Why Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources Were on Fire Today

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 Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF  ) jumped 17% today after the company released earnings.

So what: Revenue fell 6%, to $1.14 billion, and net income dropped 74%, to $97.1 million, or $0.60 per share after adjusting for one-time items. Analysts expected earnings of $0.32 per share, so the company did far better than expected, which is why the stock jumped. 

Now what: Cliff's may have beaten estimates, but the industry trends still aren't working in its favor. Global iron ore volumes fell 10% in the quarter and prices are down, which is why profit was so low. I'm not betting on an industry in decline and would sell the bump today.

Interested in more info on Cliffs Natural Resources? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

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European Stocks Little Changed; BAT Gains on Sales

European (SXXP) stocks declined, snapping a four-day rally for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, as companies from Bayer AG (BAYN) to Volvo AB (VOLVB) reported earnings. U.S. index futures were also little changed, while Asian shares advanced.

Bayer AG fell 1 percent after reporting worse-than- estimated earnings. Unilever fell 1.8 percent after the world's second-biggest consumer-goods company reported the slowest quarterly revenue growth in two years. British American Tobacco Plc (BATS) gained 2.1 percent after first-quarter sales surpassed projections. Volvo climbed as truck orders increased.

The Stoxx 600 slipped 0.4 percent to 293.61 at 9:28 a.m. in London. The benchmark gauge has still rallied 3 percent so far this week as company earnings beat forecasts and investors speculated the European Central Bank will cut interest rates. It has advanced 5 percent so far this year. Contracts on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose less than 0.1 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.8 percent.

"We see a lot of disappointments, a lot of companies missing forecasts," Patrick Legland, head of research at Societe Generale SA, said in an interview with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television. "So long as we don't have a nice recovery in economic figures, we'll see this more and more. The worse the economic situation will be, the more investors will be expecting the ECB to step in."

U.K. Economy

In the U.K., the Office for National Statistics releases data at 9:30 a.m. that may show the country avoided an unprecedented triple-dip recession. Gross domestic product grew 0.1 percent in the first quarter after contracting 0.3 percent in the previous quarter, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Bayer dropped 1 percent to 79.82 euros. Germany's biggest drugmaker posted first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and special items of 2.45 billion euros, trailing the 2.55 billion-euro estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Unilever fell 1.8 percent to 2,794 pence in London. So- called underlying sales, which exclude acquisitions, disposals and currency swings, rose 4.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. The median analyst estimate had projected a gain of 5.5 percent.

Royal KPN NV slipped 5.2 percent to 2.63 euros. The Dutch phone operator said it will sell 2.84 billion new shares for 1.06 euros each, a 62 percent discount on yesterday's closing price of 2.78 euros.

BAT Sales

BAT climbed 2.1 percent to 3,623 pence. Europe's largest cigarette maker said first-quarter sales excluding currency swings rose 5 percent. That beat the 3.7 percent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Volvo advanced 1.6 percent to 91.75 kronor after saying truck orders rose 11 percent to 61,045 in the first quarter. The world's second-largest truckmaker reported first-quarter operating profit of 482 million kronor ($73 million), missing the analysts' average estimate of 1.63 billion kronor.

Nobel Biocare Holding AG rallied 4.7 percent to 9.95 Swiss francs, its largest increase in three months. The world's second-biggest maker of dental implants posted first-quarter net income of 13.3 million euros, exceeding the 11.7 million euros projected by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Straumann Holding AG, the largest dental-implants maker, gained 2.8 percent to 122 francs.

Bankia SA (BKIA) jumped 10 percent to 13.92 euros. The Spanish lender that posted a record 19 billion-euro ($25 billion) loss in 2012 swung to profit in the first quarter. Net income was 74 million euros in the first three months of the year, the bank said late yesterday. That surpassed the 46.3 million-euro average analyst projection.

The volume of shares changing hands in companies on the Stoxx 600 was 13 percent greater than the average of the past 30 days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

RadioShack's Turnaround Plan Has a Glimmer of Hope

RadioShack's  (NYSE: RSH  ) most recent earnings report could be likened to a stay in base camp before an ascent of Mount Everest. Many details emerged of the company's near-term plans for its journey upward toward profitability. That journey will be a treacherous one, but I believe one item from the many it discussed in its earnings release gives RadioShack and its shareholders a glimmer of hope for the future.

The plan
On this quarter's conference call, Joseph Magnacca gave investors the rundown on what the company plans to focus on over the coming months, and it boiled down to three areas: senior management, in-store experience, and brand awareness. The new CEO spoke with poise on the call and appears to be quite comfortable at the helm. In my opinion, he's well aware of what challenges RadioShack faces. 

Source: RadioShack Press Center.

Management
The company brought in two more outsiders to the senior leadership team over the quarter, with Jennifer Warren as chief marketing officer position and Michael Defazio as SVP of store concepts. These two hires appear to be great additons: Warren comes from renowned ad agencies Razorfish and GSD&M, and Defazio brings with him 36 years of retail experience and has also worked with Magnacca at Walgreen. The search is still on for a chief merchandising officer, and then the management team will be complete. It appears Magnacca has been diligent about bringing in executives with turnaround experience, but only time will tell whether his new roster will score big.

Brand awareness
Do you get warm fuzzy feelings when I say, "Let's go to RadioShack"? Probably not. The Shack brand of my youth has long since passed, and the company has struggled to find its identity as of late. To tackle this problem, the company is going to focus on a campaign called "Let's Play," whose purpose is to change the company's perception from that of a current nondescript brand to a place where consumers go to have fun with technology. Investors will want to keep an eye on this rollout to see how the public reacts. While the company doesn't need to be immediately successful with raising a tremendous amount of awareness, it will be important to gain some traction in the short term. 

In-store experience
If you had to use one word to sum up the experience at most electronics retailers today, it would invariably be "bad." This is the one area of the plan I was most interested in, and the most telling in my opinion. It was music to investors' ears when management said the company was going to give employees incentives to sell across the whole store instead of just mobile. This could be a huge win from a customer satisfaction and margin perspective.The company changed these incentives in April, and investors should keep an eye on the next quarter's results to see whether the non-mobile sales have started to pick up and margins are improving. 

Foolish final thoughts
All in all, the turnaround plan looks promising. But investors, myself included, shouldn't turn a blind eye to the challenges facing the company. It appears Magnacca has put together a capable team of experts to carry out his vision, but only time will tell whether the team over at RadioShack can rise to the occasion. One thing is for certain: RadioShack is currently priced to go out of business or shrink substantially, and if the company can achieve profitability with its current retail footprint, recent investors will be handsomely rewarded. I'll close with a quote from the master himself to keep investors and myself honest with the challenges facing RadioShack:

"When a manager with a reputation for brilliance takes a business with a reputation for poor fundamental economics, it's the reputation of the business that remains intact."
-- Warren Buffett

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At Long Last, Is This the Turning Point for Corning Stock?

There's no denying the past five years have been tough for Corning (NYSE: GLW  ) shareholders.

After all, Corning stock plummeted then rose with the broader market after the crash in 2009, stagnated over the next few years as prices and demand for LCD substrates waned, then continued falling as fickle investors lost their patience with the 162-year-old company:

GLW Total Return Price data by YCharts

Even so, the cash-rich business still managed to remain solidly profitable all the while, and seemed determined to reward long-term investors through its huge share repurchase programs and a steady dividend.

In fact, those are a few reasons I recently singled out Corning stock as an investment anyone could be content to own for the next 50 years. In addition, I wrote at the time:

Corning takes pride in its ability to innovate through continued research and development and survive no matter what technological revolutions come its way. Sure enough, Corning CEO Wendell Weeks is often maligned by Wall Street for his stubborn refusal to manage the company around quarterly results.

But the question still remained: How much longer would investors need to wait until Corning stock finally turned around?

Turning the corner
As it turns out, CEO Weeks thinks it already has.

Speaking at the company's annual meeting earlier this week, Weeks said he believes Corning's strong performance over the past two quarters is proof that "we have successfully formed bottom and are beginning to march up." Then he went on to elaborate with this reminder:

In 162 years, Corning has been through recessions, depressions, world wars, industry meltdowns, and numerous evolutions driven by changing markets. Corning is no stranger to tough times, and the leadership team has worked hard to ensure that the company is stronger than any challenge we face."

Keeping in mind Weeks' aforementioned notorious refusal to manage around earnings, then, I'm inclined to trust the man when he says Corning stock has turned the corner.

The numbers
When all was said and done in the first quarter of 2013, Corning managed to achieve sales of $1.81 billion with non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.30. While revenue fell short of analysts' estimates of $1.96 billion, the company was significantly more profitable than expected considering those same analysts were looking for earnings of just $0.24 per share.

Corning scientist inspecting display glass, Image source: Corning.

Going forward in Q2, Corning stated that it should continue to benefit from stable LCD glass share, with price declines continuing to decelerate, while Telecommunications sales should improve by about 20% sequentially from the first quarter. What's more, Specialty Materials sales should also improve sequentially in the 15% to 20% range thanks to increased demand for Corning's Gorilla Glass, and the Life Sciences segment will see sales increase by a whopping 35% to 40% year over year from Corning's recent acquisition of Discovery Labware.

Management also told investors to expect equity earnings from Dow Corning's silicones business to rise 20% year over year in the second quarter.

Finally, and perhaps best of all, Corning once again increased its quarterly dividend by a penny to $0.10 per share and authorized a new share repurchase program to allow them to buy back up to $2 billion in Corning stock by the end of next year.

Foolish final thoughts
Thankfully, investors Wednesday took note that Corning's business seems to be firing on all cylinders and drove the price up 5% by the end of the day.

Despite the pop, however, I'm convinced Corning stock has plenty more room to run over the long term.

However, if you'd still like to learn more about Corning, check this brand-new premium research report. In it, our analyst walks through Corning's business as well as the key opportunities and risks facing it today. Click here to claim your copy.

Show Me the Money, Children's Place Retail Stores

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 Children's Place Retail Stores (Nasdaq: PLCE  ) , 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, Children's Place Retail Stores generated $114.9 million cash while it booked net income of $63.2 million. That means it turned 6.3% of its revenue into FCF. That sounds OK.

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 replicable 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 Children's Place Retail Stores 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.

With questionable cash flows amounting to only 8.3% of operating cash flow, Children's Place Retail Stores's cash flows look clean. Within the questionable cash flow figure plotted in the TTM period above, changes in taxes payable provided the biggest boost, at 7.6% of cash flow from operations. Overall, the biggest drag on FCF came from capital expenditures, which consumed 44.0% 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.

Is Children's Place Retail Stores the right retailer for your portfolio? Learn how to maximize your investment income and "Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks," including one above-average retailing powerhouse. Click here for instant access to this free report.

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

Add Children's Place Retail Stores to My Watchlist.

"He Wasn't Keeping Money in the Cayman Islands Because Sunshine Was Making It Grow Faster"

I interviewed Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz earlier this month.

In this clip, Stiglitz discusses how our tax code and regulatory structure provide an unfair advantage to some, but not others, exacerbating inequality in America. Have a look. (A transcript follows.)

Joseph Stiglitz: Well, there are a whole set of things that help explain what's happened to increase the inequality. Some of this has to do with tax laws. The fact is that the people at the top can take advantage of a whole set of special provisions, exceptions, exemptions.

Mitt Romney, when he was running for the president, openly said that he was paying only 14% of his reported income, and that he was keeping his income, his wealth, in the Cayman Islands. Now, it's very difficult for most of us to keep our income in the Cayman Islands, and he wasn't keeping the money in the Cayman Islands because the sunshine there was making the money grow faster. It was something else. It was the lack of sunshine that allows for people to avoid taxes, not necessarily illegally, but to take advantage of the loopholes that they have succeeded in putting into the tax law.

The most egregious example of this is the carried interest provision that allows those working Wall Street to treat their income, ordinary income, as if it were capital gains. So rather than paying 35 or now 39.6, they get paid the capital gains, takes the tax rate 15 to 20%. So that's one example.

Second important example is the way our financial system works, that the underregulated financial system, provides more opportunity for money to move toward the top. There's a more general point -- when markets are competitive, incomes get driven down. When markets are not competitive, there are locks of rents, and the financial sector has been very successful in weakening competition. One example is provided by the way the secretive LIBOR market worked that allowed them to manipulate the LIBOR rate to take advantage of the rest of the society.

Another example is more broadly the CDSes, over the counter, non-transparent. I understand fully why they want those markets to be non-transparent. When markets get transparent, they get competitive. When they get competitive, profits get eroded, and so as an economist, let me say I totally understand what they're trying to do, but from a public policy point of view, it's outrageous.

Why KLA-Tencor Shares Crashed

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 KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC  ) are down today by about 8% after bottoming at a 10% loss in the morning. The market is not happy with the company's forward guidance, despite a decent earnings report for the fiscal third quarter.

So what: KLA's revenue of $729 million represented a 13% year-over-year decline, but still narrowly beat the $726.8 million consensus. Earnings per share of $1.01 were better, as that figure bested the $0.85 consensus by 19% on the upside. However, the company's upcoming quarter looks to be ugly -- KLA expects revenue in the $670 million to $730 million range, and EPS in the $0.66 to $0.86 range. Not only are these well below the current quarter's results, they also undershoot the Street's consensus figures of $763.2 million in revenue, and $0.97 in EPS.

Now what: This wasn't a pretty quarter, and guidance isn't pleasant, but KLA looks rather cheap at a 12.6 P/E with a 3% dividend yield after the drop. However, the guidance begs the question -- is this company simply becoming a value trap now? The stock has moved around a lot over the past year, but appears largely range-bound and, until today, KLA was near the top of its range. Without forward momentum, cheap won't matter. Investors need to see growth over the long term.

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8 of the Smartest Things Charlie Munger Has Ever Said

Listen to a lot of successful business people talk, and you'll often be let down. Many of them just aren't very articulate. Or they choose their words carefully lest they ignite a PR bomb.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B  ) vice-chairman Charlie Munger isn't one of them. He's old, he's rich, and he doesn't give a damn what you think about him. He will always provide the unfiltered truth.

In preparation for the upcoming Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting eight days from now, here are eight of the smartest things Munger has ever said, culled from various speeches he's given over the last five years.

1. On regulation

When Hitler was in his bunker before he shot himself, he said, 'This isn't my fault. The German people just don't appreciate me enough.' That's the attitude of a lot of bankers. They think their silliness is necessary. Banks will not rein themselves in voluntarily. You need adult supervision.

2. On lifetime learning

When we bought See's Candy, we didn't know the power of a good brand. Over time, we just discovered that we could raise prices 10% a year and no one cared. Learning that changed Berkshire. It was really important.

You have to be a lifelong learner to appreciate this stuff. We think of it as a moral duty. Increasing rationality and improving as much as you can no matter your age or experience is a moral duty. Too many people graduate from Wharton today and think they know how to do everything. It's a considerable mistake.

Most of Berkshire's success grew from stupidity and failure that we learned from. I hope that makes you feel better about your own life.

3. On inflation:

I remember the $0.05 hamburger and a $0.40-per-hour minimum wage, so I've seen a tremendous amount of inflation in my lifetime. Did it ruin the investment climate? I think not.

4. On opportunity:

Patience combined with opportunity is a great thing to have. My grandfather taught me that opportunity is infrequent and one has to be ready when it strikes. That's what Berkshire is. It's amazing how fast Berkshire acts when we find opportunity. You can't be timid -- and that applies to all of life. You can't be timid in marriage when you find the right spouse. It might be your only opportunity to be happy in life. Too many people don't act when they should. That's why half of all marriages don't work out.

5. On diverse learning:

Economists have long been divided by a simple problem. When you go to the movie theater, soda and popcorn costs a totally unfair price compared with other locations. This just tortures economists. At least one million man hours have gone into trying to solve this problem. Economists understand that a first-class ticket on an airplane costs more than coach. They get that one. It's marginal utility. But they can't figure out the movie theater to save their lives.

Here's the Munger approach to the problem. In the auto world, a car manufacturer will sell a car for $40,000, and charge $200 for the extra gizmo. No one cares about the extra $200 when you're already spending $40,000. It's insignificant. The movie theater is basically the same thing. People are OK paying that much for a soda after they've paid so much for an admission ticket.

Now, psychologists can explain this clearly. Economists can't for the life of them. It's so simple what happens with you think beyond your trained field. It's amusing to see someone spend one million man hours on something I can solve with my left hand.

5. On executive leadership:

Some people are more teachable than others. This is also true of dogs, however, so take it as you wish. The executive level should be a tough meritocracy. It shouldn't be easy. I look for people I can trust. Hiring people you can't trust is like starting off by dropping a spider in your bosom.

6. On gold:

I don't have the slightest interest in gold. I like understanding what works and what doesn't in human systems. To me that's not optional; that's a moral obligation. If you're capable of understanding the world, you have a moral obligation to become rational. And I don't see how you become rational hoarding gold. Even if it works you're a jerk.

7. On investing:

It's in the nature of stock markets to go way down from time to time. There's no system to avoid bad markets. You can't do it unless you try to time the market, which is a seriously dumb thing to do. Conservative investing with steady savings without expecting miracles is the way to go.

8. On pundits:

People have always had this craving to have someone tell them the future. Long ago, kings would hire people to read sheep guts. There's always been a market for people who pretend to know the future. Listening to today's forecasters is just as crazy as when he king hired the guy to look at the sheep guts.

Heading to Omaha
On May 4, Berkshire Hathaway will be holding its epic annual meeting in Omaha, and the Fool will be there to bring you everything you need to know from this "Woodstock for Capitalists." Simply click here to follow along with all of the Fool's coverage.

Why Bank of America Stock Is Getting Slammed Again

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) stock is getting pounded for a second day in a row after the nation's second largest bank by assets failed to persuade investors that its first-quarter earnings performance warrants a higher valuation. At roughly halfway through the trading session, shares of the lender are lower by $0.35, or 2.97%.

At first glance, Bank of America's earnings appeared to be very good. Unlike JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) , both its revenue and its net income appeared to advance on a year-over-year basis. Yet, once you strip out noncash accounting charges related to the value of Bank of America's debt, you find that its top-line figure actually fell by 8.4%.

The addition of Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS  ) earnings, released this morning, only fueled the negative sentiment toward bank stocks. While the investment bank ostensibly swung to a profit in the quarter, notching $984 million in earnings compared to a $94 million loss last year, it benefited considerably from the same accounting anomaly noted above. After normalizing for this, Morgan Stanley's profit actually decreased, going from $0.71 per share last year down to $0.61 per share this year.

A drop in fixed income trading, a mainstay of Wall Street profits, was a primary culprit for this trend across Wall Street. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS  ) , the undisputed leader in this regard, saw FICC revenues decline by 7% on a year-over-year basis. And Morgan Stanley watched as its FICC sales and trading revenues drop from $2.6 billion last year to $1.5 billion this year.

To get back to Bank of America, after all is said and done, I believe the first quarter will ultimately go down in the books as a success. Were its earnings as good as, say, analysts had expected? No. The consensus estimate called for $0.22 per share in earnings, while Bank of America delivered only $0.20.

But at the same time, it made progress on a number of critical fronts. Among other things, the bank decreased its toxic third-party mortgage servicing portfolio, continued driving down expenses, and reached an important legal settlement with past purchasers of Countrywide Financial's mortgage-backed securities.

So, what does this mean for the stock going forward? It's impossible to say. What isn't impossible to say, however, is that Bank of America's fundamental business is improving -- if for no other reason than its progress on cleaning up legacy issues.

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Best Stocks For 2014

Take a closer look at the full table. The average price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio) amounts to 17.35 while the forward price to earnings ratio is 10.13. The dividend yield has a value of 3.28 percent. Price to book ratio is 2.81 and price to sales ratio 2.93. The operating margin amounts to 22.48 percent.

Best Stocks For 2014: Cobra Electronics Corporation(COBR)

Cobra Electronics Corporation engages in the design and marketing of two-way mobile communication and mobile navigation products in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It operates in two segments, Cobra Consumer Electronics and Performance Products Limited. The Cobra Consumer Electronics segment principally offers radar detection products, photo-enforcement and safety detection products, citizens band radios, power inverters and jumpstarters, two-way radios, and marine electronics, as well as mobile navigation for professional drivers. It sells its products directly to retailers, such as mass marketers, consumer electronics specialty stores, department store chains, warehouse clubs, television home-shopping and internet retailers, direct-response merchandisers, home centers, specialty stores, and travel center, as well as through two-step wholesale distributors that carry its products to fill orders for travel centers, small department stores and appliance dealers, duty -free shops on cruise lines, and export and marine products. The Performance Products Limited segment offers personal navigation devices under the Snooper Truckmate, Snooper Ventura, Snooper Sapphire Plus, and other trade names; GPS-enabled speed camera location detectors under the Snooper My Speed, Snooper 3 Zero, and other trade names; proprietary AURA database that provides drivers with advance notice of upcoming speed camera and hazard locations; E-Bike, a compact folding electric bike; and WPT250M tracker, a tracking device that uses GPS, GPRS, and GSM technology to monitor the location of boats, vehicles, pets, or individuals with an accuracy of 2.5 meters. The company was founded in 1961 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Best Stocks For 2014: Vera Bradley Inc.(VRA)

Vera Bradley, Inc., through its subsidiary, Vera Bradley Designs, Inc., engages in the design, production, marketing, and retail of functional accessories for women under the ?Vera Bradley? brand. Its products include a range of handbags, accessories, and travel and leisure items. The company sells its products to independent retailers located in the United States, as well as to national retailers and third party e-commerce sites. As of January 29, 2011, Vera Bradley, Inc. sold its products directly through 35 full-price stores, 4 outlet stores, verabradley.com, and an annual outlet sale in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stockpickr]One final earnings short-squeeze play is Vera Bradley (VRA), set to release numbers on Tuesday after the market close. This is a designer, producer, marketer and retailer of accessories for women. The products include offering of handbags, accessories and travel and leisure items. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Vera Bradley to report revenues of $96.82 million.
  I like this stock for a post-earnings short-squeeze play because the bears have cleaned up on this name recently in a big way. This stock has dropped dramatically from its May high of $52.35 a share to its current low of $24.83 a share. That huge drop could be setting up this stock for a sharp rebound if the bulls hear what they're looking for.
  The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Vera Bradley is an extremely large 29.5%. That means that out of the 19.74 million shares in the tradable float, 5.83 million are sold short by the bears. It's worth pointing out that the bears have been increasing their bets from the last reporting period by 10.5%, or by around 554,000 million shares. If the bears are pressing too much ahead of this quarter, then this stock could easily see a big short-squeeze.
  From a technical standpoint, the stock is currently trading significantly below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. That said, the stock just found some buying support at around $25 a share and has since bounced up towards its current price of around $29 a share.
  I would look to be a buyer of this stock after they report if it trades above $30 to $31.56 a share on strong volume. Look for volume the following day that's tracking in close to or greater than its three-month average action of 582,000 shares. I would target a run back towards $35 a share (50-day) or possible $38 a share (200-day) if the bulls gain full control of this stock post-earnings.
  I would only short this name if it drops below $25 a share on big volume after the company reports its results. I would add to any bearish bets if it then drops below $22.50 a share and ride this stock down with the short-sellers.

Best Stocks For 2014: Impax Laboratories Inc.(IPXL)

Impax Laboratories, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of bioequivalent pharmaceutical products. The company operates in two divisions, Global Pharmaceuticals and Impax Pharmaceuticals. The Global Pharmaceuticals division develops, manufactures, sells, and distributes generic pharmaceutical products. It provides its generic pharmaceutical prescription products directly to wholesalers and retail drug chains; and generic pharmaceutical over-the-counter and prescription products through unrelated third-party pharmaceutical entities. The Impax Pharmaceutical division develops proprietary brand pharmaceutical products that address central nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer?s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, epilepsy, migraines, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson?s disease, and schizophrenia, as well as promotes third-party branded pharmaceutical products. As of May 2, 2011, the com pany marketed 101 generic pharmaceuticals, which represent dosage variations of 29 different pharmaceutical compounds; and another 16 of its generic pharmaceuticals representing dosage variations of 4 different pharmaceutical compounds. It markets and sells its generic pharmaceutical prescription drug products in the continental United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The company has a strategic alliance agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals Curacao N.V. Impax Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Hayward, California.
Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Shulman]The not-so-small generic drug maker Impax Laboratories (NASDAQ: IPXL) has arguably the best manufacturing technology for time-released drugs in the entire generic industry.
  Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) patent for its $11 billion cholesterol drug Lipitor expires this year, and we know IPXL believes it has the expertise to manufacture a sophisticated statin such as Lipitor given recent legal actions concerning Merck’s drug Vytorin, a combination of a competing statin and a blood pressure drug. In other words, IPXL has the technical expertise to enter this market should it choose to do so.
  Two other major product introductions are anticipated in 2011 — generic Concerta for ADHD and generic Solodyn for bacterial infections, currently with combined sales of $1.8 billion.
  My target for the stock is $35-$40 in one to two years. IPXL is also the possible target of an acquirer.

Best Stocks For 2014: Changfeng Energy Inc (CFY.V)

Changfeng Energy Inc. operates as a natural gas utility in the People's Republic of China. It designs, constructs, owns, and operates natural gas pipeline network for residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Sanya City, Hainan province, as well as in Xiangdong District, Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province. The company has 30 years concession rights and 50 years operation rights to operate the natural gas distribution business. Its distribution network consists of 38 kilometers (km) of high-pressure gas pipelines; 26.6 km of high-to-medium pressure pipeline; approximately 122 km of medium to low pressure gas pipelines; and approximately 600 km of branch/customer pipelines, as well as includes 1 primary station, 2 gate processing stations, and 3 gas pressure regulating stations. The company also operates a compressed natural gas refueling retail station in Changsha City, Hunan Province. Changfeng Energy Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canad a.

LinkedIn Launches New Contacts Feature and App

Today, LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD  ) introduced a new feature called LinkedIn Contacts, which brings together all of a user's contacts, conversations, and important notes on their colleagues and friends. The company said in blog post today that LinkedIn Contacts is, "a smarter way to stay in touch with your most important relationships." 

The new online feature, and stand-alone iPhone app, pulls contacts from a user's email accounts, calendars, and address books and then adds the information into LinkedIn Contacts. LinkedIn members can then view conversations, see when they previously met with the contact, and add notes to their contacts. LinkedIn Contacts can also be set to remind users of job changes, birthdays, and other reasons to stay in touch with their contacts.

LinkedIn currently has a wait list set up for the new feature, but the iPhone app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store today. The company said that invitations will be sent to a limited number of U.S. LinkedIn members in the coming weeks.

 

If You Don't Have a Job Now, You Might Never Get One

This might be the worst economy yet in which to find a job. Sure, the S&P 500  (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) has reached historic highs and has more than doubled since the depths of the market in 2009. The overall index has combined earnings of $87 per share, close to its 2007 high of $94. But the market's recovery doesn't mean much for the overall economy.

The bottom line is that if you've been unemployed, it's likely that you've been unemployed for a while. And that hurts your chances more than you realize.

Weeks to months
Take a look at the median duration of unemployment:

The median time that it takes to find a job has only recently begun to decline after reaching historic levels, and it still remains remarkably high. Scarier than the median duration of about 4.5 months, the average duration adds up to more than nine months of unemployment. This is troubling for this group, because the longer one is unemployed, the less chance one has of finding a new job -- but exactly how much less of a chance?

If no one wants you, we don't want you
In a study The Atlantic highlights, a Northeastern professor found out just how much a gap in employment can hurt your chances of finding a new job. By sending out thousands of resumes and measuring the rate of callbacks, the study found that even when applying for a position that matches their experience, those unemployed longer than six months had a callback rate of about 3%. An applicant with a shorter duration of unemployment had a callback rate of more than 16%.

Even if you don't have related experience for a position, it matters much more that you haven't been unemployed for long. For those who didn't have experience but had only recently become unemployed, the callback rate was around 9%. For those unemployed more than six months without experience, the callback rate was near 0%.

Social proof
As humans, we use social cues to make decisions. If another company has recently vetted you, it's much easier for a potential employer to accept that you are employable. As that interim period drags on, however, hiring managers will wonder why no one else has given you a chance.

There are a few solutions, but they aren't applicable to all situations. If you're long-term unemployed, you could return to school and learn new skills, although this costs money and is more difficult for those who are older and unemployed. You could also start your own business, but not every occupation allows such a venture.

In the end, an employer will want the long-term unemployed to demonstrate that they were productive during employment gaps. But even this may not be enough to land a job, especially with weak demand hurting job creation. There is a chance that many in this group may never be assimilated back into the labor market.

Expert advice from The Motley Fool
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Is Ford Turning Lincoln Around?

Lincoln's new MKZ Hybrid. Lincoln chief Jim Farley hinted on Wednesday that the hybrid version of the new sedan is selling better than expected. Photo credit: Ford Motor Company

Over the last few years, Ford's (NYSE: F  ) ability to execute its ambitious plans has been top-notch.

Near death just a few short years ago, the iconic automaker is now strong and profitable, with a big cash reserve to hedge against future downturns.

After years of being criticized for its small-car efforts, its compact Focus is now the world's best-seller. Its SUVs have been reborn as high-tech, fuel-efficient darlings of auto critics around the world. And its latest midsized sedan is good enough to finally have Toyota (NYSE: TM  ) worried.

Almost everything Ford has done recently has worked out well, often very well.

Everything, that is, except the revival of its old luxury brand, Lincoln. But that could be on the verge of changing.

Is a Lincoln revival finally taking hold?
Ford's global sales and marketing chief – and Lincoln's boss – Jim Farley hinted to reporters on Wednesday that sales of Lincoln's new MKZ might be on the verge of taking off. After a few months of un-Ford-like production glitches that slowed the new sedan's rollout, Farley said that the cars are finally reaching dealers' lots – and flying off of them.

Farley didn't give specific numbers, but he did say that "we should have a really great story to tell" when sales are reported after the end of the month. The MKZ is "turning very well", Farley said, referring to the time that cars are spending on dealers' lots before being sold, and he is "very happy" with sales results so far.

Farley said that the percentage of MKZ hybrids sold has exceeded his expectations, as has the new sedan's success in the coastal regions of the U.S., where Ford has historically lost ground to import brands.

Of course, one would expect Farley to present any news in the best possible light. But any success for the MKZ would represent a ray of hope for Lincoln. Recent news has been dismal: The new MKZ's sales through March were down almost 50% versus year-ago sales of the old model, presumably in part because of those production glitches, and Lincoln's overall sales are down about 24% so far in 2013.

A brand that has so far eluded Ford's turnaround magic
Lincoln has had an up-and-down history ever since Ford bought it way back in 1922. But lately, the trend has been more down than up: After Ford discontinued the airport-limo-favorite Lincoln Town Car a couple of years ago, critics began to wonder if there was any reason left for the brand to exist at all. A series of marketing and operational stumbles since then haven't helped.

But Ford sees a big reason to revive Lincoln, and it has a lot to do with the company's global ambitions. A successful luxury-car brand can deliver outsized profits, because luxury cars carry much better margins than mass-market vehicles.

Those profits get even better with the global scale available to a giant automaker, as parts that are invisible to most buyers can be shared with the automaker's more mundane models. Volkswagen (NASDAQOTH: VLKAY  ) is a great example of this: Its Audi brand accounts for only a small portion of its global sales, but delivers almost half of its profits.

A lot of that profit comes from China, where the luxury-car market is growing quickly. That example hasn't been lost on VW archrival General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) , which has put a huge effort into turning its Cadillac brand into a serious global contender – in part, to drive profit gains in China.

Ford seems set on following the same path, but so far, its old luxury brand hasn't made much noise. If that is indeed set to change soon, it will be very good news for the Blue Oval.

Worried about Ford?
If you're concerned that Ford's turnaround has run its course, relax – there's good reason to think that the Blue Oval still has big growth opportunities ahead. We've outlined those opportunities in detail, in the Fool's premium Ford research service. If you're looking for some freshly updated guidance to Ford's prospects in coming years, you've come to the right place – click here to get started now.

GlaxoSmithKline Lifts Dividend 6% to Yield 4.5%

LONDON -- The shares of GlaxoSmithKline  (LSE: GSK  ) (NYSE: GSK  ) were flat at 1,676 pence early this afternoon after the FTSE pharmaceutical giant lifted its first-quarter dividend by 6%.

Glaxo declared a dividend of 18 pence per share for the quarter, compared to 17 pence per share last year.

The company reported sales had declined 2% to 6.4 billion pounds during January, February and March, which reflected the disposal of 17 over-the-counter products since last year. Quarterly profits dropped 26% to 1.6 billion pounds.

Glaxo said it expected core EPS growth of between 3% and 4%, and turnover growth of around 1%, during 2013.

The firm added that it would target share repurchases of between 1 billion pounds and 2 billion pounds next year as well.

Glaxo also confirmed a restructure of its research and development activities remained on course to deliver total annual savings of 1 billion pounds by 2016.

Chief executive Sir Andrew Witty commented:

This quarter marks continued strategic delivery for GSK with sales and earnings in line with our expectations, significant pipeline progress and further growth in our returns to shareholders through a 6% increase in the dividend. We are also announcing additional measures to improve the Group's focus and long term growth profile.

Sir Andrew also revealed Glaxo is to put its Lucozade and Ribena drinks brands up for sale. He said a strategic review of the products had concluded "the tremendous growth potential of these iconic brands" could be "better leveraged" by other companies.

Glaxo is currently valued at 14 times expected earnings and offers a trailing twelve-month dividend yield of 4.5%.

On these figures, the Fool's top analysts have highlighted Glaxo as one of "5 Shares You Can Retire On," an exclusive wealth report that reviews five particularly attractive possibilities in the FTSE 100.

Including Glaxo, all five opportunities offer a mix of robust prospects, illustrious histories and dependable dividends. Just click here for the reportm -- it's free.

Is Wall Street Still the Global Financial Superpower?

Wall Street is synonymous with global financial strength.

But have you actually been therein a while? It's a ghost town, even in the middle of the day.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the media-to-trader ratio is probably about 10-to-1 (to the left is a picture I took last week). Floor traders have been replaced by computers, many of which are located hundreds of miles from Wall Street. Major banks like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS  ) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) are headquartered away from the Street, in different parts of New York (partly for security reasons -- banks don't want to be clustered around each other).

But there's more to it than computers and security. Wall Street may be thinning out because so much of the global financial system is now located in Asia and South America.

Is Wall Street's global power diminishing? I asked David Cowen, CEO of the Museum of American Finance, what he thought. Have a look (transcript follows):

David Cowen: "If you look back 400 years, the Dutch were the first ones to actually issue shares, and they were the financial power in the 1600s. The Brits in the 1700s and 1800s, and we come into play really around the time of World War I, Morgan, so this is very cyclical and right now, most economic historians say the transformation, it's a longer one, but it's going to the East, it's going to China.

"So if you've asked if we've diminished, I'd say, well, over the broad spectrum of time, this is a natural phenomenon, and it probably will continue to occur. I can't give you the exact date, but the capital and more power will flow toward China and to the Orient."

More Expert Advice from The Motley Fool

With big finance firms still trading at deep discounts to their historic norms, investors everywhere are wondering if this is the new normal, or whether finance stocks are a screaming buy today. The answer depends on the company, so to help figure out whether JPMorgan is a buy today, I invite you to read our premium research report on the company today. Click here now for instant access!

Woodward Beats Analyst Estimates on EPS

Woodward (Nasdaq: WWD  ) reported earnings on April 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q2), Woodward missed estimates on revenues and beat slightly on earnings per share.

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

Gross margins dropped, operating margins dropped, net margins grew.

Revenue details
Woodward chalked up revenue of $485.5 million. The eight analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see revenue of $500.1 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.61. The eight earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.60 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.61 for Q2 were 11% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.55 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 28.3%, 290 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 11.8%, 100 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 8.7%, 40 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $500.3 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.57.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.96 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.26.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 535 members out of 546 rating the stock outperform, and 11 members rating it underperform. Among 97 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 97 give Woodward a green thumbs-up, and give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Woodward is outperform, with an average price target of $43.14.

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Add Woodward to My Watchlist.

Why Coach's Shares Came Back in Style

How to Find Cash Cows

Kimberly-Clark Reports First-Quarter Earnings

Consumer products manufacturer Kimberly-Clark  (NYSE: KMB  )  reported first-quarter earnings today that came in $0.02 short of consensus estimates while generally meeting top-line expectations.

Kimberly-Clark recorded revenues of $5.32 billion in the quarter that ended March 31, a 1.5% increase over last year's $5.24 billion, and pretty much in line with Wall Street's estimates of $5.36 billion. On the bottom line, the company generated $531 million, or $1.36 per share, up 15% from the year-ago figure but just shy of the $1.38-per-share estimate on a GAAP basis.

On an adjusted basis, however, excluding charges for costs related to its pulp and tissue restructuring actions, earnings per share were $1.48, a first-quarter record. Last year the company undertook changes to its consumer and professional businesses in western and central Europe where it will exit the diaper business while divesting or exiting some lower-margin businesses, mostly in the consumer tissue market. Italy's diaper business will remain unaffected.

Kimberly-Clark chairman and CEO Thomas J. Falk believes the consumer products company is off to a good start for the year, and noted, "As a result of our strong first quarter performance, we are raising our full-year outlook for adjusted earnings per share while we continue to invest for long-term success.  We are optimistic about our plans and believe that execution of our global business plan strategies will generate attractive returns to shareholders."

Kimberly-Clark now anticipates adjusted earnings for 2013 to be $5.60 to $5.75 per share, up 7% to 10% compared to adjusted earnings per share of $5.25 in 2012. It previously targeted adjusted per-share earnings of $5.50 to $5.65 for 2013.

In the first quarter, personal care segment sales rose 1% and were up 3% organically, while consumer tissue sales were up 4%. Both segments rose as a result of rising volumes and improved pricing, offset in part by the European changes noted above. Its K-C professional segment saw sales fall both here and abroad, and the health care division suffered a 2% decline in sales as higher manufacturing costs and increased expenses pushed the business lower.

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The Risks of Investing in Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI  ) is best known as a top-tier supplier to auto giants like Ford (NYSE: F  ) and Toyota (NYSE: TM  ) , but the company is actually three businesses in one. All of those businesses have intriguing potential, but what are the risks? In this video, Fool contributor John Rosevear looks at the risks facing Johnson Controls -- and points out exactly what any investor should be watching.

Is Johnson Controls poised to profit from electric cars?
Johnson Controls is best known among investors as a maker of batteries for cars, including the lithium-ion battery packs used in electric cars and the most advanced hybrids. This space has gathered a lot of investor interest, but is JCI the best way to play it? The Motley Fool answers this question and more in our most in-depth Johnson Controls research available for smart investors like you. Thousands have already claimed their own premium ticker coverage, and you can gain instant access to your own by clicking here now.

Should You Buy Schroders Today?

LONDON -- Shares in asset-management specialist Schroders (LSE: SDR  )  have strode consistently higher since last summer, gaining almost 29% in the year to date and striking recent all-time highs of 2,212 pence in the process.

In my opinion, Schroders offers great value for investors seeking robust earnings growth and an increasingly remunerative dividend policy, which I believe should drive the shares still higher in the near future.

Managed assets strike record in 2012
Schroders announced last month that net revenues slipped 3% to 1 billion pounds during 2012, exacerbated by a 17% drop in turnover at the firm's Private Banking division. This shortfall helped push pre-tax profits 12% lower to 360 million pounds.

However, the blue chip continued to witness surging activity last year, helped by its diversification across a multitude of asset classes and products. In fact, Schroders saw new net business inflows leap to 9.4 billion pounds last year, rocketing up from 3.2 billion pounds in 2011. And this pushed assets under management to record levels, at 212 billion pounds, up more than 13% on the previous year.

And I believe the firm's strong balance sheet could help drive M&A activity to supplement sparkling organic growth. Last month the group announced plans to acquire fellow City institution Cazenove Capital for 424 million pounds, which was followed by the purchase of US fixed-income manager STW Fixed Income Management at the start of April.

Earnings expected to shoot higher
Schroders saw earnings per share (EPS) slip 10% in 2012, although City forecasters expect EPS to snap back into double-digit growth from this year. An 18% advance is anticipated in 2013, to 123 pence per share, with an additional 16% rise next year to 143 pence per share currently expected.

The company trades on P/E ratings of 17.5 and 15 for 2013 and 2014 respectively, thereby providing a decent discount to a forward earnings multiple of 20.3 for the entire financial services sector. Indeed, Schroders' position as an attractive value stock is borne out by price/earnings to growth (PEG) levels of 1 and 0.9 for this year and next -- a sub-1 reading is generally regarded as bargain territory.

A solid dividend play
As well as stellar growth potential, Schroders offers investors the opportunity to boost their dividend income. The company kept its full-year dividend on hold at 31 pence per share despite hefty earnings pressure in both 2008 and 2009, and responded to last year's earnings setback by lifting the payout more than 10% to 43 pence per share.

And analysts expect the dividend to keep growing, with payouts of 49.2 pence per share and 55 pence per share projected.

The dividend yield is currently below the prospective average of 3.3% for Britain's 100 largest-listed companies, at 2.3% and 2.6% for 2013 and 2014 respectively. However, dividend coverage of 2.5 times and 2.6 times forward earnings for these years is well above the widely regarded safety buffer of 2 times.

The canny guide for clever investors
If you already hold shares in Schroders, check out this newly updated special report that highlights a host of FTSE winners identified by ace fund manager Neil Woodford.

Woodford -- head of U.K. Equities at Invesco Perpetual -- has more than 30 years' experience in the industry, and boasts an exceptional track record when it comes to selecting stock market stars.

The report, compiled by The Motley Fool's crack team of analysts, is totally free and comes with no further obligation. Click here now to download your copy.

Why Toyota Is Poised to Motor Ahead

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

Toyota facts

Headquarters (founded)	Toyota City, Japan (1933)
Market Cap	$177.8 billion
Industry	Automobile manufacturers
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$278.7 billion
Management	President/Director Akio Toyoda Founder/Executive Vice President Kiichiro Toyoda
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)	5.2%
Cash/Debt	$35.6 billion / $165.8 billion
Dividend Yield	1.2%
Competitors	Ford Motor General Motors Honda Motor

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

On CAPS, 91% of the 3,656 members who have rated Vale believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Earlier today, one of those Fools, Karate460, succinctly summed up the Toyota bull case for our community:

Toyota has everything it could want. Strong profits, top vehicles and an expanding market. With the Yen going down and the dollar up they will be making even more with the conversion rate.

Toyota has rebounded nicely from the troubles of recent years, but is the stock still a buy at current prices? The Motley Fool's automotive expert John Rosevear and industrials analyst Isaac Pino have collaborated to create some of the most in-depth Toyota research available for smart investors like you. Thousands have already claimed their own premium ticker coverage, and you can gain instant access to your own by clicking here now.

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

The Biggest Comic Book Opening of the Summer Might Surprise You

While Man of Steel is expected to headline Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX  ) comic book film slate this summer, the company could see huge returns from a new video game that made its debut last week: Injustice: Gods Among Us.

In years past, video-game openings have rivaled film premieres for how much they've brought in. Think of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) , whose Halo 4 generated $220 million in first-day sales. Or how about Activision Blizzard's (NASDAQ: ATVI  ) Black Ops II, which took in $500 million worldwide during its first 24 hours on sale?

For all the potential upside in Iron Man 3, which opens internationally on April 26 for Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS  ) , Warner with Man of Steel and Injustice is positioning itself to have as big a summer season as the House of Mouse, or even bigger, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following interview with The Motley Fool's Erin Miller.

Please watch this short video to get Tim's full take, and then leave a comment to let us know whether you'd buy, sell, or short Time Warner stock now, and why.

It's easy to forget that Walt Disney is more than just the House of Mouse. True, Disney amusement parks around the world hosted more than 121 million guests in 2011. But from its vast catalog of characters to its monster collection of media networks, much of Disney's allure for investors lies in its diversity, and The Motley Fool's premium research report lays out the case for investing in Disney today. This report includes the key items investors must watch as well as the opportunities and threats the company faces going forward. So don't miss out -- simply click here now to claim your copy today.

Royalty Pharma Willing to Pay More for Elan, Depending on Investor Demands

Royalty Pharma announced Monday that it's willing increase the $11-per-share offer it made for Elan (NYSE: ELN  ) back in February, depending on the result of Elan's buyback.

The biotech recently announced plans to repurchase $1 billion worth of shares through a Dutch auction. As part of the auction, investors are given the option to sell their shares back to the company at a price between $11.25 and $13.00, specified by the shareholder. Elan would then buy back shares at the lowest price that allows it to purchase shares worth $1 billion in aggregate.

Royalty Pharma has tied its offer to the price Elan ends up paying at the Dutch offering. It'll pay the same amount as shareholders were given if the offer is for $11.25 or $11.50. If shareholders demand $11.75 or $12, Royalty Pharma is willing to pay $12 per share for the remaining share of Elan. If shareholders demand more than $12, Royalty Pharma is willing to pay only $11 per share, presumably because it believes at that level Elan is overpaying to buy back its shares.

Royalty Pharma also put a $1-per-share clause in the offer because it doesn't know exactly how much net cash Elan has. If the deal goes through, Elan can confirm that its balance sheet meets the requirements or Royalty Pharma will reduce the offer by $1 per share and pay all or some of that $1 through a net cash right, once it takes control.

Elan acknowledged Royalty Pharma's press release and said it would consider the offer but didn't hint at whether the increase was good enough.

J.C. Penney Taps Credit Line for $850 Million

In an effort to fund ongoing working capital requirements and capital expenditures, particularly inventory and remodeling costs associated with next month's planned opening of its new home departments, J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) announced today that it will draw $850 million from its existing $1.85 billion revolving credit line.

Drawing on the credit line is the first significant action taken by new CEO Myron "Mike" Ullman III, who rejoined J.C. Penney as its chief executive officer last week, replacing Ron Johnson. Ullman was the CEO of J.C. Penney until late 2011, when he left the company prior to Johnson's appointment.

The current interest rate on the $850 million credit line is 5.25%. The  $850 million draw will reach maturity April 4, 2014.

"As we near completion of the home department transformation in over 500 stores, we have been undertaking and will continue to experience a significant inventory build and increase in capital expenditures," J.C. Penney CFO Ken Hannah is quoted as saying in the company press release. "The draw under our revolver today provides more than our current funding needs to ensure our continued liquidity. Moreover, we will continue to explore additional capital raising alternatives with the assistance of our financial advisors."

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Why TJX Is Poised to Keep Popping

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, apparel and home-fashions retailer TJX (NYSE: TJX  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

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

TJX facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Framingham, Mass. (1956)
Market Cap	$34.5 billion
Industry	Apparel retail
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$25.9 billion
Management	CEO Carol Meyrowitz (since 2007) CFO Scott Goldenberg (since 2012)
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)	49.2%
Cash/Debt	$2.1 billion / $774.6 million
Dividend Yield	1.2%
Competitors	J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) Kohl's Ross Stores

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

On CAPS, 90% of the 644 members who have rated TJX believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just yesterday, one of those Fools, NoblyNaive, succinctly summed up the TJX bull case for our community:

Stock is lagging sector (due for a pop). OK P/E. Good CAPS rating. Highly touted by [Jim Cramer ] on April 9, 2013.

Cramer also pointed out: 1) cool weather has put a damper on spending in the last month. 2) [J.C. Penney] has been losing market share, and the winners are the other well positioned retailers, of which TJX is one. Warmer weather, plus the implosion of [J.C. Penney] should give a bump to the sector.

If you want market-thumping returns, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Of course, despite a strong four-star rating, TJX may not be your top choice.

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