Ron Burgundy disses Dodge Durango

When your looking for plugs from an edgy comedian, you better be prepared for a rough ride.

That's what Chrysler Group may be finding about now with Ron Burgundy, the red-coated anchorman character played by Will Ferrell. He went on Conan O'Brien's show on TBS in character last week and took mock potshots at the family hauler he has been promoting in ads, reports Larry P. Vellequette, writing in Automotive News.

"It's a terrible car," Ferrell as Burgundy tells O'Brien. "They gave me one for free, and I drove it four feet and the thing cracked in half."

But Conan protests, saying people are buying the big crossover because of Burgundy's endorsement.

"Well, I got paid. They're suckers. I'm just the messenger. I'm not in there tinkering around with lug nuts," Ferrell, star of yet-another Anchorman movie featuring Burgundy coming soon, says.

Who knows? Chrysler may be loving the attention, good or bad. Surveys are already showing that the Ferrell-as-Burgundy ads and webisodes are breaking through with consumers. In them, Ferrell touts aspects of the vehicle like a roomy glove compartment.

But he hasn't gone negative -- until now. And while you and us get the joke, some may wonder whether all potential Dodge buyers are on board.

Fed keeps easy money flowing

The Federal Reserve agreed Wednesday not to pare back its extraordinary stimulus, citing a recent slowdown in the housing recovery and federal spending cuts.

In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed said it would continue to purchase $85 billion a month in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities to hold down long-term interest rates and stimulate economic growth.

WEDNESDAY STOCKS: How markets are doing

Full text: The Fed's statement

First Take: Two sentences that stand out

The move was widely expected after Fed policymakers stunned financial markets last month by putting off a reduction in purchases amid only modest improvement in employment and a budget battle in Congress.

The Fed said Wednesday that "the housing sector slowed somewhat in recent months." Mortgage rates have risen from 3.35% in May, when the Fed first signaled that it may soon rein in its bond-buying, to 4.13% recently. A report this week showed pending home sales dipped recently.

The Fed also tempered its view of the labor market, saying it has shown "some further improvement." In September, it simply cited "further improvement." And Fed policymakers reiterated Wednesday that federal budget cuts are "restraining economic growth."

In the end, the Fed said, it "decided to await more evidence that (economic) progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases."

The state of the economy has become more precarious since the Fed's last meeting in September. The budget debate led to a 16-day government shutdown that some economists say cut fourth-quarter economic growth by about half a percentage point. A standoff over raising the nation's borrowing authority spawned uncertainty among businesses that further dampened capital investment and growth.

The specter of another budget deadlock looms in two months because Congress voted to fund the government only until mid-January and raise the debt ceiling until early February.

Meanwhile, the shutdown d! ried up the flow of economic data on which the Fed relies to make policy decisions. The reports released since it ended generally have been weak. Employers added a disappointing 148,000 jobs in September, though the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 7.2% from 7.3%.

And while construction spending rose solidly in August, consumer confidence fell sharply this month and a key measure of business orders for durable goods such as cars and appliances fell in September.

The Fed on Wednesday also restated its intention to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero at least until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5%, as long as the longer-term outlook for inflation is no higher than 2.5%.

Google agrees to sell Motorola to Lenovo

SAN FRANCISCO — Google said Wednesday it agreed to sell its Motorola business for almost $3 billion to China's Lenovo Group, a major strategy shift that gets the Internet search giant out of the business of manufacturing smartphones.

Google shares rose 2.6% to $1,136 in after-hours trading on optimism that the company is shedding a business that has dragged on its earnings. Motorola lost more than $1 billion in the year ended Sept. 30 as revenue slumped 34%.

"This was an under-performing asset and was always a stretch for them," said Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "They probably never should have gone into the handset business."

Lenovo is paying about $2.91 billion for Motorola: $660 million in cash, $750 million worth of Lenovo stock and $1.5 billion in the form of a three-year promissory note. Lenovo gets the Motorola brand and current and future products, such as the Moto X smartphone. It also gets more than 2,000 patents and the Motorola trademark portfolio.

The sale price is a lot lower than the $12.5 billion that Google agreed to pay for Motorola in late 2011, in its largest acquisition ever. However, Google is keeping most of Motorola's patents and is providing Lenovo a license for this portfolio and other intellectual property.

Google was attracted by Motorola's huge patent portfolio, but it also let Motorola develop new smartphones, such as the Moto X, which went on sale last year.

Sales of the new Motorola phones have not been strong, though, and there are signs of a broader slowdown in the smartphone market, where intense competition is making it more difficult to make a profit from just manufacturing the hardware.

"Google got what they wanted and needed from Motorola — they got patents, engineering talent and mobile market insight," said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.

The Lenovo deal "gets them out of a business they don't have a chance of making any real money in, and gets them the ability to concentr! ate on real opportunities without the diversion of having to run a device manufacturing company," he added.

When Google makes its own smartphones, it creates potential conflict with smartphone makers such as Samsung Electronics and HTC, which also use Google's Android operating system to run their devices, Gold added. Selling Motorola eases this tension, he says.

"I think that was the plan all along — Google would milk Motorola for a couple of years, then sell it off," Gold said.

Google CEO Larry Page signaled that the company would be stepping back from the smartphone manufacturing business when the Lenovo deal closes.

"The smartphone market is super-competitive, and to thrive, it helps to be all-in when it comes to making mobile devices," he wrote in a company blog post Wednesday.

Top 5 Companies To Buy Right Now

Motorola will do better as part of Lenovo, which is already the largest PC maker in the world, he added.

The sale will let Google focus on the continued development of the Android operating system, "for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere," Page also said.

The deal does not signal a larger shift in Google's hardware efforts, which include Glass smart eye-wear and the newly acquired Nest smart thermostat and smoke detector business, Page said.

"The dynamics and maturity of the wearable and home markets, for example, are very different from that of the mobile industry," Page added.

Google will keep selling its own Nexus smartphones and tablets, but these are manufactured by other companies, most recently LG and Asus.

Once a leading smartphone maker, Motorola's share of the U.S. market dropped to 5% in the fourth quarter, way behind Apple and Samsung, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

"While Android continues to dominate operating systems, Motorola did not achieve meaningful share," said Mike Levin of CIRP.

Google ! has already sold some of Motorola's other assets, such as its set-top box business. With the proceeds from those deals and the Lenovo sale, RBC's Mahaney reckons Google will end up paying several billion dollars for patent protection for Android.

In 2011, Apple's approach of integrated hardware and software was considered the best. Google might have also bought Motorola to give that approach a try. When it did not work out, the company sold.

"At the time, Apple was perceived to be doing everything correctly, but that has subsided somewhat," Mahaney said. "Google spent time realizing the challenges of running a handset manufacturing business and decided now is a good time to get out."

Page said Google acquired Motorola to help "supercharge" the Android ecosystem by creating a stronger patent portfolio.

"Motorola's patents have helped create a level playing field, which is good news for all Android's users and partners," he added.

Nvidia's Tablet Of Its Own - And Others

Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Own Right Now

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) has formally announced the Tegra Note - an Android tablet with a price tag of $199. It's a device designed to compete directly with the Google (GOOG)/Asus Nexus 7. [Read: New iPhone or Not, Smartphone Owners Aren't Moving Up]

The new Tegra Tab runs on Nvidia's Tegra 4 processing unit with 72-core GeForce graphics processing and quad-core Cortex CPU, designed to get more graphics capabilities out of the tablet. There is a fifth core just to help save battery power. Nvidia says the tablet is good for as much as 10+ hours of HD video playback before you need to tether it to an A/C outlet.

Nvidia shares were down slightly in Thursday trading, recently changing hansd at $15.99.

According to the announcement the Tegra Note boasts "exceptional sound" from front-facing speakers, a "groundbreaking cameras" (5 MP on the back, VGA up front), "TegraZone-optimized" games as well as "accessories galore". The Tegra Tab differs from the competition by including a stylus. Nvidia says its DirectStylus technology "transforms a normal stylus into an incredibly responsive experience". Nvidia claims the system is capable of fine line/broad stoke control especially when using the new apps bundled with the tablet. The Tegra Note's screen resolution comes up short when compared to the competition. Nvidia's tablet offers a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, compared to a 1920 x 1200 pixel display for the Nexus 7, which costs $229. The company had demonstrated a early version of the tablet at the Computex industry show in Taipei back in June. At that time the device was simply known as the Tegra Tab. [Read: Blackberry Fails at the 'Vision Thing'] The new device will also be available in re-branded form. This morning HP (HPQ) announced a Tegra Note tablet as part of its new line of Android and Windows devices. HP calls its version the Slate 7 but didn't announce what it plans to charge for it. --Written by Gary Krakow in New York. >To submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.

Market Vectors Rolls Out Factor-Based ETFs

Market Vectors ETF Trust said early Thursday that it launched four new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) powered by factors, or investment screens, that track companies according to their return on equity, leverage, earnings growth and dividends.

The new ETFs are the Market Vectors MSCI International Quality ETF (QXUS), Market Vectors MSCI Emerging Markets Quality ETF (QEM), Market Vectors MSCI International Quality Dividend ETF (QDXU), and Market Vectors MSCI Emerging Markets Quality Dividend ETF (QDEM).

“Quality matters. Quality as an investment factor has historically outperformed broad international and emerging markets equities with relatively lower volatility over long time periods, but until now, a quality — focused, factor — based approach has usually been accessible only through active strategies,” said Amrita Bagaria, international-equity ETF product manager with Market Vectors, in a press release.

“We have heard the concerns of investors who understand that you need to be selective and find a way to identify quality stocks, because you don’t necessarily want to hold every single company when investing in international or emerging markets,” Bagaria explained.

QXUS’s gross expense ratio is 0.69%, and its net expense ratio is 0.45%. QEM has a gross expense ratio of 0.74% and a net expense ratio of 0.50%. QDXU’s gross expense ratio is 0.67% and its net expense ratio is 0.45%. QDEM has a gross expense ratio of 0.73% and a net expense ratio of 0.50%.

The net expense ratios for all four funds are capped contractually until at least Feb. 1, 2015, according to Market Vectors.

“Holdings in both indexes are screened for historically high return on equity [ROE], stable annual earnings growth and low financial leverage,” said Diana Tidd, managing director and head of the MSCI Index Business in the Americas, in a statement. “Our research suggests that the Quality growth companies have high ROE, low financial leverage and stable earnings that are uncorrelated with the broad business cycle and may provide diversification benefits in portfolio allocation.”

Forces Behind Factoring

iShares recencenty introduced factor-based ETFs. The iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF (QUAL), for instance, now has about $290 million in assets. According to Morningstar, QUAL had a price return of 11.7% in the fourth quarter vs. 10.5% for the S&P 500.

In a 2013 report on factor-based investment, two experts at State Street Global Advisors explained that issues like market instability, lowered return expectations and higher return requirements have put traditional portfolio construction approaches under “intense scrutiny.”

“Factor-based frameworks that hold the promise of working better during periods of instability and crisis, have begun to gain traction,” wrote Stacy Marino and Rick Thomas of SSGA. “The main advantages of a factor-based approach are a better quantification of underlying risk exposures and an ability to directly benefit from factor payoffs. Its main limitation is the same limitation found in a more traditional approach.”

In other words, factor-based portfolios rely on the traditional asset classes and hence the returns they produce, they note. But such an approach may lead to well-thought-out asset allocation, “one that better aligns an investment plan’s objectives and risk tolerances with reasonable asset class exposures.”

Overall, the SSGA experts conclude, using a factor-based approach “forces an investment committee to think about the true sources of risk and return, and it opens a framework to harvest return premiums from unconventional sources.”

The current level of assets held by investors across the Market Vectors ETF product line is $22.1 billion. The product sponsor is Van Eck Global.

“By combining the search for dividend yield in international and emerging markets with MSCI’s quality screens, investors will be able to add exposures that may potentially generate excess returns and benefit their portfolios in down markets,” Bagaria said.

---

Check out Cut Out Wolves of Wall Street With These Dirt-Cheap ETFs on ThinkAdvisor.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now

Good news arrived by highway for investors in truckmakers Paccar (NASDAQ: PCAR  ) and Navistar (NYSE: NAV  ) Wednesday.

Con-Way (NYSE: CNW  ) announced that after polling its drivers for feedback on various truck manufacturers and models, it has decided to refresh its truck fleet with 525 new tractors -- 325 Kenworth T680s from Paccar, and another 200 Navistar ProStars.

Con-Way drivers praised the Kenworth for its design, interior, comfort, headroom, and increased sleeper bunk width. Navistar got high marks for cab comfort and interior. Con-Way will be buying the new trucks for its fleet as it retires an equivalent number of older trucks approaching 500,000 miles in service.

Financial specifics of the fleet refresh were not disclosed, but with the average tractor truck costing�upward of $125,000 these days, the total purchase price of Con-Way's fleet should fall somewhere in the $65 million to $75 million range.

link

5 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: PSB Holdings Inc.(PSBH)

PSB Holdings, Inc. operates as the holding company for Putnam Bank that provides a range of banking services to individual and small business customers located primarily in eastern Connecticut. It accepts various deposit products that include checking, savings, money market deposit accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, and fixed-term certificates of deposit. The company?s loan portfolio comprises one- to four-family residential real estate mortgage loans, including home equity loans and lines of credit; commercial real estate loans comprising multi-family real estate loans; commercial loans; construction mortgage loans primarily secured by single-family properties; and consumer loans, such as loans on new and used automobiles, loans secured by deposit accounts, and unsecured personal loans. It operates seven full service branch offices and one loan origination center. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Putnam, Connecticut. PSB Holdings, I nc. is a subsidiary of Putnam Bancorp, MHC.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: West Street Capital Corp. (WSC.V)

West Street Capital Corporation operates as an investment holding company. It holds an investment portfolio consisting of preferred share and debenture investments in various Canadian and foreign corporations. The company was incorporated in 1984. It was formerly known as Consolidated Enfield Corporation and changed its name to West Street Capital Corporation in May 2004. West Street Capital Corporation is based in Toronto, Canada.

Top 10 Dividend Companies To Buy For 2014: Eagle Bancorp Montana Inc.(EBMT)

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. operates as the holding company for American Federal Savings Bank, which provides retail banking products and services primarily in the south central Montana. The company?s deposit products include checking accounts, NOW accounts, statement savings accounts, money market accounts, individual retirement accounts, and certificates of deposit accounts. Its loan portfolio consists of one-to-four-family residential mortgage loans; home equity loans and home equity lines of credit; and commercial real estate mortgage loans consisting of developed and undeveloped land loans, and loans on multi-family dwellings. The company also offers real estate construction loans; consumer loans comprising auto loans, RV loans, boat loans, personal loans and credit lines, and deposit account loans; and commercial business loans. It operates six full service retail banking offices located in Helena, Bozeman, Butte, and Townsend, as well as six automated teller machin es. The company was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Helena, Montana.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: PowerShares Dynamic Financial Sector Portfolio (PFI)

PowerShares Dynamic Financial Sector Portfolio (Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the Dynamic Financial Sector Intellidex Index (the Index). The Index consists of stocks of 60 United States financial services companies. These companies are principally engaged in the business of providing services and products, including banking, investment services, insurance and real estate finance services. Stocks are selected principally on the basis of their capital appreciation potential as identified by the AMEX (the Intellidex Provider) pursuant to an Intellidex methodology.

The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its total assets in common stocks of financial services companies. It will invest at least 90% of its total assets in common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate the performance of the Index. The Fund generally will invest in all of the stocks comprising the Index in proportion to their weightings in the Index.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Buy Right Now: Westaim Corp Com Npv (WED.TO)

The Westaim Corporation invests, directly and indirectly, through acquisitions, joint ventures, and other arrangements, with the objective of providing its shareholders with capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. Previously, the company, through its subsidiary, JEVCO Insurance Company, provided property and casualty insurance products in Canada. The company sold JEVCO Insurance to Intact Financial Corporation on September 5, 2012. The Westaim Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now

So many large oil and gas companies are looking to unload assets to clean up their balance sheets that it's hard to get a decent price for the assets. Most of these sell-offs are to help companies bring their debt levels back under control, but that isn't always the case. Enerplus (NYSE: ERF  ) has a pretty clean balance sheet, so despite its desire to sell off some of its assets, it can afford to hang onto them for a little while longer.�

This kind of financial flexibility puts Enerplus ahead of the game compared to some of its peers. In this video, Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe looks at Enerplus' balance sheet, compares it to some competitors, and explains why waiting to sell is the right move for this company.

Energy investors would be hard-pressed to find another company trading at a deeper discount than Chesapeake Energy. Its share price depreciated after negative news surfaced concerning the company's management and spiraling debt picture. While the debt issues still persist, giant steps have been taken to help mitigate the problems, such as a new CEO taking the helm this week. To learn more about Chesapeake and its enormous potential, you're invited to check out The Motley Fool's brand-new premium report on the company. Simply click here now to access your copy.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: FXCM Inc. (FXCM)

FXCM Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides online foreign exchange (FX) trading and related services to retail and institutional customers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Retail Trading and Institutional Trading. The company acts as an agent between retail customers and a collection of global banks and financial institutions by making foreign currency markets for customers trading in foreign exchange spot markets. It offers spot FX trading in approximately 58 currency pairs; enables non-U.S. customers to trade contract for differences that include contracts for metals, fixed income, energy and stock indices; and provides spread betting trading to the United Kingdom customers. The company also offers equity and equity option trading for customers outside of the United States to trade equity and options on the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the United States markets. FXCM Inc. offers its customers access to over-the-counter FX markets through its propriet ary technology platform. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap stocks FXCM Inc (NYSE: FXCM), Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE: GCAP) and up and coming�Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd (OTCMKTS: IGEX) all offer online trading platforms to retail or institutional traders and investors. Certainly if you have found yourself trading more lately or if markets become more volatile, trading platforms are going to be the big winners.�With that in mind, here is a close look at these three small cap trading platform stocks:�

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: Equus Total Return Inc. (EQS)

Equus Total Return, Inc. operates as a closed-end business development company managed by Moore, Clayton Capital Advisors Inc. It invests in equity and equity-oriented securities issued by privately owned companies. The fund invests in small to mid sized companies and acts as a lead investor. It invests in companies engaged in the alternative energy, real estate, healthcare, education, e-learning, leisure and entertainment, and foreign investment sector in the United States, China, India, and Europe. The fund's investments include common and preferred stock, debt convertible into common or preferred stock, debt combined with warrants and options, and other rights to acquire common or preferred stock. The company is based in Huston, Texas.

10 Best Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Realogy Holdings Corp (RLGY)

Realogy Holdings Corp., incorporated on December 14, 2006, is an integrated provider of residential real estate services in the United States. The Company is the franchisor of residential real estate brokerages with some of the recognized brands in the real estate industry, the owner of United States residential real estate brokerage offices, the global provider of outsourced employee relocation services and a provider of title and settlement services. The Company's operating platform is supported by the Company's portfolio of industry franchise brokerage brands, including Century 21 , Coldwell Banker , Coldwell Banker Commercial , ERA , Sotheby's International Realty and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and the Company also owns and operates the Corcoran Group and CitiHabitats brands. In October 2013, Realogy Holdings Corp's Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC announced that it has acquired the assets of Coldwell Banker Cocoa Beach Realty's two offices in Cocoa Beach, Fla. In October 2013, Realogy Holdings Corp's NRT LLC announced the acquisition of Frank Howard Allen Realtors Company-owned operations in Northern California.

The Company operates in four segments: Real Estate Franchise Services (RFG), Company Owned Real Estate Brokerage Services (NRT), Relocation Services (Cartus) and Title and Settlement Services (TRG).As of December 31, 2012 , the Company's franchise systems had approximately 13,600 franchised and company owned offices and 238,900 independent sales associates operating under its franchise and brands in the United States and 101 other countries and territories around the world, which includes approximately 710 of its company owned and operated brokerage offices.

Real Estate Franchise Services

The Company is the franchisor of residential real estate brokerages in the world through its portfolio of well known brokerage brands, including Century 21 , Coldwell Banker , Coldwell Banker Commercial , ERA , Sotheby's International Realty an! d Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. The Company derives substantially all of its real estate franchising revenues from royalty fees received under long-term (typically ten year) franchise agreements with its franchiseesThe Company's franchisees pay the Company fees for the right to operate under one of the Company's trademarks and to enjoy the benefits of the systems and business enhancing tools provided by its real estate franchise operations.

As of December 31, 2012 , the Company's real estate franchise systems had approximately 13,600 offices worldwide in 102 countries and territories, including approximately 6,100 brokerage offices in the United States and approximately 238,900 independent sales associates worldwide (which included approximately 41,300 independent sales agents working with its company owned brokerage offices) including approximately 166,000 sales associates operating under its franchise and brands in the United States, with an average tenure among United States franchisees of approximately 19 years as of December 31, 2012 .

Company Owned Real Estate Brokerage Services

The Company owns and operates the residential real estate brokerage business in the United States under the Coldwell Banker , Sotheby's International Realty , ERA , Corcoran Group and CitiHabitats brand names. The Company offers full-service residential brokerage services through approximately 710 company owned brokerage offices in more than 35 metropolitan areas of the United States. In addition, the Company participates in the mortgage process through its 49.9% ownership of PHH Home Loans LLC (PHH Home Loans), its home mortgage venture with PHH. The Company's home mortgage joint venture with PHH is the recommended provider of mortgages for the Company's real estate brokerage and relocation service customers (unless exclusivity is waived by PHH). The Company also assists landlords and tenants through property management services. In addition, as a full-service real estate br! okerage c! ompany, the Company promotes the complementary services of its relocation and title and settlement services businesses, in addition to PHH Home Loans.

Relocation Services

The Company is a global provider of outsourced employee relocation services. The Company is the provider of such services in the United States and also operates in key international relocation destinations. The Company offers a range of employee relocation services designed to manage all aspects of an employee's move to facilitate a smooth transition in what otherwise may be a complex and difficult process for the employee and employer. The Company's relocation services business serves corporations, including over 64% of the Fortune 50 companies, as well as affinity organizations such as insurance companies and credit unions that provide the Company's services to their members. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company assisted in over 158,000 relocations in more than 150 countries for approximately 1,500 active clients and as of December 31, 2012, its top 25 relocation clients had an average tenure of 17 years with the Company.

The Company primarily offers corporate clients employee relocation services, such as homesale assistance, including the evaluation, inspection, purchasing and selling of a transferee's home; the issuance of home equity advances to transferees permitting them to purchase a new home before selling their current home (these advances are generally guaranteed by the client); certain home management services; assistance in locating a new home; and closing on the sale of the old home, generally at the instruction of the client; expense processing, relocation policy counseling, relocation-related accounting, including international assignment compensation services, and other consulting services; arranging household goods moving services, with approximately 72,000 domestic and international shipments in 2012 , and providing support for all aspects of moving a transferee'! s househo! ld goods, including the handling of insurance and claim assistance, invoice auditing and quality control; coordinating visa and immigration support, intercultural and language training, and expatriation/repatriation counseling and destination services, and group move management services providing coordination for moves involving a number of transferees to or from a specific regional area over a short period of time.

Title and Settlement Services

The Company assists with the closing of real estate transactions by providing full-service title and settlement, which is closing and escrow services to customers, real estate companies, including its Company-owned real estate brokerage and relocation services businesses, as well as a targeted channel of financial institution clients, including PHH. In 2012, TRG was involved in the closing of approximately 194,000 transactions of which approximately 54,000 related to NRT. In addition to the Company's own title and settlement services, the Company also coordinates a nationwide network of attorneys, title agents and notaries to service financial institution clients on a national basis. The Company also serves as an underwriter of title insurance policies in connection with residential and commercial real estate transactions. As of December 31, 2012 , the Company had approximately 340 offices, approximately 200 of which are co-located within one of its company owned brokerage offices.

The Company competes with HSF Affiliates LLC, Brookfield Residential Property Services, HomeServices of America, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices; RE/MAX International, Inc.; and Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Traders Reserve]

  Realogy Holdings (RLGY) is a real estate services provider that owns a huge corner of the market with Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby�� International Realty (BID). In 2012, the company had a sales volume three times that of its nearest domestic competitor, accounting for 26% of all broker-assisted transactions in the U.S. It has 239,000 agents working in every corner of the world.

• [By Russ Krull]

  Real-estate and relocation firm Realogy (NYSE: RLGY  ) moved $500 million in a five-year, 3.375%, high-yield, or junk, issue. Yes, that's "3.375%" and "high-yield" describing the same paper. The deal was up-sized from initial plans for $450 million. The money will be used for early redemption of some 11.5% paper. The company is paying a premium to redeem the existing paper but will save nearly $40 million in interest expenses. Realogy reported more than $500 million in losses last year, so the refinance helps, but the company has more work to do to turn a profit.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  A sizable block of Realogy Holdings (NYSE: RLGY  ) shares is about to change hands in a secondary offering. The company announced that "certain funds associated with" Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO  ) are unloading their collective stake of just over 25.1 million shares. The transaction's underwriters are Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase's J.P. Morgan Securities, which will buy all of the shares then turn around and sell them to the public.�

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The IPO has a mixed impact on other real-estate related companies.�Realogy (RLGY) has fallen 0.2% to $43.62, while Vector Group (VGR), which has both tobacco and real-estate brokerage businesses, has dropped 0.5% to $15.99. Zillow�(Z) has jumped 4.1% to $90.44.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: Westaim Corp Com Npv (WED.TO)

The Westaim Corporation invests, directly and indirectly, through acquisitions, joint ventures, and other arrangements, with the objective of providing its shareholders with capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. Previously, the company, through its subsidiary, JEVCO Insurance Company, provided property and casualty insurance products in Canada. The company sold JEVCO Insurance to Intact Financial Corporation on September 5, 2012. The Westaim Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

5 Best Financial Stocks To Watch Right Now: First Bancshares Inc.(FBSI)

First Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for the First Home Savings Bank that offers a range of community banking products and services in Missouri. It primarily engages in generating deposits and originating loans. The company?s deposit products include negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, money market accounts, regular savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and retirement savings plans. Its loan portfolio comprises real estate loans, such as residential mortgage, commercial real estate, land, and second mortgage loans; consumer loans, including automobile, recreational vehicles, mobile home, savings account, and various other consumer loans; and commercial business loans. As of February 14, 2012, the company operated from its home office in Mountain Grove and 10 full service offices in Marshfield, Ava, Gainesville, Sparta, Springfield, Theodosia, Crane, Galena, Kissee Mills, and Rockaway Beach, Missouri. First Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1 911 and is based in Mountain Grove, Missouri.

BDCs, Maligned by Regulators, Find a Champion

A new alternative investment with astronomical growth and inflows that seemed to come from nowhere?

In the wake of recent scandal, it should have broker-dealers and their reps running for the door. But quite the opposite, Franklin Square Capital Partners has the support of Ameriprise, MetLife and a number of other large firms for the business development companies it manages.

In November of last year, three top executives of KCAP Financial, a New York-based publicly traded fund being regulated as a business development company, were charged by the SEC with overstating the fund’s assets during the financial crisis. The fund’s asset portfolio consisted primarily of corporate debt securities and investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs).

In January, FINRA chimed in with a letter to the broker-dealer firms it oversees that it is concerned about “potentially unsuitable and otherwise problematic” business development company investments for retail investors based on risk factors such as liquidity and credit ratings.

None of it fazes Michael Forman, CEO of Franklin Square.

“In an environment of closer scrutiny for all investments, we realize regulators have a job to do,” he says. “We have a very good relationship with regulators, and they view us as kind of a thought leader in the space.”

Thought leader is an important distinction, as Forman and the firm are heavily involved in education on BDCs.

 “We stay on message and keep it simple,” he adds. “We tell clients that we will treat their capital with respect, and not try and oversell or overpromise. We fully explain the risks to acknowledge that the investment is not for everyone.”

The firm focuses on corporate credit investments, and gives clients the potential for income and capital preservation with reduced volatility.

“It used to be that folks could simply get their required income and preservation by investing in Fortune 50 companies,” Forman argues. “No longer.”

It somewhat of a bold claim, he says “we’re the first true institutional alternative investment available to the retail investor.”

When asked for clarification, he explains that CalPERS, or Sovereign Wealth of Dubai, or any of the large institutional funds have as much as 54% of assets allocated to non-real-estate alternatives.

“Most Americans have no access to those, but it’s something we offer.”

Forman claims a number of best practices that set Franklin Square apart from other firms in the space.

First, “We make a significant investment in the funds ourselves, so we have skin in the game. Studies show that managers who invest in their own funds consistently leads to better performance."

Second, distributions are fully earned. “Some funds make distributions from capital; we do not do that.”

Third, “We mark our portfolio on a daily basis, which is published on a quarterly basis. Everyone knows exactly what the NAV is at any moment.”

Fourth, education is a major focus. “A lot of this is common-sense stuff at the institutional level, but not for retail investors."

Diamond Hill Capital Comments on Microsoft Corp

Software provider Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) reported a number of noteworthy events during the quarter. Investors reacted positively to the announcement that Microsoft will appoint a new CEO within the next 12 months to replace Steve Ballmer. However, shares retreated after the company announced the purchase of Nokia's phone business along with certain patent rights for $7.2 billion as many investors question whether that market will ever prove profitable.

From Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio) Large Cap Fund third quarter 2013 commentary.

Also check out: Diamond Hill Capital Undervalued Stocks Diamond Hill Capital Top Growth Companies Diamond Hill Capital High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Diamond Hill Capital keeps buying

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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Elecsys Corp (ESYS): The Best Small Cap Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Stock? DGII, NMRX & SWIR

Small cap machine-to-machine (M2M) stock Elecsys Corp (NASDAQ: ESYS) jumped 8.99% yesterday and is up 254% over the past year, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at the stock and its performance verses other small cap M2M stocks like Digi International Inc (NASDAQ: DGII), Numerex Corp (NASDAQ: NMRX) and Sierra Wireless, Inc (NASDAQ: SWIR). First of all though, I should mention that machine-to-machine (M2M) broadly refers to technologies that allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the same type and this can be through any type of technology ranging from instruments to networks to applications that create connections between devices.

With that broad definition in mind, what is the potential for the entire M2M industry? According to the Strategy Analytics research group, the M2M industry will grow from a $45 billion market last year to an estimated $242 billion in 2022 with areas like healthcare industry, consumer electronics, utilities and vehicles seeing major revenue growth.

What is Elecsys Corp?

Small cap Elecsys Corp provides innovative M2M communication technology solutions, custom electronic equipment and displays for critical industrial applications worldwide. The company's primary markets include energy production and distribution, agriculture, transportation, safety and security systems, water management, aerospace and military while solutions encompass wireless remote monitoring, industrial data communications, mobile data acquisition and rugged display technologies. Proprietary technology and products are developed, marketed, manufactured and supported under the Pipeline Watchdog, Director, Radix and DCI brand names. 

As for potential small cap M2M peers or benchmarks, Digi International calls itself the M2M expert as it provides the industry's "broadest range" of wireless products that are tailored to allow any device to communicate with any application, anywhere in the world; Numerex Corp provides interactive and on-demand M2M enterprise solutions through its integrated M2M horizontal platforms which are generally sold on a subscription basis; and Sierra Wireless provides M2M devices and cloud services, including a comprehensive portfolio of 2G, 3G and 4G embedded modules and gateways that seamlessly integrated with its secure M2M cloud services.

What You Need to Know or Be Warned About Elecsys Corp?

Its hard to explain why Elecsys Corp suddenly jumped on Monday as there is not much news in general about the company on various financial news sites. However, the trading volume was 86,398 shares verses a daily average of around 48,000 shares being traded.

In early December, Elecsys Corp announced fiscal second quarter results, reporting that revenues increased 19% to $7,330,000 while total revenues year-to-date rose 36% to $14,104,000 from $10,395,000. Backlog stood at approximately $12,423,000 on October 31, 2013, an increase of $3,930,000, or 46%, from a backlog of $8,493,000 on April 30, 2013 (thanks in part to a $1.25 million order from the Al Rushaid Group to supply remote monitoring equipment for deployment in Saudi Arabia) while net income came in at $653,000, or $0.17 per diluted share, verses net income of $413,000, or $0.11 per diluted share.

Moving forward, Elecsys Corp expects that total revenues for its proprietary products and services business segment will continue to grow during the second half of the fiscal year thanks to continued investments in both sales and marketing and new product development. In addition, the company anticipates that both its wireless remote monitoring solutions and industrial data communications will show increases in revenues while OEM revenues will grow moderately over the longer term based upon current backlog and the anticipated addition of new OEM customers plus revenues for mobile data acquisition products and services will likely be consistent with revenues reported in the last fiscal quarter.

Top 10 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now

With that in mind, I should note that so far, there are no analysts covering Elecsys Corp and only 6% of shares are held by institutional or mutual fund owners (32% are held by insiders or 5% owners).

Top Institutional Holders

Latest Guru Picks	Value Strategies
Warren Buffett Portfolio	Ben Graham Net-Net
Real Time Picks	Buffett-Munger Screener
Aggregated Portfolio	Undervalued Predictable

HolderShares% OutValue*Reported

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP	62,220	1.63	497,760	Sep 30, 2013
Royal Bank of Canada	41,962	1.10	335,696	Sep 30, 2013
Morgan Stanley	17,646	0.46	141,168	Sep 30, 2013
Bristol, John W. & Co. Inc	16,200	0.43	129,600	Sep 30, 2013
Wells Fargo & Company	9,600	0.25	76,800	Sep 30, 2013
CALPERS (California-Public Employees Retirement System)	7,200	0.19	57,600	Sep 30, 2013

 

Then again, its probably only a matter of time before the stock's performance (should it keep rising) grab the attention of more investors on Wall Street.

Share Performance: Elecsys Corp vs. DGII, NMRX & SWIR

On Monday, small cap Elecsys Corp rose jumped 8.99% to $14.30 (ESYS has a 52 week trading range of $3.93 to $14.86 a share) for a market cap of $54.44 million plus the stock is up 254% over the past year and up 333.3% since March 2009. I should also mention that we added Elecsys Corp to our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio just before the holidays and we are already up some 11.72% over the past few weeks.

Here is a look at the performance of Elecsys Corp verses that of small cap M2M stocks Digi International, Numerex Corp and Sierra Wireless:

As you can see from the above performance chart, Elecsys Corp's performance was relatively flat up until late 2012 when the stock started to take off while shares of Numerex Corp and Sierra Wireless have actually been the best performers since the end of the financial crisis.

Finally, here is a look at the latest technical charts for all four small cap M2M stocks:

The Bottom Line. If you are looking for a small cap stock in an industry with significant growth potential, M2M stocks like Elecsys Corp along with peers like Digi International, Numerex Corp and Sierra Wireless could all be well worth taking a closer look at. 

SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) has an open position in ESYS. To find out what other open positions SCN EO currently has, and to learn why so many traders and investors are relying on this premium subscription service, click here to find out more.

Top 5 China Companies To Own For 2014

If there�� one thing which stands out about the West since 2008, it�� this: There�� been almost no substantive economic reform. There�� been a lot of money printed, talking up of prospects (forward guidance in central banker parlance), huge subsidies to save certain sectors, but little restructuring of economies to put them on a more sustainable footing. Where the financial crisis showed the dangers of relying on ever-expanding debt to fund consumption, that reliance has only increased since.

Asia isn�� immune from criticism on the reform front either. Much of the region has been busy congratulating itself for avoiding the worst of 2008, while ignoring the growing problems at home. China has fallen into the western-style trap of relying on more debt to produce enough economic growth to ward off a serious downturn. India�� in trouble after backtracking on the broad-ranging reforms of the early 1990s which fueled an average 6% GDP growth over the past two decades. Meanwhile, Indonesia��onsidered the rising star of Asian economies only a short time ago��as slowed quickly after keeping interest rates too low for too long and failing to sufficiently cut spending on the likes of energy subsidies.

Top 5 China Companies To Own For 2014: Euro/Yen(EJ)

E-House (China) Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate services company in China. It provides primary real estate agency services, secondary real estate brokerage services, real estate information and consulting services, real estate advertising services, real estate promotional event services, real estate online services, and real estate investment fund management services. The company offers primary real estate agency services to real estate developers. Its secondary real estate brokerage services include offering advisory services on choices of properties; accompanying potential buyers on house viewing trips; drafting purchase contracts; negotiating price and other terms; and providing preliminary proof of title, as well as coordinating with the notary, the bank, and the title transfer agency. The company also provides real estate information services comprising data subscription services and data integration services; and real estate cons ulting services, including land acquisition consulting, development consulting, marketing consulting, and comprehensive solution consulting. In addition, it offers real estate advertising services consisting of advertising design and sales in print and other media; and real estate promotional event services, including securing venues, hiring caters and other various service providers, formulating event themes, and inviting speakers and guests for real estate promotional events. Further, the company provides real estate online services, including real estate news, information, property data, and access to online communities to real estate consumers and participants through local Web sites; and involves in real estate investment fund management activities that consist of investments in China?s real estate sector. E-House (China) Holdings Limited was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  E-House (China) Holdings (NYSE: EJ  ) reported earnings on May 16. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), E-House (China) Holdings crushed expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One under-$10 name that's quickly pushing within range of triggering a big breakout trade is E-House China (EJ), which is engaged in providing real estate agency and brokerage services in the primary and secondary markets and real estate consulting and information services in the People's Republic of China. This stock is off to a monster start in 2013, with shares up sharply by 131%.

  If you take a look at the chart for E-House China, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways and consolidating for the last month and change, with shares moving between $8.35 on the downside and $10.24 on the upside. Shares of EJ are starting to spike sharply higher today right above that $8.35 low, and this stock is now quickly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade above the upper-end of its recent range.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in EJ if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $9.74 to $10.19 a share, and then once it clears its 52-week high at $10.24 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.11 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then EJ will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory above $10.24, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $13 to $15 a share.

  Traders can look to buy EJ off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support at $8.35 a share, or around its 50-day moving average at $7.96 a share. One can also buy EJ off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By Belinda Cao]

  E-House China Holdings Ltd. (EJ), a real estate brokerage, gained 9.2 percent to $9.70, extending it advance to a third week. Its American depositary receipts retreated 3.1 percent Sept. 20 from the highest level since May 2011.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Shares of E-House (China) Holdings (NYSE: EJ) got a boost, shooting up 7.63 percent to $10.78 after the company reported Q3 results.

  SINA (NASDAQ: SINA) was also up, gaining 12.98 percent to $85.76 after the company reported a strong rise in its Q3 profit.

Top 5 China Companies To Own For 2014: SmartHeat Inc.(HEAT)

SmartHeat Inc. manufactures, sells, and services plate heat exchangers (PHE) in the People?s Republic of China. It offers PHE units, which combine PHEs with various pumps, temperature sensors, and valves and automated control systems; heat meters for use in commercial and residential buildings; and spiral and tube heat exchangers. The company?s products are used in various applications that include energy conversion for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; and industrial use in petroleum refining, petrochemicals, metallurgy, food and beverage, and chemical processing. SmartHeat sells PHE units under the brand name of Taiyu; and PHEs under the brand names of Taiyu and Sondex. It sells its products through sales force and a network of national distributors. The company is headquartered in Shenyang, the People?s Republic of China.

Top 5 Gold Companies To Own For 2014: Spreadtrum Communications Inc.(SPRD)

Spreadtrum Communications, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops, and markets baseband processor and RF transceiver solutions for wireless communications and mobile television markets. It offers a portfolio of integrated baseband processor solutions that support a range of wireless communications standards, including global system for mobile communication (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA), and high speed packet access (HSPA), as well as offer an array of multimedia capabilities, such as MP3 digital audio playback, touch screen, JAVA acceleration, digital camera support, motion JPEG, MPEG4, AVS and H.264 digital video playback, and 64-channel polyphonic ringtone playback. The company also provides single-chip CMOS multi-mode RF transceivers that perform across various standards covering GSM/GP RS, EDGE, wideband code division multiple access, TD-SCDMA, and high speed uplink/downlink packet access. In addition, it designs, develops, and markets a CMMB-based channel demodulator and audio/video decoder processor solution for the mobile television market. The company sells its products directly, as well as through distributors to brand manufacturers, independent design houses, and original design manufacturers primarily in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of Chinese smartphone chip maker Spreadtrum Communications (NASDAQ: SPRD  ) surged 17% today after Tsinghua University, through its subsidiary Tsinghua Unigroup, offered to acquire it for $1.4 billion.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of smartphone chip maker Spreadtrum Communications (NASDAQ: SPRD  ) popped 13% today after Chinese state-owned company Tsinghua Unigroup agreed to acquire it for about $1.8 billion.

Top 5 China Companies To Own For 2014: Baidu Inc.(BIDU)

Baidu, Inc. provides Chinese and Japanese language Internet search services. Its search services enable users to find relevant information online, including Web pages, news, images, multimedia files, and blogs through the links provided on its Websites. The company also offers online community-based products and entertainment platforms; an instant messaging service; and a consumer-oriented e-commerce platform. In addition, it designs and delivers online marketing services and auction-based P4P services that enable its customers to reach users who search for information related to their products or services. The company serves online marketing customers consisting of small and medium sized enterprises, large domestic corporations, and Chinese divisions or subsidiaries of multinational corporations primarily operating in the medical, machinery, education, franchising, electronic products, e-commerce, ticketing, tourism, information technology, consumer products, real estate, entertainment, and financial services industries. It sells its online marketing services directly, as well as through its distribution network. The company was formerly known as Baidu.com, Inc. and changed its name to Baidu, Inc. in December 2008. Baidu, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Shareholders Unite]

  The main on-line competitors are:

  Qunar.com, a travel website owned by Baidu (BIDU) and a few venture fundseLong (LONG), backed by Tencent (TCEHY.PK) and Expedia (EXPE). Analyst expect it to generate $163M in revenue next year

  That is pretty serious competition, needless to say. Having the backing of Baidu or Expedia offers several advantages, but Ctrip is the biggest and most established company. It's quite difficult to compare Qunar.com to Ctrip, for the simple sake that Qunar is a private company. However, there can be little doubt that it constitutes serious competition:

• [By David Zeiler]

  In fact, one of the events that triggered Chinese interest in Bitcoin was in late October when Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq ADR: BIDU), a search engine company even more dominant in China than Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) is in the United States, announced it would take Bitcoin.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Chinese search giant Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

• [By Paul Goodwin]

  Paul Goodwin: I, you know, I think one that I really like right now is a name that everyone should be familiar with. It's Baidu (BIDU), which generally is��henever people mention Baidu they generally say��he Google of China.

Top 5 China Companies To Own For 2014: BHP Billiton Limited(BHP)

BHP Billiton Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified natural resources company worldwide. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas; mining and refining of bauxite into alumina, and smelting of alumina into aluminum metal; and mining of copper, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, uranium, gold, diamonds, and titanium minerals, as well as development of potash deposits. It also involves in the mining and production of nickel products, manganese ore, and manganese metal and alloys, as well as in the mining of iron ore, metallurgical coal, and thermal coal. BHP Billiton Limited sells its copper, lead, and zinc concentrates, and alumina to smelters; copper cathodes to wire rod mills, brass mills, and casting plants; uranium oxide to electricity generating utilities; rough diamonds to diamond buyers and diamond manufacturers; nickel products to stainless steel, specialty alloy, foundry, chemicals, and refractory ma terial industries; metallurgical coal to steel producers; and energy coal to power stations, power generators, and industrial users. The company, formerly known as BHP Limited, was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Jubak]

  This hasn't been a great year for mining stocks, and for iron ore miners in particular, as slower growth in China has cut into demand, while past investments in new mines have added to supply. But shares of Vale have decidedly underperformed shares of competitors such as BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) because of the uncertainty of this tax case. The amount of the government claim is, after all, three times net profit from 2012. In the last 12 months, shares of Vale were down 5.03% as of November 19, while shares of BHP Billiton were up 4.04% and shares of Rio Tinto were ahead 10.37%.

How Southwest Makes Boeing Stock Look Great Right Now

At one time, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV  ) and its upstart peers wouldn't fly long-haul routes because it was either too difficult or unprofitable to do so. But now Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) is building the extended range 737 MAX while Airbus has the A320neo. Think of them as smaller-scale versions of the 787, says Motley Fool contributor Tim Beyers in the following video.

The extended range of both aircraft, which are expected to enter service between 2015 and 2017, makes it more likely that smaller carriers will compete for longer-haul routes such as Los Angeles to Honolulu or New York to London. And while that's no doubt good news for Boeing stock, it's bad news for legacy carriers, Tim says.

Who wins? We won't know for years, but Southwest is already the leading buyer of the MAX, and as such, seems to be a likely benefactor. There's also Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK  ) , which already flies from the continental west coast to various destinations in the Hawaiian Islands. The airline has ordered 37 of the planes to upgrade its fleet.

Regardless, the big point for investors in Boeing stock is that, in making more fuel-efficient aircraft, the company could be hurting its legacy carrier customers by making it easier for discount airlines to enter the longer-haul markets they've dominated for so long.

Now it's your turn to weigh in. Does rising interest in the MAX get you more interested in Boeing stock? Please watch the video to get Tim's full take, and then leave a comment to let us know what you think.

Want more ideas? Boeing certainly isn't the only American company whose products are seen throughout the world. The Motley Fool profiles more winners in the making in the free report "3 American Companies Set to Dominate the World". A simple click gets you a free copy for a limited time.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is Up 10.6% in 2014 Plus Other Good News

So far, it's a good year for chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (NYSE: AMD) and its shareholders as shares are already up 10.6% since the start of the year. I should mention that we have had AMD in our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio since last July and its been a bumpy ride for us. Nevertheless, we are up about 8% thanks to those gains so far this year. Moreover, the following largely good news points to further gains this year:

CES Presentations. Along with other tech leaders from around the world, Advanced Micro Devices made a splash at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where attendees got to see a whole array of innovations powered by the latest AMD APU and graphics technologies. According to the company press release about CES, the star of the show is the ground-breaking "Surround House 2: Monsters in the Orchestra," a 360-degree surround-computing demonstration that leverages the computing capabilities of AMD technologies to create an immersive, first-of-its-kind audiovisual and interactive experience. In addition, there is a page on AMD's website (click here) dedicated to CES plus a company presentation from the show can be viewed here. Xbox and Playstation Sales. On Monday, Reuters reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) had announced that sales of its new Xbox One game console have topped three million at the end of last year after its launch in November with sales being in line with expectations according to Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities who also estimates that Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation sales stand around the 3 million mark. However and during a keynote speech at the CES Show on Tuesday, Sony Computer Entertainment President and Group CEO Andrew House said they have actually sold 4.2 million PlayStation 4 units worldwide as of December 28, 2013 - more than 1 million units higher than what some analysts like Pachter were predicting. It should be mentioned though that Sony enjoyed a one-week advantage in 2013 by releasing the PS4 on November 15, compared to the November 22 release of the Xbox One. Either way, Advance Micro Devices comes out a winner because it developed or supplied chips for both devices. A Law Firm Starts "Investigating." Holzer & Holzer, LLC, a so-called "Shareholder rights" law firm, is "investigating" whether Advanced Micro Devices and/or certain of its officers complied with the federal securities laws when making statements to investors between October 27, 2011 and October 18, 2012. Specifically, the investigation focuses on:

"…statements issued by AMD regarding demand for the Company's 32 nanometer "Llano" Accelerated Processing Unit. On October 18, 2012 the Company announced disappointing financial results for the third quarter of 2012, which included a substantial write-down of its inventory value."

Of course and just like with cockroaches, where there are lawyers, there are usually more of them ready to appear - if they sense an opportunity to make a quick buck. So keep an eye out for more press releases from other lawyers wanting to "protect" investor rights.

Traders Look For Gains. OptionMonster has noticed some heavy and bullish option trading activity. To begin with, a trader sold 6,265 February 4 puts for $0.25 in volume in order to profit from AMD being anywhere above $4 at expiration. Then 13,500 each of the February 5 and April 5.50 calls traded for $0.17 in what appears to be a short diagonal spread with the trader buying the February calls and selling the longer-dated, higher-strike contracts to offset the cost in a limited bullish play.  Share Performance. Advanced Micro Devices is already up 10.6% since the start of the year, up 61.4% over the past year and up 75.6% over the past five years, but again, it has not always been a smooth ride for investors as you can see in the following performance chart:

Finally, here is a look at the latest technical chart for AMD:

With the above good news in mind, things are looking up for investors in AMD for the new year.

SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) has an open position in AMD. To find out what other open positions SCN EO currently has, and to learn why so many traders and investors are relying on this premium subscription service, click here to find out more.

Cheerios says no to Monsanto

General Mills (ticker: GIS ) announced late last week that it would be making Cheerios GMO-free. The move is one of the first major responses by an American company to address the growing consumer concern over GMOs. If this is the beginning of a trend, the impact on seed-technology companies like Monsanto (MON) could be substantial.

The start of something bigger

In the grand scheme of things, the removal of GMOs from Cheerios amounts to a nearly negligible amount of seed products amid the massive Monsanto offerings. Furthermore, oats, the primary ingredient in Cheerios, are remarkably inexpensive in the crop-product world. The bigger and more worrisome issue for Monsanto is that this may be the first of many such decisions by major food producers in response to consumer demand for GMO-free products.

GMOs are found in more than 80% of American food products, but for the most part go undetected by the average American consumer. While there have been no major direct and undisputed scientific studies indicating health issues related to the consumption of GMOs, a substantial subset of American consumers have taken issue with the prevalence of GMOs in food products. Attempts to pass legislation requiring the labeling of food products containing GMOs have so far been unsuccessful in both California and Washington state, but the move by General Mills to willingly remove GMOs from Cheerios will likely bring the issue back to the forefront of the public eye.

Top Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2014

The resulting impact of GMO labeling on Monsanto could be huge, and similar results could be expected if major food manufacturers continue to willingly remove GMOs from their products, regardless of mandated labeling.

A little publicity goes a long way

General Mills is making a statement, but only one that it can currently back without suffering any major financial impact. Yes, Cheerios is Ge! neral Mills' best-selling cereal brand, but the amount of GMOs found in the current formulation of Cheerios is arguably insignificant. By 'giving in' to consumer demand, General Mills has found a cheap and effective way to receive public attention and free advertising without substantially changing its product offerings.

General Mills is making the GMO-free change only to original Cheerios. The main ingredient in original Cheerios, as mentioned above, is oats, which are already GMO-free, requiring only a change in the sourcing of cornstarch and sugar. Major ingredients in other Cheerios-brand cereals such as Multigrain Cheerios have primary ingredients sourced from corn, wheat, and other more GMO-intensive crops. By making great claims for Cheerios, General Mills may have effectively gained public trust in regards to GMO-free product offerings while diverting attention away from the fact that the majority of its cereals do indeed contain GMOs.

In fact, most of the cereals produced by General Mills as well as most cereals produced by competitors Kellogg (NYSE: K ) and Post Holdings (NYSE: POST ) actually contain a significantly greater percentage of GMOs than Cheerios ever did.

The takeaway

While the intention of General Mills in making Cheerios GMO free may be in question, the action is still a huge deal in the already-contentious world of GMOs and GMO-labeling. The attention gained will likely sway some Kashi-devoted consumers to try General Mills products.

On its own, the reformulating of Cheerios will have little or no impact on Monsanto and other seed-technology companies. Investors, however, should watch carefully to see if General Mills has started a cascading effect that could turn consumers away from GMOs in general, which could have a much more detrimental influence on Monsanto.

The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produ! ced indep! endently of USA TODAY.

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Will A Merge With Vodafone Send AT&T Higher?

With shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) trading around $36, is T an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

AT&T is a provider of telecommunications services in the United States and worldwide. Services offered include wireless communications, local exchange services, and long-distance services. AT&T operates in four segments: Wireless, Wireline, Advertising Solutions, and Other. The communications products offered through AT&T's segments reach audiences using just about every widely adopted medium: Internet, voice, television, and mobile. As consumers continue to adopt this technology, providers like AT&T stand to see rising profits.

AT&T is reportedly preparing to get serious about buying what's left of Vodafone (NASDAQ:VOD) after the British wireless carrier sells its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ). People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that AT&T is working to determine which of Vodafone's many global assets it wants to keep and which would be spun off. A merger between AT&T and Vodafone would create the world's largest telecom operator by sales, Bloomberg said. AT&T has been looking to expand into Europe, which has less advanced network technology in place than in the U.S.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Mixed

AT&T stock has been range-bound over the past couple of years. The stock is currently trading sideways and looks set to continue. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, AT&T is trading above its rising key averages which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of AT&T options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
AT&T Options	17.22%	20%	18%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
November Options	Flat	Top 5 Bank Stocks To Invest In 2014 Average
December Options	Flat	Average

As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a very minimal amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months.

On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion.

E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on AT&T’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for AT&T look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	N/A	7.58%	11.67%	-39.59%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	N/A	1.58%	-1.46%	0.23%
Earnings Reaction	-1.84%	-1.14%	-5.02%	0.80%

AT&T has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been pleased with AT&T’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Weak Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has AT&T stock done relative to its peers, Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Sprint (NYSE:S), T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS), and sector?

	AT&T	Verizon	Sprint	T-Mobile US	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	-1.60%	-2.19%	23.15%	58.62%	20.49%

AT&T has been a poor relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

AT&T is a communications and entertainment company that operates around the world. The company is preparing to get serious about merging with Vodafone, which would create the world’s largest telecom operator by sales. The stock has been consolidating in recent years and is now trading sideways. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been increasing, which has left investors pleased with the company. Relative to its peers and sector, AT&T has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what AT&T does next.

Navistar International Whiffs on Revenues

Navistar International (NYSE: NAV  ) reported earnings on June 10. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended April 30 (Q2), Navistar International whiffed on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue contracted significantly. Non-GAAP loss per share grew. GAAP loss per share grew.

Margins dropped across the board.

Revenue details
Navistar International tallied revenue of $2.53 billion. The eight analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for sales of $2.92 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 23% lower than the prior-year quarter's $3.30 billion.

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 -$4.39. The 15 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated -$1.18 per share. Non-GAAP EPS were -$4.39 for Q2 compared to -$1.99 per share for the prior-year quarter. GAAP EPS were -$4.65 for Q2 versus -$2.50 per share for the prior-year quarter.

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 6.5%, 360 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -9.9%, 490 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -14.8%, 960 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $3.00 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$1.30.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $11.46 billion. The average EPS estimate is -$6.49.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 183 members out of 220 rating the stock outperform, and 37 members rating it underperform. Among 57 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 51 give Navistar International a green thumbs-up, and six give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Navistar International is hold, with an average price target of $33.44.

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Why Tumblr Didn't Turn Out More Like Twitter

Twitter was founded in March 2006. Tumblr was created in February 2007. Twitter has 230 million monthly active users, 53 million of them in the U.S. Tumblr is thought to be within an order of magnitude of that — between 30 million and 50 million actives, plus more than 300 million unique visitors. The two even share some DNA: Tumblr founder David Karp says Twitter borrowed the concept of the retweet from an action on his platform, the reblog.

Yet Twitter went public Thursday, raising $1.8 billion and achieving a market valuation of $31 billion by the end of the day, while Tumblr sold itself to Yahoo Yahoo for $1.1 billion in May amid reports that it was running short of money.

As the saying goes: Results may vary. But why?

"I think every company's different, every founder's different," says Bijan Sabet, whose venture firm, Spark Capital, was an early investor in both social startups. "They're two different situations. It's a funny day when we look at $1.1 billion as small."

Granted. But all else being equal, every founder would agree that $31 billion is cooler than $1.1 billion. And when I profiled David Karp for FORBES last year, he made it clear that an eventual IPO was at least on his mind, if not his preferred scenario. In a market where less-established startups like Snapchat and Pinterest are fetching valuations of several times Tumblr's sales price, it's worth asking why two outwardly similar companies that long appeared to be on similar trajectories ended up with such different outcomes.

I posed that question to a handful of smart people: Sabet of Spark Capital; venture capitalist David Pakman, a partner at Venrock Associates; Nihal Mehta, general partner at ENIAC Ventures and executive chairman of LocalResponse LocalResponse; Chris Tolles, co-founder and CEO of Topix; and Gartner analyst Brian Blau. Here's what they see as the key differentiators:

Leadership. This might be the big one, since everything a company does and is flows from its leadership. Tumblr spent the last year of its life as an independent company ostensibly on the hunt for its its own "Sheryl Sandberg" — a strong business executive who could complement Karp the way Sandberg does Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook. That it never found that person probably speaks to a lack of desire or interest on Karp's part.

Twitter certainly had its own leadership issues, but the appointment of Dick Costolo as CEO in 2010 put a period on them. " In order to build a company that is of value to brands, you actually have to want to do it from the top down," says Pakman. "You can't do it reluctantly. In Dick, you've got a guy who's really excited to build an unbelievably interesting advertising medium."

Karp's lack of interest in the mechanics of revenue was a big factor in winding up at Yahoo, Sabet agrees. "David's true love is product and thinking about the user," he says. "Now he gets to do that full time."

Brand. It may not have the market penetration of Facebook, but every wired American knows Twitter's little blue bird symbol. Do you know Tumblr's logo? Probably not. "It hasn't been able to break out to the mass market the way Twitter says," says Mehta. "You can't imagine your parents ever having a Tumblr account. That's a big difference."

It's one that stems from who sets the tone on the network. Twitter undertook a concerted campaign to get actors, comedians, athletes and politicians using its service, notes Gartner's Blau. "Tumblr did the same thing, but the people that self-selected Tumblr was the artist and designer crowd," he says. "Those are not influencers. In fact, those are people who really want to be off by themselves."

Content. In several ways, the nature of content that thrived on Tumblr made it a difficult business proposition. Some unknown proportion is pornography; estimates range as high as 30%. (One study found that 11.4% of the 200,000 most-visited domains were adult content.) A good deal more of it is copyrighted material, republished without consent. "I think Twitter is an important thought platform for the world, whereas Tumblr just isn't — it's a reblog site for 'memes,'" says Tolles.

Don't underestimate the importance of format, either. In the 140-character tweet, Twitter invented the equivalent of a new quantum particle — something that seemed like it should have existed all along. "They found a communications mechanism that really resonates with people," says Blau.

Mobility. Twitter was born as an SMS application. The migration of the internet from desktops to smartphones was never anything but a good thing for its growth. Meanwhile, "Tumblr was very desktop and had to port to mobile," notes Mehta. That posed various challenges. It's hard to blog from a phone, and the big, gorgeous images that populate so many Tumblrs don't look like much on a 3-inch screen.

Data: While Tumblr had a lot of users, on a per-user basis they weren't nearly as valuable to marketers as the people on Twitter or Facebook, says Pakman. The nature of follow/friend relationships on those sites generates the kind of data advertisers crave — about interests, affinities, personal relationships. "In the case of Tumblr, it's not really clear what the data tells you," he says. "It's not clear why people follow other people. It seems to be because you like their creative expression. I'm not sure that's very valuable data."

Geography. Karp has always said Tumblr's New York City location was a crucial element of its success. Tolles disagrees. "It's hard to make a platform work outside Silicon Valley. I just think there's a set of resources that NYC doesn't have that gets brought to bear — executive talent, technical talent and a desire to work together with other people in the industry."

——-

Update: I added a second, lower estimate of the amount of pornographic content on Tumblr to give a better idea of the possible magnitude of the issue.

Also on Forbes:

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De Blasio Takes Oath of Office to Become 109th Mayor of New York

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Saying he was going to ask more of the wealthy, Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn in as New York's 109th mayor.

De Blasio succeeds Mike Bloomberg, who served three four-year terms, covering the period of New York's recovery from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

The new mayor is the first Democrat to lead the city in 20 years. David Dinkins, the last Democrat to be mayor, was on the platform for the ceremonial swearing-in at City Hall at midday. De Blasio was officially sworn-in by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman just after midnight in front of his Brooklyn home.

In the City Hall ceremony, President Bill Clinton administered the oath of office as de Blasio's family, Bloomberg, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looked on. Then the new mayor laid out his plans for the city, including his desire to bridge the gap between the wealthy and the poor, in his inaugural address.

"When I said we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities, I meant it," de Blasio said. "And we will do it. I will honor the faith and trust you have placed in me. And we will give life to the hope of so many in our city. We will succeed as One City."

De Blasio said the wealthy need to be prepared to pay more in taxes. "We will ask the very wealthy to pay a little more in taxes so that we can offer full-day universal pre-K, and after-school programs for every middle school student," he said. "We do not ask more of the wealthy to punish success. We do it to create more success stories."

The mayor emphasized that the tax increase for the wealthy would be "little," coming to about $3 a day for someone earning between $500,000 and $1 million a year.

He said he would push to require large developers to build affordable housing. "We'll fight to stem the tide of hospital closures," the mayor said. "And we'll expand community health centers into neighborhoods in need, so that New Yorkers see our city not as the exclusive domain of the One Percent, but a place where everyday people can afford to live, work, and raise a family. We won't wait. We'll do it now."

De Blasio noted that the city has confronted many challenges. "New York has faced fiscal collapse, a crime epidemic, terrorist attacks and natural disasters," he said. "But now, in our time, we face a different crisis -- an inequality crisis. It's not often the stuff of banner headlines in our daily newspapers. It's a quiet crisis, but one no less pernicious than those that have come before.

"Its urgency is read on the faces of our neighbors and their children, as families struggle to make it against increasingly long odds. To tackle a challenge this daunting, we need a dramatic new approach -- rebuilding our communities from the bottom-up, from the neighborhoods up. And just like before, the world will watch as we succeed. All along the way, we will remember what makes New York, New York.

"A city that fights injustice and inequality -- not just because it honors our values, but because it strengthens our people. A city of five boroughs -- all created equal. Black, white, Latino, Asian, gay, straight, old, young, rich, middle class, and poor. A city that remembers our responsibility to each other -- our common cause -- is to leave no New Yorker behind." He concluded by saying: "Working together, we will make this One City. And that mission - our march toward a fairer, more just, more progressive place, our march to keep the promise of New York alive for the next generation. It begins today."  Follow @cabara