Smaller Kodak releases earnings, turns a profit

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Eastman Kodak Co. ended bankruptcy and restarted life as smaller, far less indebted and — by at least one measure — profitable company.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based printing technology company on Tuesday announced its quarterly earnings for the three months ended Sept. 30. It was during that quarter that Kodak ended its 20-month Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2012.

STORY: Kodak stock returning to New York Stock Exchange
STORY: Kodak bankruptcy officially ends

For the quarter, revenue was down 15%, to $563 million.

Not counting some expenses such as taxes and depreciation, Kodak had an operational profit for the third quarter of $3 million, vs. a $23 million loss the same quarter a year earlier.

Bottom line, it had a loss of $155 million for the quarter, compared with a $312 million loss previously.

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In a statement, Kodak CEO Antonio M. Perez said that the company was "pleased with our progress on earnings this quarter, with operational EBITDA (earnings) on track with expectations. Further, our customers are telling us they are impressed with our technologies, and increasingly ready to adopt and apply our solutions to help grow their businesses."

Kodak's third quarter 2012 might as well be a lifetime ago, in many respects. The company at the time was far larger both in terms of what it did and its actual physical assets. Earlier this year, as part of its bankruptcy, it sold its Document Imaging business — primarily involving scanners — and Personalized Imaging business — meaning photographic camera film and photo kiosks.

MORE: KodakNext: Out of bankruptcy, into a new era

It also sold its utility operations, such as the power and steam generation at Eastman Business Park.

The new numbers show a very slimmed down Kodak. It ended the quart! er with $839 million in cash and debt of $679 million. It ended 2012 with debts of $1.4 billion.

Meanwhile, for the quarter, Kodak had administrative and selling expenses of $93 million, compared with $148 million a year earlier.

Kodak has previously said that it expects 2013 to be its bottoming-out year financially, with revenues growing starting in 2014. It did not indicate Tuesday any changes to that aim.

Tuesday's earnings report, released after the markets closed, was the first since Kodak stock resumed trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 1 under the symbol KODK. Shares ended the day at $24.80, down 60 cents, or 2.4%.

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Daneman also reports for the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.

Can 'Avatar' Save Disney's Animal Kingdom?

Alamy The afternoon exodus of turnstiles clicking the wrong way may soon be coming to an end at Disney's (DIS) Animal Kingdom. Disney announced over the weekend that an entire land themed to James Cameron's "Avatar" -- complete with at least two E-ticket attractions -- should open at the animal-themed park by early 2017. The addition of the fictional Na'vi tribe's lush Pandora moon landscape should help shake the park's negative tag of being a half-day park. It's been more than two years since Disney and Cameron announced that "Avatar" -- a 21st Century Fox (FOXA) property -- would be coming to Florida. At the time, the parties earmarked a $400 million investment and squared away several acres at Animal Kingdom for the project. However, things had been relatively quiet since then. After spending billions to acquire Marvel and Lucasfilm, it was only natural to wonder if Disney was having second thoughts about its blue-hued plan to use the section of the park that had originally been slated for the mythical Beastly Kingdom, before Disney settled for installing the far more modest Camp Minnie-Mickey. We're Back on Pandora Marvel and Lucasfilm properties would've been an odd fit, even for a park that stretches the scope of being an animal park to include talking bugs in a 3-D show, a track-wrecking yeti, and a time-traveling dinosaur-hunting thrill ride. Marvel itself comes with unique challenges. Marvel's most prolific characters are tied to a licensing deal with Comcast's (CMCSA) Islands of Adventure in the Universal Orlando Resort that prohibits their appearance at any of Disney's Florida parks. Since things had become so quiet on the "Avatar" front lately, it was easy to speculate that Disney was working on a deal to buy those rights from Comcast. That never happened. However, now that Disney has come clean with some more details and offered up impressive concept art, it seems as if the family entertainment giant has made the right call by dreaming up an experience where park guests will be able to take a leisurely boat ride through the bioluminescent forests of Pandora, or take the thrills up a notch by flying alongside the movie's mountain banshees. Scaling Everest A bit of back story: Animal Kingdom had a rocky reception after it opened in 1998. Outside of the magnetic Kilimanjaro Safari motorized trek through real animal habitats, many visitors were left heading for the exits after a few hours at the park. (I didn't win too many fans with a scathing rebuke at the time, but the park was a disappointment in its first few years.) The park went on to close as early as 5 p.m. some days, and attendance fell in each of its first four years. That turned around when Disney expanded the park to include popular stage shows and the Expedition Everest roller coaster. The park that had attracted 8.6 million guests in its first full year -- falling to 7.3 million by 2003 -- drew nearly 10 million guests last year, according to Themed Entertainment Association. Naturally Animal Kingdom can do even better, and the Avatar expansion will also include the introduction of a new nighttime show -- away from the live animal staging areas -- that will help keep guests at the park longer. It's going to be a long wait until early 2017 -- or the more likely late 2016 soft opening -- but at least Animal Kingdom can capitalize on the favorable momentum that's been building over the years before it shakes the distinction of being a park that can be knocked off in a few hours. Despite the uptick in attendance, the park is still closing at just 6 p.m. this week (7 p.m. on Saturdays). There's a lot of dinner business that the park is missing out by being so incomplete. That will change. It's better to be Na'vi than naive. Disney knows it needs "Avatar" at this point, and by the looks of things, when it arrives, it's going to be spectacular.

United States

Walt Disney (DIS)

Attendance:

2008: 118,000,000

2009: 119,100,000

2010: 120,600,000

1) Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

United Kingdom 

Attendance:

2008: 35,200,000

2009: 38,500,000

2010: 41,000,000

2) Merlin Entertainments Group

United States

Attendance:

2008: 25,700,000

2009: 23,700,000

2010: 26,300,000

3) Universal Studios Recreation Group

Spain

Attendance:

2008: 24,900,000

2009: 24,800,000

2010: 25,800,000

4) Parques Reunidos

United States

Six Flags, Inc. (SIX)

Attendance:

2008: 25,300,000

2009: 23,800,000

2010: 24,300,000

5) Six Flags Inc.

United States

Attendance:

2008: 23,000,000

2009: 23,500,000

2010: 22,400,000

6) SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment

United States

Cedar Fair, L.P. (FUN)

Attendance:

2008: 22,700,000

2009: 21,100,000

2010: 22,800,000

7) Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

 People's Republic of China

Attendance:

2008: 13,400,000

2009: 15,800,000

2010: 19,300,000

8) OCT Parks China

United States

Attendance:

2008: 8,300,000

2009: N/A

2010: 9,600,000

9) Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation

France

SEC Notes Progress, Room for Improvement at Credit Rating Agencies

As 2013 drew to a close, the SEC issued its annual report to Congress on credit rating agencies (called nationally recognized statistical rating organizations, or NRSROs). The reports began after ratings agencies gave top ratings to mortgage-backed securities that subsequently tanked, helping to create the financial crisis of 2008-2009.

In the latest report, the SEC listed the 10 firms currently registered as NRSROs and reviewed "the state of competition, transparency, and conflicts of interest among NRSROs."

In addition to pointing out that the credit rating market is dominated by the big three agencies--S&P, Fitch and Moody's--the report broke down the concentration of reports by category (financial institutions, insurance companies, corporate issuers, asset-backed securities and government securities) by each of the 10 registered firms. It also said that, despite the existence of economic and regulatory barriers to entry into the field, "smaller NRSROs have made notable progress in gaining market share in some of the ratings classes."

However, barriers do still exist, with smaller NRSROs citing contractual and statutory obstacles, such as contracts from institutional fund managers that require minimum ratings requirements and then specify certain NRSROs' ratings.

Another handicap for smaller firms cited by the report is lack of access to information needed to assign ratings, especially for asset-backed securities. When a rating is paid for by the issuer of a security, the ratings agency makes use of nonpublic information to determine the security's rating; other NRSROs in the past may not have been able to review such data to make their own determinations.

And since firms have moved more toward issuer-paid ratings from subscriber-paid ratings, this would exacerbate the problem, if not for a requirement put in place in 2009 "prohibiting an NRSRO from issuing an issuer-paid rating on a structured finance product unless certain information about the transaction is disclosed to other NRSROs."

The report also identified some additional problems, including a continuing lack of sufficient independence from influencing factors such as market share and business concerns and a number of other failures in areas such as recordkeeping, supervision and the isolation of analysts from any data regarding fees. Some firms' proactive steps to correct the problems were also noted.

Most failures were not identified by firm, but one was: Egan Jones Ratings Company (EJR) was barred in January 2013 for a period of 18 months from rating asset-backed and government securities issuers as an NRSRO, on SEC findings that the firm "made willful and material misstatements and omissions when registering with the SEC to become an NRSRO for asset-backed securities and government securities." EJR's return to NRSRO status will depend on reapplication and will be conditional on, among other things, its compliance with the SEC settlement order.

In addition, the report gave an update on the status of the creation of supervisory colleges for the Big Three. The colleges were recommended in July by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) "to enhance communication and coordination among global credit rating agency regulators with respect to examinations of the relevant credit rating agencies," and their first meetings were November 5 and 6. The Office of Credit Ratings (OCR) chaired the colleges for S&P and Moody's, while the European Securities and Markets Authority chaired the college for Fitch.

Don't Get Too Worked Up Over American Public Education's Earnings

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 American Public Education (Nasdaq: APEI  ) , 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, American Public Education generated $24.3 million cash while it booked net income of $44.6 million. That means it turned 7.6% of its revenue into FCF. That sounds OK. However, FCF is less than net income. Ideally, we'd like to see the opposite.

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 American Public Education 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 14.3% of operating cash flow coming from questionable sources, American Public Education investors should take a closer look at the underlying numbers. Within the questionable cash flow figure plotted in the TTM period above, stock-based compensation and related tax benefits provided the biggest boost, at 6.7% of cash flow from operations. Overall, the biggest drag on FCF came from capital expenditures, which consumed 58.6% 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.

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Initial Jobless Claims Drop 3.5%

Initial jobless claims fell 3.5% to 334,000 for the week ending June 8, according to a Labor Department report released today.

After dropping an unrevised 3.1% the previous week, analysts had expected an upswing to 350,000 initial jobless claims.

Source: Author, data from Labor Department.

With a second consecutive week of declines, the four-week moving average also decreased for the first time in over a month, down 2.1% to 345,250. Both the latest week's claims and the four-week average clock in solidly below 400,000, a cutoff point that economists consider a sign of an improving labor market.

On a state-by-state basis, nine states recorded decreases of more than 1,000 initial claims for the week ending June 1 (most recent available data). California's claims dropped 8,800 due to fewer services and manufacturing layoffs, while Florida managed a 3,250-claim decrease as a result of fewer agriculture, construction, and manufacturing layoffs.

Tennessee and New York were the only states to register increases of more than 1,000 initial claims. Tennessee pointed to administrative and support services layoffs as the main pull behind its 1,280-initial-claim bump, while New York did not comment on its 1,000 increase.

link

I'm Sorry, Apple: I Switched

I joined the dark side on Wednesday. After going through three different generations of the iPhone since 2008, I went Android.

This doesn't mean I've soured on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) as an investment. This certainly doesn't mean that my next three phones will be Android devices. I just came to the conclusion that it's in my best interest to be mobile operating system-agnostic.

AT&T (NYSE: T  ) lets me upgrade my phone every 20 months. Other carriers let folks swap out their devices between 20 and 24 months after purchase. The carrier's hefty monthly bill -- steep because AT&T is subsidizing more than $300 off the price of a smartphone on contract -- makes me a sap if I wait.

I paid the stupid tax before. I would wait until the next iPhone would roll out, forgoing months of upgrade eligibility before that. All this did was the start the clock later on my next upgrade.

Enough.

My upgrade window opened earlier this month, and I went with the smartphone that seemed to best suit my needs. Right now, that's the Samsung Galaxy S4. I'm too early in the learning curve to give it a ringing endorsement, but I don't regret my decision.

I spend more time computing on my smartphone than using it as a phone, and the larger-sized phone appealed to me. I take more snapshots than I make phone calls. Nearly everything I used to do on my iPhone I can on Android. I never invested heavily in paid apps, and the bad news for both Apple and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) in the future is that I'm likely to start now that I've embraced the "best available smartphone" approach. Get wooed too deep into an ecosystem, and you wind up paying that dumb tax where you can wait as long as 15 months between iPhone releases.

I could've waited for Apple to make a phone with a 5-inch screen. Surely Apple would match if not surpass the S4's 13-megapixel camera in its update later this year. A rumor indicates that even Samsung is about to outdo itself with a 16-megapixel camera an an optical zoom lens in an upcoming S4 model. It certainly would've been easier to keep my few App Store purchases going instead of buying them again through Google Play.

I choose not to wait. If Apple's iPhone that rolls out in early 2015 is the best device on the market, that's where I'll go.

I don't think I would've strayed from the iOS and Android universe that commands the lion's share of the smartphone and tablet markets. Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) has some pretty slick cameras in its Lumia phones, but I don't have faith in the long-term survival of Windows Phone as a mobile platform. I was initially impressed with some of the BlackBerry 10 features, but I have even more doubts about the long-term viability of BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY  ) . The developer support isn't there.

I have no problem giving up iTunes, but I use Spotify -- paired up to my car via Bluetooth -- for most of my musical consumption. There seems to be no indication that Spotify will offer a BlackBerry 10 app.

Top 5 Insurance Companies To Own For 2014

What does this all mean for investors? Well, I know I'm not the only one embracing agnosticism when it comes to mobile operating systems. AT&T and its wireless carrier peers charge too much to not play the field, and the learning curves get easier, one would imagine, as you hop from platform to platform.

I'm sorry we're breaking up, Apple, but it's not you. Let's blame this on a twisted wireless carrier system that encourages smartphone owners to play the field.

There will be blood
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Prudential: An Excellent ‘Buy and Forget’ Investment

After searching for investments throughout the UK insurance sector, Rupert Hargreaves of The Motley Fool UK, has found one that, not only has had success over the past five years, but one he thinks is poised for even more success in the years to come.

Prudential (LSS:PUK) (NY:PUK) is one of the UK's most successful insurance companies, having been around since 1848, and nearly doubling its earnings during the past five years.

Targets for growth

What's more, Prudential is driving ahead with growth, and recently announced another four-year roadmap, aiming to expand the company's global footprint and increase cash generation. In particular, during the next four years, Prudential is planning to expand its Asian business, targeting profit growth of 15% per annum and £900m to £1.1bn in cash generation by 2017.

In addition, the company is expanding into new markets, most recently acquiring an insurer within Ghana, taking Prudential into sub-Saharan Africa for the first time. Prudential is also growing its footprint within Saudi Arabia. Alongside this growth, Prudential aims to generate £10bn in cash from operations during the next four years, that's one third of the company's current market capitalization.

Management

However, if Prudential is going to be able to achieve these optimistic growth plans, the company is going to need a great management team. Luckily, a great management team is exactly what the company has.

Prudential's management team is led by chief executive Tidjane Thiam, who is highly respected by the city. Indeed, under Mr. Thiam's leadership, Prudential has met five of the six targets the company set out for itself four years ago.

Furthermore, it would appear as if Mr. Thiam is committed to Prudential and the company's growth, as last year, he turned down a personal request by Barrack Obama to take a high-level position at the World Bank. He has also chaired the G20 high-level panel on infrastructure investment.

Shareholder retunes

Unfortunately, Prudential only offers a dividend yield of 2.4% at present, below that of its peers, such as Aviva (AV) and Legal & General (LGEN). Moreover, city analysts only expect Prudential to increase its payout by 10% this year and 5% during 2014.

However, as Prudential is aiming to generate £10bn in cash during the next four years, many city analysts expect the company to either raise its dividend payouts or offer a special dividend to investors.

Still, even if Prudential does not return additional cash to investors, shareholders can sleep soundly knowing their payout is safe, as Prudential's current dividend payout is covered two-and-a-half times by earnings. So, a dividend cut is unlikely anytime soon.

Foolish summary

So overall, Prudential's history, performance during the past five years, and targets for growth during the next four years, make the company look highly appealing as a long-term investment.

Rupert does not own any share mentioned within this article.

Read more from The Motley Fool UK here...

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Top Insurance Stocks To Watch Right Now: Prudential Financial Inc (PRH)

Prudential Financial, Inc. (Prudential Financial) is a financial services company. Prudential Financial has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, the Company offers an array of financial products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. It offers these products and services to individual and institutional customers through proprietary and third party distribution networks. Prudential Financial has two businesses: the Financial Services Businesses and the Closed Block Business. The Financial Services Businesses consists of its United States Retirement Solutions and Investment Management division, United States Individual Life and Group Insurance division, and International Insurance division, as well as its Corporate and Other operations. The Closed Block Business consists of the assets and related liabilities of the Closed Block described below and certain related assets and liabilities. On January 1, 2012, it merged with Gibraltar Life Insurance Company, Ltd (Gibraltar Life).

On February 1, 2011, Prudential Financial completed the acquisition from American International Group, Inc. (AIG), of AIG Star Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (Star), AIG Edison Life Insurance Company (Edison), and certain other AIG subsidiaries. In July 2011, it sold its global commodities business to Jefferies Group, Inc. In November 2011, it acquired an office building located in downtown Chicago's Central Loop. On December 06, 2011, the Company announced the sale of Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services (PRERS), the Company's real estate brokerage and relocation services unit, to Brookfield Residential Property Services.

Financial Services Businesses

The Financial Services Businesses consist of three operating divisions, which together encompass six segments, and its Corporate and Other operations. The United States Retirement Solutions an! d Investment Management division consists of its Individual Annuities, Retirement and Asset Management segments. The United States Individual Life and Group Insurance division consists of its Individual Life and Group Insurance segments. The International Insurance division consists of its International Insurance segment. Its Corporate and Other operations include corporate items and initiatives that are not allocated to business segments, as well as businesses that have been or will be divested.

The Individual Annuities segment manufactures and distributes individual variable and fixed annuity products, primarily to the United States market. The Company�� annuity products are distributed through a diverse group of independent financial planners, wirehouses, banks, and insurance agents, including Prudential Agents and the agency distribution force of The Allstate Corporation (Allstate). It offers variable annuities that provide its customers with tax-deferred asset accumulation together with a base death benefit and a suite of optional guaranteed death and living benefits. Its variable annuity investment options provide the customers with the opportunity to invest in proprietary and non-proprietary mutual funds, frequently under asset allocation programs, and fixed-rate accounts. The Company�� prudential agents distribute variable annuities with proprietary and non-proprietary investment options, as well as fixed annuities. Its individual annuity products are also offered through a range of third party channels, including independent brokers, wirehouses, banks, and Allstate�� proprietary distribution force.

The Company�� retirement segment, which is referred as Prudential Retirement, provides retirement investment and income products and services to retirement plan sponsors in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. Its full service business provides recordkeeping, plan administration, actuarial advisory services, tailored participant education and communicati! on servic! es, trustee services and institutional and retail investments. It services defined contribution, defined benefit and non-qualified plans. For participants leaving the clients��plans, it provides a range of rollover products through its broker-dealer, Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, its bank, Prudential Bank & Trust, FSB (PB&T), and certain of its insurance companies. Its institutional investment products business offers guaranteed investment contracts (GICs), funding agreements, institutional and retail notes, structured settlement annuities, and group annuities, for defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans, non-qualified plans, and individuals.

The Company�� full service business offers plan sponsors and their participants a range of products and services to assist in the delivery and administration of defined contribution, defined benefit, and non-qualified plans, including recordkeeping and administrative services, comprehensive investment offerings and consulting services to assist plan sponsors in managing fiduciary obligations. As part of its investment products, it offers a range of general and separate account stable value products and other fee-based separate accounts, as well as retail mutual funds and institutional funds advised by affiliated and non-affiliated investment managers.

It also offers fee-based separate account products, through which customer funds are held in a separate account, retail mutual funds, institutional funds, or a client-owned trust. These products generally pass all of the investment results to the customer. In addition, it offers guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits associated with certain defined contribution accounts, and hedge certain of the related risks utilizing externally purchased hedging instruments. It also offers a range of rollover solutions, including individual retirement accounts, mutual funds, and guaranteed income products. Its rollover products and services are marketed to participants who ter! minate or! retire from organizations that are clients of its retirement plan recordkeeping services.

The Asset Management segment provides an array of investment management and advisory services by means of institutional portfolio management, mutual funds, asset securitization activity and other structured products, and strategic investments. These products and services are provided to the public and private marketplace, as well as its United States Individual Life and Group Insurance division, International Insurance division and Individual Annuities and Retirement segments, as well as the Closed Block Business. Its products and services include Public Fixed Income Asset Management, Public Equity Asset Management, Private Fixed Income Asset Management, Commercial Mortgage Origination and Servicing, Real Estate Asset Management, Strategic Investments, and Mutual Funds and Other Retail Services.

The public fixed income organization manages fixed income portfolios for United States and international, institutional and retail clients, as well as for its general account. Its products include traditional broad market fixed income strategies and single-sector strategies. It manages traditional asset-liability strategies, as well as customized asset-liability strategies. It also manages hedge strategies, as well as collateralized loan obligations. It also serves as a non-custodial securities lending agent. The public equity organization provides discretionary and non-discretionary asset management services to a range of clients. It manages an array of publicly-traded equity asset classes using various investment styles. The public equity organization is consisted of two wholly owned registered investment advisors, Jennison Associates LLC and Quantitative Management Associates LLC.

The private fixed income organization provides asset management services by investing in private placement investment grade debt, private placement below investment grade debt, and mezzanine debt securi! ties. The! se investment capabilities are utilized by its general account and institutional clients through direct advisory accounts, insurance company separate accounts, and private fund structures. The commercial mortgage operations provide mortgage origination, asset management and servicing for its general account, institutional clients, and government-sponsored entities, such as Fannie Mae, the Federal Housing Administration, and Freddie Mac. It also originated shorter-term interim loans for spread lending that are collateralized by assets generally under renovation or lease up

The global real estate organization provides asset management services for single-client and commingled private and public real estate portfolios and manufactures and manages a range of real estate investment vehicles investing in private and public real estate, primarily for institutional clients through 22 offices worldwide. Its domestic and international real estate investment vehicles range from fully diversified open-end funds to specialized closed-end funds that invest in specific types of properties or specific geographic regions or follow other specific investment strategies. The Company makes strategic investments to support the creation and management of funds offered to third-party investors in private and public real estate, fixed income and public equities asset classes. Other strategic investments are made with the intention to sell or syndicate to investors, including its general account, or for placement in funds and structured products that it offers and manages. It also makes loans to, and guarantees obligations of, the Company�� managed funds that are secured by equity commitments from investors or assets of the funds.

The Company manufactures, distributes and services investment management products primarily utilizing asset management expertise in the United States retail market. Its products are designed to be sold primarily by financial professionals, including both Prudential Agents an! d third p! arty advisors. It offers a family of retail investment products consisting of 41 mutual funds as of December 31, 2011. These products cover an array of investment styles and objectives designed to retain assets of individuals with varying objectives and to accommodate investors��changing financial needs. In addition, it offers banks and other financial services organizations a wealth management platform, which permits, such banks and organizations to provide their retail clients with services, including asset allocation, investment manager research and access, clearing, trading services, and performance reporting. The U.S. Individual Life and Group Insurance division conducts its business through the Individual Life and Group Insurance segments. Its Individual Life segment manufactures and distributes individual variable life, term life and universal life insurance products primarily to the U.S. mass middle, mass affluent and affluent markets. During 2011, its primary insurance products are variable life, term life and universal life and represent 41%, 49% and 9%, respectively, of its face amount of individual life insurance in force, net of reinsurance.

The Group Insurance segment manufactures and distributes a range of group life, long-term and short-term group disability, long-term care, and group corporate-, bank- and trust-owned life insurance in the United States primarily to institutional clients for use in connection with employee and membership benefits plans. Group Insurance also sells accidental death and dismemberment, preferred provider and indemnity dental and other ancillary coverages, and provides plan administrative services in connection with its insurance coverages. It offers group life insurance products, including employer-pay (basic) and employee-pay (voluntary) coverages. This portfolio of products includes basic and supplemental term life insurance for employees, optional term life insurance for dependents of employees and group universal life insurance. It also of! fers grou! p variable universal life insurance, basic and voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance and business travel accident insurance. It also offers a living benefits option that allows insureds that are diagnosed with a terminal illness to receive a portion of their life insurance benefit upon diagnosis, in advance of death, to use as needed.

The Company�� International Insurance segment manufactures and distributes individual life insurance, retirement and related products, including certain health products with fixed benefits. It provides these products to the broad middle income market across Japan through multiple distribution channels, including Life Advisors, who are associated with its Gibraltar Life operations. It also provides similar products to the mass affluent and affluent markets in Japan, Korea and other countries outside the United States through its Life Planner operations. It also offers variable life products in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Poland and interest-sensitive life products in all countries with the exception of Brazil and Mexico. In most of its operations, it also offers certain health products with fixed benefits, some of which include a high savings element. In addition, similar products are offered to the middle income market across Japan through Life Advisors, the distribution channel of the Company�� Gibraltar Life Insurance Company, Ltd. (Gibraltar Life) operation.

The Company�� international insurance operations offer various traditional whole life, term life, endowment policies, which provide for payment on the earlier of death or maturity and retirement income life insurance products that combine an insurance protection element similar to that of term life policies with a retirement income feature. It also offers variable life products in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Poland and interest-sensitive life products in all countries. It also offers certain health products with fixed benefits, as well as annuity products, which are primari! ly repres! ented by United States and Australian dollar-denominated fixed annuities in its Gibraltar Life operations.

Closed Block Business

The Closed Block Business includes liabilities for its individual in participating products, together with assets that are used for the payment of benefits and policyholder dividends, expenses and taxes with respect to these products. The Closed Block is 90% reinsured, including 7% by a wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial. During 2011, the Company also reinsured 90% of the short-term risks associated with the Closed Block policies to a wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial.

Top Insurance Stocks To Watch Right Now: Fidelity National Financial Inc. (FNF)

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. provides title insurance, mortgage services, and diversified services in the United States. The company provides title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including collection and trust activities, trustee’s sales guarantees, recordings, and reconveyances, as well as home warranty insurance to various customers in the residential and commercial market sectors of the real estate industry. It is also involved in the design, manufacture, remanufacture, market, and distribution of aftermarket and original equipment electrical components for automobiles, light trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and other vehicles worldwide. In addition, the company owns and operates restaurants comprising the O'Charley's, Ninety Nine Restaurants, Max & Erma's, Village Inn, Bakers Square, and Stoney River Legendary Steaks concepts in the United States. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Fidelity National Financial Inc. (NYSE: FNF) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

  Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Janney Capital Markets.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Title insurance company�Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF  ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.16 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters after raising the payout 14% from $0.14 per share.

Top 5 Growth Stocks To Own For 2014: Unum Group(UNM)

Unum Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides group and individual disability insurance products primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. It also provides a portfolio of other insurance products, including employer-and employee-paid group benefits, life insurance, long-term care insurance, and related services. Its products include group long-term and short-term disability; group life and accidental death, and dismemberment; individual disability; group long-term care; voluntary benefits; group life; accident, sickness, and disability; and cancer and critical illness insurance products. The company also provides individual life and corporate-owned life insurance, reinsurance pools and management operations, group pension, health insurance, and individual annuities. Unum Group markets its products primarily to employers interested in providing benefits to their employees. The company sells its products through field sales personnel, independent brokers, consultants, and agency sales force. Unum Group was founded in 1848 and is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Among the biggest losers in the S&P 500: Air Products and Chemicals (APD), which dropped 3.3% to $103.20 as its Bill Ackman bounce fades, Charles Schwab (SCHW), which fell 2.4% to $21.76 as it became the 165th most popular short in the S&P 500, and Unum Group (UNM), which finished off 2.3% at $29.63 after Barron’s Sandra Ward recommended investors take profits on the insurance company.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Specialty insurance provider�Unum (NYSE: UNM  ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.145 per share, an 11% increase to the payout made last quarter of $0.13 per share.

Top Insurance Stocks To Watch Right Now: Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (MMC)

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., a professional services company, provides advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy, and human capital. It operates in two segments, Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting. The Risk and Insurance Services segment provides risk management and insurance broking, reinsurance broking, and insurance program management services for businesses, public entities, insurance companies, associations, professional services organizations, and private clients. The Consulting segment offers advice and services to the managements of organizations in the area of human resource consulting, comprising retirement and investments, health and benefits, outsourcing and talent; and strategy and risk management consulting, such as management, economic, and brand consulting. The company also provides investment consulting services for endowments and foundations in the United States; health and benefit recordkeeping, and employee enrollment technology; human resource knowledge, data, and solutions for professionals in various industries; and Medicaid policy consulting services. It principally serves customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Asia Pacific, and Continental Europe. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Progressive (PGR) was downgraded from Strong Buy to Market Perform at Raymond James, while Marsh & McLennan (MMC) was cut to Outperform from Strong Buy.

Top Insurance Stocks To Watch Right Now: CNO Financial Group Inc. (CNO)

CNO Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the development, marketing, and administration of health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance, and other insurance products for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. The company markets and distributes Medicare supplement insurance, interest-sensitive and traditional life insurance, fixed annuities, and long-term care insurance products; Medicare advantage plans through a distribution arrangement with Humana Inc.; and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans through a distribution and reinsurance arrangement with Coventry Health Care. It also markets and distributes supplemental health, including specified disease, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance products; and life insurance to middle-income consumers at home and the worksite through independent marketing organizations and insurance agencies. In addition, the company markets primarily graded benefit and simplified issue life insurance products directly to customers through television advertising, direct mail, Internet, and telemarketing. It sells its products through career agents, independent producers, direct marketing, and sales managers. CNO Financial Group, Inc. has strategic alliances with Coventry and Humana. The company was formerly known as Conseco, Inc. and changed its name to CNO Financial Group, Inc. in May 2010. CNO Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Fried, Editor, The Buyback Letter]

  Insurance holding company CNO Financial Group (CNO) and its insurance subsidiaries��rincipally Bankers Life and Casualty Company, Washington National, and Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company��erve pre-retiree and retired Americans.

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  Up first is CNO Financial Group (CNO), a mid-cap financial stock that's rocketed close to 60% higher since the calendar flipped over to January. Yup, it's been a great year for the market, but it's been a far better one for investors who own CNO. But that strong performance isn't showing any signs of slowing yet. In fact, CNO looks primed for even more upside in the fourth quarter.

  That's because CNO is currently forming a bullish pattern called an ascending triangle. The ascending triangle pattern is formed by a horizontal resistance level above shares -- in this case at $14.75 -- and uptrending support to the downside. Basically, as CNO bounces in between those two technical price levels, it's getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above that $14.75 resistance level. When that breakout happens, it's time to become a buyer.

  ACCO's price action isn't exactly textbook. After all, the pattern is coming in at the bottom of a downtrend, not after an uptrend. But ultimately, that doesn't change the trading implications of a move through that $7.50 level.

  Whenever you're looking at any technical price pattern, it's critical to think in terms of those buyers and sellers. Ascending triangles and other pattern names are a good quick way to explain what's going on in a stock, but they're not the reason it's tradable. Instead, it all comes down to supply and demand for shares.

  That $7.50 resistance level is a price where there has been an excess of supply of shares; in other words, it's a place where sellers have been more eager to step in and take gains than buyers have been to buy. That's what makes a breakout above it so significant. The move means that buyers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess supply above that price level.

  Don't be early on this trade.

• [By Vanin Aegea]

  I have heard many people comment about the insurance policies for cars, houses, life, assets, etc. The arguments always revolve around the same issue: Is it really necessary? What are the chances to be hit by a Hurricane, or to meet a sudden death? Well, nobody really knows. Some individuals however, sleep better when they know a policy backs their life investments. Here, I will look into three insurance companies that concentrate on different policies, or geographies. These are: China Life (LFC), and Conseco (CNO).

The Weight of the WidePoint Rally is Finally Bearing Down (WYY)

If you're a fan of, or investor in, WidePoint Corporation (NYSEMKT:WYY), then be warned now that what you're about to read regarding WYY is likely to irritate you. Nothing personal; it's just a reality check. Here goes - WidePoint shares are very likely to be at the onset of a sizeable pullback. [Insert boos and hisses here.]

Just for the record, this has nothing to do with the company itself - WidePoint Corporation is a fine company, as far as IT and telecom architecture go. This call is purely about the stock following an (and come on, you have to admit it's overdone) 80% runup over the past month or so. The telltale signs that WYY is ready to retreat from the rally are starting to fall into place.

One of them is today's bar following yesterday's bar. There's no denying that WYY hot new multi-month highs on Monday, and did so on higher volume. Funny thing about that much strength and that much volume in one day... it's an indicator if a blowoff top, or the proverbial last hurrah for the bulls. Sure enough, there's not a shred of that same buying interest today. WidePoint Corporation are even close to making a lower daily low, which following Monday's strained rally could be a major downside catalyst; the fact that shares are still up 70% since mid-November doesn't exactly help either.

The other reason WidePoint shares could be due for a sizeable dip is the nature and environment for the rally in the first place. It got started with solid Q3 results being announced in mid-November. They were good, and some strength from the stock could be expected. It's not like the results were a complete surprise though, and it's an oddity for a stock to rally for a month straight on earnings news.

Fans and followers will be quick to point out t hat WYY landed a couple of big contracts in the meantime. Fair enough. Again though, that's nothing new. Why does news of new business get traction now where it didn't before? The most likely answer is, WidePoint Corporation also participated in a couple of investor conferences between the earnings announcement and now, and those investors liked what they heard. It wouldn't be the first time an investor pow-wow drove an inordinate amount of buyers to a particular stock.

Here's the problem with the investor-conference effect - it can go as quickly as it came, and it looks like it's starting to go now.

Don't get the wrong idea... WYY is still a solid idea, just not at its present price in its present situation. Let the fat get trimmed off and then go shopping. That could be somewhere around, or just above, $1.00.

For more trading ideas and insights like these, be sure to sign up for the free SmallCap Network newsletter.

Oil futures slip ahead of U.S. inventory data

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures pulled back on Tuesday as investors await weekly data on U.S. crude supplies.

Crude oil for January (CLF4)   fell 20 cents, or 0.2%, to $97.28 a barrel in electronic trading.

Oil prices on Monday rose 88 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $97.48 a barrel, on the prospect of tighter supplies after Libyan rebels refused to open three oil ports .

The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly inventory report later Tuesday, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, followed on Wednesday by weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Shutterstock.com The mix of plant chemical fertilizer and manure on farmer hands.

U.S. crude oil stocks are expected to have fallen 4 million barrels during the week ended Dec. 13, according to oil analysts surveyed by the Platts.

Crude supplies have fallen more than 16 million barrels during the past three reporting weeks.

Meanwhile, U.S. distillate stocks are expected to have fallen 1 million barrels last week, while gasoline stocks are estimated to have increased 1.4 million barrels, the Platts survey said.

In other trading on Tuesday, Brent crude for January delivery (UK:LCOF4)   climbed $1.63, or 1.5%, to $110.46 a barrel.

January gasoline (RBF4)   inched up less than 1 cent to $2.65 a gallon, while January heating oil (HOF4)   was unchanged at $2.99 a gallon. January natural gas (NGF14)   added 1 cent, or 0.3%, to $4.29 per million British thermal units.

Chat Heads and Other Neat Treats From Facebook

Earlier this week, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) announced the roll out of 'Chat Heads' as a new feature available through Facebook Home for both Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) Android and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iOS. While the feature is already gaining popularity, the way it operates within each environment is very different. Beyond Chat Heads, other features of Home are already gaining traction, suggesting that the smartphone landscape is about to change again. If early indications are accurate, Facebook has positioned itself brilliantly for the way forward and deserves a place in your portfolio.

What is Chat Heads?
In the full Android version, Chat Heads is a message notification system that allows you to easily see who is trying to get in touch, either through Facebook or traditional SMS text message. When a new message is received, a small circle with the face of the person messaging you -- a Chat Head -- pops up on your screen. The advantage of the system is that it allows you to simply tap the Chat Head to open a reply message box, and then return to whatever you were doing, all without the need to switch between apps.

The Chat Heads can be moved around the screen, also staying active while you browse or conduct other business. Multiple Chat Heads can be open at the same time, allowing you to easily navigate between messages and conversations. The Chat Head concept allows Facebook Home to help you turn your smartphone into a much more personal experience that is people-driven, not app-driven. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said this was one of the specific goals of Facebook Home.

In the Apple iOS environment, Chat Heads has greatly limited functionality. You can access Chat Heads from within the Facebook app, but not when you are using other apps. The Apple version will give users a preview of Chat Heads, but not the full experience. Of course, as with so many apps, jailbreaking your iPhone can allow you to get the full Chat Head experience that is currently unavailable through direct means.

Other FB Home goodies
From the user's perspective, one of the appeals of Home is that it allows you to receive updates in both the home screen and lock screen on your device. This means that by simply glancing at your phone, you can get Facebook updates from friends and contacts. Zuckerberg explained at the release that while most of us look at the lock screen several hundred times per day, there is little valuable information there. Home changes that by pushing updates there, improving -- in Facebook's estimation -- the user experience.

From an investor's perspective, the lock screen feature is critical as it carves out critical real estate for Facebook that is otherwise wasted. One of the biggest challenges in mobile advertising is reconciling the small screen and limited availability of chances to grab attention. While Facebook Home will not feature ads yet, you can easily see how the company is positioning itself to control the most visited part of every smartphone. Facebook's new meta app is well conceived and makes the stock an attractive buy at current levels.

After the world's most hyped IPO turned out to be a dunce, most investors probably don't even want to think about shares of Facebook. But there are things every investor needs to know about this company. We've outlined them in our newest premium research report. There's a lot more to Facebook than meets the eye, so read up on whether there is anything to "like" about it today, and we'll tell you whether we think Facebook deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report by clicking here.

A Fool Looks Back

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) is giving Android users a treat with a new interface that will be available for select smartphones starting next week.

Facebook Home is the social-networking website operator's bold bet that smartphones should be about people -- not apps. The new experience starts at a phone's very welcome screen. Users downloading the interface will see Facebook serving up recent friend snapshots and notifications with intuitive navigation and some nifty tools to boot.

This is the right move for Facebook. There has been chatter for a few years that the company would put out its own phone, but that strategy never made sense. Anyone remember Kin? It lasted only a few weeks on the market. No one wants to be locked to a platform, and Facebook is addressing that reality with this neat interface that can be undone as easily as it was to put into play.

Facebook is now about to become an even bigger part of the mobile experience.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY  ) has decided to shut down its BBM Music service. The platform gave BlackBerry owners a catalog of tunes that grew virally as more people signed up for the $5-a-month plan. Once again, a smartphone company missed the point in social music. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) CEO Tim Cook apologized for the company's poorly communicated warranty practices in China. Since China is Apple's largest market outside the U.S., it's more important to save sales than to save face. Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA  ) is ready to bet on a new revenue stream. Its partnership with an overseas partner for real-money wagering in the U.K. became a reality this week. Zynga-themed slots, poker, blackjack, and roulette will now help Zynga diversify from its meandering social- and casual-gaming business. The house always wins, but does that also apply to the FarmVille barn?

Now let's look ahead
The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy Right Now

Small cap communications or Internet stocks American Community Development Group Inc (OTCMKTS: ACYD), Globalstar, Inc (OTCMKTS: GSAT) and SearchCore Inc (OTCMKTS: SRER) have been rather quiet lately for investors after making some noise back in September. Nevertheless, all three are still getting some mentions in various investment newsletters or alerts and not because they are the subject of paid promotions. So are these small cap stocks about to make some noise? Here is a closer look:

American Community Development Group Inc (OTCMKTS: ACYD)Has Been Quiet Since September

Small cap American Community Development Group recently merged with Wialan Technologies, a next generation Wireless telecommunications provider which focuses on installations in airports, municipalities, apartment buildings, parks, marinas and other locations that require a superior and more robust communication footprint than conventional WiFi providers. On Friday, Wialan Technologies fell 10.35% to $0.0381 for a market cap of $108.93 million plus ACYD is up 1,905.3% over the past year and down 80.9% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy Right Now: EZchip Semiconductor Limited(EZCH)

EZchip, a fabless semiconductor company, engages in the development and marketing of Ethernet network processors for networking equipment. Its products include network processor chips, evaluation boards and network-processor based systems, and development software toolkits. The company offers network processors for use in forming the silicon core of networking equipment, such as switches and routers; and for voice, video and data integration in various applications. Its network processors are single-chip solutions, which enable its customers to design multi-port line cards, such as processing and classification engines, traffic managers, media access controllers, as well as a range of specialized hardware blocks that accelerate various functions. The company offers Evaluation systems which enable customers to test NPU-based systems; and toolkits that assist customers in creating, verifying, and implementing solutions based on its network processors. It provides a library f eaturing data plane code for a range of applications, which include Metro Ethernet protocols, Multi-Protocol Label Switching, IPv4 and IPv6 routing, Access Control Lists, GPON/EPON OLT functionality, Network Address Translation, and Server Load Balancing. The company sells its products directly, and through contract manufacturers and distributors to network equipment vendors. It markets its products in Israel, China, Hong Kong, the Far East, Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company was formerly known as LanOptics Ltd. and changed its name to EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. in July 2008. EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. was founded in 1989 and is based in Yokneam, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  EZchip Semiconductor (NASDAQ: EZCH) was also up, gaining 7.16 percent to $24.11 after a Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced a new product that would not threaten the company as previously thought. Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Cypress Semiconductor (NASDAQ: CY) were down 16.05 percent to $9.91 after the company lowered its Q3 forecast.

Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy Right Now: Sky-mobi Limited(MOBI)

Sky-mobi Limited engages in the operation of a mobile application store in the People?s Republic of China. It works with handset companies to pre-install its Maopao mobile application store on handsets and with content developers to provide users with applications and content titles. The users of its Maopao store could browse, download, and purchase a range of applications and content, such as single-player games, mobile music, and books. The company?s Maopao store enables mobile applications and content to be downloaded and run on various mobile handsets with hardware and operating system configurations. It also operates a mobile social network community, the Maopao Community, where it offers localized mobile social games, as well as applications and content with social network functions to its registered members. The company owns proprietary mobile application technology in the cloud computing, the MRP format, and SDK development environment. As of March 31, 2011, it had entered into cooperation agreements with approximately 523 handset companies to pre-install Maopao. The company was formerly known as Profit Star Limited and changed its name to Sky-Mobi Limited in October 2010. Sky-mobi Limited was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another stock that's starting to move within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Sky-mobi (MOBI), which, through its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of a mobile application platform embedded on mobile phones to provide mobile application store and services in the People�s Republic of China. This stock has been red hot so far in 2013, with shares up a whopping 88%.

  If you look at the chart for Sky-mobi, you'll notice that this stock recently formed a triple bottom chart pattern at $3.31, $3.28 and $3.40 a share. That bottoming pattern occurred over the last two months. Shares of MOBI have now started to uptrend and flirt with its 50-day moving average of $3.76 a share. That move is quickly pushing MOBI within range of triggering a big breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in MOBI if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.71 to $3.83 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 145,934 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then MOBI will set up to re-test or possibly take out its 52-week high at $4.96 a share. Any high-volume move above that level will then give MOBI a chance to tag its next major overhead resistance levels at $5.55 to $6.13 a share.

  Traders can look to buy MOBI off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $3.40 to $3.28 a share. One can also buy MOBI off strength once it takes out that breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

10 Best Stocks To Invest In Right Now: OCZ Technology Group Inc(OCZ)

OCZ Technology Group, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes computer components for computing devices and systems worldwide. It primarily offers solid state drives, flash memory storage, memory modules, thermal management solutions, AC/DC switching power supply units, and computer gaming solutions. The company?s products are used in industrial equipment and computer systems; computer and computer gaming solutions; mission critical servers and high end workstations; personal computer (PC) upgrades to extend the useable life of existing PCs; high performance computing and scientific computing; video and music editing; home theatre PCs and digital home convergence products; and digital photography and digital image manipulation computers. OCZ Technology Group, Inc. offers its products to retailers, on-line retailers, original equipment manufacturers, systems integrators, and distributors. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in San Jose, Califo rnia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  The not-so-great and wonderful OCZ
  There was no company-specific news that caused solid-state-drive maker OCZ Technology (NASDAQ: OCZ  ) to fall almost 8% Wednesday. But an article that appeared on Seeking Alpha �questioning whether the company had six months or less to live before it filed for bankruptcy seemed to coincide with its fall.

Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy Right Now: ATA Inc.(ATAI)

ATA Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides computer-based testing services in the People?s Republic of China. It offers services for the creation and delivery of computer-based tests utilizing its test delivery platform, proprietary testing technologies, and testing services; and provides logistical support services relating to test administration. The company?s computer-based testing services are used for professional licensure and certification tests in various industries, including information technology (IT) services, banking, securities, teaching, and insurance. Its e-testing platform integrates various aspects of the test delivery process for computer-based tests ranging from test form compilation to test scoring, and results analysis. ATA also provides career-oriented educational services, such as single course programs, degree major course programs, and pre-occupational training programs focusing on preparing students to pass IT and other vocational certification tests; test preparation and training programs and services to test candidates preparing to take professional certification tests in securities, futures, banking, insurance and teaching industries; online test preparation and training platform for the securities and banking industries; and test preparation software for the teaching industry. In addition, the company offers HR select employee assessment solution, an online system that utilizes its proprietary software and an inventory of test titles to help employers improve the efficiency and accuracy of their employee recruitment process. As of March 31, 2010, it had contractual relationships with 1,988 ATA authorized test centers. The company serves Chinese governmental agencies, professional associations, IT vendors, and Chinese educational institutions, as well as individual test preparation services. ATA Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy Right Now: bebe stores inc.(BEBE)

bebe stores, inc. engages in the design, development, and production of women?s apparel and accessories. Its products include a range of separates, tops, dresses, active wear, and accessories in career, evening, casual, and active lifestyle categories. The company markets its products under the bebe, BEBE SPORT, bbsp, and 2b bebe brand names targeting 21 to 34-year-old woman. As of July 2, 2011, it operated 252 retail stores, and an online store at bebe.com in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Japan, and Canada, as well as 60 international licensee operated stores in south east Asia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Russia, Mexico, and Turkey. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Brisbane, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include upgrades for both industrialist Aixtron (NASDAQ: AIXG  ) and fashionista bebe stores (NASDAQ: BEBE  ) . But the news isn't all good, so let's start off with a few words on...

Best Small Cap Stocks To Buy Right Now: OmniVision Technologies Inc.(OVTI)

OmniVision Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets semiconductor image-sensor devices. The company offers CameraChip image sensors, which are single-chip solutions that integrate various functions, such as image capture, image processing, color processing, signal conversion, and output of a processed image or video stream for use in various consumer and commercial mass-market applications; and CameraCube imaging devices that are image sensors with integrated wafer-level optics. It also provides companion chips used to connect its image sensors to various interfaces, including the universal serial bus and other industry standard interfaces; and companion digital signal processors that perform compression in standardized still photo and digital video formats. In addition, the company designs and develops software drivers for Linux, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows, as well as for embedded operating systems, such as Blackberry OS, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows CE, Windows Embedded, and Windows Mobile. Its products are used in mobile phones, notebooks, Webcams, digital still and video cameras, commercial and security and surveillance, and automotive and medical applications, as well as in entertainment devices. The company sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers and value added resellers, as well as indirectly through distributors worldwide. OmniVision Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Santa Clara, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI  ) fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI) shares tumbled 6.32 percent to $14.98 after the company issued downbeat third-quarter forecast.

  Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) was down, falling 7.90 percent to $51.16 after the company's CEO Edward Lampert cut his stake in the company to 48.4% from 55.4%.

• [By Anders Bylund]

  Shares of OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI  ) jumped as much as 23% overnight, driven by a rock-solid fourth quarter report. The stock set a fresh 52-week high, but remains far below the $36 high-water mark that was set in 2011 when OmniVision's back side illumination, or BSI, camera chips seemed set to rule the smartphone world.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of image sensor specialist OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI  ) spiked 19% today after its quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.

Foxconn's worker hours still excessive - report

Foxconn, one of the largest suppliers for Apple and other big tech companies, has drawn harsh criticism from labor activists in the past few years.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) A watchdog group says conditions at facilities of Apple supplier Foxconn have improved in recent months, though the factories are still in violation of Chinese laws on work hours.

In a report released Thursday, the Fair Labor Association said three Foxconn facilities in China employing an estimated 170,000 workers have made "steady progress" in improving working conditions over the past 15 months. The FLA worked with the company to develop an action plan to address the issue.

The group said Foxconn had constructed additional exits and restrooms at the three facilities, and had revised its policies to limit overtime hours to 36 per month and three per day.

But the report found that workers at one of the factories had worked more than 60 hours a week on numerous occasions between March and October of this year, and that all three had exceeded the monthly overtime limit.

"Progress has been made with respect to hours of work, but the three factories are not in compliance with Chinese labor law," the FLA said.

The FLA is a non-profit organization that formed in 1999 following a series of sweatshop scandals involving Nike and other apparel makers. Nike (NKE, Fortune 500) was one of the founding members of FLA, which requires its members to meet a labor-standards code of conduct.

The FLA performs audits of its members' facilities to monitor labor compliance, though it has also been criticized by activists for drawing funding from the same companies it oversees.

Foxconn, one of the largest suppliers for Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and other big tech companies, has drawn harsh criticism from labor activists in the past few years following a spate of suicides at its facilities. A Pulitzer Prize-winning series published last year by The New York Times documented hardships faced by Foxconn workers, including long hours and unsafe conditions.

  I worked in a Chinese labor camp

In a report released last year, the FLA found dozens of major labor-rights violations at Foxconn facilities, including excessive overtime, unpaid wages and salaries that aren't enough to cover basic living expenses.

In response, Apple and Foxconn pledged to implement reforms including a reduction o! f working hours, full payment of overtime wages and improved safety procedures.

Foxconn said Thursday's report "demonstrate[s] substantial overall progress by our company in carrying out the 15-month remedial program in many areas."

"[W]e recognize that there is more to be done, and that we must continue to sustain this progress and further enhance our operations," the company said.

An Apple spokesman said in a statement that the company has "already addressed 99% of the FLA's recommendations, and we continue to make progress through our own supplier responsibility program."

"Apple has led the industry in addressing excessive overtime at Foxconn and other suppliers, reducing the average workweek to 53 hours," the spokesman said, noting that Apple is the first and only tech company admitted to the FLA.

"[W]e are committed to reducing excessive overtime even further as we continue this journey with our supplier partners."

The news comes amid scrutiny of fellow Apple supplier Pegatron Corporation, which is based in Taiwan. Apple recently dispatched a team of medical experts to inspect a Pegatron factory in China following reports that a number of workers from the facility have died in recent months.

HOW ALGO TRADING BECAME MY FOCUS, PASSION & INCOME – PART II

My last post I talked about how "The Market You Trade Is Not Random" which is what originally got me interested in trading. Let me continue with this series of how algo trading turned into my dream job and income stream.

In part one of "How Algo Trading became My Focus, Passion and Income" you saw how my 15+ years of trading evolved from trading only, to teaching and coaching others, and then writing financial newsletters to provide thousands of followers with video analysis, trading tips, and the occasional trade idea.

During that time it became clear that teaching and providing the masses with trading strategies that would provide a consistent stream of income year after year was much harder than I expected because of the way humans function as explained in part 1 of this report.

Seven years ago in 2006 is when I caught the algo trading bug. It was the day I saw an interview on CNBC about a trader who converted each strategy he had into algorithms and had incorporated each one into a powerfulalgo trading system. It was this hands free trading idea I was sold and set out to convert my trading strategies into an algo trading system of my own.

Having an algo system that trades and profits in up and down market conditions without having to look at the charts or pull the trigger on entering and exiting setups sounded so good I was determined to build my own.

Within a couple of hours of Googling the terms automatic investing, algorithmic trading, and algo trading type search results I had answers to my list of basic questions. Once I knew what trading platform I should use, some basic guidelines on what to look for in a trading programmer, and the main do's and don'ts about algo trading I was ready to start calling my list of programmers. By the end of that day I had myself a programmer ready to start my project and I was fired up!

12 Algo Trading Strategies in One Automatic investing System for Individuals

Fast forwarding to today, hundreds of version of each of my algorithms, and 4 programmers later I now have my own automatic investing algo trading system that naturally expands and contracts with the stock market using cycle analysis, volatility, trends, price patterns, volume and sentiment to invest in the S&P 500 index.

This all-in-one system has 12 of my best trade setups and strategies for the S&P500 index. No matter the market direction (up, down, or sideways) and no matter how volatile or lack of volatility it has there is an algorithm strategy taking advantage of the stock markets price fluctuations because we specialize (live and breathe) to make money from this highly liquid index..

Do not diversify. Specialize.

"Diversification is a protection against ignorance.
It makes very little sense to those who know what they are doing".
Warren Buffet

Know that the number #1 problem investors struggle with is themselves because of the emotions, lack of focus, and lack of commitment us as humans have. And no matter how hard you try to make you're trading rules simple to follow and execute you will always stray from what you should be doing from time to time.

Your will typically break your rules during a losing streak or highly emotional time in the market when it's either overbought or oversold and you do not think your systems next trade will be a winner. Because you fall off the wagon at these critical points which happen to be the most important times for your system to make money in most cased you sabotage yourself and watch missed opportunities pass you by and you investing performance drop dramatically.

In the next part, you will learn about some really cook stuff and just how to take advantage of algo trading systems and how much money you can make on a monthly and yearly basis with zero investing/trading input.

Stay Tuned For Part III – How You Can Make Money With Algo Trading …

Chris Vermeulen

Asia stocks fall ahead of Fed decision

Asian markets were lower on Wednesday, in cautious trading ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting, while Japan was weighed by a stronger yen.

The region followed the U.S. lower, after stocks on the Wall Street fell overnight as investors sold to cash in some of the strong gains for the year and continued to worry about the potential impact of the Federal Reserve reducing its stimulus.

Shutterstock Enlarge Image

Speculation over when the Fed will start to roll back its bond-buying program has been a persistent theme in Asia since the early summer, when it sparked a series of selloffs in the region. Recent employment data from the U.S. have been strong, which has raised expectations that the Fed could start to withdraw its stimulus as early as in its December policy meeting next week, giving trading a general air of caution.

This caution could be seen in the dollar's movement against the yen, which pulled back overnight, after spending much of Tuesday with striking distance of challenging its year high. The dollar (USDJPY)   lost a total of 0.4% against its Japanese counterpart overnight and was last trading at ¥102.80, compared with ¥102.84 late Tuesday in New York.

The yen's push back against the dollar weighed on Japanese stocks, with the Nikkei (JP:NIK)  last down 0.4%.

Click to Play China advances case against rights activist

Police urge prosecutors to indict a key figure in one of China's New Citizens Movement for organizing protests over access to education and government transparency. The WSJ's Deborah Kan speaks with law professor Michael Davis from the University of Hong Kong.

Stocks also edged lower in China, where Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI)  lost 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite (CN:SHCOMP)  dropped 0.6%. Investors are waiting for the conclusion of a meeting of senior officials that started Tuesday, where they will review this year's economic progress and map out plans for 2014.

HSBC Holdings PLC (HK:5)   (HSBC)  , the single largest constituent on the Hang Seng Index, fell 0.5% after the bank said it agreed to sell its 8% stake in Bank of Shanghai to Spain's Banco Santander S.A. (ES:SAN)  . The bank didn't say how much it was selling the stake for but it valued the holding at $468 million at Sept. 30.

Hot Value Stocks To Watch For 2014

South Korea's Kospi (KR:SEU)  was up 0.3%.

In Australia, the S&P ASX 200 (AU:XJO)  fell 0.1%, the index's fifth consecutive decline, as investors continued to worry about the impact of a flurry of initial public offerings hitting the market before the end of the year.

Shares in QBE Insurance Group (AU:QBE)   (QBEIF)  gained 3.6% on Wednesday, as J.P. Morgan upgraded the company to neutral after falling a total of 32% on Monday and Tuesday. The insurer's surprise profit warning earlier this week had hit broader sentiment in Sydney.

Revising the retirement plans of two for one

Every morning, there's a to-do list waiting at the kitchen table for 90-year-old Jack Ensminger.

There's also an empty chair, where the love of his life, Kae, used to sit and laugh with the man she called her "pretty boy."

So after he gets up each day, first, he kisses the picture of Kae in the couple's Cape Canaveral condo. Then he checks that list, to see what he's assigned himself to do that day: laundry, mopping the floor, cleaning the windows or a grocery store run.

RETIREMENT: Your plan for the future

Routine. Exercise. To-dos and must-dos. It's that focus, even as he clings to his memories, that has propelled Ensminger since 2007, when Kae, his "other half," died at 84.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. As the couple aged, they talked about death and envisioned dying together, being buried together — their ashes entwined as their lives had been.

After his wife's illness and death, Ensminger was alone for the first time in 63 years. He had unwillingly joined the ranks of the approximately 30,000 Brevard residents who are 65 or older and living on their own.

Ensminger readily admits that after Kae's death, he would have preferred to join her.

But, today, as he exercises, looking out at the Atlantic and relishing a view his wife loved, death is the last thing on his mind. Not a day goes by that he doesn't miss Kae, but the grief gave way to beautiful memories, the loneliness to an appreciation of what he has: health, independence.

PLANNING AHEAD: Couples facing retirement need to talk

On his left pinky, he wears Kae's still-shiny wedding and engagement rings, the ones he bought her in October 1942. "When she'd go to the hospital, she wouldn't let them take her rings off her," he said. Those rings, and the love they symbolized, meant so much to Kae that she asked her husband if he'd wear them after she died. He didn't hesitate.

"I made her a promise," Ensminger said, matter-of-factly. "We often thought we'd like to die togeth! er. That would've been nice."

STAYING HEALTHY

Ensminger is slender and as fit as he "could possibly expect to be at this age." He uses hearing aids, but his health is good, with cholesterol, triglyceride and blood pressure numbers that make his doctor happy.

He rides a stationary bicycle every day, and every other day, he lifts 4-pound weights. And he eats well, though sometimes not as much as his granddaughter Kerri Sofield, a stickler for health, would like. He swears he's stayed healthy this long because he and Kae ate a lot of sauerkraut. He cooks for himself often, mainly vegetables. He never adds salt to food and doesn't put sugar on anything.

He walks quickly; drives a 2008 Cadillac and has no trouble getting around. He's glad services for seniors are there, such as rides, but he doesn't want to use them.

"My problem is, I've never depended on other people since I became an adult," said Ensminger, retired from AT&T. "I've always worked. Never wanted help or welfare. I don't want to go to a nursing home."

'PRETTY BOY'

Rather than seek support, he's content to spend time alone at home, with his exercise equipment and TV set up where he can see the ocean and a Notre Dame game at the same time: "That's the life," he said.

Ensminger, whose wit is quick and dry, reads a lot and "memorizes" the newspaper from cover to cover. He especially loves history-based books, fiction and non-fiction, and anything by Bill O'Reilly. He even read Fifty Shades of Grey to see what all the stink was about. His take: not bad, but "I'm more of a romantic."

With that sly take, it's back to talking about the romance of the days when John "Jack" Ensminger, a Marysville, Pa., native, fell for Katherine "Kae" Heywood, a girl from Milton, Pa., whom he met on a blind date when he was 17.

They married two years later. He was 19 and she was 20. Kae referred to him then, and for the rest of her life, as her "pretty boy," a tag he got when a photo of him was! used on ! the side of buses in recruitment ads.

They faced "good, bad and awful" together, he said, including losing their first child, William, who lived just four hours.

Ensminger's granddaughter, Sofield, who lives in Orlando, said she has never "known a couple more in love" than her grandparents. They didn't buy gifts for each other "because they weren't apart long enough to go alone to buy gifts," Sofield said.

As the decades went by, the couple realized they weren't afraid to die — only to say goodbye. "When we got into our 80s, we talked about death constantly," he said. "That's when we came up with the idea of our ashes being buried together. We already had made provisions at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection."

When the couple moved to Brevard County after his retirement, it was because Kae had fallen in love with the area when Ensminger — who served in the Air Force during the Korean War — was on a work trip near Patrick Air Force Base.

"We moved here so we could look at the cruise ships; so my wife could go out on cruise boats every time she wanted to," he said.

They had reservations for a 20th cruise. But on Jan. 12, 2006, their lives changed. Kae had a stroke that sent her to the hospital, then to a nursing home. Ensminger decided to take his wife home.

Five days of hell: That's how he describes trying to take care of Kae for that short, torturous time.

It came to a head in the wee hours one morning, after he took Kae to the bathroom for the fourth time. "I started to fall, and I knew I didn't want her to hit her head," Ensminger said. "So I twisted myself around so she landed on me ... but I hit my head on the door frame, and I thought, 'I can't keep going like this.' I had to take her back to the nursing home."

He visited her every day for a year. Wheeled other patients around while she slept. He was such a fixture at his wife's side, the nursing home staff threw a birthday party for him.

"I couldn't imagine her getting up i! n the mor! ning and eating breakfast and me not being there," he said.

She died on Jan. 13, 2007, a Saturday night. Ensminger's granddaughter and his pastor were by his side. His wife was in his arms.

At that time, "and it's terrible to admit this story: I wanted to kill myself," he said. "I just couldn't imagine my life without her."

He shrugged, almost apologetically. "This is hard. But for a year and a half, I wanted to die," he said. "I tell you, I don't worry about dying, but I don't know how Kerri would take it."

His strength was tested shortly after Kae's funeral, when his daughter Linda, Kerri's mother, called. She had been diagnosed with brain cancer and was dying.

"So here I am, on suicide watch, and I fly up to Maryland to sit beside my daughter's bed as she's dying," he said. "You oughta try those emotions sometime. It wasn't easy saying goodbye to her."

STAYING BUSY

Despite his losses, Ensminger is thankful for the physical, emotional and financial resources he has. He treasures time with his family, which includes his son, John Jr., a retired college professor who lives in New Jersey, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

It helps, he said, to remember. But he also wants "to stay busy, feel like I'm part of things." He has a "lady friend" now, and they go out to eat once in a while. Still, Sofield wishes her grandfather would get out more.

She recently bought her "Pop-Pop" a journal, encouraging him to chronicle all those feelings and the stories she's heard all her life.

The tales about Kae, the good girl who loved him, are Ensminger's favorites. He wrote six pages the day he got the journal.

"Kerri tells me, 'Pop-Pop, you're on the right track. Now stick to this,'" he said. "My problem is, I can't sit on my butt and do nothing. So if Kae's out there now looking at me, at the shape I'm in, I think she'd be happy. Because I was her pretty boy. I'll always be her boy."