Chrysler Expected To Dominate March Car Sale

U.S. car sales in March are expected to rise to 1,477,000 units, a 1.7% gain from a year ago . The pace is not the sort the industry came to expect in 2012 and 2013. However, the dealer traffic damage done by the poor winter weather has probably ended.

According to Edmunds, a small number of the major brands will account for the improvement. First among these is Chrysler Group LLC, the ownership of which is controlled by Italian manufacturer Fiat. It has been – and still is — the smallest of The Big Three. In March it is expected to well outperform its two rivals

Edmunds expects Chrysler sales to rise 11.1% from March 2013. It is the only one of the major brands which is predicted to have a double digit improvement. Unit sales are expected to reach 190,684. That will put its performance relatively close to Japanese juggernaut Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), whose sales are expected at 207,531 units, up only 1.1%.  This March had 26 selling days compared to 27 in March 2013.

The top two spots will continue to be held by the traditional industry leaders. General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) sales should rise 0.5% to 247,101. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sales are expected to rise 1.6% to 239,423. Industry laggard Volkswagen AG will continue to struggle with sales off 4.2% to 48,825. VW vies with GM and Toyota each year for the spot as the world’s largest car company by units sold. It is the leading car company in Europe, and competes for that title with China–the world’s largest car market. Without a strong foothold in the United States — the world’s second largest market – it will be nearly impossible to overtake either GM or VW.

Chrysler’s improvement is especially impressive for two reasons. The first is the its does so poorly in customer satisfaction studies. In the latest J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, Chrysler ranked well below average, and its Jeep and Dodge brands did even worse.

Chrysler also has a more modest model line than other large car companies. Its flagship division has two mainstays – -the 300 and 200. Jeep competes in a market packed with other SUVs. And its Dodge sports division competes with both U.S. sports line-ups and popular products from both Europe and Japan.

Despite these barriers, Chrysler’s growth in March will be the envy of the industry

Discovery's Zaslav: $119 million man

The gold rush may have bypassed some of the characters on Discovery Channel's Klondike mini-series. But David Zaslav, CEO of parent company Discovery Communications, managed to strike it big.

Zaslav received compensation valued at $33.3 million last year - a drop from the $49.9 million he received in 2012 and the $52.4 million he got in 2011, the company says in its annual proxy.

Zaslav received no stock award last year after getting stock valued at $25.3 million in 2012 and $20.3 million in 2011. Discovery's board said it used "downward discretion" in its compensation plan this year. The board boosted Zaslav's stock option grant to $22.5 million, up 42% from $15.8 million in 2012. The company also paid out $1.5 million to a supplemental retirement plan.

Zaslav gained another $58.7 million exercising previously awarded stock options and another $26.6 million from vested shares, Discovery says. The gains were 300% greater than the $21.3 million Zaslav collected from vested shares in 2012, according to company filings.

Zaslav wasn't the only Discovery exec to hit compensation gold. Discovery founder and Chairman John Hendricks exercised stock options for an $86.2 million gain. That's on top of compensation valued at $7.8 million. Hendricks is scheduled to resign in May.

Zaslav, 54, has been CEO since January 2007, overseeing a cable TV empire that includes the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Plant, the History Channel and OWN.

Discovery Communications says total shareholder return rose 56% last year, vs. 32% for the Standard & Poors 500 Index.

Tweet Strauss @gbstrauss

Shiller on Investing: ‘Get an Advisor’

The S&P 500 is up about 0.75% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 1.23% as of mid-Friday. After the magnificent returns of 2013, investors and market experts are naturally asking if the market has topped and a correction is beginning.

Jay Jordan of Jordan Co., for instance, told CNBC on Friday that there could be a 25% market decline later this year, when quantitative easing winds down. And investor Seth Klarman of the Baupost Group told his clients earlier this month that we are "mired in a euphoric environment in which some securities have risen in price beyond all reason, where leverage is returning to rainy markets and asset classes, and where caution seems radical and risk-taking the prudent course.”

Looking at the broader roots of bubbles and busts, Yale economist Robert Shiller says there’s much experts can explain and much they can’t. Nonetheless, in an interview posted Friday by the Wall Street Journal, the Nobel Prize winner tells investors they need to work with professionals rather than do it themselves, given the irrational, unpredictable and volatile nature of stock and real estate markets.

When asked about his view on the causes of market bubbles, Shiller explained that they were a very complex beast: “The story about bubbles was that the markets appear random, but that's only because markets respond to new information and new information is always unpredictable. It seemed to be almost like a mythology to me.”

But that’s only part of the story, he adds. “The idea that people are so optimizing, so calculating and so ready to update their information, that's true of maybe a tiny fraction of 1% of people. It's not going to explain the whole market.”

What can? Human nature is a big factor, he says. We need stimulation, “and people have to have some sense of opportunity and excitement," Shiller said. "I think profits are an important motivator. In the long run, it's hard to say that bubbles are really bad.”

The alternative, attempting to “fix them” is no easy task, though it may be worth a shot.

“We could have had a Federal Reserve that tried to lean against that [Internet bubble],” he said. “Ultimately, our policies in economics are somewhat intuitive, and our models are not accurate enough to tell us what the right policy is, so I'm thinking we might have been better off if we tamed these bubbles, but there is no way to be sure.”

Storytelling

Ultimately, investors and other market participants move together, whether they intend to or not. “People think of themselves as such original thinkers when, in fact, most of their thoughts have been transmitted to them from other people,” Shiller stressed. “And there are certain stories in circulation, and they are all in all our minds.”

The stories, he adds, are what resonate with us — not rational information like statistics or theory.

“You can still memorize numbers, of course, but you need stories. For example, the financial markets generate tons of numbers — dividends, prices, etc. — but they don't mean anything to us,” explained Shiller, who is married to a psychologist. “We need either a story or a theory, but stories come first. Most people don't really get around to much in the way of theory.”

This situation, he says, means investors can benefit greatly from financial advisors.

When asked by if he tells investors they can pick winning stocks or turn to index funds, the economist said, “I tell people to get an investment advisor; that makes sense to me.”

While Shiller thinks some people can invest in winning stocks, he says it is no walk in the park.

“The question is often whether it's possible for anyone to pick stocks, and I think it is. It's a competitive game. It's like some people can play in a chess tournament really well, but I'm not recommending you go into a chess tournament if you are not trained in that, or you will lose,” he explained.

“So for most people, trying to pick among major investments might be a mistake, because it's an overpopulated market. It's hard,” he continued. “You have to be realistic about how savvy you are.”

There’s a difference between the financial markets, and real estate, he adds. “But if you are thinking about buying real estate and renting it out, fixing it up and selling it, that's the kind of market that's less populated by experts. And for someone who knows the town, that's doing business, I'm not going to tell someone not to do that,” the economist said.

Sage Advice

As for whether or not he’s good at picking investments, the economist says he has what it takes: a focus on value, not hype.

“Well, I actually think I'm smart enough to pick winners,” Shiller said. “I've always believed in value investing. Some stocks just get talked about, and people pay all sorts of attention to them, and everyone wants to invest in them, and they bid the price up and they are no longer a good buy.”

That’s not where the money is, the economist explains: “Other stocks, they are boring. There is no news about them — they are making toilet paper or something like that — and their price gets too low. So as a matter of routine, you buy low-priced stocks and sell high-priced stocks.”

In other words, the exact advice advisors give to clients each and every day.

Mortgage rates edge up slightly

Average fixed-rate mortgages edged up slightly from last week, applying additional pressure for some already-pinched local real estate markets, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

Data from the mortgage finance giant's weekly survey showed 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.40% up from 4.32% on March 20.

Additionally, 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.42%, up from 3.32% last week, the data showed.

"Mortgage rates rose following the uptick on the 10-year Treasury note after comments by the Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen indicated a possible increase in interest rates as soon as early 2015," said Frank Nothaft, a Freddie Mac vice president and its chief economist.

Separately, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, reported better news for home buyers with its monthly survey showing that mortgage rates dipped slightly in February.

The national average contract mortgage rate for previously occupied homes was 4.30% for loans that closed late last month, down 0.07% from January, FHFA reported.

The contract rate on the composite of all mortgage loans was 4.22%, down from 4.36% in January, the agency said.

FHFA's monthly survey also showed the average interest rate on a conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages of $417,000 or less was 4.45% in February, a decline of 22 basis points.

The average amount for all mortgage loans was $275,700 in February, down $8,700 from the $284,400 reported in January, FHFA reported.

Interest rates are generally locked in 30 to 45 days before mortgage loans are closed, which means the February data reflects market rates from mid-to-late January, FHFA said. The agency is scheduled to release March mortgage data on April 29.

United Technologies Corporation (UTX): Ready to Fly Says Goldman

Forget about The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) and buy United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), so says Goldman Sachs. Analyst, Noah Poponak upped the aerospace company to "Buy" from "Neutral" with a fresh, new price-target of $138 – upside potential of 19.76% to target.

United Technologies Corporation provides high technology products and services to the building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. The Company operates in six segments: Otis, Carrier, UTC Fire & Security, Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand and Sikorsky.

[Related -The Boeing Company (BA): Cash Generation May Disappoint Near-Term]

Otis, Carrier and UTC Fire & Security serve customers in the commercial, government infrastructure and residential property sectors worldwide. Carrier also serves commercial, industrial, transport refrigeration and food service equipment customers. Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand and Sikorsky primarily serves commercial and government customers.

Top Dividend Stocks To Watch For 2014

Poponak writes, "We believe the end-market stars are aligning for United Technologies. The company is well positioned in a strengthening Commercial Aerospace aftermarket, it is a market leader in its non-residential construction market, and its largest profit generators in the European construction markets appear to be bottoming. Pension and FX are moving to tailwinds, there is upside to consensus estimates, and valuation is attractive."

[Related -United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX): How Pension Shift Will Drive EPS?]

The analyst targets a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.6 on his 2015 earnings-per-share (EPS) estimate of $7.84 to make the $138 target. It is no coincidence that Poponak picked the target P/E, it is the industry average.

However, United Technologies' average P/E during the last half-decade was 15.50 with a range of 8.68 to 18.89. At its average P/E, UTX would price out at $121.52. That being written, the aerospace company's annual EPS growth for the last five years was 9.23%, which means the industrial goods company tends to trade at a 68% premium to the bottom line's expansion.

Using Goldman's 2015 estimate and 2014's consensus EPS outlook of $6.82, UTX's profits per share would grow 14.96% year-over-year (YoY). Applying the typical P/E to earnings to premium translates to a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13. That requires Wall Street to pay well beyond United's recent range, but if they did, $138 would be small compared to $197.

Overall: It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) to trade at 17.6 times earnings and hit Noah Poponak's $138, provided UTX makes his 2015 estimate of $7.84. 

Horizon Kinetics March 2014 Commentary - Corporate Risk Reduction

Clients frequently ask what we expect the S&P 500 Index ("S&P 500") to return in a given year. Our answer is nothing if not consistent: we do not know (and are wary of those who claim they do). However, we have been building an analysis set for some time now that indicates that institutional biases increasingly emphasize liquidity needs for their enormous pools of capital over investment merit, all in the name of reducing volatility.

At the index level, this trend is reflected in the prevalence of the float‐adjusted market capitalization weighted index construction methodology, the results of which include increasingly top‐heavy indexes and the exclusion or under‐representation of smaller or more closely‐held companies, even of entire industry sectors. Unfortunately for index investors, the same large companies that dominate index returns also face the greatest challenge with respect to future growth. How can a company with a $100 billion sales base generate enough incremental sales each year to move the needle when it has already saturated its market? Complicating matters further, since investors wish to experience low volatility, the company with a $100 billion sales base is expected not only to increase its revenues and earnings materially, but to do so in a manner that does not result in a variable earnings stream or stock price.

In the face of these two seemingly antagonistic goals, the largest corporations appear to be favoring risk reduction over long‐term value creation. One way of measuring this trend is to use the basic corporate liquidity measure, which is cash as a percentage of assets. The following table shows this measure for the 12 largest nonfinancial companies in the S&P 500; this discussion considers only nonfinancial companies because cash as a percentage of assets for Bank of America, for example, is not a meaningful figure. Note, too, that the top 12 nonfinancial companies in the S&P 500 happen to comprise 19.83% of the market value of the entire index, which is not a small number.

Continue reading here.

About the author:Grass Hopper

Visit Grass Hopper's Website

Currently 5.00/512345 Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote)

Voters:

Subscribe via Email Subscribe RSS Comments AlbertaSunwapta - 1 hour ago

Interesting insights. My experience has been that the cash rich companies can tumble quite far despite their cash. Just look at Apple in 2009. It's the buyers and sellers that determine volatility and a large cash horde might put a floor under the price but inefficiently so. Moreover I now believe that the expectation that cash on the balance sheet and the hoped for optionality value it possesses is over rated. In 2009, '10 and on that optionality wasn't utilized because managements mirror the fears of the market place and may freeze up just as investors do. Buffett was one of the few that acted and deployed cash in that crisis. A look to Japan over the past 20 years might confirm or dismiss my view since their decline was slow and much different than the 2009 credit crisis and I believe in Japan there were a large number of cash rich firms, net-nets, etc. I would guess that they too also failed to deploy cash opportunistically.

Please leave your comment:
More GuruFocus Links

Latest Guru Picks	Value Strategies
Warren Buffett Portfolio	Ben Graham Net-Net
Real Time Picks	Buffett-Munger Screener
Aggregated Portfolio	Undervalued Predictable
ETFs, Options	Low P/S Companies
Insider Trends	10-Year Financials
52-Week Lows	Interactive Charts
Model Portfolios	DCF Calculator
RSS Feed	Monthly Newsletters
The All-In-One Screener	Portfolio Tracking Tool

MORE GURUFOCUS LINKS

Latest Guru Picks	Value Strategies
Warren Buffett Portfolio	Ben Graham Net-Net
Real Time Picks	Buffett-Munger Screener
Aggregated Portfolio	Undervalued Predictable
ETFs, Options	Low P/S Companies
Insider Trends	10-Year Financials
52-Week Lows	Interactive Charts
Model Portfolios	DCF Calculator
RSS Feed	Monthly Newsletters
The All-In-One Screener	Portfolio Tracking Tool

AAPL STOCK PRICE CHART 544.99 (1y: +18%) $(function(){var seriesOptions=[],yAxisOptions=[],name='AAPL',display='';Highcharts.setOptions({global:{useUTC:true}});var d=new Date();$current_day=d.getDay();if($current_day==5||$current_day==0||$current_day==6){day=4;}else{day=7;} seriesOptions[0]={id:name,animation:false,color:'#4572A7',lineWidth:1,name:name.toUpperCase()+' stock price',threshold:null,data:[[1364274000000,461.136],[1364360400000,452.08],[1364446800000,442.66],[1364792400000,428.91],[1364878800000,429.792],[1364965200000,431.99],[1365051600000,427.72],[1365138000000,423.2],[1365397200000,426.21],[1365483600000,426.98],[1365570000000,435.69],[1365656400000,434.33],[1365742800000,429.8],[1366002000000,419.85],[1366088400000,426.24],[1366174800000,402.8],[1366261200000,392.05],[1366347600000,390.53],[1366606800000,398.67],[1366693200000,406.13],[1366779600000,405.462],[1366866000000,408.38],[1366952400000,417.205],[1367211600000,430.12],[1367298000000,442.78],[1367384400000,439.29],[1367470800000,445.52],[1367557200000,449.98],[1367816400000,460.71],[1367902800000,458.658],[1367989200000,463.84],[1368075600000,456.77],[1368162000000,452.97],[1368421200000,454.74],[1368507600000,443.86],[1368594000000,428.85],[1368680400000,434.578],[1368766800000,433.26],[1369026000000,442.93],[1369112400000,439.66],[1369198800000,441.354],[1369285200000,442.14],[1369371600000,445.15],[1369717200000,441.439],[1369803600000,444.95],[1369890000000,451.58],[1369976400000,449.735],[1370235600000,450.72],[1370322000000,449.31],[1370408400000,445.11],[1370494800000,438.46],[1370581200000,441.811],[1370840400000,438.89],[1370926800000,437.6],[1371013200000,432.19],[1371099600000,435.965],[1371186000000,430.05],[1371445200000,432],[1371531600000,431.77],[1371618000000,423],[1371704400000,416.838],[1371790800000,413.5],[1372050000000,402.54],[1372136400000,402.63],[1372222800000,398.07],[1372309200000,393.78],[1372395600000,396.53],[1372654800000,409.22],[1372741200000,418.49],[1372827600000,420.8],[1373000400000,417.42],[1373259600000,415.05],[1373346000000,422.35],[1373432400000,420.73],[1373518800000,427.288],[1373605200000,426.51],[1373864400000,427.44],[1373950800000,430.195],[1374037200000,430.31],[1374123600000,431.758],[1374210000000,424.95],[1374469200000,426.31],[1374555600000,418.9! 9],[1374642000000,440.51],[1374728400000,438.5],[1374814800000,440.99],[1375074000000,447.79],[1375160400000,453.32],[1375246800000,452.53],[1375333200000,456.676],[1375419600000,462.54],[1375678800000,469.45],[1375765200000,465.25],[1375851600000,464.98],[1375938000000,461.01],[1376024400000,454.45],[1376283600000,467.36],[1376370000000,489.57],[1376456400000,498.5],[1376542800000,497.91],[1376629200000,502.33],[1376888400000,507.74],[1376974800000,501.07],[1377061200000,502.36],[1377147600000,502.96],[1377234000000,501.02],[1377493200000,502.97],[1377579600000,488.59],[1377666000000,490.896],[1377752400000,491.7],[1377838800000,487.216],[1378184400000,488.58],[1378270800000,498.691],[1378357200000,495.27],[1378443600000,498.22],[1378702800000,506.17],[1378789200000,494.64],[1378875600000,467.71],[1378962000000,472.69],[1379048400000,464.9],[1379307600000,450.12],[1379394000000,455.32],[1379480400000,464.68],[1379566800000,472.3],[1379653200000,467.41],[1379912400000,490.64],[1379998800000,489.1],[1380085200000,481.53],[1380171600000,486.22],[1380258000000,482.75],[1380517200000,476.75],[1380603600000,487.96],[1380690000000,489.56],[1380776400000,483.41],[1380862800000,483.03],[1381122000000,487.75],[1381208400000,480.94],[1381294800000,486.588],[1381381200000,489.638],[1381467600000,492.812],[1381726800000,496.04],[1381813200000,498.68],[1381899600000,501.114],[1381986000000,504.5],[1382072400000,508.89],[1382331600000,521.362],[1382418000000,519.868],[1382504400000,524.96],[1382590800000,531.91],[1382677200000,525.958],[1382936400000,529.876],[1383022800000,516.678],[1383109200000,524.896],[1383195600000,522.702],[1383282000000,520.03],[1383544800000,526.75],[1383631200000,525.449],[1383717600000,520.92],[1383804000000,512.492],[1383890400000,520.56],[1384149600000,519.048],[1384236000000,520.01],[1384322400000,520.634],[1384408800000,528.16],[1384495200000,524.991],[1384754400000,518.629],[1384840800000,519.55],[1384927200000,515],[1385013600000,521.136],[1385100000000,519.8],[1385359200000,523.74],! [13854456! 00000,533.4],[1385532000000,545.96],[1385704800000,556.07],[1385964000000,551.23],[1386050400000,566.322],[1386136800000,565],[1386223200000,567.901],[1386309600000,560.02],[1386568800000,566.43],[1386655200000,565.55],[1386741600000,561.36],[1386828000000,560.54],[1386914400000,554.43],[1387173600000,557.5],[1387260000000,554.99],[1387346400000,550.77],[1387432800000,544.46],[1387519200000,549.02],[1387778400000,570.09],[1387864800000,567.67],[1388037600000,563.9],[1388124000000,560.09],[1388383200000,554.52],[1388469600000,561.02],[1388642400000,553.13],[1388728800000,540.98],[1388988000000,543.93],[1389074400000,540.038],[1389160800000,543.46],[1389247200000,536.519],[1389333600000,532.94],[1389592800000,535.73],[1389679200000,546.39],[1389765600000,557.36],[1389852000000,554.25],[1389938400000,540.67],[1390284000000,549.07],[1390370400000,551.51],[1390456800000,556.18],[1390543200000,546.07],[1390802400000,550.5],[1390888800000,506.5],[1390975200000,500.75],[1391061600000,499.782],[1391148000000,500.6],[1391407200000,501.53],[1391493600000,508.79],[1391580000000,512.59],[1391666400000,512.51],[1391752800000,519.68],[1392012000000,528.99],[1392098400000,535.96],[1392184800000,535.92],[1392271200000,544.43],[1392357600000,543.99],[1392703200000,545.99],[1392789600000,537.37],[1392876000000,531.15],[1392962400000,525.25],[1393221600000,527.55],[1393308000000,522.06],[1393394400000,517.35],[1393826400000,527.76],[1393912800000,531.24],[1393999200000,532.36],[1394085600000,530.75],[1394172000000,530.44],[1394427600000,530.92],[1394514000000,536.09],[1394600400000,536.61],[1394686800000,530.65],[1394773200000,524.69],[1395032400000,526.74],[1395118800000,531.4],[1395205200000,531.26],[1395291600000,528.7],[1395378000000,532.87],[1395637200000,539.19],[1395751683000,539.19],[1395751683000,539.19],[1395759600000,544.99]]};var reporting=$('#reporting');Highcharts.setOptions({lang:{rangeSelectorZoom:""}});var chart=new Highcharts.StockChart({chart:{renderTo:'container_chart',marginRight:20,borderRadius:0,even! ts:{load:! function(){var chart=this,axis=chart.xAxis[0],buttons=chart.rangeSelector.buttons;function reset_all_buttons(){$.each(chart.rangeSelector.buttons,function(index,value){value.setState(0);});series=chart.get('AAPL');series.remove();} buttons[0].on('click',function(e){chart.showLoading();reset_all_buttons();chart.rangeSelector.buttons[0].setState(2);var extremes=axis.getExtremes();$.getJSON('/modules/chart/price_chart_json.php?symbol=AAPL&ser=1d',function(data){if(data!=null){var extr

Sixteen Remaining in Buffett-Backed Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Sixteen people are still dancing in Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge, the company said on Twitter around 4:45 p.m. ET. For the sweet 16 left with a perfect bracket as the first round of the NCAA mens college basketball tournament draws to a close, odds are low that anyone will collect the $1 billion being offered by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) for any perfect brackets.

OFFICIAL: 16 PERFECT brackets remain in the #billionbracket challenge Quicken Loans News (@QLnews) March 21, 2014

In March, Detroit-based Quicken Loans, the nation's third largest mortgage lender said it would team with Yahoo! Sports on a challenge to share $1 billion among anyone filling out a perfect bracket.

That payout was offered by the insurance division of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren Buffett. Often called 'The Oracle of Omaha,' Buffett wasn't likely to make a payout. "I have been astonished by the response to Quicken Loans' challenge, and the millions of people who have shown an interest in participating," Buffett said earlier in March. "While I wouldn't be thrilled to hand over a billion dollars, I think it will definitely add even more excitement to the college basketball tournament this year." Odds of a winner are below one-in-a-trillion. Quicken Loans increased the maximum number of contest entries to 15 million earlier in March, given higher-than-expected demand. In addition to the potential $1 billion grand prize, Quicken Loans will award $100,000 to each of the contest's 20 most accurate 'imperfect' brackets to use toward buying, refinancing or remodeling a home. The company also committed to give $1 million to charities in the Detroit and Cleveland markets, to aid in urban youth education initiatives as part of its Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge. Currently, upsets of Duke University, Ohio State and New Mexico stand out as among the biggest bracket busters just over a day into the tournament. The company has committed $1 million to charities in the Detroit and Cleveland markets to aid in urban youth education initiatives as part of the roll-out of the Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge with Yahoo Sports.

-- Written by Antoine Gara in New York

Stock quotes in this article: BRK.A, BRK.B 

Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs

Related HZNP Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; FedEx Profit Misses Estimates Morning Market Movers

Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ: PRTA) shares surged 23.52% to touch a new 52-week high of $45.90 after the company reported clinical data to be presented at International Symposium on Amyloidosis. Morgan Stanley raised the price target on the stock from $35.00 to $53.00.

Horizon Pharma (NASDAQ: HZNP) shares reached a new 52-week high of $17.12 after the company announced its plans to acquire privately held Vidara Therapeutics International for around $660 million.

Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) shares reached a new 52-week high of $69.77 after analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded the stock from Neutral to Outperform and raised the target price from $71 to $78.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) rose 1.37% to touch a new 52-week high of $30.98 ahead of its annual shareholder on Wednesday.

Posted-In: 52-Week HighsNews Intraday Update Markets Movers

© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  Most Popular A Joint Venture: Two Marijuana Industry Leaders Plan to Produce Pharmaceutical Extractions 3 Reasons To Tap Into Home Equity To Buy Stocks Brin and Page Maintain Close Control of Google with Unconventional Stock Split iPhone 6 Rumors Coming At A Dizzying Pace General Electric Take Steps To Appease Investors Following Exectives Meeting With Activist Nelson Peltz FDIC Sues Big Banks For Rigging Interest Rates Related Articles (EPD + HPQ) Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs UPDATE: Credit Suisse Upgrades Enterprise Products Partners LP Following 2014 Analyst Day Benzinga's Top Upgrades IDC Reports Dell, Hewlett-Packard Saw Growth in Global Shipments of Monitors in Q4 -Digitimes Market Wrap For March 18: Markets Positive Despite Crimea Concerns Weakness Seen in 3D Systems Corp. (DDD) Estimates: Should You Stay Away? - Tale of the Tape Around the Web, We're Loving... Check Out the New iPad 4 Lightspeed Trading Presents:How to use Automate

How much is that doggie in the window? Try $2M

A golden-haired Tibetan mastiff puppy has reportedly been sold for a whopping $2 million in China, potentially making it the world's most expensive dog.

The pup was sold at a premium pet fair in the eastern province of Zhejiang on Tuesday, fetching 12 million yuan ($1.95 million), according to AFP, which cites a report in Chinese newspaper Qianjiang Evening News.

The breeder, who sold the puppy to a property developer, is reported to have told the paper that the mastiff had "lion's blood," and that a similar dog had sold for 6 million yuan.

"They have lion's blood and are top-of-the-range mastiff studs," said breeder Zhang Gengyun.

PAMPER YOUR PET: 10 high-tech gadgets

Top Semiconductor Stocks To Buy Right Now

EXOTIC PETS: Growing American fad

SIMPLE TRUTHS: Pet-ownership economics

The hound was 80 centimetres (31 inches) tall, and weighed 90 kilograms (nearly 200 pounds), according to Zhang, who said the breed to could be compared to "nationally treasured pandas" – hence the high price.

Tibetan mastiffs – an ancient breed of dog, with long coats - have become a status symbol among China's growing wealthy classes. In 2011, an 11-month old pup named "Big Splash" sold for $1.5 million, according to NBC news, which reported that the animal was the most expensive dog sold at the time.

The buyer of the pricey puppy wants to breed mastiffs himself, according to the report.

Follow Cosgrave on Twitter: @jenny_cosgrave.

© CNBC is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

MBIA CEO gets second chance at big payout

MBIA CEO Joeseph "Jay" Brown wasn't able to cash in on a restricted stock grant that could have paid out at least $47 million last year. But the financial services firm is giving Brown another chance at a bigger potential payout, providing he sticks around and the share price climbs.

Brown, 65, served as CEO from 1999 to 2004, then returned as CEO in February 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis that exposed MBIA's bond insurance operation to risky mortgage-backed securities and massive losses.

At the time, Brown was granted more than 2.9 million restricted shares. But for Brown to cash in, MBIA had to trade at $16.20 or higher for at least 20 days. After the share price failed to crack that level, Brown forfeited the stock award last February. MBIA's board of directors then granted Brown 3 million additional shares, some with lower thresholds for cashing in.

According to MBIA's latest proxy filing, the fresh batch of restricted shares - which vest over five years - have to hit $25 for Brown to get the entire stock award. But MBIA's board set a lower bar for Brown to get something.

Shares currently trade at $14.39. If the stock trades at an average two-month price of $13, Brown would get 20% of the stock award, 40% if shares hit $16 and $17.50 for 50%. If shares hit $25, - worth about $72 million - all of the shares vest. MBIA shares peaked at about $122 in 1997 and sank to about $2.17 in 2009.

In considering the fresh restricted stock award, MBIA directors said the 2008 stock award "did not properly reflect Mr. Brown's contributions to the company over the period following his return."

Brown also received 2013 compensation valued at $5.6 million, including a $4 million incentive award. That's up nearly 700% from the $675,000 he received in 2012. His salary was doubled to $1 million, "adjusted to bring it in line with the market median base salary,'' MBIA said.

Brown and other senior executives received no bonuses or incentive awards in 2011 or 2012, based o! n concerns by New York state regulators.

Follow CEO pay on twitter @gbstrauss.

Oil slips as traders weigh economic data, Ukraine

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Oil prices traded lower Monday as investors discounted prospects for harsh sanctions against Moscow after the Crimea region's vote to leave Ukraine and join Russia.

Mostly upbeat U.S. economic data, which buoyed the energy-demand outlook, kept oil's losses at a minimum.

Crude oil futures for April delivery (CLJ4)  fell 28 cents, or 0.3%, to $98.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On ICE Futures, May Brent crude (UK:LCOK4) , Europe's benchmark oil, lost 90 cents, or 0.8%, to $107.31 a barrel.

"With Europe dependent on Russian exports for roughly 30% of its oil and natural gas and Russia dependent on earnings from those exports, the market at this stage is not anticipating that sanctions against Russia will include a halt to oil and gas purchases," said Addison Armstrong, senior director for market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn.

Reuters A woman holds a Russian flag Sunday as she casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray.

Crimea's Moscow-backed leadership formally asked to join Russia after the Sunday referendum, in which 97% of voters backed seceding from Ukraine.

The European Union has adopted sanctions against 13 Russian officials and eight Crimean officials in response to the referendum, The Wall Street Journal reported. The White House has also announced sanctions against seven Russian government officials and two Crimea-based separatist leaders and former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych and his presidential chief of staff.

There hasn't been any real move from the expected Crimea news, said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors.

"Supply is the main focus [and] Iraq has been pumping out very high levels it hasn't seen in years," he said, adding that production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is running above its quota. OPEC's output rose to 30.11 million barrels a day in February, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts released earlier this month.

"Sanctions will have to be watched in response to Russia, but we feel the overall sentiment is lower on higher supplies and [expectations for a crude-supply] build in the weeks to come — which would translate to lower prices," said Zahir.

U.S. stocks fell last week and global equities were under pressure in the runup to the Crimea vote. Analysts said global markets will be paying close attention to the West's response to developments in Ukraine. U.S. equities rallied on Monday in the wake of mostly upbeat economic data.

U.S. industrial production in February grew at the fastest monthly rate in six months, while an index of manufacturing conditions in the New York region showed modest improvement in March. A gauge of confidence among home builders ticked up in March.

Nymex oil futures fell nearly 4% last week as investors weighed the potential impact of the Crimea crisis versus continued signs of a slowdown in China.

On Monday, April natural gas (NGJ14)  was the lone gainer among the major Nymex energy futures, with the contract up 12 cents, or 2.8%, to $4.55 per million British thermal units. April gasoline (RBJ4)  traded at $2.93 a gallon, down 3 cents, or 1.1%, while April heating oil (HOJ4)  edged down by 2 cents, or 0.7%, to $2.92 a gallon.

More MarketWatch must-reads:

After courting Ukraine, Europe has no plan for Russia

Pro-Putin anchor says Russia can turn U.S. to 'radioactive dust'

Jeremy Grantham says stocks aren't in a bubble ... but just you wait

Top Stocks To Buy In March 2014

Top Stocks To Buy In March 2014: Sigma-Aldrich Corp (SIAL)

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, incorporated in May 12, 1975, is a life science and high technology company. The Company develops, manufactures, purchases and distributes the range of chemicals, biochemicals and equipment available globally and also provides global biopharmaceutical testing services. These chemical products, kits and services are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. As of December 31, 2012, the Company offered approximately 45,000 equipment products. On January 31, 2012, the Company completed its acquisition of all of interest of BioReliance, a provider of global biopharmaceutical testing services. On April 2, 2012, the Company acquired Research Organics, a supplier of purity biochemicals.   The Company provides products and services that focus on research customers that use smaller quantities of its products in basic life science and high-technology research and development (R&D); manufacturing customers that use its products in quantities in lab-stage development and manufacturing; life science customers who use its biopharmaceutical testing services to facilitate the development, manufacturing and commercialization of biological drugs, and industrial and diagnostic companies that use its products in range of forms of assays and testing, as well as in clinical diagnostics. The Company has a customer base of commercial laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, industrial companies, universities, diagnostics companies, biotechnology companies, electronics companies, hospitals, governmental institutions and non-profit organizations located in the United States and globally. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Maxx Chatsko]Any company that creates products and relies on other companies to use and distribute them will inevitably forge strong relationships with its customers. It's an important thing to look into when investing, yet easy to overlook. Investors should know whether customers are reliable, which are leaned on the most, and if the company they own is too dependent on any customer (or a select few). Bioprocessing product company Repligen (NASDAQ: RGEN  ) may make consumables that are the lifeline of the biotech industry, but its customer relationships are absolutely critical for smooth operations. Let's look at how the company interacts with the Life Sciences division of General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) , EMD Millipore from Merck (NYSE: MRK  ) , and Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL  ) -- the three most important customers.
• [By Monica Gerson]Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.99 per share on revenue of $661.29 million. CR Bard (NYSE: BCR) is projected to post its Q3 earnings at $1.40 per share on revenue of $739.62 million.
• [By Nicole Seghetti]2. Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL  ) Maker of test tubes and beakers, Sigma-Aldrich has increased its dividend every year since 1976. Even though the company pays a relatively scrawny 1.1% dividend yield, its 21% payout ratio signals the company has ample opportunity to up its dividend for many years to come.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-stocks-to-buy-in-march-2014.html

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 2014

Top 10 Blue Chip Companies To Invest In 2014: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computin! g-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is base d in Armonk, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Every one of the 30 Dow stocks is trading higher about half an hour before Monday's closing gell. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) has posted the largest gain today, up 1.82% at $185.55 in a 52-week range of $172.19 to $215.82 just ahead of the closing bell. Volume is on track to be about 20% below the daily average of some 5 million shares traded. IBM's share price is second-highest among the Dow stocks.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Before thinking that these five are the biggest drags on the DJIA for 2014, other DJIA stocks have been dead weight for a bit longer then 2014. Shares of Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) are down some 18% from their 52-week high, and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) are down some 14% from their 52-week high. Their problems began in 2014, so they are not on the year-to-date loser list of the DJIA stocks.

• [By Philip Springer]

  What’s this week’s big story for investors?
  
  Candidate #1: RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) said it will close up to 1,100 of its nearly 5,200 US stores amid widening losses. The company also announced that revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013 fell 20 percent from year-earlier levels.
  
  It doesn’t matter whether the latest announcement is in addition to or merely an expansion of the company’s Feb. 5 statement that it would close 500 stores. That, in turn, shortly followed the beleaguered company’s $4 million expenditure for a widely praised but clearly ill-timed 30-second ad during the Super Bowl.
  
  Also this week, Radio Shack agreed to pay its top executives “retention” bonuses, saying their skills are critical to the company's comeback plan. CEO Joe Magnacca will get a $500,000 payment, while oth! er execut! ives will receive $187,500 to $275,000.
  
  The stock currently trades around $2, down from its 1999 peak of $61.
  No, that’s not the week’s big story. But it was too good to ignore.
  
  Candidate #2: The current bull market celebrates its fifth birthday this week, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 delivering a total return of about 175 percent during that time.
  
  Since 1921, the median bull market has been 50 months long and has delivered 115 percent in price appreciation. So this market is older and better than most. Still, the conditions aren’t yet present to suggest the end is near. Indeed, Wednesday’s advance, the best of the year to date, was exceptional for both its breadth and heavy volume.
  
  The five-year anniversary also means that stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds and so on will boast very good five-year returns. Don’t be overly impressed. Reason: Almost everybody will be a winner. (Other than Radio Shack.) But you should dig deeper: Comparisons will be useful to sort out leaders and laggards f or potential investme

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-blue-chip-companies-to-invest-in-2014.html

Transocean LTD (RIG): Short-Term Oversupply May Hurt Earnings

Earnings of Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG) may hurt in the short-term due to the ongoing over-supply of rigs. Slowing rig demand will continue for all of 2014.

Transocean is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, with leading market shares in the deepwater and harsh environment drilling segments. The company owns and operates a fleet of high-specification floaters (composed of ultra-deepwater, deepwater, and harsh environment semisubmersibles and drillships), midwater floaters, and high-specification jackups.

Transocean operates in the midst of near to intermediate term weak outlook for the offshore drilling markets (midwater, deepwater and ultra-deepwater). The rig demand has slowed and that a number of rigs could see lower utilization levels as well as lower dayrates.

[Related -7 Deep-Value Energy Leaders With 68% Upside]

The company has the most exposure to contract renewals in 2014, a risk to earnings. Approximately 42 percent (23 rigs) of Transocean fleet is up for contract renewal in 2014.

UBS analyst Angie Sedita believes a number of these rigs will experience lower dayrates and likely some idle periods between contracts. Several of the midwater and deepwater rigs could become idle and remain idle for an extended period.

Surprisingly, Transocean has announced the construction of two new ultra-deepwater rigs at the Sembcorp's Marine's Jurong shipyard in Singapore. The two drillships are expected to be delivered from the shipyard in the second quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, respectively, and will cost approximately $620 million each.

[Related -Transocean LTD (RIG): Offshore Drillers Could Face Margin Pressure]

Additionally, RIG has options to build three additional drillships with similar designs on similar payment terms. Transocean has historically been unwilling to build on speculation; thus, the announcement of two rigs and three options is a radical change from the past.

Sedita said the company can contract the rigs at economically viable dayrates; however, additional rigs into an already over-supplied market will be challenging.

Meanwhile, Transocean chose an unlikely shipyard in Jurong, Singapore. The majority of the drillships this cycle have been ordered from the well-established Korean shipyards. Traditionally, the Singapore yards have been most known for their jackup construction, and a few semisubmersibles, not drillships.

RIG noted that Jurong is building its second or third drillship today; however, after touring the yard the company felt comfortable that Jurong could deliver. The factor driving the decision may be the total price and the appealing financing terms of 5 percent down and 95 percent upon delivery.

Given the prototype design the delivery schedule for the prototype is longer than seen from the Korean yards. Sedita believes this is a risk to Transocean to build a newly designed rig from a yard with limited experience.

Meanwhile, offshore markets may take a "pause" near-term with rates and utilization under pressure. There have been a number of indications of slowing contract demand in the market. Transocean discussed yet another example with its disappearing contract opportunities for four high caliber rigs.

The company announced that it had Letter of Intent's (LOI) for four deepwater rigs to work in West Africa and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that disappeared or ultimately canceled due to the operators postponing drilling programs to 2015. These rigs included the Sedco Energy (currently idle), and the Development Driller I and II (both available in Feb-14). The slowed E&P spending levels is the primary driver.

The economics of the wells are highly viable; however, E&P spending levels have slowed and major projects postponed. The question is when it will return.

Sedita said the industry has moved beyond a market in equilibrium to market of over-supply in UDW for the next 12, potentially 18 months. The industry is now expected to deliver 28 new-build UDW floaters in 2014, of which 12 remain un-contracted. At about this time last year, the industry was delivering 22 rigs of which 6 were un-contracted, and each rig was under advanced negotiations for a contract.

It will be difficult for all of these rigs to find contracts, and some may have to take short-term versus term work. Additionally, some of the smaller contractors could panic and take a less than market rate to employ the rig, thereby lowering the bar for future contract renewals across the industry.

Best Consumer Service Stocks To Buy For 2015

In addition, a number of floaters which are up for renewal in 2014 will experience idle time and lower dayrates. On top of the 28 rigs to be delivered in 2014, there are nearly 60 floaters up for contract renewal.

As such, midwater and deepwater rates likely to fall more meaningfully, and expect more idling of older rigs. As dayrates for new-build UDW rigs begin to fall, this will have a downward effect on all rigs of lower capabilities (midwater and deepwater).

Sedita noted that once the market reaches over-supply, the decline in dayrates for the lower capability rigs tend to be magnified as drilling contractors cut rates sharply to keep rigs employed. For a drilling contractor reducing a rate by 20-30 percent will often be preferable to idling the rig. Any margin is better than no margin.

In addition, given slowing E&P budgets, a number of the lower specification floaters which had been working steadily over the past five years will become idle either indefinitely or for extended periods between shorter term contracts.

As a result, new offshore rig construction must end (or at least meaningfully slow), until the existing rigs under construction absorbed, and demand to rebuild before the market will right-size itself. As of now, the trend doesn't bode well for Transocean, at least in the near-term.

World Markets Watch China

Top Dow Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014

After hitting new highs last Friday, US stocks slumped this week, primarily because of concerns about China’s economy and rising tensions in Ukraine.

For world markets, China was the bigger issue. Last week, China announced an economic growth target of 7.5 percent for 2014. That’s robust by almost any standard, except compared with the 9-10 percent rates of 2009-12. And it would be the slowest growth since China’s growth took off in 1991.

Growth slumped to 7.8 percent in 2013, and even 7.5 percent may be hard to achieve in 2014. China Premier Li Keqiang this week said that the world’s second-largest economy faces “more difficulties” this year than last.

Industrial output, retail sales and investment all grew considerably less in January and February than expected, according to government reports released this week. Also in February, China’s exports tumbled 18.1 percent, and the country posted an unusual trade deficit of $23 billion. Economists had expected a 5 percent increase, following a 10.6 percent expansion in January.

There’s always the question of how much the February data was distorted by reduced manufacturing activity due to the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. (This is the Year of the Horse.) And there’s always reason to question Beijing’s economic numbers. The lack of transparency in China’s financial policies also often generates investor uncertainty and anxiety.

But the signs of weakness in China’s economy clearly are growing. So far, the damage to the rest of the world has been limited mostly to some commodities and other Asian markets, in addition to China’s own stock market and currency.

However, further China weakness could add to the volatilit! y of emerging markets overall that has increased sharply in recent months. And it could hurt developed markets, as happened this week.

In 2013, China accounted for about two-thirds of global demand for iron ore. Its spot price has dropped 22 percent so far this year to the lowest point since October 2012. Copper is down 13 percent, to its lowest level since August 2010. China accounted for an estimated 44 percent of demand for the red metal last year. The price of premium hard coking coal from Australia, another China-driven commodity, also has dropped 13 percent this year.

For copper in particular, the damage isn’t limited to the inventory buildup in warehouses in China as demand for manufacturing slows. In addition, much of the stored copper is used as collateral for loans from banks, and particularly from other lenders in borrowers’ response to government restrictions on conventional lending.

Borrowers then invest the money in higher-yielding assets. As prices fall, borrowers could come under pressure to post more collateral, forcing them to sell copper to raise money.

However, there’s also considerable evidence that the government has enacted a deliberate slowdown to expand market forces, wring out some excesses in the economy and put it on a firmer footing for lower but more sustainable growth.

For example, China last week had its first mainland corporate-bond default (a solar technology company). It had been widely believed that the Chinese government was in effect guaranteeing this part of the country’s credit market.

Beijing also has moved to push down China’s currency, the yuan. This is seen as a way to reduce excessive “hot money” inflows from foreign speculators/investors.

Within China, the tightly controlled currency is allowed to trade within a range of 1 percent above and 1 percent below a daily reference rate fixed by the central bank. The government has been letting the rate climb, which means a we! aker yuan! . The offshore yuan, which is freely traded outside mainland China, this week dropped to an eight-month low versus the US dollar.

The declining yuan also makes it more expensive to import dollar-denominated commodities, including the copper used as loan collateral.

For many observers, the big debate now is whether the Chinese government will step in if growth slows much more. For example, with the new leadership's agenda in place and a series of key annual party meetings completed, the way may be clear for the government to act if it chooses to.

In any event, China generally has proven relatively adept at guiding the nation’s economy, and it has plenty of financial resources at its disposal to do so.

Top Medical Stocks For 2014

Top Medical Stocks For 2014: Koninklijke Philips NV (PHIA)

Koninklijke Philips NV, formerly Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, is the Netherlands-based parent company of the Philips Group (Philips). The Company operates within three main business sectors, such as Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle, and Lighting, as well as through the Innovation, Group & Services (IG&S) sector. The Healthcare sector offers both personal care and professional products, such as computer tomography equipment, radiography equipment and refurbished systems. Consumer Lifestyle sector offers a range of sound, vision, personal devices and household products, such as television, headphones, kitchen appliances, shavers and digital cameras, among others. Lighting sector offers lighting products, such as professional lamps, light-emitting diodes (LED), ballasts and luminaires, among others. The IG&S segment provides the operating sectors with support through shared service centers. It also includes projects which are not part of the operating sectors. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  European stocks rose for a fourth day, extending a seven-week high, as companies from UBS AG to Royal Philips (PHIA) Electronics NV reported increased profit.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-medical-stocks-for-2014-2.html

Best Mid Cap Stocks To Buy For 2014

Best Mid Cap Stocks To Buy For 2014: HCA Holdings Inc (HCA)

HCA Holdings, Inc. (HCA), incorporated in January 1990, is a holding company whose affiliates owns and operates hospitals and related health care entities. HCA is a health care services companies in the United States. At December 31, 2011, it operated 163 hospitals, comprised of 157 general, acute care hospitals; five psychiatric hospitals, and one rehabilitation hospital. In addition, it operated 108 freestanding surgery centers. Its operations are structured into three geographically organized groups: the National, Southwest and Central Groups. At December 31, 2011, the National Group includes 64 hospitals located in Florida, South Carolina, southern Georgia, Alaska, California, Nevada, Utah and Idaho, the Southwest Group includes 46 hospitals located in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and the Wichita, Kansas market, and the Central Group includes 47 hospitals located in Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, New Hampshire, northern Georgia and the Kansas City mark et. The Company also operates six hospitals in England, and these facilities are included in the Corporate and other group. Its facilities are located in 20 states and England. During October 2011, the Company completed its acquisition of the Colorado Health Foundation's (Foundation).In December 2011, it sold Palmyra Medical Center in Albany, Ga.

The Company's general, acute care hospitals typically provide a range of services to accommodate such medical specialties as internal medicine, general surgery, cardiology, oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics and obstetrics, as well as diagnostic and emergency services. Outpatient and ancillary health care services are provided by its general, acute care hospitals, freestanding surgery centers, diagnostic centers and rehabilitation facilities. Its psychiatric hospitals provide a full range of mental health care services t! hrough inpatient, partial hospitalization and outpatient settings.

The Company own s, manages or operates hospitals; freestanding surgery cente! rs; diagnostic and imaging centers; radiation and oncology therapy centers; rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, and various other facilities. At December 31, 2011, it owned and operated 157 general, acute care hospitals with 40,988 licensed beds. Most of its general, acute care hospitals provide medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic services and emergency services. The general, acute care hospitals also provide outpatient services such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology and physical therapy. At December 31, 2011, it operated five psychiatric hospitals with 506 licensed beds. Its psychiatric hospitals provide therapeutic programs including child, adolescent and adult psychiatric care, adult and adolescent alcohol and drug abuse treatment and counseling.

The Company also operates outpatient health care facilities, which include freestanding ambulatory su rgery centers (ASCs), freestanding emergency care facilities, diagnostic and imaging centers, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, outpatient radiation and oncology therapy centers and various other facilities. Most of its ASCs are operated through partnerships or limited liability companies, with majority ownership of each partnership or Limited Liability Company typically held by a general partner or subsidiary that is an affiliate of HCA. Certain of its affiliates provide a variety of management services to its health care facilities, including patient safety programs; ethics and compliance programs; national supply contracts; equipment purchasing and leasing contracts; accounting, financial and clinical systems; governmental reimbursement assistance; construction planning and coordination; information technology systems and solutions; le! gal couns! el; human resources services; and internal audit services. Under the Medicare program, it rece ives reimbursement under a prospective payment system (PPS) ! for gener! al, acute care hospital inpatient services.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Calia]

  HCA Holdings Inc.(HCA) said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 35% on improved revenue that masked a decline in the hospital operator’s same-facility admissions. The company projected earnings for 2014 that were below estimates.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Tenets plunge has helped drag other healthcare stocks lower. Community Health (CYH) has dropped 3.6% to $42.21, HCA Holdings (HCA) has fallen 2.1% to $46.72 and Universal Health Services (UHS) is off 1% at $80.59.

• [By Terri Stridsberg]

  HCA Holdings Inc. (HCA) has also been a standout on the charts this year, boasting a 2013 advance of nearly 55%—and besting the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by roughly 17 percentage points during the most recent three-month time frame—to trade at $46.67.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Obamacare is also succeeding in bringing previously uninsured Americans with preexisting conditions who had been denied by insurers otherwise into the fold. Perhaps not the best news for insurance companies in this respect, it is great news for hospital providers like HCA Holdings (NYSE: HCA  ) , which would expect to see a reduction in doubtful accounts with more of its sick patients being covered by insurance. Last year, HCA wrote off about 10.3% of its revenue as uncollectable because it treated patients who were uninsured or simply couldn't pay their bill. With the individual mandate soon to become an enforceable law on Jan. 1, 2014, the expectation is that lower doubtful account provisions (and thus better margins) could allow HCA to purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment or perhaps repurchase its own shares or initiate a dividend.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/best-mid-cap-stocks-to-buy-for-2014.html

Is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters a Buy Now?

With shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR) trading around $105, is GMCR 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

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is engaged in the specialty coffee and coffee maker businesses. The company roasts Arabica bean coffees including single-origin, Fair Trade Certified, certified organic, flavored, limited edition, and blends offered in K-Cup portion packs, and whole bean and ground coffee selections. It also offers other specialty beverages, including tea, hot apple cider, and hot cocoa also offered in K-Cup portion packs. The coffee and relative drink trend has been exploding over recent years. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters makes this trend as personal as possible by bringing favorite beverages to the comfort of homes and businesses. As the specialty and related beverage trend operates in full force, look for companies like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to see rising profits.

Do you want to know the secret to Green Mountain's K-Cup business? It realizes gains whether or not its respective pods are the ones enjoying newly found popularity. When the Keurig coffee machines first hit the market, Green Mountain K-Cup pods were the ones most frequently getting their brew on, no questions asked. These days, the pods don't enjoy as much of a monopoly over the market, but Green Mountain still isn't complaining. Why? Many of the most popular brands are actually owned or sold by Green Mountain, so the Waterbury, Vermont-based company is still reaping the benefits when their partners' respective K-Cups get sold in high frequencies. Bloomberg highlighted that reality in its report Friday and explained that Green Mountain owns or sells a number of the most popular K-Cup brands — from Donut House to Revv — and therefore, it still enjoys a trust over many K-Cup sales.

Even those partner brands that Green Mountain doesn't own, such as Newman's Own, helps boost the company's business because Bloomberg reports that Green Mountain pays royalties to a brand to produce and sell pods with a different label, or as is the case with Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), Green Mountain supplies K-Cups to the coffee chain, and Starbucks handles the retailing. Pretty nifty deal, right? No wonder spokesperson Katie Gilroy says, via Bloomberg, "We're indifferent as to whether we're selling our own brand or a licensed pack."

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters stock has been surging higher in the last couple of months. However, the stock is currently pulling back. 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, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters 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 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters options	42.98%	6%	4%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
April Options	Flat	Average
May 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 small 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 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q4	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	30.00%	42.63%	65.22%	50%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	3.58%	8.53%	11.26%	13.53%
Earnings Reaction	26.23%	14.13%	-3.50%	27.84%

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

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Green Mountain Coffee Roasters stock done relative to its peers, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ:DNKN), and sector?

	Green Mountain Coffee Roasters	Starbucks	McDonald’s	Dunkin’ Brands	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	39.98%	-7.31%	-2.00%	7.39%	10.51%

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters provides coffee and related products to eager consumers around the world. The company realizes gains whether or not its respective pods are the ones enjoying newly found popularity. The stock has been surging higher over the last couple of months, but is currently pulling back. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue figures have been on the rise, which has pleased investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to continue to OUTPERFORM.

Defense lawyer: Madoff was villain, not client

NEW YORK — The defense lawyer for former Bernard Madoff aide Annette Bongiorno displayed a familiar photo of the Ponzi scheme mastermind on courtroom video monitors Tuesday during his closing arguments in her fraud trial.

That's how Bongiorno viewed her boss before the world learned Madoff ran a scam that stole an estimated $20 billion from thousands of investors, said attorney Roland Riopelle. Then he displayed a New York Magazine image that depicted Madoff as the malevolent Joker character from a recent Batman movie.

"That's how he really was," Riopelle told jurors.

The dramatic illustration summed up the central defense argument of Bongiorno and four former co-workers accused of knowingly participating in and profiting from the massive fraud.

"Mrs. Bongiorno relied on Mr. Madoff, and she was fooled by him," said Riopelle, who characterized the longtime aide who helped oversee accounts for her boss' most senior clients as another "victim of the fraud."

The argument came in the closing days of a trial that began in early October and represents the first Madoff-related criminal proceeding to be heard by a jury. Madoff pleaded guilty after his scam collapsed in December 2008. He's now serving a 150-year prison term.

The former co-workers similarly face potential sentences of decades behind bars if convicted following jury deliberations expected to start as soon as Friday. Along with Bongiorno, they include ex-Madoff operations manager Daniel Bonventre, JoAnn Crupi, who oversaw the bank account for the investment business, and former Madoff computer programmers Jerome O'Hara and George Perez.

The March 2, 2009 New York magazine cover's representation of Bernard Madoff as the Joker from Batman.(Photo: New Yo! rk Magazine)

Riopelle focused part of his closing argument questioning prosecution evidence that showed Bongiorno collected a six-figure salary and owned a Madoff investment account that purportedly held $50 million.

"What matters is what she knew," not her finances, argued Riopelle.

He noted that Frank DiPascali, the former Madoff financial lieutenant who pleaded guilty and testified against his former co-workers drained his investment account and had a $5 million negative balance when the scam collapsed.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is the act of a man who knew it was a fraud," Riopelle told jurors.

In contrast, Bongiorno left what seemed to be a fortune in her account, said Riopelle, who argued that behavior supported her innocent plea. The purported riches "went up in smoke" after Madoff's arrest and confession, he said.

Earlier Tuesday, O'Hara defense attorney Gordon Mehler challenged the significance of a 2006 note the former Madoff computer programmer wrote in his personal notebook. Prosecutors argued the note, in which O'Hara wrote "I will not lie anymore," appeared to show he knew about the fraud.

But Mehler showed that the statement appeared to refer to lies O'Hara told to Madoff when asked about progress on a computer programs the financier needed to doctor financial records. Trial evidence showed O'Hara and Perez had deleted the programs from the office computer system without Madoff's knowledge.

Mehler described the programmers' action as a "courageous" decision that helped prove their innocence.

February Auto Sales: Hot and Not

Automakers reported February U.S. sales throughout the morning Monday, and there were winners and losers. Chrysler and Nissan posted solid year-over-year gains, while other makers put up lower numbers. The abnormally nasty winter weather did not get as much blame in February as it did in January.

Based on analysts’ estimates, February’s seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for 2014 stands at 15.6 million units. The consensus U.S. seasonally adjusted annual rate calls for 12.3 million domestic sales.

Chrysler’s year-over-year sales rose 11% to 154,866 units, the company’s best February sales level since 2007. Its Chrysler, Jeep, Ram Truck and Fiat brands all posted year-over-year gains in the February. The Jeep brand posted a sales gain of 47% in February and the Ram brand posted a gain of 28%. Chrysler projected a seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales from all manufacturers at 15.8 million units for 2014, up from last month’s projection of 15.6 million. The company ended the month with 85 days supply of inventory, up from 79 days of supply at the end of January.

Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) U.S. sales fell 6% year-over-year in February to 183,947 Ford and Lincoln vehicles, compared with February 2013 sales of 195,822. Sales were down for all types of vehicles, with car sales off 13.6%, utility vehicle sales off 4.4% and truck sales down 0.2%. Fleet sales fell 10% in February due to weather-related delays in fleet orders. Ford said that it expects the fleet sales to be made up in March.

Top Long Term Stocks To Own For 2015

U.S. sales for General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) fell 1% year-over-year in February to 222,104 vehicles, compared with last February’s sales total of 224,314 vehicles. GM sales fell nearly 12% in January, so February’s drop is a big improvement. The company noted that its buyer incentives increased “slightly” in February. That is one way of looking at it, but there is another. Based on February sales, GM estimates that the full-year seasonally adjusted annual rate of U.S. sales for all carmakers will total 15.4 million light vehicles sold, up from a January rate of 15.3 million. GM estimates total U.S. sales from all carmakers in 2014 to total 16.0 million to 16.5 million units, the best year since 2007.

Sales at Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) for the month totaled 159,284 units, down 4.3% compared with February 2013. A company executive said, “February auto sales emerged from a chill in the second half of the month, poising the industry for a strong March. For Toyota, strong truck sales were a highlight this month, with RAV4 and Highlander posting best-ever February results.”

Volkswagen sold 27,112 units in the United States in February. That is a drop of 13.8% year-over-year, on top of a 19% drop in January sales. Year-to-date VW sales are down 16.3%.

Nissan’s February sales rose 15.8%% to 115,360 units, a record for the month of February. Sales of the company’s redesigned Rogue crossover rose 72.6% to 17,197 units year-over-year.

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015

The U.S. energy boom is exciting, it's notable, and it could change the world. At the same time, there are still plenty of places around the world that will need to import oil. The major supplier of that demand has been, and will continue to be, the Middle East. The nations that constitute the Middle East produce about 30% of the world's oil, and some countries in the region are looking to step up their game.

The biggest plans to increase production in the Middle East right now focus on Iraq. Ministers in the country hope to triple production by the end of the decade. Thanks to sizable investments from the big integrated oil majors and oil services companies, it's possible that the country might meet that goal.

Demand in some parts of the world may be waning, but growth elsewhere in the world more than makes up for it. The big market for more oil will be in developing nations, most notably Brazil, China, and India. As long as these countries continue to grow at a staggering pace, they will need oil to fuel that engine. Tune into the video below where Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe check in with Fool analyst Joel South to discuss the prospects for Middle Eastern oil production and assess the demand from emerging countries.

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015: Capital Senior Living Corp (CSU)

Capital Senior Living Corporation, incorporated on October 25, 1996, is an operator of residential communities for senior adults. The Company provides senior living services. Its communities integrate independent living, assisted living and home care services, to provide residents the opportunity to age in place. The Company operated 112 senior living communities in geographically concentrated regions with an aggregate capacity of approximately 14,600 residents.

The Company�� senior living options include independent living, assisted living, memory care and planning resources. The Company�� services include special nutrition counseling, additional housekeeping and laundry, exercise programs, recreation and entertainment, medication reminders and access to a choice of home health agencies.

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 Capital Senior Living (NYSE: CSU  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015: Green Dot Corporation (GDOT)

Green Dot Corporation operates as a bank holding company. It offers general purpose reloadable prepaid debit cards, and cash loading and transfer services in the United States. The company�s products include Green Dot MasterCard, Visa-branded prepaid debit cards, and various co-branded reloadable prepaid card programs; Visa-branded gift cards; and MoneyPak and swipe reload proprietary products that enable cash loading and transfer services through its Green Dot Network. Its Green Dot Network enables consumers to use cash to reload its prepaid debit cards or to transfer cash to any of the company�s Green Dot Network acceptance members, including competing prepaid card programs, and other online accounts. The company markets its cards and financial services to banked, underbanked, and unbanked consumers. Green Dot Corporation offers its products and services through retail distributors, including mass merchandisers, drug store and convenience store chains, and supermarket chains; the Internet; and relationships with other businesses. Its prepaid debit cards and prepaid reload services are available to consumers at approximately 60,000 retail locations nationwide and online at greendot.com. The company was formerly known as Next Estate Communications, Inc. and changed its name to Green Dot Corporation in October 2005. Green Dot Corporation was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Bieglmeier]

  Green Dot Corporation (GDOT) will host a conference call to discuss third quarter 2013 financial results on Thursday, October 31, 2013 at 4:30pm ET. A press release with third quarter 2013 financial results will be issued after the market closes that same day.

• [By Dan Newman]

  Even with Radiohead's questionable outcome with the scheme,�Green Dot's� (NYSE: GDOT  ) GoBank, launched in January, is offering checking accounts where its members decide what to pay as a monthly fee, between $0 and $9. Does this make any sense for the company to think customers will voluntarily pay?

Top Dividend Companies To Buy For 2015: EverBank Financial Corp (EVER)

EverBank Financial Corp, incorporated in 2004, is an unitary savings and loan holding company. The Company provides a range of financial products and services directly to customers through multiple business channels. Its operating subsidiary is EverBank. As of December 31, 2011, EverBank had $ 10.3 billion deposits. EverBank offers a range of banking, lending and investing products to consumers and businesses. EverBank provides services to customers through Websites, over the phone, through the mail and at 14 Florida-based Financial Centers. The Company operates in two operating business segments: Banking and Wealth Management, and Mortgage Banking. Its Banking and Wealth Management segment includes earnings generated by and activities related to deposit and investment products and services and portfolio lending and leasing activities. Its Mortgage Banking segment consists of activities related to the origination and servicing of residential mortgage loans. In April 2012, the Company acquired MetLife Bank�� warehouse finance business. In October 2012, it acquired Business Property Lending, Inc.

Asset Origination and Fee Income Businesses

The Company has a range of asset origination and fee income businesses. The Company generates generate fee income from its mortgage banking activities, which consist of originating and servicing one-to-four family residential mortgage loans. It originates prime residential mortgage loans using a centrally controlled underwriting, processing and fulfillment infrastructure through financial intermediaries (including community banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers and brokers), consumer direct channels and financial centers. Its mortgage origination activities include originating, underwriting, closing, warehousing and selling to investors prime conforming and jumbo residential mortgage loans. From its mortgage origination activities, it earns fee-based income on fees charged to borrowers and other noninterest income from gains on sales from ! mortgage loans and servicing rights. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it originated six billion dollars of residential loans. It generates mortgage servicing business through the retention of servicing from its origination activities, acquisition of bulk mortgage servicing rights (MSR) and related servicing activities.

The Company�� mortgage servicing business includes collecting loan payments, remitting principal and interest payments to investors, managing escrow funds for the payment of mortgage-related expenses, such as taxes and insurance, responding to customer inquiries, counseling delinquent mortgagors, supervising foreclosures and liquidations of foreclosure properties and otherwise administering its mortgage loan servicing portfolio. It earns mortgage servicing fees and other ancillary fee-based income in connection with these activities. It services a portfolio by both product and investor, including agency and private pools of mortgages secured by properties throughout the United States. As of December 31, 2011, its mortgage servicing business, which services mortgage loans for itself and others, managed loan servicing administrative functions for loans with unpaid principal balance (UPB) of $54.8 billion.

The Company originates originate equipment leases nationwide through relationships with approximately 280 equipment vendors with networks of creditworthy borrowers and provide asset-backed loan facilities to other leasing companies. Its equipment leases and loans finance essential-use health care, office product, technology and other equipment. Its commercial financings range from approximately $25,000 to $1.0 million per transaction, with typical lease terms ranging from 36 to 60 months. Its commercial finance activities provide it with access to approximately 25,000 small business customers nationwide, which creates opportunities to cross-sell its deposit, lending and wealth management products. It focuses to offer warehouse loans, which are short-ter! m revolvi! ng facilities, primarily securitized by agency and government collateral. It provides financial advisory, planning, brokerage, trust and other wealth management services to its mass-affluent and high-net-worth customers through its registered broker dealer and recently-formed registered investment advisor subsidiaries.

Interest-Earning Asset Portfolio

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� interest-earning assets were $11.7 billion. As of December 31, 2011, its loan and lease held for investment portfolio was $6.5 billion. As of December 31, 2011, the carrying values of its interest-earning assets are: residential, government-insured (residential), securities, commercial and commercial real estate, Bank of Florida (covered), lease financing receivables, and other.

Residential includes primarily prime loans originated and retained from its mortgage banking activities, acquired from third parties or held for sale to other investors. government-insured (residential) includes Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) pool buyouts with government insurance, sourced from its mortgage banking segment and third-party sources. Securities include non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) purchased at significant discounts. This portfolio includes protection against credit losses from purchase discounts, subordination in the securities structures and borrower equity. Commercial and commercial real estate includes a range of commercial loans, including owner-occupied commercial real estate, commercial investment property and small business commercial loans. As of December 31, 2011, Bank of Florida (Covered) includes commercial, multi-family and commercial real estate loans with $71.3 million of purchase discounts. Lease financing receivables include covered lease financing receivables. As of December 31, 2011, the lease portfolio had $64.7 million of total discounts. Other includes home equity loans and lines ! of credit! , consumer and credit card loans and other investments.

Deposit Generation

As of December 31, 2011, the Company had approximately $10.3 billion in deposits. Its market-based deposit products, consisting of its WorldCurrency, MarketSafe and EverBank Metals Select products, provide investment capabilities for customers seeking portfolio diversification with respect to foreign currencies, commodities and other indices. Its financial portal includes online bill-pay, account aggregation, direct deposit, single sign-on for all customer accounts and other features. Its Website and mobile device applications provide information on its product offerings, financial tools and calculators, newsletters, financial reporting services and other applications for customers to interact with it and manages all of their EverBank accounts on a single integrated platform. Its new mobile applications allow customers using iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry devices to view account balances, conduct real time balance transfers between EverBank accounts, administer billpay, review account activity detail and remotely deposit checks.

The Company generates deposit customer relationships through its consumer direct, financial center and financial intermediary distribution channels. Its consumer direct channel includes Internet, e-mail, telephone and mobile device access to product and customer support offerings. Its direct distribution with a network of 14 financial centers in Florida metropolitan areas, include Jacksonville, Naples, Ft. Myers, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa Bay and Clearwater. As of December 31, 2011, its financial centers had average deposits of $130.5 million, which is approximately double the industry average. In addition, it generates noninterest-bearing escrow deposits from its mortgage servicing business.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Nicole Seghetti]

  3. Build your savings account
  Take this opportunity to bolster your savings such that you have at least three months' worth of living expenses socked away. Money market or savings accounts will provide you with the best rates. For example, American Express' (NYSE: AXP  ) high-yield savings account pays 0.85%, and Capital One Financial's (NYSE: COF  ) Capital One 360 offers a 0.75% APY. Both accounts boast no minimum balances and no fees. Meanwhile, EverBank Financial (NYSE: EVER  ) pays an attractive 1.01% money market rate but requires a $1,500 minimum opening balance. �

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015: Volcano Corporation(VOLC)

Volcano Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and commercializes intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and fractional flow reserve (FFR) products used in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular and structural heart disease. It offers multi-modality consoles, which are marketed as stand-alone units that can be integrated into hospital-based interventional surgical suites, such as catheterization laboratories. The company provides IVUS products, including single-procedure disposable phased array and rotational IVUS imaging catheters; and additional functionality options comprising virtual histology tissue characterization, and ChromaFlo stent apposition analysis. It also offers FFR products, such as pressure and flow consoles, and single-procedure disposable pressure and flow guide wires used to measure the pressure and flow characteristics of blood around plaque enabling physicians to gauge the plaque?s physiological impact on blood flow and pressure. In addition, the com pany develops and manufactures optical monitors for the telecommunication industry; laser and non-laser light sources; optical engines used in the medical OCT imaging systems and advanced photonic components; and sub-systems used in spectroscopy and other industrial applications. Its products under development include image-guided therapy device and micro and thrombectomy catheters. The company?s ongoing clinical studies comprise assessment of dual anti-platelet therapy with drug-eluting stents; vascular evaluation for revascularization; fractional flow reserve and intravascular ultrasound relationship study; adensonine vasodilation independent stenosis evaluation; and evaluation of XIENCE PRIME. It sells its products through direct sales force and distributors, as well as through third parties supply and distribution agreements primarily in the United States, Japan, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered i n San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Strategist Andrew Garthwaite and team explain why companies like Sprint (S),� American Water Works (AWK), Volcano (VOLC), Southern (SO) and Level 3 Communications�(LVLT) could get hit by the taper:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Instead of an eruption, Volcano (VOLC) got an earnings-induced collapse instead.

  Associated Press

  Medical-device maker Volcano said its third quarter profit would miss Wall Street forecasts, and 2013 sales would also disappoint. And 2014? Well, that didn’t look too exciting other.

  JPMOrgan analyst Christopher Pasquale and team have had enough:

  We are downgrading VOLC shares to Neutral from Overweight following the company�� negative 3Q preannouncement and disappointing initial 2014 growth outlook Monday after the close. While we continue to see significant long-term potential for Volcano�� technologies, we are concerned by persistent headwinds to its core IVUS franchise and slowing FFR growth. With our conviction in a pipeline-driven reacceleration reduced and visibility into meaningful new growth drivers unlikely for several quarters, we are moving to the sidelines.

  Canaccord Genuity’s Jason Mills and Jeffrey Chu also cut Volcano to Hold–just a quarter after upgrading it–and even today’s drop might not make it worth buying. They explain why:

  Our upgrade of VOLC last quarter was predicated on the improving trends in the core IVUS business, FFR continuing as a long-term growth engine, and the potential material gross margin expansion. While Q3 results included pockets of good news, adverse trends predominated.
  While US IVUS rebounded modestly, driven by peripheral IVUS (+40% Y/Y), IVUS and FM results in Japan were very disconcerting to us (-19%, +8%, respectively), and portend share loss, in our estimation. Also, while we still expect significant gross margin expansion long term, it seems we may have to wait longer than expected.

  In sum, we would not aggressively buy weakness unless the stock is over-penalized on these results – i.e. below $20.

  While shares of Volcano have dropped 15% to $20.74, large-cap medical device companies are having a solid day. Boston Scienti

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015: OM Group Inc.(OMG)

OM Group, Inc. develops, produces, and markets specialty chemicals, advanced materials, and electrochemical energy storage products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Advanced Materials, Specialty Chemicals, and Battery Technologies. The Advanced Materials segment manufactures inorganic products using unrefined cobalt and other metals and serves the battery materials, powder metallurgy, ceramics, and chemical end markets. It offers cobalt powders, precursors, chemicals, pigments and ceramics, and various raw materials. These products enhance the electrical conduction of rechargeable batteries, as well as strengthen and add durability to diamond and machine cutting tools and drilling equipment. The Specialty Chemicals segment offers electronic chemicals for the printed circuit board, memory disk, general metal finishing, electronic packaging and finishing, and photovoltaic markets. This segment also provides advanced organics comprising additives and driers for paints, and printing inks; rubber adhesion promoters for tires; composite and other catalysts for chemicals; and fuel oil additives, lubricants, and grease additives. In addition, it offers ultra pure chemicals used in the manufacture of electronic and computer components, such as semiconductors, wafers, and liquid crystal displays; and photo-imaging masks, including high-purity quartz or glass plates containing precision, microscopic images of integrated circuits; and reticles for the semiconductor, optoelectronics, and microelectronics industries under the Compugraphics brand name. The Battery Technologies segment provides battery products, primary and secondary batteries, battery management systems, battery chargers, and energetic devices for defense applications; primary and secondary batteries for satellites, aircraft, and the packaging of cells; and miniature batteries to power implantable medical devices. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Cle veland, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  There's no foolproof way to know the future for OM Group (NYSE: OMG  ) or any other company. However, certain clues may help you see potential stumbles before they happen -- and before your stock craters as a result.

• [By Rich Smith]

  KMG Chemicals (NYSE: KMG  ) is buying OM Group's (NYSE: OMG  ) Ultra Pure Chemicals subsidiaries in the U.S., U.K., Singapore, and perhaps in France as well.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Friday

  Earnings Expected From: Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), OM Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMG), Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) Economic Releases Expected: �US ISM manufacturing index, Canadian manufacturing PMI, British manufacturing PMI, Norwegian unemployment rate

  Posted-In: Bank Of England Federal ReserveNews Eurozone Commodities Previews Global Economics Federal Reserve After-Hours Center Markets Trading Ideas Best of Benzinga

• [By Canadian Value]

  Position % of Fund Assets 1) First American Financial Corp. (FAF) 7.0% 2) Apple, Inc. (AAPL) 6.5% 3) Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR) 4.8% 4) EMC Corp. (EMC) 4.4% 5) Coach, Inc. (COH) 4.4% 6) Kohl's Corp. (KSS) 4.1% 7) Blucora, Inc. (BCOR) 4.0% 8) Tetra Tech, Inc. (TTEK) 3.1% 9) OM Group, Inc. (OMG) 3.0% 10) American International Group, Inc. (AIG) 2.8% TOTAL 44.1% One area that we believe still offers some value in the market is in high quality, large��ap technology stocks that may be momentarily out��f��avor as they transition from rapid growth to slower growth. In particular, we become interested when that transition is also accompanied by a change in capital allocation policies designed to return more cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. We believe that Apple and EMC are two of the absolute highest quality technology businesses in the world and both have recently announced very material, shareholder��friendly changes to how they will allocate capital.

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015: Linear Technology Corporation(LLTC)

Linear Technology Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets a line of linear integrated circuits. The company's products include amplifiers, comparators, voltage regulators, voltage references, monolithic filters, linear regulators, DC-DC converters, power over Ethernet controllers, battery chargers, data converters, communications interface circuits, RF signal conditioning circuits, Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Damian Illia]

  Although the stock has done pretty well, investors can have another option of investing in the tech sector with Linear Technology Corporation (LLTC) because there is no other semiconductor company that can be able to match the company's profitability. Linear Technology offers thousands of analog products to original equipment manufacturers. The company麓s plan is to specialize in market segments that require high-performance analog with focus on industrial and automotive products. Customers base decisions on quality and Linear麓s chip are considered to be products that have long life and superior technology. This is considered in prices and makes attractive margins to the company.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Analog integrated circuits and products manufacturer Linear Technology (LLTC) raised its quarterly dividend 3.8% to 27 cents per share, payable Feb. 26 to shareholders of record Feb. 14. This marks the 22nd consecutive annual dividend increase for Linear.
  LLTC Dividend Yield: 2.33%

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015: Duke Energy Corp (DUK)

Duke Energy Corporation (Duke Energy) is an energy company. Duke Energy�� segments are U.S. Franchised Electric and Gas (USFE&G), Commercial Power and International Energy. The remainder of Duke Energy�� operations is presented as Other. Its regulated utility operations serve four million customers located in five states in the Southeast and Midwest United States. Its Commercial Power and International Energy business segments own and operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a portfolio of renewable energy assets in the United States. Duke Energy operates in the United States primarily through its direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC (Duke Energy Carolinas), Duke Energy Ohio, Inc. (Duke Energy Ohio), which includes Duke Energy Kentucky, Inc. (Duke Energy Kentucky), and Duke Energy Indiana, Inc. (Duke Energy Indiana), as well as in Latin America through Duke Energy International, LLC. In December 2012, the Company acquired a commercial solar power project located within the University of Arizona's (UA) Science and Technology Park. In August 2011, its Duke Energy Renewables purchased the Ajo Solar Project and Bagdad Solar Project from Recurrent Energy. Effective July 2, 2012, the Company merged with Progress Energy Inc. In July 2012, the Company acquired Chilean Campanario power plant. In December 2012, the Company's subsidiary acquired CGE Group's Iberoamericana de Energia Ibener S.A. (Ibener) subsidiary in Chile.

The remainder of Duke Energy�� operations is presented as Other. Other primarily includes Bison Insurance Company Limited (Bison), Duke Energy�� wholly owned, captive insurance subsidiary, contributions to the Duke Energy Foundation, Duke Energy�� effective 50% interest in DukeNet Communications, LLC (DukeNet) and related telecom businesses, and Duke Energy Trading and Marketing, LLC (DETM), which is 40%-owned by Exxon Mobil Corporation and 60%-owned by Duke. Bison�� principal activities! as a captive insurance entity include the indemnification of various business risks and losses, such as property, business interruption, workers��compensation and general liability of subsidiaries and affiliates of Duke Energy. DukeNet develops, owns and operates a fiber optic communications network, primarily in the southeast United States, serving wireless, local and long-distance communications companies, Internet service providers and other businesses and organizations.

U.S. Franchised Electric and Gas

USFE&G generates, transmits, distributes and sells electricity in central and western North Carolina, western South Carolina, central, north central and southern Indiana, and northern Kentucky. USFE&G also transmits, distributes and sells electricity in southwestern Ohio. Additionally, USFE&G transports and sells natural gas in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. It conducts operations primarily through Duke Energy Carolinas, the regulated transmission and distribution operations of Duke Energy Ohio, including Duke Energy Kentucky, and Duke Energy Indiana (Duke Energy Ohio, Duke Energy Indiana and Duke Energy Kentucky collectively referred to as Duke Energy Midwest). Its service area covers 50,000 square miles. USFE&G supplies electric service to four million residential, general service and industrial customers. USFE&G provides regulated transmission and distribution services for natural gas to 500,000 customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. Electricity is also sold wholesale to incorporated municipalities, electric cooperative utilities and other load serving entities.

Electric energy for USFE&G�� customers is generated by three nuclear generating stations with a combined owned capacity of 5,173 megawatts, including Duke Energy�� 19.25% interest in the Catawba Nuclear Station; 14 coal-fired stations with an overall combined owned capacity of 12,977 megawatts, including Duke Energy�� 69% interest in the East Bend Steam Station, and 5! 0.05% int! erest in Unit 5 of the Gibson Steam Station; 31 hydroelectric stations (including two pumped-storage facilities) with a combined owned capacity of 3,321 megawatts, 15 combustion turbine (CT) stations burning natural gas, oil or other fuels with an overall combined owned capacity of 5,012 megawatts, and two Combined Cycle (CC) stations burning natural gas with an owned capacity of 905 megawatts. In addition, USFE&G operates a solar Distributed Generation program with nine megawatts of capacity.

Commercial Power

Commercial Power owns, operates and manages power plants and engages in the wholesale marketing and procurement of electric power, fuel and emission allowances related to these plants, as well as other contractual positions. Commercial Power�� generation operations, excluding renewable energy generation assets, consist primarily of coal-fired and gas-fired non-regulated generation assets, which are dispatched into wholesale markets. These assets are comprised of 7,550 net megawatts of power generation primarily located in the Midwestern United States. The asset portfolio has a diversified fuel mix with base-load and mid-merit coal-fired units, as well as combined cycle and peaking natural gas-fired units. Commercial Power also has a retail sales subsidiary, Duke Energy Retail Sales, LLC (Duke Energy Retail).

Duke Energy Retail serves retail electric customers in southwest, west central and northern Ohio with energy and other energy services. Through Duke Energy Generation Services, Inc. (DEGS), Commercial Power engages in the development, construction and operation of renewable energy projects. In addition, DEGS develops commercial transmission projects. DEGS also owns and operates electric generation for energy consumers, municipalities, utilities and industrial facilities. DEGS managed approximately 3,700 megawatts of power generation at various sites throughout the United States during the year ended December 31, 2011.

International Energy

! International Energy principally operates and manages power generation facilities and engages in sales and marketing of electric power, natural gas, and natural gas liquids outside the United States. It conducts operations through Duke Energy International, LLC (DEI) and its affiliates and its activities principally target power generation in Latin America. Additionally, International Energy owns a 25% interest in National Methanol Company (NMC), a producer of methanol and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) located in Saudi Arabia. International Energy has a 25% interest in Attiki Gas Supply S.A. (Attiki), a natural gas distributor located in Athens, Greece. International Energy�� customers include retail distributors, electric utilities, independent power producers, marketers and industrial/commercial companies. International Energy owns, operates or has interests in approximately 4,600 gross megawatts of generation facilities.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  For once, it seems, the United States is not to blame. Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK  ) is well on its way to shutting down 6,800 MW of inefficient plants as part of a $12.5 billion modernization project, while Southern Company (NYSE: SO  ) recently celebrated the first time in its history that the company has generated more electricity from gas than coal. In the next two years, Southern has slotted $3.6 billion toward "environmental spending," a large portion of which will be allocated to "clean coal" generation facilities.

Top Oil Service Companies To Own For 2015: Pepsico Inc.(PEP)

PepsiCo, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of foods, snacks, and carbonated and non-carbonated beverages worldwide. The company operates in four divisions: PepsiCo Americas Foods (PAF); PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB); PepsiCo Europe; and PepsiCo Asia, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA). The PAF division offers Lay?s and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips and dips, Cheetos cheese flavored snacks, Fritos corn chips, Quaker Chewy granola bars, and SunChips multigrain snacks in North America; Quaker oatmeal, Aunt Jemima mixes and syrups, Cap?n Crunch cereal, Quaker grits, and Life cereal, as well as Rice-A-Roni, Pasta Roni, and Near East side dishes in North America; and various snack foods under Doritos, Marias Gamesa, Cheetos, Ruffles, Emperador, Saladitas, Sabritas, and Lay?s brands in Latin America. The PAB division provides carbonated soft drinks, beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods under Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, 7UP, Tropicana Pure Premium, Electropura, Sierra Mist, Epura, and Mirinda brands; ready-to-drink tea, coffee, and water products through joint ventures with Unilever and Starbucks; and sells concentrate to authorized bottlers, and branded finished goods directly to independent distributors and retailers. This division also manufactures third-party brands, such as Dr Pepper, Crush, Rock Star, and Muscle Milk. The PepsiCo Europe division offers Frito Lay Snacks, Pepsi-Cola beverages, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana juices, and Quaker foods in Europe. The AMEA division provides snack food under the Lay?s, Kurkure, Chipsy, Doritos, Smith?s, Cheetos, Red Rock Deli, and Ruffles brands; Quaker-brand cereals and snacks; and beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods under the Pepsi, Mirinda, 7UP, and Mountain Dew brands. PepsiCo, Inc. was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  Pepsi has been a steady winner for decades. This trend is likely to continue. Even if the stock gets slammed, it should present an opportunity to buy more at discounted prices. The generous yield would also help ease the pain a little.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Foreign currency translation isn't the only concern. Competition among snack-food companies is increasing by leaps and bounds outside the United States ��so much so that activist investor Nelson Peltz, the head of Trian Fund Management, suggested that PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP  ) purchase Mondelez and spin off its beverage operations. The idea would make a lot of sense given the increased levels of competition between the two companies, but PepsiCo doesn't appear keen on the idea.�