Restoration Hardware closes up 13%; Red Hat falls

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Restoration Hardware Holdings Ltd. shares rallied by nearly 13% on Friday after the high-end home furnishings store reported fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street's estimates.

Red Hat Inc. (RHT) meanwhile, saw its stock close 7% lower after the company's financial guidance for the current fiscal year came in short of analysts' expectations.

Bloomberg Enlarge Image Restoration Hardware announces quarterly earnings that topped market expectations.

Restoration Hardware (RH) reported fourth-quarter earnings of 83 cents a share on revenue of $471.7 million. The company beat analyst expectations and also reported increasing sales growth. Forward looking statements were also positive as the firm looks to expand and transform its retail stores in 2014, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Friedman.

Gainers

Shares in CBS Outdoor Americas Inc. (CBSO)  climbed more than 5% in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading started at $28 a share. The billboard company is getting split from media giant CBS Corp. (CBS) .

Shares of 2U Inc. (TWOU)  added nearly 8% Friday. The cloud-based education platform geared toward nonprofit universities had priced its initial public offering at $13 a share, the high end of its range of $11 to $13, according to data from Renaissance Capital.

U.S.-traded shares of 58.com Inc. (WUBA)  climbed 3%. They were trading lower earlier Friday after the company announced the pricing of its secondary public offering of American Depositary Shares and reduced the size of that offering, according to an article from TheStreet . 58.com provides online market place services to local merchants and consumers in China.

Shares of H&R Block Inc. (HRB)  rose more than 6%, with the tax preparation and banking services provider getting a boost ahead of the April 15 U.S. tax filing deadline.

Decliners

Red Hat shares  fell after the open-source software provider offered disappointing guidance for fiscal year 2015. But it also said late Thursday that fourth-quarter profit climbed 4.9%.

BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY)  shares declined 7% by the close after spending part of the session trading higher. The company reported a much smaller operating loss than analysts expected.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. (CZR)  saw its stock fall over 7% Friday. The casino company late Thursday announced plans for an underwritten public offering of 7 million shares of its common stock.

Everyday Health Inc. (EVDY)  fell by almost 4%. The online health-care firm made its debut as a public company Friday with shares priced at $14.50.

Tickers to watch

WMT and V: Retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)  is suing credit card company Visa Inc. (V)  for $5 billion over "swipe fees." Wal-Mart is accusing Visa of charging the retailer unreasonable fees each time customers use credit cards in their stores. The lawsuit follows a ruling this week by an appeal courts which upheld a 21-cent cap on debit card swipe fees, despite opposition from retailers.

AMZN: Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)  shares closed slightly lower after reports that the company plans to offer free streaming television and music videos to its customers. The firm had previously planned to charge for the members-only service, reported The Wall Street Journal. Amazon has denied the reports.

PCG: PG&E Corp. (PCG)  shares lost 4%. The utility said late Thursday that it expects the federal government to bring criminal charges against it over the fatal 2010 San Bruno, Calif. natural-gas transmission pipeline blast.

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British authorities charge 3 in Libor rigging

British authorities announced criminal proceedings against three former ICAP brokers Friday for allegedly manipulating a global financial benchmark used to set rates on trillions of dollars in loans.

The announcement by the Serious Fraud Office alleged the three rigged the London Interbank Offered Rate for yen, the Japanese currency, between August 2006 and September 2010.

The benchmark, popularly known as Libor, is widely used to set rates on mortgages, student loans, car loans, credit cards and some financial derivatives.

The rate-rigging allegations against the former employees of ICAP, the world's largest inter-dealer broker, brings to nine the number of individuals charged in the investigation by British authorities. In all, 13 suspects have been charged by investigators around the world, including the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Serious Fraud Office identified the former London-based brokers charged in the latest expansion of the case as Danny Martin Wilkinson, Darrell Paul Read and Colin John Goodman.

The three were also hit with federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges by the Department of Justice in September, when ICAP Europe Limited settled U.S. and British allegations that its brokers had secretly moved Libor rates up or down in efforts to boost their own trading profits.

The U.S. case included evidence that the former traders conspired with Tom Hayes, a former trader at UBS and Citigroup who was a major ICAP client. Emails cited in the case showed the traders referred to Hayes as "Lord Libor" or "Lord Bailiff" as they allegedly discussed manipulating the benchmark. Hayes has been charged separately by British and U.S. authorities.

"We deeply regret and strongly condemn the inexcusable actions of the brokers who sought to assist certain bank traders in their efforts to manipulate yen Libor," said ICAP Group CEO Michael Spencer at the time of the settlement.

The former brokers, residents of England or New Zealand, haven't yet entered court p! leas in the U.S. case. They're scheduled to appear in Westminister Magistrates' Court on April 15, the Serious Fraud Office said.

The new charges could prompt renewed discussions among U.S. and British authorities over which national jurisdiction should try the former ICAP employees. Officials of both the Department of Justice and the Serious Fraud Office have said they have maintained cooperative relations while pursuing Libor investigations.

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Authorities in Canada, Singapore and elsewhere are also probing suspected Libor rate-rigging.

In all, ICAP and four global financial institutions have paid approximately $3.7 billion in fines to settle Libor-manipulation cases.

Can Fuel Cell Stocks Learn to React Reasonably Around News?

Two days ago, on Tuesday, the CEO of Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) said that the company had signed a new contract with a global automaker and that details would be forthcoming in two or three weeks. Investors could not wait, though, sending the stock price up nearly 43% for the day.

The news also lifted shares of FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) and Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDP) by about 28% and 18%, respectively. But none of the three stocks hit a new 52-week high. That happened two weeks before when Plug Power announced a sale of 1,700 fuel cell-forklifts to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

A week after the Plug Power announcement, FuelCell said it received a $2.8 million federal contract to complete a demonstration project. On the trading day, for every dollar in that contract FuelCell’s market cap rose by $14.

Ballard Power is the company that makes the actual fuel cells that Plug Power and FuelCell Energy integrate into their own end products, so it makes some sense that Ballard should tag along behind the other two stocks.

It turns out, however, that Plug Power’s CEO misspoke on Tuesday. The contract with a global automaker had already been disclosed on March 13 when the company reported quarterly results. That sent the stock plummeting on Wednesday, dragging FuelCell Energy and Ballard Power along behind.

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As one research firm has pointed out, these are all “casino” stocks, where the action is what matters, not the direction. Anyone looking for a long-term investment in the fuel cell makers is going to be seriously disappointed before too long.

The big moves in Plug Power’s stock on Tuesday and Wednesday, in the real world, might have moved the stock a few percentage points. But a jump of 42% one day and drop of nearly that size the next day is a signal that there is nothing real about the share price of either Plug Power or its cohorts.

We tried to put a fair value on the stocks earlier this week. It is only a guess, of course, but it is probably no further off than any other guess. Which is to say, who knows what these stocks are worth today or what they will be worth in a year or two? Like everything else, they are worth whatever someone will pay for them.

But who are those someones? Trading these stocks is like playing high-stakes poker — everyone at the table knows how to play the cards; what the winners know is when to bet, when to fold and what their opponents are most likely to do.

3 Reasons a Roth IRA Might Be Wrong for You

Alamy Many financial advisers believe that Roth individual retirement accounts are the best way available for you to save for retirement. With income tax rates having gone up in 2013 and with further increases potentially on the horizon, a retirement account that promises tax-free treatment not only while your money is invested within the account but also when you decide to make distributions is extremely valuable. Yet choosing a Roth IRA over other retirement-saving choices comes at a cost -- and for many taxpayers, it's too high a price to pay. Your Tax Rate Isn't Going to Get Any Higher The general idea behind a Roth IRA is that by making after-tax contributions, you get the benefit of tax-free growth throughout your career and tax-free withdrawals in retirement. But the tradeoff is that you give up the potential deduction you might be eligible to receive by making contributions to a traditional IRA or 401(k) account. Whether that tradeoff is worth it depends on several factors, but the most important compares your current tax rate with what you expect to pay after you retire. If you're in the prime of your career and have earnings that put you in the maximum tax bracket, the value of getting a tax deduction on traditional retirement-account contributions is extremely high. So using a Roth and giving up that deduction doesn't make much sense. For those who are just getting started and are in low tax brackets, it's a lot easier to justify giving up a smaller deduction now in exchange for big tax savings later. Your Employer Gives You a Better Deal Roth IRAs don't offer one thing that many workers get from their 401(k) plans: matching contributions from their employers. If you only have a limited amount to save for retirement, your first priority should generally be to contribute to your workplace 401(k) at least to maximize your employer match. After you've claimed all the free money your employer is willing to give, then it can be smart to look at a Roth as a secondary option. But with many employers offering matching contributions when you contribute as much as 6 percent or more of your salary, doing both 401(k) and a Roth might be more than you can afford. You're Scared of Washington What the tax laws give, tax law changes can take away. For instance, the latest administration budget proposal would set maximums on the amount of tax-favored retirement savings that you can set aside, as well as other provisions that would impose required minimum distributions on Roth IRAs for the first time. Some analysts worry that more substantive changes could be next, including potentially adding a surtax to Roth IRA distributions to effectively remove their tax-free status. The advantage of traditional IRAs is that you grab your deduction up front, making it impossible for lawmakers to take it away later. Although most believe that the chances of major Roth IRA changes are remote, those who are risk-averse should consider that possibility in choosing their retirement vehicle.

Ask Matt: China Internet stocks have risk, reward

USA TODAY markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com.

Q: Why are Chinese Internet stocks doing so well?

A: When stocks are going straight up, investors start feeling brave. And it's hard to find a corner of the market that takes more nerves than Chinese Internet stocks.

Shares of the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF is up roughly 8% this year. Chinese Internet stocks are jumping, such as Internet security firm Qihoo 360, Chinese search engine Baidu and online travel site Ctrip.

The rally in the Chinese stocks has two reasons. Investors are on a ravenous search for growth and Chinese Internet stocks have been expanding. Qihoo 360, for instance, saw its revenue more than double last year to $671.1 million last year. And at Baidu, revenue gained 43% last year, blowing away the 19% growth at Google.

But investors are also looking for speculative plays. Shares of Chinese Internet stocks tend to swing by large amounts, so traders are hoping to catch the upswings. Chinese Internet stocks, at least the ones owned by the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF, have a beta of 1.16, meaning they're more volatile than the market, says Morningstar.

Meanwhile, investors are preparing for what could be the biggest Chinese stock of them all: Alibaba. The Hangzhou, China-based Internet company is in the process of preparing its initial public offering to be listed on a U.S. exchange. The deal, if it goes well, might spur even more interest in the fast-growing Chinese Internet market.

TRACK YOUR STOCKS: Get real-time quotes with our free Portfolio Tracker

Follow Matt Krantz on Twitter: @mattkrantz.

Taxes and Life Insurance: Accelerated Death Benefits

As part of ThinkAdvisor’s Special Report, 21 Days of Tax Planning Advice for 2014, throughout the month of March, we are partnering with our Summit Professional Networks sister service, Tax Facts Online, to take a deeper dive into certain tax planning issues in a convenient Q&A format.

What is the income tax treatment of an accelerated death benefit payment from a life insurance contract?

Generally, any amount received under a life insurance contract on the life of a terminally ill insured or a chronically ill insured will be treated as an amount paid by reason of the death of the insured. Amounts received under a life insurance contract by reason of the death of the insured are not includable in gross income. Thus, an accelerated death benefit meeting these requirements will generally be received free of income tax.

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However, amounts paid to a chronically ill individual are subject to the same limitations that apply to long-term-care benefits. Generally, this is a limitation of $330 per day in benefits.  More specifically, if the total periodic long-term-care payments received from all policies and any periodic payments received that are treated as paid by reason of the death of the insured (under IRC Section 101(g)) exceed a per-diem limitation, the excess must be included in income (without regard to IRC Section 72). (If the insured is terminally ill when a payment treated under IRC Section 101(g) is received, the payment is not taken into account for this purpose.)

The per-diem limitation is equal to the greater of (1) a $330 per day limitation in 2014 or (2) the actual costs incurred for qualified long-term-care services provided for the insured less any payments received as reimbursement for qualified long-term-care services for the insured. This figure is adjusted for inflation annually. Accelerated death benefits paid to terminally ill individuals are not subject to this limit.

Example. In 2014, Mr. Heller received qualified long-term-care services for 30 days at a total cost of $7,500. A qualified long-term-care insurance contract paid him a benefit of $330 per day, $9,900 total. In addition, $500 of the cost of the qualified long-term-care services was reimbursed by another source. Thus, $500 of the $9,600 benefit is includable in income by Mr. Heller.

A terminally ill individual is a person who has been certified by a physician as having an illness or physical condition that can reasonably be expected to result in death within twenty-four months following the certification.

A chronically ill individual is a person who is not terminally ill and who has been certified by a licensed health care practitioner as unable to perform, without substantial assistance, at least two activities of daily living (ADLs) for at least ninety days or a person with a similar level of disability. Further, a person may be considered chronically ill if he requires substantial supervision to protect himself from threats to his health and safety due to a severe cognitive impairment and this condition has been certified by a healthcare practitioner within the previous twelve months.  The ADLs are: (1) eating; (2) toileting; (3) transferring; (4) bathing; (5) dressing; and (6) continence.

Are there any special rules that apply to chronically ill insureds?

There are several special rules that apply to chronically ill insureds. Generally, the tax treatment outlined above will not apply to any payment received for any period unless the payment is for costs incurred by the payee (who has not been compensated by insurance or otherwise) for qualified long-term-care services provided to the insured for the period. Additionally, the terms of the contract under which the payments are made must comply with: (1) the requirements of IRC Section 7702B(b)(1)(B); (2) the requirements of IRC Sections 7702B(g) and 4980C that the Secretary specifies as applying to such a purchase, assignment, or other arrangement; (3) standards adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) that apply specifically to chronically ill insureds (if such standards are adopted, similar standards under number (2) above cease to apply); and (4) standards adopted by the state in which the policyholder resides (if such standards are adopted, the analogous requirements under number (2) and, subject to IRC Section 4980C(f), standards under number (3) above cease to apply.

“Qualified long-term-care services” are defined as “… necessary diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, curing, treating, mitigating, and rehabilitative services, and maintenance or personal care services, which…” are required by a chronically ill individual and are provided under a plan of care set forth by a licensed healthcare practitioner.

Are there any exceptions to the general rule of nonincludability for accelerated death benefits?

There is one exception to this general rule of non-includability for accelerated death benefits. Accelerated death benefits paid to any taxpayer other than the insured if the taxpayer has an insurable interest in the life of the insured because the insured is a director, officer, or employee of the taxpayer or if the insured is financially interested in any trade or business of the taxpayer are received on a tax-free basis.

What is the income tax treatment of an amount received from a viatical settlement provider?

A viatical settlement provider is “any person regularly engaged in the trade or business of purchasing, or taking assignments of, life insurance contracts on the lives of insureds” who are terminally or chronically ill, provided that certain licensing and other requirements are met. To be considered a viatical settlement provider a person must be licensed for such purposes in the state in which the insured resides. The IRS has provided guidance on when viatical settlement providers will be considered licensed.

If any portion of a death benefit under a life insurance contract on the life of a terminally or chronically ill insured is sold or assigned to a viatical settlement provider, the amount paid for the sale or assignment will be treated as an amount paid under the life insurance contract by reason of the insured’s death. In other words, such an amount will not be includable in income.

A terminally ill individual is a person who has been certified by a physician as having an illness or physical condition that can reasonably be expected to result in death within twenty-four months following the certification.

A chronically ill individual is a person who is not terminally ill and who has been certified by a licensed healthcare practitioner as being unable to perform, without substantial assistance, at least two activities of daily living (ADLs) for at least ninety days or a person with a similar level of disability. Further, a person may be considered chronically ill if the person requires substantial supervision to protect himself or herself from threats to his or her health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment and this condition has been certified by a healthcare practitioner within the previous twelve months. The activities of daily living are:

If an insured resides in a state that does not require licensing of viatical settlement providers, the insured must meet the standards for either a terminally ill individual or a chronically ill individual. The requirements applicable to an insured who is a terminally ill individual are met if the person: (1) meets the requirements of Sections 8 and 9 of the Viatical Settlements Model Act of the NAIC, and (2) meets the requirements of the Model Regulations of the NAIC in determining amounts paid by such person in connection with such purchases or assignments. The requirements applicable to an insured who is a chronically ill individual are met if the person: (1) meets requirements similar to the requirements of Sections 8 and 9 of the Viatical Settlements Model Act of the NAIC, and (2) meets the standards of the NAIC for evaluating the reasonableness of amounts paid by such person in connection with such purchases or assignments with respect to chronically ill individuals.

Are there special rules regarding the income tax treatment of an amount received by a chronically ill insured from a viatical settlement provider?

There are several special rules that apply to chronically ill insureds. Generally, the tax treatment outlined above will not apply to any payment received for any period unless such payment is for costs incurred by the payee (who has not been compensated by insurance or otherwise) for qualified long-term-care services provided to the insured for the period. Additionally, the terms of the contract under which such payments are made must comply with:

Are there any exceptions to the general rule of non-includability for viatical settlements?

There is one exception to this general rule of non-includability for viatical settlements. The rules outlined above do not apply to any amount paid to any taxpayer other than the insured if the taxpayer has an insurable interest in the life of the insured because the insured is a director, officer or employee of the taxpayer or if the insured is financially interested in any trade or business of the taxpayer

---

For more tax planing stories, check out our Special Repiort 21 Days of Tax Planning Advice for 2014 home page.

FedEx Corporation (FDX) Q3 Earnings Preview: E-Commerce To Boost Bottom and Top Lines

FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) plans to release its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2014 on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 before the market opens The Company plans to host a webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET the same day to review the results and management's outlook.

Wall Street anticipates that the delivery company will earn $1.51 per share for the quarter, which is $0.28 more than last year's profit of $1.23 per share. iStock expects FDX  to miss Wall Street's consensus number. The iEstimate is $1.47, a bearish surprise of $0.04; although, we could be lowballing the Dow Transportation Index member's actual results.

[Related -FedEx Corporation (FDX): George Soros And John Paulson Own This Stock. Should You?]

Along with EPS rising an expected 22.76%, sales are forecasted to increase 4.6%. The consensus revenue estimate for Q3 is $11.46 billion, up from last year's $10.95 billion.

FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services in the United States and internationally. It operates in four segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Services.

Bullish or bearish surprises have been a flip of the coin for the Dow Jones member. In the last 13 quarters, FedEx delivered seven bullish and six bearish surprises. When topping the street's view, the average beat was 5.37% more than estimates. Meanwhile, the bottom line fell short by an average of -5.08% when profits didn't live up to hopes.

[Related -Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG): Can FedEx Deliver $10 for PLUG?]

EPS-driven price sensitivity favored bulls with eight green and five red responses. The eight price hikes averaged 3.72% with a range of 0.43% to 9.83%. The handful of red reactions spread from -2.67% to -9.36% with a typical loss of -5.34%.

According to Google Trends, search volume intensity (SVI) for the keyword "FedEx" is flat year-over-year (YoY), which could mean revenue might come in light. However, e-commerce sales for the holiday shopping season could make up any shortfall. According to emarketer.com, "e-commerce holiday sales saw an even sharper growth rate of 9.3%, with sales totaling $95.7 billion."

The story added, "E-commerce analytics company Custora also reported significant e-commerce growth over the 2013 holiday shopping season. Revenues over the two-month period from the beginning of November to the end of December climbed 12% year over year, according to the company. Black Friday and Cyber Monday both also saw impressive increases in revenues, climbing 16% and 18%, respectively. In addition, the number of total orders increased during all three of these time periods compared with the previous year."

Change the keyword to "FedEx Tracking." Which we think is a better proxy for expected deliveries; YoY SVI increased 10.6%, which hints at a potential revenue surprise, especially when you consider the strength of e-commerce.

Now, if sales to top expectations, then we'd expect to see extra EPS on the bottom line based on our review of FDX's most recent 10-Q.  Revenue and cost increased at essentially the same rates, so margins should hold quarter-to-quarter. 

Overall: Although the iEstimate suggests a bearish surprise for FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), Google Tends and e-commerce holiday strength could translates into sales that exceed the consensus, which could make the iEstimate too conservative. 

Is it time for a new CRM?

As essential as customer relationship management systems are to an adviser's practice, adopting a new CRM is a chore that most dread.

Whether they're getting started with their first CRM or switching from one system to a new one, advisers struggle to find time to do the research on all the CRMs available. Once they've settled on a product, they have to figure out a process for organizing their data and integrating it into their financial planning and other software. And then they worry about losing all the information they've already collected about their clients.

“For advisers I know, it's worse than going to the dentist without the Novocain,” said Jim Koch, founder and principal of registered investment adviser Koch Capital Management. “The big risk is loss of data.”

That loss can occur during the transfer from one software product to the next because each CRM maps data differently. While CRM providers are getting better at accomplishing seamless data transfers, it's still hard not to have a bad experience, according to Mr. Koch.

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For example, he said, he helped his wife, an executive coach, move all of her contact information from the Microsoft Windows GoldMine CRM to an intermediate product that didn't work, and from there to Norada Corp.'s Solve360 CRM, which financial advisers also use.

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During those moves, their inability to transfer all the data from one system to the next resulted in an odd work-around.

“In the conversion of 4,000 or 5,000 records, we couldn't migrate all the data, and to this day we still have the GoldMine data on an old computer just in case we need to find some old information,

I’m Selling Sandridge Mississippian Trust II

Oscar Wilde once said that experience is the name we give to our mistakes. My investment in Sandridge Mississippian Trust II (NYSE: SDR  ) has been the greatest experience of my Special Situations portfolio. But in investing, as in life, to be successful you must make the next right decision, rather than foolishly holding to a past commitment that has been proven wrong. So I've decided to sell my shares in this troubled royalty trust and move on to find a good investment. (I've got a good one here.)

Ouch, that hurts
This investment has been painful, mitigated only by the relatively small stake I took and the ongoing stream of distributions. I purchased shortly after the IPO at $22.20 per share. It was all downhill from there.

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After Thursday's close, the stock is down to $7.34, or about 67%. The only salve is the cash distributions totaling $4.25. The overall return comes to -48%. Bad work if you can get it.

It's the second year in a row that the trust has recorded a significant downward revision in reserves. Increasingly the trust is relying on selling natural gas and liquids, as opposed to oil, as previously indicated in the prospectus. That is lowering royalties, which hurts cash distributions over time.

Foolish takeaway
With little reason to expect things to change now, I'm selling Sandridge Mississippian Trust II and will move the proceeds into other stocks that have a good shot at outperformance.

Interested in Sandridge Mississippian Trust II or have another stock to share? Check out my discussion board or follow me on Twitter @TMFRoyal.

Top Small Cap Companies To Watch For 2014

Top Small Cap Companies To Watch For 2014: Hot Topic Inc.(HOTT)

Hot Topic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mall- and Web-based specialty retailer in the United States. The company operates Hot Topic and Torrid store concepts, as well as an e-space music discovery concept, ShockHound. Its Hot Topic stores sell music/pop culture-licensed merchandise, including tee shirts, hats, posters, stickers, patches, postcards, books, novelty accessories, CDs, and DVDs; and music/pop culture-influenced merchandise comprising women?s and men?s apparel and accessories, such as woven and knit tops, skirts, pants, shorts, jackets, shoes, costume jewelry, body jewelry, sunglasses, cosmetics, leather accessories, and gift items for young men and women primarily between the ages of 12 and 22. The company?s Torrid stores sells casual and dressy jeans and pants, fashion and novelty tops, sweaters, skirts, jackets, dresses, hosiery, shoes, intimate apparel, and fashion accessories for various lifestyles for plus-size females primarily betw een the ages of 15 and 29. As of July 30, 2011, it operated 636 Hot Topic stores in 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada; 145 Torrid stores; and Internet stores, hottopic.com and torrid.com. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in City of Industry, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marshall Hargrave]

  In May True Religion (TRGL) announced a buyout offer from TowerBrook Capital for $826 million. Also in May, Rue21 decided to sell itself to Apax Partners for $2.2 billion. Before that, in March, Hot Topic (HOTT) announced that Sycamore Partners was buying out it out for $600 million.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-small-cap-companies-to-watch-for-2014.html

Hot Value Stocks To Watch Right Now

Hot Value Stocks To Watch 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. Ca! terpillar Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  With little in the way of local news to move the market today, US stocks are taking their cues from overseas — and they don’t like what they see, leaving Boeing (BA), Nike (NKE), Caterpillar (CAT), United States Steel (X) and Peabody Energy (BTU) in the red.

• [By Patricio Kehoe]

  The concept of diversity, when talking about a company's activities, is a sword with two edges. When performance hits the fan, diversity can turn into an advantage as only one segment can be affected. However, diversification can curtail winnings during a moment of bonanza. In other words, a company with five segments will see a relative smaller impact in overall performance than a company with activities in a single segment, when that segment experiences an abnormal growth. Hence, with a recovering construction market in the US and declining prices for mined commodities, a comparison between Caterpillar (CAT) and Terex (TER) is all the more relevant.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/hot-value-stocks-to-watch-right-now.html

Top Energy Stocks To Watch For 2014

Top Energy Stocks To Watch For 2014: JinkoSolar Holding Company Limited(JKS)

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of solar power products in China and internationally. The company provides solar modules, silicon wafers and ingots, and solar cells, as well as processing services, including silicon wafer tolling services. It sells its products under the JinkoSolar brand name. The company?s customers include distributors, project developers, and system integrators. It trades its products under short-term contracts and by spot market sales. The company also produces accessory materials for solar power products, such as solar aluminum frame, solar junction box, aluminum materials windows, and other metal component parts. JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006 and is based in Shangrao, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On the other hand, if you were looking to buy stocks, Monday turned out to be a great time to do so. For instance, in the solar arena, JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS  ) and Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL  ) plunged Monday on feras of the impact of geopolitical tension on the solar business, even though Jinko had reported reasonably strong results earlier that day. Yet Monday, Trina and Jinko soared, with Trina's positive report confirming the health of the solar industry.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  JinkoSolar Holding Co.(JKS) unveiled plans to separate its downstream solar PV project business, saying it may consider a spinoff or sale of the unit. Shares edged up 2.8% to $36.40 premarket.

• [By Zacks]

  On Dec 17, Zacks Investment Research upgraded JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

  Why the Upgrade?

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  Like FSLR, CSIQ and JinkoSo! lar (JKS), ReneSola has moved beyond its original focus of creating just wafers. That means SOL stock investors are now betting on one of the more integrated solar stocks … and one that has grown to become a strong module shipper over the last few years. That includes outsourcing modules to nations like India, South Africa and Poland. SOL has done well in this regard and has been catching up to sizzling solar stocks like Yingli Green Energy (YGE).

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-energy-stocks-to-watch-for-2014.html

Top China Stocks To Buy Right Now

Top China Stocks To Buy Right Now: Spreadtrum Communications Inc.(SPRD)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bloomberg News]

  The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index (CH55BN), the measure of the most- traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, added 0.2 percent in New York yesterday. Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) gained after Bank of America Corp. said ris! ing smartphone use will boost Asian semiconductor makers.

• [By Brian Pacampara]

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

• [By Dan Radovsky]

  Chinese semiconductor maker Spreadtrum (NASDAQ: SPRD  ) has received a buyout offer valued at up to $1.5 billion from Tsinghua Unigroup, a subsidiary of Chinese government-owned Tsinghua Holdings, Spreadtrum announced today.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-china-stocks-to-buy-right-now-2.html

Top 5 High Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014

Top 5 High Dividend Stocks To Buy For 2014: Remy International Inc (REMY)

Remy International, Inc. (Remy), incorporated on November 22, 1993, is a global vehicular parts designer, manufacturer, remanufacturer, marketer and distributor of aftermarket and original equipment electrical components for automobiles, light trucks, heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles. Remy sells its products worldwide primarily under the Delco Remy, Remy, and World Wide Automotive brand names. The Company's products include light-duty and heavy-duty starters and alternators for both the original equipment and the remanufactured markets, and hybrid power technology. These products are principally sold or distributed to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for both original equipment manufacture and aftermarket operations, as well as to warehouse distributors and retail automotive parts chains. The Company sells its products principally in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. In January 2014, Remy International, Inc. acquired all assets of USA Indu stries.

The Company's original equipment division consists of three primary channels: automotive, heavy-duty vehicles and electric motors for electric and hybrid applications. Remy is a supplier for such original equipment manufacturers as General Motors, DaimlerChrylser, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai/Kia. The Company is a supplier of original equipment and aftermarket starters and alternators for heavy-duty vehicles in North America. Remy is an independent production electric motor supplier and in many aspects of hybrid and electric vehicle technology, including the patented hairpin stator technology. Its original equipment (OE) business has operations in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China and Korea.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Monday, auto parts maker Remy International (NASDAQ: REMY  ) an! nounced that it is taking 100% control of its Remy Hubei Electric Co. (REH) joint venture, buying out partner Hubei Super Electric Auto Motor Company's 49% interest in the JV.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-5-high-dividend-stocks-to-buy-for-2014.html

Best Stocks To Buy For 2014

Best Stocks To Buy For 2014: Vimicro International Corporation(VIMC)

Vimicro International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets mixed-signal semiconductor products and system-level solutions for the consumer electronics, communications, and surveillance markets in Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. It provides mixed-signal multimedia processors for personal computer and embedded notebook cameras, as well as for mobile phones. The company also offers system-level solutions that include integrated semiconductors, customizable firmware and software, software development tools, reference designs, and applications support. In addition, it provides security and surveillance products comprising video capturing, compression, transmission, storage, processing, display, and video analysis products. Further, the company involves in packaging, testing, and reselling third party image sensors. It sells its multimedia processor products through direct sales force and distributors to original design manuf acturers, original equipment manufacturers, design houses, and module manufacturers, as well as its security and surveillance products to government entities, telecommunications operators, schools, banks, railway companies, supermarkets, and theaters. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Beijing-based Vimicro International Corp. (NASDAQ: VIMC) was up about 33% after the company raised its guidance for the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014. The company is a fabless designer and marketer of mixed-signal processors and other products for the consumer, communications and surveillance markets in China and Hong Kong. Shares trade at around $4.00 in a 52-week range of $1.10 to $4.64, and that high was set earlier today. About 1.4 million shares h! ad traded hands, more than 10 times the daily average of around 100,000.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap security and surveillance stocks like Vimicro International Corporation (NASDAQ: VIMC), TASER International, Inc (NASDAQ: TASR), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ: KTOS) and View Systems Inc (OTCBB: VSYM) have been producing a steady stream of news lately for investors and traders alike to digest. After all, the entire security and surveillance industry is pretty vast as it would include everything from airport scanners to security cameras or monitoring equipment to actual weapons for domestic or national defense to software securing everyone's personal or online data to the technology groups like the NSA and other "Big Brother" agencies use to spy on us. With that in mind, here is a look at the latest news from important small cap security and surveillance stocks:

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/best-stocks-to-buy-for-2014-2.html

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO): Why Weakness In Cisco Shares Is A Buying Opportunity?

The recent weakness in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares present investors a buying opportunity as the networking gear maker is set for long-term growth opportunities in wireless telecom networks. These opportunities will act as a fillip to Cisco as major carriers look to upgrade their networks to cope with the potential surge in data traffic.

The several architectural transitions that Cisco's new (and upcoming) platforms are targeting could be appealing for value and growth investors in fiscal 2015/16, especially on a near-term pullback.

A key architectural transition is the 10/40GE Leaf and Spine switching opportunity, based on the cost-reduced Broadcom Trident2 silicon based Nexus 9k switches. The blended 10/40GE switching market likely is growing in the 20 percent range.

[Related -On Finding Neglected Companies]

Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff says the blended ASP/port for Cisco's Nexus switching business is likely to be accretive in the fiscal 2015 timeframe given 40GE seeing high double-digit growth rate trends and 10GE in the high teens.

Meanwhile, the 40GE port is currently pricing 2-3 times of the price of 10GE ports, 10GE Leaf switches and 40GE. Spine switches are a preferred architecture for Cloud-Scale Networks – i.e. for data-centers running several 1000s of servers and switch ports.

Further, the 10/40GE architectural transition is a long tail upgrade cycle, given that less than 25 percent of Top of Rack switch ports are currently 10GE and 40GE relatively early stage in its deployment cycle in Spine switches.

[Related -Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO): How Evolved Services Platform Will Fare For Cisco?]

Therefore, Modoff believes that Cisco could drive overall revenue growth in their datacenter switching business in fiscal 2015 and beyond, given the ASP accretive 40GE Modular switch refresh cycle and also from the 1GE to 10GE refresh cycle in the Top of Rack.

While the bear case for Cisco centers around accelerated ASP/port and market share erosion from the whitebox switching vendors, the risk factors to gross margins (a key metric for the stock) are overstated in the near-term.

The newer cost-reduced Nexus 9k switches are likely a mid 60s gross margin portfolio for Cisco at current ASP/port levels in the market – i.e. in the $200/port range for 10GE Rack Top switches; $900/port for 10GE Modular Spine switches; and with 40GE port pricing likely 2-3 times of 10GE price points.

As such, unlike prior multi quarter cost reduction episodes for the Nexus 7k and for the 5k, Cisco could be situationally competitive on pricing – especially in the Web 2.0 and Cloud segment – and run the Nexus switching business at slightly above corporate gross margin levels.

Modoff notes that the gross margin erosion thesis from competitive solutions is overstated in the near term, given the cost-reduced merchant silicon switching platforms (Nexus 9k, 3k, etc).

In addition, value propositions such as the cost reduced 40GE BiDi optics, the enterprise data-center feature sets, and software solutions such as the virtual overlay fabric, Cloud scale analytics are likely to be the drivers of architectural stickiness and share stability in enterprise data-centers over the next few years.

Meanwhile, Cisco is likely to introduce several new Cloud IT service offerings (likely at above corporate gross margin levels) in the July quarter and in fiscal 2015 and beyond. These IT service offerings are likely to be in the areas of Enterprise Network Security, Managed Campus Networking as Cisco is leveraging the Meraki acquisition.

Modoff views that management need to look to proactively transition several of their enterprise and service provider product assets into Cloud IT services.

Cisco's services business is a long tail growth opportunity for the company if management successfully executed on building a portfolio of high value Cloud IT service assets. This segment has a high barrier to competitive entry, especially at global scale.

While Cisco's service provider routing and video business are likely to see weak revenue growth trends over the next few quarters, an optimistic scenario for fiscal 2015/16 is the potential for Cisco to accelerate sales of virtual layer 2/7 appliances in Telecom Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) opportunities.

NFV – i.e. running various layer 2/7 network assets as virtualized features on off the shelf hardware and leveraging software tools such as service orchestration for dynamic service creation and delivery – is a game changer for the networking vendors (Cisco, Juniper, F5, etc) – especially from a share gains and margin accretion point of view.

Modoff believes that Cisco is likely to sell several of its hardware based platform assets such as LTE Evolved Packet Core, Access Edge Routing, Mobile Network Firewalls, etc as virtual appliances in the 2015/16+ timeframe.

Sales of virtual appliances and associated software tools are likely to be gross margin accretive for Cisco while the virtual layer 2/7 assets are likely to be sold at a slight price discount versus HW based systems. Moreover, the architectural stickiness of virtualized software based assets in service provider networks would act as another selling feature.

Helicopter Trio

John Persinos, of Personal Finance, looks at a sector with high-flying potential—helicopters—and highlights a trio of plays in medical transport, offshore drilling platform services, and manufacturing.

Steve Halpern: We're here today with John Persinos, editorial director of Personal Finance, as well as his parent Web site, Investing Daily. How are you doing, John?

John Persinos: I'm doing great. Thanks for taking the time to speak with me. I'm looking forward to this.

Steve Halpern: Most listeners would likely be perplexed when first hearing that our topic today is a very specific industry sector, whose upside catalysts include, both Obamacare, and offshore drilling. That's an unexpected combination. Perhaps you could explain what area both of those are focused on.

John Persinos: Sure. Well, you know, we're talking about helicopters right now, and that is a sector that I would, daresay, most investors don't think about, don't realize that there are good investment opportunities there. It's given the short shrift by Wall Street.

It's considered, sort of obscure and esoteric, but, actually, helicopters are a very important product city enhancing tool, they're lifesaving tools and they are vital for the offshore oil industry, and they're vital for Emergency Medical Services. Emergency Medical Services forecast a boom over the next two years.

They've already been on an upward trajectory, and expansion of medical care under Obamacare, under the Affordable Care Act, will increase the use of Emergency Medical Services, and a key tool in the Emergency Medical Services is the helicopter.

And as the oil patch—the energy patch—continues to grow, companies are drilling ever farther, ever deeper offshore, deep water and ultra-deep water drilling is becoming more prevalent. That means that oil companies need to get workers back and forth to the oil rigs, and the only machine capable of getting workers out to an oil rig and back again quickly and safely is the helicopter.

So, Obamacare and increased offshore drilling will both fuel growth in the helicopter sector. Those are two main catalysts, and you're right, a lot of people aren't connecting the dots, and they may be surprised to hear that, but those are definite multi-year trends.

There are other factors fueling growth in the helicopter business. One is the resurgence of aerospace in the wake of the 2008/2009 great recession, aerospace was in a severe slump, and then it took another hit after 9/11, but now, as global economic recovery is firmly on track, commercial and defense aviation is booming.

Most analysts predict record profits for airlines in 2014, and that's no small feat because the airlines tend to suffer from razor-thin profit margins, but there is more and more demand for air travel, especially in emerging markets where there is a rising middle class—consumers in China and in the adjacent Asian countries, and in other emerging markets—there's going to be more money in their pockets.

Best Undervalued Stocks For 2015

They are pursuing what they see as a good life in the west, and that means air travel, that means buying tickets. That's fueling prosperity in aviation, which is rebounding to helicopters favor.

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Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015

As bank investors, it's easy to get focused on the big banks. They make a lot of noise and are regularly in the news: more than occasionally for the wrong reasons. But we focus on the giants and ignore the regionals at our own investing peril.

The best regional banks can take serious financial power and investment finesse and turn it into share-price appreciation without the annoying drama and potentially dangerous hubris of the too-big-to-fail institutions. PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC  ) is one of these low-drama, high-power banks. Here are three reasons to buy stock in this Pittsburgh-based powerhouse right now.

1. Big-bank beating first-quarter earnings
For the first quarter of 2013, PNC reported net income of $1.0 billion. For the first quarter of 2012, PNC's net income was $811 million. That makes for an increase of 23.3%. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) came close to but couldn't quite match PNC's performance, with net-income growth of 22% year over year. �

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Pioneer Energy Services Corp (PES)

Pioneer Energy Services Corp., formerly Pioneer Drilling Company, incorporated in 1979, provides drilling and production services to independent oil and gas exploration and production companies throughout much of the onshore oil and gas producing regions of the United States and internationally in Colombia. The Company operates in two segments: Drilling Services Division and Production Services Division. The Company�� Drilling Services Division provides contract land drilling services. The Company�� Production Services Division provides a range of services to oil and gas exploration and production companies. On December 31, 2011, the Company acquired Go-Coil, LLC.

Drilling Services Division

The Company�� Drilling Services Division provides contract land drilling services with its fleet of 64 drilling rigs in South Texas, East Texas, West Texas, North Dakota, North Texas, Utah, Appalachia and Colombia. As of February 10, 2012, 55 drilling rigs are operating under drilling contracts, 44 of which are under term contracts. In 2011, the Company established its West Texas drilling division location location where it has 18 drilling rigs operating. In addition to its drilling rigs, the Company provides the drilling crews and the ancillary equipment needed to operate its drilling rigs. Its drilling contracts provide for compensation on either a daywork, turnkey or footage basis.

As of February 10, 2012, the Company owned a fleet of 54 trucks and related transportation equipment that it uses to transport its drilling rigs to and from drilling sites. Under daywork drilling contracts, it provides a drilling rig and required personnel to its customer who supervises the drilling of the well. Under a turnkey contract, the Company agrees to drill a well for its customer. It provides technical and engineering services, as well as the equipment and drilling supplies required to drill the well. The Company often subcontracts for related services, such as the provision of cas! ing crews, cementing and well logging. Under footage contracts, it is paid a fixed amount for each foot drilled.

The Company competes with Helmerich & Payne, Inc., Precision Drilling Trust, Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. and Nabors Industries, Ltd.

Production Services Division

The Company�� Production Services Division provides a range of services to oil and gas exploration and production companies, including well services, wireline, coiled tubing and fishing and rental services. Its production services operations are managed through locations concentrated in the United States onshore oil and gas producing regions in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent, Rocky Mountain and Appalachian states. The Company provides its services to a diverse group of oil and gas exploration and production companies. Under well services, it provides rig-based well services, including maintenance of existing wells, workover of existing wells, completion of newly-drilled wells, and plugging and abandonment of wells at the end of their useful lives.

The Company provides wireline services in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Louisiana, West Virginia, Wyoming and Mississippi. The Company�� Coiled tubing is used for a number of horizontal well applications such as milling temporary plugs between frac stages. Its coiled tubing business consists of ten coiled tubing units which are deployed in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. The Company�� rental and fishing tool business provides a range of specialized services and equipment that are utilized on a non-routine basis for both drilling and well servicing operations. It provides rental services out of four locations in Texas and Oklahoma. As of February 10, 2012, the Company had a total of 91 well service rigs. Its well service rig fleet consists of eighty-one 550 horsepower rigs, nine 600 horsepower rigs, and one 400 horsepower rig. As of February 10, 2012, the Company had 109 wireline units in 24 locations.

The Company competes with Key Energy Services, Basic Energy Services, Nabors Industries, Superior Energy Services, Inc,

CC Forbes, Schlumberger Ltd., Halliburton Company, Weatherford International, Baker Hughes, Superior Energy Services, Basic Energy Services, and Key Energy Services, Quail Tools and Knight Oil Tools.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  Therefore, risk and earnings growth rates will represent counteracting forces affecting starting or current valuation (PEs). This partially explains why a 3% grower (less risky to achieve) might command the same current valuation PE of, for example, an 11% or 12% grower (riskier and harder to achieve). But this is a critical point; the faster grower will generate a higher future return than the slower grower, ceteris paribas.

• [By Chuck Carnevale]

  However, from 2002 to current time we see a conflicting relationship between interest rates and stock prices. In this case, as interest rates continued to decline, stock valuations (PEs) followed suit and declined as well. In theory, this should not happen. Because with interest rates so low, as a practical matter bonds become less competitive to stocks, but even worse, today bonds don�� even offer any real return. This is especially true when you compare blue-chip dividend yields available from stalwarts such as PepsiCo (PEP), Proctor & Gamble (PG), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), etc., to interest rates. For the first time since I can remember, these companies are offering higher dividend yields than not only the 10-year Treasury but the 30-year as well.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: United Dominion Realty Trust Inc. (UDR)

UDR, Inc. is an independent real estate investment trust. The firm invests in the real estate markets of the United States. It owns, operates, acquires, renovates, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily apartment communities. The firm was previously known as United Dominion Realty Trust, Inc. UDR, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with additional offices in Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Newport Beach, California; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Santa Clara, California; Tampa, Florida; and Washington DC, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The Part-time Investor]

  The following stocks met the criteria in January of 2008 and were put into the initial portfolio:

  Abbot Labs (ABT)Advanced data processing (ADP)Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC)Bank of America (BAC)BB&T Corp. (BBT)Bemis Company (BMS)Anheuser Busch (BUD)The Chubb Corporation (CB)Clorox (CLX)Comerica Inc. (CMA)Diebold Inc. (DBD)Emerson Electronics (EMR)First Dollar Corp. (FDO)First Third BanCorp. (FITB)Gannett Co, Inc. (GCI)General Electric (GE)Hershey (HSY)Illinois Tools Works (ITW)Johnson and Johnson (JNJ)Leggett and Platt (LEG)Eli Lilly (LLY)La-Z-Boy (LZB)McDonald's (MCD)Marsh and Ilsley (MI)M&T Bancorp (MTB)PepsiCo (PEP)Pfizer (PFE)Procter & Gamble (PG)Pentair Ltd. (PNR)Regions Financial Corp. (RF)Rohm and Haas (ROH)RPM International (RPM)Sherwin Williams (SHW)Sysco Corp. (SYY)UDR Inc. (UDR)

  Historical quotes were taken from Yahoo Finance. $10,000 was put into each position, to the nearest whole share, so a total of $349,262.89 was invested. From 1/15/08 through 5/16/13 all dividends were reinvested back into the stock that paid them. If a dividend cut was announced, that stock was sold on the ex-div date of the new, lower dividend.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Take UDR (NYSE: UDR  ) or Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR  ) as perfect examples. Both have successfully been adding new communities and making FFO-accretive acquisitions in order to expand their rental portfolios. But, UDR and Equity Residential now boast debt-to-equity ratios in excess of 110%, with UDR carrying $3.5 billion in net debt and Equity Residential lugging around close to $11.6 billion in net debt. Although this debt has been refinanced or taken out in many cases as historically low lending levels, higher rates could stall community expansion for this sector and hurt bottom-line profits because of interest payments.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Everything's peachy for residential REITs!
  However, what terrible news exists for homebuilders could turn into fantastic news for the residential-REIT sector. You see, if lending rates begin to rise because the Fed is paring back its bond purchases, then it will remove the consumer incentive to purchase a home and will drive people back into renting -- which is great news for the big three residential REITS: Equity Residential, AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB  ) , and UDR (NYSE: UDR  ) .

• [By Reuben Brewer]

  Change doesn't always work out so well
  The thing is, income investors don't always make out so well when big changes are taking place. For example, UDR (NYSE: UDR  ) once bought fixer-uppers and upgraded them as a means to increase rents. That model worked well for the company for many years.

Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2015: Donaldson Company Inc (DCI)

Donaldson Company, Inc. (Donaldson) is a worldwide manufacturer of filtration systems and replacement parts. The Company's product mix includes air and liquid filtration systems and exhaust and emission control products. The Company operates in two segments: Engine Products and Industrial Products. Products in the Engine Products segment consist of air filtration systems, exhaust and emissions systems, liquid filtration systems, and replacement filters. Products in the Industrial Products segment consist of dust, fume, and mist collectors, compressed air purification systems, air filtration systems for gas turbines, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane-based products, and specialized air filtration systems for applications including computer hard disk drives. Effective January 14, 2014, Donaldson Co Inc acquired bankrupt Entreprise Dubourg Pere et Fils Sarl.

Donaldson�� products are manufactured at 40 plants around the world and through three joint ventures. The Engine Products segment sells to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the construction, mining, agriculture, aerospace, defense, and truck markets and to OEM dealer networks, independent distributors, private label accounts, and large equipment fleets. The Industrial Products segment sells to various industrial end-users, OEMs of gas-fired turbines and OEMs and end-users requiring clean air.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Filtration parts and systems manufacturer Donaldson (DCI) raised its quarterly dividend 8% to 14 cents per share, payable on Dec. 20th to shareholders of record as of Dec. 9.
  DCI Dividend Yield: 1.33%

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Friday
  The market is typically quiet on Friday, but that's certainly not the case during earnings season. Donaldson (NYSE: DCI  ) checks in with its latest quarterly results on Friday morning.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Sequenom Inc.(SQNM)

Sequenom, Inc. provides products, services, diagnostic testing, applications, and genetic analysis products that translate the results of genomic science into solutions for biomedical research, translational research, molecular medicine applications, and agricultural and livestock research. The company operates in two segments, Molecular Diagnostics and Genetic Analysis. The Molecular Diagnostics segment researches, develops, and commercializes noninvasive molecular diagnostic tests for prenatal genetic disorders and diseases, women?s health related disorders and diseases, ophthalmology, oncology, infectious diseases, and autoimmunity. This segment markets diagnostic technology for prenatal diagnostics under the trademark SEQureDx. The Genetic Analysis segment designs and markets MassARRAY system, a nucleic acid analysis platform that comprises hardware, software applications, consumable chips, and reagents to measure genetic target material and variations. This segment o ffers its MassARRAY system for various DNA/RNA analysis applications, including single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), genotyping, detection of mutations, analysis of copy number variants, and other structural genome variations, as well as quantitative gene expression analysis, quantitative methylation marker analysis, comparative sequence analysis of haploid organisms, SNP discovery, and oligonucleotide quality control. It also provides iPLEX multiplexing assay, which permits multiplexed SNP analysis and somatic mutation analysis. The company offers its products through direct sales, and sales and distribution partners to clinical research laboratories, bio-agriculture, bio-technology and pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and various government agencies worldwide. Sequenom, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Stocks on the Move: ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) is down 44.4% at $2.20 after suspending sales of a cancer drug. Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is up 16.4% at $3.84 as investors remain patient with the company�� turnaround plan. 58.com Inc. (NYSE: WUBA) is up 43.1% at $24.32 after today�� IPO. Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) is down 22.6% at $1.92 after court rules a patent invalid.

• [By Keith Speights]

  Top line makes everything fine
  Sequenom (NASDAQ: SQNM  ) lost more money in the first quarter than it did in the same period last year. The life-sciences company also missed the average analyst earnings estimate. Did shares fall? Nope -- they jumped 14%.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Immersion Corporation(IMMR)

Immersion Corporation develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a range of hardware and software technologies and products that enhance digital devices with touch interaction. The company provides haptic technologies that allow people to use their sense of touch when operating a variety of digital devices. It licenses its technologies to the manufacturers of automotive, consumer electronics, gaming, commercial and industrial controls, medical, and mobile communications products under the TouchSense brand. The company?s product portfolio includes TouchSense 1000, TouchSense 2000, TouchSense 3000, TouchSense 4000, TouchSense 5000, and TouchSense 6000. It also offers turn-key engineering and integration services, design kits for prototyping, authoring tools, and application programming interfaces, as well as platform independent solutions. The company operates primarily in North America, Europe, and the Far East. Immersion Corporation was founded in 1993 and is headquar tered in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Margins matter. The more Immersion (Nasdaq: IMMR  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Immersion's competitive position could be.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: EPAM Systems Inc (EPAM)

EPAM Systems, Inc. (EPAM), incorporated on December 18, 2002, is a global information technology (IT) services provider focused on software product development services, software engineering and vertically-oriented custom development solutions. EPAM has been serving independent software vendors (ISVs), and technology companies. These companies produce advanced software and technology products that demand software engineering talent, tools, methodologies and infrastructure to deliver solutions. Its service offerings cover the full software development lifecycle from complex software development services through maintenance and support, custom application development, application testing, enterprise application platforms and infrastructure management. Its key service offerings include software product development services, custom application development services, application testing services, enterprise application platforms, application maintenance and support and infrastructure management services. In December 2012, the Company acquired Empathy Lab.

Software Product Development Services

EPAM provides a set of software product development services, including product research, design and prototyping, product development, component design and integration, full lifecycle software testing, product deployment and end-user customization, performance tuning, product support and maintenance, as well as porting and cross-platform migration. The Company focuses on development services for enterprise software products covering a range of business applications, as well as product development for multiple mobile platforms and embedded software product services.

Custom Application Development Services

EPAM offers custom application development services. The Company�� range of services includes business and technical requirements analysis, solution architecture creation and validation, development, component design and integration, quality assurance and testing, d! eployment, performance tuning, support and maintenance, legacy applications re-engineering/refactoring, porting and cross-platform migration and documentation.

Application Testing Services

The Company�� application testing services include software application testing, including test automation tools and frameworks, and testing for enterprise IT, including test management, automation, functional and non-functional testing, as well as defect management. It also includes and consulting services focused on helping clients improve their existing software testing and quality assurance practices.

Enterprise Application Platforms

As a provider of software product development services to ISVs, EPAM has developed industry standard technology and business application platforms and their components in such areas as customer relationship management and sales automation, enterprise resource planning, enterprise content management, business intelligence, e-commerce, mobile, Software-as-a-Service and cloud deployment. The Company offers services around Enterprise Application Platforms, which include requirements analysis and platform selection, deep and complex customization, cross-platform migration, implementation and integration, as well as support and maintenance.

Application Maintenance and Support

EPAM delivers application maintenance and support services. The Company�� application maintenance and support offerings meet rigorous CMMI and SAS 70 Type II requirements. Its services include incident management, fault investigation diagnosis, work-around provision, application bug fixes, release management, application enhancements and third-party maintenance.

Infrastructure Management Services

EPAM service offerings cover infrastructure management services. The Company has implemented large infrastructure monitoring solutions, providing real-time notification and control from the low-level infrastructure up! to and i! ncluding applications. Its solutions cover the lifecycle of infrastructure management, including application, database, network, server, storage and systems operations management, as well as incident notification and resolution.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  EPAM Systems (NYSE: EPAM  ) reported earnings on May 9. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), EPAM Systems met expectations on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Coca Cola Femsa S.A.B. de C.V. (KOF)

Coca Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. produces, markets, and distributes Coca-Cola trademark beverages and brands. It offers colas under Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light, and Coca-Cola Zero brands; flavored sparkling beverages under Aquarius Fresh, Chinotto, Crush, Fanta, Fresca, Frescolita, Hit, Kuat, Lift, Mundet, Quatro, Simba, and Sprite brands; water under Alpina, Brisa, Ciel, Crystal, Kin, Manantial, and Nevada brands; Aquarius, a flavored water; Hi-C, a juice-based beverage; and Powerade, an isotonic, as well as ready to drink tea products under Nestea and Matte Leao brands. The company also sells and distributes the Kaiser beer brand. It operates in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Mexico, Mexico. Coca-Cola FEMSA S.A.B de C.V. operates as a subsidiary of Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Put another tick in the acquisition column for Coca-Cola FEMSA (NYSE: KOF  ) . The Mexico-based company, which says it is the largest bottler of Coca-Cola products on the planet, has signed a deal to acquire Brazilian peer Companhia Fluminense de Refrigerantes. The price is $448 million in cash.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: GigOptix Inc (GIG)

GigOptix, Inc. (GigOptix), incorporated on March 2008, is a supplier of semiconductor and electro-optical component products that enables high-speed end to end data streaming over optical fiber and wireless telecommunications and data-communications networks globally. The Company's products convert signals between electrical and optical formats for transmitting and receiving data over fiber optic networks and between electrical and high speed radio frequencies to enable the transmission and receipt of data over wireless networks. The Company is creating both optical telecommunications and data-communications applications for fast growing markets in 10 giga bytes per second (Gbps), 40Gbps and 100Gbps drivers, receiver integrated circuits (IC), electro-optic modulator components and multi-chip-modules (MCM), as well as E-band wireless data-communications applications for high speed mobile backhaul and other high capacity wireless data transport applications. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company shipped over 150 products to over 200 customers.

The Company offers a portfolio of 10Gbps and 40Gbps electro-optical products and is developing market for 100Gbps products. The Company provides bundled solutions that consist of a few of its products, such as modulator and driver. The Company also offers a comprehensive portfolio of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) products to support E-band wireless communication and defense markets. The Company has also developed 10Gbps vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) drivers and receivers for aerospace as well as outdoor, non-temperature controlled environments that enables higher capacity in its customers' next generation flight and data center systems.

The Company has a portfolio of products for telecommunications , data-communications, defenses and industrial applications designed for optical speeds from 3Gbps to over 100Gbps and for wireless frequencies! from zero giga hertz (GHz) to 86GHz. The Company's products support a range of data rates, protocols, transmission distances and industry standards.

The Company's portfolio consists of the product ranges, such as laser and modulator drivers for 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps applications; receiver amplifiers or Trans-impedance Amplifiers (TIAs) for 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps applications; VCSEL driver and receiver chipsets for 14 and 12 channel parallel optics applications from 3Gbps to 10Gbps; Electro-optic modulators based on the Company's TFPS technology suitable for various 40Gbps and 100Gbps modulation schemes, such as differential phase shift keying (DPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), RZ-DQPSK and DP-QPSK; wideband monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers with flat gain response; high frequency MMIC Power Amplifiers with high gain and output power; high frequency passive attenuators and filters in small form factors, and standard cell, and structured ASIC and hybrid ASIC designs and manufacturing service for multiple markets offering information technology acquisition review (ITAR) compliance for defense applications. The Company designs and market products that amplifies electrical signals during both the transmission (amplifiers and optical drivers) and reception (TIAs) of optical signals as well as modulate optical signals in the transmission of data.

The Company's optical drivers amplify the input digital data stream that is used to modulate laser light either by direct modulation of the laser or by use of an external modulator that acts as a precise shutter to switch on and off light to create the optical data stream. The Company supplies an optimized component for each type of laser, modulator and photo-diode depending upon the speed, reach and required cost. The Company's microwave and millimeter wave amplifiers amplify small signal radio signals into more signals that can be transmitted over long distances to establish high t! hroughput! data connections or enable radar based applications. The Company's ASIC solutions are used in a number of applications such as defense and test and measurement applications to enable the high speed processing of complex signals.

The Company's product portfolio is designed to cover the range of solutions needed in these different modules. The Company's product portfolio consists of five product lines: GX Series, which includes serial drivers and TIA ICs devices for telecom and data-com markets; HX Series, which includes multi-channel driver and TIA ICs for short reach data-com and optical interconnect applications; LX Series, which includes TFPS modulators for high speed telecom and defense applications; EX Series, which includes amplifiers, filters and attenuators for microwave applications in defense and instrumentation, and CX Series, which includes family of ASIC solutions for custom integrated circuit design.

GX Series

The GigOptix GX Series of products services both the telecom and data-com markets with a broad portfolio of drivers and transimpedence amplifiers that address 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps speeds over distances that range from 100 meters to 10,000 kilometers. The GX Series devices are used in FiberChannel, Ethernet, synchronous optical networking (SONET)/ synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) components and those based upon the optical internetworking forum (OIF) standards.

HX Series

The GigOptix HX Series of products service the high performance computing (HPC), data-com and consumer markets with a portfolio of parallel VCSEL drivers and TIAs that address 3Gbps, 5Gbps,10Gbps, 14Gbps, 16Gbps and 25Gbps channel speeds over 100-300 meters distances in four and 12 channel configurations. The HX Series devices are used in HPC formats, Infiniband, Ethernet and optical high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) components.

LX Series

The GigOptix LX Series of products service the 40Gbps and above telecom! market f! or Mach-Zehnder modulators. The LX Series devices are based on the Company's TFPS EO material technology.

EX Series

The GigOptix EX Series of products leverages the high performance products acquired in the Endwave acquisition. In addition, it also includes the die and design techniques developed for the GX Series telecom and data-com drivers for related defense and instrumentation applications.

CX Series

The GigOptix CX Series of products offers a portfolio of distinct paths to digital and analog mixed signal ASICs with the capability of supporting designs of up to 10M gates in technologies ranging from 0.6 through 65nm. The CX Series uses the Company's technology in Structured and Hybrid ASICs to enable a generic ASIC solution that can be customized for a customer using only a few metal mask layers. The CX Series also offers ASIC services, including Analog and Mixed Signal IP into designs and taking customers designs from RTL or gate-level net list definitions to volume production with third party foundries.

The Company competes with TriQuint, Rohm, InPhi, Centellax, Semtech, Vitesse, M/A-Com, Avago, Emcore, Tyco Electronics, IPtronics. Avago, Emcore, Tyco Electronics, JDSU, Oclaro, Sumitomo, Fujitsu, Emcore, Oclaro, Hittite, Sumitomo, Hittite, RFMD, Northrop Grumman, On -Semiconductor, eSilicon, Open Silicon, Faraday, Toshiba and eASIC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  It's admittedly overbought and due for a slight dip thanks to today's surge. But when you take a step back and look at GigOptix Inc. (NYSEMKT:GIG), there's actually a lot to be excited about if you've been mulling a trading in GIG. The trick will be getting the timing right.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Camelot Information Systems Inc (CIS)

Camelot Information Systems Inc. (Camelot), incorporated on November 28, 2000, is a holding company. The Company is a domestic provider of enterprise application services and financial industry information technology (IT) services in China, and the Company focuses on enterprises operating in the Chinese market. The Company�� primary service lines are enterprise application services (EAS), which primarily consist of packaged software services for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software packages, and software development and maintenance services; and financial industry IT services (FIS), which primarily consist of software solutions, system support and maintenance, as well as IT consulting services for the financial industry. The Company provides services to a range of industries, including financial services, resources and energy, manufacturing and automobile, technology, as well as telecommunication, media and education.

Enterprise Application Services

The Company�� service line, enterprise application services consists of two main types of services: packaged software services and software development and maintenance services. The Company provides a range of implementation, customization and support services for packaged software systems to enterprise customers, with a focus on ERP software packages. The Company�� packaged software service has a range of coverage in terms of both industries and applications. The Company has served clients and accumulated domain expertise in resources and energy, technology, manufacturing and automobile, as well as retail, consumer and transportation. The Company provides services for systems ranging from traditional ERP systems, such as those offered by SAP and Oracle, to new dimension applications, such as customer relationship management, business intelligence, supply chain management, integration tools and manufacturing supply execution.

Packaged software services can be divided into implementation services and main! tenance services. The Company�� packaged software implementation services primarily consist of Packaged Software Integration, Solution Design, Technical Configuration and Customization, Training, Project Management and Quality Assurance and Testing. The Company�� packaged software maintenance services primarily consist of maintenance and production support services, and infrastructure management. The Company offers a range of software development, system migration and maintenance services based on technologies that are tailored to meet the specific needs of our customers. The Company�� customers include IT service providers and corporations.

Financial Industry IT Services

The Company provides a range of services and solutions along the IT value chain to our financial industry customers, including software solutions, system support and maintenance, and IT consulting services. The Company�� software solutions service offerings include intermediary business solutions for commercial banks, including teller/counter systems, channel management solutions, payment and settlement solutions, and front end communication exchange middleware; key functional systems for commercial banks, including corporate loan, commercial loan, supply chain financing, cash management, as well as internal collaboration and workflow; check image processing services for commercial banks; core life insurance solutions; risk management and anti-money laundering systems for banks; application localization and customization; data transformation and verification, and help desk support and production support.

The Company provides support and maintenance services of mainframe operating and database systems, such as IBM�� operating system and its sysplexes and subsystems, which are used by our financial industry customers. The Company�� system software support and maintenance service offerings include maintenance of core banking systems, international banking systems, mutual fund systems, and! credit c! ard systems; system installation and customization; system performance health check and investigation of performance issues; system performance tuning; evaluation of longer-term capacity needs and recommendations on the architecture of new applications based on performance expectations; system and application emergency support; installation and maintenance of performance measurement tools, and installation and maintenance of program temporary fix packages.

The Company capitalizes on its domain expertise and knowledge base in the financial services industry to provide consulting services by teaming with international IT service providers, such as IBM and Accenture. The Company�� consulting services seek to provide businesses with the flexibility and capability to respond to their customers��needs on a timely basis. The Company�� consulting service offerings include business process re-engineering; Basel II risk management; customer relationship management; financial services logical data model, and system conversion/cut-over.

The company competes with Neusoft Corporation, Digital China Holdings Limited, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies Ltd and Pactera Technology International Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Reese]

  The company's petroleum products are sold in the Russian Federation, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Stepan Co (SCL)

Stepan Company, incorporated on February 19, 1959, produces specialty and intermediate chemicals, which are sold to other manufacturers and then made into a variety of end products. The Company serves principal markets, such as manufacturers of cleaning and washing compounds (including detergents, shampoos, fabric softeners, toothpastes and household cleaners), paints, cosmetics, food and beverages, agricultural products, plastics, furniture, automotive equipment, insulation and refrigeration. The Company has three segments: surfactants, polymers and specialty products. The Company operates in the geographical regions of North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. As of December 31, 2012, the Surfactants segment accounted to 72%, Polymers segment accounted to 24% and Specialty segment accounted to 4% of the Company�� revenues. On March 22, 2012, the Company increased its controlling interest in Stepan Philippines Inc from 89% to 100%.

Surfactants

Surfactants are used in a variety of consumer and industrial cleaning compounds as well as in agricultural products, lubricating ingredients, biodiesel and other specialized applications. The Surfactants are principal ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning products, such as detergents for washing clothes, dishes, carpets, floors and walls, as well as shampoos, body washes, toothpastes and fabric softeners. Surfactants are manufactured at six North American sites (five in the United States and one in Canada), three European sites (United Kingdom, France and Germany), and three Latin American sites (Mexico, Brazil and Colombia), and one Asian site (Philippines and Singapore). The Company also holds a 50% ownership interest in a joint venture, TIORCO, LLC (TIORCO), that markets chemical solutions for increasing the production of crude oil and natural gas from existing fields.

Polymers

Polymers generate its revenues primarily from the sale of polyols and phthalic anhydride used in plastics, buildi! ng materials and refrigeration systems. It includes two primary product lines: polyols and phthalic anhydride. Polyols are used in the manufacture of rigid laminate insulation board for thermal insulation in the construction industry. Polyols are also a base raw material for flexible foams, coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers.

Phthalic anhydride is used in unsaturated polyester resins, alkyd resins and plasticizers for applications in construction materials and components of automotive, boating and other consumer products. In addition, phthalic anhydride is used internally in the production of polyols. In the United States, polymer product lines are manufactured at the Company�� Millsdale, Illinois, site. In Europe, polyols are manufactured at the Company�� subsidiaries in Germany and Poland. In Asia, polyols are produced at the Company�� 80% owned joint venture in Nanjing, China.

Specialty Products

Specialty products are used in food, flavoring and pharmaceutical applications. It includes flavors, emulsifiers and solubilizers used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Specialty products are primarily manufactured at the Company�� Maywood, New Jersey, site.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Stepan (NYSE: SCL  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Basic guidelines
  In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Stepan (NYSE: SCL  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Stepan doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, not so great. Trailing-12-month revenue decreased 4.8%, and inventory increased 30.6%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks potentially problematic. Revenue dropped 1.9%, and inventory grew 30.6%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks OK but not great. Revenue grew 6.9%, and inventory grew 9.5%.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Stepan Company (NYSE: SCL) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.93 per share on revenue of $467.40 million.

  Lennox International (NYSE: LII) is projected to report its Q3 earnings at $1.28 per share on revenue of $877.87 million.

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Winning Brands Corp (WNBD)

Winning Brands Corporation is a manufacturer of cleaning solutions. The Company offers products in three markets: Consumer, Industrial and Commercial. Its Consumer products include 1000+ Stain Remover; KIND Laundry Detergent; KIND Fabric Softener; KIND Laundry Stain Remover, and CLEAN1 All Purpose. Its Industrial products include TrackMoist Dust Suppressant, and ReGuard-4 Equipment Cleaning for Emergency Responders. Its Commercial products include Professional Wet Cleaning Solutions. The Company owns 100% interests in Niagara Mist Marketing Ltd.

The consumer products are offered for sale through stores in various sectors, such as hardware, paint, convenience, and grocery. The industrial products are targeted for sale through professional property maintenance personnel in the case of TrackMoist and distributors to fire-fighting organizations in the case of ReGuard-4. The commercial products are for use by businesses in their line of work to generate a finished product, with an emphasis on the dry-cleaning sector, such as on cruise ships to perform cleaning of Dry Clean Only garments in substitution of the solvent perchloroethylene (Perc).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Beamz Interactive Inc (OTCBB: BZIC), EHouse Global (OTCBB: EHOS) and Winning Brands Corporation (OTCMKTS: WNBD) were all heading in different directions at the end of last week with the first small cap surging 49.94% while the other two sank 31.28% and 25.32%, respectively, on Friday. Moreover, all three small cap stocks are already heading in different directions again this morning. So where should investors and traders place their bets? Here is a closer look at all three small cap stocks:

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Agent155 Media Corp (AGMC)

Agent155 Media Corp., formerly Freshwater Technologies Inc., incorporated on December 10, 1999, is a development-stage company. It will offer a free, online presence for the global artistic and athletic communities through its Website, Agent155.com. Agent155.com provides fashion, performer, art, sports, music, film, writer professionals and amateurs a multi-media content management solution, enabling a collaborative forum to network and develop through www.agent155.com. It also provides talent agencies, agents, producers, directors, and recording companies a location to search and view the profiles. It also re-distributes member content through traditional media channels, such as television, radio, film and print. It will produce films, music tours, commercials, and various events using talent from Agent155.com.directors, and recording companies a location to search and view the profiles and work of talent. In addition, the Company will provide targeted advertising opportunities for members and businesses.

Agent155 Media Corp fulfills the role of a matchmaker allowing talented individuals direct access to those who seek specific talents. Agent155 Media Corp provides talent agencies, agents, producers, directors and recording companies a location to search and view pool of profiles and work of talent.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Profitable Developments Inc (OTCMKTS: PRDL), Dynamic Applications Corp (OTCMKTS: DYAP) and Agent155 Media Corp (OTCMKTS: AGMC) have been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters. One of these small caps has been getting attention thanks to paid promotions while another saw a trading volume spike for the first three days of last week and the last one has seen a steady rise in share price over October. So what�� going on with these small cap stocks? Here is a quick reality check to help you decide how hot they might be or become:

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Gale Pacific Ltd (GAP)

Gale Pacific Limited is an Australia-based company engaged in marketing, sales, manufacture and distribution of screening, shading and home improvement products to global markets.The Company operates in one business segment, being the branded shading, screening and home improvement products. The Company products are sold to consumer and industrial markets including the retail and home furnishing, architectural, construction, and agribusiness markets. The Company manufactures sources and markets advanced durable knitted and woven polymer fabrics and structures made from these fabrics. The Company's retail products are marketed under the Coolaroo brand. The Company's retail product lines include items such as shade fabrics, exterior window furnishings, gazebos, shade sails and a range of pet products. The Company sells its products in Australia, the Unites States, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and a number of other export markets. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dimitra DeFotis]

  Some trends and percentages:

  Department store Thanksgiving online sales grew by 60% vs 2012, with mobile sales growing by 44% year over year. Perhaps a boost for clothing purveyors like Gap (GAP), whose shares are up 1% in morning trading : total online sales of apparel on Thanksgiving grew by about 41% vs. 2012, with mobile sales growing by close to 62.4% year over year. Shares of�Macy’s�(M) are flat this morning, while shares of women’s clothing seller Chico�� Fas�(CHS) are down 0.4%. Mobile represented nearly 26

Top Regional Bank Stocks To Watch For 2015: Arrium Ltd (ARRMF)

Arrium Limited is an international mining and materials company. The Company�� principal activities are mining and supply of iron ore and other steelmaking raw materials to steel mills internationally and in Australia; the manufacture and supply of mining consumables products globally; the manufacture and distribution of steel long products and recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal. Its key businesses include Mining, Mining Consumables, Steel and Recycling. Arrium Mining is an exporter of hematite ore with operations in South Australia. Arrium Mining also supplies pelletised magnetite iron ore and some hematite lump iron ore to the Company�� integrated steelworks. Arrium Mining Consumables supplies resource companies with a range of key mining consumables, including grinding media, wire ropes and rail wheels. Arrium�� integrated Steel and Recycling include OneSteel Manufacturing, long products steel manufacturing business, and OneSteel Distribution. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MARKETWATCH]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks rose modestly in early Tuesday trade, with the market reacting to a mixed batch of earnings. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) added 0.2% to 5,391.80, with BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) rising 1.7% after its July-December profit almost doubled from a year earlier, beating forecasts. However, smaller rival Arrium Ltd. (AU:ARI) (ARRMF) added 2.5% after reporting a swing back to profit. Other miners got a bump up from rising commodity prices, as Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) gained 2.3% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) added 1.2%, though Oz Minerals Ltd. (AU:OZL) (OZMLF) slipped 0.4%. Shares of Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd. (AU:CCL) (CCLAF) slumped 5.1% after the drinks firm saw a more than 80% drop in 2013 profit, weighed by a writedown on its fruit-processing business. Packaging firm Amcor Ltd. (AU:AMC) (AMCRF) lost 4.6% after its fiscal-first-half profit fell by about a third.