How Behavioral Finance Can Help Bond Investors

The principles of behavioral finance have been applied extensively to the equity markets, and many financial advisors make good use of them now. But what about applying behavioral finance to better understand and navigate the fixed income market?

To date, the bond market hasn’t really been studied from a behavioral perspective, said Zach Jonson, director of fund management at ICON Advisers, because the majority of investors have tended to be larger, buy-and-hold type players who don’t really exhibit the same behavioral tendencies as equity investors. But since the 2008 financial crisis, market dynamics have done an about-face that’s resulted in an increasing number of nontraditional investors gravitating toward the bond market — and they, Jonson said, are exhibiting the same kinds of behavioral biases vis-à-vis bonds as toward equities.

“Between the full-blown fear after all that took place and the 24-hour news cycle, what we saw was basically the self-fulfilling prophecy of everyone running to the same spot,” Jonson said. “This drove massive amounts of liquidity into bonds.”

Since 2007, more than $1.3 billon has flowed into bonds, and this in turn spurred record levels of corporate bond issuance in the United States. Furthermore, Jonson said, the proliferation of bond ETFs, as well as the general focus on income creation for retirement have also supported the increased cash going into bonds.

However, because this rush of liquidity into bonds is so new, both financial advisors and their clients continue to view the fixed income market through a very narrow lens, Jonson said: namely the direction of interest rates. This focus in turn engenders certain behavioral tendencies that then impact the market and result in different kinds of inefficiencies.

As a result, Jonson believes that the bond market, like its equity counterpart, is a victim of such classic behavioral traits as loss aversion, belief perseverance and herd mentality.  

Loss aversion, a bias in which investors prefer to avoid losses to acquiring gains, can lead investors to place greater importance on the short-term and less on the long-term. According to Jonson, it has had a major impact on the bond market in the past years, affecting everything from U.S. Treasuries—which he said sold based on concerns about spikes in interest rates and increased volatility—to bond mutual funds, which sold based on short-term concerns as opposed to the long-term, diversification benefits they offer.

Ditto for herd behavior, where individuals come to a similar conclusion or act in a similar manner with the desire to achieve the same results. In so doing, though, they make the same mistakes, Jonson said, and just as it does in the equity market, their behavior creates inefficiencies and volatility in the bond market.

Hot Cheap Stocks To Invest In Right Now

“Historically, the buy-and-hold nature of bond market investors shielded the market from the same kind of behavioral reactions that affected the equity markets,” Jonson said, “but now, the market has undergone a transition, and what’s required is a change of mentality in the way that advisors navigate the bond market and manage fixed income for their clients.”

That means advisors, investors and fund managers too, should be able to leverage behavioral patterns to their advantage in order to “become bond managers in equity clothes,” Jonson said.

He believes that bond allocations should be much more actively and tactically managed and that financial advisors should be looking much more carefully at fixed income managers to better understand their strategies and approach to the market. Advisors should choose to invest with those managers who are willing to “move around the market” and look at it from the bottom up rather than the top down.

“Our general belief is that money will continue to go into bonds because we think interest rates will remain low,” Jonson said. “So many bond investors are interest rate forecasters, but it’s individual security analysis that can actually beat the market, and taking advantage of behaviors will be the best way to find the points to get in and get out of the market.”

In this “new” bond market, the more tactical fund managers will fare better, Jonson said, and advisors who do the legwork to seek them out will be able to create better bond portfolios for their clients.

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Check out Applying Behavioral Analytics to Fund Managers on ThinkAdvisor.

Top 10 Railroad Stocks To Own For 2015

Top 10 Railroad Stocks To Own For 2015: Vanguard Consumer Staples Etf (VDC)

Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (the Fund), formerly known as Vanguard Consumer Staples VIPERs, is an exchange-traded share class of Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund. The Fund employs a passive management or indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) US Investable Market Consumer Staples Index (the Index). The Index is an index of stocks of large, medium and small United States companies in the consumer staples sector, as classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). This GICS sector is made up of companies whose businesses are less sensitive to economic cycles. It includes manufacturers and distributors of food, beverages and tobacco, as well as producers of non-durable household goods and personal products. It also includes food and drug retailing companies, as well as hypermarkets and consumer supercenters.

The Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing a ll, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index. The Fund also may sample its target Index by holding stocks that, in the aggregate, are intended to approximate the Index in terms of key characteristics, such as price/earnings ratio, earnings growth and dividend yield.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Versace, Editor, PowerTrend Brief and PowerTrend Profits]

  That, to me, says they're going to favor inelastic goods over elastic ones, so when you think of the things that we need each and every day, toilet paper, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, household cleansers, that sort of thing, that's what brings me into (XLP) and (VDC).

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-railroad-stocks-to-own-for-2015.html

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015

For years, satirical late night TV host Stephen Colbert has been running a series on his show called "Better Know a District," which highlights one of the 435 U.S. congressional districts and its representative. While I am no Stephen Colbert, I�am�brutally inquisitive when it comes to the 5,000-plus listed companies on the U.S. stock exchanges.

That's why I've made it a weekly tradition to examine one seldom-followed company within the�Motley Fool CAPS�database and make a�CAPScall�of outperform or underperform on that company.

For this week's round of "Better Know a Stock," I'm going to take a closer look at Swift Transportation (NYSE: SWFT  ) .

What Swift Transportation does
Swift is a transportation services trucking and intermodal company in North America. The company primarily transports discounted consumer goods, perishable and non-perishable foods, and manufactured goods. As of the end of 2012 Swift operated 15,300 tractors, 52,800 trailers, and had 8,700 intermodal containers.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: Frontline Ltd (FRO)

Frontline Ltd., incorporated on June 12, 1992, is a shipping company. The Company is engaged primarily in the ownership and operation of oil tankers and oil/bulk/ore (OBO) carriers. The Company operates tankers of two sizes: very large crude carriers (VLCCs), which are between 200,000 and 320,000 deadweight tons, and Suezmax tankers, which are vessels between 120,000 and 170,000 deadweight tons. As of December 31, 2010, its tanker and OBO fleet consisted of 73 vessels. The fleet consists of 44 VLCCs, which are either owned or chartered in, 21 Suezmax tankers, which are either owned or chartered in and eight Suezmax OBOs, which are chartered in. The Company also had five VLCC newbuildings and two Suezmax newbuildings on order and three VLCCs under its commercial management. In February 2010, it purchased the VLCC Front Vista from Ship Finance International Limited (Ship Finance). In January 2011, it sold the VLCC Front Shanghai.

The Company operates through subsidiaries and partnerships located in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, India, the Isle of Man, Liberia, Norway, the United Kingdom and Singapore. The Company is also engaged in the charter, purchase and sale of vessels. In April 2010, the Company delivered the single hull Suezmax Front Voyager. During the year ended December 31, 2010, six newbuildings were completed. Four Suezmax vessels were delivered: the Northia, on January 5, 2010; the Naticina, on March 9, 2010; the Front Odin, on May 5, 2010, and the Front Njord on August 12, 2010. Two VLCCs were delivered: the Front Cecilie on June 10 and the Front Signe on August 9, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, the Company's newbuilding program consisted of two Suezmax tankers and five VLCCs.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Frontline (NYSE: FRO  )
  Shares of Frontline, a transporter of oil and oil products, as well as coal and iron ore, shot higher earlier this week despite no specific news. Many investors might remember Frontline as a company that paid out a double-digit yield as recently as a few years ago. However, the landscape of the shipping sector has drastically changed, and even at just $2 a share it's no longer the value it once was.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT)

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (the Trust) is an express trust created by the San Juan Basin Royalty Trust Indenture, between Southland Royalty Company (Southland Royalty) and The Fort Worth National Bank. The Trustee of the Trust is Compass Bank. The function of the Trustee is to collect the net proceeds attributable to the Royalty (Royalty Income), to pay all expenses and charges of the Trust and distribute the remaining available income to the Unit Holders. The Royalty conveyed to the Trust was carved out of Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP�� (Burlington) working interests and royalty interests in certain properties situated in the San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico.

Burlington is the principal operator of the Underlying Properties. A percentage of the Royalty Income is attributable to the production and sale by Burlington of natural gas from the Underlying Properties. The Underlying Properties are primarily gas producing properties. The Underlying Properties consist of working interests, royalty interests, overriding royalty interests and other contractual rights in 151,900 gross (119,000 net) producing acres in San Juan, Rio Arriba and Sandoval Counties of northwestern New Mexico and 4,015 gross (1,158.5 net) wells. Gas produced in the San Juan Basin is sold in both interstate and intrastate commerce. Gas production from the properties totaled 32,580,756 million cubic feet (Mcf), during the year ended December 31, 2012. Gas produced from the Underlying Properties is processed at one of the five plants: Chaco, Val Verde, Milagro, Ignacio, and Kutz, all located in the San Juan Basin. Gas produced from the Underlying Properties and processed at Kutz is being sold under three separate contracts with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Shell Energy North America (US), LP (Shell) and New Mexico Gas Company, Inc. (NMGC).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT): Rising natural gas prices have been a boon to SJT as the royalty trust owns natural gas wells located in New Mexico. Units of trust are up around 30% this year on the back of these higher prices. Also up are SJT�� distributions. The royalty trust paid out 4 cents per share per month last year. This May, SJT paid 10 cents- a nice 150% gain in dividends. SJT currently yields over 6% based on the last 12 months of monthly dividend payments.

Top 10 Cheapest Companies To Invest In 2015: Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund Inc (IAF)

Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (the Fund) is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The Fund�� principal investment objective is long-term capital appreciation through investment primarily in equity securities of Australian companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange Limited. Its secondary objective is current income, which is expected to be derived primarily from dividends and interest on Australian corporate and governmental securities. The Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities, consisting of common stock, preferred stock and convertible stock, of companies tied economically to Australia (each an Australian Company), and at least 65% of its total assets in equity securities, consisting of common stock, preferred stock and convertible stock, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

  According to a Gabelli Funds report, managed distribution policies offer several advantages, including:1. Lower difference between the fund�� market price and its NAV per share.2. Provides support during periods when the stock market is in a decline.3. Provides a measurable performance target for the investment adviser.Below are several high-yield funds from CEFA that have a managed distribution policy (yields as of December 16):Aberdeen Australia Eqty (IAF)- Distribution Yield: 10.4%- Income Yield: 3.46%Bexil Advisers LLC� (DNI)- Distribution Yield: 11.1%- Income Yield: 3.56%BlackRock En Capital&Inc (CII)- Distribution Yield: 8.78%- Income Yield: 2.34%Cornerstone Strat Value (CLM)- Distribution Yield: 18.77%- Income Yield: 1.83%Cornerstone Total Return (CRF)- Distribution Yield: 19.10%- Income Yield: 0.85%Delaware Inv Div & Inc (DDF)- Distribution Yield: 6.70%- Income Yield: 5.26%Gabelli Equity Trust (GAB)- Distribution Yield: 7.58%- Income Yield: 1.54%Gabelli Utility Trust (GUT)- Distribution Yield: 9.45%- Income Yield: 2.84%MFS Special Value Trust (MFV)- Distribution Yield: 9.60%- Income Yield: 5.73%Nuveen Tx-Adv TR Strat (JTA)- Distribution Yield: 6.70%- Income Yield: 3.12%TCW Strategic Income (TSI)- Distribution Yield: 10.54%- Income Yield: 7.88%Zweig Total Return (ZTR)- Distribution Yield: 7.27%- Income Yield: 1.95%As noted in the Gabelli report, a managed distribution policy may create confusion regarding the true current yield since the reported yield includes the return of capital portion. You can see the disparity above between the income yield and the distribution (reported) yield.If you are looking for a sustainable and growing dividend, you may want to consider some blue-chip dividend stocks such as these with a Free Cash Flow Payout less than 50%, 50+ years of consecutive dividend increases and a 2%+ yield:3M Co. (MMM) is a diversified global company provides enhanced product functionality in electronics, health care, industrial, consumer

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: Kinder Morgan Management LLC (KMR)

Kinder Morgan Management, LLC is a limited partner in Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P (KMP), and manages and controls its business and affairs pursuant to a delegation of control agreement. Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc., of which Kinder Morgan, Inc. indirectly owns all of the outstanding common equity, is the general partner of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP). Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc., pursuant to a delegation of control agreement among the Company, Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc. and KMP, has delegated to the Company, to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law and KMP�� limited partnership agreement, all of its rights and powers to manage and control the business and affairs of KMP, subject to the general partner�� right to approve specified actions.

KPM is a pipeline limited partnerships in the United States. KMP owns an investment in or operates approximately 28,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport products, such as natural gas, crude oil, gasoline, and CO2, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle materials like coal. Almost all of Kinder Morgan assets are owned by KMP, KMP operates in five business segments : Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, CO2, Terminals and Kinder Morgan Canada.

Kinder Morgan is a transporter and marketer of carbon dioxide in North America. It delivers approximately 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of CO2 through about 1,300 miles of pipelines. It is an oil producer in Texas, producing over 55,000 barrels of oil per day at the SACROC Unit and the Yates Field in the Permian Basin. In addition to CO2 pipelines and oil producing fields, this business segment owns interests in and operates CO2 source fields, natural gas and gasoline processing plants, and a crude oil pipeline. Kinder Morgan owns and operates approximately 24,000 miles of gas pipelines in the Rocky Mountains, the Midwest and Texas. Through its Products Pipelines business unit, it transports over two million barre! ls per day of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, natural gas liquids and other fuels through more than 8,000 miles of pipelines. The Company also has approximately 50 liquids terminals in this business segment that store fuels and offer blending services for ethanol and other products.

Kinder Morgan have more than 180 terminals that store petroleum products and chemicals, and handle bulk materials like coal, petroleum coke and steel products. Kinder Morgan operates a number of pipeline systems and terminal facilities in Canada including the Trans Mountain pipeline, the Express and Platte pipelines, the Cochin pipeline, the Puget Sound and the Trans Mountain Jet Fuel pipelines, the Westridge marine terminal, the Vancouver Wharves terminal in British Columbia and the North Forty terminal in Edmonton, Alberta.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  For investors, the recent drop in all three shares — along with Kinder Morgan Management LLC (KMR) �� have put them all near their 52-week lows and at some of the highest dividend yields not seen in years. At these prices, you��e still getting strong dividend growth — about 5% for KMI — along with the chance to own the largest pipeline network in North America.

• [By The Part-time Investor]

  I sold Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP), 168 shares at $80.38, and I replaced it with Kinder Morgan Management (KMR), 264 shares at $75.39. KMR pays its quarterly distribution in extra shares, rather than in cash, as KMP does. For some (crazy) reason this makes it okay to hold it in a retirement account without the tax implications.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Kinder’s little boost of confidence appears to have worked today. Kinder Morgan’s shares have gained 3% to $36.28 today, while Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) has ticked up 0.2% to $80.38. Kinder Morgan Management (KMR) has dropped 1.7% to $75.41.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: Investors Title Company(ITIC)

Investors Title Company, through its subsidiaries, provides title insurance to residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. It underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and offers the reinsurance of title insurance risks to other title insurance companies. The company also provides tax-deferred real property exchange services, as well as serves as an exchange accommodation titleholder and holds property for exchangers in reverse exchange transactions; offers investment management and trust services to individuals, companies, banks, and trusts; and provides consulting services to title insurance agencies. Investors Title Company serves various customers in the residential and commercial market sectors of the real estate industry. It issues title insurance policies primarily through approved attorneys from underwriting offices, as well as through independent issuing agents in 24 states and the District of Columbia, the United States. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Investors Title Company (NASDAQ:ITIC), reported its results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. Net income increased 110.0% to $3,349,488, or $1.57 per diluted share, compared with $1,594,805, or $0.74 per diluted share, for the prior year quarter.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: CyrusOne Inc (CONE)

CyrusOne Inc., incorporated on July 31, 2012, is a owner, operator and developer of enterprise-class, carrier-neutral data center properties. Enterprise-class, carrier-neutral data centers are purpose-built facilities with redundant power, cooling and telecommunications systems and that are not network-specific, enabling customer interconnectivity to a range of telecommunications carriers. The Company provides mission-critical data center facilities that protect operation of information technology (IT) infrastructure for approximately 500 customers. As of September 30, 2012, its customers included nine of the Fortune 20 and 108 of the Fortune 1000 or private or foreign enterprises of equivalent size. On July 31, 2012, the Company�� operating partnership, CyrusOne LP, was formed. On July 31, 2012, CyrusOne GP, the general partner of the Company�� operating partnership, was formed as a trust.

As of September 30, 2012, the Company�� property portfolio included 23 operating data centers in nine markets: Austin, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, London, San Antonio, Singapore, and South Bend providing approximately 1,630,000 net rentable square feet (NRSF) and powered by approximately 125 megawatts of utility power. The Company owns nine of the buildings in which its data center facilities are located. It leases the remaining 14 buildings, which account for approximately 600,000 NRSF. The Company also has 379,000 NRSF under development at three data centers in three markets (Dallas, Houston and Phoenix) and 762,000 NRSF of additional powered shell space under roof and available for development. In addition, it has approximately 146 acres of land that are available for future data center facility development. Along with its primary product offering, leasing of colocation space, its customers are interested in its ancillary office and other space.

As of September 2012, the Company added 36,000 Colocation Space (CSF) at its Westover Hills Blvd (San Antonio) facility, 47,0! 00 CSF at its Frankford Road (Carrollton) facility and 15,000 CSF at its Westway Park Blvd (Houston West) facility. The Company�� portfolio of properties consists primarily of data centers geographically concentrated in cities in Ohio and Texas, which comprised 38% and 59%, respectively, of its annualized rent as of September 30, 2012.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mike Arnold]

  Cincinnati Bell (CBB) ("CB" or "the company") is a storied, regional telecommunications player in Ohio undergoing considerable transformation, which began, in earnest, with the spin-off of its data warehousing business CyrusOne (CONE) ("Cyrus") in January 2013. CB still holds a ~69% economic interest in Cyrus, with the stated goal to monetize the asset over the next several years in order to pay down debt.

• [By Ong Kang Wei]

  For example, Digital Realty (DLR) is the undoubted leader in the data storage industry, with a market cap of $8.3B. Its other three competitors, DuPont Fabros (DFT), CoreSite Realty (COR) and CyrusOne (CONE), have market caps of $1.5B, $930M and $430M respectively. In addition, with the level of complexity involving Digital's business making it immensely difficult for companies to operate data centre facilities, the company is in a good position for future growth. The company also has a wide network of 595 tenants (significantly more than other competitors), including CenturyLink (CTL), AT&T and Morgan Stanley (MS). This further secures its long term business prospects and also its dominance over its competitors.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: Fibria Celulose SA (FIBR3)

Fibria Celulose SA, formerly Votorantim Celulose e Papel SA, is a Brazil-based company involved in the production and sale of short fiber pulp. The Company operates pulp manufacturing plants in Aracruz (Espirito Santo), Tres Lagoas (Mato Grosso do Sul), Jacarei (Sao Paulo) and Veracel (Bahia). Additionally, the Company is engaged in the cultivation of eucalyptus. It has plantations in the Brazilian states of Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso do Sul, Bahia and Espirito Santo. In 2011, the Company sold a business unit active in paper production. The Company has a number of subsidiaries in Brazil and abroad, including Normus Empreendimentos e Participacoes Ltda, Fibria Overseas Finance Ltd and Fibria Celulose (USA) Inc, among others. On October, 2013, the Company announced merger by incorporation of Normus Empreendimentos e Participacoes Ltda, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, in order to simplify the corporate structure. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Julia Leite]

  Fibria Celulose SA (FIBR3), the world�� largest pulp producer, climbed after settling a tax dispute with Brazil over profits at its foreign units. Iron-ore producer Vale SA (VALE5) gained before a report due this weekend forecast to show manufacturing is still expanding in China, the company�� main export market.

• [By Harry Suhartono]

  The Ibovespa dropped 1.8 percent as iron-ore producer Vale SA (VALE5), whose main export market is China, snapped a two-day gain. Pulp producer Fibria Celulose SA (FIBR3) retreated after posting quarterly earnings that trailed analysts��estimates. Brazil plans to sell dollar bonds due in 2025, creating a new benchmark security in international markets, and buy back notes maturing in as little as four years.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: Jack In The Box Inc.(JACK)

Jack in the Box Inc. operates and franchises Jack in the Box quick-service restaurants and Qdoba Mexican Grill fast-casual restaurants. As of February 22, 2012, it operated and franchised 2,200 Jack in the Box restaurants in 20 states in the United States; and 600 Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurants in 42 states and the District of Columbia. The company was founded in 1951 and is based in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  The last fast-food chains standing
  If Jack in the Box (NASDAQ: JACK  ) and Wendy's (NASDAQ: WEN  ) can manage to go a few weeks without sticking their foot in the their mouth, they both have a shot at picking up market share based on these PR gaffes from McDonald's and Burger King.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Chipotle has gained 2.1% to $427.90, the second best performer in the S&P 500, while Panera has dropped 2.8% to $159.47, and underperforming�Jack in the Box (JACK), which has dipped 0.3% to $39.98, Krispy Kreme (KKD), which has fallen 2% to $19.43, and Starbucks (SBUX), which is off 0.5% at $76.98.

Top Trucking Companies To Buy For 2015: General Cable Corporation (BGC)

General Cable Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes copper, aluminum, and fiber optic wire and cable products worldwide. The company offers electric utility products, such as low- and medium-voltage distribution cables; high- and extra-high voltage power transmission cable products; bare overhead conductors; and submarine transmission and distribution cables, as well as provides design, integration, and installation services for products, such as high and extra-high voltage terrestrial and submarine systems. It also offers electrical infrastructure products, including rubber and plastic jacketed wires and cables, ignition wire sets, and cable wire harnesses, as well as industrial power, rail and mass transit, shipboard, oil and gas, mining, and alternative energy power generation cables. In addition, the company provides communications products comprising high-bandwidth twisted copper and fiber optic, multi conductor and pair fiber and coppe r networking, telecommunications exchange, coaxial, and low detection profile cables, as well as submarine cable systems, submarine networks, and offshore integration systems. Further, it provides construction products consisting of construction, flexible cords, and flame retardant cables, as well as rod mill products, including copper and aluminum rods. The company serves energy, industrial, construction, specialty, and communications markets. General Cable Corporation was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Highland Heights, Kentucky.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sally Jones]

  General Cable Corporation (BGC): Reduced

  Up 10% over 12 months, General Cable has a market cap of $1.53 billion; its shares were traded at around $30.94 with a P/E ratio of 191.00 and a P/B of 1.20. The dividend yield of BGC is 1.17%.

• [By Damian Illia]

  Finally, I always like to see one of the most important financial ratios applying to stockholders, the best measure of performance for a firm's management: the return on equity. The ratio has decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. Currently, a ROE of 45.9% is higher than all the 1,805 companies in the Diversified Industrials industry. Competitors such General Cable Corp. (BGC) has a very low ROE of 0.3% which is clearly not attractive. An alternative could be Belden Inc. (BDC) with a positive ROE of 24%.

Best Prefered Stocks To Watch For 2015

Best Prefered Stocks To Watch For 2015: Liberty Media Corp (LMCA)

Liberty Media Corporation, formerly Liberty Spinco, Inc., incorporated on August 10, 2012, focuses on the media, communications and entertainment industries through its ownership of interests in subsidiaries and other companies. Its businesses and assets include consolidated subsidiaries, Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc. and TruePosition, Inc., its equity affiliates Sirius XM Radio Inc. and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and minority investments in public companies such as Barnes & Noble, Inc., Time Warner Inc., Time Warner Cable, Inc., Viacom Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corporation. On January 11, 2013, Liberty Media Corporation and Starz announced the completion of the spin-off of Liberty from Starz. In connection with the spin-off, Liberty changed its name from Liberty Spinco, Inc. to Liberty Media Corporation. In January 2013, the Company announced that it held approximately 50.7% interest of Sirius XM Radio Inc. In May 2013, Liberty Media Corp acquired a 27.38% stake in Charter Communications Inc.

Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc., or ANLBC, a wholly owned subsidiary, owns and operates the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise and five minor league baseball clubs (the Gwinnett Braves, the Mississippi Braves, the Rome Braves, the Danville Braves and the GCL Braves). TruePosition is a wholly owned subsidiary that develops and markets technology for locating wireless phones and other wireless devices enabling wireless carriers, application providers and other enterprises to provide E-911 services domestically and other location-based services to mobile users both domestically and worldwide. Sirius XM Radio Inc. (Sirius) broadcasts its music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk, news, traffic and weather channels in the United States on a subscription fee basis through its two satellite radio systems. Subscribers can also receive certain of its music and other channels over th! e Internet, includin g through applications for mobile devices.

Sir! ius XM Radio Inc. satellite radios are primarily distributed through automakers (OEMs), retail locations nationwide, and through its Website. Sirius offers a dynamic programming lineup of commercial-free music, sports, entertainment, talk, news, traffic and weather. The channel line-ups for its services vary in certain respects and are available at siriusxm.com. Sirius offers a selection of music genres, ranging from rock, pop and hip-hop to country, dance, jazz, Latin and classical. Within each genre it offers a range of formats, styles and recordings. Sirius offers a range of national, international and financial news, including news from BBC World Service News, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, CNN, FOX News, HLN, MSNBC, NPR and World Radio Network. Barnes & Noble, Inc., is a content, commerce and technology company providing customers easy and convenient access to books, magazines, newspapers and other content across its multi-channel distribution platform. As of April 28, 2012, Ba rnes & Noble operated 1,338 bookstores in 50 states, including 647 bookstores on college campuses, operates one of the Internet's e-Commerce sites and develops digital content products and software.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Beyers]

  Liberty Media's (NASDAQ: LMCA  ) John Malone, a cable industry insider, may have said it best when he questioned the long-term veracity of cable network efforts to bundle content in order to preserve profits.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/best-prefered-stocks-to-watch-for-2015.html

10 Best US Stocks To Buy For 2015

10 Best US Stocks To Buy For 2015: Oci NV (OCI)

Oci NV is a Netherlands-based company, which divides its activities into two groups. The first group is engaged in the design, construction and maintenance of industrial and commercial infrastructures and buildings, such as roads, ports, railroads, hospitals, stadiums and water treatment units. The second group is engaged in the production of fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonia, granulated urea, calcium ammonium nitrate and urea ammonium nitrate, among others. The Company is a subsidiary of Orascom Construction Industries SAE, an international fertilizer producer and construction contractor based in Cairo, Egypt. In September 2013, it announced spin-off of its subsidiary OCI Partners LP. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ahmed A. Namatalla]

  OCI attracted $2 billion in commitments from a group of investors including Cascade Investment LLC, Gatess personal investments vehicle, to help finance the move to Amsterdam, which it said would lower borrowing costs and boost its global profile. Yesterdays settlement prompted Cairo-based investment bank Pharos Holding to raise Orascom to buy from hold, saying the construction and fertilizer company would proceed with an offer to investors to buy its Cairo-listed shares or swap them with OCI NV (OCI) stock.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/10-best-us-stocks-to-buy-for-2015.html

Top Construction Material Companies For 2015

Top Construction Material Companies For 2015: Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL (CBN)

Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL is a Lebanon-based joint stock company that operates in the construction materials industry sector. The Company is engaged in the production and sale of white cement. The Company is a 65.99% owned by Holcim (Liban) SAL. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CanadianValue]

  Nigerias reformed banking system has provided many foreigners with an attractive means to invest in the fast-growing domestic economy. The banking industry is important, not only because of the rise of microfinance, but because of the move by banks into consumer banking. Until recently, banks were mainly financing large businesses or the government through bond purchases. Following a banking crisis in 2008, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted an audit of the commercial banking sector. All banks that failed the audit had their CEOs replaced. The state-owned Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) was created to purchase non-performing loans and recapitalize the unhealthy banks. A recent review of the countrys banks by the IMF showed a dramatic increase in profits for the industry in 2012, while the capital adequacy ratio was above the minimum requirement of 10% and non-performing loans were below the mandated threshold of 5%5.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-construction-material-companies-for-2015.html

Hot Consumer Stocks To Own For 2015

Hot Consumer Stocks To Own For 2015: Frontier Beverage Company Inc (FBEC)

Frontier Beverage Company, Inc., incorporated on November 18, 2002, is in the business of development, marketing and distribution of New Age/Alternative Beverages and snack products. New Age/Alternative Beverages is an industry categorization for a group of products that include energy drinks/infused water, fruit juices and drinks, dairy and dairy substitutes, and bottled/canned teas. In October 2013, the Company announced that it has acquired holding company 22 Social Club Productions Inc. and its subsidiaries Blue 22 Entertainment.

The Company markets, sells and maintain inventories of Innovative Beverage Group Holdings, Inc. known as UnWind Ultimate Relaxation (UnWind) in Citrus Orange, Goji Grape and Pom Berry flavors in cases of twelve, 12-ounce slim cans. In addition to 12-ounce cans of UnWind, the Company also developed and test marketed a product line known as Bulldozer, which was a concentrated version of the canned UnWind beverage packaged in three-o unce containers. The Company's point-of-sale line includes posters, statics, info cards, suction racks and suction stickers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Frontier Beverage Company Inc (OTCMKTS: FBEC), IMD Companies Inc (OTCMKTS: ICBU) and Dmh International Incorporated (OTCBB: DMHI) were all mimicking the Titanic last Friday by sinking 41.18%, 32.5% and 28.16%, respectively, last Friday. Moreover, all three of these stocks have been the subject of paid promotions or investor relation campaigns. With the promotions in mind, is it to late to dump these small cap stocks or will this week present a buying opportunity? Here is a closer look:

  Frontier Beverage Company Inc (OTCMKTS: FBEC) Announces Changes and Proposed Plans

  Small cap Frontier Beverage Company is a diversified holding company with the following subsidiaries: 22 Social Club Productions, Blue 22 Entertainment and A! pp Quest LLC. On Friday, Frontier Beverage Company sank 41.18% to $0.005 for a market cap of $93,905 plus FBEC is down 77.5% since last March and down 99.2% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Beeston Enterprises Ltd (OTCMKTS: BESE) and HD Retail Solutions Inc (OTCMKTS: HDRE) surged 33.33% and 11.54%, respectively, on Black Friday while Frontier Beverage Company Inc (OTCMKTS: FBEC) sank 18.18%. And while Black Friday might be the most important shopping day of the year for retailers, its probably not a day that sees a lot of action from investors and traders still digesting their Thanksgiving meals (or busy looking for deals at their favorite retailers). So what direction will these three small cap stocks do for investors and traders this week? Here is a closer look to help you decide:

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/hot-consumer-stocks-to-own-for-2015.html

Mortgage-Backed Securities Losses Dominate Federal Reserve Balance Sheet

The Federal Reserve issued some updates to its balance sheet and payments data on Friday, and the long and short of the matter is that you are going to see why the Fed needs to start its $85 billion per month in bond-buying efforts. The latest minutes of the July 30-31 FOMC meeting indicated that tapering likely would start later in 2013 and end entirely by mid-2014. It is shocking how much the balance sheet has grown and how dominated it is by mortgage-backed securities. With Ben Bernanke due to have a formal replacement announcement later in 2013 or during the start of 2014, you really have to wonder about whether you want a continuation of the same quantitative easing policies or a new set of policies.

Total assets as of June 30, 2013, were $3.486 trillion, versus $2.917 trillion as of December 31, 2012. This translates to a gain in total assets of 19.5% in just six months. The growth in Treasury bills, notes and bonds was up to $2.097 trillion, versus $1.809 trillion, for growth of 15.9%.

Where the real balance sheet growth took place was in mortgage-backed securities (MBSs). The MBS assets are solely in government-sponsored entity MBSs, which means that they all fit into the conventional loan amount category and should not include the “jumbo loans” for prices above the conventional limit. The growth of MBSs was up to $1.246 trillion as of June 30, 2013, versus “only” $950.321 billion as of December 31, 2012. This was growth of 31.1%.

The real issue to consider is that from the start of May into July we saw roughly a 100 basis point rise (1 full percentage point) in 30-year mortgage rates. We cannot calculate what exactly the losses would be in this MBS portfolio without having their formal portfolio holdings, but we can tell readers is that this is just too much dominance in the mortgage-backed securities market. These loans should be safer than what we saw in 2003 to 2008, but the average weighted coupon will be so low that the losses would look horrendous to any major measurement.

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If you want proof that the weighted average coupon has plummeted, the trailing six-months of income from the MBS pools was $15.988 billion for the first half of 2013, versus $16.581 billion for the first half of 2012. Translation: seriously lower coupons.

Now you have a compounding event taking place. Conventional mortgages and GSE MBS pertains to mortgages packaged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FMCC), respectively. The public has a disdain for these entities because of how much they contributed to the financial crisis, but of course they also make housing affordability better with lower interest rates due to that quasi-guarantee that investors assume is there.

Efforts are picking up to dismantle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in Congress, so what does this do to the Federal Reserve when it is already suffering severe losses?

If tapering begins as late as October or November, then we can assume that the September 30 balance sheet will be even more dominated by MBS assets. At least these either will have higher coupons or will be purchased at a lower prices. That being said, it looks like the Federal Reserve just proved that it bought up all the mortgage-backed securities effectively at the top of the market in prices and the lows in yields.

If you do not believe how bad things are in mortgage-backed securities and that this is not real, you might want to consider looking at the MBS REITS. Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) is supposed to be one of the kings of mortgage-backed securities in the REIT sector, yet its shares are down to $11.40, versus a 52-week range of $10.63 to $17.75. It still screens as a double-digit yield now that its price is down so much, but the May 1 adjusted closing price was $15.34. The government’s MBS pool will not be down anywhere close to this amount, but Annaly’s share price is down a whopping 25% since the start of May when the bear market in bonds started to take shape.

Now take a look at a closed-end mutual fund that is made up solely of investing in mortgage-backed securities. The BlackRock Income Trust Inc. (NYSE: BKT) indicates a 4.8% dividend yield and is at $6.35 against a 52-week range of $6.33 to $7.74. Its May 1 adjusted closing price was $7.17, which translates to a loss of about 11.5% as of now. This fund now trades at what appears to be a discount of more than 12% to its net asset value, and while this one seems to always trade at a discount to its net asset value, it is a much wider discount than its recent and normal trading history.

As we said this morning in our top analyst upgrades and downgrades on interest rates,

We have predicted that the rising interest rates are still coming, and the 10-year Treasury note is poised to challenge a 3% yield and the 30-year Treasury to challenge the 4% mark. Now Barclays is calling for the 10-year Treasury to reach 3.10% by the end of 2013 and perhaps 3.75% later in 2014. A Merrill Lynch technician on Thursday also showed a next stop on the 10-year yield at about 3.05%, with the first resistance level at about 2.95%. The Treasury yields are currently 2.90% on the 10-year and 3.89% on the 30-year.

If everyone else is avoiding mortgage-backed securities and the Federal Reserve is gobbling up almost the entire flow of conventional mortgage-backed securities at the top of the market price (lowest in yield), then how do you feel knowing that this money is being printed endlessly to the tune of $85 billion per month only to face immediate losses. Remember, at least theoretically, it is your taxpayer money.

The Federal Reserve has maintained that the purchase of MBS assets has been helpful to the economy. That is likely true. The question is whether that economic benefit and assistance should be with a risk of well over $1 trillion of your taxpayer dollars.

Company Pension Plans Getting Safer Even as Number Declines

Among companies that continue to offer defined benefit retirement plans, shedding the risks associated with those plans has rapidly become a strategic objective. As company-sponsored pension plans have gotten better funded companies have focused on reducing pension risk.

The data comes from research conducted by Mercer Investment Consulting and CFO Research and the results were published on Thursday. According to the research, aggregate funded status of pension plans at companies in the S&P 1500 stood at 86% in May of this year, well above the all-time low of 70% in July of 2012.

Half of the survey's respondents have adopted fixed-income investment plans that sync up with the duration of pension-plan liabilities. More than 40% of respondents said their company shifts assets to lower-risk categories as the funding status of pension plans improves and a similar number have started allocating more of their funds to more stable fixed-income investments.

Far fewer — only 14% — have purchased annuities that transfer liabilities to a third party, but Mercer believes that the success of risk-transfer programs such as those undertaken in 2012 by Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) will encourage others to look closely at lump-sum distributions or purchasing annuities. A third of respondents said they are very likely/somewhat likely/will consider dumping defined benefit plans.

Transferring pension risk to a third party faces some headwinds though. Nearly 80% of respondents cited low interest rates as disincentive to either lump-sum distributions or annuity purchases. And while giant companies like Ford, GM, and Verizon have the heft to pursue these options, nearly half the survey respondents said that financial markets aren't interested in accepting risks from companies their size.

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Shutting down defined benefits plans remains popular, however. In 2011, 59% of respondents had closed or frozen their defined benefits plans; another 45% did so between 2011 and 2013. And 6% more say they are "very likely" to close their defined-benefits plans within 2 years.

ECB ready to act, but how much will it help?

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Investors and analysts are nearly certain: The European Central Bank will take action at its next meeting to boost the tepid recovery.

What's not at all certain is how much good that can do.

Any help is needed. The weak recovery in the 18 countries that use the euro is a source of risk and uncertainty for the rebounding U.S and global economy. The eurozone economy grew only 0.2% in the first quarter, gaining no speed from the quarter before. Worse, inflation is dangerously low at an annual 0.7%, well below the ECB's goal of just under 2%.

A long period of low inflation is a threat because it makes it harder for heavily indebted governments to cut their borrowings, and increases the pressure on them to keep imposing fiscal austerity in the form of higher taxes and restrained spending, which slow growth further.

Yet economists say the impact of most of the measures that are being talked about would likely be a marginal improvement and psychological reassurance, rather than a big bang.

Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank in London, said the biggest impact may be to show that the ECB is willing and able to act.

Short of a complete surprise, such as a massive program to boost the amount of money in the economy through bond purchases, "what the ECB will do will have only very modest consequences."

At the ECB's last meeting in May, Draghi said the bank was "comfortable taking action next time," on June 5. Economists are taking him at his word, and so are foreign exchange markets. The euro has fallen 3 full cents since then and for now has stayed lower, trading below $1.37 Friday in anticipation of an interest rate cut, the most likely move.

The ECB could also offer more cheap credit for banks, perhaps on the condition that they loan it to small businesses. Or it could take the bolder move of starting bond purchases — an unprecedented step for the ECB but one the U.S. Federal Reserve has taken with arguable success to ! drive down market interest rates for companies and consumers.

Here are some of the reasons why economists are skeptical how much impact ECB action will have.

Clogged banks

The benchmark refinancing rate is already at a record low of 0.25%. The rate determines what it costs banks to borrow from the ECB, and strongly influences the rate at which banks lend to each other. Through them — the so-called "bank channel" — the ECB in theory controls the rates businesses pay for loans to expand their plants, or on what consumers pay for mortgages.

Yet rates are already very low.

And, more important, the bank channel is clogged.

Banks with troubled finances aren't passing on the low rates. The ECB is trying to improve confidence in the banks by reviewing their finances — and forcing the ones that are hiding losses to raise new capital, or even be sold or restructured. Economists say completing the review and straightening out the banks are the real key to getting the eurozone economy hitting on all cylinders. The review won't be done until this fall.

Meanwhile Analyst Carsten Brzeski at ING says a conventional rate cut and other measures will have "hardly any" effect on growth. He says that's probably why the bank hasn't cut rates since Nov. 13, despite promising every month to act if needed: "If it was the silver bullet, they would have done it already. "

Go negative

Another unconventional step discussed for months is a negative rate on money banks leave on deposit with the ECB — charging them for hoarding money in an attempt to push them to lend it out.

But it could backfire. Banks could pass the cost on to customers — the opposite of what the ECB is trying to do.

Blowback

A key factor weighing on inflation and growth is the strong euro, which hurts exports and makes imports expensive. Low rates in theory push down the euro by reducing returns on interest-bearing investments and therefore demand for the currency.

But measur! es that i! mprove prospects for the growth would also attract more investment — and tend to push the euro up.

The big kahuna

Bond purchases — a less likely option — would aim to drive bond prices up and their interest yields down, in hopes that those lower bond yields would be reflected in lower rates for other kinds of borrowing.

Problem is, eurozone bonds have already risen recently, and yields are low.

That means any bond purchases would have less impact than they would have two years ago, at the height of the debt crisis.

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Despite questions about impact Schmieding says the bank has to act. "With what Draghi has said, if he does nothing, his trust and credibility, his communication strategy, will suffer a lot," Schmieding said.

"So he'd better come up with something — if it has a lot of impact or not."

Will Microsoft's Xbox One Price Cut Kill the Console or Save It?

xboxone.com Microsoft (MSFT) is tired of letting Sony (SNE) pad its lead in competition among the latest generation of gaming consoles, so the Xbox parent is going on the offensive. Microsoft will release a cheaper Xbox One on June 9, the day before diehard gamers converge at the annual E3 conference. Slashing the system's price by $100 to $399 will match what Sony is commanding for its PlayStation 4, but Xbox fans will have to do without the motion-based Kinect controller to get the lower price. That's a big sacrifice given how Microsoft has promoted its camera-based controller to players and developers, but it was the easiest way to cut the price just seven months into the console's life cycle. Microsoft doesn't have much choice. The Xbox 360 dominated the Wii and PS3 in the previous generation of consoles, but Sony's leading the way now. One is the Loneliest Number Sony claims to have sold 7 million PS4s to consumers since they hit the market in November. Microsoft rolled out the Xbox One a week later, and says it has sold 5 million of the consoles to retailers. There's a big a difference between the sell-through figure that Sony is using and Microsoft's number, which includes systems that may still be on retailers' shelves. Sony's real lead is likely significantly greater than 2 million units. This is clearly Sony's generation. Nintendo (NTDOY) put out the Wii U a year earlier, and it was still the PS4 that became the first next-gen platform to crack through the mark of 7 million systems sold. The PS4 isn't winning just because it's cheaper. The Wii U costs less -- and that was even before a price cut of its own last summer. Sony and Microsoft both have powerful machines, but the Xbox upset too many gamers last year when it began talking about requiring constant connectivity or reportedly pondering copy protection that would disallow secondhand games from playing. Microsoft backed away from many of its initial restrictive features before the November launch, but the sentiment during last year's E3 conference was that the PS4 would outsell the Xbox One. It did, and now Microsoft needs to find a way to get its mojo back. Kinect the Dots Microsoft announced a couple of new initiatives last week aimed at winning back gamers. Among them, it will now allow any Xbox One owner to access entertainment apps including the popular video streaming applications. Xbox One rolled out requiring buyers to pay extra for Xbox Gold Live to access Netflix, Hulu and other entertainment hubs. The move was long overdue, even if the majority of Xbox One owners are likely Xbox Gold Live members already. The biggest change in Microsoft's attack strategy is putting out a $399 Xbox without Kinect. That's a big deal since the Kinect controller was a key marketing point when Microsoft was trying to position its console as the ultimate living room centerpiece. Kinect allows owners to use hand gestures or spoken commands to interact with the system. More importantly, developers who have put out Xbox One games, as well as those still working on titles, have all been coding under the assumption that every Xbox One will come with a Kinect. That won't be true anymore. Making matters worse, Kinect as a standalone purchase for those buying the cheaper consoles won't hit the market until the fall. The Price of Competition Consumers typically win in a price war, but that may not be the case here if developers turn more of their attention to the more popular PS4 platform and buyers of the $399 systems realize that they are paying a lot of money for an incomplete experience. Yes, Sony's camera-based controller is also an add-on accessory. PS4 owners pay an extra $60 for the camera. However, it was never included in the basic system, and software developers have always known that. Microsoft needed to get cheaper. It upset too many diehard gamers ahead of the system's release to succeed as the more expensive console. However, if the path to being more economical involves further upsetting players and software publishers, it may not have achieved that goal at all. Sometimes a price cut isn't such a bargain after all.

10-year old girl still scolding McDonald's

The girl who scolded McDonald's CEO is back — and still scolding.

Just one year ago, then-9-year-old (now 10) Hannah Robertson stood up during the question-and-answer period at the McDonald's annual shareholders meeting and politely lectured CEO Don Thompson that McDonald's should stop using Happy Meal toys and kid-targeting advertisements to "trick" kids into eating its "food that isn't good for them."

Clearly, McDonald's has bigger issues to contend with at Thursday's annual meeting — including planned protests for higher pay on Wednesday and Thursday by fast-food workers and union activists.

But it was Hannah who was far and away the story from last year's shareholder's meeting. The then-fourth-grader (now fifth-) — a guest last year of the activist group Corporate Accountability — won't make it to Thursday's meeting. The resident of Kelowna in British Columbia is on a family camping vacation.

But at McDonald's, she says by e-mail, little has changed. "If you want kids to be healthy, they need to eat healthy food. When a big company like McDonald's is pushing junk food to kids, it makes it harder for kids to choose healthy food."

Corporate Accountability again plans to have a presence at McDonald's annual meeting. Among the issues it plans to bring to the table: kid-targeted marketing, labor practices and CEO pay, says spokesperson Jesse Bragg.

Hannah gained note after she spoke for about three minutes last year, directing her question to Thompson, who listened attentively. She was featured in a USA TODAY story and was a guest on Good Morning America the next day. Her likeness appeared in a popular, animated video of the event that went viral.

Now, Hannah says she's still trying to make her point about kids' nutrition in 2014. "Kids are getting obese and have disabilities, and companies like McDonald's need to do their part and stop marketing their gross food to kids."

McDonald's executives say they continue to make improvements in their offerin! gs for kids. The chain announced plans this week to roll out in July a Go-Gurt-brand yogurt side dish option for Happy Meals in July. Later this year, it will stop listing soft drinks as a Happy Meal option on menu boards. though they will remain available by request.

"We plan to offer even more variety in the future," says McDonald's spokeswoman Heidi Barker Sa Shekhem. She also notes that since the McDonald's global Happy Meal books program began last October, the company has distributed 17 million books and e-books about better nutrition, health and exercise in the U.S. and 30 million in Europe.

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Hannah's mother, Kia Robertson, isn't impressed. She's a health food blogger, activist and creator of the "Today I Ate a Rainbow" kit, which includes a color chart showing kids the best foods to eat. "The push-back against McDonald's marketing to children isn't going to go away," she says. "It's only going to get stronger as more and more parents start to see all the ways McDonald's undermines the healthy messages we are trying to instill in our children."

But Hannah admits she's not so well-versed on this year's planned protests around $15-an-hour wages. "I don't really know much about this, but I think if people are working hard, they should get paid well," she says. "Maybe Mr. Thompson can share some of his big wages?"

AT&T Stock: Bad DirecTV Acquisition Won’t Hurt Dividend

Popular Posts: What NOT to Buy in a Retirement Plan401k Moves to Make this SpringReynolds American and Lorillard – A Merger to Ignore Recent Posts: AT&T Stock: Bad DirecTV Acquisition Won’t Hurt Dividend Reynolds American and Lorillard – A Merger to Ignore Is It Time to Buy Russian and Chinese Stocks? View All Posts

By now, you've seen the news: AT&T (T) is buying pay TV rival DirecTV (DTV) for a whopping $48.5 billion in cash and stock in one of the biggest mergers in years. Including the assumption of debt, the deal comes to $67.1 billion.

Whether or not this is a good move for AT&T shareholders is debatable. AT&T is buying a mature business with limited growth potential domestically. The cash portion of the deal – $14.5 billion – will need to be largely financed by debt, as AT&T only has about $3.8 billion in cash on hand.

Importantly for income investors who are holding AT&T stock for its juicy 5% dividend yield, the merger shouldn't have any immediate impact on the AT&T dividend.

So, what's the story here?

AT&T's purchase of DirecTV is very much a "me too" merger following the $45 billion union of Comcast (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) to form a TV and internet juggernaut. From the looks of things, it looks as if AT&T's motivation was a fear of being left behind by its larger rivals. The move will massively expand AT&T's pay TV presence; at 20 million, DirecTV has roughly four times as many TV subscribers as AT&T.

Satellite operators like DirecTV and it rival, Dish Network (DISH), have been steadily gaining ground on the traditional cable companies. Collectively, though, the cable companies have over 20 million more subscribers than the satellite operators (55 million and 34 million, respectively). Bringing up the rear, telecoms AT&T and Verizon (VZ) together have about 10 million subscribers.

I certainly understand AT&T's desire to move beyond its current core business lines, all of which are mature businesses or – in the case of fixed-line telephony – businesses in terminal decline. Mobile phone plans are brutally competitive on price, and smartphones – whose data plans have been a massive source of growth in recent years – are near the market saturation point in the U.S. Piling on the pressure for AT&T stock, rivals like T-Mobile (TMUS) have upended the business model by offering cheap unlimited voice, text and plans and by eliminating carrier subsidies on handsets.

But pay TV? By making a massive commitments to pay TV via the DirecTV merger, AT&T stock seems to be staking its future on another mature and brutally competitive industry, and one whose future is murky at best.

Last year, the number of pay TV subscribers in America fell for the first time in history, down 251,000. Growth has been stagnant for years. The vast majority of Americans already have paid TV, though many Millennials – raised on the Internet – have found they can live without it. Frankly, they can't even afford it on their current salaries. As I wrote recently, the cost of monthly cable bills have been increasing at a rate of about 6% annually, much faster than both the rate of inflation and – importantly – wage growth. The average cable bill was $86 in 2011. By 2015, it is forecast to be $123 per month.

Perhaps not surprisingly, customer satisfaction with pay TV is falling. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), satisfaction with pay TV fell 4.4% in the latest update. The pay TV industry sunk to an ACSI score of 65 (out of 100), making it one of the lowest scores of all 43 industries tracked by ACSI.

DirecTV is a bad buy for AT&T. But most investors that buy AT&T stock aren't buying it for growth; they buy it for its rock-solid dividend.

The good news is that I don't see this merger having an impact on dividends for AT&T stock. Despite the high yield of 5%, T stock's payout ratio is only 53%. And while AT&T will probably increase its debt burden by more than 50% once the deal is finalized, the increased leverage will not be enough to put AT&T at any real risk.

Bottom line: The DirecTV purchase is a questionable business move, but it won't have any adverse effect on AT&T's dividend.

Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA, is the editor of Macro Trend Investor and chief investment officer of the investment firm Sizemore Capital Management. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Click here to receive his FREE weekly e-letter covering top market insights, trends, and the best stocks and ETFs to profit from today's best global value plays.

Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now

Between games of pick-up basketball, one of my favorite players — killer jump shot — sidled over and asked me what he should do with an “extra” $10,000 he’d come into courtesy of a nice bonus.

These are always difficult questions to answer. I’m never quite sure what kind of time horizon is involved, nor what the risk profile or tolerance is — and I sure don’t want to be the guy who causes people to lose money.

After a few minutes of discussion we agreed that the investment should go to income stocks that would provide him with a steady stream of quarterly dividend cash for at least the next 5-10 years, with a strong dividend yield north of 3%, and at a P/E ratio that sits at a 25% discount to that of the S&P 500, which stands at just under 19x earnings. After all, why not seek out what might be an undervalued play? For good measure, I’ve made it so at least one of the picks pays out its dividend in different months than the other two.

Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: Tupperware Corporation(TUP)

Tupperware Brands Corporation operates as a direct seller of various products across a range of brands and categories through an independent sales force. The company engages in the manufacture and sale of kitchen and home products, and beauty and personal care products. It offers preparation, storage, and serving solutions for the kitchen and home, as well as kitchen cookware and tools, children?s educational toys, microwave products, and gifts under the Tupperware brand name primarily in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and North America. The company provides beauty and personal care products, which include skin care products, cosmetics, bath and body care, toiletries, fragrances, nutritional products, apparel, and related products principally in Mexico, South Africa, the Philippines, Australia, and Uruguay. It offers beauty and personal care products under the Armand Dupree, Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, Nuvo, and Swissgar de brand names. The company sells its Tupperware products directly to distributors, directors, managers, and dealers; and beauty products primarily through consultants and directors. As of December 26, 2009, the Tupperware distribution system had approximately 1,800 distributors, 61,300 managers, and 1.3 million dealers; and the sales force representing the Beauty businesses approximately 1.1 million. The company was formerly known as Tupperware Corporation and changed its name to Tupperware Brands Corporation in December 2005. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Everyone is familiar with�the Tupperware brand from�consumer products stock Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE: TUP) and you are probably familiar with the brands�of mid cap stock Jarden Corp (NYSE: JAH) along with small cap stocks Libbey Inc (NYSEMKT: LBY) and Lifetime Brands Inc (NASDAQ: LCUT); but what about the stocks themselves? Chances are, their brands or products are right under your nose at home and you probably don�� know anything about the mid cap or small cap stock behind them.

• [By Arie Goren]

  After running this screen on May 21, 2013, before the markets' open, I discovered the following eight stocks: Sunoco Logistics Partners LP (SXL), Leggett & Platt Inc (LEG), Copa Holdings SA (CPA), RPC Inc. (RES), Tupperware Brands Corp. (TUP), Herbalife Ltd. (HLF), John Wiley & Sons Inc. (JW.A) and C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (CHRW).

• [By Jonathan Berr]

  Multilevel marketing (MLM) groups such as Herbalife operate through independent sales representatives, who earn money both through the sales of product and by recruiting other people to join their team. This business model — which is used by scores of companies, including�Pampered Chef, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Tupperware (TUP) and Mary Kay Cosmetics — is legal provided that actual products are sold.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Tupperware Brands (NYSE: TUP  ) is reaching into its corporate bowl for a fresh payout to shareholders. The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.62 per share. This will be paid on July 8 to stockholders of record as of June 19. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution, which was paid in early April. Prior to that, Tupperware Brands was rather less generous, handing out $0.36 per share.

Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: Schlumberger N.V.(SLB)

Schlumberger Limited, together with its subsidiaries, supplies technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas exploration and production industries worldwide. The company?s Oilfield Services segment provides exploration and production services; wireline technology that offers open-hole and cased-hole services; supplies engineering support, directional-drilling, measurement-while-drilling, and logging-while-drilling services; and testing services. This segment also offers well services; supplies well completion services and equipment; artificial lift; data and consulting services; geo services; and information solutions, such as consulting, software, information management system, and IT infrastructure services that support oil and gas industry. Its WesternGeco segment provides reservoir imaging, monitoring, and development services; and operates data processing centers and multiclient seismic library. This segment also offers variou s services include 3D and time-lapse (4D) seismic surveys to multi-component surveys for delineating prospects and reservoir management. The company?s M-I SWACO segment supplies drilling fluid systems to improve drilling performance; fluid systems and specialty tools to optimize wellbore productivity; production technology solutions to maximize production rates; and environmental solutions that manages waste volumes generated in drilling and production operations. Its Smith Oilfield segment designs, manufactures, and markets drill bits and borehole enlargement tools; and supplies drilling tools and services, tubular, completion services, and other related downhole solutions. The company?s Distribution segment markets pipes, valves, and fittings, as well as mill, safety, and other maintenance products. This segment also provides warehouse management, vendor integration, and inventory management services. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Smith]

  A few of the compelling companies
  From my perspective, the message to be taken away from Stuart's presentation is simply that, even in the face of potential U.S. economic distress, a well-structured portfolio will contain at least a modicum of energy of names. For starters I'd look to Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB  ) , the world's leading oilfield services company and energy's technology major domo. Given its operations in about 85 countries, a worldwide energy cataclysm would seemingly be required for the big company to face a significant slowdown.

• [By Dr. Kent Moors]

  That's why some of the biggest OFS providers - like Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) and Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT) - have been buying up oil and gas equipment companies.

• [By David Fabian]

  Schlumberger Ltd (NYSE: SLB) recently reported a record first quarter profit, as demand for its advanced energy exploration technology continues to grow.

Top 10 Chemical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Dollar Tree Inc.(DLTR)

Dollar Tree, Inc. operates discount variety stores in the United States and Canada. Its stores offer merchandise primarily at the fixed price of $1.00. The company operates its stores under the names of Dollar Tree, Deal$, Dollar Tree Deal$, Dollar Giant, and Dollar Bills. Its stores offer consumable merchandise, including candy and food, and health and beauty care, as well as household consumables, such as paper, plastics, household chemicals, in select stores, and frozen and refrigerated food; variety merchandise, which includes toys, durable housewares, gifts, party goods, greeting cards, softlines, and other items; and seasonal goods, such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas merchandise. As of April 30, 2011, it operated 4,089 stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 88 stores in Canada. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mani]

  Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) is one of the companies that are set to exploit the ongoing trend of consumers' increasing focus on value with significant opportunity to grow its store base, and expand margins.

Hot Undervalued Stocks To Buy Right Now: Caterpillar Inc.(CAT)

Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. It operates through three lines of businesses: Machinery, Engines, and Financial Products. The Machinery business offers construction, mining, and forestry machinery, including track and wheel tractors, track and wheel loaders, pipelayers, motor graders, wheel tractor-scrapers, track and wheel excavators, backhoe loaders, log skidders, log loaders, off-highway trucks, articulated trucks, paving products, skid steer loaders, underground mining equipment, tunnel boring equipment, and related parts. It also manufactures diesel-electric locomotives; and manufactures and services rail-related products and logistics services for other companies. The Engines business provides diesel, heavy fuel, and natural gas reciprocating engines for Caterpillar machinery, electric power generation systems, marine, petrol eum, construction, industrial, agricultural, and other applications. It offers industrial turbines and turbine-related services for oil and gas, and power generation applications. This business also remanufactures Caterpillar engines, machines, and engine components; and offers remanufacturing services for other companies. The Financial Products business provides retail and wholesale financing alternatives for Caterpillar machinery and engines, solar gas turbines, and other equipment and marine vessels, as well as offers loans and various forms of insurance to customers and dealers. It also offers financing for vehicles, power generation facilities, and marine vessels. The company markets its products directly, as well as through its distribution centers, dealers, and distributors. It was formerly known as Caterpillar Tractor Co. and changed its name to Caterpillar Inc. in 1986. Caterpillar Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  Among Dow stocks moving higher today was�Caterpillar� (NYSE: CAT  ) , which jumped 2.8% today as it defends its tax-avoidance practices in front of Congress this week. The heavy-equipment maker responded to allegations from a Senate subcommittee that said it has avoided $2.4 billion in taxes over the last 13 years by moving profits to a Swiss affiliate without transferring employees or business activities. Executives defended the practices, saying that "business practices drives our tax structure," not the other way around. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took the opposite tack from Democrats in grilling the multinational manufacturer, going as far to salute Caterpillar for its strategy and success as an iconic American business. "We should probably give Caterpillar an award," he said. "It is a requirement that you try to minimize your costs. So rather than chastising Caterpillar we should be complimenting them." Caterpillar is just one of many blue chips that's been hauled before Congress to defend its tax strategy. Investors seemed to like the results of the hearing based on the stock's gains.�

• [By Dan Dzombak]

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) is up after the Australian Central Bank lowered interest rates in an effort to boost the nation's economy. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) stock is leading the Dow today, as the interest rate cut bodes well for demand in Australia. As of 1:10 p.m. EDT the Dow is up 68 points to 15,037, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) is up 6.5 points to 1,624.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But even with the Dow under pressure, a few stocks managed to post some sizable gains. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) led the Dow's gainers, rising 1.2% as the company announced that it would execute another $1 billion under an accelerated stock repurchase transaction, working with France's Societe Generale to facilitate the purchase. The transaction marks the second time Caterpillar has used the tactic, with a previously announced $1 billion repurchase in April having been completed last month. The moves show how healthy Caterpillar's cash flow is, but it's unclear how well they fit with the company's less optimistic assessment of its long-term earnings outlook.

• [By Dan Dzombak]

  Today's Dow leader is Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) , up 3% on no real news. Caterpillar is on the five most shorted stocks on the Dow with 3% of its shares outstanding sold short. As the mining industry around the world starts to be challenged by falling commodity prices, Caterpillar's business will not be as robust going forward. It's this worry that Caterpillar will get hurt by the boom-bust cycle of commodities that has investors pricing the shares at just 11 times earnings. That said, some investors still think Caterpillar is worth buying. Fool contributor Daniel Ferry recently laid out three reasons to buy Caterpillar.

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2015

Ford Motor Company (F) announced on Wednesday the addition of two new board members.

The automaker named James P. Hackett and John C. Lechleiter as the newest members of the company’s board of directors. Hackett’s new role will begin immediately, while Lechlieter will officially join on October 1, 2013.

Hackett is currently the CEO of Steelcase, Inc–a furniture maker–and also serves on the board of Fifth Third Bancorp, the National Center for Arts and Technology, and the��Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Life Sciences Institute at University of Michigan. Lechlieter is the President and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company, one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world, and also serves on the board of Nike, Inc, United Way�Worldwide, Xavier University, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and the Life Sciences Foundation.

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2015: Dolan Co (DM)

The Dolan Company, incorporated in March 2003, is a provider of necessary professional services and business information to legal, financial and real estate sectors in the United States. The Company operates through two operating divisions: its Professional Services Division and its Business Information Division. Its Professional Services Division consists of two segments: mortgage default processing services and litigation support services. Its Business Information Division produces legal publications, business journals, court and commercial media, other online information products and services, and operates Websites and produces events for targeted professional audiences in 21 geographic markets across the United States. Its information is delivered through a variety of methods, including approximately 60 print publications and 80 Websites. The Company also operates specialized information services covering legislative and regulatory activities and providing transcription, media monitoring and translation services. On July 25, 2011, it acquired substantially all of the assets of ACT Litigation Services, Inc. (ACT). In July 2013, the Company sold the assets of its NDeX South business to the law firm affiliates of that business.

Professional Services

The Company�� Professional Services Division consists of two operating segments: mortgage default processing services and litigation support services. Its mortgage default processing services segment consists of the operations of NDeX. Its litigation support services segment consists of the operations of DiscoverReady, its discovery management and document review services business, and Counsel Press, its appellate services business. The Company provides these support services to the legal profession. In addition, NDeX also provides its services directly to mortgage lenders and loan servicers on California foreclosure files. One of the litigation support services it provides is discovery management and document review services, ! including certain technology services related to processing and hosting the data. Discovery is the process by which parties use the legal system to obtain relevant information, primarily in litigation, regulatory, and governmental investigation matters. Some United States companies with in-house legal departments choose to perform or manage some portions of the discovery process in-house, rather than outsourcing them.

The Company provides appellate services to lawyers in connection with both state and federal appeals. It performs more state appellate work, as state appellate case volume generally is larger than federal case volume. There are typically about 300,000 state appeals filed each year, compared to approximately 58,000 federal appeals filed per year, according to information available to the Company from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and the National Center for State Courts. NDeX also provides real estate title services to the Barrett Law Firm and provides loan modification and loss mitigation support on mortgage default files to its customers. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it received approximately 317,200 mortgage default case files for processing from its customers.

In 2011, its mortgage default processing services segment accounted for 46% of its total revenues and 63% of its Professional Services Division�� total revenues. The Company�� litigation support services professionals at Counsel Press provide clients with consulting services, including procedural and technical advice and support with respect to the United States state and federal appellate processes. During 2011, its litigation support services segment accounted for 27% of its total revenues and 37% of its Professional Services Division�� total revenues. In addition to its appellate services, Counsel Press provides additional tracking and professional services to its clients.

Business Information

The Company provides business informatio! n product! s to companies and professionals in the legal, financial, real estate and governmental affairs sectors primarily through print and online business journals and court and commercial newspapers, as well as other electronic media offerings. Its business journals generally rely on display and classified advertising as a significant source of revenue and provide content that is relevant to the business communities they target. Its court and commercial newspapers generally rely on public notices as their primary source of revenue and offer information to the legal communities they target. All of its business journals and court and commercial newspapers also generate circulation revenue to supplement their advertising and public notice revenue base. There were more than 230 local business journals and more than 350 court and commercial newspapers nationwide, which generated approximately $2 billion in revenues in 2011.

The Company sells packaged print and online advertising products to advertisers that desire to reach readers through different media. Dolan Media Newswires, its Internet-based, subscription newswire, is available at www.dolanmedianewswires.com for news professionals and represents the work of its journalists and contributors. It also operates online, subscription-based legislative information services that are used by lobbyists, associations, corporations, unions, government affairs professionals, state agencies and the media in Arizona, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Through DataStream, it offers customized access to legislative databases, which provide state and federal legislative and regulatory information. Through Federal News, the Company offers transcription services.

The Company provides commercial printing services and sells database information through royalty or licensing fee arrangements. During2011, its subscription-based and other revenues accounted for 8% of its total revenues and 28% of its Business Information Division�� total revenues. The Company prints se! ven of it! s business information publications at one of its three printing facilities located in Baltimore, Minneapolis and Oklahoma City.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  The Dolan Company (NYSE: DM) shares fell 27.23% to reach a new 52-week low of $0.50 after the company received a continued listing standards notice from the NYSE and appointed Kevin Nystrom as Chief Restructuring Officer.

• [By Sally Jones]

  Dolan Co. (DM) ��Market Cap $81.8 Million

  Dolan Co. is down 42% over 12 months. The company has a market cap of $81.8 million; its trades at around $2.65 with a P/B ratio of 1.10.

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2015: National Beverage Corp.(FIZZ)

National Beverage Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes beverage products in the United States. The company offers a range of flavored soft drinks, juices, sparkling waters, energy drinks, and nutritionally-enhanced waters. It provides its soft drink products under the Shasta and Faygo names. The company also provides health-conscious beverage products, including juice and juice based products under the Everfresh, Home Juice, and Mr. Pure brand names; sparkling and spring water products under the LaCroix, Crystal Bay, and ClearFruit brand names; and nutritionally enhanced water under the Asante brand. In addition, it offers energy drinks under the brand, Rip It; fruit-flavored drinks under the Ohana brand name; holiday soft drinks under the brand, St. Nick?s; and effervescent powder beverage enhancers under the NutraFizz brand name. Further, the company develops and produces soft drinks for retailers and beverage companies . National Beverage provides its products through national and regional grocery stores, warehouse clubs, mass-merchandisers, wholesalers and dollar stores, convenience stores, gas stations, and independent and specialized distributors, as well as through direct store distribution facilities. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  If you are looking for the next small cap beverage stock that could turn into the next Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ: MNST), under the radar beverage�companies like small caps National Beverage Corp (NASDAQ: FIZZ), Reed's, Inc (NYSEMKT: REED) and Konared Corp (OTCBB: KRED) could be just what you are looking for. I should point out that the beverage space is often a battle between David and Goliath as everyone, and especially�smaller players, must fight for every inch of shelf space. Nevertheless, the following small cap beverage stocks are at least holding their ground and putting up a good fight leading to profits for investors:

• [By Hank Coleman]
  It's not easy to find a great stock. In almost every case, investors have already priced good and bad news about the company into the stock's share price. But every once in a while, the market misprices a stock. So how do you find these hidden gems? A company's price-to-earnings ratio, or P/E, is one of the fundamental metrics that every stock picker should know. It's is a great place for every investor to start when trying to find undervalued stocks to purchase. How to Calculate a P/E Ratio To calculate a company's P/E ratio, simply divide the share price of a company's stock with its earnings per share. (For an apples-to-apples comparison, be sure to calculate the ratio on a per-share basis.) For example, if a company has a share price of $40 and earns a profit of $2 a share, its P/E ratio is 20. If the company's price per share were to increase to $60 and its profits remained the same, it would see its P/E ratio jump to 30. P/E Ratio Shows You If a Company's Stock Is Undervalued A company's P/E ratio is a leading indicator of an undervalued stock. A lower P/E ratio shows investors that a lower-priced stock is earning a larger profit. A higher P/E ratio indicates that a stock is more expensive or might not be earning a lot of profit when compared to the price of a share of its stock. P/E ratios are relative, and should only be compared to those of other companies within the same industry or sector. So, it isn't fair or even accurate most times to, for example, compare the P/E of a technology company with that of a consumer products company, as these industries typically have different P/E ratio levels. Technology companies frequently command a higher price for their stock, despite the lack of big profits. It isn't unusual to see some technology companies with a P/E of 40 or more. Conversely, consumer staples and blue chip companies often have a lower P/E. It's important to compare companies within their own industry to identify buying opportuniti

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Ziggo NV (ZIGGO)

Ziggo NV is the Netherlands-based provider of entertainment, information and communication through television, Internet and telephony services. The Company provides digital, interactive and high definition (HD) television, broadband Internet, data communication and telephony services to both private and corporate customers. To business customers, it offers services over the network. For home use and small business, they are provided through business bundles and packages, such as Office Basis, Internet Plus and All-in-1. Ziggo NV serves around 3 million households, with almost 1.8 million Internet subscribers, more than 2.2 million subscribers using digital television and about 1.4 million telephony subscribers. Additionally, it operates a music streaming service, Ziggo Muziek, and a fiber optic network. The Company is wholly owned by Zesko Holding BV and has several subsidiaries, such as Zesko BV, Ziggo Bond Company Holding BV and Ziggo Bond Company BV, among others. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sarah Jones]

  Ziggo NV (ZIGGO), a Dutch cable-television operator, advanced 4.5 percent to 29.58 euros, after Vodafone confirmed it approached Kabel Deutschland. Liberty Global Inc., which owns an 18 percent stake in Ziggo, had also considered bidding for the German company, two people familiar with the matter said in April.

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2015: Riverbed Technology Inc.(RVBD)

Riverbed Technology, Inc. provides solutions to the fundamental problems associated with information technology performance across wide area networks (WANs) in the United States and internationally. It primarily offers Steelhead products, which enable its customers to improve the performance of their applications and access to their data across WANs, as well as supports the riverbed services platform. The company's Steelhead product family includes the Steelhead Mobile client software application that provides mobile workers with LAN-like access to corporate files and applications; Virtual Steelhead appliance to extend the reach of WAN optimization; Cloud Steelhead, a solution that is purpose-built for public cloud computing environments; Central Management Console that provides centralized configuration, monitoring, and control for simplifying the process of deploying and managing Steelhead products distributed across a WAN; and Interceptor appliance, which allows organiz ations to scale their WAN optimization solutions. It sells Steelhead appliances to customers ranging from small office deployments to large headquarters and data center locations. The company also offers Cascade product line, which help organizations manage, secure, and optimize the availability and performance of global applications; Stingray product line, which provides virtual application delivery control; and Whitewater gateways, designed to accelerate, de-duplicate, secure, and store backup data sets in the public cloud. It serves customers in manufacturing, finance, technology, government, architecture, engineering and construction, professional services, utilities, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, media, and retail industries. The company sells its products directly through value-added resellers and distributors, service providers, and systems integrators, as well as through its sales force. Riverbed Technology, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in San Fran cisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD  ) results for the first quarter have been released. For the quarter, revenue totaled $246 million, up from the $182 million in the same period the previous year. This was thanks in no small part to the $52 million contributed by Opnet Technologies, the network-management firm Riverbed acquired last year.

• [By Hilary Kramer]

  In its fiscal fourth-quarter report last week, the company delivered good results in a period where many networking peers, such as Citrix (CTXS) (which has signed on with Cisco as the latter exited the ADC market) and Riverbed (RVBD) posted poor or just so-so results.

Best Life Sciences Companies To Own For 2015: Motorcar Parts of America Inc. (MPAA)

Motorcar Parts of America, Inc., together wit its subsidiaries, remanufactures and distributes alternators and starters for import and domestic cars, light trucks, heavy duty, agricultural, and industrial applications in the United States and Canada. It replacement parts are used on vehicles after initial vehicle purchase. The company sells its products to approximately 12,000 retail outlets; automotive warehouse distributors; and OES customers under customer private labels and under the Quality-Built, Talon, Xtreme, and Reliance brand names. Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is based in Torrance, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (Nasdaq:MPAA) is scheduled to make a presentation on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 9:30 a.m. Pacific time at B. Riley & Company’s 13th Annual Investor Conference at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Southern California.

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Motorcar Parts of America (MPAA) is the tiniest entry at only a $208 million market cap. It�� a bit more specialized, focusing more on alternators, starters and wheel hub assemblies. It also distributes only through the DIY stores. MPAA sits on $100 million in debt and $16 million in cash. It’s cash flow negative and trades at a P/E of 14 on long term growth of 15%. I�� stay away from this one, given the cash flow situation.