4 Cheap Dividend Plays With Limited Upside

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:34:42 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Takeover Analyst:What follows is a list of companies that have PE ratios below 12 and dividend yields greater than 3.5%. These companies appear attractive in the sense that they provide an income investment to hedge against a double dip and considerable room for multiples expansion in the event of a recovery. They cover a variety of industries: integrated oil & gas, speciality retailing, REITs, and home construction. The Street is currently bearish about all of the companies, save Gafisa ...

Why I'd Avoid Green Mountain And Buy Starbucks, Caribou Instead

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:54:24 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Stock Croc:Green Mountain (GMCR) coffee roasters has been riding a growing wave of popularity. Its unique product, ease of use and perceived value have helped it gain market share and improve results. However, the company is facing renewed challenges in 2012. If you are looking for coffee exposure, Green Mountain may not be the best choice. In the following article I will discuss why rivals Starbucks (SBUX) and Caribou (CBOU) may offer better rewards.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is the ...

Starbucks India Focus Leaves Room For Fantasy

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:50:19 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Dutch Trader: Wrap-Up Results Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) fiscal first-quarter revenue advanced 16% to $3.44 bln, higher than consensus of 3.29 bln. Net income in the period ended 1 January rose 10% to $382 mln, or $0.50 a share, slightly ahead of market expectations of $0.49 a share. Sales at stores open at least 13 months rose 9% globally in the quarter, above consensus of a gain of 7.6%.Starbucks narrowed its forecast for profit to a range of $1.78 to $1.82 a share for fiscal 2012, compare...

Robert Reich Over-Reaches By Blaming Investing, Shopping For Income Inequality

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:48:53 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Dr. Duru: Soon after I finally posted my review and critique of Robert Reich?s book on income inequality titled ?Aftershock: The Next Economy and America?s Future,? Reich published commentary which extended his analysis of income inequality to blame investors and shoppers for the problem. The concise argument appeared in an editorial in the Financial Times called ?We are all going to hell in a shopping basket? and then reappeared embedded in a Huffington Post piece called ?The Biggest Ris...

Why I Wouldn't Sell Options Now

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:44:37 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Kim Klaiman:The markets have been on a steady rise lately. Major indexes are up 15-20% in the last two months. This is very good news for longs, but not so good news for option sellers.Consider for example the Volatility S&P 500 Index (^VIX). It declined from the high 40s in October to below 20. The VIX is supposed to reflex the expected volatility of the markets. The problem is it doesn't reflect the true volatility. If the markets were down 15%, VIX would shoot to the roof. But after a ...

American Express: Better Opportunities Exist

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:41:52 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Stock Croc:American Express (AXP) released its fourth quarter numbers on January 19th, which confirmed that consumers are altering their spending patterns. The average spend per customer over the 12 months rose by around 8% to $3933, as consumers turned to plastic to fund their purchases. However, apart from an increase in average spending, there were further highlights that underscore American Express's business strength: Revenue from billed payments increased over the twelve months Deli...

Barrick's 38% Upside Tops Newmont

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:36:56 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Takeover Analyst:In an earlier article here, I argued that Barrick (ABX) would outperform Newmont (NEM). Thus far, it has beaten Newmont by 477 basis points. With the Fed's recent announcement that it will be extending low interest rates into 2012, investors now have more reason than ever to back gold producers. While I find meaningful upside in both firms, I continue to expect outperformance by Barrick.From a multiples perspective, Barrick is the cheaper of the two. It trades at a respec...

Retirement Education For Younger Investors

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:35:43 -0500    submitted by system 12 minutes ago

By Pey Shadzi:Most readers here on this site probably don't know this, but as a contributor you're actually ranked in various categories that you write articles for here on Seeking Alpha. While scanning over my page views at the ranking section, having only about 20 articles under my belt, I didn't notice anything rather exciting. But I kept looking until one caught my eye. "I'm ranked in 16th place under the category 'Retirement'? Why, I'm only 28, how could this be?" Then it suddenly dawne...

Facebook IPO Marks The Transition To The Semantic Web

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:27:55 -0500    submitted by system 37 minutes ago

A brief history of information technology Electricity, in the form of lightning bolts, has been considered a mysterious phenomena by mankind for centuries until the mid 18th century when Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research to understand what it was made of and his electrical experiments led to the invention of the lightning rod. Italian scientist Alessandro Volta also dedicated his life to the study of electricity and invented a device to store electrical energy, the battery; unfo...

The Bulls Are Running Around The Globe

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:27:43 -0500    submitted by system 37 minutes ago

By The Simple Accountant:Back after a one week hiatus, your author was encouraged by some of the action in the financial markets over the last couple of weeks. Trends that we saw beginning to emerge are now establishing themselves, and we can be increasingly confident that we are positioning correctly for the current market environment. Let's dig into the details. Perspective Stocks: After a sideways move the prior week, stocks resumed their advance on positive economic data, and in spite o...

10 Stocks To Fly Higher Than United Continental

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:25:59 -0500    submitted by system 37 minutes ago

By Stocks & Shares:Air travel is a focal point for drama: reunions are joyous and departures are sad. Unfortunately the airline industry is also a magnet for drama that endures vicious price-based competition, spectacular bankruptcies, exposure to fuel price spikes and low returns.Contrarian investors might be tempted to consider United Continental Holdings (UAL), because it is trading at a low price-to-earnings ratio and a low price-to-sales ratio (trailing twelve months). Instead, contrari...

5 Stocks That Could Get Short Squeezed This Year

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:24:33 -0500    submitted by system 37 minutes ago

By Stock Croc:For traders and speculators, commodities are one place to see large profit gains. This is primarily due to the tremendous amounts of volatility and momentum in a number of areas. As a result, there is the possibility that short squeezes could be occurring in the stock prices of select producers. To determine the best candidate requires examining Kinder Morgan (KMI), Molycorp (MCP), AK Steel Holdings (AKS), Patriot Coal (PCX) and ATP Oil & Gas (ATPG). Please use my analysis and ...

February's High Yield Dividend Champion Portfolio

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:14:34 -0500    submitted by system 37 minutes ago

By Scott's Investments:In December 2010, I created a screen/hypothetical portfolio called the ?High Yield Dividend Champion Portfolio.? The screen is tracked publicly as a continuous hypothetical portfolio with a starting balance of $100,000 on Scott?s Investments (see the right hand column for a link to the spreadsheet). Like many of the screens, strategies, and portfolios I track and prefer, this strategy takes a small number of historically relevant ideas, to create a simple, yet pow...

Fifty Percent Down In 2011, Will You Find Your Fortune In 2012?

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:12:01 -0500    submitted by system 37 minutes ago

By Colin Lea:In September 2011, I wrote an article that followed the progress of Fortune Magazine's Top 10 stock picks for 2011. You can see how they all fared here, but it was really a mixed bag-- with two big winners, two big losers and the rest split 40/60 for win / loss performance.The reason for writing these articles is not to outline my reasoning for buying or selling the stocks, but to place on the record for your average investor, an easy to see guide to each of the stocks performan...

Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You

originally published on     submitted by system 45 minutes ago

When I first looked at the Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School by Andrew Hallam, I thought I was seeing yet another investment guru book that was going to collect dust on the shelf. When you throw around words like millionaire and wealth, it might catch the eye [...]Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com. ...

6 Stocks That Can Outperform Apple Shares

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:07:16 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 1 minute ago

By Hawkinvest:Apple, Inc. (AAPL) shares have provided tremendous returns for shareholders over the last several years. The stock traded for about $10 per share in 2004, and anyone who was fortunate enough to invest $10,000, less than a decade ago, is looking at a nest egg worth over $450,000 now. These kinds of gains are rare, and that is one of many factors that makes Apple such a storied company. There appears to be good reason to expect further gains, thanks to hot new products that Apple...

Bank Of New York Mellon: High Probability Opportunity For Patient Investors

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:03:23 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 1 minute ago

By Investment Capitalist:Bank of New York Mellon (BK) has quietly assumed the role on of the nation's largest asset custodians, with $250 billion in assets held at the boutique bank. With interest rates at practically zero, the smallest uptick in rates will have exponentially positive implications on the company's net income. Over the past 10 years, Bank of New York (aka BoNY) has been quite disciplined in retaining profits and reinvesting capital into additional growth. Based on the company...

AstraZeneca's Shrinking Act Could Increase Its Appeal

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:49:09 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 1 minute ago

By EP Vantage:From 7,300 new job cuts to a contracting cost base and lower revenue guidance, in many ways AstraZeneca (AZN) is the incredible shrinking company. With chief executive David Brennan ruling out transformative acquisitions, the company appears to believe less should be able to deliver more. One measure that is growing is returns to shareholders ? the annual dividend climbed 10% and the company plans to spend $4.5bn buying back shares this year ? and, once again, earnings per sha...

Cramer's Lightning Round - Nvidia Has Been Inoculated (2/3/12)

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:48:21 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 1 minute ago

By Miriam Metzinger: Stocks discussed on the Lightning Round session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Friday February 3. Bullish Calls: Nvidia (NVDA): "..has been inoculated...they pre-announced a bad quarter, but the stock went higher." Kraft (KFT): "Breaking up is the easiest thing to do...that stock is going to keep going higher. Congratulations to Kraft shareholders." America Movil (AMOV): "America Movil is the only one of them I'm going to recommend." Nucor (NUE): "I like it...I th...

January Payrolls Release Signals No Major Change

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:28:30 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 1 minute ago

By Jeremy Robson:As I am sure you are aware there are 2 sections to each BLS monthly report on payrolls, the household survey and the establishment survey. Here is a link to the full methodology for the establishment and household surveys of the BLS report. The BLS says about the establishment survey: The establishment survey provides information on employment, hours, and earnings of employees on non farm payrolls; the data appear in the "B" tables, marked ESTABLISHMENT DATA. BLS collects t...

The Week In Review: Are WuXi PharmaTech And ShangPharma Takeover Targets?

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:28:00 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 1 minute ago

By ChinaBio Today: Deals and Transactions WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX) and ShangPharma (NYSE: SHP) are both attractive M&A targets, according to a Bloomberg News article (see story). Both China CROs have higher profit margins than their US peers, and both are growing faster than US CROs. Nevertheless, their PE ratios are lower, making them value propositions for their US competitors. To gain perspective on the situation, Bloomberg quoted Greg Scott, ChinaBio®?s CEO, who said China?s CRO...

2 Life Sciences IPOs Debut Below Target

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:18:58 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 1 minute ago

By The Burrill Report: By Marie Daghlian The IPO market is heating up as social media giant Facebook filed for a $5 billion initial public offering and two more life sciences companies, Cempra (CEMP) and Greenway Medical Technologies (GWAY), went public. Both companies, however, priced below their target ranges and raised less than they had hoped. North Carolina-based biotech Cempra raised $50.4 million in an 8.4 million share offering at $6 per share. That, however, was well below it...

NYT Paywall Datapoints Of The Day

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:07:20 -0500    submitted by system 1 hour 2 minutes ago

By Felix Salmon: Ken Doctor has a very smart and interesting take on the news that the NYT (NYT) now has 390,000 paying digital subscribers ? plus another 16,000 at the Boston Globe. It?s unambiguously good news, on many fronts. First, and most importantly, digital ad revenues went up by 10% in the area of the business with the paywall, while plunging by 26% at About Group, which doesn?t have one. The big worry about the paywall was always that it would eat into ad revenues, and that really ...

A Superbowl Roundup

originally published on     submitted by system 1 hour 3 minutes ago

Today is Superbowl Sunday, which I suppose means little outside the US, but its especially exciting for those in the Northeast as the N.Y. Giants (who play in New Jersey) meet the New England Patriots, a rematch of the 2008 teams. As someone who grew up in NY, Im a bit torn between rooting for [...] ...

Christians Are Better Investors

originally published on     submitted by system 1 hour 43 minutes ago

Christians Are Better Investors

originally published on     submitted by system 1 hour 44 minutes ago

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why. Ha! That headline is sure to get people stirred up! I'm betting I get at least one nasty comment from... ...

Reader Story: Why I Lied About Money

originally published on     submitted by system 2 hours 3 minutes ago

This guest post from Aloysa is part of the reader stories feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. You can read more from [...] ...

U.S. Economy Stirs: The Real Thing Or Depreciation Dilemma?

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:55:50 -0500    submitted by system 2 hours 11 minutes ago

By Charles A. Smith:Early last fall, as the U.S. debt-ceiling debate came off the boil and Europe dithered, Lakshman Achuthan of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) predicted that the U.S. economy was headed into recession. His firm's well-respected index of leading indicators showed a pervasive and persistent pattern which indicated (to him at least) that a slowdown was right around the corner. He may end up being right on the outcome and wrong on the timing, but since September a ...

Dollar Store Stocks Are Overpriced

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:53:10 -0500    submitted by system 2 hours 11 minutes ago

By Sammy Pollack:Shares of dollar store operators Dollar General Corp (DG), Family Dollar (FDO), and Dollar Tree (DLTR) are all just slightly off their all time highs. (CNBC) These stocks have all enjoyed tremendous runs because a weak economy has led consumers to seek out the discounts dollar stores offer. This trend has led investors to bid up share prices of dollar store stocks to extreme valuations. DLTR trades at 23 times current earnings. FDO trades at 17.8 times current earnings. DG t...

3 Oil Companies Posting Massive Profits Again

originally published on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:52:43 -0500    submitted by system 2 hours 11 minutes ago

By Stock Croc:Oil is a volatile market. The price of the substance changes every day and affects every facet of our lives. Oil companies have a long history of making large profits and increasing revenue, and 2011 was no exception. Exxon-Mobil (XOM) is the world's largest company, after Wal-Mart (WMT). A look at Fortune magazine's top 100 companies in the U.S. will show you that three of the top four corporations are large cap integrated oil companies. The list is ranked by revenue, and list...