Saturday, November 12, 2011

An undervalued powerhouse at an all-time high? Buy.

Should You Buy the DowToday, we’re looking at Dow Jones Industrial Average component IBM (NYSE:IBM). As I’ve said before, I am not Mr. Tech Guy. In the old days, when IBM was just a computer company, it was easier to evaluate. Today, however, IBM isn’t my father’s IBM.

I mean that literally. My dad used to work there, and he doesn��t recognize it, either. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure, business process and support services. Its Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software of every kind and variety. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions. Its Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients.

Quite frankly, even those few sentences oversimplify all that IBM does.

What I do know is that IBM has to deal with the economy and competition. And the competition is fierce. Off the top of my head, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), Accenture (NYSE:ACN) and Dell Computer (NASDAQ:DELL) are just some of the other players. Pressure much? Add in the fact that many of IBM’s services can be expensive, and in tough economic times, revenue may suffer.

On the other hand, IBM is a global brand, so the company boasts economic and geographic diversification. Mind you, IBM also has to constantly innovate to keep up with the competition, and that can be expensive.

IBM, like most other Dow components, sits on hoards of cash — $13 billion of it, against only $19 billion in debt. Trailing 1! 2-month free cash flow was $9.2 billion. Wow! Think about just how much money that is. Nine billion dollars left over after all the big expenses and taxes and everything else. That’s almost 12 times what it needs to pay its 2.1% dividend. But take note: That dividend isn’t what you’d expect from IBM. I should think it would be higher, but the company needs that excess cash to keep innovating.

Stock analysts looking out five years on IBM see annualized earnings growth at a modest 7.5%. At a stock price of $23, on FY 2011 earnings of $4.87, the stock presently trades at a P/E of only 4.7. Only HP has a 5 P/E. Dell’s is 7.

Conclusion

Slapping a 12 P/E on projected 2015 earnings of $21.41, including reinvested dividends, gets us a price target of $256, or a 40% return from here. Again cautioning readers that tech is not my area of expertise, on a numbers basis, IBM looks undervalued with its meager P/E ratio and great free cash flow. I’m not crazy about IBM for retirement accounts because its dividend is low, but its track record of things like return on equity (22%) is so high, the stock has done extremely well over the long term — in fact, it recently reached an all-time high.

  • I believe IBM is a buy for regular accounts.
  • I believe IBM is a buy for retirement accounts.

As of this writing, Lawrence Meyers did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.

Tags: 2012 China Stocks ,AA ,AGU ,CMP ,Growth China Stocks ,Growth Stocks To Invest In ,IP ,MOS ,POT ,SQM ,Fund Highlight - Top Basic Material Stock Holding Changes

Large Cap Stocks Scoring 52-Week Highs as Tech Lifts S&P 6% This Week

Wall St. Watchdog reveals information about 10 stocks that hit 52-week highs in today��s trading. Note that this list excludes all stocks with a market capitalization less than $10 billion:

  1. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM): Up 1.99% to $190.53. International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) provides computer solutions through the use of advanced information technology. The Company’s solutions include technologies, systems, products, services, software, and financing. IBM offers its products through its global sales and distribution organization, as well as through a variety of third party distributors and resellers.
  2. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN): Up 4.47% to $246.71. Amazon.com, Inc. is an online retailer that offers a wide range of products. The Company’s products include books, music, videotapes, computers, electronics, home and garden, and numerous other products. Amazon offers personalized shopping services, Web-based credit card payment, and direct shipping to customers.
  3. Unilever NV (NYSE:UN): Up 2.86% to $34.15. Unilever NV manufactures branded and packaged consumer goods, including food, detergents, fragrances, home and personal care products.
  4. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NYSE:NTT): Up 1% to $25.28. NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION (NYSE:NTT) provides a variety of telecommunication services, including telephone, telegraph, leased circuits, data communication, terminal equipment sales, and related services. The Company provides both local and long distance telephone services within Japan.
  5. Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX): Up 2.75% to $42.22. Starbucks Corporation retails, roasts, and provides its own brand of specialty coffee. The Company operates retail locations worldwide and sells whole bean coffees through its sales group, direct response business, supermarkets, and on the World Wide Web. Starbucks also pro! duces an d sells bottled coffee drinks and a line of ice creams.
  6. Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG): Down 0.09% to $66.30. Celgene Corporation is a global biopharmaceutical company. The Company focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapies designed to treat cancer and immune-inflammatory related diseases.
  7. Allergan Inc. (NYSE:AGN): Up 2.27% to $86.21. Allergan, Inc. is a multi-specialty health care company that discovers, develops and commercializes pharmaceuticals, biologics and medical devices. The Company develops products for the ophthalmic, neurological, medical aesthetics, medical dermatology, breast aesthetics, obesity intervention, urological and other specialty markets in countries around the world.
  8. Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY): Up 2.31% to $61.17. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. operates a nationwide chain of retail stores. The Company, through its retail stores, sells a wide assortment of merchandise principally including domestics merchandise and home furnishings as well as food, giftware, health and beauty care items and infant and toddler merchandise.
  9. Chemical & Mining Co. of Chile Inc. (NYSE:SQM): Up 3.15% to $54.76. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA produces and markets specialty fertilizers including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, and potassium sulfate for the agricultural industry. The Company also produces industrial chemicals, iodine and lithium. SQM markets its products in over 100 countries.
  10. Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MMI): Up 1.47% to $38.72. Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. provides advanced mobile media solutions and multi-screen technologies. The Company develops products that include consumer mobile phones, business-ready smartphones accessories, cordless phones, and home networking products.

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RIM: PlayBook Price Cuts To Spread, Says Wells

Research in Motion (RIMM) has embarked on price cuts for its “PlayBook” tablet computer, writes Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche this morning, reiterating a Market Perform rating on the company’s stock.?

Fritzsche note that the company a week ago cut the price for the device by $100 across all three models in Canada. And some retailers began cutting via bundling “gift cards” with purchase. RIM had indicated in its fiscal Q2 report this month it would use “promotions” to boost PlayBook sales.?

“We expect this to be the first round of cuts we see for the device and would expect it to move beyond Canada,” writes?Fritzsche.??

“As RIM previewed on its call, these additional promotional moves will weigh on near term gross margin trends. We also believe RIM’s price cuts need to come quickly before newer more competitive tablet offerings come to market.”

RIM’s shares this morning are up 20 cents, or 1%, at $21.52.

Update: TechCrunch’s Chris Valezco offers a rundown of the gift card offers in the U.S. at retailers Office Depot and Staples. He notes that in some cases, the?16-gigabyte version of the?tablet can be had for as little as $249 versus the list price of $499.?

Tags: 2012 Cheap Stocks ,Best Stocks For 2012 ,Best Stocks To Invest In ,Best Stocks To Own 2012 ,IPO ,Tech Stocks ,Data security is here to stay

Has Teva Pharmaceutical Become the Perfect Stock?

Every investor would love to stumble upon the perfect stock. But will you ever really find a stock that provides everything you could possibly want?

One thing's for sure: You'll never discover truly great investments unless you actively look for them. Let's discuss the ideal qualities of a perfect stock, then decide if Teva Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq: TEVA  ) fits the bill.

The quest for perfection
Stocks that look great based on one factor may prove horrible elsewhere, making due diligence a crucial part of your investing research. The best stocks excel in many different areas, including these important factors:

  • Growth. Expanding businesses show healthy revenue growth. While past growth is no guarantee that revenue will keep rising, it's certainly a better sign than a stagnant top line.
  • Margins. Higher sales mean nothing if a company can't produce profits from them. Strong margins ensure that company can turn revenue into profit.
  • Balance sheet. At debt-laden companies, banks and bondholders compete with shareholders for management's attention. Companies with strong balance sheets don't have to worry about the distraction of debt.
  • Money-making opportunities. Return on equity helps measure how well a company is finding opportunities to turn its resources into profitable business endeavors.
  • Valuation. You can't afford to pay too much for even the best companies. By using normalized figures, you can see how a stock's simple earnings multiple fits into a longer-term context.
  • Dividends. For tangible proof of profits, a check to shareholders every three months can't be beat. Companies with solid dividends and strong commitments to increasing payouts treat shareholders well.

With those factors in mind, let's take a closer look at Teva Pharmac! eutical.

Factor

What We Want to See

Actual

Pass or Fail?

Growth 5-Year Annual Revenue Growth > 15% 20.9% Pass
? 1-Year Revenue Growth > 12% 14.6% Pass
Margins Gross Margin > 35% 55.6% Pass
? Net Margin > 15% 18.6% Pass
Balance Sheet Debt to Equity < 50% 26.9% Pass
? Current Ratio > 1.3 1.25 Fail
Opportunities Return on Equity > 15% 14.7% Fail
Valuation Normalized P/E < 20 12.63 Pass
Dividends Current Yield > 2% 2.6% Pass
? 5-Year Dividend Growth > 10% 24.9% Pass
? ? ? ?
? Total Score ? 8 out of 10

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Total score = number of passes.

When we looked at Teva Pharmaceutical last year, it only managed seven points. A drop in valuation and a dividend boost helped give it extra points in those categories, but the company lost a point in seeing its current ratio fall slightly.

Teva has made a name for itself in producing generic drugs. With its huge size, Teva can outmuscle small! er compe titors like Mylan (Nasdaq: MYL  ) and Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI  ) through economies of scale in production. Given Teva's favorable margins and returns on equity over those competitors, it's clear that size produces a competitive advantage.

But by itself, the generics market is essentially a race to the bottom over the long run. That's one reason why Teva has tried to diversify more into branded drugs. Its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone has produced good results for years. To get a bigger pipeline, Teva managed to outbid Valeant Pharmaceutical (NYSE: VRX  ) to buy out Cephalon (Nasdaq: CEPH  ) , a specialty pharmaceutical company.

One interesting trend about Teva is watching where its growth is coming from. Back in July, the company announced an 82% increase in European sales but saw North American generic sales drop 40%. By contrast, Mylan saw a big increase in North American sales.

If Teva continues its current course toward broadening its scope, then spending on acquisitions could well pose a threat to its now-healthy balance sheet. But the corresponding growth could more than offset that downside. Teva still looks poised to stay near perfection for the indefinite future.

Keep searching
No stock is a sure thing, but some stocks are a lot closer to perfect than others. By looking for the perfect stock, you'll go a long way toward improving your investing prowess and learning how to separate out the best investments from the rest.

Finding the perfect stock is only one piece of a successful investment strategy. Get the big picture by taking a look at our 13 Steps to Investing Foolishly.

Tags: 2012 Penny Stocks ,Best Stocks To Hold 2012 ,Best Stocks To Invest In ,BP ,CVX ,EWA ,UNG ,XLE ,XOP ,Oil Giants Race for Liquid Natural Gas Projects

Hot Topic Inc. Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

Hot Topic, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOTT) will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, November 16, 2011. Hot Topic is a mall- and web-based specialty retailer.

Hot Topic, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of 7 cents per share, a rise of 40% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 8 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It has since dropped over the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net income of 17 cents per share, a swing from a loss of one cent last year.

Past Earnings Performance: For the past four quarters, the company has met expecations. Last quarter, the company reported net loss of 8 cents per share to fall in step with the mean estimate.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $179.2 million in revenue this quarter, a decline of 2.2% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $698 million for the year, a decline of 1.5% from last year’s revenue of $708.2 million.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts seem relatively indifferent about Hot Topic with five of seven analysts surveyed maintaining a hold rating.

A Look Back: In the second quarter, the company’s loss narrowed to a loss of $6.2 million (14 cents a share) from a loss of $6.3 million (14 cents) a year earlier, meeting analyst expectations. Revenue rose 0.6% to $150.9 million from $150 million.

Key Stats:

A year-over-year revenue increase in the second quarter snapped a streak of three consecutive quarters of revenue declines. Revenue fell 0.8% in the first quarter, 0.9% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year and 3.3% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year.

Competitors to Watc! h: Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN), Mecox Lane Limited ADR (NASDAQ:MCOX), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), dELiA*s, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLIA), American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO), Aeropostale, Inc. (NYSE:ARO), The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE), Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSUN), and The Wet Seal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSLA).

Stock Price Performance: During September 15, 2011 to November 10, 2011, the stock price had fallen $1.47 (-17.8%) from $8.24 to $6.77. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between March 18, 2011 and March 28, 2011 when shares rose for seven-straight days, rising 16.3% (+81 cents) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between May 31, 2011 and June 8, 2011 when shares fell for seven-straight days, falling 9.5% (-73 cents) over that span. Shares are up 73 cents (+12.1%) year to date.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

 

Tags: 2012 Rising Stocks ,CREE ,EMC ,MU ,RIMM ,SGI ,SNDK ,Top Performing Stocks of 2012 ,Top Performing Stocks To Watch 2012 ,RIMM, MU, EMC Among Sterne Agee’s Beat-Up Gems

S&P’s French Flub Fuels Backlash Against Ratings Agencies

Standard & Poor’s accidentally sent out an e-mail message to clients saying that it was downgrading France’s prized “AAA” credit rating, a mistake that had both Germany and the European Union issuing their own warnings today underscoring concern over how much power ratings agencies have come to wield over governments.

The error went uncorrected for an hour and a half on Thursday, spooking investors who had been focused on Italy and Greece, not suspecting the crisis had yet spread to the euro zone’s second-largest economy. Most European markets were still open at the time of the false announcement, and U.S. financial markets were just beginning the day.

Standard & Poor’s ultimately issued a statement saying the original message had gone out to some subscribers because of a technical error, reaffirming that France’s credit rating remained “AAA” — the agency’s highest level — and had a “stable” outlook. However, the incident reminded investors of France’s financial ties to the the troubled sovereigns, and foreshadowed what could come if Italy is unable to stem the spread of the contagion.

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin called the error a “rather shocking rumor of information that has no foundation,” and immediately called for an investigation into how the mistake was made, a call immediately taken up by French regulator AMF, which has already launched its own investigation and has contacted the European Securities and Markets Authority.

The event is likely to increase already palpable European hostility toward the big three ratings agencies, all of which have roots in the U.S., though Fitch is partially owned by a French company.

European internal markets commissioner Michel Bernier has been working on new regulations for the agencies, and said Europe should reduce its reliance on the agencies and increase competition, possibly by creating a new European age! ncy. Yes terday’s incident will likely only fuel his efforts.

“This incident is serious and it shows that in the current tense and volatile market situation, market players must exercise discipline and demonstrate a special sense of responsibility,” Barnier said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman issued a similar warning today in Berlin. “We say only this, and we have said it repeatedly in the past: All financial market actors, and that includes rating agencies, must be aware of their responsibility to society,” Steffen Seibert said.

Tags: DF ,DNKN ,GLD ,GMCR ,JVA ,KFT ,MCD ,PEET ,RJI ,SBUX ,SJM ,SLE ,WEN ,YUM ,Will Inflation Hurt These 3 Food Companies Earnings?

Friday, November 11, 2011

Efforts to preserve the lucrative franchise spark an antitrust suit

California pharmacies have called a foul on Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), alleging the world��s largest drugmaker has gone too far in an all-out assault to preserve its valuable Lipitor franchise. The cholesterol-lowering treatment, the biggest-selling medicine in the world, loses its patent protection Nov. 30.

Earlier this week, drug dispensers from California sued Pfizer and Ranbaxy Laboratories, the Indian company that has exclusive rights to sell a copycat version of the drug. In an antitrust complaint, the pharmacies contend the two companies put together a patent settlement that kept generic Lipitor off the market in the U.S. in exchange for an earlier launch of copies in foreign markets.

Although Pfizer dismissed the suit as having no merit, it’s clear the drug giant is pulling out all the stops in an effort to keep the Lipitor money train rolling for as long as possible. And the company seems to be doing a pretty good job at it.

In reporting third-quarter results on Nov. 1, Pifzer said sales of Lipitor rose 3% to $2.6 billion during the three-month period. A sales gain of 13% U.S. offset declines in other countries where the drug already faces generic competition. Pfizer is trading just under $20, not far from its one-year high of $21.45.

“We’re going to do our best to enable the maximum number of individuals to stay on the brand they’ve come to know and trust,” Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Read said in an interview, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Toward that end, last year Pfizer started offering cards to patients that lower insurance co-pays to $4 a month for a Lipitor prescription. The company will continue offering the co-pay cards after Nov. 30. Also, Pfizer has started a “Lipitor for You” program, which includes the $4 co-pay card, the option to receive direct delivery of the prescription and periodic emails with health information and remind! ers to r efill Lipitor prescriptions. The program, which is also available to patients without insurance, will last through December 2012, according to a Pfizer website.

Pfizer also has negotiated deals with drug-benefit plans so the plans aren’t “disadvantaged” by continuing to pay for branded Lipitor, compared with reimbursing for generic versions, said CEO Read.

Some industry observers have found Pfizer��s tactics questionable. They think the company is undercutting efforts to control health care costs, contending that the rising use of co-pay cards has forced drug-benefit plans to reimburse for brand-name drugs instead of cheaper generic copies.

But competition is inevitable. An authorized generic version of Lipitor from Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:WPI) and a competing generic from Ranbaxy are expected to be first to market. A host of generic manufacturers is expected to enter the fray in the following six months, pushing down generic prices further and cutting deeper into Pfizer��s sales of branded Lipitor.

To help ease the losses, Pfizer has an over-the-counter version of Lipitor on its wish list. The company has been talking with the FDA about an OTC version, but it appears the earliest such a product could hit the market is after 2012, and even then it��s far from a slam dunk. On several occasions the FDA rejected attempts by Merck (NYSE:MRK) to sell an OTC version of its cholesterol drug Mevacor because of concerns about patients’ ability to make the right decision about whether to use such a product.

As of this writing, Barry Cohen is long PFE and MRK.

Tags: 2012 Industrials Stocks ,877 ,914 ,Good Stocks To Buy 2012 ,Good Stocks To Invest In 2012 ,STEC ,STEC Drops 15% - Q3 Beats, Q4 View Falls Short

Apple's Tim Cook Just Had A Defining Moment

Apple would have been much better off had it merely released the new iPods and iPhone without any sort of media event. You don’t invite the global press to an event to show off iPods and an iPhone that look exactly like their predecessors. Apple certainly underwhelmed the market in the short run. Wall Street wanted Apple to call this new phone the iPhone 5, but CEO Tim Cook obviously wasn’t ready to make the necessary hardware and design changes.

Take a step back from the short run and everything will be fine. The good news is that the iPhone 3GS will be offered for free, the iPhone 4 will be available for $99 and Apple will sell over 30 million iPhones in the holiday quarter. These iPhone release events have turned into one-day nightmares for shareholders, but the good news is the nightmare doesn’t last. In fact, it looks like capitulation already took place, and Apple will experience a seasonal rally.

Beyond the hardware and software upgrades, I believe a defining moment took place during Tim Cook's introductory speech. You could sense his excitement and enthusiasm as he showed the slides revealing 23% market share for the Mac and 5% market share for the iPhone. The room for Apple growth remains exponential on the global stage.

The reason this moment sticks out to me is because it captured the essence of Tim’s purpose at Apple. He is the operations guy. His legacy will be defined by his ability to take what Steve Jobs built and catapult these Apple products into the realm of critical mass. From this perspective, Tim Cook is the perfect choice to be the CEO of Apple.

The days of glitz and glamor at iPhone events might be few and far between, but the era of market share gains is still in its infancy. The era of Chinese growth has just begun. The global movement towards smart phones and tablets is a generational revolution, and Tim Cook has Apple perfectly positioned to reap the ben! efits. Tim remarked that he had watched the presentation video of the Chinese retail store openings 100 times, and he could watch it 100 times more. This guy has his eye focused on what matters most.

Disclosure: I am long AAPL.

Tags: AGI ,BYI ,GMTC ,GPIC ,IGT ,MGAM ,NTEK ,PTEKD ,SGMS ,SHFL ,SPY ,WMS ,International Game Technology Earnings Cheat Sheet - Revenue Grows After Four Straight Declines, Net Income Rises

9 Sizzling Stocks Reach 52-Week Highs as DJIA Climbs 146 Points

Wall St. Watchdog reveals information about 9 stocks that hit 52-week highs in today��s trading. Note that this list excludes all stocks with a market capitalization less than $10 billion:

  1. Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE:D): Up 0.3% to $50.93. Dominion Resources, Inc., a diversified utility holding company, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. The Company produces, transports, distributes, and markets natural gas to customers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.
  2. Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB): Up 0.54% to $71.18. Kimberly-Clark Corporation is a global health and hygiene company that manufactures and provides consumer products. The Company’s products include diapers, tissues, paper towels, incontinence care products, surgical gowns, and disposable face masks. Kimberly-Clark’s products are sold in countries around the world.
  3. Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK): Down 0.2% to $19.90. Duke Energy Corporation is an energy company located primarily in the Americas that owns an integrated network of energy assets. The Company manages a portfolio of natural gas and electric supply, delivery, and trading businesses in the United States and Latin America.
  4. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS): Down 0.08% to $39.45. General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded and packaged consumer foods worldwide. The Company also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries.
  5. Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE:PGN): Down 0.33% to $51.67. Progress Energy, Inc. is an integrated electric utility that provides energy and energy-related products and services in the Southeast United States. The Company serves electric and gas customers in the Carolinas and in Florida.
  6. V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC): Up 2.3% to $130.26. VF Corporatio! n is an international apparel company. The Company owns a broad portfolio of brands in the jeanswear, outerwear, packs, footwear, sportswear and occupational apparel categories. VF Corp’s products are marketed to consumers shopping in specialty stores, upscale and traditional department stores, national chains and mass merchants.
  7. Hershey Co. (NYSE:HSY): Down 0.05% to $59.97. The Hershey Company manufactures chocolate and sugar confectionery products. The Company’s principal products include confectionery and snack products; gum and mint refreshment products; and food and beverage enhancers such as baking ingredients, toppings and beverages.
  8. Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LTD): Down 2.01% to $41.42. Limited Brands, Inc. owns and operates specialty stores throughout the United States. The Company, through its retail stores, offer a wide range of products, including women’s apparel, women’s lingerie, beauty products and accessories, personal care, and home fragrance products. The Company’s stores also offer products via the Internet.
  9. Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN): Up 2.22% to $72.88. Cerner Corporation is a worldwide supplier of healthcare solutions and services. The Company’s Solutions are designed to optimize clinical and financial outcomes for healthcare organizations ranging from single-doctor practices, to health systems, to entire countries, for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and for the healthcare commerce system.

Tags: 2012 Growth Stocks ,ATVI  ,Growth Chinese Stocks ,Growth Stocks To Hold ,Growth Stocks To Invest In ,Activision Shares Up on Third-Quarter Beat

Get Paid To Play Gold

With money markets and Treasuries yielding next to nothing these days, investors are finding income in new places. One area those investors should consider is gold mining. With gold rising in value, mining companies are reaping record profit margins, yet the stock prices are depressed due to lack of investor interest. A solution for both gold companies and investors may be dividends, specifically gold-linked dividends.

Several top-tier gold producers that are benefiting from higher gold prices have begun to share a portion of their profits with shareholders via a dividend payout. Thirteen of the world's largest gold producers are expected to pay nearly $2 billion in dividends this year, according to MineFund, making it the largest payment in gold stock history. The Financial Post also reported that miners' dividend payments are up 75 percent on a year-over-year basis, compared to a 26 percent increase in 2010.

Yamana Gold is just one of several large producing miners to report increased revenues, expanding cash flows and record adjusted earnings. Because of the company's strong balance sheet, Yamana increased its dividend for the second time this year to $0.20 per share annually. When discussing the enhanced payouts, CEO Peter Marrone cited that the company "continued to focus on delivering growth across all measures, enhancing shareholder value and generating significant cash flow in the third quarter."

The latest payout represents a 67 percent increase over the past 12 months and the second increase this year.

Yamana has implemented a gold-linked dividend, which means that the amount of the dividend the shareholder receives will be linked to the average price of gold. As the yellow metal trades higher, the company would increase dividends paid out to its investors. Conversely, if gold falls in value, dividend payouts would decrease.

Eldorado Gold has also co! me out w ith a similar dividend policy, linking dividends to the price of gold. As shown in the chart below, Eldorado Gold anticipates its next dividend payout will be 67 percent higher than the previous quarter.

Barrick Gold also announced a third quarter dividend increase during its earnings release. Over the past five years, the company has increased its dividend by more than 170 percent on a quarterly basis. The company's latest dividend��$0.15 per share�� represents a 25 percent increase from the prior quarter.

Barrick estimates its third quarter gold cash margins have increased by 55 percent on a year-over-year basis, driven by the company's leverage to higher gold prices. The company says it will continue to offer its shareholders a rising income stream while also expanding operations in Pueblo Viejo, Pascua-Lama and Nevada.

While the share prices of these miners have been punished in 2011, increasing dividends allow investors to get "paid to wait" for the market to turn around. The dividends are a cash incentive for investors to hold shares of the company and allow them to participate in rising earnings. We like that idea.

We believe gold equities will eventually be rewarded by the market and rise with higher gold prices. In the meantime, investors of gold miners may benefit from income linked with rising gold.

Read: Which Gold Miners Have the Largest Upside?

All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor.

By clicking the links above, you will be directed to third-party websites. U.S. Global Investors does not endorse all information supplied by these websites and is not responsible for their content.

The following securities mentioned in the article were held by one or more of U.S. Global Investors Fund as of 09/30/11: AngloGold Ashanti, Agnico-Eagle Mines, Barrick Gold, Eldorado Gold, Franco-Nevada, Goldcorp, Gold Fields, ! Harmony Gold Mining, IAMGOLD, Kinross Gold, Newmont Mining, Randgold, Royal Gold, and Yamana Gold.

{$end}

Tags: AMZN ,Apple ,BKS ,NFLX ,P ,Tablet Computers ,Tech Stocks ,TWX ,But the big question is - Is it worth it?

3 Stocks Near 52-Week Highs Worth Selling

Prior to Italy's giving the market quite a scare yesterday, close to 500 companies were sitting within 5% of a new 52-week high. For optimists, these rallies may seem like a dream come true. For skeptics like me, they're opportunities to see whether companies trading near 52-week highs have actually earned their current valuations.

Keep in mind that some companies deserve their lofty valuations. Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU  ) and the entire railroad sector are absolutely on fire right now, and deservedly so. The company reported a 58% pop in profits last quarter due to a 7% jump in shipping volume and more favorable pricing.

Still, other companies might deserve a kick in the pants. Here's a look at three companies that could be worth selling.

Don't count those chickens just yet
Biotech investors have a nasty habit of counting their chickens before they're hatched and it's been known to get investors in trouble. Just this week, Targacept imploded on news that its stage 3 experimental depression drug failed to meet efficacy goals. This is why shareholders of Medivation (Nasdaq: MDVN  ) should exercise serious caution.

I'm not saying that the reported five-month benefit of MDV3100, Medivation's stage 3 prostate cancer candidate, should be overlooked, because I want cures for these terrible diseases just like everyone else. But looking at this objectively, the company is being valued as if the approval has already been issued. The prostate cancer arena is riddled with competition, from Dendreon's (Nasdaq: DNDN  ) pricey Provenge to Exelixis' (Nasdaq: EXEL  ) drug candidate, cabozantinib. Without the FDA's stamp of approval, Medivation is just another biotech burning through both cash and investors' patience.

Micro-boo
As a beer aficionado, I can appreciate Boston Beer's (NYSE: SAM  ) attempt to move away from conventional mass produced beer into something that I would happily share with my friends. Unfortunately, one of the things I wouldn't remotely consider sharing with them right now is Boston Beer's stock, which seems to be, pun fully intended, a bit frothy.

Although most of the conventional brewers have struggled with high unemployment rates, Boston Beer has managed to thus far buck that trend. But there's only so much carbonation you can fit in this bottle. Valued precariously at 24 times forward earnings, 7 times book value, and not currently paying a dividend, unlike many of its peers, there are simply too many risks built into its stock at these levels. As long as unemployment rates remain high, buying this stock near $100 is like playing with fire.

Still inside the hen
So, you remember that talk I had about counting your chickens before they're hatched? Well, betting on Inhibitex (Nasdaq: INHX  ) is like betting on the chicken inside the egg before its even been laid by the hen!

Earlier this week, shares of Inhibitex soared following positive data on the company's phase 2 clinical trial for INX-189, an experimental oral treatment for hepatitis C. Much like Medivation, shares are being priced as if this drug has been approved and is marching to the assembly line, when in actuality, it's still a long way from being approved by the FDA. For starters, the competition in this sector is fierce between Pharmasset, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX  ) , and Merck. Secondly, it will only take two, perhaps three years, for Inhibitex to burn through its remaining $52.7 million in cash. The trading action in Inhibitex has speculation written all over ! it, and I'd advise keeping a safe distance.

Foolish roundup
This week it's all about showing me the results. With competitors lining up in droves for a piece of the pie, I'm going to need to see concrete results from these companies before I give them two thumbs up at their current valuations.

What do you think: Are these three stocks sells or belles? Share your thoughts in the comments section below and consider adding Medivation, Boston Beer, and Inhibitex to your free and personalized watchlist to keep up on the latest news with each company.

Tags: BAC ,Top Healthcare Stocks To Watch ,Top Stocks 2012 ,Top Stocks To Invest In 2012 ,Top Stocks To Watch ,Bank of America Looks to Turn Repeat Capital Trick

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Tags: BAC ,BCS ,Best Oil Stocks ,Best Stocks To Watch For 2012 ,CME ,GS ,JEF ,JPM ,KBE ,MF ,MS ,Oil Stocks ,XLF ,Dr. Doom and Krugman See Bank Runs in the Future

NVIDIA Corporation(Nasdaq: NVDA ): Q3 2012 Earnings Preview

NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA ) is expected to report its earnings on Nov 10, 2011.

In September, the company issued a strong revenue outlook for full year 2013, which is expected to come in ahead of current Street estimates. However, the company's inventory could be building up due to a weaker-than-expected markets for non-Apple smartphones and tablets. The company's sales also could be hurt by Intel's increasing market share, thanks to strong demand for its Sandy Bridge processors. However, the company's sales could benefit from expanding PC gaming market.

For the third quarter of 2012, I think, the company is likely to report revenue of $1.05 billion, an increase of 24.4 percent over the same quarter a year ago. ?Operating profit is likely to come in at $179.9 million, an increase of 73.3 percent over the same quarter a year ago. Net profit is likely to come in at $156.7 million, compared with $84.9 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Net-on-net, the company is likely to report EPS of $0.26 for Q3 2012, compared with $0.15 in Q3 2011.

I expect the company to provide details on the roadmaproad map for its Tegra chips, including its anticipated T40 and ��Project Denver' parts. I also expect the company to provide details on its upcoming Kal-El chip, which has 4four primary cores and is expected to draw less power than dual-core parts from rivals QCOM and TXN.

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Tags: 2012 Energy Stocks ,Best Stocks To Invest In ,Best Stocks To Invest In 2012 ,Best Stocks To Own 2012 ,CF ,EPS ,MOS ,POT ,SQM ,Is Mosaic's Stock Cheap by the Numbers?

T-Mobile USA Adds Subscribers In 3Q After Three Quarters Of Losses

T-Mobile USA, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.DE, DTEGY.PK), said it added a net 126,000 subscribers in the third quarter, after nine months of losses, driven by its "Value" plans and unlimited Monthly 4G prepaid growth.

Third quarter net customer additions were a 176,000 improvement from net customer losses in the second quarter of 2011 of 50,000 and slightly down from 137,000 net customer additions in the third quarter of 2010, the company said.

The quarter-over-quarter improvement in net customer additions may be impacted in the fourth quarter of 2011 due to competitor launches of the iPhone 4S, it added.

The company's Value plans offer subscribers the option to pay lower monthly fees if they bring their own phones or pay full price for new phones.

For the third quarter, T-Mobile USA's net income increased to $332 million from $320 million in the same period of last year. Revenue fell 2 percent to $5.3 billion.

"Earnings improved as we continued to focus on making smartphones affordable to all Americans through our unlimited Value plans, improvements to our 4G network, and an expanding portfolio of 4G devices," said Philipp Humm, President and CEO of T-Mobile USA.

AT&T Inc.'s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile from its German parent Deutsche Telekom AG for $39 billion has hit a blockade, with the U.S. Justice Department filing a lawsuit to stop the deal, saying that purchase would reduce competition and raise wireless telephone prices.

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Tags: 2012 Dividend Stocks ,2012 Top Performing Stocks ,LEAP ,Top Performing Stocks 2012 ,Top Performing Stocks To Buy 2012 ,Call Spread Strategy with Very Low Risk 

Hitachi Short Throw Projector Makes the Sale

To me, anyway, selling is a simple game: What can I do to get what I have in my mind into the minds of my customers? Business projector companies such as Optoma, Espon, Acer and Dell(DELL) have long tried to improve the getting-the-idea-across equation with this or that projection device. Most work fine, but there is rarely real news in business projectors. Except now.

A legitimately new way to communicate showed up in the shop several months back: the Hitachi(HIT) Ultimate Short Throw Projector (the line starts at $1,695 at Amazon.com).

The idea behind the Ultimate Short Throw is simple. The projector produces a bright, roughly 6-foot image, but not from being mounted the usual 4 or 5 feet from the wall. Rather this Hitachi projects a full size, sales-worthy image from a scant 20 or so inches from the wall.

Meaning if you set this unit up properly, you can quickly and simply project an image that will not pick up the presenter's shadow. And suddenly, your personal pitch is not distracting from your projected pitch.

And heavens, does your selling life get simpler.

What you get
The Hitachi offers a powerful way to affordably demonstrate, explain and communicate a business idea.

Don't let the nearly $2,000 starting price scare you off. The Ultimate Short Throw offers significant value. In a unit about the size of small briefcase, you get a box that produces a high-definition image that starts at being 2,200 lumens bright -- enough punch for most businesses. The unit comes with almost limitless connectivity options, from traditional PC display cables through sophisticated network Ethernet links. This projector is terrifically quiet in my testing: It can be controlled with an interactive touch pen. And it comes with enough menus, control software and presets that given the proper tinkering you can put your big idea! on any wall in any room -- and then stand right next to the image and let it shine.

For those is us who work in front of projectors, this is game-changing stuff.

What you don't get
The Hitachi is miles -- and I mean miles -- from an idiotproof sales projection solution.

This is not really Hitachi's fault, but users are going to have to get right with their inner projector geeks if they hope to use this tool successfully. The Ultimate uses a mirror to pull off the trick of projecting so close to the wall. It's a brilliant idea, but I found it meant that simple things such as making sure the bottom of the image was the same size as the top, or the right side of image was the same size as the left, was rubbing-your-stomach-while-patting-your-head sort of stuff: You can do it, but it takes real practice.

So please, do not go straight to a client with your spiffy new Hitachi. Test this unit first. Trust me, you will look like a major idiot in front of the customer if you have not gotten the hang of this thing before you charge off into the business wild.

Bottom line
If you have budget left over this year, and you are casting about for a sales tool that can help you make money in 2012, I absolutely recommend this Hitachi. Yes, it can be bewilderingly complex to learn to use. But get the hang of the Ultimate Short Throw and you'll be armed with a sales tool that really will help you explain your ideas.

Tags: BID ,BXP ,CBG ,DRE ,JLL ,SLG ,Top Casino Stocks ,Top Stocks To Hold ,Top Stocks To Hold In 2012 ,VNO ,Sotheby’s Earnings Cheat Sheet - Loss Widens

Italy’s Spiral Calls Germany’s Bluff

Berlin will either have to accept unlimited ECB purchases of Italian bonds, or else a banking crash and Eurozone collapse, writes MoneyShow.com senior editor Igor Greenwald.

As always after one of Silvio Berlusconi’s debauches, it will be up to someone else to clean up the mess.

The Italian duce finally sort-of abdicated Tuesday, pledging to resign just as soon as parliament approves the latest austerity plan.

And after that, said the long-serving prime minister, would come new elections. Holders of Italian bonds were now faced with months of political paralysis, just as the country is sliding into an unaffordable recession.

They sold, triggering higher margin requirements for Italian debt, and therefore even more selling. The ten-year yield topped out at 7.48%, before retreating to 7.25% more recently. That’s up from 4.7% in early June, and 5.5% just a month ago.

Italy is a slow-growing country with a national debt at 120% GDP, so the past month’s move has stolen the financial benefits of all the growth it can reasonably expect over the next few years.

Italian yields are now at the nosebleed levels that forced Greece, Ireland, and Portugal out of the debt markets and into the painful grasp of European rescuers insistent on austerity. Except that Italy is too big to be financed by its flinty allies in the same way.

And its private lenders are unlikely to relent anytime soon, because the spike in yields is a viciously circular self-fulfilling prophesy, undermining Italy’s $2.6 trillion debt pyramid. That much falling masonry could, in turn, flatten many of the shakier European banks, causing an economic disaster of global proportions.

The question now is whether the crisis will degenerate into a financial crash and disorderly default, or whether the European Central Bank will buy Italian bonds from all comers in unlimited amounts until yields fall to a sustainable level.

The latter opti! on has b een anathema to Germany and its northern allies, but it was always hoped they would make the leap to the practical side once the abyss loomed. That moment is just about here.

Central banks exist in large part to serve as a lender of last resort. German refusal to let the ECB fulfill that role is a recent and radical departure from longstanding principles of economic management.

Now we’ll see just how much Germany values its ideology. A series of big banking failures and a deep recession would be a costly monument to minimalism.

I’m guessing the Germans will ultimately come around to see the need for unlimited ECB bond purchases, in exchange for painful austerity by the issuers of such debt. But their conversion, if it comes at all, is likely to be gradual and unlikely to be advertised, as this would weaken Germany’s leverage for extracting its pound of flesh from the client states.

That leaves us with Italian yields as the all-important indicator of market health. And as long as that remains the case, we’re not in a healthy situation.

Tags: 2012 Top Stocks ,Asia Stocks ,BRFS ,CHL ,Top Stocks To Hold ,Top Stocks To Hold For 2012 ,Top Stocks To Invest In ,2 Emerging Market Consumer Picks

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Stocks Fall On Spike In Italian Borrowing Costs

  • NYSE down 324 (-4.2%) to 7,346.99
  • DJIA down 389 (-3.2%) to 11,780.94
  • S&P 500 down 46 (-3.7%) to 1,229.10
  • Nasdaq down 105 (-3.9%) to 2,621

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

  • Nikkei up 1.16%.
  • Hang Seng up 1.71%.
  • Shanghai Composite up 0.8%.
  • FTSE-100 down 1.9%.
  • DAX-30 down 2.2%.

Major stock averages tumble over 3% as a surge in Italy's borrowing costs derailed stocks there and around much of the globe. Crude oil ends down over 1% to $95.74 a barrel, falling from three-month highs and snapping a five-day win streak. Also, new data released this morning showed inventories at domestic wholesalers fell last month.

Italian bond yields were in focus after clearing firm LCH.Clearnet raised its margin requirements for Italy's government debt, MarketWatch and other news outlets reported. The 10-year yield spiked above 7%, a level viewed by many strategists as marking an unsustainable level for Italian borrowing costs as it did for Greece and other countries.

Embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday he will resign after parliament approves austerity measures.

Borrowing costs surged as Berlusconi's insistence on elections instead of an interim government opened the way to prolonged instability and delays to economic reform, Reuters said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a call to arms of sorts, the story said.

Merkel said Europe's plight was now so "unpleasant" that deep structural reforms were needed quickly, warning the rest of the world would not wait. "That will mean more Europe, not less Europe," she told a conference in Berlin.

In Greece, Prime Minister George Papandreou resigned as a new coalition government is set to take over the government in that country, led by house speaker Filippos Petsalnikos, Reuters reported.

Also this morni! ng, new data from the Commerce Department indicated that inventories at the wholesale level fell 0.1% last month but were up 11.9% from the previous year, MarketWatch reported. Sales to wholesalers increased 0.5% last month.

Commodities markets followed stocks lower.

Crude fell Wednesday, sliding off a three-month high and snapping a five-day winning streak, as prices ultimately tracked U.S. stocks despite bullish supply news.

Prices had turned around after a weekly government supply report showed surprise, sharp declines in crude and crude products inventories. Fears of lowered demand in the face of struggling U.S. equities, problems in the eurozone, and a higher dollar prevailed.

Crude for December delivery declined $1.10, or 1.1%, to $95.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In company news:

ADRs of Total (TOT) fell while Bloomberg reports that the french oil major is in talks with OAO Rosneft about exploration projects, such as the Val Shatskogo venutre in the Black Sea, citing comments from CEO Christophe de Margerie.

Merck & Co (MRK) said its hormonal contraceptive Nexplanon is now available in the United States. The 68 mg contraceptive is an etonogestrel implant approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of pregnancy in women for up to three years.

Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs (GS) is seeking to raise up to $1.54 billion by selling 2.4 billion shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

Computer memory maker STEC Inc. (STEC) plunged after reporting mixed Q3 results, and a dismal Q4 revenue forecast. STEC reported Q3 profit plunged 65% on lower sales. The numbers still beat expectations, but the company's forecast for Q4 of no more than $57 million fell short of the average analyst estimate of $72.1 million.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) RBCN downgraded

(-) HBC reports Q3 profit

(-) GM Q3 earnings drop from year-ago levels

(-! ) RL rep orts Q2 results

(-) ROVI Q3 earnings disappoint

(-) STP Q3 revenue seen above expectations

(-) M reports Q3 earnings beat

(-) CEDC downgraded

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) RAD upgraded

(+) SODA reports improved Q3 results

Tags: DAL ,EXPE ,LCC ,PCLN ,Stocks to Watch ,Top Dividend Stocks ,Top Stocks 2012 ,Top Stocks To Invest In ,Recession fears rise, but business travel fuels high hopes

Stocks for the Next Century

Life expectancy in America was less than 50 years a century ago, and today it's pushing 80. For those born after this article was written, 100-year life spans could become commonplace. Gerontologist Aubrey de Grey has boldly predicted that the first person who will live to 150 has already been born -- and a millennial life span is in store for someone born within the next 20 years.

In that light, planning for a future that extends beyond 2100 may not be so farfetched. If you're young, you might see that year yourself. If you have children or grandchildren, you can create a portfolio for them that can stand the test of time. We might not be able to predict the future, but we can get a glimpse of its shape, and set ourselves up to profit as the details fill in.

Hot, flat, and crowded
One thing's fairly certain -- the world will get more populous. It might be inhabited by as many as 10.6 billion people by 2050, and as many as 14 billion by 2100. They're all going to need to eat, and the crops we've grown for thousands of years might not be enough.

This spells opportunity for Monsanto (NYSE: MON  ) , developer of nearly all the world's genetically modified seeds. As my colleague John Maxfield points out, its revenue and gross profit have doubled in the past decade, but what's equally important to me is that its research and development budget has followed along. At over 10% of revenue, Monsanto's R&D is a strong commitment to meeting the future's nutritional needs with the best crops possible.

The revolution will be digitized
The best technology companies have proven remarkably adaptable, and this will be more important than ever as computing becomes truly ubiquitous. Two that have the resources and the talent to go the distance are Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT  ) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC!  &n bsp;) , which have been adapting to change better than most realize.

Microsoft's diversification this past decade -- into search, gaming, mobile operating systems, and beyond -- shows the company's willingness to move beyond its flagship Windows desktop installations. Its vision of the near future can be summed up as "computer-assisted everything," with interconnected devices everywhere and augmented reality guiding its users. If the ultimate goal of technology is a human-machine interface, Microsoft's plans seem to align it with this post-device connected world.

Intel's role in the computer-enhanced future is less dependent on its ultimate victory over ARM Holdings in the mobile space than many realize. ARM claims a commanding lead in smartphone chips, but those phones have to download their information somehow. That's where Intel shines, as it commands nearly all of the server processor market. If we're moving toward the Internet functioning as a massive operating system (isn't the cloud halfway there?), the servers that power it will become much more important than the comparatively dinky chips inside your iPhone.

Keep in mind that Microsoft and Intel both have huge R&D budgets, dwarfing those of most of their direct rivals. Microsoft spends more on R&D than Apple and Google combined, while Intel's budget is in line with the combined total revenue of both ARM and Advanced Micro Devices.

Building the future, bit by bot
If Microsoft and Intel will power our computing, what will we rely on to provide for the rest of our futuristic needs? How about robots and replicators? Neither idea is so farfetched. Robots from iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT  ) have been vacuuming floors in Middle America and minesweeping in the Middle East for years, and Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS  ) and 3D S ystems (NYSE: DDD  ) are creating useful objects from scratch in 3-D printers that seem to take their design cues straight from Star Trek.

These three companies don't have the ponderous scale of my other technology picks. Their combined market caps are less than what Microsoft spends on R&D in a single quarter. They might get bought out long before the century is up, or they might run into the brick wall of megacap competition. Their core technologies are still very young, and lofty predictions of their potential uses can sound like pie-in-the-sky nonsense to skeptical investors.

You know what that reminds me of? Intel. Technology titans aren't born overnight. If progress is indeed advancing at an exponentially accelerating rate, then the changes already in place will be surpassed ever more quickly as the century matures. Robots will get smarter and 3-D printers will get more accurate and offer more diverse options. Robot functionality seems to improve by the week, and 3-D printing has already branched out into food production. Even if these companies don't master the space by the next century, someone will -- and the big winners in these industries could be your 22nd-century Intel, a 1,000-bagger or better from its earliest days.

The spark behind it all
None of this is going to be possible without power, so the most important company of the next century might also be one of the most important of the last. General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) controls at least 40% of the natural gas turbine market and nearly 10% of the wind turbine market. It's made inroads into solar and even has a nuclear division, though that's receded in importance since Fukushima's meltdown.

In the near- to mid-term, natural gas will be central to meeting the world's electricity needs, and nuclear could be critical further on. Could GE commercialize fusion power nearer the 22nd c! entury? We've got plenty of time to find out, and until it does, the world will need GE's turbines, panels, and reactors to run its ever-increasing collection of electrically dependent high-tech products.

What do you think the future will look like? Which companies will emerge on top over the long haul? Let me know with a comment, or add these companies to your Watchlist if you agree with their potential in a 100-year portfolio.

These aren't the only stocks that could secure your future. The Motley Fool has uncovered 11 rock-solid dividend stocks for your portfolio. If you're on a slightly shorter timeline than 100 years, or if you crave those quarterly checks, take a look at our free report. It's been requested by many, but it won't be available long.

Tags: 2012 Silver Stocks ,Best Silver Stocks To Own ,Best Stocks For 2012 ,Best Stocks To Own For 2012 ,UCO ,Are Rome And Athens Rearranging The Deck Chairs?

General Motors Conference Call Nuggets: Pension Costs and Europe

General Motors (NYSE:GM) reported its third quarter earnings report today and in its subsequent conference call, the company answered the following analysts’ questions we thought you’d like to know.

Pensions?

Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley

Q: Looking at pensions, the company mentioned that it took advantage of some of the pension relief for the U.S. plan. How does this change your funding strategy in the near term, given that the company is expected to contribute on order of $5 billion or more of cash in future quarters.

How has this changed given the pension relief?

Daniel Ammann, GM’s SVP and CFO responded:?The pension relief takes acquired contributions from being a long way out to a really, really long way out and therefore doesn’t change our fundamental strategy. We see it as an opportunity to take advantage of and looking more generally at pensions. We continue with our strategy on the de-risking side of the plan. We have been moving into this direction since last year and this strategy has benefits during these turbulent market times.

Europe

Himanshu Patel – JPMorgan

Q: Can you tell us what’s happening in Europe? ?Your report signaled guidance caution and cost containment. Has there been an off the cliff event in Europe or this more of a macro issue? In addition, the company provided a year over year Europe walk that talked about flat pricing.

Can you talk about pricing sequentially in Europe?

Ammann responded: There is a lot of uncertainty in Europe. Whether there’s a cliff event or not, we have the same crystal ball.

If you look at the first three quarters of this year as compared to the first three quarters of last year in Europe, we’ve improved about $1.3 billion year-over-year in EBIT or $700 million improvement excluding restructuring. This is a significant?year-over-year improvement and we know how to make progress. We have to ! factor i n cost elements, market elements and product elements; we’re still continuing to work on these. However, we’re don’t expect to get bailed out by a big ramp-up in volumes in Europe, and we’re focused on the actions we need to take to get the breakeven point down so we can be sustainably profitable even in a challenging environment.

Christopher Ceraso – Credit Suisse

Q: There was an important management change in Europe. Is this signaling a significant change in direction or are there big things that you can do in that business to meaningfully change performance or are you subject to the market?

Daniel F. Akerson – Chairman and CEO responded:?No, I don’t think there is a significant change here. We moved Karl Stracke over there last spring and he’s been running Opels now for the better part of 2011. Nick Reilly has been with the company 37 years but he?will step down next March but effective at the end of this year, he’ll step down from his Europe responsibilities.

I don’t see any significant change there.

General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) shares recently traded at $22.31, down $2.73, or 10.9%. Its market capitalization is $34.84 billion. They have traded in a 52-week range of $19.05 to $39.48. Volume today was 32,876,325 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 14,351,600 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 4.70, while trailing earnings are $4.75 per share. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>

Tags: 2012 Top Stocks ,Top Healthcare Stocks To Invest In ,Top Stocks For 2012 ,Top Stocks To Invest In ,The Top 8 Most Pr! ofitable Healthcare Stocks

Some potential fates for HP's operating system

HP WebOSYou’ve got to give Meg Whitman this: She isn’t one to pull punches. The Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) CEO told a room of HP and Palm employees on Tuesday that she flat-out doesn’t know what to do with the webOS operating system — the platform that was the lifeblood of Palm’s mobile phone business and, at one time, HP’s future in the tablet and smartphone game. A report at The Verge (via Venture Beat) quoted Whitman: “It’s really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision.”

What might the right decision be? Whitman made the company-defining decision to keep Hewlett-Packard in the PC business after she took over as CEO in September. Can she somehow transform the Palm and webOS business into something profitable rather than a $1.2 billion noose around HP’s neck?

Here are three options for the future of webOS:

The Great Patent Sell-Off

HP is known to be considering an everything-must-go fire sale of the webOS business. Reuters reported Monday that HP, under the advisement of Bank of America, was looking to sell off the entire operation to whoever was willing to pay — and for significantly cheaper than the $1.2 billion it paid for it last year. Software company Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) was said to be in the running.

However, Whitman’s words on Tuesday suggest that a sale likely wouldn’t be immediate. Besides, HP might be better off selling webOS off in bits and pieces rather than as a package. Competitors Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) have spent billions snapping up mobile technology! patents from companies like Nortel in the past year. If HP still plans a full exit from mobile, a patent selloff might be the best way to recover its losses.

Go Budget

HP already admitted in August that it was being hasty in announcing a full departure from the mobile business. The TouchPad tablet, the flagship device for webOS 3.0, began selling out at retailers once it hit the liquidation price of $99. Whitman also intimated on Tuesday that while tablets definitely are back on the table, HP is mulling over whether to re-enter the mobile phone game since “things get more complicated if you add in phones.”

If there is any opportunity for HP to make an impact with webOS-based tablets and phones, it would be to make devices cheaper than nearly any other on the market. In other words, new $99 TouchPads and maybe even $49 non-contract smartphones marketed as stripped-down, durable, replaceable business tools. HP simply can’t compete with Apple, Google or even Microsoft if it tries to compete as a mobile ecosystem based around popular consumer support and app sales.

Strength in Numbers With RIM

Another rumored webOS buyer is Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM). The embattled BlackBerry maker, watching its share of the global smartphone market shrink by the day, probably doesn’t want to spend a large sum on another bench-warmer brand, though. It’s not that RIM wouldn’t want webOS’ technology — RIM was part of the Apple-led consortium that bought up those aforementioned Nortel patents for $4.5 billion — but since the company only has about $3 billion in cash right now, a full acquisition wouldn’t be right.

A merger, however, might strengthen both companies. If RIM and HP decided to merge the BlackBerry and webOS businesses into a joint venture under the BlackBerry brand, they would have a markedly stronger base of technology on which to rebuild BlackBerry’s strength in the mobile market.

As! of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at?@ajohnagnello?and?become a fan of?InvestorPlace on Facebook.

Tags: 2012 Best Stocks ,Best Stocks To Own ,Best Stocks To Own 2012 ,BMY ,CF ,DANOY ,GLNG ,GMLP ,LNG ,MJN ,NSRGY ,SRIGX ,UNFPA ,5 Responsible Plays for a Growing World

Doing Business in Alternate Universes

Years ago, Marvel Comics had a regular title called What If, a series that delved into the alternate universe of superheroes such as, "What If Peter Parker Was Never Bitten by a Radioactive Spider?" (But also "What if Aunt May instead of her nephew Peter had been bitten by that radioactive spider?" from issue No. 23.)

Sports fans also argue about "could have been" moments all the time (What if Bill Buckner hadn't missed that catch in the World Series?) as do political pundits (Should McCain have picked Palin? Should Obama have staked so much political capital on health care reform?).

The world of business and finance often dabbles in "what if" scenarios as well. By nature, succession plans are just such an exercise (What happens if our CEO gets hit by a bus?) and wealth managers often pose questions, though diplomatically, as to what happens if your wife gets pregnant, you get divorced or your doctor discovers the worst.

Unscientific, and as open for debate as it may be, we took a look at moments and moves that might have forever changed the fate and fortunes of companies, their leaders and the economy as a whole.

What If: Yahoo bought Facebook
It is hard to predict the fickle finger of fate when it comes to social media sites. Could even the best prognosticator have predicted how rapidly MySpace would crash and burn or how swiftly and far the reach of its one-time rival Facebook would expand? And why not Friendster, Hi5 or any of the other also-rans instead of Mark Zuckerberg's retooled variation of what was already readily available?

The secret sauce to Facebook's phenomenal rise has to be attributed in large part to Zuckerberg's genius. Love him or hate him, his vision for the site has been perfectly in tune with what the public wants. He knew when to keep Facebook a closed society of students a! nd when to open it up; he has been proven correct in resisting most advertising and seeing that the real revenue was to be had in selling data and access; he has brilliantly cultivated a sticky addiction.

And so, we can predict with certainty a Facebook without Zuckerberg would have gone the way of Friendster pretty quickly if his authority was diluted by a Yahoo(YHOO) purchase, which Yahoo proposed in 2006.

There are reasons to see that Yahoo would have mismanaged the asset. There are many things it has done very well over the years, but social media is not one of them.

Even the basic functionality of chat rooms and instant messaging has been an abject failure. Concerned by online predators, Yahoo killed off user-created chat rooms and, in the process, eliminated the niches needed to engage users looking for more than random, geography-based conversation. And, despite the preponderance of "captchas" one must travail to enter a room, they are still populated, almost entirely, by "spam bots" most of which seem to be originating from some third world sex site. Do any real, live people still use Yahoo Chat? It hardly seems so.

The lack of a social "lounge" within Yahoo made its instant messaging increasingly obsolete. It is still a decent enough product, but a distant runner-up to Microsoft's(MSFT) MSN Messenger and AOL's AIM.

Then there was Yahoo 360, a stab at social networking launched in 2005. On paper, it sounded great, integrating personal Web pages, blogs, photo sharing, personalized lists and online notifications. But from 2006 to 2007, U.S. Web traffic for the site plunged, dropping by more than half, and Yahoo gave up trying to fix the numerous bugs. The plug was finally pulled in 2009. After nearly four years, it had never actually moved past beta or been officially launched.

One can imagine Facebook would have suffered from the same lack of care and feeding. It would also be hard to imagine Zuckerberg would h! ave stuc k around. The initial offer of $900 million (later upped to $1 billion) might have sounded enticing, but he would have lost more than half of that purchase price to taxes, had to pay off other initial investors and likely would have been stuck with a whole lot of Yahoo stock in lieu of cash.

Had he taken the deal, it would have been merely a way to dump a hot property and move onto something new. Is there any scenario one can imagine where Zuckerberg would have survived as an employee of Carol Bartz?

Even the most loyal Facebook users would have likely started to abandon ship.

You can still find an old Facebook page called "If Mark Zuckerberg sells Facebook to Yahoo, I will quit." At one point it was followed by 3,000 friends.

"Yahoo's interest will clearly not be the networking ability of college students, but rather information about our habits to refine their searches and add ad revenue," it reads. "Facebook will never be the same. Has it really come this far? Has this unique tool of social networking become a pawn in the corporate takeover scheme? Are we all ready to become stats to help Yahoo improve its search technology?

"If we unanimously make this pledge to quit Facebook if the sale goes through, maybe we can change Yahoo's 'valuation' of Facebook, when they know millions of us will disappear the second they sign the check. After all, it won't be so hard for someone else to start up another Facebook clone anyway."

What If: Steve Jobs never returned to Apple
By all accounts, Steve Jobs' recent decision to step down as Apple's(AAPL) CEO was a well-planned, relatively drama-free transition of power to Tim Cook.

Past power shifts were hardly so simple.

Here's how history actually took place.

After being bounced from the CEO position, Jobs and Apple fully parted ways in 1985 during a three-way battle between he, CEO John Sculley and th! e compan y's board of directors.

Jobs headed off and, in addition to helping Pixar get off the ground, started NeXT Software. He tried to sell NeXT to Apple, pitching its technology as perfect for a new operating system. Apple said "yes," paid $400 million for the company and brought Jobs back into the family as an adviser. Once back in the fold, in 1997, Jobs finagled his way back to the corner office once CEO Gil Amelio was ousted by the board of directors.

What would have happened if Jobs never returned? A better question might be what wouldn't have happened.

Had Jobs decided against the NeXT deal, Apple would have probably gone instead with a competing product, BeOS, and struggled to sell consumers on such fare as the Newton, Performa and PowerBook.

Without NeXT to build from, OS X and its feline-named successors wouldn't have happened. There would certainly have been an evolution of the OS, but unlikely the giant leap forward that happened under Jobs' watch.

Without Jobs' penchant for design and bold moves, would Apple have dared enter the crowded market for MP3 players? Even if something like an iPod eventually emerged, would there have been an iTunes? It is unlikely, just as we might never have seen the iMac, Macbook, iPad or any of the other "it is kind of crazy, but it just might work" ideas Jobs fostered. Heck, we might still be packaging floppy disk drives with new PCs if Jobs hadn't decided they were obsolete when introducing the iMac. And, given Jobs' push away from rewritable media to Web-based data (hence the "i" for Internet prefix on everything) would we still be moving so rapidly into the "cloud?"

Microsoft, hardly the most innovative of companies over the years, might have been even less forward-thinking without its longtime rival to push it.

There also would also not be an Apple to invest in, meaning Microsoft's ability to push off the Justice Department would have failed and it would have been declared a monopoly and broken up into pieces. In some alternate universe, perh! aps, Job s' failure to return to Apple might have been a fatal blow to Microsoft as well.

What If: There was no TARP

The Troubled Asset Relief Program, better known as TARP, the $700 billion bailout of "too big to fail" banks, is still a hot topic of debate. The crux of the back-and-forth boils down to: Should the government have interfered with private enterprise and the natural selection of the marketplace?

Setting aside the question of "should we have," what would have happened if we hadn't?

A study by Mark Zandi, Moody's chief economist, and Alan Blinder, a professor of economics at Princeton University and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, make the case that 8.5 million jobs would have been lost without the bailout, more than were shed at the height of the recession.

They also say that GDP last year would have dropped by 11.5% and there would very likely have been a full-on depression.

"In some moral sense, these bankers did not deserve to be saved," Binder said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The problem was that if they went down with the ship, we were going down too. The right way to think about the banker benefits was collateral damage in a war to save the economy. Had we not done that, things would've been horribly worse for everybody."

The stress tests required of the 19 largest bank holding companies to ensure they had sufficient capital to withstand further adversity "restored confidence in the banking system," Binder and Zandi say in their study.

Without TARP, they say that there would have been a continued and worsened "free fall in housing and auto markets."

The lack of TARP would also have meant very hard times, and, in a worst-case scenario, the possible bankruptcy of some of the biggest companies in finance, including Bank of America(BAC), Citigroup(C), < B>AIG(AIG) and Morgan Stanley(MS).

What If: There were no auto bailouts

Under the Bush administration, TARP included $13.4 billion in short-term loans for GM(GM) and Chrysler. The Obama administration subsequently authorized an additional $80 billion loan package (roughly $14 billion of which remains unpaid).

Without the financial injections both would have been in dire straits and in danger of being dismantled. Beyond that very real threat, what would have happened if there was no government largesse for the carmakers?

Recently a television commercial by Ford(F) was pulled from the airwaves (though denied, White House pressure was initially blamed) for an anti-bailout subtext.

In the faux press conference setting of the commercial, a new Ford buyer states: "I was going to buy from a manufacturer that's standing on their own, win lose or draw. That's what America's about, is taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you fail that you've got to pick yourself up and go back to work."

Defenders of the bailout point to a chain of events that bolsters their view and, in their scenario, Ford shouldn't be so quick to gloat.

The loss of two major automakers would create massive layoffs and prove destructive to the already reeling network of suppliers and vendors that depend on their business.

Ford, as well as U.S.-based manufacturing arms of Toyota(TM), Honda(HMC) and Hyundai would all be hit hard by the lack of readily available parts.

The lack of suppliers could force manufacturers to seek foreign partnerships, and the ensuing logistics and added shipping costs would lead to domestic plants being shuttered as operations moved overseas.

Even a tempor! ary shut down of production lines by Ford could have been disastrous for a company trying to execute its own turnaround strategy.

What If: We never went to the moon
Though the Apollo space program, which landed the first man on the moon in 1969, isn't a company-specific event, it has had a far-reaching impact on a number of companies, many of which have profited handsomely as a direct result.

There is, of course, Tang.

Developed by General Foods (and now owned by Kraft(KFT)) as a fruit-flavored powder to be mixed with water in the late 1950s, it wasn't much of a success -- that is, until the Gemini and Apollo programs started including the powder among its rations and the public figured that if it was good enough for astronauts, it was good enough for their breakfast table.

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4 Dividend Picks for a Nervous Market

Globe Investor's Yield Hog panelists choose stocks that offer safety...and perhaps some sizzle, writes reporter and columnist John Heinzl.

This week's column is dedicated to the memory of Yellow Media's dividend (2003-2011).

When a company cuts its dividend, investors suffer in two ways: The income they were counting on drops, and the stock price often tumbles with it.

To use a hockey analogy, it's like getting hit from behind and cross-checked in the face at the same time. Yellow Media (Toronto: YLO) investors know the feeling.

Well, we're here to help. With Canada's benchmark index having officially entered a bear market, we asked four dividend-oriented investors each to pick a Canadian stock with an emphasis on the safety of the quarterly payout. We wanted stocks you could tuck away and not worry about, but we also wanted some sizzle with our safety.

The ground rules were as follows:

  • The company must have raised its dividend at least once in the last year;

  • The stock must yield at least 3%;

  • And the payout ratio—dividends as a percentage of profits over the past 12 months—must be manageable, to minimize the possibility of a dividend cut and leave room for future increases.

Here's what our panel came up with...

***

Tony Demarin, BCV Asset Management, Winnipeg

Telus (Toronto: T)
Yield: 4.3%
Payout ratio: 62.1%

In this environment where Europe is dominating the headlines and everybody is looking for safety and income, I think a telecom company fits nicely.

The telecom sector is going through some competitive changes, but Telus is a very well run company with a good balance sheet, and it has dominated its primary market of British Columbia and Alberta. It is attractive to us especially now that Shaw Communications has bowed out of the wireless area, and Telu! s is sta rting to penetrate into the television market.

The payout ratio is reasonable, and they do have a history of rewarding shareholders with dividend growth, including two increases in the past year. I think the dividend is very safe; when companies are increasing their dividends on a consistent basis, it tells me they're far from wanting to cut or eliminate them.

Robert Cable, ScotiaMcLeod, Mississauga

Enbridge (ENB)
Yield: 3%
Payout ratio: 67.3%

Enbridge may be the premier dividend growth play. The dividend has more than tripled from 2000 to 2011, and the pipeline operator and natural-gas distributor has stated publicly that, with current projects, earnings should grow by at least 10% annually into the second half of the decade, supporting double-digit dividend hikes.

Earnings and cash flow are highly certain because of long-term regulatory agreements, and less than 5% of earnings are exposed to commodity prices, interest rates, and foreign-exchange risks. Since 1953, the shares have produced an average annual total return—capital growth plus dividends—just shy of 15%.

Studies show that dividend-paying companies outperform, and the best performers of all are the dividend raisers, so it's crucial to own companies where the dividend is safe and likely to be raised.

David Sherlock, McLean & Partners Wealth Management, Calgary

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)
Yield: 4.1%
Payout ratio: 50.1%

Bank of Nova Scotia offers a full range of banking products and services in over 50 countries, and is Canada's most international bank, with approximately 35% of net income from outside Canada.

Its international operations focus on Central and South America and Asia-Pacific, with investment stakes in two Chinese banks. It has minimum PIIGS [Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain] exposure of $1.6 billion, which is immaterial.

We like the re! cent acq uisition of DundeeWealth; BNS now has assets under management of $105 billion and is the fourth-largest mutual-fund manager in Canada.

It is an extremely well-capitalized bank that benefits from international growth, wealth management growth, and low-risk exposures. The payout ratio is very manageable, and they have growing revenue streams, which lead us to be optimistic about further dividend growth.

Juliette John, Bissett Canadian Dividend Fund and Bissett Dividend Income Fund, Calgary

Mullen Group (Toronto: MTL)
Yield: 5.6%
Payout ratio: 50.2%

Financials and telecommunications are great candidates, and are well-represented in Bissett yield portfolios, but it's always interesting to identify names outside of the key sectors to highlight diversification.

Mullen Group is a diversified energy-services company, but also has a good-sized trucking division. The dividend history looks choppy on the surface, but we believe there's a solid commitment to the dividend. It was a dividend-paying company prior to converting to a trust in 2005.

Mullen converted back to a corporation in 2009, and suspended dividends through the conversion, which coincided with a bleak period in both the trucking division and domestic oil field activity. Later that year, the annual dividend was reinstated, and this year it was doubled to $1 per share.

Going forward, a series of small focused acquisitions should contribute to growth in both business segments. Mullen may exhibit some cyclicality, which could affect earnings growth. However, we view the dividend to be supported even in a lower-growth scenario.

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