The Top Five Natural Gas Companies to Watch

Natural gas companies have struggled as the fossil fuel's overabundance in North American shale formations has led to decade-low prices.

But don't expect those cheap prices to be around long.

You see, by 2040 there will be nearly 9 billion people on the planet, up from about 7 billion today. Most of the growth surge will come from emerging economies, meaning energy demand in those regions will hit new highs.

A recent report by Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) predicts that while energy demand will remain essentially flat in developed economies, demand in emerging markets will rise by nearly 60%.

This growth is good news for natural gas, since the world increasingly favors lower-carbon energy sources. In fact, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts natural gas will surpass oil as the planet's number one source of energy beginning in 2035.

What's more, emerging economies are big importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the fuel's most portable form. That's why the world's biggest oil and natural gas companies are placing huge bets that LNG is the "new oil."

And most of their Monopoly-sized wagers are saying Australia's the place to find it.

Here's why Australia will be the globe's next energy hotbed.

Australia's $200 Billion LNG BetAustralia's vast resources along with its close proximity to fast-growing markets in Asia make it an ideal spot for big players looking to profit from the planet's insatiable appetite for energy.

"Australia is superbly placed to benefit from growing world gas demand, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region," Gavin Wendt, Founding Director and Senior Resources Analyst at MineLife told CNBC.

Now energy companies like Exxon and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) are reaching into the Outback and other remote parts of Australia to tap supplies of the world's next great energy source.

Australia's natural gas resources consist of about 390 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which could double in size if exploration for shale gas is successful. So the majors are racing to drill wells and build pipelines in a mad dash to tap the trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that will be converted into LNG.

And even though the country has strong environmental regulations, its stable political and legal systems make it a user-friendly partner for investors.

Australia is currently the fourth-largest exporter of LNG in the world behind Qatar, Malaysia and Indonesia. But a wave of LNG projects worth almost $200 billion is set to lift Australia to the number one spot by the end of the decade.

Three large-scale LNG projects are expected to come online in the next five years that will produce almost 59 million metric tons annually -- quadrupling Australia's capacity to roughly 83 million metric tons.

The biggest projects also involve the construction of LNG terminals to feed Asia's gas demand. Most of the gas will be converted to LNG and make its way to markets like China, South Korea and Japan.

The Natural Gas Companies Cashing in on Aussie LNGUnlike oil, the price of natural gas is regional, not global.

So while a million BTU of natural gas in the United States is now below $2.00, a million BTU of LNG trades for over $9.00 in the United Kingdom and $15.00 in Japan.

Since it will be years before the U.S. will be ready to export LNG, Australian producers will have the Asian markets to themselves for a while.

That's why the oil majors are venturing Down Under and betting billions on gas deals.

Investors should look for natural gas companies that are focused on coal seam gas, an unconventional fuel that's become one of the world's hottest energy plays.

One reason is that coal seam gas is cheaper to produce since the wells are shallower than shale and do not always need to be "fracked."

More than $20 billion has been spent on these deals by companies including Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE ADR: RDS) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP). Just two weeks ago Exxon took a 10% stake in a coal seam deal worth roughly $15 billion.

Chevron has also teamed up with Exxon on a major stake in the $41 billion Gorgon gas project, the country's largest gas resource.

The integrated oil majors are the types of companies that have the resources to develop these large scale projects.

But keep in mind these are long-term projects.

Rewards will only come to investors with the patience to hold the natural gas companies that are positioning to profit from Australia's vast resources.

Related Articles and News:

• Money Morning:
  Commodities-Rich Australia Leads the West's Recovery

• Money Morning: Natural Gas: Following T. Boone Pickens into the Energy Patch

• Money Morning: Double Your Profits in the New Age of Natural Gas

• Exxon Mobil Corp:
  2012 The Outlook for Energy - A View to 2040

• CNBC:
  Australia in Sweet Spot to Tap Growing Asia Natgas Demand

• Fox Business:
  ExxonMobil to Invest in Australia Coal Seam Gas Venture

Chesapeake Hedges Nearly All Expected 2011 Gas Production to Reduce Debt

For my best stock for 2011 selection, I went with low-cost natural gas producer Range Resources (RRC) on the off chance that this might be the year that natural gas drags itself off the mat. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) appears to have ruled out this possibility.

In an operational update released yesterday, Chesapeake revealed that it has hedged 96% of its expected natural gas production for 2011. I can't remember a time when the company has ever locked in virtually all of its production like this. At an average price of $5.84 per thousand cubic feet, though, the company is getting a strong realized price relative to where gas trades today. That $5.84 is even a premium to where the January 2013 futures trade.

While investors banking on higher gas prices in 2011 will probably want to place their bets elsewhere, I can't fault Chesapeake for this hedging move, especially considering the company's intended use of having the cash flows locked in.

Another major piece of Chesapeake's update yesterday was the announcement of a new "25/25 Plan," through which Chesapeake intends to reduce long-term debt by 25% over the next two years, while maintaining a production growth rate of 25%. The hedging program adds a great amount of certainty to the company's ability to fund this debt reduction. Chesapeake will also continue to monetize assets, as it has done with partners like CNOOC (CEO) and Plains Exploration & Production (PXP) over the past few years.

This isn't the first time Chesapeake has spoken about reducing debt, but it is a more coherent and credible statement than the one released last May. Back then, Chesapeake said its plan to reduce debt was to raise $5 billion to retire up to $3.5 billion, while spending up to $1.5 billion on liquids-rich plays. That one was a head-scratcher. This time around, it sounds like Chesapeake is finally ready to cool it with the land grabs.

This is a pretty big breakthrough, if it sticks. The move mirrors one taken by Devon Energy (DVN), which has also shed the empire-building routine and turned its focus to developing its existing captured resource base. Investors appear to have warmed to that company as it undertakes the transformation.

I'm thinking that Chesapeake, which has been more reluctant to let go of its expansionary ways, may see a similar change in fortune for its share price. I also can't help but wonder if recent pressure from a certain prominent shareholder helped management to see the light here.

6 Beverage Stocks to Drink Up

There are only a few things you can count on in life: death, taxes and an ice-cold beverage. If investors haven�t gotten the picture by now, they will never realize the obvious fact that when the going gets tough, people keep drinking — be it a frosty brew or an Atlanta-based staple of American globalism.

I watch more than 5,000 publicly traded companies with my Portfolio Grader tool, ranking companies by a number of fundamental and quantitative measures. And this week, I’ve got six beverage stocks to drink up.

Here they are, in alphabetical order. Each one of these stocks gets an �A� or �B� according to my research, meaning it is a �strong buy� or �buy.�

Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) is a huge international brewing company known best for Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck�s. BUD stock has gained 3% in the last�eleven-and-a-half months.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) is one of the world�s most recognizable beverage companies. A modest gain of nearly 1% year-to-date, coupled with a dividend yield of 2.8%, has kept shareholders pleased.

Companhia De Bebidas Das Americas (NYSE:ABV.C) is a Brazilian company that works with a variety of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages in 14 countries. ABV.C stock has posted a gain of 6% since the start of 2011.

Diageo (NYSE:DEO) owns a variety of beverage brands including, Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker scotch whisky, Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur, Captain Morgan rum, Tanqueray gin and Guinness stout, among others. DEO has gained 14% since the start of 2011, compared to a gain of 4% for the Dow Jones.

Fomento Economico Mexicano ADS (NYSE:FMX) is a holding company involved with the production, distribution and marketing of soft drinks. FMX has far outpaced the broader markets with a gain of 19%, year-to-date.

Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ:HANS) develops, markets, sells and distributes alternative beverages, including Monster Energy. HANS stock is up an incredible 80% since the start of 2011.

Get more analysis of these picks and other publicly traded stocks with Louis Navellier�s Portfolio Grader tool, a 100% free stock-rating tool that measures both quantitative buying pressure and eight fundamental factors.

Recent Insider Buys: 13 Industrial Goods Stocks

Academic research has shown that corporate insiders have an edge over ordinary investors, especially when it comes to purchasing stocks. Even small insider purchases are marginally profitable. On the other hand, insider sales have not outperformed the market historically. The reason is simple: insider sales are often motivated by diversification or liquidity needs, but insider purchases are not. Insiders usually have a lot of exposure to their company's performance. It does not make sense for them to increase their exposure, unless they know that their purchases have a high probability of being profitable.

Below, we have compiled a list of industrial goods stocks insiders are bullish about. All the companies have at least $2 billion market cap and were purchased by at least one insider during the past three months. The market data is sourced from Finviz.

Ticker	Company	Insiders
TEX	Terex Corp.	9
FLS	Flowserve Corp.	2
MDU	MDU Resources Group Inc.	2
WWD	Woodward, Inc.	2
BA	Boeing Co.	1
BWC	The Babcock & Wilcox Company	1
ETN	Eaton Corporation	1
FAST	Fastenal Company	1
HON	Honeywell International Inc.	1
NOC	Northrop Grumman Corporation	1
RBC	Regal Beloit Corporation	1
RSG	Republic Services, Inc.	1
XYL	Xylem Inc.	1

Terex Corp (TEX) was purchased by 9 insiders over the past three months. On January 11, Philip Widman, Kenneth Lousberg, and seven other insiders at TEX, bought hundreds of the company's shares at $15.82 or $16.31 per share. These nine insiders also bought hundreds of TEX shares in early December and in early November at about $17 per share. Currently, TEX is trading at $22.81 per share. The Street thinks these insider purchases are significant. TEX has returned more than 40% since January 11, versus 4% for SPY.

Terex is a diversified global equipment manufacturer of a variety of machinery products. We like TEX. Though the company's business was not robust due to the weak global economy, it has been recovering over the past year and getting better. The company has great potential in the emerging markets. We are optimistic about the company's future and believe it will continue growing over the next few years. We think its strengths offset its weaknesses, such as its small scale compared with its big competitors.

According to Credit Suisse, TEX has a target price of $53 per share, versus its current price of only $22.81. At the end of the third quarter, there were 14 hedge funds with TEX positions. For instance, Steven Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors had $14.5 million invested in TEX. Israel Englander and Jim Simons' Renaissance Technologies are also bullish about TEX.

Flowserve Corp (FLS) was also purchased by more than one insider during the past three months. It was bought by two insiders in November. Thoma Pajonas purchased 2,654 shares of FLS at $94.88 per share on November 9. Director Mark Blinn also bought 4,600 shares at $91.17 and another 2,400 shares at $91.80 at the beginning of November. FLS is now trading at $114.43, up 21% since November 9. During the same period, the market was up less than 10%. FLS has a market cap of $6B and a P/E ratio of 14.72. Flowserve is a manufacturer and aftermarket service provider of flow control systems. At the end of the third quarter, there were 15 hedge funds with FLS positions. For example, George Soros' Soros Fund Management had $2.7 million invested in FLS at the end of September.

MDU Resources Group Inc (MDU) and Woodward Inc (WWD) were also purchased by two insiders over the past three months. However, the insider purchases of both stocks were relatively small compared with those of FLS. Insiders bought nearly 10,000 FLS shares in total over the past three months, while they purchased about 5,000 MDU shares and 4,000 WWD shares. In November, William Connors purchased 3,136 shares of MDU at about $20.40, while Doran Schwartz bought 2,000 shares of the company at about $20 per share. In the case of WWD, while John Cohn bought 1,500 shares at $37.9707 on November 22, Mary Petrovich purchased 2,615 shares at $40.876 in early December. WWD is currently trading above $44, and MDU is up 8% since Doran Schwartz's purchase.

Other large-cap industrial goods stocks insiders are buying include Boeing Co (BA), Eaton Corporation (ETN), Fastenal Company (FAST), Honeywell International Inc (HON), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC), and Republic Services Inc (RSG). These stocks were only purchased by one insider over the past three months, which is usually not significant enough signal for a closer look. However, we will be tracking these stocks closely and will report additional insider purchases.

Overall, we like imitating corporate insiders. Our past studies have shown that insider purchases on average outperform the market over the next 12-month period. We believe that investors will be more likely to beat the market in the long term simply by buying stocks that are favored by several corporate insiders.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Humana Jumps 7% on Earnings

Managed care company Humana (HUM) rose 7% in morning trading after the company beat earnings expectations and raised its full-year outlook. The company also said next year’s earnings would come in slightly below this year’s projections, but Humana is known for conservative guidance and the dip isn’t phasing the Street.

The company posted $2.54 in EPS, 52 cents ahead of analysts’ expectations as surveyed by Thomson Reuters. It raised its full year EPS estimate to a range of $8.35 to $8.40, from its previous estimate of $7.50 to $7.60. For 2012, the company expects EPS in the range of $7.40 to $7.60.

Like Aetna (AET), Humana benefited from lower benefit costs, as its medical benefit ratio fell to 80.7% from 81.6%.

3 Budget Problems That Dwarf the Debt Ceiling

There�s a lot of fuss about the U.S. debt ceiling this week, including fears that the Treasury could �default� on its debt. Is the government going to go the route of so many hard-luck Americans during this downturn and just stop paying the bills?

Hardly.

As economist Ed Yardini wrote this week, the U.S. Treasury can still auction new securities to raise funds. And according to Yardini�s math, net interest expenses by the Federal government were $213 billion through the last 12 months that ended in April, while Treasury revenue totaled ten times that. Specifically, the last 12 months saw $2.27 trillion in revenues for the Treasury � including nearly $290 billion in April alone due to tax season.

In short, the only way the government will default on its debt is if it chooses to and current scare tactics are pure politicking.

That said, just because the Treasury can easily cover debt interest doesn�t mean the rest of our spending isn�t a big problem. And just because we won�t suffer the world�s ire for defaulting on our debts doesn�t mean the global economy isn�t going to exact a severe toll on America for recent policy missteps.

So forget about the debt ceiling: Here are 3 very real problems all investors and taxpayers should be worried about.

1. The Government Can Steal from Social Security and Medicare

There is talk about how the Treasury is now raiding the coffers of government programs to bridge its spending gap until Congress approves a higher debt ceiling. In a letter full of political bluster on Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced he would tap into two government employee pension funds to free up cash.

As discussed, this isn�t necessary � just a political trick. But thanks to this mayhem, one of the government�s ugliest sins is now front and center in the media. Namely, the ability to steal from programs with a surplus to sate its spending appetite.

And by programs, I mean Social Security and Medicare.

• Related Article: How to Trade the Debt Ceiling Crisis to Quick Profits

While it�s true Social Security and Medicare technically have a ��surplus� in their trust funds that will cover payments for decades to come � recent estimates are 2036 for Social Security and 2024 for Medicare � the raid on the pension programs shows that your retirement funds from Uncle Sam may not be as secure as you think.

If the Treasury has the ability to steal from pension programs, who cares how much of a �surplus� entitlements have socked away if they too are subject to Uncle Sam�s sticky fingers? When it comes time to break open the piggy bank and there�s nothing but IOUs inside, where will the money come from to pay for the food an electricity of America�s seniors?

Perfect World Shares Jumped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of online game maker Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD  ) jumped 16% today after the company responded to allegations of fraud.

So what: On Monday shares took a dive after a blog on Tianya, a Chinese social-networking site, alleged an investigation was ongoing at the company. Today the company responded with a �firmly and forcefully� written nine-point press release. Maybe the most notable thing is that an independent audit committee of the company�s board has been reviewing the allegations and independent legal counsel will assist in the review.

Now what: This kind of response is exactly what you want from management when accusations are brought up, although I�m not sure the words �firmly and forcefully� will help convince anyone. Investors are still worried any time fraud is brought up in relation to Chinese small-cap companies because too often it has proved to be true. Since I don�t know which side to believe, I�ll enjoy my seat on the sidelines and let the bears and bulls battle it out in the market. If past experience is any indication, it could be a long, drawn-out battle.

Interested in more info on Perfect World? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

Once Again, Kicking the Can Down the Road

So while sitting at a conference in NYC, one of the speakers noted that his partner just emailed him that the Dow was down over 900 and the partner was wondering what he had done in NYC to cause this. Everyone chuckled and everyone pulled out their respective mobile devices to see if it was true and not just a joke. After all, I looked before I went to the conference on Thursday morning and futures were pretty much flat, but he was not joking about the Dow. I responded,"Wow, I did not see that coming."

Well, actually, I did. I have seen it coming since March 9, 2009, when the market started its incredible climb off the recession lows. I was not sure exactly when, how or what the precipitating event would be, but looking at fundamentals it was just a matter of time. Now everything could be honky dory tomorrow or next week. I have totally given up trying to figure the market in the short to medium term as there are simply too many variables to consider, but I am still a bear in the long term and my investment strategy this year has totally focused on long term fundamentals.

The world debt problem has not been corrected. It has shifted to government coffers in many countries but is still there. Greece is one somewhat extreme example of it, but is by no means alone. This is a worldwide problem and few countries are immune. Even the "immune" countries, i.e. those with no real internal debt issues, are going to feel it as trading partners suffer. It ain't going to be pretty folks.

So what happens next? Undoubtedly governments in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere will put new assurances in place that everything is fine to calm the markets. Perhaps a few billion more here or there will be spent to calm fears and we will have a recovery of sorts from the current anxiety. The VIX will go back down, credit markets will calm and all will be fine - at least on the surface. But then we will catch up to that damn can again. Each time it seems the can gets bigger and heavier and we cannot kick it as far as last time. When we catch up we will try to kick it again and will probably succeed a bit, but eventually we will not. Eventually it will be time to pay for our foolishness. Greece is already there and some other countries are not far behind. Eventually, virtually all of us will be there-- including the good old U.S. of A.

You see, this is what happens when you do not take your medicine. When you do not try, in an orderly fashion, to dismantle corrupt companies that caused the problem and do not deserve to survive, and instead spend hundreds of billions to keep them alive, continuing to do a lot of the same stuff that got us here. This is what happens when you try to solve a debt crisis with more debt. This is what happens when you have policies in place that promote people, corporations and governments living wildly beyond their means. This is what happens when you focus on short term gains over long term stability, which we have easily done for at least a generation.

So here is where I see things unfolding. As noted above, given the market woes this week, you will see some government support coming out; it could be the EU, IMF, U.S. or whoever, but some, probably many, officials will be making a lot of public statements on how the situation is controlled and Greece will be fine. The folks in Greece will, meanwhile, continue to riot as their lifestyles just got flushed down the toilet. Mind you, none of us would like this to happen to us, so I understand, but the truth is they made their bed - we all did. Greece will then be followed by other countries facing the same situations. It could be the other PIIGS, it could easily be the UK or the U.S., or it could be Japan. We could also see a bubble or two soon popping in China. There are so many ifs here no one can say, but I can say I do not see many rosy scenarios.

Debt is only going away if either those owing - either individuals, companies or governments - default, modify, or pay it down. I think default is in the long term cards for Greece and a few other countries, as the people simply will not live with the relatively long term pain of paying down the debt. The middle ground of some negotiated modifications, i.e. haircuts, is certainly possible and probably a good middle ground, but that still will cause some havoc in the markets as a lot of financial institutions - you know, the ones we just saved - hold a lot of this public debt. It is going to be painful any way you look at it.

So what do we do in the U.S.? It is not rocket science folks. Dismantle companies that should not survive. Put in place policies that promote people spending less, paying off debts and, God forbid, saving some money. But politicians cannot fathom this. If people spend within their means we cannot possibly support an economy built on excesses. The housing market depends on people spending beyond their means. Retailers do too, as do all those commercial real estate landlords. We would most certainly suffer a long and hard recession. It would be absolutely horrific if we have to live within our means as our U.S. economy would take a hit of several percentage points on the GDP. We, like those in Greece, do not have the tolerance for such financial pain. After all, we love our stuff. I am not immune, I love my stuff. I do not want to live without my stuff. No one does. And so, we incur more government debt and we kick the can again.

I don't know about you, but my toe is beginning to hurt.

Disclosure: I have put options on various financial and other companies - and they did very well yesterday (after being down a boat load on put options the past year).

Nothing Generic About Watson Stock

Pharmaceutical companies that sell generic drugs are trading at attractive valuations, offering investors a nice entry point, writes Bernstein Research analyst Aaron Gal in upgrading shares to Outperform. Watson is a little more expensive than rivals Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) and Mylan (MYL), but is still “cheap” at 8 times 2014 earnings expectations.

Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI) “looks like a solid grower in the next two years,” Gal writes. Most importantly, WPI agreed to buy Swiss rival Actavis earlier this year, bolstering its presence in Europe. That could give the company’s earnings a jolt.

“Assuming minimal internal growth of both Watson and the acquired business, Watson could grow its net income by $542M by 2015. Assuming the $542M are perpetuity and discounting it to present at a 5% rate suggests the deal will generate 67% return on investment. We note that applying a higher discount rate would make this deal unattractive with the value of the deal going negative between 7%-8% (it is amazing how much the current interest environment is altering economic incentives).”

Apple Acquires Siri, Maker Of Mobile Assistant iPhone App

Apple (AAPL) has acquired Siri, a San Jose-based producer of� a “virtual personal assistant” app for the iPhone. The software basically provides a natural language search function for mobile devices. The news was broken by blogger Robert Scoble, who picked up on an FTC filing about clearance for the deal.

Update: A spokesperson for SRI International points out that Siri is a spin-out from the Menlo Park-based research institution, in particular their Speech Technology & Research Lab. SRI owns a stake in the company.

The Wall Street Journal in February said the company had raised $24 million from Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures; the story said the company indicated it also had raised funding from the Li Ka Shing Foundation. Scoble speculates that the deal could be for $200 million, but he’s just guessing.

Knoll Shares Got Crushed: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of furniture company Knoll (NYSE: KNL  ) fell 17% at the start of trading today, after the company released fourth-quarter earnings and announced two acquisitions. Since the big sell-off, shares have recovered much of that loss and are trading down 3% as of this writing.

So what: In the fourth quarter of 2011, sales fell 7% to $223.1 million, driven by weak demand in the company's office segment. Earnings per share after excluding one-time items were $0.30, falling well short of the $0.37 in earnings per share that analysts had expected.

The company also announced the acquisition of FilzFelt and Richard Schultz Design, adding to the company's specialty designs.

Now what: Management thinks that weakness seen in the fourth quarter will continue into the first half of 2012 but doesn't indicate a long-term decline. Since government spending is being scrutinized from the federal level to municipalities, it isn't at all shocking that this part of Knoll's business is suffering. With shares recovering most of their losses, I'm not seeing a great buying opportunity for today and would wait for either a better entry point or a turnaround in earnings.

Interested in more info on Knoll? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

How to Turn 100 Dollars Into Millions

For most people, the idea of turning a hundred dollars into a million bucks, much less into millions of dollars, is an alien thing.� Unless, of course, turning 100 into a million is a simple operation of adding the appropriate number of zeros, which it is not.� However, there are ingenious ways to actually make a million dollars out of your hundred dollars.� It just takes imagination, determination and passion to become a hundred-dollar man to a million-dollar man.

Invest Your Money in Stock Investments

Yes, there are stocks in publicly-traded companies on the Big Board that you can purchase for a hundred dollars, give or take a few dollars for minimum enrollment fees.� Of course, the presumption is that you will initially bypass hiring a stockbroker for this purpose since you want your hundred dollars to remain relatively intact from the stockbroker fees.

For example, you can invest in J&J stocks for as little as $100 with a $10 enrollment fee.� This is assuming that you will automatically purchase a $100 worth of stocks every month from your bank account until you have reached the minimum stock purchase requirement of a thousand dollars.� Yet another example is Coca-Cola that allows for the purchase of one share of stock without an enrolment fee.

Also, you can invest in penny stocks.� Most of these stocks will sell at an average of $5 per share.� Keep in mind that some of the penny stock companies make money albeit they are not listed on the Big Boards due to market cap limits.

Invest Your Money in a Compounding Interest CD

If you have accumulated a sufficient number of hundred dollar bills, you can invest it in a compounding interest certificate of deposit (CD) in either a bank or a credit union.� You have the guarantee of your principal investment being returned to you with a respectable interest income.� In fact, for many investors, a CD is the safest investment you can have in your portfolio.� Of course, you must choose the CD with the highest possible returns, all other things being equal on the terms and conditions front.� Also, you must stay on top of your CD investments as you do not want them to roll over into low-yielding accounts once they reach maturity.

Double Your Profits

If you are into business, the best way to turn your dollars into millions is to double your profits with every investment.� When you constantly and consistently double your profits, your hundred dollars can turn into a million dollars in about 12 separate investments while reinvesting the profits.� For example, you must invest in a product that can be purchased for the lowest possible price of $100.� Now, sell it for more than double its amount such that you can recoup your investment of $100, cover your operating expenses and still get your $100 net profit.

As a start to profitable investing, you should learn how to trade penny stocks. Visit http://www.pennystocktradez.com/ for more strategies.

Advisors Attracted to Independent Model

In another sign of just how important breakaway brokers are to the major custodial firms, Charles Schwab released on November 20 the results of a new survey of advisors at major financial firms which found that six out of ten respondents (59%) say the idea of being an independent investment advisor appeals to them and nearly half of the respondents indicated they would actually consider a move to independence.

The survey polled 200 financial advisors at 15 major full service firms, including wirehouses, banks, and independent broker/dealers, more than half of whom have more than a decade of investment advisory experience. Some 80% of those advisors said that they felt that their clients are more loyal to them than to the firm for which they work and 54% believe their employer's brand is not an asset that helps them acquire or retain clients.

"The success of independent investment advisors has not gone unnoticed by the industry at large, and there are now more individuals and teams who are investigating whether the independent model is right for them," said Barnaby Grist, senior managing director with Schwab Advisor Services, in a statement accompanying the survey release.

Grist also noted that not all advisors who are interested in independence want to start their own businesses from the ground up. This is echoed in the survey findings, as more than half of the advisors participating in the survey (56%) say they would rather join an existing RIA than start their own firm. "Plugging into an existing firm is an increasingly popular choice, and more RIA firms are building business models and technology platforms that allow this to take place," said Grist. "As a result, independence has become a viable option for a greater number of advisors."

The survey finds that the more familiar advisors are with the concept of being independent, the more likely they are to consider such a move. In fact, of those respondents who know someone who is or has considered becoming an independent advisor, 77% find the idea appealing.

When considering the perceived challenges to going independent, advisors surveyed cite having back office support (55%), obtaining new clients (39%), and having access to research and information to support investment decisions (30%) as the top three concerns.

Schwab indicated that as of the end of September 2009, 126 teams have moved to an independent model with the firm this year. This is an increase from 123 teams in all of 2008 with a quarter still left to go.

Download a copy of the Schwab advisor survey here.

3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: Nov. 10

What's happening in small business today?

1. Jobs for veterans.The International Franchise Association, in conjunction with the White House and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, launched an initiative to recruit 75,000 veterans and 5,000 wounded warriors by 2014 to the franchise industry. The initiative, Operation Enduring Opportunity, will be kicked off by first lady Michelle Obama in Washington as part of the White House Joining Forces Initiative.

See if (AXP) is in our portfolio

Ten franchised companies will be kicking off similar events in their local communities across the U.S. on Thursday. "As tens of thousands of service men and women return from deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan and Southwest Asia, expanded opportunities are needed to ensure that veterans and their families are able to transition into the civilian economy. With its rapid training opportunities, defined structure and systems and need for operational excellence, franchising provides an ideal structure to enable returning veterans to become leaders of and productive participants in the U.S. economy," says IFA President and CEO Steve Caldeira. "We encourage all franchise businesses, including franchisors and franchisees, to answer the call to offer jobs and career opportunities to veterans, wounded warriors and their families," Caldeira adds. "Not only is this critical for the economic and social stability of veterans and their families, but it is an important component of the U.S. economic recovery."Check out TheStreet's Small Business section on Friday to read about franchises offering special incentives to veteran owners. 2. Steve Forbes on small business. Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, is teaming with American Express(AXP) OPEN to answer questions about venture capital opportunities today on American Express OPEN's Facebook page.Forbes' first tip: Be careful what you ask for.He wasn't talking about inadvertently taking on responsibility for small-business advice, though. He was warning that bringing on venture capital has risks. "They will often take a big chunk of equity and they won't hesitate to push you out if they don't think you are up to managing a fast-growing enterprise," he says of VC or angel investors.3. Wal-Mart causing further ruckus for small-business owners. Small-business owners in Southern California, watch out: As if you don't have enough competition from Wal-Mart (WMT), the giant discount retailer set up two small Walmart.com stores in area malls that will be open through the holiday season, Reuters reports. Wal-Mart is apparently experimenting with the smaller, temporary holiday stores that will carry gift-giving options. They're mainly showrooms where shoppers can buy via the Internet, and a spokesman told Reuters there is "no plans to expand these stores at this time." Uh, OK, we'll just see a few hundred of them next season. To follow Laurie Kulikowski on Twitter, go to: http://twitter.com/#!/LKulikowskiTo submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.Follow TheStreet on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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Sirius Swinging Higher, Stock Heading To $2.11

Sirius XM�s stock got a nice boost last Friday after a brokerage upgraded the stock. This followed the company disappointing some investors with lower-than-expected subscriber additions in the third quarter.

Nevertheless, the general sentiment among analysts, as well as the state of economy, suggest that Sirius is positioned to build on its success so far. Most encouraging is that car makers like Ford and General Motors have reported improved sales in October, a trend that might carry on in the holiday season as a result of a possibility of continued improvement in the U.S. economy.

See our full analysis for Sirius XM

Our price estimate for Sirius XM stands at $2.11, implying a premium of about 25% to the market price.

Wall Street journal, Nov 2 2011 [?]

Buffett: European economic and U.S. home construction will encumbering economy, Taiwan News, Nov 15 2011 [?]

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This Morning: Pondering the PC Pall, Lifting Apple Numbers

Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:

The Street this morning is reflecting upon personal computer data put out late yesterday from Gartner and IDC that was about as bad as most people expected. The firms estimate PC sales fell 0.1% from Q2 of last year to Q2 of this year.

Mizuho Securities’s Abhey Lamba this morning writes that the data suggest “below normal trends” will continue through this quarter, with a return to normal seasonal sales in the December quarter. And Keith Bachman of BMO Capital writes that “the build-out for Win 8 will start in August and continue into September. Hence, September-quarter shipments should see a lift sequentially.”

But, he adds, “We still think Q4 PC sell-out will be disappointing, owning to our concerns about Win8 and weak macro.”

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) saw a big drop in those PC numbers; its shares this morning are off 55 cents, or 2.8%, at $19.14. Dell (DELL), also a loser in the latest PC numbers, is down 23 cents, or 1.9%, at $12.05.

With the poor PC numbers, analysts continue to dump cold water on component suppliers. Nomura Equity Research’s Romit Shah this morning writes, “We can�t make a fundamental argument for being long any semiconductor stocks in today�s environment where global GDP growth is decelerating. Overall, we expect Q3 revenue guidance to be 3-7 points below normal seasonality.”

And Raymond James’s Hans Mosesmann writes of Intel (INTC) this morning that, Q3′s numbers may be too high.

“We would not expect a meaning miss in Q2 given that Intel has pre announced every quarter in which sales finished below its guidance (since 2007),” he writes, but “with consensus assuming 9% quarter over quarter growth for 3Q’12, we believe investors could be set up for a disappointment when Intel reports Q212 results.” That report is next Tuesday, July 17th.

Intel shares are down 62 cents, or 2.4%, at $24.75.

One thing, at least, was rising in estimation this morning: Apple (AAPL). Charlie Wolf�with Needham & Co. writes that the company probably sold more iPads than expected in the June quarter, on the order of 20 million, up from his prior 13.5 million estimate.

“In our view, it�s only a matter of time before iPad shipments exceed iPhone shipments,” writes Wolf. “The iPad is invading the business market at a much faster pace than the iPhone.”

Apple shares this morning are down $7.38, or 1%, at $597.05.

In case you missed it,�The Wall Street Journal‘s Greg Bensinger this morning has an ominous article about how Amazon.com (AMZN) could be getting in over its head if it thinks it can sell a smartphone of its own. Bensinger points out the “cut-throat” nature of the smartphone market. He quotes one analyst, Ramon Llamas of IDC, who says, “This is not the same market as selling a tablet, which people use primarily for consuming media.”

Amazon shares this morning are down $4.67, or 2%, at $213.70.

Is Shorting Groupon Worth The Cost?

One of the embedded costs to shorting is the need to borrow the shares first on margin. Usually it's a relatively low (although not inconsequential) rate... but with the scarcity of shares available for recent IPO Groupon (GRPN), the borrowing costs are so high on an annualized basis - you'd actually have to see the stock go to zero to make a profit. (Assuming borrowing costs don't fall over time, which they will as more shares are unlocked down the road) Of course, any institution shorting right now is probably doing it on a much shorter time frame than a year - due to cost alone!

• On paper, Groupon Inc appears to be a juicy target for short sellers: it loses money, it has changed its accounting twice, and its unproven business model faces competition from Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN). But the shorts may have to wait as betting against the daily deals website is just too expensive right now because of its tiny share float.
• To make money shorting the $15 billion company, which went public earlier this month, investors would have to see the stock go close to zero for a year-long bet. "It would be very premature and highly risky to consider shorting Groupon soon after the IPO," said Fred Moran, an analyst at Benchmark Co. "It's very difficult to borrow the stock on a newly issued security and it has a very low float."
• Groupon sold a stake of about 6 percent in its initialpublicoffering, one of the smallest in the past decade. That means there is little stock available for short sellers, who have to borrow shares before they can sell them. If the stock drops, they can buy it back at a lower price, return them to the lender and pocket the difference as profit.
• A scarce supply had some brokers charging an annual rate of 90 percent to 100 percent last week to borrow Groupon stock, according to two hedge fund managers, one independent trader and one prime broker. They spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve their counterparty relationships.
• A 100 percent rate, or negative rebate as it is known, means a trader has to pay $20 to borrow a $20 stock for a year. In this instance, Groupon stock would have to drop to close to zero within a year for a short seller to break even. So traders are only shorting the shares for very short periods, such as a few hours, or avoiding the trade all together.
• Another way to bet against the company is to buy put options, which give the holder the right to sell shares by a given date at a particular price. The cost of put options on Groupon were high on Monday, the first day of options trading. Put options that expire in December and carry a $24 strike price were priced at about $3. Factoring in that premium, an investor would be betting on shares to fall below $21.
• Call options -- a bet on a stock rise -- traded at a $1.50 premium, suggesting more demand for the stock to fall.
• "Everyone is expecting the stock to slide and there is definitely a higher skew to put activity, but you need to really believe that there will be a drastic move on the downside to buy puts at this premium," said Ryan Detrick, senior analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Disclosure: No position

4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Turkcell

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Turkish telecom provider Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri (NYSE: TKC  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Turkcell facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Istanbul (1993)
Market Cap	$10.4 billion
Industry	Wireless telecom services
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$5.83 billion
Management	CEO Sureyya Ciliv (since 2007) CFO Serkan Okandan (since 2005)
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)	19.2%
Cash/Debt	$3.34 billion / $1.92 billion
Competitors	Vodafone Group (Nasdaq: VOD  )

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 97% of the 870 members who have rated Turkcell believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include robertshrestha and All-Star 4thRockFool.

Earlier this week , robertshrestha tapped Turkcell as a tempting turnaround opportunity:

Stock's been beaten up on Euro fears and partner disputes. This is a bet that both concerns will be resolved eventually and the juicy dividend coming back. I like my chances.

In fact, Turkcell boasts a robust three-year average operating margin of 23%. That's higher than that of other large telecom plays like Vodafone (16%), AT&T (NYSE: T  ) (17%), and Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) (17%).

CAPS member 4thRockFool elaborates on the Turkcell bull case:

Turkish telecom with nice [previous >4.5%] dividend. Dispute among three partners -- Sweden's TeliaSonera, Russia's Altimo and Turkey's Cukurova -- over control of the company has resulted in delay of annual meeting and failure to make annual dividend distribution. Stock has been hammered presenting a buying opportunity for those with an appetite for risk.

What do you think about Turkcell, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Owning exceptional stocks is a surefire way to secure your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to find them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!

Thursday Options Recap

Sentiment

An exciting trading session Thursday was not. Retailers were in focus early as a number of companies, including Costco (COST), The Gap (GPS), and American Eagle (AEO), reported January same store sales results that topped expectations. Attention was also on the day’s economic data, which included a decline of 42,000 in jobless claims during the final week of January. Economists were looking for a drop of 32,000. The ISM Services Index also improved more than expected. The gauge of non-manufacturing activity jumped to 59.4 in January, from 57.1 in December and significantly better than the 57 that was expected. Finally, separate data showed Factory Orders up .2 percent in December. Economists were way off the mark on that one too. They were looking for a decline of .6 percent. The surprisingly strong economic data and same store sales numbers are weighing on bonds. The yield on the ten-year is now at 3.54 percent and moving beyond the multi-month highs seen in mid-December. Escalating civil unrest in the Arab world is also a factor. Nevertheless, trading on Wall Street has been orderly and, in fact, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 15 points heading into the final hour. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is up 3.5 points and 27 points off of session lows. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) gave up .58 to 16.72. Overall options trading volumes are light, with 7.1 million calls and 6.1 million puts traded so far.

Bullish Flow

Massive trade in Yahoo (YHOO) Thursday morning after an investor pays 30 cents for the April 18 – 20 call spread, 46500X. The position is tied 744K shares at $16.45 and looks like an aggressive play on the Internet giant. 53000 now traded and might roll down in strike prices, as open interest in the April 20s is 53,873. April 18s look opening.

Spyders (SPY) lost 20 cents to $130.29 Thursday morning and on investor sells 66000 Feb 132 calls at 69 cents to buy the Mar 132 – 135 call spread at $1.08, 100000X. The impressive three-way spread looks like a roll out of Feb calls and into a bullish spread in March.

Bearish Flow

CVS Caremark (CVS) gapped lower at the open and is trading down $1.75 to $32.90 after the company reported fourth quarter earnings that beat Street views, but revenues missed expectations and CVS also offered downside guidance for the 2011 fiscal year. Shares are now down 4 percent since 1/28 and some investors appear to be liquidating Feb 33 puts and calls on the news. Mar 32 puts are the most actives. 2,300 traded (91 percent bid) vs. 1,259 in open interest, as some investors might see the weakness as an opportunity to write out-of-the money puts. Feb 34 calls, Mar 33 puts, May 33 puts, and May 35 puts are seeing interest as well. Implied volatility is down 15 percent to 23, compared to a 52-week high and low of 39 and 20.

Implied Volatility Mover

Heavy trading in China MediaExpress (CCME) options. Shares are down 35 cents to $16.26 and 13,500 puts traded on the Hong Kong ad agency. The action is scattered across Feb puts with strikes ranging from 10 to 18. Mar 15 puts are seeing some interest as well. Implied volatility is up another 15 percent to 158 and has rallied (from about 98) since shares came under pressure in late-January on negative broker commentary. Shares have now tumbled 28.8 percent since 1/28.

I Feel the (Rare) Earth Move Under My Feet

This month China announced the formation of a rare-earth industry association. After a series of other moves aimed at protecting its scarce and essential rare-earth resources, this should alarm investors, but it could lead to some potential opportunities. Investors' ability to profit will depend on their tolerance for the seismic activity in this space.

Rare earth: uncommon dirt?
Let's pause here to define what we're talking about. Rare-earth elements are prized for their magnetism, luminescence, and strength. Manufacturers use them in a stunning array of products, from smartphones to wind turbines to hybrid cars. No rare earths, no Angry Birds. For something so scarce and inaccessible, rare earths are ubiquitous in our everyday lives.

In the 80s the U.S. was the dominant source of rare earths. Since then it has lost nearly all of its capacity, and become almost completely dependent on imports for this precious resource.

The Manchurian element
China produces 97% of these elements and enjoys 99% of global separation capacity -- whereby the elements are separated from one another into useful form -- even though the country is home to only 50% of global reserves.

China has been tightening supply on rare earths for some time now. Many investors remember 2009, when the country set serious export quotas on these elements, much to the concern of foreign companies dependent on the flow of raw materials. This latest move to create an industry association was reportedly designed to consolidate a sprawling industry and manage the environmental risks of ore extraction. Cynics see an attempt to shore up production for domestic use.

Rare-earth specialists expect Chinese domestic demand to catch up with supply around 2015. That would leave a huge shortfall of a vital raw material for countries like the U.S. People should be a lot more concerned about this than they seem to be. Did I mention that rare earths are critical to many essential military applications?

Dig it up and sell it, right?
Let's consider the rare-earth value chain. Making money in this space is not as simple as digging stuff out of the ground and selling it. If you were grabbing your prospecting tools and heading for the hills, please reconsider. Mining is just the first stage of the value chain. Once the ores are extracted, they need to be separated into their valuable components, which sometimes exist in very small concentrations. After separation, the resulting oxides are refined into metal. Still not finished. Those metals are fabricated into alloys, and only then can magnets and other components be manufactured for use in finished products.

This is important, because experts believe that unless the U.S. has domestic or friendly capacity at every level of this value chain, the country will be vulnerable. Remember how I mentioned projections that Chinese domestic supply and demand would converge? That doesn't leave much for the rest of us.

Replace, reduce, or recycle
Some end users have responded by pursuing a "replace, reduce, or recycle" approach to their rare-earth inputs. Toyota's (NYSE: TM  ) Prius probably incorporates more rare earths than any other product. In January, Toyota announced that it had developed a new technology that would subvert the need for rare earths in hybrid cars. The company specifically cited the Chinese near-monopoly and said that Toyota could bring its new technology to market within two years -- if the price of rare earths does not come down. While the company released no further details, I read that to mean that Toyota would still prefer to use rare earths if the supply can be improved.

Vestas Wind Systems (NasdaqOTH: VWSYF.PK), like other wind turbine manufacturers, relies on rare earths for the magnets that make its turbines more efficient. Vestas shares other companies' concerns about rare-earths supply and is responding in two ways. First, the company is searching for alternative supplies from other countries. Second, Vestas is emphasizing its technologies that rely less heavily on rare earths. This could leave Vestas playing catch-up with competitors who are actively pursuing new turbine technologies, irrespective of their reliance on rare earths.

Vertical integration
One company shines through the gloom as a potential solution to rare-earth supply woes. Molycorp (NYSE: MCP  ) was once the world's primary rare-earth supplier until abundant supplies and low-cost production in China created the situation we have today. Now the company is staging a come-back, and it's got a whole new look.

Molycorp's "mine-to-magnet" strategy could redefine the industry. It is bringing its once-productive Mountain Pass mine back online in late 2012. Molycorp has also developed a proprietary separation process that stands to make the company the world's lowest-cost operator, with projected costs of about $2.77/kg, compared to China's estimated $5.58/kg. The company has also acquired several rare-earth separators, refiners, and alloy producers. See how Molycorp is covering that value chain?

Molycorp's recent announcement that it will buy Neo Material Technologies could be a true game-changer. The deal will allow Molycorp to produce valuable magnets that auto manufacturers and others prize. �Experts believe this puts Molycorp in a position to guarantee not only supply, but prices. That, in turn, would likely stimulate demand as new applications are developed on the basis of a reliable supply.

All of this leaves Molycorp sitting on a gold mine -- rather, a rare-earths mine -- and it's going for paydirt. The ride will likely be bumpy, but still worth it.

If you want to learn about other technological paradigm shifts that will affect China, check out our free report, "The Future Is Made in America."

5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Southern

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, electric utility giant Southern (NYSE: SO  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

Southern facts

Headquarters (founded)	Atlanta (1945)
Market Cap	$38.6 billion
Industry	Electric utilities
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$17.7 billion
Management	Chairman/CEO Thomas Fanning (since 2010) CFO Arthur Beattie (since 2010)
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)	11.7%
Cash/Debt	$1.3 billion / $21.3 billion
Dividend Yield	4.3%
Competitors	CenterPoint Energy Entergy NextEra Energy

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

On CAPS, 95% of the 1,068 members who have rated Southern believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Earlier this month, one of those Fools, tayoub22, tapped the stock as a solid long-term income opportunity:

I started investing in [Southern] stock in 1976. Throughout the years Southern has performed admirably in terms of increased dividends, value and growth. From some of [Southern] dividends I had purchased other stocks that added healthy growth to my portfolio. ... No wonder [Southern] is given a five-star rating by [Motley Fool CAPS].

Of course, despite its strong five-star rating, Southern may not be your top choice. If that's the case, we've compiled a special free report for investors called "Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks," which uncovers several other juicy income opportunities. 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.

Effective Methods for A Successful Business Site Launch

Launching a successful website can help you gain all sorts of recognition from your target audience. Even though it takes time to build a proper reputation, you’ll get noticed if you help get your launch right. So many great sites failed to gain favor and all because they weren’t launched properly or successfully. Not everybody enjoys taking all of the right steps and carefully setting up a successful launch for projects and websites. If you look at it in its core, it isn’t all that hard to do. Does your company have the best wordpress themes or can it still improve?

Regardless of launch day or not, what your visitors go through and see on your site should always be of excellent quality. There should never be any kind of glitches with anything on your brand new site. Everything needs to work in order and all the bugs ironed out – so check the hyper-links to see if they’re working fine. You can check everything out in a very short period, so do the right thing and make sure you are good to go. A more complex site will require you to go beyond what you would normally do, too.

These days social media has become incredibly popular. People are better able to connect with each other through social networks and are getting more involved all the time with them. You need to make sure that you have all of your social media accounts registered early on. You want to make sure you take the professional route and register all of your social media accounts in the same name of your website. It’s important that you don’t attempt to do all of this after you launch or you could lose your chance to get all of the account names that you want. So while you register for your site’s domain name, get your social media accounts in place. Even though it might not seem like the most important step to take right now, as you move on you will find the success that you crave.

These days social media has become incredibly popular. People are connecting through social networks and are getting more involved with them. Make sure that you register your social media accounts as early as possible. It is professional to make sure that you have registered all of your social media accounts in the name of your site. Don’t do this after the launch, or else you may lose the chance to get the account name you want. So even though you’ve registered your website’s domain name, you need to also get your social media accounts in one place. Even though it might not seem like the most important step to take right now, as you move on you will find the success that you crave.

A good launch cannot be rushed; remember that. To create a profitable launch, you need to be really well prepared and make sure that you spend the proper amount of time to get everything right. Also, when you’re rushing you might zip through some obvious spelling/grammatical mistakes, or even miss a few bugs on your site. Test out all of the various components of your website and analyze your site content to see if there is anything that might need to be changed or fixed. If you have done your work correctly, you won’t find any mistakes. Take it slow and steady, so that you win the race.

Having a successful launch doesn’t guarantee anything, but it does make it easy for you to be progressive. Even on launch day, get right down to promoting your site in the manner you have decided upon. You may have limited knowledge if you are just starting out, and that is fine because the important thing is you are taking action. Continue to educate yourself about successful launching practices, and soon you will an old hat.

To get the best wordpress theme go to www.clonemywebsite.com.

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Total: Why I Am Still Bullish On This 5% Yielder

Total (TOT) has made some major energy investments since I last profiled it on Seeking Alpha in September. The stock also has moved up some 20% since then as well. Given its low valuation, high dividend and expanding energy exploration opportunities; I believe it still has significant long term upside.

Key Events since September for Total:

1. Total and Chesapeake Energy (CHK) entered into a shale JV based in Ohio. Total will take a 25% stake in the venture and has paid $700M up front to do so. It also has made a commitment to pay another $1.63B over up to 7 years to help cover capital spending in the venture. This gets Total into the rapidly expanding Utica shale reserves.

2. Inpex Corp. (1064.TO) and Total SA recently gave the green light to construction of one of Australia's most expensive energy projects, estimated by the pair to cost US$34 billion to build over the next five years. This is a bold bet on the continued needs to supply energy to fast growing Asia.

3. Total and Statoil (STO) are planning a $38.2B investment in the largest drilling campaign in the U.K.'s North Sea in over 15 years. The initiative will focus on 50 deposits with an estimated 2B barrels of oil, and will eventually account for nearly a third of the U.K.'s expected output by 2019.

Key value observations on TOT:

• It still is under analysts' price targets. The median analysts' price target on Total is $62. S&P has a "Buy" rating and a $73 price target on the stock.
• Even after its 20% run up since September, it still yields north of 5% and also has a low beta for an energy stock (.91).
• Total still is selling near the bottom of its five year valuation range based on P/B, P/CF and P/S.
• The stock is extremely cheap at around 7 times forward earnings and less than 5 times operating cash flow.

Disclosure: I am long TOT.

5 Energy Deals Not to be Forgotten in 2012

After Chesapeake Energy(CHK) and Devon Energy(DVN) both unveiled shale stake spins worth over $4.5 billion on Tuesday, investors should be reminded that there is more than enough dry powder to fuel an energy deal boom in 2012.

Chesapeake Energy sold a 25% stake in its Utica shale joint-venture with EnerVest to French oil giant Total (TOT) for $2.3 billion, meanwhile Devon Energy announced a sale of a 33% stake in five of shale prospects to Sinopec(SIPC) of China for $2.2 billion, giving a fast start to 2012 energy M&A after the sector led 2011 deals.

See if (BP) is in our portfolio

On news of their deals and rising oil and gas prices, Devon Energy and Chesapeake Energy shares spiked in Tuesday trading. With continued bullishness in the oil and gas sector, companies like BP(BP), Marathon Oil(MRO), SemGroup(SEMG), El Paso(EP) [currently being acquired by Kinder Morgan(KMI) for $37.9 billion in the largest deal of 2011], Quicksilver Resources(KWK) and Chesapeake Energy could see a similar deals -based jolt if pending spinoff and divestiture plans were to be realized.Even with its shale stake sale, Chesapeake Energy may not be done cutting deals after a big first trading day of 2012. The company was one of the the 5 most crazy company sellers since the financial crisis, and it's still got further asset spin plans.In September, Frac Tech, a shale gas drilling specialist partly owned by Chesapeake Energy planned an IPO to raise $1.15 billion, only to hold the offering on a weakened oil and gas services industry outlook in December. In the meantime, the Wall Street Journal reported last month that potential Chinese and Saudi bidders could offer up to $2 billion for Chesapeake's stake in the company, providing a big windfall. Chesapeake Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon said in November that the stake could be worth $3 billion. McClendon added that an IPO of Chesapeake's oilfield services unit could draw up to $7 billion, Bloomberg reports.Devon and Chesapeake's Tuesday sales were just two of many pending energy deals to watch for in 2012. Here are five other deals that are already in progress.5. A Quicksilver Resources Barnett Shale Spin?In October, Quicksilver Resources(KWK) said it will sell interests in its Barnett Shale assets in a spinoff causing shares to rally and then sink. By creating a master limited partnership of roughly 18% of its shale assets in the Fort Worth, Texas- Barnett Shale, Quicksilver then expects to IPO the partnership in a tax free manner that is said could raise $400 million. With the funds, Quicksilver intends to retire almost half of its $940 million in callable debt by the end of 2012."The creation of this MLP achieves several goals for Quicksilver. We believe we will be able to monetize a large maturing asset base at attractive prices which can eliminate all of Quicksilver's existing public debt over the next few years," said Glenn Darden, CEO of Quicksilver when announcing the deal.To be seen is whether an ensuing stock slump will cause Quicksilver Resources to reconsider the spin or look for different strategic alternatives.When the plan was unveiled Lazard Capital Markets' Drew Venker raised the question of whether Quicksilver could raise the money it projected via a spin.In another October note, Brian Corales of Howard Weil wrote, "This deal came as a bit of a surprise but is positive. KWK clearly needs to raise capital to reduce the Company's debt." Corales expected the company to raise money by entering a joint-venture in its interest in a Horn River Basin pipeline or selling its BreitBurn Energy Partners stake.Previously, chief executive Thomas F. Darden and his family had shown interest in taking the company private, but reversed course this March. The Darden family founded the Fort Worth -based Quicksilver in 1963 and took it public in 1999.

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4. Marathon Oil Consolidates Deepwater Assets.

After making a big shale push with a $3.5 billion purchase of KKR(KKR)-owned Hilcorp Resources and its Eagle Ford shale assets, Marathon is expected to consolidate its deepwater oil exploration portfolio. In a November third quarter earnings release, Marathon said that it would look to sell up to $3 billion in non-core assets - following a spin of its refining and marketing operations now called Marathon Petroleum Company(MPC) after a June IPO. Separately, Marathon Petroleum announced a sale of its 50% stake in the Seaway Pipeline to Enbridge(ENB) in its third quarter earnings.

Also in November, Bloomberg reported that Marathon Oil was in talks to sell its Angolan offshore operations to Sinopec and other Asian buyers for $800 million, according to two people with knowledge of the process. Reports also indicated that Marathon may look to sell 30% of a joint venture in its Gulf of Mexico deepwater assets for $1 billion to Asian buyers as part of the Houston -based company's announced plans of oil asset sales. Currently, Marathon has a 10% interest in a key deepwater drilling asset offshore of Angola called Block 32, where Total has a 30% interest and the Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol has a 20% interest.After pursuing an ambitious split of its exploration and downstream assets, to be seen is how Marathon Oil will consolidate its deepwater oil assets as it pushes into shale.3. Plains All American Pipeline's SemGroup BidIn November, energy pipeline transporter SemGroup(SEMG) rejected a $24 a share hostile bid by Plains All American Pipeline(PAA), rebuffing a $1 billion October bid in another crinkle for the multi-year takeover saga. But who's to say all deal talks are off?The bid wasn't the first time Plains made a play at SemGroup, only to see its offer called "opportunistic" and "undervalued." The now quashed hostile bid was a culmination of almost two years of opposition by Plains to SemGroup's recovery strategy from a 2009 bankruptcy and resulting civil litigation with the Securities and Exchanges Commission. In March 2010, Plains offered to buy SemGroup out of bankruptcy for $17 a share. The offer that was rejected by SemGroup's board and company instead went public in November 2010 and priced at over $24 a share on the first day of trading.In August, SemGroup announced it would raise $181 million by doing a public offering of Rose Rock Midstream(RRMS), which it IPO'ed a 41% stake of in December at $19 a share, raising $140 million. SemGroup also announced a spin of its SemStream businesses to NGL Energy(NGL) for $279 million in cash in in November.SemGroup's followed its post-bankruptcy planning on its terms - but to be seen is whether spins and continued obstinacy will curtail Plains from making a bid that SemGroup or its shareholders can't refuse.

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2. BP Shops its Pan American Energy Stake

In November, British oil giant BP saw a $7.1 billion deal to sell a majority 60% stake in an Argentinean oil venture called Pan American Energy for $7.1 billion fall through when its partners Bridas of Argentina and CNOOC(CEO) of China objected to negotiations. The move was a hit to BP, which in October announced it would raise $45 billion through divestitures by 2013.

Currently, BP is contesting its Gulf of Mexico oil spill liability with Halliburton(HAL), which is the contractor that provided cementing on the Macondo well piping. Earlier in January, BP argued in New Orleans court that Halliburton should be held liable for spill related costs, which Bloomberg reports have already hit $21 billion and could reach the $40 billion that BP has provisioned for.After CNOOC and Bridas walked away from BP's Pan American sale, the company indicated in a statement that it would be "happy to return to long-term ownership" of the assets after its finances improved. In November, BP said that its sale program is focused on eliminating "non-strategic assets and not driven by a requirement to raise cash." Nevertheless, BP returned quickly to the deals table, plugging its M&A spill. In December, BP sold its natural gas liquids business in Canada to Plains All American Pipeline(PAA) for $1.67 billion. Depending on the outcome of the Halliburton litigation, spill-related costs and oil prices, BP may or may not be eager to reach its recently announced $45 billion divestiture mark. Since June 2010, BP has announced over $17.5 billion in assets, with just over $10 billion in sales coming from oil exploration and production assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of December -- less than 40% of its divestiture goal.1. El Paso Asset Spins or Sales In October, Kinder Morgan purchased El Paso in the largest deal of 2011 that valued the company at $38 billion and quashing a previous plan by El Paso to spin its oil exploration and production assets. In May, El Paso unveiled a spin of its exploration business, which contains valuable Haynesville and Eagle Ford shale assets in an IPO that would create a standalone company valued at $4.7 billion.After Kinder Morgan stalled those IPO plans, the exploration asset sales are still expected. When announcing the merger, Kinder Morgan said it will fund the hefty price in part by selling El Paso's exploration assets, according to Chief Executive Richard Kinder. For Kinder Morgan, the deal was part of an effort to bolster its already giant pipeline operations, targeting the transport of the oil and gas coming from the shale boom currently underway in New York, Louisiana, Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Ohio among other regions. With El Paso, Kinder Morgan would become the largest independent natural gas and petroleum transporter in the U.S. Currently, the deal is being contested in Delaware courts by some El Paso shareholders who object to the takeover in favor of the previously announced asset spin. If the merger were to be approved in 2012, the next question is whether Kinder Morgan would spin El Paso's exploration assets in an IPO or look for an outright buyer.

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Exxon Downgraded: Losing Profitability Going into Q2

ExxonMobil (XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson was brutally honest about the near-term results of Exxon’s decision to add exposure to natural gas with its purchase of XTO Energy: “We are all losing our shirts today,” he said in June. “We’re making no money. It’s all in the red.”

Indeed, the company’s increasing reliance on natural gas has brought its profitability down, writes Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey in downgrading the shares to Hold.

“That damaging exposure has cost ExxonMobil its leadership in per barrel profitability, taken by Chevron, where we expect the least quarterly results drama of all,” Sankey writes.

Exxon is in a weak position heading into its quarterly results, says Sankey.

“As regards the quarter, the issue with ExxonMobil is indeed the drag of US natgas, and the extent to which booming refining and marketing margins offset this. Related directly to the surprise on unconventional oil, it is a logical extension that ExxonMobil grossly under-estimated the impact on refining, particularly on the profitability of light-sweet US refiners vs heavy-sour complex coking units. In short, they are not ideally suited for the environment.”

Instead, Sankey prefers Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Chevron (CVX).

“In a sector that has aggressively de-rated because investors hate drama, Chevron is our top pick alongside Oxy, where solid volumes will generate a solid result, in our view, even if once again the Phibro trading operation exacerbates the negative impact of the down move in oil prices.”

U.S. stocks rise on Greek austerity vote

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) � U.S. stocks closed broadly higher Monday after Greece approved austerity measures to ensure funds needed to avoid default.

�This will provide enough financing to avoid a disorderly default in the near term, but it�s unlikely the story is over,� said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group in Pittsburgh.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �rose 72.81 points, or 0.6%, to 12,874.04.

Click to Play 2011's stock losers are on a tear

SmartMoney's Jack Hough points out that the S&P's 10 worst-performing stocks in 2011 are all of a sudden up nearly 40% in 2012. (Photo: AP)

Coming back after its first weekly decline this year, the S&P 500 Index SPX �added 9.13 points, or 0.7%, to 1,351.77, with industrials gaining the most and utilities the only laggard among its 10 industry groups.

U.S. equities followed stocks around the globe in welcoming Greece�s approval of austerity moves, with European finance ministers now considered likely to ratify a 130 billion euro ($172 billion) package for Greece when they meet in Brussels on Wednesday. Read more on what�s next for Greece.

Gains were broad. On the Dow, 25 of 30 stocks closed higher. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners by more than three to one.

Volume was light, however. Some 683 million shares traded hands on the NYSE; composite volume was 3.6 billion, well under last year�s average of 4.3 billion.

Among outperformers, shares of Apple Inc. AAPL �rose 1.9% to $502.60, closing above $500 for the first time, as the iPhone and iPad maker said a nonprofit labor group has started inspecting working conditions at the factories of its suppliers, including Foxconn�s plants in southern China. Read more on tech stocks.

Other notable gainers included Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK , rising 2.4% after the oil and natural-gas producer said it would sell off as much as $12 billion in assets and issue another $1 billion in debt to cover expenditures this year. Read more on energy stocks.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �climbed 27.51 points, or 1%, to 2,931.39, a new 52-week high.

Oil futures �in New York topped $100 a barrel amid concern a ban on Iranian crude could curb global supplies. Read more on oil futures.

Gold prices �edged lower to end at $1,724.90 an ounce. In an annual letter to investors, billionaire Warren Buffett reportedly contrasted the metal�s rise to other asset-price bubbles, and dismissed latecomers to the market, saying: �What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end.� Read more on metal stocks.

In Washington, President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.8 trillion budget proposal that includes tax hikes for the wealthiest Americans, setting the stage for his re-election campaign. Read more on Obama�s budget.

Also, House Republican leaders said they may set a vote for later in the week on a �backup� plan to extend a 10-month payroll tax cut for the rest of the year without figuring first how to pay for it. The tax cut is now set to expire Feb. 29. Read more on the budget.

Walt Disney Misses on Revenues but Beats on EPS

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS  ) reported earnings on Feb. 7. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q1), Walt Disney missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew slightly and GAAP earnings per share improved significantly.

Margins expanded across the board.

Revenue details
Walt Disney booked revenue of $10.78 billion. The 25 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for sales of $11.19 billion. Sales were 0.6% higher than the prior-year quarter's $10.72 billion.

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

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.80. The 28 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.71 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.80 for Q1 were 18% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.68 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 20.3%, 220 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 20.3%, 220 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 13.6%, 140 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $9.62 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.62.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $42.90 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.99.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 4,827 members out of 5,154 rating the stock outperform, and 327 members rating it underperform. Among 1,453 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 1,411 give Walt Disney a green thumbs-up, and 42 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Walt Disney is outperform, with an average price target of $41.74.

• Add Walt Disney to My Watchlist.

Market Is Missing This Apple Story

Apple (AAPL) has recently announced that Steve Jobs will be resigning as Chief Executive Officer and will be succeeded by Tim Cook. This announcement caught many investors off guard. Investors expected Jobs to step down from day-to-day operations one day, but they didn't think that it would be so soon.

After the announcement, AAPL dropped as much as 7 percent in after hours trading. AAPL is presenting long-term investors with a great buying opportunity. Many investors feel that the change in management will cause AAPL to lose focus. I don't see any evidence of this, in fact I would argue that AAPL is on track to do spectacular. Jobs has been on medical leave since January 17, with his responsibilities being handled by Cook. I see a smooth transition with no reason to panic.

Here are some positives working in Apple's favor:

Product Lineup - Iphone 5 is expected to launch this coming October. This is once again be a big driver for AAPL. Going into the fourth quarter the Iphone will once again be a big hit. Sprint (S) is rumored to be able to sell the new Iphone at launch. This could be a big driver of earnings for AAPL, especially due to the holiday shopping season. Sprint being a value leader, could introduce a new type of customer to Apple products. Apple has long targeted premium customers through partnerships with AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ). This could all change with this new partnership. Sprint would be the third national carrier to be able to sell the Iphone and will expand AAPL's potential customer base by 50 million.

International expansion - AAPL is in talks with China Mobile (CHL) and China Telecom (CHA). AAPL has long been trying to grow their distribution in China. A deal with two of China's largest wireless providers will grow China distribution by leaps and bounds.

Expand Market - AAPL is expected to launch a lower priced version of the Iphone 4. This version is expected to be necessary in order to compete in the emerging markets. I see AAPL gaining new market share upon launch of this lower priced device.

I'm bullish on Apple and view any pullback as a buying opportunity. The market is over reacting to the news and is presenting long-term investors with an excellent buying opportunity. Steve Jobs will still serve as Chairman of Apple and I feel will still keep an eye on the long-term direction of the company.

Apple will continue to outperform and I don't see any reasons why that would change. Apple will continue to execute its plans and will reward shareholders who keep the long-term view in mind.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.