the success of the service is dependent on the users' willingness to continue sharing personal information so advertisers can target them better. Since Facebook is more appealing to younger users who may care less about this, it is a lesser concern. It does of course mean that it is unlikely to replace the search services Google (GOOG) provides.

Microsoft's New Operating System

Microsoft announced its much-anticipated corporate shakeup last week to accelerate its conversion into a "devices and services" company. Its previous operating structure that highlighted product groups and created a good deal of infighting is now giving way to a more collaborative approach.

The device side of things – the new Devices and Studio Engineering Group --! will be headed by Julie Larson-Green. This group will include hardware development as well as games, music and entertainment. The goal is to get Microsoft devices on the same platform and create an ecosystem like that of Apple's (AAPL).

The Operating Systems Engineering Group will be headed by Terry Myerson, the Applications Services Engineering Group by Qi Lu, and the Cloud and Enterprise Engineering Group by Satya Nadella. The goal here is to develop the software and services that could position Microsoft strongly in the cloud computing market to deal with the growing competition from Amazon's (AMZN) AWS and others.

Microsoft hopes this dual focus on mobile and cloud will set up the company for future growth and help offset the persistent decline in its core computing market.

The entire company will be organized around eight functions: engineering (including supply chain and data centers), marketing, business development and evangelism, advanced strategy and research, finance, HR, legal and COO (including field, support, commercial operations and IT).

Sounds like a good plan.

Disorganized, Unprepared…Could This Be Apple?

Judge Denise Cote found Apple guilty of ebooks price-fixing back in 2010. Apple's defense was taken down systematically, but a central point was the "most favored nation," or MFN clause that served as the Trojan horse.

Apple denied that it was part of a plan to raise ebook prices, but it had an MFN agreement with the publishers that allowed it to match prices, if anyone charged less. Therefore, Apple's own actions showed that it was protecting itself from harm when prices were raised. So according to the doctrine of estoppel, Apple could not deny that it was a part of the conspiracy to raise prices.

The judge also noted that the testimony of some key witnesses was suspect inasmuch as they tried to skirt around the questions, practically perjuring themselves on occasion. On the subject of Amazon's leading m! arket pos! ition and monopolistic practices, the judge said that "Another company's alleged violation of antitrust laws is not an excuse for engaging in your own violations of law."

Apple has a high price to pay. The lack of MFN clauses could redefine the way it has to strike deals for other content such as music as well. Moreover, a defeat in this case could result in triple damages (not such a hardship for Apple) and also bring on other damages from state governments and class action lawyers. Apple should have learnt a thing or two from Google, which had Schmidt looking after government relations a couple of years back.

Amazon shares gained 7.32% last week compared to Apple's 1.75% and the Nasdaq Composite's 3.05%.

Ticker	Last Week's Performance	6 month performance
AAPL	+1.75%	-15.00%
MSFT	+4.20%	+32.65%
FB	+5.12%	-16.28%
GOOG	+2.70%	+27.62%
INTC	+1.01%	+8.64%
YHOO	+4.89%	+40.14! % !
CSCO	+5.15%	+23.70%

The week ahead –

This is a huge week for the technology sector with many companies reporting earnings. Zacks methodology indicates that of all the companies reporting, Intel (INTC) has the best chances of beating estimates, although Yahoo (YHOO), eBay (EBAY) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also have a fair chance. It's hard to tell if Microsoft, Google, International Business Machines (IBM) or Xilinx (XLNX) will beat, but read our previews on www.zacks.com to know more.

Will the iWatch Send Apple Higher?

With shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) trading around $409, is AAPL an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock's Movement

Apple designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The company's products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings. Apple also delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, iBook Store, and Mac App Store.

Apple has been one of the most innovative companies of our time. Its products exist in many homes and companies around the world and continue to see significant demand domestically and internationally. With rumored Apple products, such as the iWatch and new iPhone devices, flooding the headlines as well as announced products such as iOS 7, look for Apple to continue to deliver. Check out the five products sitting in Apple's labs right now.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Mixed

Apple stock witnessed an explosive move higher within the last decade. The stock has now pulled back from all-time highs but seems to be forming a base around these prices. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Apple is trading below its key averages which signal neutral to bearish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of Apple options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Apple Options	29.77%	90%	88%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a very significant amount of call and put options contracts, as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
July Options	Steep	Average
August Options	Steep	Average

As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and high demand by put buyers or low demand by put sellers, all neutral to bearish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a very significant amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bearish over the next two months.

On the next page, let's take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion.

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Apple's stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Apple look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3	2012 Q2
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	-17.97%	-0.43%	23.03%	19.64%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	11.27%	17.65%	27.22%	22.58%
Earnings Reaction	-0.16%	-12.35%	-0.90%	-4.31%

Apple has seen mixed earnings and rising revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have expected more from Apple's recent earnings announcements.

P = Weak Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Apple stock done relative to its peers, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and sector?

	Apple	Google	BlackBerry	Microsoft	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	-23.11%	25.99%	Hot Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2014 -13.06%	29.82%	7.24%

Apple has been a weak relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Apple provides technology products and services that continue to exceed expectations. With a number of innovative products being speculated for the company, look for these to possibly fuel a rise in the stock. The stock has been on a powerful move higher over the last several years, however, it has pulled-back and is still forming a base so it may need time before its next move. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenue figures have been on the rise, regardless, investors in the company have expected more. Relative to its peers and sector, Apple has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what Apple stock does this coming quarter.

rVue Holdings, Inc. Reports 2012 Financial Results (OTCMKTS:RVUE, OTCMKTS:CLNO)

rVue Holdings, Inc. (RVUE)

Today, RVUE has shed (-0.25%) 0.000 at $.199 with 5,000 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 9:39AM EDT July 17, 2013), but don't let this get you down.

rVue Holdings, Inc. previously reported its financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2012.

Summary Results for the Full Year of 2012: Total revenue was $602,363 for fiscal 2012; down slightly from $643,483 in the prior year. Core Fees: This is the focus of our business and source of future growth. Core revenue for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 were, $197,444 and $203,276, respectively.
Non-Core Fees: For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 were $404,919 and $440,207, respectively. The decline was due to the end of a management relationship with Auto Nation. This trend will continue in 2013 as we focus more resources on core business efforts. In addition the Mattress Firm merged with Mattress Giant and we respectfully agree not to renew for 2013 (this represented approximately $230,000 in revenue).

rVue Holdings, Inc. (RVUE) 5 day chart:

Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO)

Cleantech Transit, Inc. (OTCMKTS:CLNO) (www.cleantechtransit.net ) through its Discovery Carbon subsidiary, develops emissions offset strategies for companies, municipalities, and countries. Today, CLNO has shed (+11.11%) down -0.025 at $.200 with 580,687 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 1:06PM EDT July 17, 2013), but don't let this get you down.

CLNO's daily range is at ($.23 – $.1615) thus far and currently at $.200 would be considered a (+18081.81%) gain above the 52 wk low of $.0011. The stock is up +0.20   ( +11664.71%) since the concerning dates of January 18, 2013 – July 17, 2013. +11664.71% is the 6 month high and rightly so.

Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO ) 5 day chart:

Schwab Reveals Secret of Fastest-Growing RIAs

The fastest-growing registered investment advisors in 2012 saw net organic growth rise five times faster than all other firms because they excel at delivering "the client experience" and as a result get more referrals, according to a Schwab Advisor Services benchmarking survey released Wednesday.

Regardless of their size, these fast-growing firms generated an average of 36% more new clients from referrals than all other firms, said Jonathan Beatty (left), senior vice president of Schwab Advisor Services’ sales and relationship management, in an interview in New York on Tuesday. In addition, he noted that the top third of RIAs in the survey reported that they were on track to double their assets by 2014.

Of approximately 1,000 RIAs surveyed, the top 20% saw 2012 net organic growth (defined as the change in assets from existing clients, new clients and assets lost to client attrition) of 15% of AUM growth. This compares with 2.9% net organic growth for all other firms in the study with $250 million or more. The top firms reported more referrals than other firms (see chart) whether they managed $250 million to $500 million, $500 million to $1 billion or more than $1 billion.

“These firms have black-belt status at relationship marketing,” Beatty said, noting that the fastest growers understand their specific value proposition and ideal client profile, which makes them better able to generate more referrals through strong client and community relationships. “The client experience floats all the way through the system.”

The median RIA firm in the Schwab study ended 2012 with $572 million in AUM, an increase of 13.3% over the previous year, while overall revenues grew by 7.1% to $3.4 million in 2012.

Beatty added that revenues should hold about flat this year.

“Based on AUM, we’re predicting 7% revenue growth for RIAs in 2013 given normal market conditions,” he said.

Investment performance across peer groups accounted for 8.5% of RIAs’ growth in 2013, “reflecting sound strategies and a broadly improved market,” according to a Schwab statement.

Top 20% Are Better at Getting Referrals

The ability to offer outstanding client experiences to “the right kinds of clients” was a key trend reflected in the survey results, said Schwab Advisor Services.

“RIAs that excel at relationship cultivation benefit more from referrals from existing clients and centers of influence (COI),” according to the published survey results. “Across all peer groups, these fastest-growing firms acquired referrals from COIs at a higher rate than all other firms do from COIs and existing clients combined.”

Acquisitions Are a Theme

Although client referrals and COI are a primary channel for RIA growth, according to the study, another theme that emerged was the number of firms looking to achieve growth by mergers or acquisitions.

“Approximately 25% of RIAs in the $100 million to $1 billion AUM segment indicated they are actively seeking to acquire another firm,” Schwab Advisor Services reported. “Among firms managing $1 billion or more in AUM, 34% are actively looking to acquire another firm. Among the fastest growing firms, 1 in 5 reported plans to acquire another RIA while 1 in 3 of all other firms is looking to acquire.”

Surprisingly, Beatty said that the fastest-growing RIAs were the least interested in acquisitions.

“We see less interest in M&A from the fastest-growing firms because they’re having such success from organic growth,” he said.

In a statement accompanying the survey results, Beatty noted that a desire to grow was an undeniable trend in the RIA space.

“Although we understand growth is not the strategy of every RIA, we do see the overall industry trend is a disciplined approach to growing and to maximizing financial results,” he said. “Interestingly, we see many similarities in the practices and operation of the fastest-growing firms that lead to growth, including attracting and retaining clients through existing client referrals and their centers of influence.”

Another surprise in the survey results was the relative lack of advisor interest in technology integration — most RIAs dealt with that hot-button issue in 2011.

“Finally, technology integration appears to be reaching a critical mass, with just 38% of study firms citing it as a challenge to their firms, versus 59% saying it presented a challenge in the previous year,” Schwab Advisor Services reported. “Additionally, digital strategies in 2013 are viewed as a means to communicate and enhance the client experience. From an operational standpoint, 86% of firms now invest or plan to invest in the next 12 to 18 months in workflow technology; 73% now invest or plan to invest in mobile technologies; and 67% invest now or plan to invest in cloud-based technologies.”

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Mecklai Graph: Will Portuguese yields soar higher?

Portuguese government is set to sell 105-day and 168-day bills later during the EU session today. Recently, there have been concerns that the nation will need more money from international lenders in order to avoid default. Portugal, which is in a recession and has been lowered to junk grade by ratings agencies, has recently seen a beating on its debt with the yields sky-rocketing amid rising concerns that it could follow in Greece's footsteps in seeking restructuring.

The market response it gets today from the sale of bills will determine further directions in bond yields. Should the auction be met with lower demand, Portuguese bonds are likely to pare their early week recovery (which has been partly on the back of an upbeat EU summit), which in turn may push benchmark 10-yr yield back towards its recently breached Euro-era high.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Top 10 Biotech Stocks To Watch Right Now

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iShares Expands Bond Listings; State Street Launches ...

Stocks rallied this week after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke quelled fears of the Fed scaling back its massive bond-buying program, reassuring that the economy still needs "highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future." With earnings season just underway and analyst expectations still low, this rally may not last long, but two ETF issuers decided to take advantage of the post holiday market euphoria .



Market veteran State Street, introduced a new way to gain exposure to Small Caps:

SPDR Russell 2000 ETF : Building it's own portfolio based on the Russell 2000, State Street released this new fund just after Independence day and already TWOK is making a dent in the existing Russell funds; IWM and VTWO .iShares has once again expanded it's already extensive lineup, focusing on global corporate bonds with a range of expiration dates :

iSharesBond 2016 Corporate Term ETF iSharesBond 2018 Corporate Term ETF iSharesBond 2020 Corporate Term ETF iSharesBond 2023 Corporate Term ETF Follow me on Twitter @lynpaintzall



Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.

Whirlpool Jumps On Earnings Beat: Should You Own Its Stock?

Whirlpool's (NYSE:WHR) Q2 adjusted earnings were better than expected sending its stock up more than 8% in heavy trading July 19. If you currently own its stock you might be wondering if you should take some profits given it's almost doubled in the past year. Others, who don't own, might be encouraged to get on board. Read on and I'll tell you what you should do in both cases.

Excellent Returns
Since Whirlpool hit a five-year low of $19.19 in March 2009, its stock's achieved an annualized total return of 59%, more than double the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY), which gained 26% over those same 52 months. Believers of reversion to the mean will definitely see this as a danger sign. In their minds it's gone too far too fast and will need a cooling-off period. But that's just one point of view.

Gross-Profit-to-Assets
In the July 17 issue of the Globe and Mail, Ian McGugan looks at the concept of gross-profit-to-assets (GPA). He references a couple of people familiar with this relatively unknown method for selecting stocks. One of them, Robert Novy-Marx, is an associate professor of finance at the University of Rochester and believes that GPA, when compared to industry peers, is a better way of finding winning stocks than metrics like earnings or cash flow. Using the following criteria: (1) GPA ratio higher than peers, (2) gross profit increase over the past year, and (3) a positive change in the consensus analyst estimate over the past 90 days, McGugan came up with a list of 25 stocks. Whirlpool wasn't on it or any of its peers. Not to worry. In the table below I'll compare it to three of its nearest competitors based on market cap. This should provide a good indication whether Whirlpool's got more gas in the tank or not.

Whirlpool and Peers

Company	Gross-profit-to-Assets	% Change Gross Profit Past Year	Positive Earnings Revision Past 90 Days
Whirlpool	0.19	12.3%	Yes
Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK)	0.23	-2.4%	No
Parker-Hannafin (NYSE:PH)	0.29	7.8%	No
Textron (NYSE:TXT)	0.17	12.8%	Yes

Granted this is a small sample but the figures above send both positive and negative signals. In terms of GPA, Whirlpool delivers a gross-profit-to-assets ratio of 19%, 400 basis points lower than the average of its three peers. On the other hand, it grew its gross profit by 12.3% in 2012, 620 basis points better than the average of its peers.

Now, if we compare the four companies over the past five years, we get a slightly different picture. Whirlpool's average gross-profit-to-assets ratio over the past five years was 17%, 200 basis points lower than in 2012. Its peers also did better in 2012 with a GPA ratio 300 basis points higher than their average over the past five years.

Over the past four years, Whirlpool increased its gross profit by a cumulative 14.6%. Meanwhile, thanks to Textron falling out of bed, its peers averaged a cumulative decline of 2.7%, considerably worse than Whirlpool. However, if you take Textron out of the mix, Stanley Black & Decker and Parker-Hannafin grew by a cumulative 14.2%, only 60 basis points less than Whirlpool.

What Does It Mean?
It means that Whirlpool's 87% gain over the past 52 weeks is the market's way of rewarding the company for a job well done. Its Q2 results indicate it's a company on the rise. It now expects earnings per share as high as $10 in 2013, something it's never done. With a PEG ratio of 0.6 and a forward P/E ratio of 9.0, Whirlpool has PEG payback of just 5.2 years. This means that it will take just a little over five years to earn $128.91 per share. Any time you can do that you're in a great position.

Bottom Line
There's no doubt Whirlpool's on the rise. It fought hard through the recession and housing crisis and has come out the other side in great shape. If it can get operating margins above 6%, like they were a decade ago, $200 a share is well within reach by this time next summer.

If you already own its stock, you might consider taking some profits although I'd continue to maintain a position. If you can pick up some shares on future weakness at $110 or below--you should. If you don't own already, I'd buy some now with the intention of buying more on weakness below $110. You might consider a third now, another third should it fall below $110 and a final third below $100. I'm not sure if all that will come to pass but if so, I think you can still make money even though you're late to the party.

Are your jewellers taking the shine off your gold?

With gold prices continuing to stay at elevated levels, buying lump-sum quantities of gold has become unaffordable. To put this in context, when the gold prices were low, people used to buy quite a large amount of gold in one go. With gold prices rising multi fold, buying similar quantities has become indeed difficult on account of budget constraints.

Markets respond to changed behavior
The big shift is well catered by products that facilitate small regular purchases and help buyers accumulate the intended quantity over their respective time horizons. There are various forms available today to build a golden nest. These range from simple structures of buying coins at regular intervals to more structured ones of automated systematic investments or gold accumulation plans.

It is really confusing to opt for the right product. One usually ends up enrolling for unsuitable or inefficient ones. The major issue is that many of these structures are fraught with risk; be it price risk, liquidity risk, counterpart risk or all of the above.

Inefficient and Fraught with risks
Often, it is seen that customers get lured by the bonuses offered by gold savings / accumulation plans offered by many jewellers. The additional installment paid by the jeweller at the end of the term works as an illusion that masks the inherent deficiencies and risks. What the jewellers offer is in some sense a mere combination of a fixed deposit being converted into gold at maturity. The additional installment paid by the jeweller works nothing more than simple interest you would have earned over the period if you had parked in a fixed deposit. Most of the jewellers may use this money to fund their working capital requirement.

The important issue here is that the price at which you would buy gold will be one prevailing at the end of the term. So, if you have started today for a one year plan then you get the gold rate that would be prevailing at the end of the term i.e. one at the end of 12 months from today. If you had enrolled for such plans over the last few years then you would have bought gold at a much higher price than what you had started with. It may benefit you if the gold price is lower at the end of the term but it's more like taking your chances. The ideal way is to average your cost as you pay each installment. But this doesn't happen in most of the schemes prevailing currently. Some may offer this but it would attract high and recurring administrative charges.

The other issue with such plans is that they are highly non liquid. Some may even not allow closing before the end of the term. Even if they allow, you will lose your bonus installment. You can only buy gold with the accumulated amount and not use it for any other purpose in case you have an emergency. They would only permit you to buy gold jewelry (not even coins and bars) from their stores only. This is because the jewelry would earn them margins over and above the gold price (retail mark ups) + Jewelry making charges (plus wastage charges).

One of the important reasons you invest in gold is that it is free from counter party risk. Once you enroll in such a scheme you are taking a counter party exposure on the jeweller. Unlike Gold ETFs, the money invested by you is not used to back it with physical gold of equivalent quantities. As mentioned earlier the jeweller may use the amount to fund his/her working capital requirement. A jeweller is running a business and a wrong cycle or a wrong call can lead to huge losses beyond repair which can even stretch to defaults in a worst case scenario. Thus, it is up to you if you would like to entail a counter party exposure and invite associated risks.

The most efficient way to buy gold is…..
It is a known fact that Gold ETFs are highly efficient investment vehicles due to a host of advantages it offers. Gold ETF's are price efficient. One can avoid the huge markups associated with buying physical gold even buying lower denominations as low as half gram. The most important thing to note is that Gold ETFs are backed by physical gold making it as good as gold plus, the hassle free investment in gold it offers. One doesn't have to worry about the storage, purity and safety of the gold. It is held by the custodian in secured vaults and there is an insurance cover for the entire gold as well.

But, one needs discipline to buy gold ETFs as they are available on the exchange where they are listed. You need to buy it in a similar way you would buy an equity share. So, its not automated, you need to be disciplined to invest on every time period chosen by you to meet your goals.

If you feel that it would be difficult to do it yourself then you can opt for Gold Savings Funds which are nothing but a logical extension to Gold ETFs. Those who want to invest in gold at regular intervals in a systematic manner, can consider gold saving funds (which generally operates like a Fund of Funds (FoF) scheme which invests their corpus into an underlying Gold ETFs), since they offer the SIP mode of investing which provide you with the benefit of rupee-cost averaging and automated investments at regular time periods chosen by you, enabling you to fulfill your gold accumulation target.

The Way forward
The only issue is that with Gold ETFs, you can only get delivery of physical gold above a certain size like 1 Kg and in multiples thereof. And with Gold Savings Fund, it is not possible to do so. Since, these forms are ideal way to own / invest in gold, one should only look at converting it only when they want it for consumption i.e. usage purpose. Say for e.g.: one needs to buy a set of jewelry for their marriage then one can sell their gold funds and use that cash for buying the jewelry. Until then keep them in form of Gold ETFs / Gold Savings Fund. While it will be some time before we in India adopt this method but it is hoped that jewellers start accepting gold ETF units in lieu of jewelry, one wants to buy. Currently as they do exchange jewelry for physical gold; similarly they should extend it to Gold ETFs as well. This will enable to pass on the efficiency and transparency to the actual users of gold.

DISLAIMER: Mr. Chirag Mehta is Fund Manager (Commodity) of Quantum Asset Management Company Private Limited. The views expressed in this column are his own and do not represent those of either Quantum AMC or Moneycontrol.

Buffett Partnership Letter Series - 1957 (Part 1)

In this article, we will look at the first part of the Buffett partnership letter covering 1957.

My examination of the 1957 partnership letter will be broken up into two different articles (or parts). This first article (Part 1) deals with "The General Stock Market Picture in 1957." The second article (Part 2) will deal with the partnership's activities and results for 1957.

For your reference, all indented/italicized text below is a direct quote from the 1957 partnership letter.

With that out of the way, let's get started.


The General Stock Market Picture in 1957

In last year's letter to partners, I said the following:

My view of the general market level is that it is priced above intrinsic value. This view relates to blue-chip securities. This view, if accurate, carries with it the possibility of a substantial decline in all stock prices, both undervalued and otherwise. In any event I think the probability is very slight that current market levels will be thought of as cheap five years from now. Even a full-scale bear market, however, should not hurt the market value of our work-outs substantially.

If the general market were to return to an undervalued status our capital might be employed exclusively in general issues and perhaps some borrowed money would be used in this operation at that time. Conversely, if the market should go considerably higher our policy will be to reduce our general issues as profits present themselves and increase the work-out portfolio.

All of the above is not intended to imply that market analysis is foremost in my mind. Primary attention is given at all times to the detection of substantially undervalued securities.

The past year witnessed a moderate decline in stock prices. I stress the word "moderate" since casual reading of the press or conversing with those who have had only recent experience with stocks would tend to create an impression of a much greater decline. Actually, it appears to! me that the decline in stock prices has been considerably less than the decline in corporate earning power under present business conditions. This means that the public is still very bullish on blue chip stocks and the general economic picture. I make no attempt to forecast either business or the stock market; the above is simply intended to dispel any notions that stocks have suffered any drastic decline or that the general market, is at a low level. I still consider the general market to be priced on the high side based on long term investment value.

There are a number of interesting points in the above section:

1. Buffett attempted to value the general market level as it related to blue-chip securities.

2. Buffett mentioned that there was a possibility of a substantial decline in all stock prices, "both undervalued and otherwise." Thus, in a general market decline, all stocks can get cheaper – even those that were undervalued/cheap before the decline.

3. Buffett is always thinking in terms of probabilities. For example, in the first paragraph, he talks about "the possibility of a substantial decline in all stock prices," and he writes that "the probability is very slight that current market levels will be thought of as cheap five years from now."

4. Buffett mentions that: "Even a full-scale bear market... should not hurt the market value of our work-outs substantially." (Note: A little later in the 1957 letter, Mr. Buffett defines a work-out as follows: "A work-out is an investment which is dependent on a specific corporate action for its profit rather than a general advance in the price of the stock as in the case of undervalued situations. Work-outs come about through: sales, mergers, liquidations, tenders, etc. In each case, the risk is that something will upset the applecart and cause the abandonment of the planned action, not that the economic picture will deteriorate and stocks decline generally.")

5. Buffett states: "Prima! ry attent! ion is given at all times to the detection of substantially undervalued securities." Thus, first and foremost, Buffett focuses on finding undervalued securities. This means that his portfolio is not driven by market analysis. However, having said that, Buffett has probably recognized a pattern over time: When the general market is undervalued, his portfolio seems to contain more "general issues" (i.e. generally undervalued securities); and when the market is higher (or overvalued), his portfolio seems to contain more work-outs. (Note: This is probably not due to some grand design on Buffett's part. It's probably just where he's finding the most value at different levels of the market.) This makes intuitive sense from an investor's standpoint: When the market is low, owning "general issues" is probably more attractive (from a risk-reward standpoint) than owning work-outs; and when the market is higher, owning work-outs probably becomes more attractive relative to owning "general issues."

6. Buffett might consider using borrowed money to buy "general issues" if the general market were to become undervalued. (I find it very interesting that Buffett would entertain the idea of using borrowed money to buy "general issues," even though that could subject him to price fluctuation risk. However, it probably doesn't make sense to read too much into this statement, as Buffett doesn't say at what level of undervaluation, or under what conditions, he would use leverage.)

7. Buffett characterizes the previous year's decline in stock prices by comparing the decline in stock prices versus the decline in corporate earning power under present business conditions. He states "…it appears to me that the decline in stock prices has been considerably less than the decline in corporate earning power under present business conditions. This means that the public is still very bullish on blue chip stocks and the general economic picture." For this reason, he characteriz! ed the pr! evious year's decline in stock prices as "moderate." However, interestingly enough, the press and other individuals new to the stock market "would tend to create an impression of a much greater decline."

8. Buffett makes "no attempt to forecast either business or the stock market." While Buffett doesn't attempt to forecast business or the stock market (because he doesn't know exactly how the future is going to play out), he still tries to roughly value the underlying businesses that make up the stock market (based on his assessment of possible outcomes and probabilities). Then, he takes this rough valuation and compares it to the current stock market level in order to make a general determination as to whether the market is overvalued, undervalued or fairly valued. For example, Buffett states in the last line of the above section: "I still consider the general market to be priced on the high side based on long term investment value."

Thanks for reading my thoughts on Part 1 of the 1957 Buffett partnership letter. Stay tuned for my thoughts on Part 2 of this letter.


Links to other articles in the Buffett Partnership Series:

Next article: Buffett Partnership Letter Series – 1957 (Part 2)

Previous (introductory) article: Buffett Partnership Letter Series

Is Molycorp Showing Signs of Life?

With shares of Molycorp (NYSE:MCP) trading at around $5.83, is MCP an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

C = Catalyst for the Stock's Movement

Bankruptcy? A deep-pocketed partner? Consistent insider buying! Revenue increases! Electric vehicles! These are just a few questions and points that are often made about Molycorp. It has been an atrocious performer over the past year, and this has been while the market is hitting all-time highs. On the other hand, the stock has performed well over the past month. Is it possible that the stock has bottomed? If so, why?

Let's take a look at the negatives first. The big problem is pretty basic, which is increased supply and weak demand for rare earths. Molycorp has seen significant price declines, which is never a good sign. It's also bleeding money, and cash flows and margins are weak. In addition to that, the short position has increased over the past month. This likely has to do with the recent rise in the stock price. It has also made for an interesting situation. If the longs are correct and the stock moves higher, it will be aided by a short squeeze. On the other hand, even if the longs are correct about the company's potential, what happens if the broader market comes back down to realistic levels? Molycorp isn't likely to perform well in that type of environment.

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Molycorp operates in four segments: Resources, Chemicals & Oxides, Magnetic Materials & Alloys, and Rare Metals. There is obviously a lot of potential, but it has been nothing but potential for quite some time now. In addition to having to deal with weak demand, Molycorp must figure out how to best navigate the supply chain.

It should be noted that Molycorp is a highly innovative company. It's just that many of these innovations might be too early, poorly timed based on demand, and too costly. That said, we should at least take a quick look. Unfortunately, not many people bother going to Molycorp's website. Don't worry; you still don't have to visit the site. Their innovations are covered below.

Ore Milling & Processing

Molycorp's new facility incorporates a variety of operational improvements to dramatically increase rare earth recovery rates, which will extend the life of the resource.

Chemical Reagent Use

Molycorp's new facility will recycle salt water produced in the operation and use it as a feedstock to produce new chemical reagents in a continuous closed recycling loop.

Power Generation & Use

The on-site natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant at the new facility will provide high quality power and steam, increasing system efficiency and greatly cutting production costs.  Other combustion operations across the new facility will use cleaner-burning natural gas.

Fresh Water Use

Molycorp's new facility will recycle process water used in the operation, dramatically reducing the need for fresh water.

Waste Water Production

The new plant at Mountain Pass will be a near-zero wastewater disposal facility, recycling virtually all process water.

Evaporation Ponds

Molycorp's new facility will recycle process wastewater, eliminating the need for over 120 acres of evaporation ponds.

Tailings Dams

Molycorp's new facility will form a paste by removing most of the water from tailings. The water will be recycled and the paste will be deposited in successive layers that achieve structural integrity in a short time period, eliminating the need for a tailings dam.

Air Emissions

Molycorp's new processes will increase overall system efficiency and reduce air emissions – including CO2 – as compared to the business-as-usual technology approach.

Now let's take a look at some comparative numbers. The chart below compares fundamentals for Molycorp, Rare Element Resources Ltd. (AMEX:REE), and Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX:AVL). Molycorp has a market cap of $1.10 billion, Rare Element Resources has a market cap of $82.26 million, and Avalon Rare Metals has a market cap of $113.01 million.

	MCP	REE	AVL
Trailing   P/E	N/A	N/A	N/A
Forward   P/E	26.54	N/A	N/A
Profit   Margin	-85.00%	N/A	N/A
ROE	-42.00%	N/A	-8.37%
Operating   Cash Flow	-$89.64 Million	-$24.79 Million	-$5.74 Million
Dividend   Yield	N/A	N/A	N/A
Short   Position	N/A	2.00%	N/A

 

Let's take a look at some more important numbers prior to forming an opinion on this stock.

E = Equity to Debt Ratio Is Weak        

The debt-to-equity ratio for Molycorp is weaker than the industry average of 0.40.

	Debt-To-Equity	Cash	Long-Term Debt
MCP	0.98	$227.79 Million	$1.23 Billion
REE	0.00	$47.36 Million	$0
AVL	0.00	$20.36 Million	$0

 

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T = Technicals Are Improving  

Molycorp has been one of the weakest performers throughout the broader market over the past year. However, this was an industry-wide trend. The past month has been much better. Is this upward move sustainable?

	1 Month	Year-To-Date	1 Year	3 Year
MCP	11.47%	-38.24%	-78.08%	N/A
REE	-10.63%	-45.59%	-62.70%	-40.23%
AVL	6.86%	-19.85%	-53.02%	-53.62%

 

At $5.83, Molycorp is trading above its 50-day SMA, but below its 100-day SMA and 200-day SMA.

50-Day   SMA	5.69
100-Day   SMA	7.24
200-Day   SMA	9.33

 

E = Earnings Have Been Weak                              

Earnings are the problem. If Molycorp can get back to showing a profit, it would be a home run. Revenue growth has been good.

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Revenue   ($)in   millions	N/A	7.09	35.16	396.83	528.91
Diluted   EPS ($)	N/A	-0.72	-0.81	1.27	-4.31

 

When we look at the previous quarter on a year-over-year basis, we see an in increase in revenue and a decline in earnings.

	12/2011	3/2012	6/2012	9/2012	12/2012
Revenue   ($)in   millions	123.90	84.47	104.58	205.60	134.26
Diluted   EPS ($)	0.31	-0.07	-0.71	-0.19	-2.88

 

Now let's take a look at the next page for the Trends and Conclusion. Is this stock an OUTPERFORM, a WAIT AND SEE, or a STAY AWAY?

T = Trends Do Not Support the Industry

Companies throughout the industry are going to have a difficult time raising capital to finance exploration. There has also been increased supply and decreased demand, which has led to price deterioration. The industry will shrink, but nobody knows which companies will survive.

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Conclusion

The Molycorp picture isn't a pretty one. There is potential if everything falls into place at the right time, but the odds of this happening aren't very good. At this level, Molycorp is a WAIT AND SEE. The May 9 earnings announcement should paint a much clearer picture.

Can Delta Avoid Turbulence in 2013?

Less than ten years ago, four of the seven major airlines in the U.S. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The airline industry has proved an erratic environment for investors ever since; however, with Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL) up almost 130 percent since September, is it time to take a serious look at airline stocks again? Let's use our Cheat Sheet investing framework to decide whether Delta is an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY.

C = Catalysts for the Stock's Movement

Top Energy Companies To Watch In Right Now

A major reason for the success of Delta and its peers over the past several years is the re-consolidation of the airline business. Four significant mergers since 2008 are helping return stability to the industry. Capacity has decreased and airlines have gotten some pricing power back. One such merger was Delta and Virgin Atlantic.

Delta acquired a 49 percent stake in Richard Branson's airline from Singapore Airlines last December. This merger will give Delta increased market share at London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports.

E = Earnings Growth is Mixed

Delta's year-over-year earnings growth pattern is extremely erratic. While Delta generated a 1.03 percent revenue increase and free cash flow of $457 million during the first quarter this year, earnings per share fell nearly 100 percent from the first quarter in 2012. The decline was mostly due to increased salary expenses and investment in operations; as a result, operating margins fell by 60 basis points. Revenue growth at the airline paints a much prettier picture and is steadily increasing each quarter. This attractive pattern in revenue growth can be attributed to increased yields from domestic flights, but the sporadic earnings growth is a huge red flag, especially for risk-averse investors.

	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3	2012 Q2	2012 Q1
EPS YoY Growth	-93.33%	-98.60%	89.23%	N/A	N/A
Revenue YoY Growth	1.03%	2.42%	1.09%	6.33%	8.60%

S = Support Is Provided by Institutional Investors but Not Company Insiders 

Delta has been getting a lot of love from “smart money” as of late. Sixty-eight hedge funds currently hold Delta in their portfolio — up 10 percent from the previous quarter. Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz, has $576.9 million invested in Delta. Wayzata Investment Partners owns the second highest amount of Delta, with a long position of $565.4 million. Unfortunately, insiders have not been as enthusiastic about the stock — execs have sold around a quarter of a million shares in the past two months.

T = Technicals Are Strong

Delta closed at a price of $19.36 on Monday, above both its 200-day moving average of $15.70 and its 50-day moving average of $18.38. The airline is experiencing a strong uptrend since December. The stock has been on a tear since September – up almost 130 percent since it posted its 52-week low of $8.42 on September 4. The stock posted a fresh 52-week high on Monday of $19.73.

Conclusion

Delta impressed analysts with its first-quarter earnings figures, and the airline industry appears to be operating with some semblance of stability recently. Delta, however, has been unable to show that it can generate steady earnings per share growth due to the high variability of its operating expenses. The erratic increases in operating expenses are partially a result of the volatile industry and partially a result of Delta's management team. For example, Delta recently acquired a refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, last May. The refinery is supposed to save $300 million in fuel costs but has posted losses in two straight quarters. Despite some poor managerial decisions, the outlook of the airline industry looks better compared to the last few years. Investors should WAIT AND SEE if Delta can post steady earnings numbers and profit margins in the next quarter before deciding to initiate a long position.

5 FTSE 100 Shares You Should Have Bought in May

LONDON -- May was a less bullish month for FTSE 100 companies than the previous couple of months, with caution creeping back for the final two weeks. We still saw a number of companies whose shares did well over the month, but the big question is which of them look like they have further to go.

I've chosen five that gained during May and that I think still have more to give to shareholders over the long run:

Marks & Spencer
After a few years of going nowhere, the Marks & Spencer Group  (LSE: MKS  ) share price was always going to recover, right? Well, it has been rising in recent months, but it took on fresh impetus after the company's annual results on May 21. Over the whole of the month, the shares gained 62 pence (15%) to end on 471 pence.

Pre-tax profit did fall 14% with earnings per share down 10%, but that was pretty much as expected, and overall sales were up 1.3%, with that all-important multichannel sales figure up 17%. Business seems to be picking up overseas, too, with international sales up 4.5% -- businesses owned in China and India did well. There's earnings growth forecast for the next two years, with the shares on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 14 for 2014, and a dividend yield of 3.8% is expected. May might just have been the turnaround month.

TUI Travel
TUI Travel  (LSE: TT  ) shares gained 45 pence (14%) during May to end the month on 359 pence -- and they've more than doubled over the past 12 months. Emerging from the depths of the financial crisis, TUI turned in two years of earnings growth in 2011 and 2012, and analysts are forecasting a further 10% per year for the next two years, putting the shares on a forward P/E for this year of 12.5 -- it falls to 11.5 for 2014. The dividend has been rising, too, with a yield of 3.6% expected this year.

The future? Well, TUI this week announced a commitment to invest $12 billion in buying new Boeing aircraft, which are more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

easyJet
Talking of planes, easyJet  (LSE: EZJ  ) has had another great month, with its share price climbing another 149 pence (13%) to 1,266 pence. And again, easyJet looks to be facing the future with enthusiasm, snapping up 25 pairs of arrival and departure slots at Gatwick airport from Flybe Group for 20 million pounds.

Also similarly to TUI shares, the easyJet price has risen by 150% over the past 12 months, but it's still not on an obviously excessive forward valuation. In fact, its P/E based on September 2013 forecasts is 15, and that drops to 13.5 for 2014. I wouldn't bet against easyJet shares going on to even better things over the next few years.

Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Buy Right Now

Admiral
The insurance sector has had a turbulent year, with a handful of famous dividend cuts. But May wasn't such a bad time, and we saw shares in motor insurer Admiral  (LSE: ADM  ) pick up 57 pence (4.4%) to close the month on 1,338 pence. Despite having fallen from higher levels earlier in 2013, Admiral shares are still up 25% over the past 12 months, which is pretty much bang on the overall FTSE performance.

The firm has shown steady earnings growth, with a 16% rise reported for the year to December 2012. For this year, there's a further earning rise predicted, but of more interest is Admiral's dividend -- there's a total yield of 6.3% forecast with the shares on a P/E of a modest 13.5. The caution is that about half that payment is expected to be in the form of a special dividend -- but Admiral has declared a special dividend every year since it joined the stock market in 2004.

Antofagasta
With the way the mining sector is going these days, I just have to include one with a view to a long-term recovery, and it's going to have to be Antofagasta  (LSE: ANTO  ) . OK, the share price is actually down on its end-of-April close, but since its May 2 low of 879 pence, it has regained 67 pence (7.6%) to end the month on 946 pence.

Antofagasta's woes have been largely due to the falling price of copper, over which the firm has no control. But production volumes are up, and recent forecasts are suggesting an upturn in earnings again for 2014 -- and there will surely be a recovery in metals and minerals prices, won't there?

Finally, if you're looking for top-quality investments in the U.K.'s biggest and best companies that should take you all the way to a comfortable retirement, I recommend the Fool's special new report detailing five blue-chip shares. They'll be familiar names to many, and they've already provided investors with decades of profits.

But the report will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your hands on these great ideas -- they could set you on the road to long-term riches.

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Why Cummins Is Poised to Outperform

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, diesel engine manufacturer Cummins (NYSE: CMI  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Cummins and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Cummins facts

Headquarters (founded)	Columbus, Ind. (1919)
Market Cap	$21.9 billion
Industry	Diversified machinery
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$16.8 billion
Management	Chairman/CEO Thomas Linebarger CFO Patrick Ward
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)	29.3%
Cash/Debt	$1.7 billion / $803.0 million
Dividend Yield	1.7%
Competitors	Caterpillar Navistar International

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 96% of the 1,706 members who have rated Cummins believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just last week, one of those Fools, yomanlyman, succinctly summed up the Cummins bull case for our community:

I like that the company is well regarded by its industry and its competitors. It is recognized for its focus on sustainability, community and is well positioned if a natural gas transportation infrastructure is built out in the United States. One of its competitor's, Navistar, was forced to subcontract out to Cummins to meet more stringent EPA requirements on it engines. The company is riding out an international recession, but should profit if companies worldwide begin to spend again on more efficient and sustainable machinery.   

If you want market-thumping returns, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Of course, despite a perfect five-star rating, Cummins may not be your top choice.

We've found another stock we are incredibly excited about -- excited enough to dub it "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." We have compiled a special free report for investors to uncover this stock today. The report is 100% free, but it won't be here forever, so click here to access it now.

Can Apple's Design Guru Fill Steve Jobs' Shoes?

When Steve Jobs died on Oct. 5, 2011, many investors were afraid the company's best days were now in the past. The legacy leader, many argued, is simply irreplaceable. With Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) stock severely lagging the S&P 500's 47% surge since Jobs' death, investors are desperate. Arguably, Apple hasn't yet had the time to prove itself since his passing. But two and a half years later, investors are tired of waiting. Apple needs another wave of innovation. In hopefulness, heads are turning toward Apple's design guru, Jony Ive.

New responsibilities
"To receive the honor of knighthood and to be a Knight Commander, Civil Division, Sir Jonathan Ive -- for services to design and to enterprise." The words echoed in the Buckingham Palace as Jony Ive knelt before the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace last May.

At that time, Ive wasn't the executive in the limelight. Instead, the focus was on Scott Forstall, the executive in charge of Apple's mobile software division, overseeing the iOS operating system on the iPhone and the iPad. Numerous times he was highlighted as the person who had the Steve Jobs-like qualities that Apple would need to stay competitive.

Hot Heal Care Companies To Buy Right Now

Forstall "was as close to Steve as anybody at the company," said an ex-Apple exec to Businessweek. "When he says stuff, people listen."

That all ended abruptly, however, when Forstall was fired last October, after he reportedly refused to sign an apology for the Apple Maps fiasco.

Apple CEO Tim Cook replaced many of Forstall's responsibilities with an expanded role for Ive. The management shake-up was evidence of Apple's confidence in the lead designer behind nearly every revolutionary product Apple has launched since the iMac.

Jony Ive. Source: Apple press info.

Ive's new role gave him leadership of the Human Interface teams in addition to his role as head of industrial design. In other words, Apple's renowned hardware mastermind had been handed responsibility on the software side.

Signs of Ive in iOS 7?
Ive will undoubtedly have a large influence on Apple's iOS, the operating system behind its iPhone and iPad. In fact, Rumors of Ive's influence on iOS 7 are already surfacing.

All Things D reports that anonymous sources from Apple told them iOS 7 will be "de-glitzed" and receive "a much-needed 'de-Forstallization.'" Say goodbye to skeuomorphisms, or imitations of physical objects and textures like polished, wooden bookshelves (iBooks) and faux leather (Calendar and Contacts apps). Ive's redesigns are said to be simpler and "flat."

Will Ive's success translate to software?
Amidst fierce competition, Apple needs more than great ideas. Fortunately, Ive brings more to the table than that. As Time magazine wrote:

His genius is not just his ability to see what others cannot but also how he applies it. To watch him with his workmates in the holy of holies, Apple's design lab, or on a night out is to observe a very rare esprit de corps. They love their boss, and he loves them.

If Ive's unblemished record in hardware design carries over to software, Apple investors may be in for some good years ahead. But give it some time. As Time wrote, "His team are Jedi whose nobility depends on the pursuit of greatness over profit, believing the latter will always follow the former, stubbornly passing up near-term good opportunities to pursue great ones in the distance."

Apple has a history of cranking out revolutionary products ... and then creatively destroying them with something better. Read about the future of Apple in the free report, "Apple Will Destroy Its Greatest Product." Can Apple really disrupt its own iPhones and iPads? Find out by clicking here.

Buy, Sell, or Hold: Sustainable Transit Edition

In the following interview, we speak with Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time. Speck is an architect and city planner in Washington, D.C., oversaw the Mayor's Institute on City Design, and served on the Sustainability Task Force of the Department of Homeland Security.

Speck joins us for a "Buy, Sell, or Hold" segment on sustainable transit issues such as car sharing, driverless cars, and the Segway, and then explains why market-oriented parking solutions and car-sharing programs are a "buy," while Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) driverless car is a "sell."

A transcript follows the video.

The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

Isaac Pino: Let's wrap things up. One of the things we do here at the Fool is a "Buy, Sell, or Hold" segment.

Jeff Speck: I'm ready.

Pino: I think you were a fan of the Fool's podcast, back in the day.

Speck: It wasn't a podcast. We had something called "radio."

Pino: Right, the radio. What is this you speak of?

Speck: You turn these knobs ...

Pino: We'll put you on the hot seat, and you can answer these however you want. If you want to take some time to explain --

Speck: I like the rapid fire, so I'll just say "buy," "sell," or "hold."

Pino: All right, well, let's get it started. The first one is congestion pricing.

Speck: Buy.

Pino: Buy congestion pricing?

Speck: Yes.

Pino: In the near term?

Speck: You're not going to go fast?

Pino: All right, fast.

Speck: Just go fast. Let's get it over with.

Pino: Shopping malls -- the future of shopping malls?

Speck: Sell.

Pino: Sell shopping malls. Tax incentives to attract employers?

Speck: Sell.

Pino: Sell. Market-oriented solutions to parking?

Speck: Buy.

Pino: Does that include ... you discussed privatizing the parking, like Chicago did with Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS  ) .

Speck: Sell.

Pino: Sell that idea. Car-sharing ideas -- Zipcar.

Speck: Buy. Yeah, absolutely.

Pino: All right, buy that.

Speck: What's the new one that I should recommend to all of you?

Audience member: Car2Go?

Speck: There's Car2Go, but ... oh, he's going to kill me. This colleague of mine has a new one where you all give each other rides. SideCar. SideCar looks fantastic.

Pino: RelayRides, I think, is another one like that. All right, electric cars going mainstream?

Speck: Hold.

Pino: Hold that. Google's driverless car?

Speck: Sell.

Pino: All right. Streetcars?

Speck: Buy.

Pino: Finally, Segways?

Speck: No, streetcars get someone else to buy. That's the trick. Segways, I would sell.

Pino: Sell Segways.

Speck: Yeah, these do deserve some elaboration.

A chapter of my book is stolen from Don Shoup, who wrote the book The High Cost of Free Parking. It's an amazing book, but it's 723 pages and three and a half pounds. It's written as well as any book you'll read, but no one buys a book that big for their pleasure, so I took his book and turned it into a chapter, with his blessing.

It's amazing just how badly we do parking in America. We don't allow it to operate according to market principles, but certainly the smart cities now slowly are beginning to price their parking to get the desired outcome, which is why parking meters were invented in the first place: to have empty spaces -- not many, but a few empty spaces -- in front of shops on a regular basis so people don't have to circle to park and so merchants can sell stuff, so Daddy Warbucks can pull in, in front of the furrier, when he wants to make that purchase.

It's a much longer discussion, though, and you should just read the book.

Electric cars, I think, are the right answer to the wrong question, as are any solution that makes it cleaner and cheaper to drive.

What we've seen, and the one example I have is in Sweden -- where they have the world's largest incentive program for buying hybrid and green cars, and they've achieved the world's largest population of hybrid and green cars -- is that CO2 emissions have gone up, ostensibly as a result. Because people feel so good driving around in their super-green cars, that that one moral constraint, or ethical constraint, to driving is gone.

What I've seen happen in the U.S. is that the hybrids are getting bigger. Have you noticed this? The hybrids are getting bigger and bigger, and now some of them get worse ... there's a Ford (NYSE: F  ) Explorer hybrid that gets half the mileage of a conventional Geo Metro.

Hybrid doesn't mean anything, except you're getting potentially better mileage than you would, and by the way, you've got a huge battery to get rid of at some point.

The experience is that, thanks to the Jevons paradox -- am I pronouncing that right? Look it up, Jevons paradox -- it basically shows how, when technology has become more efficient and cheaper to use, we use so much more of it that any gains in efficiency are made up for in increased use of that technology.

Then the driverless car -- I read a really good article that I don't remember the name of, about Google's driverless car, but it's one of these circumstances where it's very easy to imagine a long-term outcome in which every car on the street is driverless, but it's impossible to imagine an intermediate stage.

It's all wonderful to imagine a future reality, but if you can't imagine a successful path to that reality, it's not going to happen, and no one seems to have done that math with the driverless car.

Pino: They'll have to banish it in certain cities and only allow driverless cars.

Speck: I don't know, yeah.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now

If you sort the stocks on the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) by price-to-earnings ratio, one thing becomes immediately obvious: Financial companies are some of the cheapest stocks in the market right now. Of the 20 stocks with the lowest P/E multiples, five are insurance companies and three are banks.

While I'm not as well versed in insurance stocks, there are a couple of important things to note here with respect to banks. These companies appear cheap for a reason. Many, like S&P component SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI  ) , are still atoning for sins committed in the lead up to the financial crisis. Their costs are high because of heightened mortgage-servicing standards and loan-loss provisions while their revenues are down thanks to the compression of interest rates.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: SMTC Corporation(SMTX)

SMTC Corporation provides advanced electronics manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide. The company?s services include product design and engineering services, printed circuit board assembly production, enclosure fabrication, systems integration, testing, and configuration services. It also provides enclosure and precision metal fabrication, cable assembly, interconnect, and engineering design services. The company offers its integrated contract manufacturing services to OEMs and technology companies primarily in the industrial, computing and networking, communications, consumer, and medical market segments. SMTC Corporation was founded in 1985 and is based in Markham, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul]

  SMTC Corp. (NASDAQ: SMTX) is a Canadian company that provides contract electronics manufacturing services, such as surface-mount and through-hole circuit board assembly, product design, testing, packaging and supply chain management. Manufacturers use products built or assembled by SMTC in their computer servers, networking devices or communications products.

  In its most recent earnings report, the company said Q3 sales rose 48% in the quarter to $65.4 million, and earnings per share were 16 cents, up from 3 cents in the same quarter of 2009. Eight of its top 10 customers increased orders as a result of strong market demand for electronics manufacturing. The addition of five new clients added $10 million to the company’s sales in the quarter. SMTX’s year-over-year gross profit more than doubled to $7.9 million, as a result. Generated cash flow reached $4.6 million and the company used much of this extra cash to pay down debt. That’s why SMTX’s debt was just $18 million at the end of the quarter, the lowest level in the company’s history.

  SMTX is in an excellent position to profit from increasing electronics and technology demand, which will continue to climb next year. Buy SMTX below $4.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Emerson Electric Company(EMR)

Emerson Electric Co. operates as a diversified manufacturing and technology company. The company engages in appliance solutions, climate technologies, industrial automation, motor technology, network power, process management, professional tools, and storage solutions businesses. Its appliance solutions business provides appliance controls, appliance motors, heating products, and white-rodgers; climate technology business provides heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) solutions for residential, industrial, and commercial applications; and industrial automation business offers bearings and power transmission products, electrical power generation products, electric motors, variable speed drives and servos, electrical products, material joining solutions, fluid automation products, and wind turbine systems. The company?s motor technology business provides appliance motors, HVACR motors, DC motors, fractional horsepower motors, integral horsepower a nd larger motors, and drives; network power business provides power, precision cooling, connectivity, and embedded solutions; and process management business provides various wireless related products from self-organizing field networks to wireless asset and people tracking. Its professional tools business offers pipe working and threading equipment, pressing technology, utility locating and visual diagnostics systems, drain maintenance tools, power tools, air tools, general purpose hand tools, wet/dry vacs, job site storage equipment, truck tool boxes and equipment, and van storage equipment; and storage solutions business provides shelving and storage products for residential, commercial, and foodservice needs, as well as offers specialized carts, mobile computer workstations, and cabinet fixtures. The company was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Larry Gellar]

  Similar to Archer Daniels Midland above, Emerson Electric saw 52-week highs in February but has been down since to a current price of below $50. From a valuation perspective, Emerson is quite attractive – notably P/E and PEG are 15.55 and 0.99 respectively. This is lower than competitors like ABB (ABB) and Hitachi (HIT), and Emerson’s margins are also better than those companies. Specifically, Emerson currently has a gross margin of 39.58% and an operating margin of 17.04%. Aside from the companies listed above, this also beats out General Electric (GE), which has 36.79% and 11.15% for those same numbers respectively. On the other hand, there are also some concerns to be had with EMR. Total cash flow for the past 3 quarters has been a whopping negative $1.8 billion. Shareholders have also been wary of the company’s willingness to take on additional debt. Upcoming earnings for EMR have already been guided downward, and it seems likely that the stock price will fall once the actual results are posted. The wisest thing may be to wait for the stock to bottom out after earnings and then buy it before it creeps back upward. Some investors may find EMR attractive for its dividends; yield is currently at 2.8%.

5 Best Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Kimber Resources Inc(KBX)

Kimber Resources Inc., a junior mineral resource company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral resource properties in Mexico. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. Its principal property includes the Monterde Property, which consists of 35 mineral concessions totaling approximately 29,296 hectares located in the Sierra Madre mountains of southwestern Chihuahua State. Kimber Resources Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  Based in Canada, junior mineral resource company Kimber Resources Inc. (AMEX: KBX) engages in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral resource properties, primarily gold and silver deposits in Mexico. Currently, this exploration-stage company is trading on the higher end of its 52-week range of 60 cents to $2.17. Even after pulling back over the last few days, this penny stock is up almost 17% year to date, and 59% in the past 12 months. If you’re looking to add a penny stock to your portfolio, this little mining stock has the ability to bring quick gains your way.

• [By Louis]

  Exploration-stage gold and silver company Kimber Resources Inc. (KBX) has gained 26% year to date, and is up 58% in the past year. At $1.67, this penny stock is worth a close look for potential investors. The stock's 52-week range is 60 cents to $2.17.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Horace Mann Educators Corporation(HMN)

Horace Mann Educators Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a multiline insurance company in the United States. The company underwrites and markets personal lines of property and casualty insurance, retirement annuity, and life insurance products. Its products include private passenger automobile and homeowner?s insurance coverage; tax-qualified individual and group annuities in fixed account and combination contracts; and individual and joint whole and term life insurance products. The company offers its products primarily to K-12 teachers, school administrators, education support personnel, and other employees of public schools and their families. It markets its products through its sales force, as well as through independent agents. Horace Mann Educators Corporation was founded in 1945 and is based in Springfield, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Stuart]

  Horace Mann Educators(HMN), which provides car and homeowners insurance for teachers and other educators, recently lowered its full-year profit forecast because of a spike in tornado- and storm-related disasters during April and May. Management reduced 2011 EPS guidance to $1.10-$1.30 from a previous $1.75-$1.95.

  With the shares down 10% over the past three months, investors might want to consider the recent dislocation as a buying opportunity. At the midrange of restated guidance, the shares are trading for 12.8 times fiscal 2011 estimates and, more importantly, at just 0.7 times book value. TheStreet Ratings has a $20 price target on Horace Mann.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Partner Communications Company Ltd.(PTNR)

Partner Communications Company Ltd. provides various telecommunications services in Israel. It offers cellular telephony services on GSM/GPRS and UMTS/HSDPA networks. The company also provides basic services, including domestic mobile calls, international dialing, roaming, voice mail, short message services, intelligent network services, content based on its cellular portal, data and fax transmission, and other services. In addition, it offers Internet services provider services that provides access to the Internet, as well as home WiFi networks; value added services, such as anti-virus and anti-spam filtering; and transmission services; and Web video on demand services, music tracks, and games. Further, the company provides voice over broadband and primary rate interface fixed-line telephone services; and data capacity services. Additionally, it offers content services comprising voice mail, text, and multimedia messaging, as well as downloadable wireless data application s, including ring tones, music, games, and other informational content; and sells handsets, phones, routers, and related equipment. The company markets its products through its sales centers, business sales representatives, traditional networks of specialized dealers, and non-traditional networks of retail chains and stores under the Orange brand name. Partner Communications Company Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha-ayin, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kevin1977]

  Partner Communications Company is a mobile phone operator in Israel and its GSM network covers over 98% of Israel's population. It has also diversified its services to offer roaming, voice mail, voice messaging, color picture messaging, ringtone and game downloads, information services, and general packet radio services (GPRS) to customers as well as smartphones that run on its 3G network. Its stock is currently trading at 8.86 times earnings and sports a trendy 11.47% dividend yield. The company has a market cap of $2.96 billion & its shares are traded as American depositary receipt (ADR) on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

• [By Chris Stuart]

  Partner Communications(PTNR) is Israel's second-largest wireless operator, but is facing fierce competition in the industry. Recent regulatory changes in the cellular market are also a major headwind for the company. The government has implemented a massive 76% cut in interconnection fees (the charges by mobile-phone operators when connecting users between networks) and lower exit penalties. The company has warned that free cash flow will likely be significantly hurt over coming quarters.

  So what's there to like here? Israeli analysts at Bank Leumi believe the selloff has been overdone, saying "the market has overshot to the downside by pricing in an unreasonably pessimistic outcome to the changes in the industry."

  The stock currently pays a 7.3% dividend, but that could change, given the downward pressure on cash flow. Consider this a high-risk, high-reward investment. TheStreet Ratings has a $19 price target on Partner Communications.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Hewlett-Packard Company(HPQ)

Hewlett-Packard Company and its subsidiaries provide products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as to the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. Its Personal Systems Group segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, calculators and other related accessories, and software and services for the commercial and consumer markets. The company?s Services segment provides consulting, outsourcing, and technology services to infrastructure, applications, and business process domains. Its Imaging and Printing Group segment provides consumer and commercial printer hardware, supplies, media, and scanning devices, such as inkjet and Web solutions, laser jet and enterprise solutions, managed enterprise solutions, graphics solutions, and printer supplies. The company?s Enterprise Servers, Storage, and Networking segment offers industry standard s ervers, business critical systems, storage platforms, and networking products, including switches, routers, wireless LAN, and TippingPoint network security products. Its HP Software segment provides enterprise IT management software, information management solutions, and security intelligence/risk management solutions. The company?s HP Financial Services segment offers leasing, financing, utility programs, and asset recovery services; and financial asset management services for enterprise customers, as well as specialized financial services to SMBs, and educational and governmental entities. Hewlett-Packard Company also provides business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to standardize on consistent data management schemes, connect and share data across the enterprise, and apply analytics, as well as licenses its specific technology to third parties. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was the worst story of all 30 DJIA stocks in 2013. Unfortunately, what was bad is expected to get worse in 2013. With a downside price target of $13.53, HP shares are now expected to fall just over 5%, even with this yielding 3.5% now. HP’s woes do not stop with the Autonomy acquisition woes. Meg Whitman has fired many employees but warned that a real turnaround might not take hold until all the way into 2016. We expect more asset sales and ultimately more layoffs. HP’s position was not helped out after it became known that famous short sellers are continuing to bet against this PC and IT-services giant.

• [By Jim Cramer]

  Nope, not the one to own in 2011. I think that HP has taken a step backward and is now ripe for the pickings of every other company in the space, whether it be . Accenture (ACN) on the consulting side or . EMC (EMC) on the server side or Oracle (ORCL) with Sun on the hardware and software side or Apple (AAPL) on the PC side. I just don't see this company doing anything this year, and I really don't understand the strategy or the vision, in part because of a new CEO who hasn't explained it yet and in part because of the old CEO who left on such a bad note. I don't see a pickup in earnings and I think that the stock could finish lower than it starts. Call it $40. I hope I am wrong because I think that 2011 will be a good year for tech in general, but not for this company.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Oracle Corporation(ORCL)

Oracle Corporation, an enterprise software company, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services database and middleware software, applications software, and hardware systems worldwide. It licenses of database and middleware software, including database management software, application server software, service-oriented architecture and business process management software, data integration software, business intelligence software, identity and access management software, content management software, portals and user interaction software, development tools, and Java; and applications software comprising enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, enterprise performance management, supply chain management, business intelligence applications, enterprise portfolio project management, Web commerce, and industry-specific applications software. The company also offers customers with rights to unspecified software product upgrades and maintenance releases; Internet access to technical content; and Internet and telephone access to technical support personnel. In addition, its hardware systems products consist of computer server and hardware-related software, including the Oracle Solaris Operating System; and storage products, such as tape, disk and networking solutions for open systems and mainframe server environments. Its hardware systems support solutions include software updates for the software components. Further, the company offers consulting solutions in business and IT strategy alignment, enterprise architecture planning and design, initial product implementation and integration, and ongoing product enhancements and upgrades; cloud services, including Oracle Cloud Services and Advanced Customer Services; and education solutions comprising instructor-led, media-based, and Internet-based training in the use of its software and hardware products. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Redwood Ci ty, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Goodwin]

  Oracle (ORCL), a software enterprise company, is the only Overweight-rated company in this market segment. With the introduction of a new Exadata product line, Oracle is set to enjoy a positive secular trend. Its current market price of $29.58 has fluctuated in the range of $24.72 to $36.50. Earnings per share of $1.76 have been posted and market capitalization stands at $149.47 billion. Its recent P/E ratio was 16.88x and the company showed a net profit margin of 23.99%.

• [By Bill]  

  Larry Ellison has created a winner in Oracle. This stock has great numbers, cash on hand, and upbeat expectations. All the above are things I like.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: DRDGOLD Limited(DROOY)

DRDGOLD Limited engages in the exploration, extraction, processing, and smelting of gold in South Africa. It holds interests in the Blyvoor mine; and the Crown gold surface tailings retreatment facility that reprocesses sand and slimes dumps, as well as involves in the surface retreatment operations. The company was incorporated in 1895 and is based in Roodepoort, South Africa.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By seekingalpha.com]

  With mining assets in South Africa, the company runs operations from exploration through to smelting.

  Shares are trading at $4.23 at the time of writing, toward the bottom end of their 52-week trading range of $3.96 to $6.23. At the current market price, the company is capitalized at $162.80 million. Earnings per share for the last fiscal year were $1.21, placing the shares on a price to earnings ratio of 3.49. It paid a dividend of $0.06 last year (a yield of 1.40%) which was covered over 20 times by its earnings.

  It has the lowest price-to-earnings ratio of the gold mining stocks, though its share price is being held back by recent employee unrest in the region. There is room for the company to increase its well-covered dividend, and that should be attractive to income investors. With gold prices increasing, and production costs likely to remain stable, DRDGold could be a stock worth investing in for the gearing that the safe haven value of its gold reserves offers to its potential earnings.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Horizon Lines Inc.(HRZ)

Horizon Lines, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides container shipping and integrated logistics services. It ships a range of consumer and industrial items, such as refrigerated and non-refrigerated foodstuffs, household goods, auto parts, building materials, and other materials used in manufacturing. The company offers container shipping services to ports within the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Micronesia. Its integrated logistics services comprise rail, truck brokerage, warehousing, distribution, expedited logistics, and non-vessel operating common carrier operations. Horizon Lines, Inc. also offers terminal services. The company operates terminals in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico; contracts for terminal services in seven ports in the continental United States; and the ports in Guam, Yantian, and Xiamen, China, as well as Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In addition, it offers inland transportation services. As of Dec ember 20, 2009, the company owned or leased approximately 20 vessels and 18,500 cargo containers. Horizon Lines, Inc. serves consumer and industrial products companies, as well as various agencies of the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense and the U.S. Postal Service. The company was founded in 1956 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Hutchinson]

  Horizon Lines (NYSE: HRZ) is the largest oceangoing shipping company in the United States with a dominant market position along protected shipping lanes. One look at the steady resurgence in shipping demand, coupled with the company’s improving financials, and it seems the worst is behind them — making now the perfect time to scoop up this stock at a discount.

  HRZ is up almost 30% since September, and I expect it to continue moving higher. Recent data show more goods are being manufactured, and they need to be shipped. Horizon will be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

  Buy HRZ on pullbacks under $5.

Top 10 Cheap Stocks To Own Right Now: Capstone Turbine Corporation(CPST)

Capstone Turbine Corporation develops, manufactures, markets, and services turbine generator sets and related parts for use in stationary distributed power generation applications. Its stationary distributed power generation applications include cogeneration combined heat and power (CHP), integrated (CHP), resource recovery, and secure power, as well as combined cooling, heat, and power; and its products are used as battery charging generators for hybrid electric vehicle applications. The company primarily offers microturbine units, subassemblies, and components. It also provides various accessories, including rotary gas compressors with digital controls, heat recovery modules for CHP applications, dual mode controllers that allow automatic transition between grid connect and stand-alone modes, batteries with digital controls for stand-alone/dual-mode operations, power servers for multipacked installations, and protocol converters for Internet access, as well as frames, ex haust ducting, and installation hardware. Further, it remanufactures microturbine engines; and provides after-market parts and services, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and factory and on-site training services. The company?s microturbines can be fueled by various sources, including natural gas, propane, sour gas, landfill or digester gas, kerosene, diesel, and biodiesel. It primarily sells its products directly to end users, as well as through distributors in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Russian Federation, and South America. Capstone Turbine Corporation was founded in 1988 and is based in Chatsworth, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) develops, manufactures, markets and services microturbine technology solutions. The stock has gained 88% year to date, compared to just 6% for the S&P 500 Index. It should also be mentioned that CPST posted quarterly revenue growth of 51%, year over year, last quarter.