Strange Volume of Skyworks Solutions, Inc - NASDAQ:SWKS

Skyworks Solutions, Inc.(NASDAQ:SWKS) witnessed volume of 13.01 million shares during last trade however it holds an average trading capacity of 4.53 million shares. SWKS last trade opened at $22.34 reached intraday low of $21.49 and went -6.30% down to close at $21.70.

SWKS has a market capitalization $4.04 billion and an enterprise value at $3.83 billion. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 3.45 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 2.92. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 15.40% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 21.08%.

The company made a return on asset of 10.68% in past twelve months and return on equity of 14.47% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $1.25 billion gaining $6.97 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 36.70% holding 80.10% quarterly earnings growth.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $503.80 million cash in hand making cash per share at 2.71. The total of $25.41 million debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 1.72. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 4.95 and book value per share was 7.94.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 14.84% where the stock price exhibited down beat from its 50 day moving average with $26.42 and remained below from its 200 Day Moving Average with $29.77.

SWKS holds 186.19 million outstanding shares with 184.98 million floating shares where insider possessed 0.55% and institutions kept 86.70%.

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'Safe' Stocks Off to Wobbly Start in 2012 - SmartMoney.com

Stock investors are having a mostly happy new year. The S&P 500-stock index returned around 5% through Friday. And yet the slice of the index that represents safety to many investors -- consumer staples -- is down slightly.

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Earnings for the sector have likewise failed to impress. It's early in the current reporting season, with results in for just 59 of the 500 index members; 20 of those companies, or 34%, have so far fallen short of Wall Street forecasts -- a higher than usual miss rate. For consumer staples companies, however, four out of six, or 67%, have missed estimates.

Staples are goods like food, beer, cigarettes and diapers that tend to stay in steady demand even when the economy sours. Nervous investors have rushed into shares of companies that sell such goods in recent years, bidding prices higher. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP), an exchange-traded fund, has returned an average of 6.8% a year over the past five years, versus just 0.3% a year for the broader SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), even though fees on the latter are about half as high.

That has left staples shares priced at a premium. The sector recently traded at 16 times projected 2011 earnings, versus 13 times earnings for the broad 500 index. Fast earnings growth can make such premiums worth paying, but analysts foresee below-average earnings growth for staples companies this year -- 8%, ! versus 1 0% for the index.

The economic profiles of some staple goods may have changed. An abundance of small-batch beer has left big brewers fighting volume declines, and spirits and wine have gotten posher, fueling past growth but adding to economic sensitivity today. Tobacco faces smoking bans. Even packaged food makers are caught between higher ingredient prices and a reluctance among shoppers to pay more.

General Mills (GIS), which makes Cheerios, and Constellation Brands (STZ), which distributes Robert Mondavi wines, each fell short of analyst forecasts earlier this month. Altria (MO), which makes Marlboro cigarettes, reports earnings on Friday.

If staples shares look weak at the moment, technology shares look surprisingly strong. Within the S&P 500, the sector is up 6% this year. It trades at around 13 times earnings. Only two of 12 companies that have reported earnings during the current season have missed forecasts. Last Thursday, Microsoft (MSFT), IBM (IBM) and Intel (INTC) each reported upside surprises.

Together, those three have an average dividend yield 2.5%, just shy of the 2.7% yield for the SPDR staples fund. And although computer chips, software and technology consulting won't hold up like franks and beans in the event of another recession, the tech trio has a balance sheet advantage. Many staples companies use considerable debt to try to enhance returns. IBM owes little and pays minuscule interest rates. Microsoft and Intel sit on large cash surpluses.

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Lincare Holdings Beats on Revenue, Matches Expectations on EPS

Lincare Holdings (Nasdaq: LNCR  ) reported earnings Feb. 6. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Lincare Holdings beat expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue expanded and GAAP earnings per share expanded.

Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
Lincare Holdings booked revenue of $474.8 million. The eight analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for revenue of $455.1 million. Sales were 17% higher than the prior-year quarter's $418.7 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.48. The 10 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.48 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.51 for Q3 were 6.3% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.48 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Figures may be non-GAAP to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 44.4%, 1,950 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 16.9%, 310 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 9.1%, 180 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $483.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.51.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.84 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.93.

In! vestor s entiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 127 members out of 152 rating the stock outperform, and 25 members rating it underperform. Among 69 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 62 give Lincare Holdings a green thumbs-up, and seven give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Lincare Holdings is hold, with an average price target of $27.35.

If you're interested in health care stocks like Lincare Holdings, you might want to expand your horizons to find maximum returns. Follow the money and meet a prime candidate for major returns in our new report, "Discover the Next Rule-Breaking Multibagger." Click here for instant access to this free report.

• Add Lincare Holdings to My Watchlist.

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Paying off debt over the next decade comes at a high cost

Borrowing money now and paying it back later has a cost. For the United States, that cost is over $5 trillion.

That figure is the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of how much money Washington will pay over the next ten years to cover interest payments on debt. That’s more than half the $11 trillion in government debt the CBO estimates the public will own in the next decade.� The estimate operates on the assumption that several key fiscal policies, including the Bush-era tax cuts, stay in place.

What does this mean practically? If the estimate holds true, 14% of all the revenue the federal government takes in will go into interest payments. Interest costs will be higher than spending on Medicaid, close to equal to spending on defense, and half of what we spend on social security.

Depending on how much interest rates increase on treasury bonds, the damage could be even worse. A 1% increase above the current CBO estimates would add an extra $1 trillion to the bill over the course of the decade. Of course, a decrease in the yield rates would lead to a decrease in the borrowing cost. Still, with 40% of our debt held by individuals and institutions outside the United States, Americans should keep a careful watch on how Washington handles the federal budget going forward.

– Benjamin Nanamaker, InvestorPlace Money & Politics Editor

The opinions contained in this column are solely those of the writer.

Want to share your own views on money, politics and the 2012 elections? Drop us a line at letters@investorplace.com and we might reprint your views in our InvestorPolitics blog! Please include your name, city and state of residence. All letters submitted to this address will be considered for publication.

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Preferential Treatment in an ETF - SmartMoney.com

For many investors, shopping for preferred stock shares feels like being a teenager in a used- car lot. The deals look like they're too good to be true -- and they often are. But some savvy investment pros are plying a new strategy to take advantage of the shares, while lowering the risk of getting stuck with a lemon.

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Preferred shares are something of a hybrid between stocks and bonds. The share prices don't fluctuate as much as the prices of common stock for the same company -- and they pay dividends that are often considerably more generous than those on common shares. In fact, such yields (recently averaging 7 percent, at a time when the broad bond market paid 3 percent) helped persuade Robert Wasilewski, a Glenelg, Md., financial planner, to divert about 5 percent of his clients' holdings to preferred shares from bonds.

But here's where the asterisks come in: Preferred shares are often complicated to figure out and expensive to trade -- which is why many planners are turning to exchange-traded funds that bundle preferreds rather than buying the shares outright. Investors poured more than $1.5 billion into the largest of these products, the $7.4 billion iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock, in 2011. While the ETF costs $48 in fees annually for every $10,000 invested (plus brokerage commissions), that's a lot cheaper than buying the shares themselves, which can run $200 for every $10,000 invested, says Harris Private Bank Chief Investment Officer Jack Ablin.

Of course, there's a reason why preferred yields are so lofty now. Nearly three-quarters! of issu ers are financial firms -- a sector under siege from the crisis in the euro zone, the lousy real estate market and much else. For Ablin, that's more incentive to spread out the risk by way of an ETF. "And if things go sideways," he says, "you've still got a nice dividend."

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1-Star Stocks Poised to Plunge: Gold Resource?

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, gold explorer Gold Resource (AMEX: GORO  ) has received the dreaded one-star ranking.

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

Gold Resource facts

Headquarters (founded)	Denver (1998)
Market Cap	$1.2 billion
Industry	Precious metals and minerals
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$105.2 million
Management	Co-Founder/Chairman/CEO William Reid CFO Paul Oberman
Return on Capital (average, past 3 years)	(61.4%)
Cash/Debt	$52.0 million / $0
Dividend Yield	2.6%
Competitors	BHP Billiton Grupo Mexico SAB de CV Rio Tinto

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

On CAPS, 51% of the 215 members who have rated Gold Resource believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Earlier this month, one of those Fools, All-Star BuffettJunior1, tapped the stock as a questionable income opportunity:

It seems that if you just put the word "gold" in your company name the stock is automatically worth a thousand times its fair value. This is the same trick used in the 90's where all you had to do was put "dot com" in the company name and the stock price would shoot up t! o some r idiculous valuation. I was also very surprised to see that this company pays a dividend. Since this is still an exploration stage company and has obviously never been profitable, then why in the world would they pay a dividend? ... I truly cannot understand why anyone would invest in this...

If you want to retire rich, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Luckily, we've compiled a special free report for investors called "The Tiny Gold Stock Digging Up Massive Profits," which uncovers a much smaller miner with big potential. The report is 100% free, but it won't be around forever, so click here to access it now.

Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the new TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.

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Social Buying Sites: Altering the Holiday Shopping Dynamic

(House Of Sims)

Participating in a social buying website might seem like a lot of work if we were talking about $1 or $2 savings. But in most cases, the discounts made available by these communities are substantial – 50% or more in some instances.�LivingSocial.com as another example. Tracey Wilson, the chief executive officer of Red Velvet Cupcakery, offered $50 gift cards for $25 to users of LivingSocial three times per year. And the users responded: these three promotions alone dr0ve “about as much as a week’s gross sales of $20,000 to $30,000,” she told USA Today.

Drawbacks

(davidrossharris)

Of course, not everyone has an equal shot at reaping the rewards of social buying. Keep in mind that the types of businesses that participate are usually local retailers. If you live in a sparsely populated area, it might be tough to find Groupon or LiveSocial-type deals unless you want to drive 50-100 miles for your discount, at which point the entire exercise could become pointless.

Then there’s the chance of finding a deal you would love near you, but not getting it because too few people signed up. Other times, deals will go live, but because they’re so popular, you may find it challenging to redeem the coupon for which you already paid.

You can also find yourself feeling rushed to act immediately, or else lose out on the deal. And of course, whether a deal is really a deal is always a matter of opinion. To some of us, a $200 spa ! treatmen t reduced to $85 will still seem pricey; to others, it will be a steal.

Holiday Shopping

(Paul Stevenson)

The idea of using social sites to save on and simplify holiday shopping is not new. In fact, many consumers are already counting on it as part of their shopping strategy. Meredith Barnhill, an avid Christmas shopper who got creative in her attempts to spend less while still giving lots, recently told CNN that�in addition to creating a gift shopping list, she is “relying on coupons and deals” from Groupon and LivingSocial.

With�customers rushing to use 50%-90% off group discounts on their holiday shopping, group buying websites may even alter the holiday shopping experience for good.

Clearly, this is a trend many consumers have embraced. If you are looking for a creative way to trim holiday shopping costs, social buying sites are worth considering.

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Best Wall St. Stocks Today: MA,V

There is a reading of the economy which we used to see only go up and up, and that is the monthly consumer credit.� In the month of February, consumers cut their borrowings and this is the fourth reading in the last six months.� Consumer credit outstanding fell by an adjusted rate of about 3.5% or $7.5 billion, to $2.564 trillion.�� We saw Bloomberg estimates of -$3 billion and Dow Jones had run estimates of -$1 billion.

This may seem like a lot, but there was a revision in January to higher credit and even a lower drop in December, and this sort of makes the reading a wash today.� January’s consumer credit was revised to a gain of $8.1 billion rather than a $1.8 billion rise originally reported; and December’s consumer credit fell by -$5.6 billion instead of -$7.5 billion.

The numbers ahead may be grossly different now that the TALF has just started to kick in.� This is also direct consumer credit rather than credit toward housing and borrowings against housing, but those markets are quiet right now.� Interestingly enough, non-revolving credit (including car loans) rose by 0.2% to $1.608 trillion.� The big drop was from credit cards in the revolving credit side and that fell by $7.8 billion to $855.7 billion.

The consumer credit numbers are definitely watched by traders who watch MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) and Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V).� Both stocks are down over 2% today with the sell-off seen in the broad market.

This notion probably gives a bit more ammo to those who have been harping on banks for cutting credit and reducing credit lines.� It also plays into the most recent Meredith Whitney call of banks and credit being cut.

This is good news for those who want the public to work on spending less and saving more.� Unfortunately, that isn’t the case if you are a retailer who deals in high volumes of transactions.

JON C. OGG

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NBCU taps Google to create cross-platform audience metric for 2012 Olympics

(gigaom.com) -- Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Internet IPOs: 2 Safer Stocks for Investors to Consider

It appears as if we've finally shaken the ghost of the dot-com bubble. The Nasdaq Index has been moving up sharply during the past few years and now trades at levels seen back in 2000, and a few recent dot-com IPOs are now valued in the billions of dollars. Yet as I noted in this article, investors may be setting themselves up to repeat history, assigning market values to companies that still have a lot to prove.

Simply put, any company that is worth $8 billion, $9 billion or even $10 billion needs to be treated as a hot young growth stock for years to come if investors are to see any further upside. That's why I reflexively gravitate to stocks that appear to embed a much lower level of expectation. 

 

 

 

I also like to see these stocks move out of favor, at least temporarily, when a real sense of value can emerge. That's why I recently put Zipcar (NYSE: ZIP) in my $100,000 Real-Money Portfolio (which is available for free for a limited time). It's also why I tend to hold off pursuing a recent gainer like real estate data service firm Zillow.com (NYSE: Z). Zillow's shares have risen roughly 40% in the past three months, and I'd rather check it out on a pullback.

But a pair of other "dot-coms" is squarely in the doghouse, and their current valuations seem to sharply discount potential strong growth to come...

1. Ancestry.com (Nasdaq: ACOM)
Tracking a family tree has always been a lot of fun, and this company makes it easier than ever, offering a set of online tools that track the branches as they spread outward from the tree. The company has garnered great buzz from a companion TV show called "Who Do You Think You Are?" which airs on NBC.

After a late 2009 debut, Ancestry.com settled into a predictable groove. The company topped estimates, issued bullish forecasts, and shares marched ever higher. Analysts began to speak of 30% or 40% annual growth, and investors got pretty carried away.

 

Shares are now far from the peaks of last spring, in part because management warned investors last fall that growth was starting to cool from a torrid pace. This was partially the result of a change in pricing sche! mes to e mphasize longer-term subscriptions and reduced customer churn.

Clearly, this is a company entering into the second phase of its growth cycle. Sales rose more than 30% in 2010 and 2011, but are likely to rise at half that pace in 2012 and 2013. Considering less than 2% of all Americans have looked into their family histories, it's reasonable to assume decent long-term growth as the metric moves up to 3% or 4%.

Analysts at Dougherty & Co. say investors are now too bearish on the company's prospects, and predict shares could rebound back to $35, or nine times their projected 2013 EBITDA estimate. Goldman Sachs has an identical price target, noting that peers tend to trade for 12 or 13 times EBITDA. And this is my main point: it's best to pursue more reasonably-valued dot-com plays.

Ancestry.com, with a multiple lower than its core earnings growth rate, fits the bill.

2. Carbonite (Nasdaq: CARB)
Talk about cheap. If you exclude this company's cash balance, its enterprise value (a metric that calculates roughly what a company would be worth in an acquisition) stands at just $160 million, or less than two times projected 2012 sales.

Carbonite offers cloud-based data storage for consumers and small businesses. It's a crowded field with plenty of competition, but the company has built a strong base of more than a million customers that's likely to grow along with the market. Cloud computing is a $1 billion market now and analysts expect it to grow to $2.5 billion by 2014.

Yet investors have fretted that it's hard to gauge this company against its earnings prospects. Carbonite is spending heavily on marketing to build up its customer base, so the company is unlikely to be profitable before 2014. Carbonite's $72 million in cash should help mitigate any concerns of financial troubles. More important, on a per-customer basis, Carbonite is quite profitable. The company expenses all costs associated with attracting a new s! ubscribe r in the early months of a contract, even as revenue is deferred over the life of a contract. This means the company's cash flow should build nicely as the subscriber base matures.

Still, this busted IPO sells for less than half the peak levels it saw soon after its August 2011 IPO. From a recent $9.30, Merrill Lynch says shares should rebound to $16. This target equates to four times projected sales, which is still below the multiples seen by other cloud-based businesses such as Cornerstone OnDemand (Nasdaq: CSOD) and Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR).

Risks to Consider: Though investors no longer hold these companies to exceedingly high expectations, they are still expected to grow at a good pace in coming years. Any signs that growth is stalling out should probably seen as a reason to sell the stock.

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Best Wall St. Stocks Today: MOT

Carl Icahn has disclosed in an 13D SEC FILING that he boosted his share ownership in Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT).  Icahn indicated his ownership of the stake in a notice to nominate four directors to the board sent last week, and he noted that shares are undervalued and that he intends to seek further conversations with the company.  It appears that Icahn now holds some 114.2891 Million shares of Motorola stock, which is now roughly 5% of the common stock.

Icahn is a very smart and influential investor.  But it may take more than forcing a share buyback and a cell phone business auction to make this stock turn around.  That is why we listed this as one of the top stocks that may disappear this year.

Motorola shares are up about 1% to $11.60 in after-hours trading, which is actually more than 20% higher than the 52-week lows of $9.43 seen recently.  Frankly, if John Chambers & Co. wasn’t such a better competitor and if they hadn’t guided lower on tonight’s Cisco conference call these shares might be up more than this.

Jon C. Ogg
February 6, 2008

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Why Trimble Navigation Limited's Earnings Are Outstanding

Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.

Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.

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 Trimble Navigation Limited (Nasdaq: TRMB  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of last fully reported fiscal quarter. Dollar values in millions. FCF = free cash flow. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over the past 12 months, Trimble Navigation Limited generated $218.4 million cash while it booked net income of $150.8 million. That means it turned 13.3% of its revenue into FCF. That sounds pretty impressive.

All cash is not equal
Unfortunately, the cash flow statement isn't immune from nonsense, either. That's why it pays to take a close look at the components of cash flow from operations, to make sure that the cash flows are of high quality. What does that mean? To me, it means they need to be real and! replica ble in the upcoming quarters, rather than being offset by continual cash outflows that don't appear on the income statement (such as major capital expenditures).

For instance, cash flow based on cash net income and adjustments for non-cash income-statement expenses (like depreciation) is generally favorable. An increase in cash flow based on stiffing your suppliers (by increasing accounts payable for the short term) or shortchanging Uncle Sam on taxes will come back to bite investors later. The same goes for decreasing accounts receivable; this is good to see, but it's ordinary in recessionary times, and you can only increase collections so much. Finally, adding stock-based compensation expense back to cash flows is questionable when a company hands out a lot of equity to employees and uses cash in later periods to buy back those shares.

So how does the cash flow at Trimble Navigation Limited look? Take a peek at the chart below, which flags questionable cash flow sources with a red bar.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of last fully reported fiscal quarter. Dollar values in millions. TTM = trailing 12 months.

When I say "questionable cash flow sources," I mean items such as changes in taxes payable, tax benefits from stock options, and asset sales, among others. That's not to say that companies booking these as sources of cash flow are weak, or are engaging in any sort of wrongdoing, or that everything that comes up questionable in my graph is automatically bad news. But whenever a company is getting more than, say, 10% of its cash from operations from these dubious sources, investors ought to make sure to refer to the filings and dig in.

Trimble Navigation Limited's issue isn't questionable cash flow boosts, but items in that suspect group that reduced cash flow. Within the questionable cash flow figure plotted in ! the TTM period above, stock-based compensation and related tax benefits provided the biggest boost, at 5.7% of cash flow from operations. Overall, the biggest drag on FCF came from changes in accounts receivable, which represented 13.2% of cash from operations.

A Foolish final thought
Most investors don't keep tabs on their companies' cash flow. I think that's a mistake. If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're in a much better position to spot potential trouble early. Better yet, you'll improve your odds of finding the underappreciated home-run stocks that provide the market's best returns.

We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized stock tracking service.

• Add Trimble Navigation Limited to My Watchlist.

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Housing market outlook dim for 2012

According to RealtyTrac’s Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, 1.9 million U.S. homes were hit with default notices, foreclosures and other actions last year. That is a 34% decrease in total properties from 2.9 million in 2010. This marked the lowest annual level of U.S. foreclosure activity since 2007.

While on the surface this seems like a positive development, the catalyst for the drop was actually an increase in the time it takes for lenders to process the foreclosures. As a result of the robo-signing controversy, lenders performed a massive review of foreclosure procedures that delayed foreclosure proceedings and created a huge backlog in the pipeline.

�Foreclosures were in full delay mode in 2011, resulting in a dramatic drop in foreclosure activity for the year,� said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. �The lack of clarity regarding many of the documentation and legal issues plaguing the foreclosure industry means that we are continuing to see a highly dysfunctional foreclosure process that is inefficiently dealing with delinquent mortgages — particularly in states with a judicial foreclosure process.

The length of the average foreclosure process increased 24 percent from 281 days in the third quarter of 2010, when lenders began to re-evaluate foreclosure procedures in earnest. The three states with the longest average foreclosure timelines (New York, New Jersey and Florida) employ the judicial foreclosure process and take greater than 806 days to complete a foreclosure.

Lenders are getting more aggressive with the 3.5 million U.S. homes with seriously delinquent mortgages, setting the stage for a big wave of foreclosure action this year.

�There were strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets. We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity f! or 2012 higher than it was in 2011, though still below the peak of 2010,� Moore said.

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Why Precision Castparts May Be About to Take Off

Here at The Motley Fool, I've long cautioned investors to keep a close eye on inventory levels. It's a part of my standard diligence when searching for the market's best stocks. I think a quarterly checkup can help you spot potential problems. For many companies, products that sit on the shelves too long can become big trouble. Stale inventory may be sold for lower prices, hurting profitability. In extreme cases, it may be written off completely and sent to the shredder.

Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Precision Castparts (NYSE: PCP  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Precision Castparts doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, OK, it seems. Trailing-12-month revenue increased 16.4%, and inventory increased 20.6%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue expanded 14.2%, and inventory expanded 20.6%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks OK but not great. Revenue grew 1.5%, and inventory grew 2.8%.

Advanced inventory
I don't stop my checkup there, because the type of inventory can matter even more than the overall quantity. There's even one type of inventory bulge we sometimes like to see. You can check for it by examining the quarterly filings to evaluate the different kinds of inventory: raw materials, work-in-progress inventory, and finished goods. (Some companies report the first two types as a single category.)

A company ramping up for increased demand may increase raw materials and work-in-progress inventory at a faster rate when it expects robust future g! rowth. A s such, we might consider oversize growth in those categories to offer a clue to a brighter future, and a clue that most other investors will miss. We call it "positive inventory divergence."

On the other hand, if we see a big increase in finished goods, that often means product isn't moving as well as expected, and it's time to hunker down with the filings and conference calls to find out why.

What's going on with the inventory at Precision Castparts? I chart the details below for both quarterly and 12-month periods.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of latest fully reported quarter. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of latest fully reported quarter. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

Let's dig into the inventory specifics. On a trailing-12-month basis, work-in-progress inventory was the fastest-growing segment, up 39.4%. On a sequential-quarter basis, work-in-progress inventory was also the fastest-growing segment, up 6.6%. Although Precision Castparts shows inventory growth that outpaces revenue growth, the company may also display positive inventory divergence, suggesting that management sees increased demand on the horizon.

Foolish bottom line
When you're doing your research, remember that aggregate numbers such as inventory balances often mask situations that are more complex than they appear. Even the detailed numbers don't give us the final word. When in doubt, listen to the conference call, or contact investor relations. What at first looks like a problem may actually signal a stock that will provide the market's best returns. And what migh! t look h unky-dory at first glance could actually be warning you to cut your losses before the rest of the Street wises up.

I run these quick inventory checks every quarter. To stay on top of inventory and other tell-tale metrics at your favorite companies, add them to your free watchlist, and we'll deliver our latest coverage right to your inbox.

• Add Precision Castparts to My Watchlist.

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Tuesday’s ETF To Watch: MSCI Canada Index Fund (EWC)

Today marks the first trading day of the week, as U.S. markets were closed yesterday in observance of President’s Day. This coming week will be relatively calm compared to earlier in the year, as earnings season has ended and a lack of significant data from around the world will hopefully lead to calmer markets. Of course, there will still be a number of reports and economic indicators for investors to focus on, and our neighbors to the north are prepping a major data release for the day [see also Five ETFs George Washington Probably Would Have Liked].

Canada will detail its total retail sales for the month of December. This includes core retail sales, wholesale sales, and regular retail sales, with the focus being turned to core retail. That figure has surpassed analyst expectations for the last four months, but today’s report does not have as rosy of an outlook. Though the official prediction is for sales to fall around 0.1%, many speculate that they could turn out worse given all of the recent turmoil in around the world [see also�Doomsday Special: 7 Hard Asset Investments You Can Hold in Your Hand].�

Wells Fargo actually predicts a 0.2% drop in core retail citing a number of economic headwinds in the process. “‘Given the slowing momentum in Canadian consumer spending, it is hard to hold out hope for a fifth straight increase in retail sales.’ They also add that the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone as well as slow economic activity in the US requires from Canada to base on ‘domestic demand to sustain the economic expansion there.’� writes FXstreet. Canada’s last miss in retail sales came in September of last year (for the month of July) as the nation fell flat amid expectations of a meager 0.2% rise.

In light of this major economic report, today’s ETF to watch will be the�MSCI Canada Index Fund (EWC). This fund is designed to track the performance of the Canadian equ! ity mark et and is home to over $4 billion in total assets. Top holdings of the fund include a number of bellwether banks as well as the massive gold miner Barrick Gold. The fund has returned a solid 6.7% on the year while paying out a dividend yield of approximately 1.9%. If retail sales come in as expected or higher, look for EWC to make a jump on the day, but a sour report will likely lead to a rough trading session for this Canadian ETF [see also Why No Investor Should Own GLD].

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TCK, ANR, CNX, HES, ZMH - NYSE Stocks Closed Above Secure Line

Teck Resources Limited NYSE:TCK opened at $62.03 and with a gain of 4.56% closed at $63.75. Company’s fifty days average price is $53.43 whereas it has a market capitalization $37.59 billion.
The total of 4.62 million shares was transacted over last trading day.

Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. NYSE:ANR opened at $65.68 and with a gain of 4.25% closed at $67.38. Company’s fifty days average price is $52.30 whereas it has a market capitalization $8.11 billion.
The total of 3.66 million shares was transacted over last trading day.

CONSOL Energy Inc. NYSE:CNX opened at $51.44 and with a gain of 3.92% closed at $53.04. Company’s fifty days average price is $43.62 whereas it has a market capitalization $11.98 billion.
The total of 4.22 million shares was transacted over last trading day.

Hess Corp. NYSE:HES opened at $78.57 and with a gain of 3.85% closed at $80.99. Company’s fifty days average price is $72.42 whereas it has a market capitalization $26.60 billion.
The total of 4.84 million shares was transacted over last trading day.

Zimmer Holdings, Inc. NYSE:ZMH opened at $53.85 and with a gain of 3.57% closed at $54.89. Company’s fifty days average price is $51.75 whereas it has a market capitalization $10.84 billion.
The total of 3.19 million shares was transacted over last trading day.

 

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Two Things To Think About When It Comes To Business With Smoketip Reviews

Nowadays, most people are not liking the fact that they are working as employees in a certain company. They get tired of being bossed around, doing orders and being scolded and reprimanded by their peers and bosses. This is why most people would enter the business world because they don’t have to be anyone’s puppet. This way, they don’t have to be stressed out during deadlines and they can spend more time in using their smoketip coupon code. If you really want to join the clubs of businessmen, you have to think about some important points. It’s not as easy as being interviewed for a certain job position because there are a lot more at stake this time.

Before you start a business, you have to think about the availability of your financial capabilities. Being able to finance is such an important aspect in any business because this is where you will get money for your many expenses. Before planning on what business you want to take on, make sure that you have the right finances.

You also have to think of the kind of business you want to invest in. There are so many industries to choose from like in food chains, outsourcing, so on and so forth. One important factor that you have to consider thought is that you have to be capable enough to handle any business in that field.

Plunging into the business world without any knowledge about it is like suicide. So make sure that you know a lot about the business and also the field you chose. If you actually want to delve into a certain field of business, you can check out business books, magazines, smoketip reviews and any other publications that discuss business.

Just before you start a business, ensure that you have considered these tips and ideas. Whether you are going to include products like smoketip electronic cigarettes or cakes and pastries, you have to think first of your finances along with other important things. Don’t worry about making mistakes on the way. These can help you learn about the busines! s indust ry and make your own improvements.

Learn more about smoketip electronic cigarettes. Stop by Sonny Margen’s site where you can find out all about electronic cigarettes and what it can do for you.

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Good Stocks To Invest In 2012

As investors watch the tape on the first trading day of 2012, don’t think that the lessons of 2012 are going to be forgotten just yet.

 

After all of the volatility that swung the market from gains to losses in 2012, the S&P 500 index closed flat for the year, making a non-interest-bearing checking account a better risk-adjusted investment than stocks for the last 12 months. In the real world, market performance over the course of a calendar year is a fairly arbitrary measure — but for investment managers, who live and die by their annualized performance, returns from the first trading day of January to the last trading day of December are crucial.

 

Not all stocks were created equal last year — the 30 blue-chips that comprised the Dow, for instance, rallied more than 5.5% on average in 2012. At the same time, the Nasdaq Composite closed the calendar down 1.8%. And investors’ flight to quality is definitely still factoring into returns.

 

This week, we’ll aim to take advantage of those broad market tailwinds by looking at a new set of Rocket Stocks. For the uninitiated, Rocket Stocks is our list of companies with short-term gain catalysts and longer-term growth potential. To find them, I run a weekly quantitative screen that seeks out stocks with a combination of analyst upgrades and positive earnings surprises to identify rising analyst expectations, a bullish signal for stocks in any market. After all, where analysts’ expectations are increasing, institutional cash often follows.

Good Stocks To Invest In 2012:Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU)

 Prudential Financial, Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers various financial products and services in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The company operates through three divisions: The U.S. Retirement Solutions and Investment Management, The U.S. Individual Life and Group Insurance, and The International Insurance and Investments. The U.S. Retirement Solutions and Investment Management division provides individual variable and fixed annuity products, as well as offers retirement investment and income products and services to retirement plan sponsors in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. This division also provides investment management and advisory services to the public and private marketplace. The U.S. Individual Life and Group Insurance division offers individual variable life, term life, and universal life insurance products; and group life, long-term and short-term group disability, long-term care, and group corporate-, bank-and trust-owned life insurance products to institutional clients. This division also sells accidental death and dismemberment, and other ancillary coverages, as well as provides plan administrative services; and offers preferred provider and indemnity dental coverage plans to clients. The International Insurance and Investments division provides international individual life insurance products in Japan, Korea, and other foreign countries; and offers proprietary and non-proprietary asset management, investment advice, and services to retail and institutional clients internationally. In addition, the company engages in real estate brokerage franchise business, which involves marketing its franchises to the real estate companies. Further, it provides institutional clients and government agencies with various services in connection with the relocation of their employees. Prudential Financial, Inc. was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• By Matthew Scott At 2011-9-6

  Retiring Baby Boomers could make Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) a strong performer for years to come. Insurance products like its line of guaranteed income annuities have given it an edge over rivals and it continues to make inroads into other areas of investing. Prudential’s stock price increased more than five times over the last two years, jumping from $11.20 on March 9, 2009 to $61.58 at the end of the first quarter.

Good Stocks To Invest In 2012:CenterPoint Energy Inc (Holding Co) (CNP)

 CenterPoint Energy, Inc. operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company?s Electric Transmission and Distribution segment provides transmission and distribution services to retail electric providers, municipalities, electric cooperatives, and other distribution companies serving approximately 2.1 million metered customers. As of December 31, 2010, it owned 27,842 pole miles of overhead distribution lines and 3,728 circuit miles of overhead transmission lines; 20,390 circuit miles of underground distribution lines and 26 circuit miles of underground transmission lines; and 233 substation sites with a capacity of 52,938 megavolt amperes. Its Natural Gas Distribution segment engages in regulated intrastate natural gas sales to, and natural gas transportation for approximately 3.3 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers. This segment also provides various unregulated services consisting of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and appliance repair; and sells HVAC, and hearth and water heating equipment. It owned approximately 71,000 linear miles of natural gas distribution mains. The company?s Competitive Natural Gas Sales and Services segment offers physical natural gas supplies to commercial and industrial customers, and electric and gas utilities; physical delivery services and financial products; natural gas management services; and transportation services to shippers and end-users. Its Interstate Pipelines segment provides gas transportation and storage services to industrial customers and local distribution companies. It owned and operated approximately 8,000 miles of natural gas transmission lines; and 6 natural gas storage fields. The company?s Field Services segment provides gas gathering, treating, and processing, as well as operating and technical, and remote data monitoring and communication services. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Good Stocks To Invest In 2012:Maximus Inc. (MMS)

 MAXIMUS, Inc. provides operations program management and consulting services to state and local government agencies, federal agencies, and commercial customers primarily in the United States. The company?s Operations Segment provides various program management and operations support services for state, federal, and county funded public programs, and focuses on the delivery of administrative services for government health and human services programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, TANF, related workforce services programs, and child support enforcement programs. It also provides assistance to employers in accessing tax credit benefits and advocacy services for youth and disabled persons. The company?s Consulting Segment provides management and financial consulting services for state and local clients, focusing on services that directly support health and welfare, including health and human services consulting, financial services consulting, payment error rate measurement program services, and third party liability services, as well as fraud, waste, and abuse services. The Consulting segment also provides educational services, including TIENET, a solution to manage instruction, assessment, intervention, and special education cases; and consulting services, technical support, and software tools to higher education institutions. The company was founded in 1975 and is based in Reston, Virginia.

Good Stocks To Invest In 2012:Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW)

 Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides retail and wholesale electric services primarily in the State of Arizona. The company involves in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity through coal, nuclear, gas and oil, and solar resources. It also offers energy-related products and services, such as energy master planning, energy use consultation and facility audits, cogeneration analysis and installation, and project management with a focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy to commercial and industrial retail customers in the western United States. In addition, the company owns minority interests in various energy-related investments and Arizona community-based ventures; and develops residential, commercial, and industrial real estate projects in Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, and Utah. As of December 31, 2010, it owned or leased approximately 6,290 mega watts of regulated generation capacity; and serviced approximately 1.1 million customers. Pinnacle West Capital Corporation was founded in 1920 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Good Stocks To Invest In 2012:Iamgold Corporation (IAG)

 IAMGOLD Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral resource properties worldwide. It primarily explores for gold, silver, zinc, copper, niobium, diamonds, and other metals. The company holds interests in eight operating gold mines, a niobium producer, a diamond royalty, and exploration and development projects located in Africa and the Americas. Its advanced exploration and development projects include the Westwood project in Canada; and the Quimsacocha project, which consists of 3 mining concessions covering an aggregate area of approximately 8,030 hectares in Ecuador. The company was formerly known as IAMGOLD International African Mining Gold Corporation and changed its name to IAMGOLD Corporation in June 1997. IAMGOLD Corporation was founded in 1990 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• By Christopher Barker At 2011-9-2

  Although I have not shed my long-standing contention that Yamana Gold offers one of the more deeply discounted vehicles for long-term gold exposure, lately my outlook for IAMGOLD has turned particularly bullish. With a looming spin-off of a 10% to 20% stake in the company's reliably profitable Niobec niobium mine, and the recent sale of its interest in a pair of high-cost gold operations in Ghana for $667 million, IAMGOLD finds itself in terrific financial shape to execute an aggressive $1.2 billion expansion imitative at existing operations.

  Considering the $1.6 billion net asset value (after tax) that IAMGOLD recently assessed for the Niobec mine alone, and a presumed hoard of more than $1.2 billion (in cash, cash equivalents, and gold bullion held for investment), at a market capitalization of $6.9 billion I find extreme comfort in the market's resulting valuation for IAMGOLD's 15.2 million ounces of attributable gold reserves.

Good Stocks To Invest In 2012:Great Basin Gold Ltd. (GBG)

 Great Basin Gold Ltd. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal deposits. It explores for gold, silver, and aggregate. The company has two material projects, including the Hollister gold project consisting of a total of 950 unpatented, federal mining claims, covering approximately 69 square kilometers located in Ivanhoe Mining District, Elko County, Nevada; and the Burnstone gold mine comprising mineral rights covering approximately 35,000 hectares located in the Witwatersrand Basin goldfields in South Africa. It also holds interests in early stage mineral prospects, such as the Tsetsera Property in Mozambique; and properties in Tanzania and the island of Kurils in eastern Russia. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Sandton, South Africa.

Advisors' Opinion:

• By Hutchinson At 2011-10-20

  Great Basin Gold, Ltd. Common (AMEX:GBG): This equity had 13,465,632 shares sold short as of Aug 31st, as compared to 13,107,877 on Aug 15th, which represents a change of 357,755 shares, or 2.7%. Days to cover for this company is 5 and average daily trading volume is 2,917,536. About the equity: Great Basin Gold Limited explores and develops gold properties. The Company prospects for gold in the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa and the Carlin Trend in Nevada.

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How to Start Freelancing Full-Time

There�s a generation-changing trend coming down the pike. They call it the �gig economy.� In the gig economy, people no longer work for a single employer. Rather, increasing numbers of people work from home offices and coffee shops for themselves, with a number of different clients hiring them for their skill set.

The gig economy has a number of advantages and disadvantages for former employees. On the one hand, who hasn�t dreamed about working from home in their pajamas, rather than fighting traffic in the rat race? On the other hand, there�s something to be said for employer subsidized health care and not paying your own payroll tax.

Still, many people consider the trade-off to be worth it. If you want to quit the rat race and strike out on your own, we recommend the following process.

What�s Your Niche?

To freelance, you need some kind of niche, or at least a marketable skill. Graphic designers, draftsmen and even personal assistants will find it easy to pick up clients. Other trades, such as teaching or cooking, can be a little harder. Still, other jobs, such as waiting tables or sales, can be very difficult, if not impossible to do on a freelance basis. However, the main advice in this regard is to pick something that you love, as well as something that you are very good at. This way you bring both your passion and your skill set to everything that you do.

Making Time

It�s rare that someone is able to go from being a full-time employee to a full-time freelancer overnight. While it might be difficult, you need to make time for your new endeavor in your life. This means you will be working many long hours as you try and get your freelancing business off the ground. Still, this time spent will pay dividends as satisfied clients request more work and refer their friends to you. As time goes on, you might find that you will be able to decrease your workload at your regular job while you prepare to make the final leap into freelance bliss. Decide how much ! of your time budget can be allocated to freelancing, then hold yourself to it.

Transitioning

As you transition, you will find that more and more clients will come in. As stated above, you might have to start working less at your �regular� job. One important thing to remember is that freelancing can be very up and down. To that end, you�ll need to have a lot of money in your savings account before you can take the final leap off the cliff into the world of freelancing. Try to have about six months worth of living expenses saved up and be mercilessly conservative about dipping into this supply. Eventually, you can ease up, but as your first start freelancing full time, leave it alone.

Getting Clients

Many people are surprised to hear that you get clients in much the same way that you get jobs. Job boards and classified ads often have people looking for both long- and short-term freelancers. Your friends and professional contacts will know people who are looking for people to fill gigs in your field. Don�t underestimate the power of audacity, either. Many freelancers got their best gigs merely by showing up on someone�s doorstep and asking if they had any work that needed doing. Of course, you should also do a bit of marketing and advertising. Fliers, newspaper and classified ads and even simple, but professional-looking business cards can go a long way toward making you seem more like a pro — and looking like a pro is about 90 percent of the game. An online portfolio can showcase past accomplishments in an attractive package that shows you can get the job done.

A Word on Taxes

Remember that you�ll now be paying your own taxes. This means you have to withhold taxes from yourself. Every check that you get isn�t all yours. Just like in the working world, you�re going to lose about a third of your earnings to Uncle Sam. Open a separate account, throw your tax money in it and forget that it exists. Otherwise, April is going to be very, very unpleasant.

Set Yourself! Free

Getting free from the workaday world is one of the most liberating things a person can experience. No longer do you have someone telling you when and how to work. You�re your own boss, setting your own hours and getting things done in your own way. Once you get going freelancing, you�ll wonder why you didn�t do it sooner.

 

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Investments – The Art Of High Risk Investing

Most investment strategies pitch somewhere upon the continuum between a high risk / high return approach on the one end and a low risk / low return approach on the other. The problem with pursuing high investment returns, is that the capital value of investments may decrease in the short term before they increase again. The problem with conservative low-return investments is that the real value of capital may over time decrease due to inflation.

The art of investing lies in finding the approach that suits you personally best. One should on the one hand try to maximise the return on capital, but at a risk level that is acceptable to you. The question is what is regarded as acceptable risk and, is the acceptability a constant factor that stays the same under any circumstances? The answer is no. More risk is acceptable under certain circumstances, but before these circumstances are discussed, it is necessary to discuss the following terms that will be used, that are often confused:

Saving

Saving is the action of putting money aside. It means that money is not spend, but is kept at the owners disposal.

Investing

Investing means that money is handed over to a third party for purchasing assets with the purpose of long term investment growth. Investors transfer the their funds with the intention that financial assets like shares and bonds or hard assets like diamonds are bought. Investing does not mean to hand money over to dubious schemes.

Gambling

To gamble is normally understood as “to play a game for money or other stakes” like putting money on a roulette wheel or buying a lotto ticket. It can also mean to buy a share that you know nothing about or investing in a scheme you don’t understand.

Marketers of illegal schemes use the word “investing” to lure people to hand their money over to them. Initially, when “investors” receive h! igh payo uts, they think the scheme is the best investment thinkable. The fact that it has nothing to do with investment, only dawns on them when they lost all their money and it is to late to recover anything.

Speculation

Speculation means that a calculated risk are taken to make money on a relatively short term. One may for instance buy property with the purpose to sell it in a year or two at a higher price. The price of the property may not rise, but at least you have done sufficient homework to make sure that there is a high probability that it will rise.

Now that we are sure about the terms, we can look at the circumstances under which a higher risk may be appropriate.

Surplus income: The higher your surplus income, the higher the risk you should be able to handle in investing money.
Frequency of investment To invest a certain amount regularly, holds less risk than to invest a single amount at once.
Amount: If the amount you want to invest, is a small percentage of your total capital, you can accept greater risk.
Term: Greater risk can be handled with longer investment terms. Young people can therefore accept greater risk, but if the term of their financial objectives is shorter, investment portfolios should be structured less risky.
Income: If you receive an income from your investment, it should be structured more conservative with less risk. If you are not receiving an income at the moment, but plan to do so in future, you can decide to pursue a higher return till you need the income. When this happens, the investment could be restructured to reflect the new situation.
Investment experience: Investors with little investment experience should be more wary against risk than investors with lots of experience in this regard.
Dependants: Investors with more dependents should be more wary towards risk than those with few dependants.
Health: Healthy investors can handle more risk than unhealthy investors.
Diversification: An investor that already ha! s a well diversified investment portfolio, can accept greater risk with new investments than investors with undiversified portfolios.
Timing: Share investments are normally more risky than some other investments. Investment risk can however be reduced if shares are bought when the economic cycle is on it’s lowest. Risk can also be lowered if investors buy shares of strong well established companies with little debt and healthy balance sheets.
Emotional tolerance:Some people loves the adrenaline rush in going for high returns, with no regard to the risk. They are emotionally capable of doing it this way. For other, it is a nightmare if their investment fall by a single percentage point. One should therefore know how you will respond to sudden capital depreciation.

Summary

One’s view on risk forms an extremely important element in investment planning. It is as irresponsible to take unnecessary risks as it is to be satisfied with a low return on your money. However, to pursue higher return, goes with the responsibility to research the investment opportunity thoroughly before parting with your money.

Dr. Manus J. Moolman is the CEO of My Wealth and has done extensive research on investing strategies. My Wealth is dedicated to advising anyone from average every people to professionals to choose the best investment for their risk profile.

Want to contact us? Visit our website at: http://www.myebroker.info/

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Verso Paper attempts to close Outstanding Debt; Heavy Insider Buying

Verso Paper Corp.(NYSE:VRS) has traded as high as $2.77 during today�s trading session and last traded at $2.7699 for a gain of 22.56% from yesterday�s close� TEAR shares have traded as high as $2.25 over the past 52 weeks, which is 23.11% over that high at last traded stock price. Get my next ALERT 100% FREE

Verso Paper announced yesterday that its subsidiaries, Verso Paper Holdings LLC and Verso Paper, propose to issue $345 million aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes due 2019 in a private offering that is exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Notes will be guaranteed by certain domestic subsidiaries of Verso.

Verso also announced yesterday that it has received commitments from lenders for a new $150 million asset-based revolving loan facility and a new $50 million first-priority revolving facility. These commitments would be utilized in lieu of Verso’s previously announced $100.0 million of commitments for an accounts receivable securitization facility and approximately $55.0 million of commitments to provide a new and/or extended revolving facility under Verso Holdings� existing senior secured revolving credit facility.

Verso intends to enter into the new credit facilities as soon as practicable following the completion of the Notes offering and upon satisfaction of customary conditions. While Verso has received commitments from lenders for the proposed new credit facilities, there can be no assurance that Verso will enter into such facilities. The new credit facilities will replace Verso�s existing $200 million revolving credit facility which matures on August 1, 2012.

Multiple Form 4�s were filed on March 6 accumulating shares, which included the majority of the company�s executives.

 

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Best Wall St. Stocks Today:

Market participants now have the awaited data from the U.S. Labor Department on February unemployment and payrolls.� The official unemployment rate came in at 8.3%. The target from Bloomberg and other sources on the official unemployment rate to be 8.3%.

As far as non-farm payrolls, those grew by a reading of 227,00 for the month of February.� Bloomberg had a consensus estimate of 204,000 for non-farm payrolls and CNBC cited a consensus in non-farm payrolls figure of 210,000 for its estimate.

The number of total private sector payrolls, which kicks out government workers, came in at 233,000 for February versus the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 220,000.� The preliminary report in January was 257,000.

Average hourly earnings came in at +0.1% versus the Bloomberg count of +0.2%.

Today’s data is good, but probably not enough alone to drive a powerful day unless the positive revisions (which are not listed here) are included in the above-consensus data.

JON C. OGG

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Investment Opportunities – Good Or Bad?

Just how do you seek out investment opportunities and how do you pick the best ones?

The Prospectus

There are many offers for investing with companies and business entities that are made available to the public. These are usually made through the issue of a prospectus. This is a document that should give full details of the offer and also include an application form. The prospectus is a legal requirement for all entities that are involved in raising money from interested investors. The document is subject to very stringent regulations and as such can be accepted as correct in its content. To receive these offers a subscription to investment firms or a request made to a financial advisor will be needed. You can also research your area of interest and apply directly to companies that make offers of interest to the public.

To find the best in this style of investment is going to depend upon your interest area and the history behind the companies offering the investment opportunity. The specific returns on offer are contained in the prospectus and comparisons can be made. Do research in this area to find the best returns for your money.

Initial Public Offering

Another form of investment is the IPO. The initial public offer is an offer for initial capitol to be invested in new share market offering. Often a company will raise funds in this manner to gain the capitol needed to list on the Australian share market. These offers can be a good investment although the risk may be high. Those that buy into an IPO often rely on the initial listing share price to be higher than the price they have paid at the IPO stage. Many are rewarded but some are not. It may be just a matter of waiting for the price of the shares to rise as the company establishes itself and has lodged significant returns.

To find the best IPO offerings, do research on the company that is making the offer. Look at the mana! gement a nd the style of management. What is the history behind the company? Does the management have experience in this area or similar areas? What are the previous success stories that come with the management team? Look at what the company is trying to do and evaluate that industry or area of investment. Look to other companies that are doing the same thing and differentiate between the results of the established company and that of the IPO.

The P/E Ratio

When you are evaluating an established business or company, one of the main financial calculations that will be needed is the P/E ratio. This is the price to earnings ratio. The price is of a unit of value that the company has compared to the earnings that the company made for that financial year. It is a requirement of all companies to lodge their financial information at the end of each financial year so that taxation matters can be dealt with and that share holders are able to access the information needed to evaluate their performance. There can be many other pieces of finance information that the investor could look at, but the P/E ratio is the most important. It is important to learn how to invest in shares

James McInnes is a professional share market trader and investment entrepreneur, with many years experience trading the Australian Share market. You can visit his site to learn about Trading Options In Australia

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No More Angling for the Best Seat; More Meetings Are Stand-Up Jobs

Atomic Object, a Grand Rapids, Mich., software-development firm, holds company meetings first thing in the morning.

Employees follow strict rules: Attendance is mandatory, nonwork chitchat is kept to a minimum and, above all, everyone has to stand up.

Stand-up meetings are part of a fast-moving tech culture in which sitting has become synonymous with sloth. The object is to eliminate long-winded confabs where participants pontificate or tune out. Francesca Donner has details on Lunch Break.

Stand-up meetings are part of a fast-moving tech culture in which sitting has become synonymous with sloth. The object is to eliminate long-winded confabs where participants pontificate, play Angry Birds on their cellphones or tune out.

Atomic Object even frowns upon tables during meetings. "They make it too easy to lean or rest laptops," explains Michael Marsiglia, vice president. At the end of the meetings, which rarely last more than five minutes, employees typically do a quick stretch and then "go on with their day," he says.

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Holding meetings standing up isn't new. Some military leaders did it during World War I, according to Allen Bluedorn, a business professor at the University of Missouri. A number of companies have adopted stand-up meetings over the years. Mr. Bluedorn did a study back in 1998 that found that standing meetings were about a third shorter than sitting meetings and the quality of decision-making was about the same.

The current wave of stand-up meeting is being fueled by the growing use of "Agile," an approach to software development, crystallized in a manifesto published by 17 software professionals in 2001. The method calls for compressing development projects into short pieces. It also involves daily stand-up meetings where participants are supposed to quickly update their peers with three things: What they have done since yesterday's meeting; what they are doing today; and any obstacles that stand in the way of getting work done.

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A large stand-up meeting at Grand Rapids, Mich., tech ! firm Ato mic Object.

If employees are late to this meeting, often called a "daily scrum," they sometimes must sing a song like "I'm a Little Teapot," do a lap around the office building or pay a small fine, says Mike Cohn, president of Mountain Goat Software, Lafayette, Colo., an Agile consultant and trainer. If someone is rambling on for too long, an employee may hold up a rubber rat indicating it is time to move on. Companies make exceptions to their no-sitting rules if a worker is sick, injured or pregnant—but usually not for workers outside the office telecommuting on Skype.

One Microsoft Corp. development group holds daily meeting in which participants toss around a rubber chicken named Ralph to determine who gets to speak next, says group member Aaron Bjork.

As Agile has become more widely adopted, stand-ups have spread along with it. VersionOne, which makes Agile-development software, polled 6,042 tech employees around the world in a 2011 survey and found that 78% held daily stand-up-meetings.

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Office outfitters are responding by designing work spaces with standing sessions in mind. Furniture maker Steelcase Inc.'s Turnstone division, for example, recently introduced the "Big Tab! le," a l arge standing-height table designed for quick meetings.

Mitch Lacey, a Bellevue, Wash., tech consultant and a former Microsoft employee says that some of his former colleagues used to hold stand-ups in an unheated stairwell to keep meetings brief.

Holding meetings before lunch also speeds things up. Mark Tonkelowitz, an engineering manager for Facebook Inc.'s News Feed feature, holds 15-minute stand-ups at noon, sharp. The proximity to lunch serves "as motivation to keep updates short," he says.

Sometimes people cheat a bit. "We have some very good slouchers and leaners," says T.A. McCann, founder of Gist, a Seattle contact-organization tool acquired last year by Research In Motion, which holds a 10 a.m. stand-up three days a week.

Obie Fernandez, founder of Hashrocket, a Jacksonville, Fla., software design firm, says his team passes around a 10-pound medicine ball during stand-ups. For newcomers unaware of the practice, "it's pretty mean," he says, "but really the main thing you want is to avoid people pontificating."

Participants frown upon late arrivals, and some data-obsessed engineers have even computed the costs of tardiness. Ian Witucki, a program manager at software firm Adobe Systems Inc., calculated the cumulative cost over the course of a typical 18-month product release cycle of starting the stand-up just a little bit late every day.

The total—about six weeks of work for two employees—equaled the amount of time the firm could spend building one major feature on each product, he says.

Soon after, the team imposed a $1 fine for latecomers. Now staffers run down the hall to make it on time, says Mr. Witucki.

Jason Yip, a principal consultant at ThoughtWorks in Sydney, Australia, plays music such as Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up," to round up colleagues. "It acts like a Pavlovian bell," he says.

Meanwhile, the Starr Conspiracy, a Fort Worth, Texas, advertising, marketing and branding agency, signals its daily stand-up̵! 2;which it calls "the huddle"—with a few bars of the song, "Whoomp! (There It Is)," says partner Steve Smith.

"I'll be at a football game, hear the song and all of a sudden I have the urge to huddle up," says Mr. Smith.

Steelcase's Turnstone unit, which has been doing stand-up meetings for about a decade, for years played Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," to begin meetings. It recently switched to Elvis's "A Little Less Conversation"—a reminder to keep meetings brief, says general manager Kevin Kuske.

There are occasions when even a stand-up takes too much time.

At Freshbooks.com, a Toronto-based company that makes online accounting software, teams try to do daily 10 a.m. stand-ups. But on days when everyone is too swamped to gather around the company Ping-Pong table, team members will shout out their status updates from their desks, which are arranged in a circle.

They call those meetings "sit-downs."

Write to Rachel Emma Silverman at rachel.silverman@wsj.com

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