Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now

Goldman Sachs recently highlighted LED lighting as a top ��isruptive��theme over the next decade. While I'm often inclined to believe that these sell-side "theme pieces" are designed more towards generating attention during stretches of slow company news, I have little doubt that the penetration rate of LEDs in the lighting market is going to increase significantly over the next decade. That is going to fuel significant demand for LED-making equipment, LED packaging, and finished lighting fixtures for companies like Aixtron (Nasdaq:AIXG), Cree (Nasdaq:CREE), Philips (NYSE:PHG), and Osram What is less clear to me is the extent to which investors can expect to see huge gains at this point ��the ��ED revolution��has been long in coming and while there are certainly going to be trading opportunities come and go, the idea of ��uy and hold��in this sector seems optimistic at best.

It's About The Benefits ��And The Costs
There's really no significant debate that LED lighting offers major improvements over traditional incandescent lights. LED lighting can use as little as one-tenth the power and lasts around 50 times longer. LEDs are also much more easily controlled than traditional lights, have fewer fragile components, and don't require a ��arm up��period.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Claude Resources Inc.(CGR)

Claude Resources Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal properties, as well as production and marketing of minerals in Canada. It primarily explores for gold in northern Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario. The company holds interests in the Seabee gold mine located at Laonil Lake, northern Saskatchewan; and the Madsen property that consists of 6 contiguous claim blocks totaling approximately 10,000 acres, located in the Red Lake Mining District of northwestern Ontario. It also holds interest in the Amisk Gold project, which covers an area of 13,800 hectares in the province of Saskatchewan. The company was founded in 1980 and is based in Saskatoon, Canada.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited(AEM)

Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral properties in Canada, Finland, and Mexico. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as silver, copper, zinc, and lead. Its flagship property includes the LaRonde mine located in the southern portion of the Abitibi volcanic belt, Canada. The company was founded in 1953 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Putnam]

  The second factor working in gold stocks��favor is that analysts are growing optimistic again. Yesterday, HSBC put out a bullish note on gold and upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), Yamana Gold (AUY), Barrick Gold, Iamgold (IAG), and Goldcorp. Most gold stocks are ranked ��old��or ��uy��(as opposed to ��trong Buy�� by the majority of analysts, meaning that there�� plenty of room for continued positive news flow on this front.

• [By Sally Jones]

  The once-troubled Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) is hitting a new record for gold production in the third quarter at 315,828 ounces, according to the Financial Post, and the company�� executives are buying. Here�� a third quarter company update and a look at billionaire stakeholders of AEM, a stock that spiked 23.66% over the past five days.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  As a result, Chidley and team upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and�Yamana Gold (AUY) to Neutral from Underweight, and raised Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG) and Iamgold (IAG) to Overweight from Neutral.�Gold Fields (GFI) was downgraded “due to increased risk and also reduced expectations for the South Deep operation,” Chidley says.

• [By Markus Aarnio]

  Other gold miners that have seen intensive insider buying during the past four months include St. Andrew Goldfields (STADF.PK), Continental Gold (CGOOF.PK), Kinross (KGC) and Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM).

Top 10 Undervalued Companies To Buy For 2014: Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.(TC)

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in mining, milling, processing, and marketing molybdenum products in the United States and Canada. The company?s principal properties include the Thompson Creek Mine and mill in Idaho; a metallurgical roasting facility in Langeloth, Pennsylvania; and a joint venture interest in the Endako Mine, mill, and roasting facility in British Columbia. It also holds interests in development projects comprising the Davidson molybdenum property and the Berg copper-molybdenum-silver property located in northern British Columbia; the Howard?s Pass property, a lead and zinc project situated in the Yukon territory-northwest territories border; and the Maze Lake property, a gold project located in the Kivalliq district of Nunavut. The company produces molybdenum products, primarily molybdic oxide and ferromolybdenum, as well as soluble technical oxide, pure molybdenum tri-oxide, and high purity molybdenum disulfide. As o f December 31, 2010, its consolidated recoverable proven and probable ore reserves totaled 462.2 million pounds of contained molybdenum in the Thompson Creek Mine and the Endako Mine. The company was formerly known as Blue Pearl Mining Ltd. and changed its name to Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. in May 2007. Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Thompson Creek Metals Co. Inc. (NYSE: TC) was at 54% discount to its book value of $8.30 per share at the time, and the stock price of $3.90 is up from $3.03 Deutsche Bank’s team nailed upside of more than 28% here. Its price target was $4 at the time versus a consensus target of $4.50 at the time. The 52-week range here is $2.42 to $4.55, but we would point out that the consensus price target is $3.93.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Beaten-down companies that you think are likely to recover strongly are also good candidates. Molybdenum miner Thompson Creek Metals (NYSE: TC  ) , for example, sports average annual losses of 35% over the past five years, and carries substantial debt, but molybdenum's long-term outlook is promising, with price increases likely, and the company has a promising gold and copper mine on track to start producing by the end of the year. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX  ) is another major molybdenum player, with considerable operations in other metals, as well -- along with new investments in oil and gas production.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: First Majestic Silver Corp.(AG)

First Majestic Silver Corp. engages in the production, development, exploration, and acquisition of mineral properties with a focus on silver in Mexico. The company owns interests in La Encantada Silver Mine comprising 4,076 hectares of mining rights and 1,343 hectares of surface land located in Coahuila; La Parrilla Silver Mine consisting of mining concessions covering an area of 69,867 hectares; and San Martin Silver Mine comprising approximately 7,841 hectares of mineral rights and approximately 1,300 hectares of surface land rights located in Jalisco. It also holds interests in Del Toro Silver Mine consisting of 393 contiguous hectares of mining claims and an additional 129 hectares of surface rights located in Zacatecas; Real de Catorce Silver Project comprising 22 mining concessions covering 6,327 hectares located in San Luis Potosi state; and Jalisco Group of Properties consisting of mining claims totalling 5,240 hectares located in Jalisco. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Doug Ehrman]

  It is no secret that precious metals companies have been taking a pounding for some time now. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEMKT: GLD  ) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV  ) , the gold and silver ETFs, have been hard hit and operating companies like First Majestic (NYSE: AG  ) and Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX  ) have been hit even harder. Through all of these struggles, and in some cases because of them, one precious metals company continues to look attractive for the long term: Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW  ) .

• [By Doug Ehrman]

  Despite the weakness seen in precious metals a few weeks ago, silver has been relatively stable ever since mid-April, with the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV  ) trading in a dollar-wide range ever since. With the presidents of the Chicago and Philadelphia Federal Reserve banks��releasing conflicting statements, turmoil may be just around the corner. Miners like Pan American (NASDAQ: PAAS  ) and First Majestic (NYSE: AG  ) are still facing operating challenges, while silver streaming darling Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW  ) struggles as well.

• [By Doug Ehrman]

  In terms of individual companies, there are several good choices, but these can behave very differently. Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS  ) , for example, missed revenue expectations and beat earnings expectations in its last earnings release. But despite the beat, EPS shrank considerably from a year earlier on a GAAP basis. The stock has been fairly flat ever since. Conversely, First Majestic (NYSE: AG  ) reported strong revenue growth and a small bump in profits, sending the stock higher since the announcement. First Majestic reported increased cash costs and tightening margins, largely driven by lower silver prices. Each of these companies faces pressure from increasing production costs and environmental concerns.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Australian Dollar(AU)

AngloGold Ashanti Limited primarily engages in the exploration and production of gold. It also produces silver, uranium oxide, and sulfuric acid. The company conducts gold-mining operations in South Africa; continental Africa, including Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, and Tanzania; Australia; and the Americas, which include Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. It also has mining or exploration operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, and Colombia. As of December 31, 2010, the company had proved and probable gold reserves of 71.2 million ounces. The company has a strategic alliance with Thani Dubai Mining Limited to explore, develop, and operate mines across the Middle East and parts of North Africa. AngloGold Ashanti Limited, formerly known as Vaal Reefs Exploration and Mining Company Limited, was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sally Jones]

  Anglogold Ashanti Limited (AU)

  Down 65% over 12 months, Anglogold Ashanti Limited has a market cap of $4.85 billion, and trades with a P/E of 8.10.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  The second largest market cap company, at $11.22 billion, is Anglogold Ashanti Ltd. (AU). Its afternoon stock price of $29.15 is within 5% of its three-year low, and has experienced a more significant drop than Newmont ��it is down 44.9% from its high price of $52.86 a share.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But even bigger damage came from gold-mining stocks. AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU  ) has lost almost 60% of its value in 2013, with the drop in gold prices having an outsized impact on the gold miner's prospects. AngloGold has also suffered from investors moving away from emerging markets like South Africa in favor of U.S. stocks, as fears of the Federal Reserve's exit from its quantitative easing program have reduced overall risk tolerance among many investors.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: CME Group Inc.(CME)

CME Group Inc. operates the CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX regulatory exchanges worldwide. The company provides a range of products available across various asset classes, including futures and options on interest rates, equity indexes, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, foreign exchange, weather, and real estate. It offers various products that provide a means of hedging, speculation, and asset allocation relating to the risks associated with interest rate sensitive instruments, equity ownership, changes in the value of foreign currency, credit risk, and changes in the prices of commodities. CME Group owns and operates clearing house, CME Clearing, which provides clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts and counter derivatives transactions; and also engages in real estate operations. Its primary trade execution facilities consist of its CME Globex electronic trading platform and open outcry trading floors, as well as privately negotiated transact ions that are cleared and settled through its clearing house. In addition, the company offers market data services comprising live quotes, delayed quotes, market reports, and historical data services, as well as involves in index services business. CME Group?s customer base includes professional traders, financial institutions, institutional and individual investors, corporations, manufacturers, producers, and governments. It has strategic partnerships with BM&FBOVESPA S.A., Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, Singapore Exchange Limited, Green Exchange, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, S.A.B. de C.V., as well as joint venture agreement with Dow Jones & Company. The company was formerly known as Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and changed its name to CME Group Inc. in July 2007. CME Group was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  CME Group (Nasdaq: CME  ) reported earnings on May 2. Here are the numbers you need to know.

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

• [By Sean Williams]

  Shares of future exchange operator CME Group (NASDAQ: CME  ) advanced 1.5% after being mentioned favorably on CNBC by commentator Simon Baker. While I normally would recommend paying little attention to the opinions of analysts, today's move could have more to do with the increasing volatility, given the move lower, which is very likely to increase futures contract volume. Sometimes, the worst of times brings about the best business for CME Group, and we could be seeing signs of that with today's big move higher.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Leading the charge higher is CME Group (NASDAQ: CME  ) , which advanced 3.3% after exploring a possible sale of its New York Mercantile Exchange building. CME has considered leasing back a portion of the building to run its energy trading operations out of, or it may just move those operations to another building in Manhattan altogether. This announcement also comes on the heels of news that Treasury futures volume hit an all-time record yesterday. With CME looking for ways to maximize shareholder value in an otherwise tepid trading environment, I'd call today's move encouraging.

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  CME Group Inc (CME) reported on Wednesday that September volume average increased 10% from September 2012, while its third quarter volume average grew 11% from last year.

  For September, volume averaged 13.1 million contracts per day, totaling 261 million for the month. Equity index volume in September averaged 2.9 million contracts per day, a 4% increase from last year. Equity index options volume was up 52% in September.

  Third quarter volume average was 12 million per day, up 11% from a year ago.

  CME Group shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Wednesday. The stock is up 48% YTD.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(The)

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides investment banking, securities, and investment management services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Its Investment Banking segment offers financial advisory, including advisory assignments with respect to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense, risk management, restructurings, and spin-offs; and underwriting securities, loans and other financial instruments, and derivative transactions. The company?s Institutional Client Services segment provides client execution activities, such as fixed income, currency, and commodities client execution related to making markets in interest rate products, credit products, mortgages, currencies, and commodities; and equities related to making markets in equity products, as well as commissions and fees from executing and clearing institutional client transactions on stock, options, and fu tures exchanges. This segment also engages in the securities services business providing financing, securities lending, and other prime brokerage services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, and foundations. Its Investing and Lending segment invests in debt securities, loans, public and private equity securities, real estate, consolidated investment entities, and power generation facilities. This segment also involves in the origination of loans to provide financing to clients. The company?s Investment Management segment provides investment management services and investment products to institutional and individual clients. This segment also offers wealth advisory services, including portfolio management and financial counseling, and brokerage and other transaction services to high-net-worth individuals and families. In addition, it provides global investment research services. The company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Top Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: NEW GOLD INC.(NGD)

New Gold Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, extraction, processing, and reclamation of mineral properties. The company primarily explore for gold, silver, and copper deposits. Its operating properties include the Mesquite gold mine in the United States; the Cerro San Pedro gold-silver mine in Mexico; and the Peak gold-copper mine in Australia. The company also has development projects, including the New Afton gold, silver, and copper project in Canada; and a 30% interest in the El Morro copper-gold project in Chile. The company was formerly known as DRC Resources Corporation and changed its name to New Gold Inc. in June 2005. New Gold Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Even bad news has failed to dent the rise in gold stocks today. NewGold (NGD), for instance, has gained 1.8% to $7.49 despite the fact that the wall of one of its mines collapsed. The Wall Street Journal has the details:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  One group of stocks not feeling the optimism today: Gold miners. With fewer concerns that a U.S. attack on Syria will be disruptive and more evidence that tapering will begin this month, the price of the precious metal has dropped 1.6% to $1,388.90 an ounce–and gold stocks are falling with it. New Gold (NGD), for one, has dropped 3% to $6.55, while Barrick Gold (ABX) has fallen 1.3% to $19.25.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Bridges favorite stocks include Goldcorp, Newmont, Eldorado Gold (EGO) and New Gold (NGD).

  Note, however, that these recommendations are all qualified in one way or another. Investors should keep that in mind before going all in on the gold miners.

BlackBerry: Spinning BBM Into Facebook

The release of the new BlackBerry Messenger Service has occurred. Regardless of whether you are a BlackBerry bull or a BlackBerry bear, the launch of BBM on Android and iOS has the potential to act as a catalyst. Time will tell how the industry will respond to the new enhanced messaging system. As BlackBerry (BBRY) continues the search for potential buyers, I have been asking myself who would be interested in BBM. On the surface, Facebook (FB) would appear to be a less than likely suitor; yet, upon closer analysis, Facebook would be the most logical choice. I am aware of the recent news article stating that BlackBerry executives have met with Facebook in California, and arrived at my thesis a few days before. This recent information illustrates that there is some realistic interest from Facebook. While I am more pessimistic than I was in my previous BlackBerry articles, I feel there are still a few cards to play.

BBM as separate division

Recently, BlackBerry has announced the creation of a new division that will be solely responsible for BBM. Andrew Bocking is the new head of the BBM division and has been with BlackBerry during the glory days. Hopefully this is a positive, as maintaining the BBM prestige is paramount. It is my belief that this may be part of the bigger picture, which allows BlackBerry to sell various divisions to qualified buyers.

iOS and Android apps

Within the first day of BBM's release for iOS and Android, there have been 10 million downloads. Normally, identifying the number of downloads would be heavily criticized for not reflecting qualified users; yet, due to the stringent user requirements, this is not the case. Only devices that have mobile cellular capabilities can utilize the BBM application. Upon installation, a user account is created that is linked to the IMEI number of the mobile device. This IMEI number is a unique number, allowing a unique PIN on the BBM network.

There have been a few reviews with low rating scores; upon close inspection,! most of the negative reviews were about the mandatory waiting period. Since this was purposely implemented by BlackBerry for infrastructure reasons, these reviews should be discounted.

As of today, the Globe and Mail is reporting that there are 20 million new BBM users, and they are active. Active is being defined as using the service at least once.

Subscribers

BBM subscriber count should increase rapidly with the availability on the iOS and Android platforms. While increased BBM subscriber counts do not add directly to top line revenue, I believe there will be an intangible benefit. BlackBerry as a whole is no longer providing subscriber numbers, but the newly created BBM division may independently report subscriber numbers. Of course, this would be dependent on positive results.

Security

One of the advantages that BBM has over other messaging systems is security. Since the revelations about the National Security Agency "spying" on member states and citizens, security has been a concern. I do not know or have any information that would suggest that BBM cannot be hacked, but what is known is that BlackBerry's messaging system is more secure than most. For companies such as Facebook, developing a comparable system would be costly, and more importantly, time consuming.

Monetization

On the mobile platform, making money is in its infancy. Many companies are exploring various techniques that would increase top line revenue numbers. Facebook is seeing an increase in mobile ad revenue, with mobile ad revenue accounting for nearly 30% of all ad revenue in their 1st quarter. With more revenue being realized in the mobile space, BBM's value is elevated as a growth sector. Many start-ups have been acquired with smaller prospects and higher P/E multiples. The true value of the BBM division is what the market bear, and only time will tell.

Outside of the traditional BBM features, there are many features in the beta testing pipeline that may be of value to co! mpanies l! ike Facebook . BlackBerry has integrated BBM with a new system called "BBM Channels". This system looks like an amalgamation of Twitter and Facebook. I won't go into the details, as I already wrote an article called "BlackBerry Thinking Ahead With BBM Channels".

Hot Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now

Facebook's smartphone

This year saw Facebook partnering with HTC to provide a Facebook branded mobile phone called First. The phone never gained much traction, and it became clear that Facebook was testing the market. I do not believe that Facebook would be interested in BlackBerry's handset business, but may consider it if the price is right. It is foreseeable that Facebook could utilize the BBM integration with the handset, and the infrastructure to build out Facebook's data centers. The build out would allow for tighter integration in Asian markets, where historically BlackBerry has been strong. BlackBerry has also been experimenting with other technology such as mobile payments with Visa (V). In an ever changing environment, Facebook could find a competitive advantage with some of BlackBerry's technology.

Valuation

Currently, Prem Watsa of Fairfax Holdings (OTC:FRFHF) has a preliminary offer at $9 / share or $4.7 billion. Using this evaluation, Facebook could better this offer for the whole company with a bid of $5 billion. According to Facebook's balance sheet, cash on hand is approximately $10.25 billion with a total debt of $2.17 billion. This leaves a net cash balance of approximately $8 billion. Obviously it would be highly improbable to spend $5 billion, leaving only $3 billion left for Facebook.

It is important to note, that BlackBerry has been booking losses recently. This has the advantage of cleaning the books and making the company more attractive for a takeover. If most of the losses have been booked, it may be to Facebook's advantage to buy the whole com! pany, as ! BlackBerry's cash on hand and other assets can discount the purchase price. It may even be cost advantageous, with just closing various aspects of BlackBerry's divisions. It has been heavily reported that BlackBerry has between $2 and $3 billion cash on hand, but currently, it is unclear the amount of cash on hand due to all the accounting changes that have occurred. Yes, BlackBerry has even changed the way it counts sales of handsets, and the numbers are distorted. Only completing due diligence by accessing BlackBerry's books will reveal the whole picture, and unfortunately for the retail investor, this is not possible.

Conclusion

I do not want to see BlackBerry acquired, as I feel there is significant value in the business that is not yet realized. It is possible that it may take a company like Facebook to unlock this value. But, I don't want to see Facebook integrated with my car via QNX, reporting on my timeline all my driving habits.

While there appears to be little room for handset companies in this market, it would appear that there is room in the social space. Ideally, BlackBerry could carve out a niche in this space, but with time running out, the prospects look bleak.

Source: BlackBerry: Spinning BBM Into Facebook

Disclosure: I am long BBRY. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

Can a New CEO Revive Procter & Gamble?

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) has always been a beacon of stability in the stock market, as it’s characterized by a steady dividend and low systematic risk. Recently, though, lagging sales growth and an internal management shakeup have raised questions about the strength of the company. Can newly reappointed CEO A.G. Lafley restore investor confidence in the company? Let's use our CHEAT SHEET investing framework to decide whether P&G is an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY.

C = Catalysts for the Stock's Movement

A.G. Lafley reassumed his position as CEO of P&G after Bob McDonald stepped down in May. Whether McDonald's retirement was voluntary was never publicly addressed, but investors were beginning to lose faith in his ability to grow the company. Shareholders have high expectations for Lafley, who quadrupled company profits during his previous tenure as CEO. So far, he has reorganized the company into four different divisions and promised to continue a cost-cutting program that will save around $10 billion in expenses by 2016 and increase gross margins.

To be fair, P&G's sluggish sales growth over the apst four years isn't all McDonald's fault. Stifled global demand and increased competition in the CPG industry have contributed to a more challenging business environment for P&G, whose well-known products include Tide, Pampers, and Gillette razors. P&G's product portfolio consists of higher-end consumer goods, and many consumers have substituted the more expensive P&G products with generic brands as the economy has remained sluggish. The global economy, however, looks to be improving, which will certainly help P&G's sales numbers in the coming quarters. P&G will announce its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on August 1.

E = Earnings Are Increasing Year-over-Year

P&G's earnings have increased on a year-over-year basis over the last three quarters. The most recent quarterly number of 99 cents showed a modest increase of 5.32 percent from the previous year's quarterly earnings per share of 94 cents. Revenues increased by 2 percent this quarter, which was slightly below analysts' expectations. Management set earnings guidance in the fourth quarter between 69 cents and 79 cents per share, while analysts are projecting earnings of 77 cents — a 5 cent decrease from earnings per share in last year's fourth quarter. Investors reacted negatively to the guidance set by P&G in its previous earnings report, citing that it was weak in comparison to previous quarters.

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Qtrly. EPS	$0.99	$1.22	$1.06	$0.82	$0.94
EPS Growth YoY	5.32%	10.91%	2.91%	-2.38%	-2.08
Revenue Growth YoY	2.00%	1.98%	-3.67%	-1.17%	1.51%

S = Support is Provided by Institutional Investors

Activist investor Bill Ackman has taken a special interest in P&G since unveiling $1.8 billion last July. Ackman regularly criticized McDonald's management of the company. The stock price has benefitted from Ackman's interest: shares are up around 35 percent since Ackman disclosed his position to the public. Another notable institution with a large position in P&G is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A, NYSE:BRK.B), which holds around 2 percent of outstanding shares.

E = Exceptional Performance Relative to Peers?

While Procter & Gamble is relatively cheap, trading at a price-to-equity ratio of 18.21, it lags behind its competitors and the personal products industry as a whole in several key metrics. P&G enjoys a healthy dividend yield of 3 percent and recently declared a 7 percent dividend increase. Still, competitors Unilever (NYSE:UL) and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) have higher dividend yields. Unilever is also outpacing P&G in emerging markets: 55 percent of Unilever's sales come from emerging markets versus 38 percent of sales at P&G. P&G will need to increase its presence in emerging markets to avoid losing out on high growth prospects to Unilever. P&G does dominate both Kimberly-Clark and Unilever in terms of market cap, however.

	PG	KMB	UNL	Industry
Trailing P/E	18.21	21.66	21.37	27.64
Operating Margin	20.0%	15.7%	13.6%	15.9%
ROE	17.5%	35.6%	32.3%	23.4%
Dividend Yield	3.0%	3.2%	3.3%	2.8%

Top Stocks To Invest In 2014

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Proctor & Gamble is currently trading at around $81.55, above both its 200-day moving average of $76.51 and its 50-day moving average of $78.28. The stock has experienced a strong uptrend in the past year and is up 25.83 percent in the past 12 months — slightly higher than the S&P 500. The stock is trading about 1.5 percent below its 52-week high of $82.54, which it hit in late April.

Conclusion

The consumer packaged goods sector looks healthy as recent global macroeconomic conditions have improved. As consumers’ discretionary incomes rise, worldwide demand for personal products should strengthen. P&G, with some of the most recognizable brands in the world, is in a solid position to capitalize on this growth. Additionally, the company has increased its dividend, which is yielding an attractive 3 percent, at least once a year since 1957. With the recent management shakeup and A.G. Lafley's proven leadership, P&G looks committed to get back on track. As macroeconomic conditions continue to improve, P&G shareholders will benefit from sales growth without facing much downside risk. Procter & Gamble is an OUTPERFORM.

Is Pfizer a Buy at These Prices?

With shares of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) trading around $27, is PFE an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Pfizer is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells medicines for people and animals worldwide. The company manages its operations through five segments: Primary Care; Specialty Care and Oncology; Established Products and Emerging Markets; Animal Health and Consumer Healthcare, and Nutrition. Pfizer's main products include human and animal biologic and small molecule medicines and vaccines, nutritional products, consumer healthcare products, and products for the prevention and treatment of diseases in livestock and companion animals. Illness and disease is something that plagues people and animals around the world. Pfizer is in constant development attempting to improve its products in order to help people and animals struggling around the world. So long as health is a main concern for people and animals, Pfizer stands to see significant profits.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Strong

Pfizer stock has been on a powerful run over the last several years that has taken the stock to multi-year highs. The stock is currently consolidating after a period of rising prices so it may need some rest here. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Pfizer is trading around its rising key averages which signal neutral price action in the near-term.

NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW!

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Pfizer Options	23.64%	90%	89%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
July Options	Steep	Average
August Options	Steep	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Pfizer’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Pfizer look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3	2012 Q2
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	58.33%	358%	-10.42%	30.30%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-12.37%	-6.65%	-15.85%	-8.66%
Earnings Reaction	-4.46%	3.2%	-1.28%	1.39%

Pfizer has seen increasing earnings and decreasing revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numberes, the markets have had mixed feelings about Pfizer’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Poor Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Pfizer stock done relative to its peers, Merck (NYSE:MRK), Novartis (NYSE:NVS), Sanofi (NYSE:SNY), and sector?

	Pfizer	Merck	Novartis	Sanofi	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	10.11%	18.73%	12.16%	10.76%	Top 5 Oil Companies To Watch For 2014 11.22%

Pfizer has been a poor relative performer, year-to-date.

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Conclusion

Pfizer is a biopharmaceutical company that attempts to improve lives through its research and development of medicines for people and animals around the world. The stock has been on a powerful run over the last several years but may be currently taking a breather. Over the last four quarters, earnings have increased while revenue has decreased, producing mixed feelings among investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Pfizer has been a poor performer year-to-date. WAIT AND SEE what Pfizer does this coming quarter.

Halloween freebies is growing restaurant trend

Halloween, the night when kids rake-in gobs of free candy, is evolving into an occasion when parents also can walk-off with something equally enticing: free meals for the kids.

A growing parade of restaurant chains – from Olive Garden to IHop to Krispy Kreme – will offer free eats around Halloween in order to lure traffic during a seriously slow time.

Halloween evening is a time when most families eat at home. While Halloween is one of the pizza delivery industry's biggest days of the year, it's an evening when many casual dining restaurants are scraping for business.

"Restaurants are like ghost towns on Halloween," says Derek Farley, a restaurant industry PR guru. Much like Labor Day and July 4th, Halloween is a holiday that's not very restaurant-friendly, he says.

So, what's a savvy restaurant to do? Entice families by giving away the kids grub, of course. Although the specific dates, times and rules vary -- so it's best to check restaurant websites for details -- here's some of 2013's Halloween lures:

- Free kids meal with coupon. Three of Darden's most familiar chains, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse, all offer free kids meals for much of Halloween week. All require the purchase of an adult entree for each free kids meal. And all require sign-up -- and a coupon -- from the chain's website or Facebook page.

"Halloween isn't a day you're going to see a lot of kids in restaurants—they're trick or treating," notes Jay Spenchian, executive vice president of marketing at Olive Garden. "We see this as an opportunity to help drive additional traffic into the restaurant on an historically slow day."

Last year, 6,000 families came to Olive Garden with kids in costume. While still encouraging costumes, the chain dropped that requirement for the freebie this year.

- Free kids pancake. On Halloween, kids age 12 and under get a free Halloween "Scary Face" Pancake at IHOP. The pancake, with a whipped-cream smile dotted with candy corn, ! is one of IHOP's "most requested holiday promotions," says Natalia Franco, vice president of marketing.

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- Cheaper meal with costume. On Halloween, from 4 PM to closing, Chipotle will offer its annual "Boorito" promo. All customers dressed in costumes get a $3 burrito, bowl, salad, or order of tacos. Proceeds of up to $1 million will go to charity. Over the past three years, the program has raised more than $3 million for The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, says Mark Crumpacker, chief marketing officer.

- Free snack with costume. Krispy Kreme may have the fewest strings of all. Just show up in the store -- adult or kid -- in any costume at participating locations on Halloween day, and walk off with a free doughnut. Ah, you might want to remove your mask before eating it.

GM sales off 11%, while Ford up 6%; Chrysler up 1%

General Motors today reported sales fell 11% -- more than expected -- in September from a year ago, while Detroit rivals Ford reported a nearly 6% sales gain for September and Chrysler Group eked out a slight 1% gain.

GM, at 187,195 sales, outsold Ford by only about 2,000 for the month.

None of the automakers are expected to report big year-over-year gains for the month because September 2013 had two fewer selling days than last year and the big Labor Day weekend fell in August this year.

But the annualized selling rate for the month is forecast to continue the year's momentum at a very strong 15.3 to 15.7 million.

Highlights from the automakers' reports:

GENERAL MOTORS

• Buick sales were up 6% and Cadillac rose 10%, but the Chevrolet volume brand was down 14% and GMC trucks fell 9.7%. GM's new pickup trucks a just now fully available in all configurations at dealers, but there have been reports of more demand than supply of the most popular versions.

• Retail sales were down 6%, fleet sales were down 27%. Retail sales were up 2 percent on a selling day-adjusted basis.

• Sales of the redone Malibu, which has struggled, were up 29% and retail sales of the new Impala were up 64% (though the old Impala had become heavily a fleet product).

FORD

Ford's 6% gain to 185,146 was good for its best September since 2006, before the Great Recession.

The biggest sales driver was the continuing boom in pickup truck sales, with the F-Series trucks posting a fifth consecutive month of more than 60,000 sales.

The redone Fusion mid-size sedan also continued its strong year with sales up 62% to 19,972, while the Fiesta subcompact was up 29% to 5,043 -- and Ford said these cars were building sales in markets where Ford has been week in the past.

"We're particularly encouraged by the strength of the Fusion and Fiesta, especially in coastal markets," said Ken Czubay, U.S. sales head, in a statement.

Ford said Fusion retail sales were up ! 59% in the West and 26% in the Southeast, while Fiesta is up 41% in the West.

Continuing to show signs of life for the nearly moribund Lincoln brand, the new MKZ sedan sold 2,874, up 12%, adding a fifth monthly best, Ford said.

CHRYSLER

Chrysler's sales of 143,017, were just enough to extend its string of monthly sales increases to 42.

Driving the month were pickup trucks, with Ram Truck the leading brand with sales up 8%. The Chrysler and Dodge brands also posted gains.

SUVs also were a highlight, with the sales of the refreshed Jeep Grand Cherokee up 19% and the refreshed Dodge Durango up 66%.

Reid Bigland, Chrysler's U.S. sales head, expects industry sales to be down slightly when all makers have reported today, so was happy to show a gain. "Even though industry sales dipped during September, Chrysler Group still managed to eke out a slight sales increase for the month," said Bigland in statement.

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Highlights:

• Ram Truck's September was its best since 2007.

• Dodge brand sales were up 3%, and the Dart compact, which struggled at launch, managed a fourth month of year-over-year gains, up 51% to 7,922.. Sales of the Charger sedan were up 49%.

• Chrysler brand brand was up 2%, with the 300 sedan up 6%.

• The Jeep brand, with the Liberty gone since last August and still no Cherokee replacement for sale, dropped 5%, despite the Grand Cherokee gain and Compass sales up 27%.

• Fiat sales fell 24%, ending an 18-month string of gains. The new four-door 500L just srriving sold 1,031, helping make up for a 49% plummet in sales of the 500 coupe to 2,126.

General Motors will automakers will be added to this post when it reports this morning.

5 Winners and Losers of the Week in Business

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Getty Images

Companies can make brilliant moves, but there are also times when things don't work out quite as planned. From an ill-conceived entry into the crowded tablet market to the leading online retailer jacking up its minimum order size for free shipping, here's a rundown of the week's best and worst moves in the business world. Zynga (ZNGA) -- Winner Zynga has a long way to go to regain its former status as a market darling, but the casual and social gaming giant is doing its best to claw its way back. Zynga turned heads by posting a narrower loss than analysts were forecasting on Thursday night. Zynga also announced that it was hiring a former marketing manager from Electronic Arts (EA) to help beef up the presence of its mobile games. Bookings have fallen sharply at Zynga, but investors may rediscover the once hot stock with London-based King -- the company behind the wildly popular Candy Crush Saga -- getting ready to go public. Tablet Tuesday -- Loser It was supposed to be a great day for tablets. Tuesday treated gadget buffs to Nokia (NOK) announcing its first tablet, Microsoft (MSFT) starting to sell its Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets, and Apple (AAPL) unveiling its latest line of iPads. The morning kicked off with Nokia introducing a Lumia-branded tablet. The problem is that it runs Windows RT, the operating system that's so unpopular that Microsoft took a $900 million inventory charge earlier this year to write off the weak-selling Surface RT. Then came Microsoft tablets arriving at retailers, including the Surface 2 that happens to run, yes, on Windows RT. Apple's event went far better, but the stock sold off after the presentation. One concern is that the new iPad mini is getting an increase in price. Apple has never boosted the price of next-gen iPads, but now it's doing so with the smaller iPad mini. That may not go over so well in a market where competing tablets have only gotten cheaper over time. IMAX (IMAX) -- Winner They say that the multiplex is dying, but that doesn't hold up when it comes to IMAX. The provider of super-sized theatrical experiences saw its shares soar 5 percent on Thursday after posting better than expected quarterly results. Yes, revenue fell. There were fewer installations this time around, but the backlog has increased to 356 screens. Box office revenue declined as this year's crop of summer releases wasn't as lucrative as last summer, but those IMAX receipts are still positive through the first nine months of the year. And the IMAX network will continue to grow. It signed up contracts for 99 new theaters. Bank of America (BAC) -- Loser We may be years removed from the subprime lending crisis that rocked the global financial markets, but the "too big to fail" banks are finally paying the price. Countrywide Financial -- now a Bank of America subsidiary -- became the first bank to be held liable by a court for misleading the government as part of the crisis that was only made worse when Countrywide reportedly defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it handed over bad home loans. Later in the week, it was reported that Bank of America would be letting thousands go from its mortgage unit. The two events aren't related. The housing market is merely slowing down. However, it just wasn't a good week for Bank of America. Amazon.com (AMZN) -- Winner Things are going well at Amazon, and not just because it posted stronger than expected sales growth on Thursday afternoon. Earlier in the week, the leading online retailer announced that it was increasing the order size that qualifies for its FREE Super Saver Shipping option from $25 to $35 of Amazon-warehoused merchandise. This is a smart move on Amazon's part, especially as it pushes more of its customers to sign up for Amazon Prime, a service that offers unlimited free two-day shipping and other digital perks for just $79 a year. You also have to love Amazon's timing, pushing this through just weeks before the start of the critical 2013 holiday shopping season.

Microsoft shares jump 6% on Q1 results

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft shares jumped 6% in after-hours trading Thursday when it reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

The company reported a first-quarter profit of $5.24 billion, or 62 cents per share, on revenue of $18.53 billion. Both are improvements from a year ago, when Microsoft rang up a $4.7 billion (53 cents) profit on revenue of $16 million.

Analysts had forecast adjusted earnings of 54 cents a share, compared with 53 cents in the year-ago quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. They expected revenue to jump 11%, to $17.8 billion, for the three months ended Sept. 30.

Profit is growing more slowly because the software giant is spending more to market newer products like the Surface tablet and to build more data centers for Web services.

The results, reported after markets closed, sent Microsoft shares to $35.79in after-hours trading.

Investors are particularly keen as Microsoft's revenue increasingly comes from tablets, online software and smartphones to offset dips in traditional PC software. That task will fall to the successor to CEO Steve Ballmer, who said in August he will retire within 12 months.

Two historic cash cows – the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office — are dependent on sales of new PCs, which have tumbled year-over-year six straight quarters.

"Microsoft's revenue used to be linked to OS, but that is no longer the case," Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler says.

Profit, meanwhile, is growing more slowly because the software giant is spending more to market newer products like the Surface tablet and to build more data centers for Web services.

Microsoft remains a profit-making machine, which gives it the ability to catch rivals Amazon.com, Google and Apple in faster-growing businesses such as smartphones, tablets, entertainment and cloud computing, says Jeff Maling, co-CEO of Roundarch Isobar, a digital agency that builds consumer experiences for companies like HBO and Comedy Central.

!

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"I think everyone is waiting to see if the post-Steve Balmer Microsoft can use its cash cow (OS) to fuel a renaissance at the company," Maling says.

The quarter marked the first since a companywide reorganization. Microsoft's financial scorecard is divided into "Devices and Consumer" and a "Commercial" to offer investors a clearer picture on the performance of Microsoft's software sales to companies versus its consumer-product sales.

Hewlett-Packard Has No Choice

Don't be surprised, but Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) is about to get back into the smartphone business, even after a spectacular failure and exit in 2011. Shortly after taking over as CEO, Meg Whitman said it was unlikely that HP would ever be in the smartphone business again, a stance that she backtracked on a year later when she acknowledged that HP has to "ultimately offer a smartphone."

In an interview with The Indian Express, HP's director of consumer devices in the Asia Pacific region, Yam Su Yin, confirmed the re-entry into the smartphone market, although declined to specify when the PC giant would make the move. The exec added, "HP has to be in the game."

She acknowledges that due to prior missteps, HP is awfully late to the smartphone market. Because of that tardiness, HP needs to offer a different value proposition than what's currently available in the market, but there "are still things that can be done" and that HP will offer a "differentiated experience."

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That's easier said than done, as the smartphone market has quickly matured and OEMs have left no stone unturned in trying to differentiate from the rest of the pack. What platform would an HP smartphone run on?

The usual suspects
HP has become quite cozy with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) this year, releasing a slew of products running Chrome OS and Android in an effort to diversify away from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) . The Android devices that it has launched are mostly running stock versions of the operating system with minimal software additions, making them anything but differentiated. An HP Android phone would make sense considering HP's recent focus on the platform, but would ultimately be more of the same in the grand scheme of the smartphone market.

The company could consider giving Windows Phone a shot. However, that would mean calling up Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM  ) for ingredients, since Windows Phones exclusively run on Snapdragon processors. It's possible that there's tension between HP and Qualcomm, since the mobile chip giant had initially picked HP as one of its hardware partners for Windows RT devices last year only to see HP bail on the idea.

Rumors suggested that Microsoft's competing Surface RT played no small role in the decision. Officially, HP said the choice was based on "input from our customers," but HP's PC chief Todd Bradley's subsequent Surface bashing told a different story. HP also axed its Snapdragon-powered TouchPad almost immediately after launch, so Qualcomm wouldn't be wrong to think that HP might have commitment issues. An HP Windows Phone is possible, but HP would need to make amends with Qualcomm.

Two curveballs
One other possibility would be HP's zombie webOS platform, which still exists for some reason. HP is issuing a small update to allow webOS devices to continue accessing certain online services, which were set to go dark on July 23. The fact that HP is simply applying a small Band-Aid here instead of giving the aging webOS a proper update shows that it doesn't truly care about the platform.

The last remaining curveball is BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY  ) , which has hinted at possible licensing deals. BlackBerry and HP have a large customer overlap within the enterprise, and some co-branding could actually prove quite effective there. BlackBerry's last quarter was dismal, and even Jefferies analyst Peter Misek (a vocal bull), has slightly changed his tune and says the company needs to focus more on software at this point. Specifically, BlackBerry's biggest opportunity may lie in mobile device management, or MDM. Licensing BlackBerry 10 to HP could be a step in that direction, focusing on MDM and other services while HP handles the hardware.

Unfashionably late
Within the broader computing market, smartphones are the volume leader by far. HP's PC dominance won't do it any favors, as mobile adoption continues unabated. HP has no choice but to re-enter the smartphone market, but there's simply no way for it to do so in a differentiated way anymore considering how tardy it is to the party.

It's incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out "Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?" in The Motley Fool's latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.

These Big Winners Sent the Dow Up 150

The string of big moves for the stock market continued today, with bulls ending up the winners as the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) rose by almost 150 points. Today marked the 11th day in the past 12 that the Dow made a triple-digit move, and stirring investor sentiment was economic data pointing toward slower growth prospects for the U.S. economy. Fickle investors decided to interpret a downward revision in U.S. GDP as reason for the Federal Reserve to hold off on trimming its quantitative easing program, and that helped the struggling bond market bounce back somewhat today as well.

A few different Dow components posted 2% gains. Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) had the biggest impact on the Dow, as its share price pushed above the $100 mark as the company has benefited lately from big orders throughout the airline industry. Airlines having found new ways to profit through ancillary charges like baggage fees, and they've also benefited from a relative lack of competition that has enabled them to hold the line more effectively on fares. But as the need for updated fleets increases, airlines have already started turning to Boeing to meet their demand for greater fuel efficiency and state-of-the-art equipment and design. As long as Boeing can avoid production delays, the sky's the limit for the stock.

Home Depot (NYSE: HD  ) also rose by 2% as investors looked to strength in the housing market to drive sales for the home-improvement retailer. If today's bond-market reversal gains traction and mortgage rates start to head lower, then one major threat to housing's recovery could disappear. That in turn would leave Home Depot with a greater opportunity to take advantage of strong consumer confidence and pent-up demand for renovations and other home-improvement projects.

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Finally, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) was the last of the 2% trio as it announced plans to release Windows 8.1, which will respond to criticism by bringing back the operating system's popular Start button and also give users more flexibility to customize their use of applications on the screen. Yet part of the gains likely came from an analyst upgrade of Microsoft's stock, with the analyst pointing less toward its PC-related businesses and more toward other business initiatives with greater long-term growth potential. Either way, Microsoft appears increasingly focused on making the most of its longtime and newer businesses, and shareholders like what they're seeing.

If you're looking for some long-term investing ideas, you're invited to check out The Motley Fool's brand-new special report, "The 3 Dow Stocks Dividend Investors Need." It's absolutely free, so simply click here now and get your copy today.

Google, Chipotle shares jump after earnings

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Google Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Thursday after the company beat Wall Street sales and earnings estimates for the third quarter.

Getty Images Enlarge Image Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Shares of Google surged 7.6% to $956 on heavy volume following the report.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet search giant (GOOG)  reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $10.74 a share on adjusted revenue of $11.92 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $10.36 a share on revenue of $11.69 billion.(Read a recap of Google's earnings call with analysts.)

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) shares rose 7.7% to $473 on moderate volume after revenue exceeded analyst expectations and the burrito chain reported same-store sales growth of 6.2% and rising traffic from newer stores. Chipotle reported third-quarter earnings of $2.66 a share on revenue of $826.9 million. Analysts expected $2.78 a share on revenue of $820.3 million.

Earnings Wall

Discuss key earnings announcements before and after results come in. Learn more

Key reports we're tracking right now: MS | GE | HON

/conga/story/misc/earnings_wall_threewide.html 283558

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)  shares fell 6.9% to $3.81 on heavy volume after the chip maker gave a disappointing outlook even though it topped third-quarter estimates.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) shares dropped 6.8% to $372.11 on moderate volume as the surgical robot maker reported third-quarter revenue that slipped below Wall Street expectations and said it faces pressure from soft hospital spending.

Align Technology Inc. (ALGN)  shares jumped 15% to $52.88 on heavy volume after the maker of Invisalign braces reported third-quarter earnings of 42 cents a share on revenue of $164.5 million. Analysts expected 30 cents a share on revenue of $158.7 million.

Align Tech also forecast fourth-quarter earnings of 41 cents to 43 cents a share on revenue of $169.1 million to $173.1 million. Analysts estimate 36 cents a share on revenue of $164.3 million.

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 Steve Cohen, the billionaire founder of hedge fund SAC Capital, is gearing up for inflation...

 

As we've discussed many times in these pages... high-quality, prestigious assets – what we call "trophy assets" – tend to escalate in value during periods of high inflation. That's one reason Porter has invested in Miami Beach real estate.

 

Cohen's buying high-end real estate, too. He recently purchased a $60 million beach home in the Hamptons – the playground of New York City's elite. It's his second Hamptons house. He also owns two apartments in Manhattan – one is estimated to cost $115 million.

 

 In addition, Cohen is also one of the largest players in contemporary art. His collection is worth an estimated $1 billion. He paid music and movie billionaire David Geffen $139 million to buy the piece "Woman III" by the artist Willem de Kooning. In 2010, Cohen bought "Flag" by the artist Jasper Johns for around $110 million. In 2007, he purchased "Turquoise Marilyn" by legendary "pop" artist Andy Warhol for around $80 million.

 

 But his latest acquisition tops them all, and comes in the same week as his Hamptons house purchase... Cohen bought Pablo Picasso's "La Reve" from casino mogul Steve Wynn for a reported $155 million.

 

Coincidentally, one of the first pieces I published at S&A was about "La Reve"... And how Wynn accidentally elbowed a hole in the painting in 2007. (He paid $85,000 to repair it.)

 

 The highest-quality real estate, art, wine, and other collectibles always have a market with the ultra-rich. Regardless of what is happening in the economy, these billionaires have cash. And they're always ready to purchase a one-of-a-kind asset (especially when it doesn't trade hands often).

 

The ultra-wealthy are looking to preserve their wealth. And with the threat of inflation looming, art and real estate are popular options.

 

But Cohen may have other motives for bulking up his art collection... As Porter explained in the February 14 Digest Premium... art and other collectibles are also a great way to protect your wealth from the IRS. From Digest Premium:

 

Owning collectibles offers one major advantage – one that I think drives 90% of the demand for collectibles: It's a great way to protect your wealth from the IRS. People know that when they die, the IRS won't have any idea what is hanging up on their walls or hiding in their vaults. So they hide money in these trophies to give to their children to avoid estate taxes.

10 Best Casino Stocks To Invest In 2014: Boyd Gaming Corporation(BYD)

Boyd Gaming Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-jurisdictional gaming company in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the company owned and operated 1,042,787 square feet of casino space, containing approximately 25,973 slot machines, 655 table games, and 11,418 hotel rooms. It also owned and operated 16 gaming entertainment properties located in Nevada, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and New Jersey. In addition, the company owns and operates a pari-mutuel jai-alai facility located in Dania Beach, Florida, as well as a travel agency in Hawaii. Further, it holds a 50% controlling interest in the limited liability company that operates Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Boyd Gaming Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD  ) reported earnings on April 24. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Boyd Gaming met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

10 Best Casino Stocks To Invest In 2014: Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.(PNK)

Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. owns, develops, and operates casinos, and related hospitality and entertainment facilities in the United States. It operates casinos, such as L'Auberge du Lac in Lake Charles, Louisiana; River City Casino and Lumiere Place in St. Louis, Missouri; Boomtown New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana; Belterra Casino Resort in Vevay, Indiana; Boomtown Bossier City in Bossier City, Louisiana; and Boomtown Reno in Reno, Nevada. The company also operates River Downs racetrack in southeast Cincinnati, Ohio. As of May 26, 2011, it operated seven casinos and one racetrack. The company was formerly known as Hollywood Park, Inc. and changed its name to Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. in February 2000. Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. was founded in 1935 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Time to make the switch
  If I could name a sector that I'd certainly tread lightly around considering that consumers are tightening their wallets, it would be the casino sector. Casino companies rely on loose wallets and vacations to drive profits. This is why I feel it could be the time to say goodbye to casino and race track operator Pinnacle Entertainment (NYSE: PNK  ) near its 52-week high.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Pinnacle Entertainment (PNK) has gained 56% this year; Las Vegas Sands (LVS) has climbed 38%. And Deutsche Bank has nice things to say about both today.

  Bloomberg

  First Pinnacle. Deutsche Bank’s Carlo Santarelli ponders the stock’s big move and comes away still seeing value in its shares. He writes:

  When we upgraded PNK in April, our thesis centered on the FCF strength of the combined entities [Pinnacle completed its acquisition of Ameristar Casinos on Aug. 14], a handful of favorable catalysts, easing regional gaming comps, & an inexpensive relative valuation. Given the shares’ sizeable move since then, we believe it is worth revisiting the investment case. Post the announcement of several asset sales and the closing of the transaction, we are adjusting our estimates, raising our PT to $30 from $24, and maintaining our bullish view at current levels given what we still believe to be an attractive free cash flow valuation, meaningful potential synergy realization beyond the $40 mm of announced benefits, and a free option on a lagging regional recovery.

  Santarelli also revisited Las Vegas Sands and there too, he likes what he sees. He writes:

  With…LVS at [a share price level] that have been challenging to break from over the last year plus, we believe this time is different and hence we see continued upward momentum…In the case of LVS, we see; 1) meaningful mass market strength continuing through year end, setting the stage for upward company and market estimate revisions for 2014, 2) continued cash flow appreciation and capital returns serving as downside protection and positive catalysts, and 3) continued shared gains, largely driven by table optimization and mass market strength, driving both estimates and sentiment.

  He also likes Wynn Resorts (WYNN), despite its 34% gain.�Santarelli writes:

  As for WYNN, we believe near-term estimates continue to take a back seat to capital return

Top 5 Canadian Stocks For 2014: Penn National Gaming Inc.(PENN)

Penn National Gaming, Inc. and its subsidiaries own and manage gaming and pari-mutuel properties in the United States. It operates approximately 27,000 gaming machines; 500 table games; and 2,000 hotel rooms in 23 facilities in 16 jurisdictions, including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ontario. The company was formerly known as PNRC Corp. and changed its name to Penn National Gaming, Inc. in 1994. Penn National Gaming, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

   

  Penn National Gaming (PENN) is a diversified, multi-jurisdictional owner and manager of gaming and pari-mutuel properties. This stock closed up 1.4% at $56.13 in Monday's trading session.

   

  Monday's Volume: 1.11 million
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 824,334
  
  Volume % Change: 73%

   

   

  From a technical perspective, PENN jumped modestly higher here right above some near-term support at $54.71 with above-average volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of PENN within range of triggering a breakout trade. That trade will hit if PENN manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance at $57.44 to some past resistance at $58 with high volume.

   

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in PENN as long as it's trending above Monday's low $55.65 or above more support at $54.71 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that this near or above 824,334 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then PENN will set up to re-test or possibly take out its 52-week high at $59.93. Any high-volume move above $59.93 will then give PENN a chance to hit $65.

   

10 Best Casino Stocks To Invest In 2014: (XTRN)

Las Vegas Railway Express Inc. focuses to re-establish a conventional passenger train service between the Las Vegas and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. It plans to establish a ?Vegas-style? passenger train service. The company is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

10 Best Casino Stocks To Invest In 2014: Wynn Resorts Limited(WYNN)

Wynn Resorts, Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, ownership, and operation of destination casino resorts. The company owns and operates Wynn Las Vegas casino resort in Las Vegas, which includes approximately 22 food and beverage outlets comprising 5 dining restaurants; 2 nightclubs; 1 spa and salon; 1 Ferrari and Maserati automobile dealership; wedding chapels; an 18-hole golf course; meeting space; and foot retail promenade featuring boutiques. Wynn Las Vegas casino resort also features approximately 147 table games, 1 baccarat salon, private VIP gaming rooms, 1 poker room, 1,842 slot machines, and 1 race and sports book. It also owns and operates an Encore at Wynn Las Vegas resort, a destination casino resort located adjacent to Wynn Las Vegas that features a 2,034 all-suite hotel, as well as a casino with 95 table games, 1 sky casino, 1 baccarat salon, private VIP gaming rooms, and 778 slot machines. In addition, the company operates Wyn n Macau casino resort located in the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People?s Republic of China. Wynn Macau casino resort features approximately 595 hotel rooms and suites, 410 table games, 935 slot machines, 1 poker room, 1 sky casino, 6 restaurants, 1 spa and salon, lounges, meeting facilities, and retail space featuring boutiques. Further, it operates Encore at Wynn Macau resort located adjacent to Wynn Macau. Encore at Wynn Macau resort features approximately 410 luxury suites and 4 villas, as well as casino gaming space, including a sky casino consisting of 60 table games and 80 slot machines, 2 restaurants, 1 luxury spa, and retail space. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Vodicka]

  But that got me thinking: Which companies from the S&P 500 are the most shareholder friendly, with the biggest dividend increases in the last 5 years? Here is a list of the top 5 companies from the last 5 years with the biggest dividend increases.

  UnitedHealth Group (UNH) 152%Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) 137%Aetna, Inc. (AET) 136%Ensco Plc. (ESV) 121%Western Union (WU) 91%

  But from the group, there is one company that offers the most unique combination of growth and income. And even though shares are up a market-beating 43% on the year, there should be plenty more to come.

10 Best Casino Stocks To Invest In 2014: MGM Resorts International(MGM)

MGM Resorts International, through its subsidiaries, primarily owns and operates casino resorts in the United States. The company?s resorts offer gaming, hotel, dining, entertainment, retail, and other resort amenities. It also owns and operates golf courses and a golf club. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned and operated 15 properties located in Nevada, Mississippi, and Michigan; and has 50% investments in 4 other casino resorts in Nevada, Illinois, and Macau. In addition, MGM Resorts International has an agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns and operates a casino resort in Connecticut, to carry the ?MGM Grand? brand name. The company was formerly known as MGM MIRAGE and changed its name to MGM Resorts International in June 2010. MGM Resorts International was founded in 1986 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  The recovery in Las Vegas is gaining steam, and after 6.4% growth in May and 4.3% growth over the past year, the gaming companies there have some room to breathe. MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM  ) and Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR  ) have the most to gain, but Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN  ) and Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS  ) will benefit as well. In the following video, gaming analyst Travis Hoium covers who will benefit the most from Las Vegas' growth and one stock to stay away from.�

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  The real question is whether Zynga can hold off experienced casino operators if online gambling becomes a reality. Already, alliances are forming, with Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD  ) and MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM  ) having linked up with bwin.party -- the same company Zynga tapped for its real-money Zynga Poker -- to help Boyd take advantage of newly legal online gambling in New Jersey. Zynga has the obvious edge with its social savvy, but established casino companies will have huge incentives to defend their turf if Zynga starts to make a serious dent in the industry.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Vikings became a huge success for A&E when it began airing in the U.S. in the month preceding GoT's Season 3 premiere on HBO. On Friday, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) announced a deal in cooperation with MGM (NYSE: MGM  ) Television to bring the series to the U.K. and Germany via Amazon's local streaming subsidiary LOVEFiLM.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Even if a federal bill does pass, there's no guarantee Zynga would win. Online poker is all about gaining a critical mass of users, and it's a uphill battle. MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM  ) and Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD  ) have already partnered with bwin.party for a U.S. online gaming venture. Bwin.party is one of the largest real-money online poker companies in the world, and with PokerStars likely shut out of the U.S. in the near future, this would be a formidable opponent. Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR  ) has also had its eyes on online poker for some time, and with the World Series of Poker brand, it has a big draw for players. Caesars thinks so much of online poker that it's spinning off its "growth" assets, and online games are a key part of the new company.

Hub Group Drops 5% as Earnings Miss, Macquarie Cuts

Shares of  Hub Group (HBGL) have plunged today after logistics company failed to deliver solid earnings.

Bloomberg News

The Associated Press has the details:

The company said it expects earnings in the quarter that ended on Sept. 30 to be between 48 cents and 51 cents per share, below the 54 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Full results will be released on Oct. 17.

10 Best Insurance Stocks To Watch For 2014

It also predicted earnings for the year between $1.85 and $1.95 per share, also below the $2.02 expected.

JPMorgan’s Michael Weinz and Thomas Wadewitz explain what caused the miss:

Our sense is that the truck brokerage and intermodal segments experienced unfavorable mix impacts that would be a headwind to gross yields. Intermodal was negatively impacted by soft demand for West Coast originated shipments, which we believe generates more operating margin dollars per shipment due to a longer length of haul compared to local east traffic. Truck brokerage mix was negatively impacted by a decline in demand for high-value services, which would imply lower truck brokerage margins.

Macquarie’s Kelly Dougherty and team say Hub no longer deserves “the benefit of the doubt.” They write:

…we no longer think HUBG can deliver on the growth or margin improvement we previously expected given both intermodal (IM) & truck brokerage weakness. A seeming inability to pass through IM rail cost increases, coupled with ongoing truck brokerage challenges, leave us with little to get excited about even as we look beyond 2013.

They downgrade Hub to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $37.50, down from $41.

Shares of Hub have dropped 5.1% to $35.41, but the plunge doesn’t seem to be weighing on other logistic companies. CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW), for instance, has gained 1.1% to $58.64, JB Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) has risen 1.1% to $71.61, Swift Transportation (SWFT) has advanced 0.9% to $19.56 and Ryder System (R) is up 3.1% to $59.23.

U.K. Stocks Jump Amid Signs of Compromise on U.S. Debt

U.K. stocks surged the most in three months amid signs that U.S. lawmakers may agree on a compromise deal to avoid a sovereign-debt default.

Hays Plc (HAS) climbed 2.2 percent after the recruitment company said quarterly fees increased in its European markets. WH Smith Plc (SMWH) jumped the most in six months after raising its final dividend and saying it plans to repurchase an additional 50 million pounds ($80 million) of shares. Melrose Industries Plc (MRO) added 1.8 percent after KKR & Co. said it will pay about $1 billion for two of its U.S. industrial-products companies.

The FTSE 100 Index advanced 92.58 points, or 1.5 percent, to 6,430.49 at the close of trading in London, halting a three-day losing streak after falling to a three-week low yesterday. The equity benchmark has lost 2.9 percent from a high on Sept. 19 as a standoff between U.S. lawmakers led to the first partial government shutdown in 17 years. The broader FTSE All-Share Index also added 1.5 percent today, as did Ireland's ISEQ Index.

"If they do not agree, and the U.S. has automatic spending cuts, that will lead to a German-style austerity and the U.S. will go straight into recession," Alain Bokobza, head of strategy at Societe Generale SA told Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television. "The probability of this happening is very small."

The volume of shares changing hands in FTSE 100-listed companies today was 10 percent lower than the daily average in the past 30 days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Debt Ceiling

Top Blue Chip Companies To Own For 2014

House Republican leaders are presenting their members with a proposal to raise the $16.7 trillion U.S. debt limit for six weeks without policy conditions, said a congressional aide familiar with the details. The world's biggest economy will exhaust its borrowing authority by Oct. 17 without a deal, according to the Treasury Department.

The Republican proposal wouldn't end the partial government shutdown, said the aide, who asked for anonymity to discuss strategy. Obama will meet House Republican leaders at 4:35 p.m. in Washington.

The Bank of England held its key interest rate at 0.5 percent and kept its asset-purchase program unchanged today, matching predictions in two separate Bloomberg News surveys. Governor Mark Carney has said the central bank won't consider raising its benchmark rate at least until unemployment falls to 7 percent, which it forecasts may not happen until late 2016.

Hays climbed 2.2 percent to 118.1 pence. Comparable fees rose 8 percent in the U.K. and Ireland region for the three months ended Sept. 30, the company said today. Fees rose 7 percent in Germany from last year, contributing to a 2 percent increase for the group in the period.

Dividend Increase

WH Smith rallied 5.6 percent to 882 pence, its biggest increase since April 11 and the highest price since the chain-store split its units in 2006. The retailer proposed a final dividend of 21.3 pence per share, up from last year's 18.6 pence a share.

Melrose rose 1.8 percent to 295.2 pence after KKR, a New-York based private-equity firm, said it will buy Crosby Group and Acco Material Handling Solutions from the U.K. company. Melrose, based in London, bought the manufacturing companies in 2008 with the intention of improving their performance and selling them.

Whitbread Plc (WTB) added 4.1 percent to 3,114 pence, its largest advance since September 2012. Oriel Securities Ltd. raised its rating on the shares to buy from hold, citing improvement in the U.K. hotel market.

Talvivaara Mining Co. Plc slumped 20 percent to 6.86 pence, extending losses so far this year to 75 percent. The Finnish commodity producer said it is assessing all options for additional funding to offset low prices and output.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014

The following video is from Thursday's Investor Beat,� in which host Chris Hill, and analysts Jason Moser and Isaac Pino dissect the hardest-hitting investing stories of the day.

J.M. Smucker's (NYSE: SJM  ) �fourth-quarter profit rose 25%, but overall revenue was down, and so was the stock. Costco's (NASDAQ: COST  ) same-store sales rose 5% in May. Shares of Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST  ) fell after the company announced a secondary stock offering. And Vera Bradley's (NASDAQ: VRA  ) �first-quarter profits fell 27%. In this installment of Investor Beat, Motley Fool analysts Jason Moser and Isaac Pino discuss four stocks making big moves.

Costco's low prices haven't just benefited customers -- shareholders have walloped the market, returning 11,000% over the past two decades. However, with prices near all-time highs, is the ride over for Costco investors? To answer that and more, The Motley Fool's compiled a premium research report with in-depth analysis on Costco.�Simply click here now to gain instant access to this valuable investor's resource.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Robex Resources Inc.(RBX.V)

Robex Resources Inc. engages in the exploration and development of gold properties in Mali, western Africa. The company?s primary properties include Wili-Wili and Wili-Wili West permits that together cover an area of 270 square kilometers and are located in western Mali; and Diangounte permit, which covers 52.14 square kilometers and is located in western Mali, as well as in Nampala gold deposit on the Mininko permit that consist of 62 square kilometers and is located in southern Mali. It also owns interests Kamasso and N?Golopene projects in southern Mali; and Sanoula, Kolomba, and Moussala in western Mali. The company is headquartered in Quebec, Canada.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Greene King(GNK.L)

Greene King plc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a pub retailer and brewer in the United Kingdom. It operates pubs, restaurants, and hotels; and tenanted and leased pubs in England. The company brews, markets, and sells a range of cask ales under Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale, and Belhaven Best. It also distributes beers, wines, spirits, and soft drinks through distributors to pubs and restaurants. The company runs approximately 2,000 managed and tenanted pubs, restaurants, and hotels. Greene King plc was founded in 1799 and is headquartered in Bury St. Edmunds, the United Kingdom.

Best Value Stocks To Invest In Right Now: ASF Group Ltd(AFA.AX)

ASF Group Limited, an investment company, operates in the resources, property, travel, commodities, infrastructure, and financial services sectors in Australia and China. The company holds interests in various mineral exploration projects, including the South Ellendale thermal coal and diamonds project covering an area of approximately 2,000 square kilometers in the Canning Basin of Western Australia; and two mineral exploration ventures for base metals and gold in Tasmania. It also involves in the shipping of bulk commodities from Australia to markets in China; development of port and rail facilities; and provision of property services to Chinese investors in Australia, as well as provides funds management and advisory services. ASF Group Limited was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Zicom Group Ltd (ZGL.AX)

Zicom Group Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of deck machinery, offshore structures, fluid metering stations, process plants, foundation equipment and concrete mixers, and precision engineered machinery and services to the offshore marine, oil and gas, construction, electronics, biomedical, and agriculture industries. The company offers deck machinery and equipment, including winches, windlasses, capstans, deck cranes, derricks, cable laying and life boat davits, shark jaws, and towing pins; oil and gas equipment, such as fluid regulating and metering stations, and water bath heaters; transit concrete mixers; and foundation equipment, which include vibratory piling hammers, impact piling hammers, boring machines, and vibroflots. It also provides precision engineered and automation equipment comprising turn-key automated production lines, semi-conductor and electronic equipment, bio-medical equipment, equipment and modular components, and precision machining, as well as production integration systems solutions consisting of production jigs. In addition, the company offers industrial and mobile equipment, including hydraulic systems drives and special purpose hydraulically driven industrial machineries; and geotechnical equipment, as well as production integration solutions and hydraulic system services. It operates in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, the United States, and internationally. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Singapore.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Premium Exploration Inc (PEM.V)

Premium Exploration Inc., an exploration stage company, engages in the exploration and development of various precious metal properties in the United States. It primarily explores for gold, platinum, palladium, and rhodium. The company holds titles in the Idaho Gold project located in the Orogrande Shear Zone in North-Central Idaho. Its properties also include the Chrome Mountain property located in South-Central Montana. Premium Exploration Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Rainmaker Systems Inc.(RMKR)

Rainmaker Systems, Inc. provides sales and marketing solutions, combining hosted application software, and execution services to enterprises operating in the computer hardware and software, telecommunications, and financial services industries. Its services include service contract sales and renewals, software license sales, subscription renewals, and warranty extension sales; lead generation, qualification, and management; and hosted application software for training sales. The company?s Rainmaker Revenue Delivery Platform combines proprietary technology platform, including hosted application software; database of corporate buyers of technology products and services; data development and analytics services; and sales and marketing execution services. Its Rainmaker Solutions consist of data integration and enhancement, marketing strategy development and execution, and customer deliverables and integration. The company markets its service through a direct sales force of re presentatives. It operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines. Rainmaker Systems, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Campbell, California.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: First Interstate BancSystem Inc.(FIBK)

First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for First Interstate Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking services. Its deposit products include checking, savings, time, and demand deposits; and repurchase agreements primarily for commercial and municipal depositors. The company?s loan portfolio consists of a mix of real estate, consumer, commercial, agricultural, and other loans, including fixed and variable rate loans. Its real estate loans comprise commercial real estate, construction, residential, agricultural, and other real estate loans. The company also provides a range of trust, employee benefit, investment management, insurance, agency, and custodial services to individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. These services include the administration of estates and personal trusts; management of investment accounts for individuals, employee benefit plans, and charitable foundations; and insurance planning. It serves indi viduals, businesses, municipalities, and other entities in various industries, including energy, healthcare and professional services, education and governmental services, construction, mining, agriculture, retail and wholesale trade, and tourism. The company operates 72 banking offices in 42 communities located in Montana, Wyoming, and western South Dakota. First Interstate BancSystem, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Billings, Montana.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Meridian Bioscience Inc.(VIVO)

Meridian Bioscience, Inc., a life science company, engages in the development, manufacture, sale, and distribution of diagnostic test kits primarily for gastrointestinal, foodborne, viral, respiratory, and parasitic infectious diseases. The company?s diagnostic products primarily consist of C. difficile for the detection of gastrointestinal diseases; Rotavirus and Adenovirus products for pediatric diarrhea detection; H. pylori for stomach ulcers; Enterohemorrhagic E. coli infection and Campylobacter jejuni used in the detection of foodborne diseases; Varicella-Zoster for viral diseases; and Cytomegalovirus for organ transplant infections. Its products also include transport media that store and preserve specimen samples from patient collection to laboratory testing. The company?s diagnostic test kits utilize immunodiagnostic and molecular technologies, which test samples of stool, blood, urine, and other body fluids or tissue for the presence of specific infectious disea ses. In addition, Meridian Bioscience, Inc. manufactures and distributes bulk antigens, antibodies, PCR/qPCR reagents, nucleotides, competent cells, and bioresearch reagents used by researchers and other diagnostic manufacturers. Further, it involved in the contract development and manufacture of proteins and other biologicals under cGMP conditions for use by biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in research for new drugs and vaccines. The company sells its diagnostic test kits through direct sales force and independent distributors to reference laboratories and hospitals, principally in the United States, Canada, Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, the United Kingdom, Africa, the Middle East, and other European countries. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Meridian Bioscience (Nasdaq: VIVO  ) reported earnings on July 25. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 30 (Q3), Meridian Bioscience met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: Cousins Properties Inc (CUZ)

Cousins Properties Incorporated (Cousins) is a real estate investment trust (REIT). Cousins Real Estate Corporation and its subsidiaries (CERC) is wholly owned by the Company. CERC owns, develops, and manages its own real estate portfolio and performs certain real estate related services for other parties. The Company operates in five segments: Office, Retail, Land, CPS Third-Party Management and Leasing and Other. The Office and Retail segments show the results for that product type. The Land segment includes results of operations for certain land holdings and single-family residential communities that are sold as developed lots to homebuilders. Fee income and related expenses for the third party-owned properties which are managed or leased by the Company�� CPS subsidiary are included in the CPS Third Party Management and Leasing segment. The Company also owns interests in residential development projects, undeveloped land tracts held for investment, and manages properties for third party owners. In August 2012, the Company acquired 2100 Ross Avenue, an 844,000-square-foot, Class-A office building located in the Arts District submarket of Dallas, Texas. In April 2013, Cousins Properties Inc (Cousins) acquired 816 Congress.

Office

As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned directly or through joint ventures 21 operating office properties totaling 7.8 million square feet. The Company developed most of the office properties it owns. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company�� activity in its office property portfolio was Execution of new or renewed existing leases consisting of approximately 1.0 million square feet, acquition of Promenade, a 775,000-square-foot office building in the midtown submarket of Atlanta, Georgia, and sale of one Georgia Center, a 376,000-square-foot office building in Atlanta, Georgia.

Retail

As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned directly or through joint ventures 17 operating retail centers totaling 4.8 million s! quare feet.

The Company developed most of the retail properties it owns. During 2011, the Company�� activities in its retail property portfolio included execution of new or renewed leases covering approximately 856,000 square feet; construction of Mahan Village, a 147,000 square foot shopping center, anchored by Publix and Academy Sports, in Tallahassee, Florida; construction of the first phase of Emory Point, a mixed-use project in Atlanta, Georgia, expected to consist of 443 apartment units and 80,000 square foot of retail space, in a joint venture with Gables Residential.

Third Party Management and Other Fee Income

As of December 31, 2011, the Company managed and/or leased 12.7 million square feet of office and retail properties for third party owners. In addition, the Company has contracts to provide development and construction management services for third party owners.

Other Investments

As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned directly or through joint ventures, 22 residential development projects and residential and commercial undeveloped land, the Company�� share of which was approximately 5,000 acres. During 2011, the Company sold the remaining five multi-family units available for sale at the 10 Terminus Place condominium project; sold the Jefferson Mill Business Park Building A industrial building in suburban Atlanta, Georgia; sold the King Mill Distribution Park Building 3 industrial building in suburban Atlanta, Georgia; sold the Lakeside Ranch Business Park Building 20 industrial building and related undeveloped land in Dallas, Texas; sold approximately 43 acres of land and sold 482 residential lots.

Top 10 Low Price Stocks To Invest In 2014: B.O.S. Better Online Solutions(BOSC)

B.O.S Better Online Solutions Ltd. provides radio frequency identification (RFID) and supply chain solutions to enterprises primarily in the Europe, the United States, the Far East, and Israel. Its RFID and Mobile Solutions division offers hardware products, including thermal and barcode printers; RFID and barcode scanners and readers; wireless, mobile, and forklift terminals; wireless infrastructure; active and passive RFID tags; and consumables, such as ribbons, labels, and tags, as well as BOS ID software platform for systems integrators to assemble applications for transfer to automatic ID data capture clients. This division also develops applications comprising BOS LIVESTOCK, a software application that enables management, tracking, support, and planning of livestock day-to- day operations; BOS CarID, a solution to identify and track vehicles for a range of transportation-related settings; BOS STOCK, a data collection solution for logistics management in stores and wa rehouses; and BOS Mfgr., a production line tracking solution. The company?s Supply Chain Solutions division distributes electronic components, such as active, passive, electro-mechanical, and microwave components, as well as full access networks equipment for IT and telecommunications; and communication servers, multi-protocol print servers, server adapters, USB products, switches, fiber optics equipment, ADSL and XDSL routers, modems, VoIP, storage equipment, and ATM devices. This division also offers components consolidation services to the aerospace, defense, medical, and telecommunications industries, as well as enterprise clients; engages in the inventory and quality control management of components entering production lines; and provides warehouse management services for ongoing projects. B.O.S Better Online Solutions Ltd. sells its products through direct sales, sales agents, and integrators. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Rishon LeZion, Isra el.