Is Disney a Buy At Current Prices?

With shares of Disney (NYSE:DIS) trading around $70, is DIS 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

Disney is a diversified worldwide entertainment company. The company operates in five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products, and interactive. Disney offers entertainment that sends smiles to consumers across a range of countries around the world. Its movies and shows, theme parks, and products have remained a main attraction for many years and will continue well into the future.

Disney is hoping its new animated feature film, Frozen, which debuts on Wednesday, will bring in profits similar to last year's Wreck It Ralph, which grossed $471 million. In recent years, Disney has been challenged to step up its game by competitors Dreamworks, Pixar, Blue Sky, and Illumination. As with most Disney movies, it's expected that the majority of the profit in the wake of the film's debut will stem from the various merchandise sold in years to come. According to a recent Forbes’ review of Frozen, the film is "a declaration of Disney's renewed cultural relevance."

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Disney stock has been flying higher in recent years. The stock is currently trading near all-time highs and looks ready to continue this path. 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, Disney is trading above its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Disney Options	20.27%	6%	4%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
December Options	Flat	Average
January Options	Flat	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Increasing 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 Disney’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Disney look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	13.24%	0.00%	31.75%	-3.75%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	7.29%	4.42%	9.61%	5.21%
Earnings Reaction	2.12%	-1.70%	-0.12%	0.42%

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

P = Average Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Disney stock done relative to its peers, Dreamworks (NASDAQ:DWA), Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA), and sector?

	Disney	Dreamworks	Time Warner	21st Century Fox	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	41.09%	97.47%	39.85%	50.96%	44.96%

Disney has been an average relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Disney is a global entertainment company that aims to deliver smiles to many consumers worldwide. The company is hoping its new animated feature film, Frozen, will bring in profits similar to last year's Wreck It Ralph. The stock has seen a strong run in recent years and its currently trading near all time highs. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been rising, which has investors pleased with the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Disney has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for Disney to OUTPERFORM.

Why Comcast's Happiest Quarter in 7 Years Was Probably a Fluke

Alamy The cord cutting trend may have stalled at Comcast (CMCSK), but let's not assume that the country's largest cable provider has completely reversed the pattern of folks kissing their cable providers goodbye. Yes, in the fourth quarter Comcast posted its first sequential net gain of video customers since early 2007. It closed out 2013 with 43,000 more cable TV subscribers than it had in September. After 26 quarters, growth is back on the cable menu at Comcast. Don't expect it to last. It's All Connected Tuesday morning's announcement wasn't much of a revelation. CEO Brian Roberts spilled the beans at a Citigroup conference in Las Vegas three weeks ago. He pointed out how Comcast posted a "modest" gain in video customers during the fourth quarter. However, even Roberts wasn't ready to declare it the end of the cord cutter era. The fourth quarter is a seasonally strong period for Comcast, and it's widely expected that it will post another year of net video customer defections for all of 2014. Yes, Comcast may have grown in the past three months to serve 21.7 million cable TV accounts, but it started out last year with 22 million. There are plenty of reasons to feel that the uptick won't stick. Beyond the seasonality, we can point to the current strength in the housing market, which is unlikely to stick around in 2014 as interest rates move higher. Some see Comcast as a thinking investor's housing play since folks buying new homes often follow the purchase with a call to get cable installed. Therefore, if the real estate market cools, demand for new subscriptions will likely follow. We also can't forget that the services that many credit with triggering the cord-cutting trend are still growing even faster. Netflix (NFLX) added 2.3 million net subscribers domestically during the same quarter. We also saw the introduction late last year of three extremely popular devices -- the Xbox One, PS4, and Chromecast -- that make it easier to watch Web-based video. To Xfinity and Beyond It's not easy being Comcast. Until the fourth quarter's welcome uptick in video customers, it had been relying solely on cable price increases and the bundling of cable TV with broadband and Internet phone service to keep growing. The steady growth of cable bills doesn't necessarily mean Comcast is being greedy. Cable networks and broadcasters continue to demand more money for the rights to carry their channels. Comcast and its smaller rivals simply pass those expenses on to their customers. And from a financial perspective, it's doing the right things. On Tuesday morning, Comcast announced that it was increasing its dividend by 15 percent. It's also beefing up its share buyback efforts. However, the root of the matter is that it's hard to grow a business when the customer is unhappy. "Comcast is always at or near the bottom of most customer service and satisfaction surveys," Consumerist recently pointed out. If subscribers aren't happy and they're tiring of increases, isn't it more likely for what's happened in 26 of the past 27 quarters -- sequential declines in video customers -- to be the norm? A quarter with more installations than cancellations is a refreshing development, but it won't be a surprise if Comcast reveals it has resumed its losing ways in its next report.

My Little Rally: Hasbro Gains 5% as Girls Sales Surge

There’s no toying with Hasbro (HAS)–at least not its stock.

European Pressphoto Agency

Shares of Hasbro have surged 5.5% to $49.84 after the toy maker reported better than forecast earnings. Hasbro reported a profit of $1.31, beating expectations of $1.29, while revenue also beat.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the good news was all overseas:

Hasbro today said U.S. sales were down 5%, while international sales grew 11%, thanks to brand-hungry consumers in Latin America, Russia and Turkey…

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"The two toughest areas around the world I'd say from a consumer sentiment continue to be Australia and the U.S.," Hasbro Chief Executive Brian Goldner said on Monday's conference call to discuss a 17% jump in profit. "We're seeing enthusiasm in Latin America and major areas of Europe particularly in Russia and Turkey."

Girl’s toys also saw big gains, as My Little Pony helped that division grow by 29%. PiperJaffray’s Stephanie Wissink and Maria Vizuete explain why toys for boys could be the big driver of growth in 2014:

The boys category exhibits more variability year to year based on key licensed properties, which account for near 40% of total sales. The category declined 17% in Q3 with the two year comparables to 2011 still reflected in recalibration back to more normalized revenue rates. The outlook for 2014 continues to support significant upside to models, in our view, with total boys category revenues modeled (currently) to be 40% less than 2011 – the last peak movie year – despite 2014 bearing significantly more box office tie-ins with Transformers, 3 Marvel properties, and what we think could be early sales in holiday 2014 of Star Wars (movie release 2015).

Hasbro’s strength hasn’t necessarily translated into gains for other toy makers. Mattel (MAT) has fallen 0.5% to $42.50, while Build-a-Bear Workshop (BBW) has dropped 2.1% to $7.03. LeapFrog Enterprises (LF), however, has gained 3.3% to $8.98.

The Deal: Searching for the Next Michael Kors at Fashion Week

NEW YORK (The Deal) -- The beginning of every February and September heralds a new fashion season, but one that has nothing to do with the weather currently outside.

That's because major fashion brands from Ralph Lauren (RL) to Calvin Klein (PVH) to Michael Kors (KORS) are showing off their latest wares for a season months away.

This September the clothes snaking their way down the runways are for spring and summer in 2014 and won't be seen on racks and shelves until January.

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The rotation begins with a fashion week in New York City, and makes its way through London and Milan, ending in the world's fashion capital, Paris. Although the events are organized as separate fashion weeks by those cities' local trade organizations, the procession really constitutes a Fashion Month, with many of the same globetrotters hopping from city to city, show to show, all in hopes of seeing something new. But over the past few years the fashion crowd has been forced to acknowledge a new presence, industry watchers said, as investment bankers and partners at private equity firms have taken seats alongside magazine editors, store buyers and fashion critics. What they are looking for has less to do with what's caught in fashion's klieg lights, and more to do with whether the company putting on the show they are attending could be the next Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. or Prada SpA Group. But most bets in the fashion world go awry. Success is difficult to replicate -- think hitting the lottery rather than applying a scientific formula. Still, the brands that have made it big provide some guidance for investors eager to bankroll next season's breakout hit. In a word: Accessorize. Michael Kors has been around since the 1980s, but thanks to the designer's stint on the reality television show Project Runway, a slick American sportswear aesthetic and a group of talented executives and investors who dusted off the brand, it went from rags to hot-selling handbags the world over. The company went bankrupt in 1993, was sold off in 2003 by a group including luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton -- a move suggesting the luxury giant saw no real future for the business -- and finally held an eye-popping initial public offering in December 2011. Today Michael Kors is trading near its 52-week-high, last closing above $74 a share, with a market cap of nearly $15 billion.

The team of investors behind the company -- CEO John Idol, Silas Chou and Lawrence Stroll -- previously engineered the success of Tommy Hilfiger Corp., which went public in 1992 and eventually made its way into the hands of clothing conglomerate PVH Corp (PVH). In 2003 Sportswear Holdings Ltd., owned by Stroll and Chou, acquired an 85% stake in Michael Kors for $100 million, buying out LVMH, Onward Kashiyama Co. Ltd., and John Orchulli, Kors' business partner.

Michael Kors' market cap is a multiple of Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) that is more akin to that of a high-tech growth giant than the rag trade. For the 12 months as of June 29, Michael Kors had Ebitda of $770 million and an enterprise value of $14.3 billion, equating to a multiple of nearly 18.6 times.

That's the success that has investors crawling all over the Fashion Week tents wondering who could be transformed into the next hit.

Of course, blockbuster fashion brands are not necessarily new. Designer Ralph Lauren probably created what was the first true powerhouse fashion apparel brand, raking in billions in market value over the years after his Ralph Lauren Corp. began trading on the public markets in 1997. Today that company is also worth nearly $15 billion. The multibillion-dollar market cap serves to reinforce the Ralph Lauren image of other-worldly wealth and privilege based on a fantasy of American aristocracy and old money with influence from the British. When PVH acquired the much-coveted Calvin Klein brand, with its aesthetic of sleek modern minimalism -- and then Tommy Hilfiger, a competitor and copier of Ralph Lauren, followed by the rest of Calvin Klein it did not own with the acquisition of Warnaco Group Inc. -- the company transformed itself from a stodgy maker of men's dress shirts into a clothing giant. The successful powerhouse brands may ooze luxury, but their businesses are built on selling accessible aspirational products to the masses. For Michael Kors, that means accessories, with handbags costing perhaps a few hundred dollars apiece on average. Expensive enough to seem a splurge for most people but not so expensive as to limit the brand's market to the 1%.

At Ralph Lauren, it's not the high end that makes the money, but myriad ancillary lines that sell in department store chains, like Macy's Inc. (M).

Calvin Klein rakes in cash hocking fragrance, underwear and denim. It soon hopes to take advantage of the demand for accessories, too.

For now, accessories are the real stars of the fashion world, with clothes serving as a backdrop or as the supporting cast. A buyer can still carry the "it" bag of the moment whether he or she is short or tall, thick or thin. The products all come in one size, and can be easily identifiable through design and name brand, a billboard advertising one's affluence. The labels feed the narcissism of contemporary consumers encouraged by social media, according to Bud Konheim, CEO of fashion apparel company Nicole Miller.

And in a global marketplace, where regional dress can greatly vary between Europe, the Middle East and India, accessories are an easier sell, said Mortimer Singer, CEO of Marvin Traub Associates. Finding the next fashion hit takes more than slapping a high price tag on a hunk of leather or bolt of fabric. And some companies just never make it. According to one industry banker, many of Kering SA's (formerly PPR SA) investments in younger brands have not translated into good investments. The company remains largely reliant on flagship brands, like Gucci, while Alexander McQueen, for example, has potential with global recognition, but its sales remain small, the banker said. The company's latest investment is in Altuzarra, helmed by Joseph Altuzarra, one of the hot young emerging designers of his generation. Singer pointed out that luxury conglomerates' need for growth is driving investment in increasingly smaller brands. Beyond the giants, some investors may believe -- erroneously -- that fashion is easy. Prominent examples of new designers quickly becoming superstars can create the impression that money and slick marketing will guarantee bright lights and glitzy parties. The prestige of investing in a hot luxury brand exerts a magnetic pull. For every success, however, there is a fashion graveyard filled with hundreds of labels that never find a market.

Cathy Leonhardt, a managing director at investment bank Peter J. Solomon Co., cautioned that while brands can come out of nowhere and become really big, really quickly, generating high margins, risk is involved.

Michael Kors can make it look easy. But that success grew out of a combination of solid planning, good timing, the right investors behind the brand, the best executives running the show and trusted sourcing or manufacturing partners that put products in stores on time. Only then did the brand earn the support of magazine editors and retail buyers.

So what brands are fashion experts watching? According to Singer, the Diane von Furstenberg Studio LP label, helmed by designer Diane von Furstenberg, with its version of the European jet set, has the most promise as a potential next Michael Kors.

There is also a lot of buzz around future IPO candidates, including Tory Burch LLC, with its version of downtown preppy and its own strong accessories businesses, and Marc Jacobs International LLC, majority owned by LVMH. LVMH said recently that the designer Marc Jacobs would leave his creative role at luxury goods unit Louis Vuitton to focus on his namesake brand. It plans to take Marc Jacobs International public within the next three years. Singer said Moncler SpA, a category killer in luxury outerwear, is worth watching as it prepares to go public in Milan over the next several months. The company is backed by private equity firms Eurazeo SA and Carlyle Group. Publicly listed Fifth & Pacific Cos. (FNP), parent to Kate Spade, Juicy Couture and Lucky Brand, plans to sell Juicy Couture and Lucky Brand to focus on Kate Spade accessories. Investors hope that it will become the next Coach Inc. (COH), another accessories success story with a market cap over $15 billion. Industry sources said that once Fifth & Pacific jettisons two brands and becomes Kate Spade, it will be a prime target for both strategics and private equity. The bet is that Kate Spade will get acquired for a healthy premium. One brand among the newer arrivals at fashion week with a legitimate shot at becoming a future powerhouse accessories company is Rebecca Minkoff LLC, which is backed by private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners LLC.

In the seven years since its founding in 2005 -- propelled by the designer's oversized "Morning After Bag" -- the brand grew into a $60 million business by 2012, up from about $10 million in 2009, according to Inc. magazine, growing 500%.

And it's that youth that gives investors hope. Granted, $60 million in sales is a long way from $1 billion, let alone a few billion dollars -- something executives at the fashion company would acknowledge.

But Rebecca Minkoff has a strong partner in China, which manufactures the company's accessories. Its partner plans to open 35 stores across that country, betting on the growth of China's middle class and a shift in demand to more accessible contemporary luxury goods.

Success for these brands, according to Leonhardt, relies on having an aesthetic that consumers on the street can easily identify with or relate to, and of course, just offering up desirable product. But there is no formula, she added. Helping to fuel the growth of such companies is not only accessories, but a growing middle class in emerging markets. There may not be 20% growth in China, for example, Leonhardt said, but there will still be attractive opportunities for expansion. And perhaps more shows in, say, Shanghai.

Is Royal Dutch Shell Undervalued at Current Prices?

With shares of Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDSA) trading around $65, is RDSA 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

Royal Dutch Shell operates as an independent oil and gas company worldwide. The company explores and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. It also converts natural gas to liquids to provide fuel and other products, as well as engages in manufacturing, supplying, and shipping crude oil. The company holds interests in approximately 30 refineries, 1,500 storage tanks, and 150 distribution facilities.

Royal Dutch Shell recently reported earnings, in which the company posted a 60 percent drop in profit for the quarter. The company faced a $2 billion write-down on shale oil drilling ventures in North America, showing that Shell's drilling efforts have come up much shorter than expected. The company's earnings were negatively affected by expensive exploration efforts and disruptions to oil production in Nigeria. In addition, the company also recently appointed a new CEO, Ben van Beurden, after Peter Voser decided to leave the company.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Mixed

Royal Dutch Shell stock has not made much recent progress. The stock is currently trading near the lower end of its yearly range. 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, Royal Dutch Shell is trading between its key averages, which signals neutral price action in the near-term.

Source: Thinkorswim

Taking a look at the implied volatility and implied volatility skew levels of Royal Dutch Shell options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Royal Dutch Shell Options	15.68%	43%	41%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
October Options	Steep	Average
November Options	Steep	Average

As of Friday, there is 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 significant amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bearish over the next two months.

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	-58.33%	-7.86%	1.82%	1.79%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-4.62%	-6.67%	2.92%	-8.36%
Earnings Reaction	-5.75%	N/A	N/A	N/A

Royal Dutch Shell has seen mixed earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have not been pleased with Royal Dutch Shell’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Weak Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Royal Dutch Shell stock done relative to its peers, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), and BP (NYSE:BP), and sector?

	Top Consumer Stocks For 2015 Royal Dutch Shell	Exxon Mobil	Chevron	BP	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	-3.79%	3.10%	16.07%	1.68%	4.28%

Royal Dutch Shell has been a poor relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Royal Dutch Shell is focused on oil and gas exploration and distribution, with operations all around the world. The company recently posted earnings that have not really pleased investors. The stock has struggled to make significant progress in recent years and is now trading near the low-end of its yearly range. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been mixed, which has not really pleased investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Royal Dutch Shell has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what Royal Dutch Shell does this coming quarter.

[video] Jim Cramer Quick Take: My Thoughts on Microsoft, Apple and Starbucks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Company earnings is on the mind of TheStreet's Jim Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio.

He said Microsoft (MSFT) shares are higher after it beat on the top and bottom lines. Cramer said CEO Steve Ballmer would be made the "King of Microsoft" if the company had more quarters like this one. Device sales were "remarkable," and Windows, Surface and enterprise software all did well. As a result, shares can go higher, Cramer said. 

Turning to Apple (AAPL), an AAP holding, the company will report earnings Monday after the close. Cramer said investors should stop focusing on what the company will do with its cash and start focusing on how well its products will do in 2014. 

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He added that Samsung seems to have "completely lost it," which was evident after it reported earnings on Thursday. Right now for Apple, it's about regaining market share and it's the company's "game to win now," he said. 

Finally, Starbucks (SBUX) is slightly higher after reporting first-quarter results. Sometimes a company "does so many things right, that we don't appreciate it," Cramer said regarding the recent quarter. He said Starbucks' management has done an excellent job focusing on digital infrastructure, stymying worries from investors about the slowdown with brick-and-mortar retail.  Cramer concluded that CEO Howard Schultz is "firing on all cylinders," while the company has expanding gross margins and strength in China and Europe. -- Written by Bret Kenwell in Petoskey, Mich. Follow @BretKenwell

Stock quotes in this article: AAPL, MSFT, SBUX 

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From the Editor: We disregard conventional asset allocation models, because we make much more money by focusing our investments. All of the 100%-plus gains in the Money Map Report, for instance, are the result of "concentration," not "diversification." And today, it's time to abandon yet another classic money rule...

The "Rule of 100" is simple.

To determine the amount of money you should put into bonds and equities, just subtract your age from 100. The resulting sum is how much of your portfolio you should have allocated to equities. The rest is what you should have in bonds.

By that logic, if you were, say, 60 years old, then 40% of your money should be in equities, and 60% should be in bonds.

That's the "Rule of 100." And, unfortunately, it's worthless now, as you'll see.

That's why these unconventional shares are about to get white-hot...

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We're living through a transition, an inevitable march toward rising interest rates - and falling bond prices. The "old rule" would have investors over-allocated in one of the worst-performing market segments at precisely the time when income is needed most.

Top Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: Power-One Inc.(PWER)

Power-One, Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, sale, and service of power supply products for the renewable energy (RE), servers, storage and networking, telecommunications, industrials, and network power systems industries worldwide. Its products convert, regulate, purify, store, manage, or distribute electrical power for electronic equipment. The company provides RE inverters, which convert solar or wind energy into useable grid connected power for use in residential and commercial, and utility-grade solar panels, as well as wind turbine farms; and alternate current (AC)/direct current (DC) power supplies that convert AC into DC voltage used primarily in networking systems, network servers and storage, and industrial equipment. It also offers DC/DC converters, including high-density and low-density brick converters that are mounted on printed circuit board within the equipment, as well as point-of-load converters that power devices within an intermediate bus archite cture and in other applications primarily to power communications infrastructure equipment; DC power systems for providing additional power capacity in the event of an AC input disturbance or power outage primarily to power communications networks and cellular communications systems; and smart motor control and other products that are used primarily in clothes washers and dryers, and air conditioners. Power-One, Inc. sells its products through its sales force, manufacturers? representatives, and distributors to original equipment manufacturers; distributors/installers; engineering, procurement, and construction firms; and service providers. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Camarillo, California.

Top Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: Arco Resources Corp (ARR.V)

Arco Resources Corp., an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral resource properties in southwestern Mexico. The company primarily explores for gold, silver, lead, zinc, and polymetallic properties. As of April 30, 2011, it holds interests in seven mineral claims, including Taviche, Cuatro Venados, Predilecta, Lachiguiri, Silacayoapan, Nino Perdido, and Tres Hermanas located in the state of Oaxaca. The company was formerly known as Atomic Minerals Ltd. and changed its name to Arco Resources Corp. in May 2009. Arco Resources Corp. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

5 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2014: United Parcel Service Inc.(UPS)

United Parcel Service, Inc., a package delivery company, provides transportation, logistics, and financial services in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain & Freight. The U.S. Domestic Package segment engages in the time-definite delivery of letters, documents, and packages in the United States. The International Package segment offers air and ground delivery of small packages and letters to approximately 220 countries and territories, including shipments outside the United States, as well as shipments with either origin or distribution outside the United States; export services; and domestic services move shipments within a country?s borders. The Supply Chain & Freight segment provides forwarding and logistics services, such as supply chain design and management, freight distribution, customs brokerage, mail, and consulting services in approximately 195 countries and territorie s; and less-than-truckload and truckload services to customers in North America. In addition, the company offers various technology solutions for automated shipping, visibility, and billing; information technology systems and distribution facilities to various industries comprising healthcare, technology, and consumer/retail; and a portfolio of financial services that provides customers with short-term working capital, government guaranteed lending, global trade financing, credit cards, and export financing. It operates a fleet of approximately 99,800 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; an air fleet of 527 aircraft; and 33,800 containers used to transport cargo in its aircraft. The company was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  United Parcel Services Inc.(UPS) will raise overall prices across many ground service and air freight services an average of 4.9% next year, the latest shipping company to indicate an uptick in pricing.

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) � shares fell sharply after the firm cut its guidance for 2013, citing an ��nprecedented��rise of online shopping, including �� surge in last-minute orders��during the shortened holiday shopping season. However, by the close, shares trimmed losses and were 0.5% down.

• [By Tyler Crowe and Aimee Duffy]

  There's a lot of clamor about using natural gas to fuel trucking fleets in the United States, and now it looks as if several retail and consumer-goods companies want it to happen. Some companies, including UPS (NYSE: UPS  ) , are quick to catch on, and others aren't far behind. While natural gas might not be the perfect solution for every part of the country, fleet vehicles in certain parts of the country could benefit greatly from the $1.50 discount per gallon equivalent that natural gas has over diesel.�

Top Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: Allergan Inc. (AGN)

Allergan, Inc., a multi-specialty healthcare company, discovers, develops, and commercializes specialty pharmaceutical, medical device, and over-the-counter products for the ophthalmic, neurological, medical aesthetics, medical dermatological, breast aesthetics, obesity intervention, urological, and other specialty markets worldwide. It operates in two segments, Specialty Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices. The Specialty Pharmaceuticals segment offers a range of pharmaceutical products, including ophthalmic products for chronic dry eye, glaucoma therapy, ocular inflammation, infection, allergy, and retinal diseases; Botox for the therapeutic and aesthetic indications; skin care products for acne, psoriasis, and other skin care products; eyelash growth products; and urologics products. The Medical Devices segment offers a range of medical devices, such as breast implants for augmentation, revision, and reconstructive surgery; obesity intervention products, including the La p-Band System and the Orbera Intragastric Balloon System; and facial aesthetics products. The company also offers Contigen for the treatment of urinary incontinence due to intrinsic sphincter deficiency. It sells its products to drug wholesalers, independent and chain drug stores, pharmacies, commercial optical chains, opticians, mass merchandisers, food stores, hospitals, group purchasing organizations, integrated direct hospital networks, and ambulatory surgery centers, as well as to medical practitioners, including ophthalmologists, neurologists, dermatologists, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, aesthetic specialty physicians, bariatric surgeons, pediatricians, urologists, and general practitioners. Allergan, Inc. has strategic research collaboration agreements with ExonHit Therapeutics S.A.; Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Pieris AG. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Divine]

  Lastly, shares of Allergan (NYSE: AGN  ) slid 3.7% Friday on a downgrade from Goldman Sachs. Allergan, which makes pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices, was downgraded from buy to neutral by the investment bank because of valuation concerns. With shares trading at 32 times earnings, and rumors that a generic version of Allergan's Restasis eye drops is in the works, you can't blame investors for selling off the stock today.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  Plus, more than 120 companies on the S&P 500 report next week with notable releases from Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) �on Monday; Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) �and Allergan Inc. (AGN) �on Tuesday; Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) �, General Motors Co. (GM) , and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) �on Wednesday; along with MasterCard Inc. (MA) �and ConocoPhillips (COP) �on Thursday.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  “Shelter From the Storm,” helped make Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks one of the best albums. Getting shelter from generic competition for Restatis has helped boost Allergan’s (AGN) shares today.

Top Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: Petroglobe Inc.(PGB.V)

PetroGlobe Inc. engages in the exploration, development, and production of petroleum and natural gas in Canada. It owns interests in the Pembina Cardium light oil, Pembina Edmonton Sands natural gas, and Red Earth Slave Point light oil properties located in Alberta, as well as in the Sawtooth oil property in the Grand Forks/Taber area of southern Alberta. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Top Performing Stocks To Watch For 2014: Owens-Illinois Inc.(OI)

Owens-Illinois, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells glass container products primarily in Europe, North America, South America, and the Asia Pacific. The company produces glass containers for beer, ready-to-drink low alcohol refreshers, spirits, wine, food, tea, juice, and pharmaceuticals, as well as for soft drinks and other non-alcoholic beverages, including returnable/refillable glass containers. It serves brewers, wine vintners, distillers, and food producers. The company sells its products directly to customers under annual or multi-year supply agreements, as well as through distributors. Owens-Illinois, Inc. was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Eisen and Saumya Vaishampayan]

  Owens Illinois Inc. (OI) �was down 2.1% Friday. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch reportedly downgraded the glass company to neutral from buy , according to the Analyst Ratings Network.

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  Owens Illinois Inc. (OI) �fell 1.9%. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch reportedly downgraded the glass company to neutral from buy , according to the Analyst Ratings Network.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014

In an effort to boost shareholders��wealth, Walgreen Co. (WAG) recently announced a 14.5% hike in its quarterly dividend. The drug retailer will now pay a dividend of 31.5 cents per share, higher than the earlier rate of 27.5 cents per share.

Subsequent to the dividend hike, the annual dividend rose to $1.26 from $1.10 earlier. The increased dividend will be paid on Sep 12, 2013 to stockholders of record on Aug 20.

The news sparked investor optimism as the stock price alleviated 3.01% (or $1.40) on the day of the announcement. The company�� dividend yield improved to 2.6% following the dividend hike. The current dividend payout ratio hovers over 37% for Walgreens.

The recent dividend raise is in line with the company�� strategy to maintain long-term dividend payout ratio of 30%-35%. The hike reflects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 23% for dividends over the last 5 years.

It is encouraging to note that the company has been paying dividends for more than 80 years and the recent hike marks the 38th successive year of dividend increase for the company. Notably, Walgreens is positioned on a healthy dividend growth track. Thus, the solid dividend payouts should appear attractive to investors.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Paychex Inc.(PAYX)

Paychex Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides payroll, human resource, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small-to medium-sized businesses in the United States and Germany. It offers payroll processing services, including calculation, preparation, and delivery of employee payroll checks; production of internal accounting records and management reports; preparation of federal, state, and local payroll tax returns; and collection and remittance of clients? payroll obligations. The company also provides payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing. Its human resource outsourcing services include payroll, employer compliance, human resource and employee benefits administration, risk management outsourcing, and the on-site availability of a professionally trained human resource representative, as well as provides employee handbooks, management manuals, and r equired regulatory forms. In addition, the company offers retirement services administration; workers? compensation; business-owner policies; commercial auto; and health and benefits coverage, including health, dental, vision, and life. Further, it provides online human resource administration software products for employee benefits management and administration, and time and attendance solutions. As of May 31, 2010, the company served approximately 536,000 clients in the United States; and 1,700 clients in Germany. Paychex, Inc. was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Rochester, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  When looking for promising candidates for your stock portfolio, it's easy to just think about the prominent names of the day, such as Facebook, Ford, or Bank of America. But there are plenty of other possibilities, many of which have been under our nose for quite some time.
  
  Permit me to introduce you to Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP  ) , often referred to as ADP. Here are a bunch of interesting things about ADP the company and ADP stock.

  Here's a key reason you may want to keep reading -- ADP stock's performance: It's up about 33% over the past year, and has averaged annual gains of 13.6% �over the past 30 years. Great performances are never guaranteed, but this company's management clearly knows a thing or two about executing well.�
  � The basics: The company began in 1949 �as Automatic Payrolls, based in New Jersey. It aimed to assist companies with some of their payroll and related processes by applying technology. Today, still based in New Jersey, it's an outsourcing powerhouse, with a market capitalization near $35 billion. (One of its closest competitors is Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX  ) , with a market cap of just $14 billion.) It serves some 600,000 customers in more than 125 nations and rakes in more than $11 billion annually, keeping about 13% of that, more than $1.4 billion, as net profit.
  � ADP is of interest to many more people than just holders (or would-be holders) of ADP stock. That's because, since it serves such a significant chunk of American employers, cutting many millions of paychecks, it has its finger on the pulse of our economy. Thus, the company regularly issues national employment reports. (In early July, it reported private-sector employment rising by 188,000 jobs in June.)
  � As a business, ADP has grown both in size and depth. In its own history, it notes that in the 1990s, "clients that once were content to outsource applications to a service provider looked to outsource entir
• [By idahansen]

  The more I read about how companies are responding to Obamacare, the more bullish I become for stocks in the demand labor market such as Labor SMART (OTCBB: LTNC), Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX), and ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN).

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: United Bancshares Inc.(UBOH)

United Bancshares, Inc. operates as a bank holding company for The Union Bank Company that engages in the provision of commercial banking services to small and middle-market businesses and individuals. It accepts various deposit products, including checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, time certificates of deposit, time deposits, and demand deposits. The company also offers various loan products that consist of commercial, consumer, agricultural, residential mortgage, and home equity loans. In addition, it provides automatic teller machine services, safe deposit box rentals, and other personalized banking services. The company serves primarily in the Ohio counties of Allen, Hancock, Putnam, Sandusky, Van Wert, and Wood, as well as with office locations in Bowling Green, Columbus Grove, Delphos, Findlay, Gibsonburg, Kalida, Leipsic, Lima, Ottawa, and Pemberville, Ohio. United Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Columbus Grove, Ohio.< /p>

Top Cheap Stocks To Watch 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.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

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10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: NGP Capital Resources Company(NGPC)

NGP Capital Resources Company is a business development company specializing in investments in small and mid size and middle market companies. The firm typically invests in acquisitions, buyouts, growth and development, revitalization, restructuring, recapitalizations, and special situations. It invests in energy companies with a focus on oil and gas exploitation, development, and production business; upstream businesses that acquire, develop, and produce oil, natural gas, and coal; midstream businesses that gather, process, store, and transport oil and natural gas; power generation and distribution; oil field services and other energy services; and alternative energy and other similar energy related businesses. The firm primarily invests between $10 million and $100 million in its portfolio companies. It invests in the form of secured, senior, and subordinate debt; convertible debt; preferred equity; project equity; production payments, net profits interests, and similar investments; and mezzanine loans and may receive equity investments in portfolio companies in connection with such investments. The firm makes asset and project based investments in private companies and can also invest in public companies. NGP Capital Resources Company was founded in 2004 and is based at Houston, Texas. It is a subsidiary of NGP Energy Capital Management.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Dominion Resources Inc. (D)

Dominion Resources, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in producing and transporting energy in the United States. It operates in three segments: DVP, Dominion Generation, and Dominion Energy. The DVP segment includes regulated electric transmission and distribution operations that serve residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in Virginia and North Carolina. This segment also involves in non regulated retail energy marketing of electricity and natural gas. The Dominion Generation segment includes the electricity generation through coal, nuclear, gas, oil, and renewables; and related energy supply operations. It also comprises generation operations of the company?s merchant fleet and energy marketing, and price risk management activities for these assets. The Dominion Energy segment includes the company?s Ohio and West Virginia regulated natural gas distribution companies, regulated gas transmission pipeline and storage operations, natural gas gathering and by-products extraction activities, and regulated LNG import and storage operations. It also provides producer services, which aggregates natural gas supply; engages in natural gas trading and marketing activities; and involves in natural gas supply management. The company?s portfolio of assets includes approximately 27,615 MW of generation; 6,100 miles of electric transmission lines; 56,800 miles of electric distribution lines; 11,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering, and storage pipeline; and 21,800 miles of gas distribution pipeline. Dominion Resources, Inc. also owns approximately 947 bcf of storage capacity of natural gas and serves retail energy customers in 14 states. In addition, it sells electricity at wholesale prices to rural electric cooperatives, municipalities, and into wholesale electricity markets. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Abba's Aces]

  Dominion Resources, Inc. (D) is a producer and transporter of energy, mainly providing electricity, natural gas and related services to customers in the eastern region of the United States. On August 6, 2013, the company reported second-quarter earnings of $0.62 per share which missed the consensus of analyst estimates by $0.03. The stock is up 16.36% excluding dividends in the past year, and is beating the S&P 500, which has gained 15.59% in the same time frame. I currently hold Dominion in my growth portfolio and with all this in mind I'd like to take a moment to evaluate the stock on a fundamental, financial, and technical basis to see if it's worth buying some more stock in the company right now.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  New infrastructure additions
  The first of those facilities ��the expanded Natrium processing plant in Marshall County, W.V., built by Blue Racer Midstream, a joint venture between Dominion (NYSE: D  ) and Caiman Energy ��came on line earlier this month, reporting recent flows at more than 80% of its 200,000 Mcfpd capacity, according�to data from Bentek Energy, while the second facility ��a processing complex in Columbiana and Harrison counties ��is expected to open midyear.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG)

Constellation Energy Group, Inc. operates as an energy company in the United States and Canada. The company develops, owns, operates, and maintains fossil and renewable generating facilities. As of December 31, 2010, it holds interests in qualifying facilities and power projects totaling to 9,030 megawatt (MW), as well as manages approximately 1,100 MW associated with long-dated tolling agreements. The company also provides operation and maintenance services, including testing and start-up to the owners of electric generating facilities. In addition, it offers electricity, natural gas, and other energy products and services to wholesale and retail electric and natural gas customers. The company supplies approximately 119 million megawatt hours (MWH) of aggregate electricity to distribution utilities, municipalities, residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers; approximately 334 million British Thermal Units of natural gas to residential, commercial, ind ustrial, and governmental customers; and approximately 7.8 million tons of coal primarily to its own fleet. Further, it manages generation facilities and natural gas properties; provides risk management services; trades energy and energy-related commodities; manages upstream natural gas activities; designs, constructs, and operates renewable energy, heating, cooling, and cogeneration facilities; provides home improvements; and engages in the sale of electric and gas appliances, and servicing of heating, air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, and indoor air quality systems. Additionally, the company purchases, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity, as well as purchases, transports, and sells natural gas in central Maryland. It maintains approximately 240 substations and approximately 1,300 circuit miles of transmission lines, and approximately 24,800 circuit miles of distribution lines. The company was founded in 1906 and is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Altria Group(MO)

Altria Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smokeless products, and wine in the United States and internationally. It offers cigarettes under the Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament, Benson & Hedges, Basic, and L&M brands; smokeless tobacco products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, Husky brands, and Marlboro snus brands; and machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco. The company also produces and sells blended table wines under the Chateau Ste Michelle and Columbia Crest names; and distributes Antinori and Villa Maria Estate wines and Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte in the United States. In addition, it maintains a portfolio of leveraged and direct finance leases in rail and surface transport, aircraft, electric power, real estate, and manufacturing. The company sells its tobacco products to wholesalers, including distributors; large retail organizations, such as chain stores; and the armed services. Altria Group, Inc. markets its wine products to restaurants, wholesale clubs, supermarkets, wine shops, and mass merchandisers. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  Altria Group provides cigarette, cigar, tobacco and wine products to many consumers all around the world. The stock has witnessed a strong bid higher and is now consolidating slightly below all-time high prices. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue figures have been on the rise which have been mostly priced-in by investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Altria Group has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Altria Group to OUTPERFORM.

• [By Sean Williams]

  The end result of these multiple actions has been an ongoing reduction in smoking rates over the past four decades and tougher times for U.S. tobacco producers such as Altria (NYSE: MO  ) and Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI  ) . In fact, a tough domestic sales climate was one reason Altria decided to spin off its overseas operations into Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) in 2008. By separating its business, the hope was that investors would have a better understanding of the fundamental forces driving Altria and Philip Morris.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Dreyfus Strategic Municipals Inc. (LEO)

Dreyfus Strategic Municipals, Inc. operates as a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The fund invests primarily in municipal obligations of various states of the United States. The Dreyfus Corporation serves as the investment adviser of the fund. Dreyfus Strategic Municipals was founded in 1987 and is based in New York City.

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: S&P GSCI(GD)

General Dynamics Corporation, an aerospace and defense company, provides business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions; military and commercial shipbuilding; and communications and information technology products and services worldwide. Its Aerospace group designs, manufactures, and outfits various large and mid-cabin business-jet aircraft; provides maintenance, repair work, fixed-based operations, and aircraft management services; and performs aircraft completions for aircraft. The company?s Combat Systems group offers tracked and wheeled military vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions. Its product lines include wheeled combat and tactical vehicles; battle tanks and infantry vehicles; munitions and propellant; rockets and gun systems; and axle and drivetrain components and aftermarket parts. This group also manufactures and supplies engineered axles, suspensions, and brakes for heavy-load vehicles for military and commercial customers. The company Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  So what's really going on over there in Washington today? Is defense spending stalled, or will it rise again? And what does this mean for ultra-low-P/E-bearing stocks like Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) , Lockheed Martin� (NYSE: LMT  ) , Northrop Grumman� (NYSE: NOC  ) , and General Dynamics� (NYSE: GD  ) .

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it has awarded General Dynamics' (NYSE: GD  ) Electric Boat Corp. subsidiary a $208.6 million "undefinitized" contract modification to a previously awarded contract. The funds are to be used to purchase long-lead-time materials needed for construction of three Virginia-class nuclear fast attack submarines:

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: PPL Corporation(PPL)

PPL Corporation, an energy and utility holding company, generates and sells electricity; and delivers natural gas to approximately 5.3 million utility customers primarily in the northeastern and northwestern U.S. The company operates in four segments: Kentucky Regulated, International Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Supply. The Kentucky Regulated segment engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity; and the distribution and sale of natural gas to approximately 1.3 million customers in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The International Regulated segment owns and operates electricity distribution businesses in the United Kingdom that deliver electricity to 7.7 million customers. The Pennsylvania Regulated segment delivers electricity to approximately 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania. The Supply segment owns and operates power plants to generate electricity using coal, uranium, natural gas, oil, and water res ources; markets and trades electricity and other purchased power to wholesale and retail markets; and acquires and develops domestic generation projects. It controls or owns a portfolio of generation assets of approximately 11,000 megawatts in Montana and Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s distribution system included 649 substations with a capacity of 25 million kVA, 28,838 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 24,131 cable miles of underground conductors in the United Kingdom. It also operated 377 substations with a capacity of 31 million kVA, 33,122 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 7,368 cable miles of underground conductors in Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  We've already seen some evidence of how higher natural gas prices hit utilities hard this past quarter. Exelon (NYSE: EXC  ) took a $235 million one-time hit�from bad hedges, while PPL's (NYSE: PPL  ) unregulated earnings dropped more than 50% from natural gas' unnatural rise.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Pennsylvania-based electric utility PPL (NYSE: PPL  ) found itself in the path of one of the most devastating storms in history last year, as Hurricane Sandy barreled into the mid-Atlantic and left billions of dollars in damage in its wake. Although PPL stock didn't suffer a long-term hit from the storm, the utility now faces a much different threat from rising interest rates that could eventually have a major impact on its financing costs. Let's take a look at what's been happening with PPL in the recent past and how it's responding to this new threat.

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Hedging is common practice for any energy company, but Q1 earnings reports have already proven that this financial tactic can only absorb so much of increasingly volatile energy prices. Exelon (NYSE: EXC  ) took a one-time $235 million hit this quarter as a result of natural gas hedges gone wild, while PPL's (NYSE: PPL  ) bad bet helped knock around 20% off its first quarter EPS.

Top 5 China Companies For 2014

Nelson Ching/Bloomberg Weibo generated about $66 million in total revenue in 2012, of which 77 percent came from advertising, Sina Corp. Chief Executive Officer Charles Chao said on a Feb. 19 conference call.

Bets on declines in Sina Corp. (SINA) shares plunged to a record low last week on prospects the Chinese Internet company�� alliance with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (ALIBABZ) will propel advertising sales on its social media platform.

Short interest on Sina slid to 0.8 percent of the total outstanding April 29, the lowest since 2006, when London-based researcher Markit started tracking the data. Interest was as high as 5.6 percent Jan. 15. The Shanghai-based company surged 12 percent last week for the biggest gain since September, while the Bloomberg China-US Equity Index (CH55BN) climbed 1.4 percent.

Sina rallied from a four-month low after Alibaba, China�� largest e-commerce company, agreed to buy 18 percent of its Weibo.com platform April 29, forecasting revenue of $380 million in advertising and social commerce services for the Twitter-like service. Jefferies Group Inc. more than doubled its revenue estimate for Weibo after the announcement and analysts project Sina�� sales will expand 18 percent this year, according to the mean of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Top 5 China Companies For 2014: Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp.(RPTP)

Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. operates as a biotechnology company in the United States. The company is dedicated to speeding the delivery of new treatment options to patients by working to improve existing therapeutics through the application of highly specialized drug targeting platforms and formulation expertise. Its clinical stage development products include DR Cysteamine, which is in phase IIb for the treatment of cystinosis; phase IIa for the non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; and phase II for the treatment of Huntington?s disease. Raptor?s clinical-stage products also include Convivia that is in Phase IIa stage for the potential management of acetaldehyde toxicity due to alcohol consumption; and Tezampanel and NGX 426, which completed phase I stage for the treatment of migraine and pain. Its preclinical product candidates comprise HepTide for the treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Hepatitis; WntTide for the treatment of breast cancer; NeuroTrans for the treatmen t of neurodegenerative diseases; and Tezampanel and NGX 426 for the treatment of Thrombosis and Spasticity Disorder. Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. is headquartered in Novato, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  This week saw two new drugs approved by the FDA: Raptor Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ: RPTP  ) Procysbi and Merck's (NYSE: MRK  ) Liptruzet.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Raptor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RPTP  ) also gave shareholders something to cheer about when, on Tuesday, the company announced that the Food and Drug Administration had granted Procysbi, its nephropathic cystinosis drug, U.S. orphan drug status. Although FDA-approved drugs are protected by patent for a period of 20 years, the U.S. orphan drug status will keep biosimilar competition from competing against Raptor's Procysbi through April 30, 2020. In addition, on Friday Procysbi received a positive opinion from the European Medicine Agency's panel that the drug be recommended for approval in the EU. However, I'd caution calmer heads prevail here as the total market for the drug is only about 2,000 people worldwide and peak sales estimates in the U.S. are a mere $60 million.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Veloci-Raptor time?
  First up is Raptor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RPTP  ) with Procysbi (previously known as RP-103), its oral delayed and extended-release medication to treat nephropathic cystinosis. In trials, Procysbi proved to be non-inferior to the only other FDA-approved treatment for nephropathic cystinosis, known as Cystagon from Mylan (NASDAQ: MYL  ) .

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One biotechnology player that's starting to trend within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Raptor Pharmaceuticals (RPTP), which has a pipeline that includes both candidates from its proprietary drug targeting platforms and in-licensed and acquired product candidates. This stock is in play with the bulls so far in 2013, with shares up sharply by 151%.

  >>5 Hated Earnings Stocks You Should Love

  If you take a look at the chart for Raptor Pharmaceuticals, you'll notice that stock has been uptrending strong for the last six months, with shares soaring higher from its low of $5.50 to its recent high of $15.29 a share. During that uptrend, shares of RPTP have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of RPTP within range of triggering a big breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in RPTP if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $14.99 a share to its 52-week high at $15.29 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 844,332 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then RPTP will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $18 to $20 a share, or even north of $20 a share.

  Traders can look to buy RPTP off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $13.69 a share or at $13 a share. One can also buy RPTP off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Top 5 China Companies For 2014: Netease.com Inc.(NTES)

NetEase.com, Inc., an Internet technology company, engages in the development of applications, services, and other technologies for the Internet in China. It provides online game services to Internet users through the in-house development or licensing of massively multi-player online role-playing games, including Fantasy Westward Journey, Westward Journey Online II, Westward Journey Online III, Tianxia II, Heroes of Tang Dynasty, and Datang, as well as the licensed game, Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft. The company also offers online advertising on its Web sites. In addition, NetEase has paid listings on its search engine and Web directory, and classified advertising services, as well as an online mall, which provides opportunities for e-commerce and traditional businesses to establish their own storefront on the Internet. Further, it provides wireless value-added services, such as news and information content, matchmaking services, music, and photos from the We b over SMS, MMS, WAP, IVR, and Color Ring-back Tone technologies. Additionally, the company offers community services, including instant messaging, online personal advertisements, matchmaking, alumni clubs, and community forums; and aggregates news content on world events, sports, science and technology, and financial markets, as well as entertainment content, such as cartoons, games, astrology, and jokes from over 100 international and domestic content providers. NetEase.com, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kevin Chen]

  Two companies that seem on an unstoppable path of profits are Giant Interactive� (NYSE: GA  ) and NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES  ) .�Meanwhile, Shanda Games� (NASDAQ: GAME  ) and Perfect World� (NASDAQ: PWRD  ) haven't done as well.

• [By Kevin Chen]

  In the video below, Fool contributor Kevin Chen details five reasons why SINA may be forever doomed:�

  SINA Weibo's daily active users may be exaggerated. Its registered users lag that of competitor Tencent� (NASDAQOTH: TCEHY  ) Weibo. Its penetration rate trails Tencent Weibo. Its geographic make-up isn't poised for China's economic growth. Meanwhile, Tencent Weibo is. Renren� (NYSE: RENN  ) , the "Facebook of China," and gaming portal�NetEase� (NASDAQ: NTES  ) threaten SINA Weibo's viability as a social network.�

  So before you try to profit from the growing microblogging market in China, watch the video below to learn more about the five things Wall Street overlooks when analyzing SINA.

Top 10 Stocks To Watch Right Now: Clean Diesel Technologies Inc.(CDTI)

Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. engages in the manufacture and distribution of emissions control systems and products for heavy duty diesel and light duty vehicle markets. The company operates in two divisions, Heavy Duty Diesel Systems and Catalyst. The Heavy Duty Diesel Systems division designs and manufactures verified exhaust emissions control solutions that are used to reduce exhaust emissions created by on-road, off-road, and stationary diesel and alternative fuel engines, including propane and natural gas. Its products include closed crankcase ventilation systems, diesel oxidation catalysts, diesel particulate filters, Platinum Plus fuel-borne catalysts, ARIS selective catalytic reduction reagents, catalyzed wire mesh diesel particulate filters, alternative fuel products, and exhaust accessories. This division offers its products for original equipment manufacturers of heavy duty diesel equipment, such as mining equipment, vehicles, generator sets, and construction equipment, as well as retrofit customers consisting of school districts, municipalities, and other fleet operators. The Catalyst division produces catalyst formulations using its proprietary MPC technology for gasoline, diesel, and natural gas induced emissions. Its products comprise catalysts for gasoline engines, diesel engines, and energy applications. This division supplies its catalysts to automotive manufacturers and large heavy duty diesel engine manufacturers. The company sells its products through a network of distributors and dealers, and its direct sales force worldwide. Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. is based in Ventura, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:CDTI), a cleantech emissions control company, will be a presenter at the 3rd Annual Craig-Hallum Capital Group Alpha Select Conference. The presentation is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at the Sentry Centers in New York.

Top 5 China Companies For 2014: KongZhong Corporation(KONG)

KongZhong Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless interactive entertainment, media, and community services to mobile phone users in the People's Republic of China. It also involves in the development, distribution, and marketing of consumer wireless value-added services, including wireless application protocol, multimedia messaging services, short messaging services, interactive voice response services, and color ring back tones. In addition, it offers interactive entertainment services, such as mobile games, pictures, karaoke, electronic books, mobile phone personalization features, entertainment news, chat, and message boards; and through Kong.net offer news, community services, games, and other interactive media and entertainment services; and sells advertising space in the form of text-link, banner, and button advertisements. Further, the company develops and publishes mobile games, including downloadable mobile games and online mobile games cons isting of action, role-playing, and leisure games. As of December 31, 2009, it had a library of approximately 300 internally developed mobile games. Additionally, it develops online games; and provides consulting and technology services, as well as media and net book services. The company was formerly known as Communication Over The Air Inc. and changed its name to KongZhong Corporation in March 2004. KongZhong Corporation was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

Top 5 China Companies For 2014: Universal Travel Group(UTA)

Universal Travel Group, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a travel service provider offering air ticketing and hotel booking services, as well as domestic and international packaged tourism services via the Internet, customer representatives, and kiosks in the People?s Republic of China. It also provides technological solutions to travel reservations, and tour planning and tour guide services. In addition, the company operates TRIPEASY Kiosks, which are placed in hotels, office buildings, banks, shopping malls, and MTR stations for travel booking with credit cards or bank debit cards. Universal Travel Group is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People?s Republic of China.

A Simple Way to Spot Value Traps: Nokia, RadioShack and RIMM

Dr. Paul Price wrote an article called Wake-Up Calls Often Come Too Late. He discussed the collapses of the stock prices with Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR), Netflix (NFLX) and Soda Steam (SODA). As pointed correctly out by Adib Motiwala, value investors are rarely hurt by companies like Green Mountain Coffee, Netflix and Soda Steam. The reason is simple. These stocks are usually traded at extremely high valuation and value investors would normally avoid the situations like these. Value investors are much more likely hurt by the stocks like Nokia (NOK), RadioShack (RSH) and Research-in-Motion (RIMM) as these stocks have been traded for very low valuations. Value investors thought that they were buying into value, while they were actually buying into value traps. The valuation just gets lower, and lower.

Spotting value traps has been discussed extensively. Our columnist The Science of Hitting wrote an excellent piece: Avoiding Value Traps: A Four Question Test. While asking questions such as "What are the odds that this company will not be around ten years from today?" or "What is the company's sustainable competitive advantage?" will certainly help you avoid value traps, but you cannot always get a straight answer for those questions.

One easy way to avoid getting hurt by the companies such as Nokia (NOK), RadioShack (RSH) and Research-In-Motion (RIMM) is to look at their profit margins. We will look at each case below:

RadioShack (RSH)

This is the annual gross margin of RadioShack:

Clearly, RadioShack's gross margin has been in consistent decline since 2004. The decline of the profit margin eventually dragged the company into its recent loss. While RadioShack's profit margin was declining, its earnings per share (EPS), the most important indicator to Wall Street was relatively stable for years as the company continues to buy back shares:

Eventually the stock lost more than 90% over the last five years.

Nokia (NOK)

If RadioSha! ck is relatively easy to avoid as it is a retailer without clear competitive advantage, Nokia was once a household name for cell phones. The stock has lost 95% over the past five years. How could value investors avoid investing in Nokia as the stock was traded at a reasonable P/E ratio of 10 in 2008? Evidently some of the value Gurus we track did buy into Nokia.

Again, let's look at the profit margins of Nokia:

Nokia's gross margin has been in steady decline. The rate of decline is about 3.36% a year over year for the past 10 years. While its gross margin was declining way before 2007, its revenue and earnings per share kept climbing:

Investors were celebrating the increase of the revenue and earnings and pushed the stock price to $40. But the decline in profit margin eventually took the company to a deep loss. The stock is now traded at less than $2.

Research-In-Motion (RIMM)

Research-In-Motion is a high-profile case as renowned investor Prem Watsa bought into the company and sits on the company's board. The stock was traded at above $140 in 2008. It has since lost more than 95%, traded at single digits and still sinking.

Again let's take a look at its gross margin:

While BlackBerry was a must-have in the corporate world, the profit margin of Research-In-Motion has started to decline. This was well before Apple (AAPL) released its first iPhone. Again as pointed by Adib, value investors did not buy into RIMM while it was traded at $140 because the P/E ratio then was 45. Value investors bought into RIMM while it was traded at $30-40 because the P/E ratio was at 10. This was in 2009 and the decline in profit margin had been happening for three years.

Why You Should Avoid Margin Decliners?

The reason is simple. The company is losing its price power or it never had price power. Competition is eating into its market.

Will the profit margin of these companies ever recover sustainably? That is a "too-hard" question.! We shoul! d avoid situations where we have to answer this question.

Will these companies ever become good investments? They may. But not until they become net-nets.

The Power of Margin Expansion

On the other hand, if a company can expand its profit margin, it has a competitive advantage. A good example here is Apple (AAPL), which is the king of all margin-expanding companies:

We all know what has happened to the stock of Apple.

What's Next?

GuruFocus will release a feature called "Warning Signs" which will warn you about the problems a company may have, including margin declines.

In the meantime, our new "All-In-One Screener" allows you to screen for the companies that can expand profit margins or those with declining margins. Those with expanding profit margins (think Apple) at reasonable prices will mostly likely be rewarding. Those with declining margins (think RIMM, Nokia) are probably good short candidates.

Try our "All-In-One Screener." A new version was released this week and it now has more than 120 filters including one called "Gross Margin Growth Rate."

Related links:Wake-Up Calls Often Come Too LateAdib MotiwalaThe Science of HittingAvoiding Value Traps A Four Question TestPrem WatsaNet-netAll-In-One Screener

Is Ford Motor Poised to Head Higher?

With shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) trading around $16, is F 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

Ford is a producer of cars and trucks. The company also engages in other businesses, such as financing vehicles. Ford operates in two sectors: automotive and financial services. Through its sectors, Ford provides a wide range of vehicles, vehicle parts, and services to a multitude of consumers and companies worldwide. The company's products saw declining demand in the past several years as gasoline prices took a major toll on pockets. Ford is now revolutionizing its vehicles in order to compete on the world stage. Look for Ford to fuel a recovery in the American automobile industry and provide highly demanded vehicles, parts, and services.

Ford, the top-selling car manufacturer in Britain, said on Wednesday it would be forced to reconsider its UK operations if the country voted in favor of leaving the European Union, the latest major foreign investor to sound the same warning. Steve Odell, chief executive of Ford’s operations in Europe, said the second-largest U.S. carmaker would have to re-evaluate its operations if Britain pulled out of the 28-member trading bloc in a proposed referendum. ”Clearly we wouldn’t be alone in doing that. Would it mean tariffs? Would it mean duties? We’d take a look at what it meant,” Odell told the Telegraph newspaper.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Mixed

Ford Motor stock has been trading sideways over the past couple of months. However, the stock is currently surging higher and looks set to continue this path. 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, Ford Motor is trading between 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 Ford Motor options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Ford Motor options	27.33%	23%	20%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
February Options	Average	Average
March Options	Average	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	-69.00%	15.38%	14.29%	-88.17%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	11.84%	14.71%	10.37%	5.34%
Earnings Reaction	1.37%	2.53%	-0.22%	-4.64%

Ford Motor has seen mixed earnings and increasing revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have had conflicting feelings about Ford Motor’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Ford Motor stock done relative to its peers, General Motors (NYSE:GM), Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM), Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA), and sector?

	Ford Motor	General Motors	Toyota Motor	Tesla Motors	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	7.74%	-3.39%	-1.93%	10.64%	4.26%

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

Conclusion

Ford is a well-established vehicle products and services producer distributed in a multitude of countries across the globe. The company said on Wednesday it would be forced to reconsider its UK operations if the country voted in favor of leaving the European Union. The stock has been trading sideways, but is currently surging higher. Over the past four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenues are increasing, which has produced conflicting feelings among investors. Relative to its peers and sector, Ford has been a relative year-to-date performance leader. Look for Ford Motor to OUTPERFORM.

Two Stocks to Buy to Tap Into the Massive Wolfcamp Shale

There's no better place to start your search for the best oil stocks to buy now than deep in the heart of Texas - especially its shale formations.

Texas has two of the largest shale formations in the country. One, the Eagle Ford shale in the southeast part of the state, has been a hot topic among investors for years.

The other, the Permian Basin, has multiple formations, including the Cline Shale, that have grown increasingly attractive (and potentially lucrative) as new discoveries have been made.

These new discoveries are making the Permian Basin the most oil-rich region in the nation.

But one shale formation in the Permian Basin - the Wolfcamp - has stood out in particular, and it's poised to make investors a big score this year.

In fact, some analysts estimate that the Wolfcamp Shale formation is the second-largest oil field in the world.

The Wolfcamp Shale Formation: Vast Untapped Potential

According to some estimates, the Wolfcamp Shale contains up to 50 billion barrels of oil equivalent - second in the world after Saudi Arabia's Ghawar.

That compares to the Bakken, which the U.S. Geological Survey in April 2013 estimated held a total of 7.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

This field is more challenging than the one in Saudi Arabia thanks to a complex geology that requires higher production costs. The Wolfcamp is actually three different shale formations stacked atop each other like a layer cake.

The "upper" Wolfcamp Shale formation sits 3,800 feet beneath the ground. The "lower" Wolfcamp Shale formation sits 5,700 feet deep. And the Cline Shale is a little more than 7,300 feet below ground level.

Being able to tap into the various levels requires a great amount of technological prowess - an ability a number of oil and gas companies now have and can put to use thanks to the recent fracking boom.

Given the technological abilities of American engineers to tap these fields, a wide number of companies and investors have rushed to purchase available land so production can begin.

Two Stocks to Buy to Profit from the Wolfcamp Shale

There are two companies working in the Wolfcamp Shale formation that are among the best stocks to buy to profit from this discovery.

The first is a defensive play against lower oil prices in 2014, while the other has the confidence of three of America's greatest investment minds...

The first Wolfcamp stock to buy is Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN). Devon owns approximately 250,000 acres in the Wolfcamp and opened 19 wells in 2013. So far, Devon's wells have provided a strong production rate of more than 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. But what's important for 2014 is that the company has used hedging as an effective strategy to combat declining oil prices.

In the fourth quarter, Devon hedged 142,000 barrels of oil production per day at $95. Meanwhile, it has hedged 138,000 barrels of oil production per day for all of 2014 at $92 per barrel. If oil prices decline due to a dramatic glut of supply in 2014, Devon will be well-positioned as a defensive play, with upside as more production comes online, particularly if oil prices increase.

The second name, and the biggest company to push into the Wolfcamp Shale formation, is Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD). This company has been buying land in the region since the 1980s and owns 900,000 acres in West Texas' biggest oil field. Pioneer believes its share of the formation is roughly 7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which is profitable even at $80 per barrel.

In October 2013, Pioneer Chief Executive Officer Scott Sheffield said the Wolfcamp "could possibly become the largest oil and gas discovery in the world."

The economic outlook and regional success of Pioneer has caught the attention of investment titans Stanley Druckenmiller, John Paulson, and George Soros. The latter, Soros, owns 964,000 shares of the company.

Moving forward, the Wolfcamp will provide a wealth of energy profits for investors. As the year progresses, be sure to check back here for midstream companies operating in the Wolfcamp Shale formation that will also be among the best investments 2014.

A great way to combine the power of energy investing with income investing is with Master Limited Partnerships. In addition to giving you exposure to the oil and gas energy boom, MLPs pay the highest yields you can find in today's market and help you pay less in taxes. Here's what you need to know to get started...