Koch Industries to Acquire Molex for $7.2B; Shares Surge (MOLX)

Shares of electronic connector maker Molex Incorporated (MOLX) skyrocketed on Monday morning after reports that the company will be acquired by Koch Industries.

Koch Industries has agreed to acquire Molex for a total of $7.2 billion. This deal will include all outstanding shares of the company’s Common Stock, Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock for $38.50 per share.

The deal has been approved by the board of directors of both companies. Molex will continue to maintain its current management team and its current headquarters in Lisle, IL.

Molex shares were up $9.15, or 31.17%, during Monday morning trading. The stock is up 41% YTD.

Expectations Seem To Be A Bigger Problem For Emerson

I'm starting to feel a little sympathy for the management team at Emerson (NYSE:EMR). While the recent financial performance from this industrial conglomerate hasn't been that great, it increasingly seems to me that a lot of the Street just waves off management's cautious commentary. If the Street is building up expectations ahead of what Emerson's own people say they're likely to do, I can't really fault the management for what happens.

In any case, I still think investors are too bullish on Emerson's prospects. I do believe the Climate business is do for a solid rebound and I like the company's underlying order trends in automation, but I do worry both about the company's long-term competitiveness in automation and whether expectations are still too high. At this point, I'd still not be a buyer of Emerson.

SEE: Conglomerates: Risky Proposition?

Another "Miss And Lower" Quarter?
The good news for Emerson shareholders with respect to this quarter is that it seems as though the sell-side was bracing for a tougher quarter as the weeks rolled on, and so there wasn't as much surprise.

Even so, revenue fell 2% as reported and about 1% on an organic basis. Revenue from process automation was up 3%, which was a respectable outcome relative to ABB (NYSE:ABB) and Honeywell (NYSE:HON). Industrial automation was down 7%, though, and that result is harder to spin to the positive. Network power dropped another 5%, Climate fell 2%, and the Commercial/Residential business saw organic growth of 4% for the quarter.

Overall, Emerson's profit performance was not particularly strong. Gross margin was flat with the year-ago period, which actually wasn't bad, but segment profits declined 9%. Only the Climate and Comm/Resi business showed year-on-year margin improvement, and Emerson posted a three-cent miss at the operating line relative to Street expectations.

SEE: Earnings: Quality Means Everything

Orders Seem To Be Getting Better, But Guidance Isn't
Management once again lowered its expectations for the year, albeit this time the change vis a vis Wall Street expectations wasn't all that consequential. To put this guidance in context, post-Q1, management was talking about 2% to 5% growth for the year. After Q2 that guidance went down to 1.5% to 2.5%, and now it's down to about 1% growth. This really isn't so much different than what companies in similar businesses like Eaton (NYSE:ETN), ABB, Honeywell, and Siemens (NYSE:SI) are seeing/saying, but it does show pretty clearly that the big second half rebound story isn't likely to come to fruition.

A Decent Value For Network Power, But Emerson Has Work To Do
Investors may be cheered to see the valuation that Emerson was able to secure for its Network Power business. This unit has been a laggard for some time now, with competitors like Eaton and Schneider and self-inflicted operational issues leading to poor performance. That said, while an implied value of almost $600 million is more than many expected, the structure of the deal (selling a 51% stake to Platinum Equity) doesn't strike me as the cleanest exit. Still, I imagine Emerson didn't find a crowd of buyers clamoring for this asset, so the company's options were likely limited.

With Network Power more or less resolved, Emerson may now be able to turn to other business. In Climate, I think the story is still a waiting game – I think that there's enough pent-up demand for companies like United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) and Emerson to do well, but it's likely to be a slower, shallower recovery than investors have been hoping for until recently.

Turning to automation, I think Emerson really has some work to do. While the order flow is looking better (process automation orders up about 8%, with industrial automation apparently troughing), I do worry that the company, like Eaton and Rockwell (NYSE:ROK), has over-invested in hardware and under-invested in software. Although Emerson had once approached Invensys (a company with a strong industrial software business) about a merger, it looks as though Emerson may allow Invensys to go to Schneider without challenging the latter's bid. There are still worthwhile properties in the industrial software space that Emerson could buy, but the clock is ticking and a failure to improve its software offerings could compromise long-term growth and competitiveness.

The Bottom Line
I'm presently looking for Emerson to produce about 4% long-term revenue growth and almost 7% long-term free cash flow growth – less than both Honeywell and ABB. I would also say, however, that Emerson has upside if the Climate business recovers faster than I expect and/or if the company can gain share in the process and industrial automation markets. Even so, as is, I think Emerson should trade around the mid-$50s today, and that target is supported by discounted cash flow, EV/EBITDA, and ROE/PBV.

Disclosure – At the time of writing, the author owned shares of ABB

Top Undervalued Stocks To Watch For 2014

Warren Buffett, arguably the best investor of all time, has his foibles. One such he admitted recently in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B)�� investor letter ��his ill-fated decision to buy $2 billion in several bond issues of Energy Future Holdings, which he called �� mistake ��a big mistake.��This mistake is part of his broader history of mixed results with energy investments.

Energy Future Holdings, formerly TXU Energy, is based in Dallas, Texas, and is the largest energy generator in the state. It came into being when Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Texas Pacific Group (TPG) bought TXU out for $45 billion, the largest leveraged buyout in history, and took it private. Shareholders received $69.25 per share, a 25 percent premium. GS Capital Partners, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley were equity investors in the deal. Buffett bought $2 billion worth of bonds.

The investment met many of Buffett�� criteria for stock picking and business buying. At the time, the company served 2.1 million customers, it was simple and understandable, it had been producing the same product since 1882 and it produced a product that people could not live without. It was also profitable, with operating revenues that had increased substantially ��from $106 million to $151 million ��from 2004 to 2006.

However, TXU did not have a particularly wide competitive advantage in the deregulated Texas energy market. It also produced nuclear, coal and natural gas power, and ultimately, Buffett said, it was the plummeting of volatile natural gas prices that derailed the investment.

TXU explained how energy prices correlate to gas prices in its 2006 10-K: ��as-fueled generation is the predominant supply resource in the ERCOT [Electric Reliability Council of Texas] region in terms of both the installed capacity and electricity generation, accounting for approximately 75% of the capacity and 50% of the energy produced in the ERCOT region. As a result, natural gas-fueled pl! ant operators are the marginal suppliers in ERCOT, and wholesale electricity prices are highly correlated to natural gas prices.

By mid- 2006, electricity prices had risen more than 35 percent, largely as a result of skyrocketing natural gas prices. But by late 2010, the price of natural gas plunged, making it difficult for Energy Future Holdings to meet its debt payments. Moody�� Investor Service described the company at that time as having a ��ery weak financial profile, untenable capital structure, questionable long-term business plan and material operating headwinds.��br>
Buffett�� stepping out of his usual bounds cost him greatly. He wrote down the investment by $1 billion in 2010, and an additional $390 million in 2011. He carries the bonds now at their market value of $878 million, and could lose the entire investment if natural gas prices do not increase.

Buffett made another energy investing mistake with ConocoPhillips (COP), which actually resulted in a greater loss than Energy Future Holdings ��an estimated more than $3 billion.

Buffett began buying COP stock in 2005 at near $60. Then, in 2008, he poured an additional $5 billion into the position, when the stock reached its all-time high in the $90s. Shortly after that purchase, the price of oil plunged, cutting the price of COP shares approximately in half.



The 2009 Berkshire investor letter also records Buffett�� admission: �� told you in an earlier part of this report that last year I made a major mistake of commission (and maybe more; this one sticks out). Without urging from Charlie or anyone else, I bought a large amount of ConocoPhillips stock when oil and gas prices were near their peak. I in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred in the last half of the year. I still believe the odds are good that oil sells far higher in the future than the current $40-$50 price. But so far I have been dead wrong. Even if prices should rise, moreover, the terrible ti! ming of m! y purchase has cost Berkshire several billion dollars.��

The price has never again reached the level of his 2008 purchases, but he has been selling as it has recovered. It has reached a 52-week high of $81.80.

His investment in PetroChina (PTR) was more successful than either of his two losses in Energy Future Holdings or ConocoPhillips, though he said he still thought he sold too soon.

Berkshire bought 1.3 percent of PetroChina for $488 million, which valued the company at about $37 billion, when he believed it was worth about $100 billion. In 2002, the stock sold near $20. Two factors, Buffett said in his 2007 investor letter, increased its value, the increased price of oil, and its management�� great job in building oil and gas reserves. Oil prices also played in his favor this time. It had gone up from $30 to $75 per barrel.

He sold the stock from $160 to $200 per share. This gave him a profit of about $3.5 billion on a $500 million investment. But unfortunately, the stock still had farther to go. By 2007 it had rocked to a high near $255.

On his PetroChina investment, Buffett emphasized that price was the primary factor that got him interested. �� sit there in my office and I read an annual report and it described a very good company. It told about the oil reserves, told about the refining, told about the chemicals, told about everything else, and I sat there and thought to myself, ��his company�� worth about $100 billion.��Now I didn�� look at the price first, I look at the business first. Because if I look at the price first I get influenced by that, so I look at the company first, I try to value it, and then I look at the price and if the price is way less than what I just valued it at, I�� going to buy it,��he said on a television interview after he sold his stake.

Though there were many different factors involved in these investments, price played an important role in whether they were successful or not, showing how important not! overpayi! ng is even for Warren Buffett.

See Warren Buffett�� portfolio here and also check out the Undervalued Stocks, Top Growth Companies, and High Yield stocks of Warren Buffett.

Top Undervalued Stocks To Watch For 2014: Dollar Tree Inc.(DLTR)

Dollar Tree, Inc. operates discount variety stores in the United States and Canada. Its stores offer merchandise primarily at the fixed price of $1.00. The company operates its stores under the names of Dollar Tree, Deal$, Dollar Tree Deal$, Dollar Giant, and Dollar Bills. Its stores offer consumable merchandise, including candy and food, and health and beauty care, as well as household consumables, such as paper, plastics, household chemicals, in select stores, and frozen and refrigerated food; variety merchandise, which includes toys, durable housewares, gifts, party goods, greeting cards, softlines, and other items; and seasonal goods, such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas merchandise. As of April 30, 2011, it operated 4,089 stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 88 stores in Canada. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ANUP SINGH]

  Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR  ) is among the most successful single-price-point retailers in the U.S. It operates more than 4,842 stores across 48 states in the U.S. and five Provinces in Canada. The chart below shows that the company has been performing consistently well over the past five years.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Dollar General�� share price is up less than 6% in the past 12 months, but since the beginning of the year shares have risen more than 22%. And even then, Dollar General�trails Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) in share price growth since January 1. Dollar Tree stock is up 30%.

Top Undervalued Stocks To Watch For 2014: 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 Lee Jackson]

  Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) revenue grew 8% year-over-year to $11.18 billion in the second quarter of 2013, fueled by high growth in its international segment. While the company does generate 11% of revenue in the Middle East and Asia, only a prolonged Syrian conflict is expected to dent their strong results. UBS has a $98 price target and the consensus figure is at $96. Stockholders are paid a 1.5% dividend.

• [By Tony Daltorio]

  The biggest oilfield service companies should get a big lift from the boom, Moors said. That includes Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL), Weatherford International Ltd. (NYSE: WFT), and Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI).

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  2013 has been a stellar year for shares of oil service giant Schlumberger (SLB). Since the calendar flipped over to January, SLB has rallied more than 25%, beating the broad market's impressive pace by double digits. As oil prices linger on the high end of their historic range, SLB is well positioned to keep ticking higher.

  Schlumberger provides must-have services to national and supermajor oil firms as well as smaller E&Ps, offering up niche services like seismic surveys and well drilling and positioning. In a nutshell, SLB's job is to pull oil out of the ground as efficiently as possible. Oil firms turn to Schlumberger because the tasks they need to accomplish are too nuanced or proprietary to pull off in-house. So as long as the company continues to pour cash into R&D for drilling technology and software, the firm should continue to score lucrative contracts.

  Some of Schlumberger's most attractive opportunities right now come from overseas. The firm is one of the largest oil servicers in Russia, a key growth market in the years ahead. It's also got an important presence in smaller oil markets, where it's a big fish in a small pond. A big scale and stellar reputation should guarantee Schlumberger an attractive piece of the oil pie for years to come.

Best Penny Stocks To Invest In 2014: Caterpillar Inc.(CAT)

Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. It operates through three lines of businesses: Machinery, Engines, and Financial Products. The Machinery business offers construction, mining, and forestry machinery, including track and wheel tractors, track and wheel loaders, pipelayers, motor graders, wheel tractor-scrapers, track and wheel excavators, backhoe loaders, log skidders, log loaders, off-highway trucks, articulated trucks, paving products, skid steer loaders, underground mining equipment, tunnel boring equipment, and related parts. It also manufactures diesel-electric locomotives; and manufactures and services rail-related products and logistics services for other companies. The Engines business provides diesel, heavy fuel, and natural gas reciprocating engines for Caterpillar machinery, electric power generation systems, marine, petrol eum, construction, industrial, agricultural, and other applications. It offers industrial turbines and turbine-related services for oil and gas, and power generation applications. This business also remanufactures Caterpillar engines, machines, and engine components; and offers remanufacturing services for other companies. The Financial Products business provides retail and wholesale financing alternatives for Caterpillar machinery and engines, solar gas turbines, and other equipment and marine vessels, as well as offers loans and various forms of insurance to customers and dealers. It also offers financing for vehicles, power generation facilities, and marine vessels. The company markets its products directly, as well as through its distribution centers, dealers, and distributors. It was formerly known as Caterpillar Tractor Co. and changed its name to Caterpillar Inc. in 1986. Caterpillar Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By StreetAuthority]

  Gabriel Bouys, AFP/Getty ImagesBill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. $650 million is a lot of money -- even for Bill Gates. That's how much his investment firm has invested in what might be considered the best way to play China. It's not a software firm or even a computer hardware firm. It's mining giant Caterpillar (CAT). Gates started building a position in Caterpillar before the financial crisis, but he became a very aggressive buyer once the crisis hit and shares had fallen by half. Yet remarkably, Gates has kept on buying, even as shares steadily rebounded to previous peaks. But now that Caterpillar has come under pressure on concerns that China is slowing, is Gates locking in profits? No, he's been buying more, picking up another 500,000 shares in this year's second quarter. At current prices, his firm's stake of 10.76 million shares is worth a cool $650 million. The key question: Why does Gates continue to buy shares even after China's slowdown has signaled the potential end of a global commodities boom? After all, much of Caterpillar's growth in recent years has come from a strong surge in mining activity that uses the company's massive excavators. The simple answer is that Gates and his team of investment managers always focus on long-term winners and never buy or sell shares based on short-term economic shifts. We've seen him do it many times before. For example, even as Wall Street analysts focused on the near-term prospects for auto retailer AutoNation (AN), Gates saw an epic rebound coming, as I noted in this article. Shares of AutoNation have now risen 400 percent since early 2009. Caterpillar: The Long View

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  Bank of America/Merrill Lynch reported on Tuesday that it has cut its estimates on Caterpillar Inc. (CAT).

  The firm, which currently has a “Neutral” rating on CAT, has lowered estimates on the company through 2015. Analysts currently have a $88 price target on CAT, suggesting a 1% increase from the stock’s current price of $86.88.

  Caterpillar shares were mostly flat during Tuesday morning trading. The stock has been mostly flat YTD.

• [By E. Michael Greenberg]

  Blue Sphere is a small company with a big future and that future starts now. Over the last two weeks Blue Sphere Corp. (OTCQB: BLSP) has announced commitments for over $25 million dollars of financing for their Charlotte, North Carolina based 5.2 Mega Watt (Mw) anaerobic digestion facility. Blue Sphere, in two press releases, announced a commitment for $17.785 million in debt financing from Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation, the financial services arm of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and $7.5 million in an equity commitment from a leading environmental finance fund.

Top Undervalued Stocks To Watch For 2014: Tupperware Corporation(TUP)

Tupperware Brands Corporation operates as a direct seller of various products across a range of brands and categories through an independent sales force. The company engages in the manufacture and sale of kitchen and home products, and beauty and personal care products. It offers preparation, storage, and serving solutions for the kitchen and home, as well as kitchen cookware and tools, children?s educational toys, microwave products, and gifts under the Tupperware brand name primarily in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and North America. The company provides beauty and personal care products, which include skin care products, cosmetics, bath and body care, toiletries, fragrances, nutritional products, apparel, and related products principally in Mexico, South Africa, the Philippines, Australia, and Uruguay. It offers beauty and personal care products under the Armand Dupree, Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, Nuvo, and Swissgar de brand names. The company sells its Tupperware products directly to distributors, directors, managers, and dealers; and beauty products primarily through consultants and directors. As of December 26, 2009, the Tupperware distribution system had approximately 1,800 distributors, 61,300 managers, and 1.3 million dealers; and the sales force representing the Beauty businesses approximately 1.1 million. The company was formerly known as Tupperware Corporation and changed its name to Tupperware Brands Corporation in December 2005. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Oliver Pursche]

  European large-cap pharmaceuticals like Novartis (NVS) �and Bristol Meyers Squibb (BMY) �count amongst some of our favorite stocks right now, as do U.S. multinationals that are growing revenue and margins in Asia ��Tupperware (TUP) �is a shining example. Stay away from utilities and energy stocks, as they are likely to be the laggards over the next year.

• [By John Udovich]

  Everyone is familiar with�the Tupperware brand from�consumer products stock Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) and you are probably familiar with the brands�of mid cap stock Jarden Corp (NYSE: JAH) along with small cap stocks Libbey Inc (NYSEMKT: LBY) and Lifetime Brands Inc (NASDAQ: LCUT); but what about the stocks themselves? Chances are, their brands or products are right under your nose at home and you probably don�� know anything about the mid cap or small cap stock behind them.

Fed to taper to $60B this month, Marathon’s Richards says

Bloomberg

The Federal Reserve will at its next meeting reduce its unprecedented stimulus to as little as $60 billion each month, according to Bruce Richards, chief executive officer and co-founder of New York-based hedge-fund firm Marathon Asset Management LP.

The tapering will begin this month with the U.S. central bank reducing its bond purchases to the annual equivalent of about $700 billion, Richards said at the 19th Annual Alpha Hedge West Conference in San Francisco on Monday.

“So the tapering isn’t much,” he said. “But there will be another tapering and another tapering and another tapering. And they’ll be done by next summer.”

Top 10 Oil Companies To Watch For 2014

Seventy-one percent of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict the Fed will confirm at a meeting in the next two days that it will reduce the $85 billion of monthly bond purchases it has been using to boost the economy. Once the Fed is done with the tapering it will be ready to raise interest rates, which won’t begin until March 2015 at the earliest, according to Richards.

“Models say between March and October of 2015, when unemployment goes to 6.5%,” he said of the timing for interest-rate increases. “It’s going to take a while.”

Janet Yellen will be a “shoo-in” for confirmation if she is nominated as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, Richard said.

“She will be very dovish for an extended period of time and may taper slower&

The 10 Least Respected Companies in America

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) are the most respected brands in the United States. While Coke has enjoyed this status for six years straight, Pepsi moved up from being the sixth most respected brand in 2012.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed consultancy firm CoreBrand's recent report on brand reputation. CoreBrand measured the familiarity and favorability of 1,000 companies. Familiarity is based on how widely known the companies are, and favorability is based on how well people think of these companies. The report identified the top 100 brands for familiarity with the lowest favorability scores. Companies such as Delta, Philip Morris and H&R Block are widely known yet not favorably viewed. These are the least respected companies in America.

Click here to see the least respected companies

To earn a high level of respect, explained CoreBrand CEO Jim Gregory, "consistency over time is probably the most important thing." Not surprisingly, many of the most highly regarded companies, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Hershey and Harley Davidson, have made products that are easily identified with the parent company. They also have done well financially, have had few problems with management, and rarely have had problems with product or service quality.

10 Best China Stocks To Own For 2014

The companies with the worst levels of respect, on the other hand, have failed to maintain a strong brand image relative to their wide recognition. This could be because of a perception that the company is badly managed or that its relationship with customers has been damaged because of management’s mistakes. Best Buy went through a cycle of declining sales and executive turnover, the latter of which played out very visibly in the press. As Gregory explained, “A company can address one big issue, and it usually doesn’t cause a lot of damage to a company." But, he added, "when you have one thing after another [go wrong] over a long period of time, it does cause damage to the brand.”

Turmoil within the organization is one of the biggest factors working against many of the least respected brands. J.C. Penney, for example, which ranked as the fourth-least respected company, has recently fired its relatively new CEO, Ron Johnson, who made several strategic changes during his tenure, and placed former CEO Mike Ullman back in charge. Ullman changed the business model — again. "For J.C. Penney, just about the time that their rebranding effort was beginning to make some headway, 'boom' they go through a changed management and then have another change," Gregory noted. He added that the people surveyed for this report typically did not appreciate companies that "go through multiple strategic changes in a short amount of time."

While nearly all the least respected brands have dealt with short-term PR and management issues, another reason many are not respected can simply be because of the industries they are in. For example, Delta’s brand respect is not terrible, but relative to its size it is poor. The company's bad ranking is in part the result of its restructuring after its messy merger with NorthWest in 2008. It is also, Gregory noted, "somewhat endemic of the industry. The airline industry is not a very strong industry in terms of favorability." Similarly, Philip Morris is in the generally unfavorably viewed tobacco industry.

CoreBrand’s new report, "Brand Respect: The Most and Least Respected Corporate Brands," is based on a review of the country's largest companies pulled from a poll of U.S. executives at 1,000 companies. In order to identify the least respected brands, the report identified the top 100 brands for familiarity with the lowest favorability scores. Both scores range from one to 100.

These are the least respected companies in America.

Stocks Slip on Concern Job Picture Sufficient to Warrant Fed Cutback

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - U.S. stock indices slipped Thursday after a weekly jobless claim report was seen as sufficient enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to curb the bond-buying stimulus measures that have fueled the best year in equities since 1997.

The Fed's policy making committee is scheduled to begin a two-day gathering on Sept. 17 to discuss the possible reduction in the roughly $850 billion in bond buying that has helped the U.S. economy recover from the recession of 2008. The central bank is expected to announce its economic projections at the conclusion of the meeting on Sept. 18.

The S&P 500 lost 0.3% to 1,683.42 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 15,300.64. The Nasdaq dropped 0.2% at 3,715.97.

Weekly jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 7 fell by 31,000 to 292,000, the Labor Department reported in data released in Washington. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting claims to rise slightly to 330,000, up from the prior week's 323,000. The number may have been lower than expected, because two states failed to report for the week. "I think that anybody who is rooting for taper-zero or taper light, I believe the Federal Reserve is going to do the full taper, which is consensus $20 billion [tapering] down to $65 billion," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management U.S. The central bank has said its decision to taper would be heavily influenced by the strength of labor market data. Markets generally view tapering as short-term negative for markets as analysts have said the Fed's economic stimulus has boosted stocks from their Great Recession lows in March 2009 past the record highs hit this past summer. In company news, Pandora (P) surged 12% to $23.97 after the online music streaming service named Brian McAndrews its CEO and president. Yahoo! (YHOO) gained 1.6% to 29.65 after CEO Marissa Mayer said Wednesday that the Internet portal has about 800 million worldwide users, a 20% increase since she took control of the company 15 months ago.

-- Written by Joe Deaux in New York.

>Contact by Email.

Follow @JoeDeaux

Top 10 Casino Companies To Invest In Right Now

 Some critics of our current monetary system will tell you that it tends to make speculators out of everyone...

 

After all, our current monetary system allows the Federal Reserve to "bail out" folks who make terrible lending and borrowing decisions... And the argument goes, if you can't trust the government to maintain a sound currency, you're less likely to park your savings in that currency. You're more likely to make risky bets on stocks, real estate, and bonds. Less sophisticated people are more likely to gamble with their money in lotteries and casinos.

 

That's the theory... But let's consult the market to see if it's working in real life...

Top 10 Casino Companies To Invest In Right Now: Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.(PNK)

Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. owns, develops, and operates casinos, and related hospitality and entertainment facilities in the United States. It operates casinos, such as L'Auberge du Lac in Lake Charles, Louisiana; River City Casino and Lumiere Place in St. Louis, Missouri; Boomtown New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana; Belterra Casino Resort in Vevay, Indiana; Boomtown Bossier City in Bossier City, Louisiana; and Boomtown Reno in Reno, Nevada. The company also operates River Downs racetrack in southeast Cincinnati, Ohio. As of May 26, 2011, it operated seven casinos and one racetrack. The company was formerly known as Hollywood Park, Inc. and changed its name to Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. in February 2000. Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. was founded in 1935 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Top 10 Casino Companies To Invest In Right Now: Penn National Gaming Inc.(PENN)

Penn National Gaming, Inc. and its subsidiaries own and manage gaming and pari-mutuel properties in the United States. It operates approximately 27,000 gaming machines; 500 table games; and 2,000 hotel rooms in 23 facilities in 16 jurisdictions, including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ontario. The company was formerly known as PNRC Corp. and changed its name to Penn National Gaming, Inc. in 1994. Penn National Gaming, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.

Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Wynn Resorts Limited(WYNN)

Wynn Resorts, Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, ownership, and operation of destination casino resorts. The company owns and operates Wynn Las Vegas casino resort in Las Vegas, which includes approximately 22 food and beverage outlets comprising 5 dining restaurants; 2 nightclubs; 1 spa and salon; 1 Ferrari and Maserati automobile dealership; wedding chapels; an 18-hole golf course; meeting space; and foot retail promenade featuring boutiques. Wynn Las Vegas casino resort also features approximately 147 table games, 1 baccarat salon, private VIP gaming rooms, 1 poker room, 1,842 slot machines, and 1 race and sports book. It also owns and operates an Encore at Wynn Las Vegas resort, a destination casino resort located adjacent to Wynn Las Vegas that features a 2,034 all-suite hotel, as well as a casino with 95 table games, 1 sky casino, 1 baccarat salon, private VIP gaming rooms, and 778 slot machines. In addition, the company operates Wyn n Macau casino resort located in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People?s Republic of China. Wynn Macau casino resort features approximately 595 hotel rooms and suites, 410 table games, 935 slot machines, 1 poker room, 1 sky casino, 6 restaurants, 1 spa and salon, lounges, meeting facilities, and retail space featuring boutiques. Further, it operates Encore at Wynn Macau resort located adjacent to Wynn Macau. Encore at Wynn Macau resort features approximately 410 luxury suites and 4 villas, as well as casino gaming space, including a sky casino consisting of 60 table games and 80 slot machines, 2 restaurants, 1 luxury spa, and retail space. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Top 10 Casino Companies To Invest In Right Now: Boyd Gaming Corporation(BYD)

Boyd Gaming Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-jurisdictional gaming company in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the company owned and operated 1,042,787 square feet of casino space, containing approximately 25,973 slot machines, 655 table games, and 11,418 hotel rooms. It also owned and operated 16 gaming entertainment properties located in Nevada, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and New Jersey. In addition, the company owns and operates a pari-mutuel jai-alai facility located in Dania Beach, Florida, as well as a travel agency in Hawaii. Further, it holds a 50% controlling interest in the limited liability company that operates Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Boyd Gaming Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One gaming player that's rapidly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Boyd Gaming (BYD), which owns and operates gaming entertainment facilities located in Nevada, Mississippi, Illinois, Louisiana and Indiana. This stock has been blazing a trail to the upside so far in 2013, with shares up sharply by 115%.

  If you look at the chart for Boyd Gaming, you'll notice that this stock has been uptrending strong over the last month and change, with shares moving sharply higher from its low of $11.27 to its intraday high of $14.38 a share. During that move, shares of BYD have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of BYD into breakout territory above resistance at $13.79 a share, and it's quickly pushing the stock within range of another big breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in BYD if it manages to break out above its 52-week high at $14.50 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 2.34 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then BYD will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $18 to $20 a share.

  Traders can look to buy BYD off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some near-term support at $13 a share. One can also buy BYD off strength once it takes out $14.50 a share with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Top 10 Casino Companies To Invest In Right Now: (XTRN)

Las Vegas Railway Express Inc. focuses to re-establish a conventional passenger train service between the Las Vegas and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. It plans to establish a ?Vegas-style? passenger train service. The company is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Top 10 Casino Companies To Invest In Right Now: MGM Resorts International(MGM)

MGM Resorts International, through its subsidiaries, primarily owns and operates casino resorts in the United States. The company?s resorts offer gaming, hotel, dining, entertainment, retail, and other resort amenities. It also owns and operates golf courses and a golf club. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned and operated 15 properties located in Nevada, Mississippi, and Michigan; and has 50% investments in 4 other casino resorts in Nevada, Illinois, and Macau. In addition, MGM Resorts International has an agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns and operates a casino resort in Connecticut, to carry the ?MGM Grand? brand name. The company was formerly known as MGM MIRAGE and changed its name to MGM Resorts International in June 2010. MGM Resorts International was founded in 1986 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Abramowicz]

  ��t�� allowed companies such as ourselves to continue to access the capital markets,��Dan D��rrigo, the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Las Vegas-based casino company MGM Resorts International (MGM), said in a Sept. 17 telephone interview. During the crisis, ��e still had access but at much more costly rates to our company,��he said.

IBM Sells Customer Care Business (IBM)

IBM (IBM) announced today that it has closed a deal with SYNNEX to sell its customer care outsourcing services segment.

The deal was struck for a total of $505 million with roughly $430 million of that figure coming from cash. The deal also mandated that SYNNEX enter a multi-year agreement with IBM as partners for global customer care and outsourcing services.

SYNNEX, a Fortune 500 firm, is known for its IT supply chain services. The California-based firm trades under the ticker SNX and has seen its stock price soar approximately 60% since the middle of April.

IBM shares were up $1.62, or 0.87%, at Tuesday’s close. The stock is down just over 2% in 2013.

5 Breakout Trades to Take Ahead of the Fed

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- The Federal Reserve is ruling the market's news cycle this week, between speculation over who will take Ben Bernanke's desk in Washington and the possibility that the Fed will announce its plans to taper.

Larry Summers' withdrawal from the process on Sunday gives a seriously dovish bent to where the Fed is likely to end up. In other words, the fire hose of quantitative easy that investors have been drinking from for the last five years isn't likely to get shut off anytime soon, even if it does get turned down to a strong spray.

New frontrunner Janet Yellen has been less eager to pump the brakes – and the market likes that.

Let's face it: We can expect to see a lot of doublespeak and ambiguity in the Fed's words this week. I suspect that the Fed is focused less on tapering QE than it is on tapering investors' expectations. Plausible deniability is going to be the biggest tool in their arsenal, just like it was back in June.

Meanwhile, that doesn't mean that investors should be sitting on their hands -- we're seeing some attractive trading opportunities popping up in individual names right now. Here's a technical look atfive stock trades to take this week.

For the unfamiliar, technical analysis is a way for investors to quantify qualitative factors, such as investor psychology, based on a stock's price action and trends. Once the domain of cloistered trading teams on Wall Street, technicals can help top traders make consistently profitable trades and can aid fundamental investors in better planning their stock execution.

So without further ado, let's take a look at five technical setups worth trading now.

U.S. Steel

Up first is U.S. Steel (X). Hard commodities have largely been taken for a ride in 2013, and U.S. Steel has been no exception. Year-to-date, this $3 billion materials name has slipped more than 16%. But X could be in for a reversal of fortunes thanks to a bullish setup that's been shaping up in this name.

That's because U.S. Steel just broke out of an ascending triangle bottom, a bullish setup that's formed by horizontal resistance to the upside at $19.50 and uptrending support below shares. Basically, as X bounced in between those two technical levels, it was getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above resistance. When that happened last week, it was a buy signal for traders.

X has more or less been consolidating just above that $19.50 level for the last few sessions, giving traders a little more time to plan their entry this week. Momentum adds some extra evidence to continued upside in X; 14-day RSI has been in a long-term uptrend since shares started basing in late April.

Even so, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop in place at the 50-day moving average.

Aaon

We're seeing the exact same setup in shares of small-cap HVAC firm Aaon (AAON). The biggest difference is that in AAON's case, the ascending triangle pattern is coming in at the top of this stock's recent price action, not at the bottom. That makes this a more textbook trade for September.

Another important difference is the fact that AAON hasn't triggered yet. Shares have been coiling below $26 resistance since the middle of the summer; a breakout above that $26 level is the indicator that it's time to buy. Whenever you're looking at any technical price pattern, it's critical to think in terms of buyers and sellers. Triangles and other price pattern names are a good quick way to explain what's going on in this stock, but they're not the reason it's tradable. Instead, it all comes down to supply and demand for shares.

That resistance line at $26 is a price where there's an excess of supply of shares; in other words, it's a place where sellers have been more eager to take recent gains and sell their shares than buyers have been to buy. That's what makes the move above it so significant -- a breakout indicates that buyers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess supply above that price level.

Wait for that to happen before you put your money on this trade.

Home Depot

Home Depot (HD) is enjoying some strong performance in 2013. Shares of the world's largest home improvement retailer have rallied more than 22% since the calendar flipped over to January, besting the broad market's impressive climb higher over the same period. More recently, HD has been tracking sideways, but that doesn't mean that the upside is over in this home improvement stock. Here's how to trade it.

HD is currently forming a rectangle pattern, a setup that's formed by a horizontal resistance level above shares at $80 and horizontal support below shares at $72. The setup gets its name because those two lines effectively "box in" shares of Home Depot right now. That makes it an "if/then trade."

An if/then trade is a contingent trade that doesn't have directional bias -- in other words, the ultimate direction of the trade is determined by the direction that HD breaks out of its channel. So, if HD breaks above resistance at $80, then it's time to buy shares. If they slide below $72 support, then it's time to short. There's no trade until one of those conditions is met.

Southwest Airlines

The same kind of setup is pinning down shares of Southwest Airlines (LUV) this week. In the bargain airline's case, resistance comes into play at $14.50, with support down at $12.50. Just like with Home Depot, the high probability trade is to bet in the same direction as the breakout from this rectangle.

Southwest has rallied 37.7% in 2013, a fact that isn't hugely surprising. Consolidation patterns are common -- if not necessary -- after such a big price move; they give traders a chance to catch their breath and figure out their next moves in shares of LUV. Look for the breakout as an indicator that they've made up their minds. A breakout in momentum through the 70 level should be a leading indicator that price action is going to follow suit.

I'd suggest putting alerts on both

3M

3M (MMM) is another name that's seen some impressive upside action this year. But it's not showing any signs of letting up at this point. You don't have to be an expert technical analyst to figure out what's going on in shares of 3M -- shares of the $81 billion Post-It maker are in a textbook uptrending channel right now. That's about as basic as a technical pattern gets.

3M has had its price action bounded by trendline support to the downside, bouncing higher each of the last five times it's been tested. That uptrending channel provides a high-probability range for price action on the way up -- and while you want to be a buyer in an uptrend, the ideal time to buy comes on a bounce off of support.

Buying off a support bounce makes sense for two big reasons: It's the spot where shares have the furthest to move up before they hit resistance, and it's the spot where the risk is the least (because shares have the least room to move lower before you know you're wrong). That means that investors would do well to practice some patience from here.

To see this week's trades in action, check out the Technical Setups for the Week portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

Market Ready For Fed, Not Quite Ready For Syria

The market is ready for Fed tapering, but not ready for surprises coming down the pike from the ongoing strife in Syria.

"The market has Fed tapering priced in and barring any unforeseen circumstances, when the Fed does ease up on its asset purchases there should be very little impact on the markets," says Marc Tommasi, managing director at Manning & Napier Manning & Napier in Rochester, NY.

California hedge fund manager Joel Smolen at Axion Capital told me in an email last week that he is less worried about the Fed, and more worried about Syria.

According to a survey of close to 800 global investors conducted by Barclays Barclays Capital, 64% of respondents believe tapering will start this week and almost all of them expect it to occur before the end of the year.

More than 50% of investors expect little reaction in the Treasury markets if tapering
starts this week, suggesting that it is largely priced in.

Investors now perceive the removal of Fed stimulus will start earlier. 45% expect the Fed to finish their openended QE3 program in the second quarter of 2014, while most respondents in their June survey thought it would happen in the fourth quarter of next year or even later.

Investors have also brought forward their expectation for the first Fed hike. However, only 25% see a hike in March 2015 or
earlier. This contrasts with rates markets' pricing a 50% chance of a first hike in the target fed funds rate in December 2014. Respondents have also upgraded their modal expectation for 10 year Treasury yields to 3-3.25% from 2-2.25% in March.  In the first, almost all investors believed Treausry yields on the 10 year would be below 2.5% by end-2013 and almost
none do now.

Syria is clearly the biggest unknown in the global market at the moment. The good thing is that investors are starting to believe they have a handle on it.

"As long as we stay on the diplomatic path, the dollar should strengthen. But I think the Syria crisis is settling down," said Vlad Signorelli, head of global research of boutique investment firm Brettonwoods Research.

Last Monday, Charlie Rose interviewed Bashar Assad.  Then, Assad said that at least 15% of the opposition to his government is Al Qaeda or coming from Al Qaeda like groups. Rose brushed that off, saying it was just a small percentage and that the rest were legit. What viewers would be loathe to forget however is that it just took 19 guys from Al Qaeda to blow up the World Trade Center 12 years ago, Signorelli pointed out.

Assad insinuated he was not responsible for a chemical weapons attack in August that led Washington to beat the war drums.

The bad: President Bashar al-Assad of Syria . Despite civil unrest for nearly two years, the Syrian strong man is still standing. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The market has largely been discounting Syria since, thanks largely to the Aug. 29 decistion by the British government to oppose a military solution, and a very public plan made by Vladimir Putin to go after Assad's chemical weapons cache before firing missiles into the country.

"I would be short oil at this point," said Signorelli.

For now, the biggest threat from Syria is President Barack Obama giving up on the Putin Plan. He said he was ready for action "in case the diplomatic plan fails".  Until then, it is unlikely that the  U.S. will launch strikes. But if diplomacy does fail, as has been the recent case of U.S. imbroglios in the Middle East, then gold and oil prices would spike up and markets would sell off. Emerging markets would be particularly hard hit as investors tend to sell riskiest assets first.

According to Barclays, when asked what the biggest risk to global equities was over the next three months, 35% said the Fed surprisingly increasing interest rates.

In second place is Syria, with 20% saying the market is not ready for a worsening civil war, especially if it leads to military intervention or spills across borders into Israel.

 

Thanks to political unrest in Syria, the ancient city of Damascus is now the least livable city, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Ten Least Livable Cities

Best Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014

Hedge fund manager David Einhorn criticized the Federal Reserve last year for "force-feeding us what seems like the 36th Jelly Donut of easy money and wondering why it isn't giving us energy or making us feel better." Since that comment, both Einhorn and the Fed have probably lost count of just what number doughnut the market has consumed. But the analogy stands: Prices built on short-term actions, results, or sentiment don't lead to sustainable returns. Is�Hershey� (NYSE: HSY  ) , the seller of many sugar highs, on its own unsustainable high at a P/E of 30? Or can Hershey keep stuffing enough chocolate into the world's mouth to keep stockholder returns sweet?

A history of Hershey's valuation
Outside of recessionary blips, Hershey's P/E has never�hit above 35:

Best Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Identive Group Inc.(INVE)

Identive Group, Inc. provides secure identification (ID) solutions that combine the convenience of radio frequency identification (RFID) with the security of smart card technology to enable people to interact with and manage digital devices, systems, and data. The company operates in two segments, Identity Management Solutions and Services, and Identification Products and Components. The Identity Management Solutions and Services segment designs, supplies, and manages solutions, systems, and services that enable the secure management of credentials. It provides integrated physical and logical access systems, integrated ID solutions, cashless payment solutions, and cloud-based credential management systems, designed to enable organizations provide convenience and speed for users while supporting security and compliance to regulatory requirements. This segment sells its solutions under the Hirsch Identive, idOnDemand, and Multicard brands to end customers that operate in the government, education, enterprise, and commercial markets; and in multiple vertical market segments, such as healthcare, banking, industrial, retail, and critical infrastructure. The Identification Products and Components segment designs and manufactures RFID and smart card technology-based products and components, including NFC products and components, that are used in the government, enterprise, and consumer markets for various identity-based and related applications, such as logical access, physical access, eHealth, eGovernment, citizen ID, mobile payments, loyalty schemes, and transportation and event ticketing primarily under the Identive brand. The company markets its products through OEMs, distributors, dealers, system integrators, value-added resellers, resellers, and Internet. The company was formerly known as SCM Microsystems, Inc. and changed its name to Identive Group, Inc. in June 2010. Identive Group, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.

Best Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Royce Value Trust Inc.(RVT)

Royce Value Trust Inc. is a close ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Royce & Associates, LLC. It invests in the public equity markets of the United States. The fund spreads its investments across diversified sectors. It invests in value oriented stocks of small cap and micro cap companies. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Russell 2000 Index. Royce Value Trust Inc. was formed on July 1, 1986 and is domiciled in the United States.

Hot Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Absolute Software Corp (ABT.TO)

Absolute Software Corporation develops, markets, and supports computer security and endpoint management services and products worldwide. It offers endpoint security products, such as Computrace, a software-as-a-service based security solution for endpoint data protection, tracking, investigative, and device recovery services, which enables customers to secure and track their IT assets in a single Web-based interface; and Absolute Secure Drive to manage self-encrypting hard drives. The company also provides endpoint management products, including Absolute Manage, a lifecycle management and mobile device solution that enables IT administrators to manage PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows phone devices from a single console; mobile device management, mobile application management, and mobile document distribution solutions to alternative mobile devices, such as tablets and smart phones; power management ROI calculator to calculate annual power management savings and the payba ck period on Absolute Manage investments; and InstallEase that allows to create customized installer software packages for Windows and Mac OS X. In addition, it offers Computrace LoJack for Laptops to find and recover stolen laptops. Further, the company provides data protection, investigation, and recovery services comprising data delete, device freeze, persistent device messaging, remote file retrieval, location identification, end of life data delete, remote forensics, and theft recovery services; and professional and training services. It serves corporations, educational institutions, healthcare and government organizations, and individual consumers. The company markets its products through computer original equipment manufacturers, value added resellers, system integrators, distributors, and online and traditional retailers, as well as directly to customers. Absolute Software Corporation was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Best Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Materion Corporation (MTRN)

Materion Corporation, a materials solutions company, engages in the production and supply of high-performance engineered materials in the United States and internationally. The company offers high performance materials solutions for large area coatings, alternative energy, and thin film applications; and specialty inorganic chemicals for semiconductors, LED lighting, and energy storage applications. It also provides precision thin film coatings and optical filters for manufacturers in the defense, commercial, space, science, astronomy, and thermal imaging industries; beryllium-based metals and metal matrix composites for commercial, research, and engineering applications; and copper, copper beryllium, and spinodal alloy products for end-use products in the aerospace, automotive, computers, telecommunications, manufacturing equipment, mobile equipment, medical products, oil and gas, alternative energy, and plastic tooling markets. In addition, the company offers high perfor mance engineered ceramics; beryllium X-ray window and ultra high vacuum products; electron beam welding, vacuum furnace brazing, and waterjet cutting services, as well as engineering support services; and beryllium products, such as speaker domes and microphone transducers. Further, Materion Corporation provides precision-coated materials; thin film deposition materials, electronic packaging products, and specialty materials for the semiconductor, photonics, data storage, wireless, military, and medical markets; and precision parts cleaning, precious metals refining, and recycling services. Additionally, it engages in beryllium mining and milling business; and offers engineered beryllium materials and specialty strip metal products. The company was formerly known as Brush Engineered Materials Inc. and changed its name to Materion Corporation on March 8, 2011. Materion Corporation was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.

Best Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: The Cushing MLP Total Return Fund(SRV)

Cushing MLP Total Return Fund is a closed-end mutual fund launched by Swank Capital, LLC. The fund is managed by Swank Energy Income Advisors L.P. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe with a focus in United States. The fund typically invests in MLPs, Other Natural Resource Companies, and global commodities. It primarily invests in the securities of MLPs, other equity securities, debt securities, and securities of non-U.S. issuers employing a fundamental analysis. Cushing MLP Total Return Fund was formed on May 23, 2007 and is domiciled in Dallas.

Best Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Stokes(Australasia)

Stokes (Australasia) Limited engages in merchandising and distributing appliance parts, badges, medallions, electrical switches, and controls primarily in Australia. The company also manufactures electric elements and metal components for industrial and household products. It offers thermostats, heating elements, controls, cooking elements, industrial elements, and other electrical products. In addition, the company distributes spare parts for ovens, cook tops, washing machines, clothes dryers, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, dishwashers, and microwave ovens, as well as for laundry, refrigeration, hot water, and dishwasher service and repair markets. Further, it distributes disposable dust bags, motors and carbon brushes, power heads, floor tools and accessories, hoses and accessories, extension rods, cloth bags and accessories, belts, brush strips and filters, repair and extension leads, switches and controls, immersion heaters, and vacuum cleaners. Additionally, the comp any manufactures and supplies badges, medallions, and trophies, as well as associated products, including school badges and bars, office bearer bars, name badges, custom badges, uniform buttons, badge fittings, medallions, and pendant medals. Stokes (Australasia) Limited was founded in 1856 and is based in West Ringwood, Australia.

Is BlackBerry a Worthwhile Investment?

With shares of Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:BBRY), which officially changed its name to BlackBerry early this year, trading around $14, is BBRY 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

BlackBerry is a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services, it provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to information, including email, voice, instant messaging, SMS, Internet and intranet-based applications and browsing.  Its portfolio of products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations and millions of consumers around the world and include the BlackBerry wireless solution, the RIM Wireless Handheld product line, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, software development tools, and other software and hardware. Several economies around the world are growing and adopting new technologies in their daily lives. Also, the company has recently rebranded its products which may offer a boost to their bottom line. With populations around the world incorporating mobile products into their lives at an increasing rate, as one of the top providers, BlackBerry is poised to see a rise in profits.

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T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Mixed

BlackBerry stock is seeing a strong bounce after a few years of increased selling pressure. The stock is now consolidating a bit after a strong recent run so it may need time before choosing a direction. 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, BlackBerry is trading around its rising key averages which signal neutral price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Research In Motion Options	75.82%	93%	90%

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.

Top Biotech Companies To Invest In 2014

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

E = Earnings Are Decreasing 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 BlackBerry’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for BlackBerry 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)	-78.23%	-96.08%	-171.43%	-174.44%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-41.26%	-47.21%	-31.07%	-42.66%
Earnings Reaction	-0.89%	-22.73%	5.04%	-19.05%

BlackBerry has seen decreasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been disappointed with BlackBerry’s recent earnings announcements.

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P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has BlackBerry stock done relative to its peers, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), and sector?

	BlackBerry	Apple	Google	Nokia	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	19.55%	-20.39%	27.10%	3.29%	15.22%

BlackBerry has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

BlackBerry provides innovative communications products to consumers and companies across the globe. The stock has been the subject of intense selling but is now recovering a bit. Over the last four quarters, investors have been disappointed with the company as earnings and revenue figures have been decreasing. Relative to its peers and sector, BlackBerry has been a year-to-date performance leader. WAIT AND SEE what BlackBerry does in coming quarters.

At the Close: Dow Jones Industrials Retake 15,000; Pep Boys Plunges After Close on Earnings Miss

After touring the nation for three-straight days, the Fat Boys sang, they needed a vacation. The Dow Jones Industrials, however, needed vacation to end to break its four-week losing streak. And with all hands on deck now, the Dow climbed back above 15,000 for the first time since Aug. 23.

Getty Images

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to 15,063.12 today, its biggest percentage gain in two months, while the S&P 500 rose 1% to 1,671.71. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3% to 3,706.18.

Why the advance? Why not? Data out of China was good, Japan’s stock market is running with the bulls again after winning the 2020 Olympics and Australia has a new government.

Investors shouldn’t get too complacent, however. Whether or not the Fed will begin tapering next week is still an open question, while the bombs may or may not fall on Syria. On the former, Janney’s Mark Luschini argues that it’s time to “rip the Band-Aid off.” He writes:

Many expect the Fed to use that meeting to announce its tapering process. We hold the same opinion. But, at the same time, each weaker-than-expected economic data point along the way seems to embolden those who think the Fed is unlikely to start the tapering process until later in the year if at all.

It is this disconnect in expectations that may lead to increased volatility in the markets as the meeting date approaches. We believe that the Fed should use this upcoming date to start reducing its bond-buying program, even if it startles the market. We think the turbulence will be short-lived, as investors come to see that the economy doesn't require the Fed's assistance quite the same way now as it did before.

Top 10 Undervalued Companies To Invest In 2014

As for Syria, the issue could remain unresolved for some time, even if the Russians have mooted a plan for Syria to give up all its chemical weapons. And that, too, could remain a source of volatility for financial markets, says CRT Capital Group’s Ian Lyngen. He writes:

Leaving aside the discussion about the wisdom of seeking buy-in from the Senate and House, we're more inclined to interpret the current breakdown of Congress' voting bias as a volatility enhancing event – rather than an opportunity to step away from the conflict.  Said differently, the approval process looks poised to drag on beyond the 4-5 day initial estimate.  Clearly the longer the voting takes and the more conflicting headlines emerge, the more choppy the price action becomes.

In other words, enjoy the fun while it lasts.

Earnings season may be over, but companies keep reporting. The latest: Pep Boys (PBY). The chain of auto-repair shops reported a profit of 10 cents a shares, well below forecasts for a 19 cent profit. Its shares have plunged 4.5% to $11.00 in after-hours trading.

PVH (PVH) has fallen 3.4% to $127.60 after the clothing retailer said it earned $1.39 a share, beating forecasts by 1 cent, but offered below-consensus earnings guidance.

Five Below (FIVE) has gained 12% to $45.90 after the teen retailer said it earned 11 cents a share, above forecasts for 9 cents.

Flow International (FLOW) has gained 9.6% to $3.99 after it reported a loss of 2 cents a share, below forecasts for a 1 cent profit. Profits were hit by currency fluctuations and a $1.6 million charge.

Casey’s General Stores (CASY) has dropped 1.6% to $67.73 after reporting a profit of $1.43 a share, above estimates for a $1.26 profit.

Friday Closing Bell: Markets in Selling Mood on Syria, Low Pre-holiday Volume

Source: thinkstockAugust 30, 2013: U.S. markets opened slightly higher on Friday morning but soured almost immediately. Data on personal income and personal spending was mixed and the Chicago Fed PMI reading came out as expected. The consumer sentiment index pulled off last month's six-year high and it was this the clinched the deal for a sell-off all around.

European markets closed lower today, while Asian and Latin American markets closed mixed.

Just a reminder that U.S. markets are closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Tuesday's calendar includes the following data releases and events (all times Eastern):

8:58 a.m. – PMI manufacturing index 10:00 a.m. – ISM manufacturing index 10:00 a.m. – Construction spending 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Here are the closing bell levels for Friday:

S&P500 1,632.95 (-5.22; -0.32%) DJIA 14,810.31 (-30.64; -0.21%) NASDAQ 3,589.87 (-30.43; -0.84%) 10YR TNOTE 2.779% (-0.125%) Gold $1,396.10 (-16.80; -1.2%) Euro/Dollar: 1.3218 (-0.0023; -0.17%)

Big earnings movers: Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) is up 12.5% at $49.11 and posted a new 52-week high of $49.94 today. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is down $15 at $19.74. Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) is up 12.8% at $55.18 after posting a new 52-week high of $55.83 earlier today. Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is up 2.3% at $35.42. ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) is up 8% at $4.75.

Stocks on the move: Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) is up 8.9% at $85.66 after a $3.1 billion asset sale to Sinopec. OmniVision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) is down 16.1% at $15.45 after warning on earnings due to lower sales of smartphones. E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE: DANG) is down 10.1% at $7.80 on a downgrade from JPMorgan.

In all, 18 stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while 39 stocks posted new lows.

Top 4 Most Scandalous Insider Trading Debacles

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Insider trading has been a part of the U.S. market since William Duer used his post as assistant secretary of the Treasury to guide his bond purchases in the late 1700s. In this article, we will look at some landmark incidents of insider trading. (For more background info, check out What exactly is insider trading?)

1. Albert H. Wiggin: The Market Crash Millionaire
During the Roaring '20s, many Wall Street professionals, and even some of the general public, knew Wall Street was a rigged game run by powerful investing pools. Suffering from a lack of disclosure and an epidemic of manipulative rumors, people believed coattail investing and momentum investing were the only viable strategies for getting in on the profits. Unfortunately, many investors found that the coattails they were riding were actually smokescreens for hidden sell orders that left them holding the bag. Still, while the market kept going up and up, these setbacks were seen as a small price to pay in order to get in on the big game later on. In October, 1929, the big game was revealed to be yet another smokescreen.

After the crash, the public was hurt, angry, and hungry for vengeance. Albert H. Wiggin, the respected head of Chase National Bank, seemed an unlikely target until it was revealed that he shorted 40,000 shares of his own company. This is like a boxer betting on his opponent – a serious conflict of interest.

Using wholly-owned family corporations to hide the trades, Wiggin built up a position that gave him a vested interest in running his company into the ground. There were no specific rules against shorting your own company in 1929, so Wiggin legally made $4 million from the 1929 crash and the shakeout of Chase stock that followed. (Learn how to distinguish tops and bottoms in the equity market when short selling, read Finding Short Candidates With Technical Analysis.)

Not only was this legal at the time, but Wiggin had also accepted a $100,000 a year pension for life from the bank. He later declined the pension when the public outcry grew too loud to ignore. Wiggin was not alone in his immoral conduct, and similar revelations led to a 1934 revision of the 1933 Securities Act that was much sterner toward insider trading. It was appropriately nicknamed the "Wiggin Act".

2. Levine, Siegel, Boesky and Milken: The Precognition Rat Pack
One of the most famous cases of insider trading made household names of Michael Milken, Dennis Levine, Martin Siegel and Ivan Boesky. Milken received the most attention because he was the biggest target for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but it was actually Boesky who was the spider in the center of the web.

Boesky was an arbitrageur in the mid-1980s with an uncanny ability to pick out potential takeover targets and invest before an offer was made. When the fated offer came, the target firm's stock would shoot up and Boesky would sell his shares for a profit. Sometimes, Boesky would buy mere days before an unsolicited bid was made public - a feat of precognition rivaling the mental powers of spoon bender Uri Geller. (Learn more in Tales From Wall Street's Crypt.)

Like Geller, Boesky's precognition turned out to be a fraud. Rather than keeping a running tabulation of all the publicly traded firms trading at enough of a discount to their true values to attract offers and investing in the most likely of the group, Boesky went straight to the source - the mergers and acquisitions arms of the major investment banks. Boesky paid Levine and Siegel for pre-takeover information that guided his prescient buys. When Boesky hit home runs on nearly every major deal in the 1980s - Getty Oil, Nabisco, Gulf Oil, Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Texaco - the people at the SEC became suspicious.

The SEC's break came when Merrill Lynch was tipped off that someone in the firm was leaking info and, as a result, Levine's Swiss bank account was uncovered. The SEC rolled Levine and he gave up Boesky's name. By watching Boesky - particularly during the Getty Oil fiasco - the SEC caught Siegel. With three in the bag, they went after Michael Milken. Surveillance of Boesky and Milken helped the SEC draw up a list of 98 charges worth 520 years in prison against the junk bond king. The SEC charges didn't all stick, but Boesky and Milken took the brunt with record fines and prison sentences. (For more on Milken, see 4 History-Making Wall Street Crooks.)

3. R. Foster Winans: The Corruptible Columnist
Although not high-ranking in terms of dollars, the case of Wall Street Journal columnist R. Foster Winans is a landmark case for its curious outcome. Winans wrote the "Heard on the Street" column profiling a certain stock. The stocks featured in the column often went up or down according to Winans' opinion. Winans leaked the contents of his column to a group of stockbrokers, who used the tip to take up positions in the stock before the column was published. The brokers made easy profits and allegedly gave some of their illicit gains to Winans. (For more, see Why do stock prices change following news reports?)

Winans was caught by the SEC and put at the center of a very tricky court case. Because the column was the personal opinion of Winans rather than material insider information, the SEC was forced into a unique and dangerous strategy. The SEC charged that the info in the column belonged to the Wall Street Journal, not Winans. This meant that while Winans was convicted of a crime, the WSJ could theoretically engage in the same practice of trading on its content without any legal worries. (Find out how news can affect your stock in Trading On News Releases and Can Good News Be A Signal To Sell?.)

4. Martha Stewart: The Homemaking Hoaxer
In December 2001, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it was rejecting ImClone's new cancer drug, Erbitux. As the drug represented a major portion of ImClone's pipeline, the company's stock took a sharp dive. Many pharmaceutical investors were hurt by the drop, but the family and friends of CEO Samuel Waksal were, oddly enough, not among them. Among those with a preternatural knack for guessing the FDA's decision days before the announcement was homemaking guru Martha Stewart. She sold 4,000 shares when the stock was still trading in the high $50s and collected nearly $250,000 on the sale. The stock would plummet to just over $10 in the following months.

Stewart claimed to have a pre-existing sell order with her broker, but her story continued to unravel and public shame eventually forced her to resign as the CEO of her own company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Waksal was arrested and sentenced to more than seven years in prison and fined $4.3 million in 2003. In 2004, Stewart and her broker were also found guilty of insider trading. Stewart was sentenced to the minimum of five months in prison and fined $30,000.

The Bottom Line
Although the cases in this article are glaring examples, insider trading is often difficult for the SEC to spot. Detecting it involves a lot of conjecture and consideration of probabilities. While it's possible that Boesky was that good at predicting takeovers, it was highly improbable.

Truth be told, the SEC has made mistakes and accused the innocent in cases that are borderline, at best. This is one of the prices we pay to guard against insiders trading on information that the public doesn't yet know. That said, Stewart offers the best example of why it's best not to trade on material insider information – leaving the moral aspect aside. If she had simply held her ImClone stock, it would have hit the $70-$80 range during the Eli Lilly takeover, making her holdings worth around $60,000 more than what she sold out for. Instead, she was fined $30,000 and ended up in jail. The risks, in this case, definitely outweighed the returns.

6 Important Things You Need to Know About Debt Collectors

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Getty Images If you are getting calls and letters from debt collectors and want to resolve the debt, you need a plan. Your first priority should be developing a strategy that makes sense for you financially. You need to know your monthly budget and the amount of money you can commit to resolving collection accounts. And if you have more than one account in collections, you also need to know that not all debt collectors are the same. 1. You Can Work With the Original Creditor... You can often work out some form of payment by calling your creditor directly, or by working with a nonprofit credit counseling agency. But when credit card payments go more than six months without a payment (sometimes sooner), calling your creditor often means being routed to a third-party debt collector. If your creditor tells you they cannot work directly with you; has not sold your account off to a bad debt buyer; and has already charged off your account, you will typically have to work with the debt collector they sent your account to. Your strategy to resolve a debt can be adjusted depending on what kind of debt you have, and the type of collector you are dealing with. 2. ...Or a Third-Party Debt Collector The collection industry is large. There are thousands of companies, big and small, working to collect billions of dollars of debt each year. Your strategy to resolve overdue bills can be adjusted depending on what kind of debts you have (medical debts, utility bills, etc.), and the type of collector you are dealing with. Debt collectors that work directly with your credit card lender are typically going to be larger contingency collection agencies. They make calls and send you collection notices in an attempt to collect. All of which is motivated by the fact that they will get paid based on what they get you to pay. A common earned contingency fee is 15% of the balance they collect. 3. Debt Collectors Have Limits All collection agencies have to follow federal and state laws when communicating with you. These laws protect you and limit things like when they can call, and what the collector can say. But contingency debt collectors also have limits set by your creditor. One of those limits is time. Credit card lenders sending accounts out to an agency for collection do so with a "best collected by" date. When the date expires, your account is pulled back by the creditor, and the collector loses the ability to earn a fee. These collection contracts can be for as little as 60 days, or for several months. This fact is useful for you in the following ways: There is indeed a sense of urgency for the contingency collector. That pressure they are putting on you to pay is also the pressure they have to beat the clock before they lose your account.

This type of collector is graded on their performance (how much and how often they collect), by your creditor. The agency cares about their performance because they want to receive future accounts to collect on from your creditor. Individual collectors at the agency are often motivated by monthly quotas and performance rewards of their own. These three elements can help you understand the motivations of this type of collector, while helping you plan and prepare to resolve your debts. 4. You Can Reach Out to Your Debt Collectors You usually know who you are dealing with by the most recent collection calls and letters you have received. While you can contact the last known collector, I often recommend you call your original creditor and verify with them who they have the account placed with. Simply call the regular number on the back of your credit card (or on your original statement). Your call may get routed to the recovery department at the bank, but don't expect to resolve anything with them at this point. They have a contract with the debt collector, and will provide you the name and contact phone number to the agency. Try to verify the balance owed on your account during a call like this. Making contact with you is one of the hardest things for a debt collector to do. When they do get someone live on the phone, they know they need to make the most of it. Not just because people avoid collection calls, but their agency also may be running out of time to collect from you. This is one of the reasons why debt collectors have earned the reputation of being pushy and abrupt. When you pick up a call, or make one to a debt collector, their goal is going to be to get some form of payment, or commitment to pay, during virtually every call. 5. Your Collector Wants to Work With You How you ultimately resolve a debt with a contingency debt collector is going to depend on: your monthly cash flow that can be used to make payments; the parameters the collector has to work with on their end; and even by the date on the calendar. Setting up a payment arrangement you can afford given your monthly budget is not all that difficult. And if the collector can get you set up with a payment, they often get to retain the account while your payments are being made. This means your interests and the collector's are aligned when you are actively looking for a solution. If you have multiple debts you are struggling to pay, are nervous or uncomfortable talking to a debt collector about payment options, or just want expert help, there are resources available. I asked a nonprofit credit counseling group about what they would advise people do before tackling accounts in this stage of collection. Christopher Viale, President and CEO of Cambridge Credit Counseling had this to say:

Before committing any part of your monthly budget to paying down collection accounts, it's important to have a complete understanding of what your household budget actually is and what you can truly afford. We speak to people every day who make promises to debt collectors that they simply cannot keep. A budgeting session with one of our counselors is free and it can really help you get a full understanding of what you can and cannot afford before making any type of payment commitment.

6. Monthly Payments Aren't the Only Option In many instances, if you cannot commit to a monthly payment, debt collectors are authorized to accept settlements. What your debt can be settled for when dealing with a debt collector is a moving target. The amount you can save from negotiating a lower payoff will have to fit within the collector's guidelines in most cases. And you need the money available to pay any deal you negotiate in a single lump sum, or over a short period of time. You may be surprised by how simple it can be to call a collector and come to an agreement to resolve your account. If you cannot reach a deal that works for you on the first try, don't get discouraged. Try calling around the last week of the month. My experience shows that more affordable agreements are often available when a collector's or agency's monthly goals are not meeting expectations. You can also time your efforts to resolve accounts with a debt collector using the "best collected by" expiration date. In one of your first calls with a collection agency you could ask "I am trying to come up with a plan to resolve my debt. I do not have a plan put together yet, but will be calling back when I do. Can you tell me the balance owed on the account now? And also, so I know who to call back, how long will you have this account for?" Not all debt collectors will tell you how long they will have your account, but many do. Knowing these dates can be useful for two reasons: You can set up payments with the collector before they lose your account. This prevents your account from going to another collector, or worse, being sued later. You can time your negotiations for a lower payoff with the performance goals of the collection agency. When it comes to settling collection accounts, you may be tempted to hire a company rather than do it yourself. Before you do that, I recommend you find out what debt settlement companies don't tell you. Hiring a professional negotiator can often feel like the right solution, until you calculate the costs that come with the help. There are certainly other details to consider when dealing with debt collectors. But the basics of resolving debts at this stage of collection are not complicated. If your personal finances are still too wobbly to commit to paying off collection accounts, don't allow yourself to get pressured by a debt collector. The "best collected by" date will expire and the debt will go back into the collection pipeline. If you are committed to trying to avoid bankruptcy, there will be options to manage your debt all along the way.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014

On a slow day for defense contractors, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A  ) took home the Pentagon gold Wednesday.

After bidding for the rights to develop and manufacture an aircrew training system for the new KC-46 Boeing aerial refueling tanker, Berkshire subsidiary�FlightSafety International won a $78.4 million contract to produce the system. FlightSafety could have as long as until 2026 to complete work on the contract if all option-year extensions are exercised.

Berkshire's single contract win accounted for more than half the $149.4 million in contracts awarded Wednesday. Of the rest, only one went to another publicly traded company. General Dynamics' (NYSE: GD  ) Advanced Information Systems subsidiary won $31.5 million in the form of a five-year performance-based logistics requirements contract to support six mission computers used on F/A 18 E/F, EA-18G, and AV-8B aircraft. The completion date on this contract is April 2018.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: Conceptus Inc.(CPTS)

Conceptus, Inc. designs, develops, and markets minimally invasive devices for reproductive medical applications primarily in the United States, France, and rest of Europe. It primarily provides Essure, a permanent birth control system that delivers an insert into a woman?s fallopian tubes. The company sells its products through direct sales personnel and distributors primarily to physicians and hospitals. Conceptus, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: Patheon Inc Com Npv Vtg Restric (PTI.TO)

Patheon Inc. provides drug development and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and specialty pharmaceutical companies worldwide. It primarily offers commercial manufacturing outsourcing services and outsourced pharmaceutical development services. The company�s commercial manufacturing outsourcing services include the activities primarily relating to various sterile dosage forms, as well as solid, conventional, and specialized dosage forms. It also develops a range of specialized capabilities in high potency, controlled substances, and sustained release products. Its pharmaceutical development services comprise early development; pre-formulation, formulation, and development of dosage forms; manufacturing of development stage products during the regulatory drug approval process, including the manufacture of pilot batches; scale-up and technology transfer services designed to validate commercial-scale drug manufacturing processes; and development of analytical methods and delivery of analytical services. Patheon Inc. was founded in 1974 and is based in Mississauga, Canada.

Top Stocks To Buy Right Now: Blueknight Energy(BKEP)

Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated terminalling, storage, processing, gathering, and transportation services for companies engaged in the production, distribution and marketing of crude oil and asphalt products in the United States. The company offers crude oil terminalling and storage services, which enables it customers to manage their crude oil inventories, marketing, and operating activities, as well as asphalt services that enables its customers to manage their asphalt product storage and processing, and marketing activities. It also provides crude oil pipeline and crude oil trucking services. In addition, the company offers producer field services, including gathering condensates by way of bobtail trucks for natural gas companies to hauling produced water to disposal wells; provision of hot and cold fresh water; chemical and down hole well treatment services; wet oil clean up services; and building and maintaining se paration facilities. As of July 19, 2011, it owned and operated a portfolio of midstream energy assets consisting of approximately 8.1 million barrels of crude oil storage facilities located in Oklahoma and Texas; approximately 1,285 miles of crude oil pipeline network located primarily in Oklahoma and Texas; approximately 300 crude oil transportation and oilfield services vehicles deployed in Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas; and approximately 7.4 million barrels of combined asphalt product and residual fuel oil storage facilities located at 45 terminals in 22 states. The company was formerly known as SemGroup Energy Partners, L.P. Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P. is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: ProPhase Labs Inc.(PRPH)

ProPhase Labs, Inc. engages in the research, development, manufacture, distribution, marketing, and sale of over-the-counter (OTC) cold remedy and consumer products, natural base health products, and other supplements and cosmeceuticals in the United States. Its OTC offerings include Cold-EEZE, a zinc gluconate glycine product to reduce the duration and severity of the common cold symptoms; Kids-EEZE soft chews to treat chest congestion, cough/cold, or allergies; and Organix Complete cough/cold drops for coughs and sore throats due to the common cold. The company sells its consumer health products through national wholesalers and distributors, as well as independent and chain food, drug and mass merchandise stores, and pharmacies. ProPhase Labs, Inc. has a joint venture with Phusion Laboratories, LLC for the development and commercialization of non-prescription remedies using patented TPM technology. It also manufactures private label lozenges for retail customers; and man ufactures, markets, and distributes a range of homeopathic and health products. The company was formerly known as The Quigley Corporation and changed its name to ProPhase Labs, Inc. in May 2010. ProPhase Labs, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund(CFP)

Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund is a closed-ended equity fund of fund launched and managed by Cornerstone Advisors, Inc. The fund invests funds investing in the public equity markets of the United States. It invests in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund was formed on April 26, 2007 and is domiciled in the United States.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: AXIOM III INC (AXIO.OB)

Axiom Gold and Silver Corp. engages in the discovery, exploration, and development of precious metal properties in Mexico, Chile, and Argentina. It holds interests in the Aurora project covering approximately 570 hectares and the Gavilan project comprising approximately 724.1028 hectares located in Sonora, Mexico. The company was formerly known as TC Power Management Corp. and changed its name to Axiom Gold and Silver Corp. in January 2011. Axiom Gold and Silver Corp. was founded in 2007 and is based in Oro Valley, Arizona.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: ICF International Inc. (ICFI)

ICF International Inc. provides management, technology, and policy professional services to government, commercial, and international clients. It primarily offers advisory services, which include needs and market assessments, policy analysis, strategy and concept development, organizational assessment and strategy, enterprise architecture, and program design; and implementation services to manage technological, organizational, and management solutions for clients, including information technology solutions, project and program management, project delivery, strategic communications, and training. The company also provides evaluation and improvement services consisting of program evaluations, continuous improvement initiatives, performance management, benchmarking, and return-on-investment analyses. It serves energy, environment, and transportation; health, education, and social programs; and homeland security and defense. The company was formerly known as ICF Consulting Gro up Holdings, LLC and changed its name to ICF International, Inc. in 2006. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: Bank of Marin Bancorp(BMRC)

Bank of Marin Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Marin that offers a range of commercial and retail banking products and services in California. It offers personal and business checking and savings accounts; time deposit alternatives comprising time certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, health savings accounts, and certificate of deposit account registry services; remote deposit capture, direct deposit of payroll, social security and pension checks, fraud prevention services, and image lockbox services; and valet deposit pick-up service. The company provides its deposit products and services primarily to individuals, merchants, small to medium sized businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and professionals. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial and retail lending programs that include commercial loans and lines of credit, construction financing, consumer loans, and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company provides m erchant card services, credit cards, and business Visa programs; cash management services to business clients through a third party vendor; wealth management and trust services, such as customized investment portfolio management, financial planning, trust administration, estate settlement and custody services, and advice on charitable giving; and 401(k) plan services to small and medium businesses through a third party vendor. Further, it provides private banking services, including deposit services and loans; international banking services; and automated teller machine, Internet banking, and telephone banking services. As of April 25, 2011, Bank of Marin Bancorp operated 17 branch offices in Marin, San Francisco, Napa, and Sonoma counties. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Novato, California.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: Cincinnati Financial Corporation(CINF)

Cincinnati Financial Corporation engages in the property casualty insurance business in the United States. Its Commercial Lines Property Casualty Insurance segment provides coverage for commercial casualty, commercial property, commercial auto, and workers? compensation. It also offers specialty packages, including coverages for property, liability, and business interruption for specific industry classes, such as artisan contractors, dentists, or street businesses. In addition, this segment provides contract and commercial surety bonds, fidelity bonds, and director and officer liability insurance, as well as machinery and equipment coverage. The company?s Personal Lines Property Casualty Insurance segment offers coverage for personal auto and homeowners, as well as other insurance products, such as dwelling fire, inland marine, personal umbrella liability, and watercraft coverages to individuals. Cincinnati Financial?s Excess and Surplus Lines Property Casualty Insurance s egment offers commercial casualty insurance that covers businesses for third-party liability from accidents occurring on their premises or arising out of their operations, including products and completed operations; and commercial property insurance, which insures loss or damage to buildings, inventory, equipment, and business income from causes of loss, such as fire, wind, hail, water, theft, and vandalism. The company?s Life Insurance segment provides term insurance; universal life insurance; whole life insurance; and worksite products, which include term, whole life, universal life, and disability insurance offered to employees through their employer. This segment also markets disability income insurance, deferred annuities, and immediate annuities. Its Investment segment invests in fixed-maturity investments, equity investments, and short-term investments. Cincinnati also offers commercial leasing and financing services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquarte red in Fairfield, Ohio.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Companies For 2014: Cable & Wireless Plc(CW.L)

Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides communication infrastructure and services to users of telecommunications services. It offers a range of managed voice, data, and IP-based services and applications to multinational companies, governments, carrier customers, and resellers. The company provides contact centre solutions that include QueueBuster, which offers callers an alternative option to waiting on hold by increasing peak call handling capacity; STORM, a multimedia interactive communications platform; voice interaction; and IP contact centre, which provides a choice of hosted contact centre infrastructure to manage customer interactions across multiple channels. It also provides various data solutions, such as IP-VPN, a private MPLS-based wide area networking service; local area network (LAN) management services; Ethernet Wirleine and Ethernet VPN for extending LAN capability across a wide area network; and National Private Line that links user?s sites in the United Kingdom with dependable leased-line connections. In addition, the company offers infrastructure services, including application performance management, co-location, managed exchange, managed hosting, flexible computing, video conferencing, and security services; and voice products comprising hosted voice, Internet protocol (IP) trunking, and international interconnect services. It serves customers in the banking and financial services, channel business, engineering and exploration, government, insurance, international carriers, investment banking, media, retail, and utilities sectors, as well as system integrators. Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc offers its products and services in the United Kingdom, the Asia Pacific, India, the Middle East, Africa, continental Europe, and North America. The company is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc operates independently of Cable & Wireless Communications Plc as of March 22, 2010.