Apple, Google settle dispute over smartphone tech

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple and Google's Motorola Mobility unit have agreed to settle all patent litigation between them over smartphone technology, ending one of the highest-profile lawsuits in technology.

In a joint statement on Friday, the companies said the settlement does not include a cross license to their respective patents.

"Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform," the statement said.

Apple and companies that make phones using Google's Android software have filed dozens of such lawsuits against each other around the world to protect their technology. Apple argued that Android phones that use Google software copy its iPhones.

The two companies informed a federal appeals court in Washington that the cases should be dismissed, according to filings on Friday. However, the deal does not appear to apply to Apple's litigation against Samsung Electronics, as no dismissal notices were filed in those cases.

The most high-profile case between Apple and Motorola began in 2010. Motorola accused Apple of infringing several patents, including one essential to how cell phones operate on a 3G network, while Apple said Motorola violated its patents to certain smartphone features.

The cases were consolidated in a Chicago federal court. However, Judge Richard Posner dismissed it in 2012 shortly before trial, saying neither company had sufficient evidence to prove its case.

Last month, the appeals court gave the iPhone manufacturer another chance to win a sales ban against its competitor.

Google acquired Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.5 billion, and this year announced was selling Motorola Mobility's handset business to Lenovo, while keeping the vast majority of the patents. (Reporting by Dan Levine. Editing by Andre Grenon)

Top Industrial Conglomerate Stocks To Watch For 2016

Top Industrial Conglomerate Stocks To Watch For 2016: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHVYF)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. is a diversified manufacturer. The Energy and Environment segment offers boilers, turbines, gas turbines, diesel engines, water wheels, windmills, nuclear power equipments, nuclear power peripheral devices, among others. The Traffic and Transportation segment offers various ships, including cruise ships, liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) ships, car ferry, special purpose vessels, automobile carriers, oil tankers, container ships and others, as well as marine structures, among others. The Defense and Space segment offers ships, fighters, helicopters, aircraft fuselage parts, defense aircraft engines, induction flying objects, torpedoes, among others. The Machinery and Equipment systems segment offers waste treatment and exhaust gas treatment equipments, transportation equipments, steel machinery, compressors, bridges, among others. As of March 31, 2014, the Company had 290 subsidiaries and 39 associated companies . Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.MARKETWATCH.COM]

  LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japan's Nikkei Average (JP:NIK) traded 0.5% higher in the early minutes Tuesday, extending the previous day's 0.9% advance, with the market getting some support from overnight gains for U.S. shares and a slightly weaker yen (dollar at ¥101.56 vs. ¥101.40 at Monday's open). Among the gainers, Toshiba Corp. (JP:6502) (TOSYY) rose 1.7%, Hitachi Ltd. (JP:6501) (HTHIF) gained 1.5%, NEC Corp. (JP:6701) ! (NIPNF) improved by 2.5%, Bridgestone Corp. (JP:5108) (BRDCF) added 2.7% to extend gains over the past couple weeks following the company's purchase of U.S.-based Masthead Industries, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (JP:7011) (MHVYF) traded 1.1% higher as a Wall Street Journal report said the industrial major's Mitsubishi Aircraft unit had reached a tentative deal to sell 40 jets for the planned revival of defunct U.S. carrier Eastern Air Lines Group Inc. Auto makers were firmer as well, with Nissan Motor Co. (JP:7201) (NSANY) up 1.3%, Toyota Motor Corp. (JP:7203) (TM) up 0.5%, and Honda Motor Co. (JP:7267)

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-industrial-conglomerate-stocks-to-watch-for-2016.html

Top 10 Paper Companies To Buy For 2015

For many children, summer holidays mean the chance to earn and spend summer cash. This article will look at how to get the most out of your child's summer cash by sneaking a few financial lessons into the spending spree.

Summer Work
The best way for your child to earn summer cash is to find a job working for someone other than you. In addition to requiring motivation and a sense of responsibility, an impartial employer is more likely to set clear expectations and provide the feedback that a child needs from a boss. If you have to play both the parent and the boss, the roles can get muddled. That said, the scope of jobs available to your child is limited by age. In the U.S., a child must be 14 or older to work nonagricultural jobs, excluding paper deliver and some other traditional childhood jobs as defined by the law. In reality, children under the age of 14 are often employed off the grid weeding gardens, watering lawns, and generally helping out in exchange for cash.

The Allowance

Top 5 Consumer Companies To Invest In Right Now: Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund(CFP)

Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund is a closed-ended equity fund of fund launched and managed by Cornerstone Advisors, Inc. The fund invests funds investing in the public equity markets of the United States. It invests in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. Cornerstone Progressive Return Fund was formed on April 26, 2007 and is domiciled in the United States.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But you can see in several places the consequences of the stampede toward high yield. Here are just a few:

  Closed-end funds Cornerstone Progressive (NYSEMKT: CFP  ) and Pimco High Income (NYSE: PHK  ) both make fixed payments back to fund shareholders on a monthly basis, and their distribution yields are truly extraordinary, at about 17% and 12%, respectively. Those dividends have enticed shareholders to pay $1.30 to $1.40 or more for each $1 of assets in the funds. Yet during most months, a substantial portion of those distribution payments has simply been a return of investor capital rather than true income from the funds' investments. A recent study discussed in The Wall Street Journal found that returns on a portfolio with a combined value and dividend-income strategy outperformed a strategy focused more exclusively on maximizing dividends by an average of 1.7 percentage points per year, a huge edge in long-run returns. In the dividend ETF arena, most funds tend to focus on maximizing yield. Although the popular Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEMKT: VIG  ) ETF bucks the trend by screening first for consistent dividend growth and only then looking at yield as a factor, many rival ETFs start with high-yielding stocks as their baseline and only then consider other desirable traits. Others focus solely on high-dividend niches of the market, such as iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage-Plus (NYSEMKT: REM  ) and its concentration on high-yield mortgage REITs.

  When dividend stocks get too popular, their prices get out of line with both their dividend income and the fundamentals of the businesses that underlie those stocks. In simpler terms, when dividend stocks become bad values, it's time to consider looking elsewhere for a margin of safety.

Top 10 Paper Companies To Buy For 2015: Domtar Corp (UFS)

Domtar Corporation, incorporated on August 16, 2006, designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a range of fiber-based products, including communication papers, specialty and packaging papers and adult incontinence products. The Company operates in three business segments: Pulp and Paper, Distribution and Personal Care. Its Pulp and Paper segment consists of the manufacturing, sale and distribution of communication, specialty and packaging papers, as well as softwood, fluff and hardwood market pulp. The Company�� Distribution segment includes the purchasing, warehousing, sale and distribution of its paper products and those of other manufacturers. These products include business and printing papers, certain industrial products and printing supplies. Its Personal Care segment consists of the manufacturing, sale and distribution of adult incontinence products.The Company is an integrated marketer and manufacturer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America for a variety of customers, including merchants, retail outlets, stationers, printers, publishers, converters and end-users. The Company produces incontinence care products marketed primarily under the Attends brand. The Company owns and operates Ariva. On May 10, 2012, the Company acquired EAM Corporation. In June 2013, the Company announced the completion of its acquisition of Xerox Corp paper and print media products business in the United States and Canada. In July 2013, Domtar Corp announced that completion of the acquisition of Associated Hygienic Products (AHP) from DSG International. In January 2014, the Company acquired Laboratorios Indas, SAU.

Pulp and Paper

The Company produces 4.2 million metric tons of hardwood, softwood and fluff pulp at 12 of its 13 mills. The majority of its pulp is consumed internally to manufacture paper and consumer products, with the balance being sold as market pulp. The Company also purchases papergrade pulp from third parties. The Company has 10 pulp and paper mills (eight in the! United States and two in Canada), with an annual paper production capacity of approximately 3.4 million tons of uncoated freesheet paper. Its paper manufacturing operations are supported by 15 converting and distribution operations, including a network of 12 plants located offsite of its paper making operations. In addition, it has forms manufacturing operations at three offsite converting and distribution operations. Approximately 81% of its paper production capacity is in the United States, and the remaining 19% is located in Canada.

The Company produces market pulp in excess of its internal requirements at its three non-integrated pulp mills in Kamloops, Dryden, and Plymouth, as well as at its pulp and paper mills in Espanola, Ashdown, Hawesville, Windsor, Marlboro and Nekoosa. The Company sells approximately 1.6 million metric tons of pulp per year depending on market conditions. Approximately 50% of its trade pulp production capacity is in the United States, and the remaining 50% is located in Canada. The fiber used by its pulp and paper mills in the United States is hardwood and softwood, both being readily available in the market from multiple third-party sources. The fiber used at its Windsor pulp and paper mill is hardwood originating from a variety of sources, including purchases on the open market in Canada and the United States, contracts with Quebec wood producers��marketing boards, public land where it has wood supply allocations and from its private lands. The softwood and hardwood fiber for its Espanola pulp and paper mill and the softwood fiber for its Dryden pulp mill, is obtained from third parties, directly or indirectly from public lands, through designated wood supply allocations for the pulp mills. The fiber used at the Company�� Kamloops pulp mill is all softwood, originating from third-party sawmilling operations in the southern-interior part of British Columbia.

The Company uses various chemical compounds in its pulp and paper manufacturing facili! ties that! it purchases, primarily on a central basis, through contracts. For pulp manufacturing, it uses numerous chemicals, including caustic soda, sodium chlorate, sulfuric acid, lime and peroxide. For paper manufacturing, it also uses several chemical products, including starch, precipitated calcium carbonate, optical brighteners, dyes and aluminum sulfate. It owns power generating assets, including steam turbines, at all of its integrated pulp and paper mills, as well as hydro assets at four locations: Espanola, Ottawa-Hull, Nekoosa and Rothschild. The Company�� business papers include copy and electronic imaging papers, which are used with ink jet and laser printers, photocopiers and plain-paper fax machines, as well as computer papers, preprinted forms and digital papers. These products are primarily for office and home use. The Company�� commercial printing and publishing papers include uncoated freesheet papers, such as offset papers and opaques. These uncoated freesheet grades are used in sheet and roll fed offset presses across the spectrum of commercial printing end-uses, including digital printing. Its publishing papers include tradebook and lightweight uncoated papers used primarily in book publishing applications, such as textbooks, dictionaries, catalogs, magazines, hard cover novels and financial documents. Design papers, a sub-group of commercial printing and publishing papers, have features of color, brightness and texture and are targeted towards graphic artists, design and advertising agencies, primarily for special brochures and annual reports. These products also include base papers that are converted into finished products, such as envelopes, tablets, business forms and data processing/computer forms.

The Company also produces paper for several specialty and packaging markets. These products consist primarily of base stock for thermal printing, flexible packaging, food packaging, medical gowns and drapes, sandpapers backing, carbonless printing, labels and other coating a! nd lamina! ting applications. The Company also manufactures papers for industrial and specialty applications, including carrier papers, treated papers, security papers and specialized printing and converting applications. The Company sells business papers primarily to paper stationers, merchants, office equipment manufacturers and retail outlets. The Company distributes uncoated commercial printing and publishing papers to end-users and commercial printers, mainly through paper merchants, as well as selling directly to converters. The Company sells its specialty and packaging papers mainly to converters, who apply a further production process, such as coating, laminating, folding or waxing to its papers before selling them to a variety of specialized end-users.

Distribution

The Company's Distribution business involves the purchasing, warehousing, sale and distribution of the Company's various products and those of other manufacturers. These products include business, printing and publishing papers and certain packaging products. These products are sold to diverse customer base, which includes small, medium and large commercial printers, publishers, quick copy firms, catalog and retail companies and institutional entities. The Company's Distribution business operates in the United States and Canada under a single banner and umbrella name, Ariva. Ariva operates throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest areas from 16 locations in the United States, including 12 distribution centers serving customers across North America.

Personal Care

The Company's Personal Care business sells and manufactures adult incontinence products and distributes disposable washcloths marketed primarily under the Attends brand name. The Company is a supplier of adult incontinence products sold into North America and Northern Europe, selling to hospitals (acute cares) and nursing homes (long-term care) and the Company has a growing presence in the homecare and retail channels. The C! ompany op! erates two manufacturing facilities, with each having the ability to produce multiple product categories. The Company also has a research and development facility and production lines which manufacture high quality airlaid and ultrathin laminated absorbent cores.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Specialty paper maker�Domtar� (NYSE: UFS  ) �wrote it all down yesterday: it�will pay a�regular quarterly dividend�of $0.55 per share that's 22% higher than the $0.45 per share payout it made last quarter. Shareholders of record on June 14 will receive the new dividend rate at the close of business on July 15.

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Wednesday, Xerox announced that it has received a binding offer from French paper company Antalis to buy Xerox's European paper and�print media�products business. This follows Xerox's March announcement that it had agreed to sell its U.S. and Canadian paper operations to Canada's Domtar (NYSE: UFS  ) .

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  CAPS, a stock-tracking game developed by The Motley Fool, is a great way to keep track of long-term picks even when they fall off of your watchlist.�In the following video, Fool.com contributor and active CAPS community member, Maxx Chatsko, explains why he hasn't given up on his CAPS pick of�Domtar� (NYSE: UFS  ) . He believes this company's progress has not been adequately rewarded by the market in the last six months, but feels as confident as ever that it presents a great opportunity for investors hunting for a great dividend or an undervalued and under-the-radar growth opportunity. You can follow all of his CAPS picks by clicking on the link in the disclosure below.�

• [By Saibus Research]

  Weyerhaeuser is the largest forest products real estate investment trust in the United States. Weyerhaeuser grows and harvests trees, builds homes and makes a range of forest products essential to everyday lives. The company has undergone a dramatic level of strategic and organizational level change over the past several years in the wake of its debt-funded hostile takeover of Willamette Industries in 2002. In 2006, Weyerhaeuser agreed to spin off its fine paper business under a split-off transaction with Domtar (UFS). Under the terms of the deal, Weyerhaeuser would spin-off the fine paper business and the business would merge with Domtar Inc to create Domtar Corporation. Weyerhaeuser has four business segments as follows:

Top 10 Paper Companies To Buy For 2015: Fibria Celulose SA (FBR)

Fibria Celulose S.A. (Fibria), formerly Votorantim Celulose e Papel S.A., incorporated on July 25, 1941, is a producer of market pulp. During the year ended December 31, 2010, Fibria produced 5,054 kilotons of eucalyptus pulp (including 50.0% of the pulp production of Veracel). The Company also produces coated and uncoated paper, carbonless paper and thermal paper at its Piracicaba paper mill, located in the State of Sao Paulo with an annual production capacity of 190 kilotons. During 2010, it produced 115 kilotons of paper products and recorded consolidated net revenues. Fibria produces bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp at three pulp mills, the Aracruz pulp mill located in the State of Espirito Santo, which has an annual production capacity of 2.3 million tons; the Tres Lagoas pulp mill located in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, which has an annual production capacity of 1.3 million tons, and the Jacarei pulp mill located in the State of Sao Paulo, which has an annual production capacity of 1.1 million tons. The Company has a 50% interest in Veracel, which owns and operates a pulp mill in the municipality of Eunapolis, State of Bahia, with an annual production capacity of 1.1 million tons.

Pulp

Fibria produces bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp from planted eucalyptus trees. Bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp is a range of hardwood pulp. Eucalyptus is a hardwood tree, and its pulp has short fibers and is generally suited to manufacturing tissue, coated and uncoated printing and writing paper and coated packaging boards. Short fibers are optimal for manufacturing wood-free paper with good printability, smoothness, brightness and uniformity. Market pulp is the pulp sold to producers of paper products. Kraft pulp is pulp produced in a chemical process using sulphate. During 2010, it produced 5,054 kilotons of pulp (including 50.0% of the pulp production of Veracel).

Paper

During 2010, Fibria produced 115 kilotons of paper. The Company produced coated printing an! d writing paper, which is a coated woodfree paper used for promotional materials, folders, internal sheets and cover of magazines, books, tabloids, inserts and mailing; uncoated printing and writing paper, which is a uncoated woodfree paper in reels and sheets; carbonless paper, which is used to produce multi-copy forms, POS, invoices and other applications in place of traditional carbon paper, and thermal paper, which is traditionally used in fax machines; POS, bar code labels, toll tickets, water and gas bills and receipts for automated teller machines (ATMs) and credit card machines. It manufactures thermal paper products with technology licensed byOji Paper Co., Ltd (Oji Paper).

The Company competes with APRIL, Arauco, APP, Georgia Pacific, CMPC, Sodra, Stora Enso, Weyerhaeuser and Suzano.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Fibria Celulose (NYSE: FBR  ) reported earnings on July 24. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Fibria Celulose met expectations on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Top 10 Paper Companies To Buy For 2015: TriStar Wellness Solutions Inc (TWSI)

TriStar Wellness Solutions, Inc., formerly Biopack Environmental Solutions Inc., incorporated on August 28, 2000, is engaged in developing, marketing and selling, NCP's Beaute de Maman product lines, which is a line of skincare and other products specifically targeted for pregnant women, as well developing the Soft and Smooth Assets. The Company supplied biodegradable food containers and industrial packaging products to multinational corporations, supermarket chains and restaurants located across North America, Europe and Asia. In May 2013, the Company acquired HemCon Medical Technologies Inc.

The Company�� priority direct-to-consumer target markets are focused on women�� health and wound care. The second core product area is directed at the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) wound care market space. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company focused the sales and marketing resources for the Beaute de Maman brand on efficient Internet portals via the brand Website and selected Web-based retailers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Last Friday, small cap stocks Tristar Wellness Solutions Inc (OTCMKTS: TWSI) jumped 14.94% while Hybrid Coating Technologies (OTCBB: HCTI) and Bulova Technologies Group, Inc (OTCMKTS: BTGI) sank 23.53% and 13.04%, respectively. It should be mentioned that only one of these small cap stocks appears to be the subject of paid promotions or investor relations type activities. So what will these three small cap stocks do for investors this week? Here is a quick reality check to help you decide on a trading or investing strategy:

Top 10 Paper Companies To Buy For 2015: Crown Holdings Inc (CCK)

Crown Holdings, Inc., incorporated on February 7, 2003, is engaged in designing, manufacturing and sale of packaging products for consumer goods. Its business is organized within three divisions: Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Its segments within the Americas Division are Americas Beverage and North America Food. Its segments within the European Division are European Beverage and European Food. Americas Beverage includes beverage can operations in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Mexico. North America Food includes food can and metal vacuum closure operations in the United States and Canada. European Beverage includes beverage can operations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. European Food includes food can and metal vacuum closure operations in Europe and Africa. Its Asia Pacific Division consists of beverage and non-beverage can operations, primarily food cans and specialty packaging. As of December 31, 2012, it acquired Superior Multi-Packaging Ltd.

The Company supplies beverage cans and ends and other packaging products to a range of beverage and beer companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Carlsberg, Coca-Cola, Cott Beverages, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Heineken, National Beverage and Pepsi-Cola, among others. The Company manufactures a range of food cans and ends, including two-and three-piece cans in numerous shapes and sizes, and sells food cans to food marketers, such as Bonduelle, Cecab, ConAgra, Continentale, Mars, Simmons Foods, Nestle, Princes Group and Stockmeyer, among others.

The Company offers a range of metal vacuum closures and sealing equipment. The Company�� customers for aerosol cans and ends include manufacturers of personal care, food, household and industrial products, including Colgate Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson and Unilever, among others. The Company�� customers for aerosol cans and ends include manufacturers of personal care, food, household and industrial products, including Colgate Palmolive, Procte! r & Gamble, SC Johnson and Unilever, among others.

Americas Division

The Americas Division includes operations in the United States, Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, Colombia and Mexico. These operations manufacture beverage, food and aerosol cans and ends, specialty packaging and metal vacuum closures and caps. The Americas Beverage segment manufactures aluminum beverage cans and ends and steel crowns, referred to as bottle caps. The North America Food segment manufactures steel and aluminum food cans and ends and metal vacuum closures.

European Division

The European Division includes operations in Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. These operations manufacture beverage, food and aerosol cans and ends, specialty packaging and metal vacuum closures and caps. The European Beverage segment manufactures steel and aluminum beverage cans and ends. The European Food segment manufactures steel and aluminum food cans and ends, and metal vacuum closures.

Asia Pacific division

The Company's Asia Pacific Division consists of beverage can operations in Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and non-beverage can operations, primarily including food cans and specialty packaging in China, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. As of December 31, 2012, the division operated 32 plants in six countries.

The Company competes with Ardagh Group, Ball Corporation, BWAY Corporation, Can-Pack S.A., Metal Container Corporation, Mivisa Envases S.A.U., Rexam PLC and Silgan Holdings Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Crown Holdings Inc.(CCK) cut its third-quarter earnings guidance on lower end-user demand in some of the food-and-beverage packaging company’s markets, including European food cans and North American beverage cans.

Top 10 Paper Companies To Buy For 2015: Weyerhaeuser Company(WY)

Weyerhaeuser Company, a forest products company, grows and harvests trees, builds homes, and manufactures forest products worldwide. It grows and harvests trees for use as lumber, other wood and building products, and pulp and paper. The company manages 6.4 million acres of private commercial forestland; and has long-term licenses on 13.9 million acres of forestland. It also offers timber; minerals, such as rock, sand, and gravel, as well as oil and gas to construction and energy markets; logs; timberland tracts; and seed and seedlings, poles, plywood, and hardwood lumber products. In addition, the company provides structural lumber products for structural framing; engineered lumber products for floor and roof joists, and headers and beams; structural panels for structural sheathing, subflooring, and stair treading for wood products dealers, do-it-yourself retailers, builders, and industrial users. Further, it offers building products comprising cedar, decking, siding, ins ulation, rebar, and engineered lumber connectors. Additionally, the company offers fluff pulp for use in sanitary disposable products; papergrade pulp for printing and writing papers, and tissues; specialty chemical cellulose pulp for use in textiles, absorbent products, specialty packaging, and high-bulking fibers; liquid packaging board converted into containers; and slush and wet lap pulp for manufacturing paper products. It also constructs single-family houses, as well as develops residential lots and land for construction and sale; and master-planned communities with mixed-use property. The company sells its cellulose fibers products through direct sales network, and liquid packaging products directly to carton and food product packaging converters; and wood products through sales organizations and distribution facilities. Weyerhaeuser Company has been elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. The company was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Federal Way, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Victor Selva]

  Weyerhaeuser Co (WY) operates four primary business segments: timberlands (owns 6.6 million acres), wood products, cellulose fibers, and real estate. Like Plum Creek, Weyerhaeuser is also structured as a REIT and is not required to pay federal income taxes on earnings generated by timber harvest activities. Weyerhaeuser exports forest products to Europe and Asia. A strong recovery in some Asian nations, such as Japan, China and Korea, will boost its export businesses. However, this highly exposes the company to foreign exchange risks.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Not only are�homebuilders�benefiting�but this improvement in housing has had a nice effect on the bottom line of forestry companies.�Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY  ) �saw its first-quarter earnings more than triple as its wood products business reported its strongest quarterly earnings since 2005. Industry peer Rayonier (NYSE: RYN  ) also experienced a successful first quarter as its income from continuing operations nearly doubled year over year from $52 million last year to $103 million.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Rayonier have plunged 15% to $46.97 at 12.36 p.m., but its fall doesn’t seem to have damaged other timber companies. Weyerhaeuser (WY) has gained 3.7% to $31.43 after it reported a profit of 27 cents today, beating estimates of 21 cents. Plum Creek Timber (PCL) is little changed at $49.47 and Boise Cascade (BCC) has risen 1.1% to $27.83.

• [By Blake Bos]

  Additionally, Blake shares some key factors to be managed that will impact earnings for lumber suppliers such as Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY  ) moving forward.

Top 10 Paper Companies To Buy For 2015: Weatherford International Ltd(WFT)

Weatherford International Ltd. provides equipment and services used in the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells worldwide. It offers artificial lift systems, which include reciprocating rod lift systems, progressing cavity pumps, gas lift systems, hydraulic lift systems, plunger lift systems, hybrid lift systems, wellhead systems, and multiphase metering systems. The company also provides drilling services, including directional drilling, ?Secure Drilling? services, well testing, drilling-with-casing and drilling-with-liner systems, and surface logging systems; and well construction services, such as tubular running services, cementing products, liner systems, swellable products, solid tubular expandable technologies, and inflatable products and accessories. In addition, it designs and manufactures drilling jars, underreamers, rotating control devices, and other pressure-control equipment used in drilling oil and nat ural gas wells; and offers a selection of in-house or third-party manufactured equipment for the drilling, completion, and work over of oil and natural gas wells for operators and drilling contractors, as well as a line of completion tools and sand screens. Further, the company provides wireline and evaluation services; and re-entry, fishing, and thru-tubing services, as well as well abandonment and wellbore cleaning services; stimulation and chemicals, including fracturing and coiled tubing technologies, cement services, chemical systems, and drilling fluids; integrated drilling services; and pipeline and specialty services. It serves independent oil and natural gas producing companies. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Shares of Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT) got a boost, shooting up 10.02 percent to $20.25 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings. Weatherford reported its Q1 earnings of $0.13 per share on revenue of $3.60 billion.

• [By Anna Prior]

  Weatherford International (WFT) PLC agreed to sell its land rig operations in Russia and Venezuela to Russia’s state-controlled oil giant Rosneft for $500 million in cash, as the oil-field services company continues to slim down and focus on its core businesses.

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Earlier this week, analysts at Credit Suisse reduced earnings estimates for Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger (SLB) and Weatherford International (WFT).

• [By Taylor Muckerman]

  Improperly hunting for tax havens
  While in the midst of reconciling tax-accounting issues, Weatherford International� (NYSE: WFT  ) came under SEC investigation for potentially selling goods to sanctioned Iran and Syria back in March 2012. The stock has yet to recover and has traded down 20.6% since March 16, 2012, while the S&P 500 is up 15% and rival Halliburton is up 23.9% over the same time frame.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now

Despite a positive start, stocks fell off after opening and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) finished down 0.16%, or 26 points. It was the blue chips' fifth straight session with little movement, as investors seem to be unsure if the market deserves to go further into record territory with earnings continuing to roll in. June new home sales topped expectations, coming at 497,000 versus estimates of 483,000, but Wall Street seemed to be unimpressed by President Obama's remarks on the economy. In his address, Obama touted mostly recycled ideas such as investing in infrastructure and raising the minimum wage that have gained little traction in the divided Congress.

Two industrial powerhouses on the Dow delivered earnings today. First, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) shares finished down 2.4% after missing estimates as many had expected. The slowdown in Chinese construction has hurt demand for materials and thus mining equipment, a key component of Caterpillar's business. The world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment said profits fell 43% as EPS came in at $1.45, down from $2.54 a year ago, and worse than estimates at $1.69. Revenue dropped 15.8% to $14.6 billion, below expectations of $15.1 billion. Management promised cost-cutting to cope with the decrease in demand, and cut its full-year EPS outlook from $7 to $6.50.

Best Information Technology Companies To Buy Right Now: Chevron Corporation(CVX)

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. It operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment involves in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as holds interest in a gas-to-liquids project. The Downstream segment engages in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products primarily under the Chevron, Texaco, and Caltex brand names; transportation of crude oil and refined products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car; and manufacture and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives. It a lso produces and markets coal and molybdenum; and holds interests in 13 power assets with a total operating capacity of approximately 3,100 megawatts, as well as involves in cash management and debt financing activities, insurance operations, real estate activities, energy services, and alternative fuels and technology business. Chevron Corporation has a joint venture agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation. The company was formerly known as ChevronTexaco Corp. and changed its name to Chevron Corporation in May 2005. Chevron Corporation was founded in 1879 and is based in San Ramon, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roadmap2Retire]

  I initiated a new position in AT&T Inc (T). AT&T barely needs an introduction being the behemoth ($184B market cap) in the telecommunications sector. AT&T is one of the 30 companies that compose the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), a yardstick to measure the health of the economy. This is my fourth DJIA stock in my portfolio following Chevron (CVX), General Electric (GE) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Chesapeake is still seeking to raise more cash through further asset sales this year. In February, Chesapeake sold a 50% interest in some of its Mississippi Lime acreage to China's Sinopec (NYSE: SHI  ) . Then, earlier this month, Chesapeake said it's looking to sell further acreage in the Utica Shale play in the U.S. Midwest. Motley Fool contributor Tyler Crowe believes that Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) might be a natural buyer for Chesapeake's Utica property, given its recent commitment to focusing on unconventional domestic energy plays for further growth.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Given its size, Exxon has to work hard just to stand still on the production front. Because existing wells naturally see declines in output over their productive lifetimes, Exxon has to look for new sources constantly in order to replace aging wells. The company is even less nimble than fellow Big Oil players Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) and ConocoPhillips, both of which expect much greater production growth than Exxon's targeted 2% to 3% growth. Chevron now expects 6% growth per year through 2017, while Conoco is seeking 3% to 5% annual growth over that period.

• [By Claudia Assis]

  Energy companies in the Gulf also shut down about 40% of natural gas production. Several energy firms, including BP PLC (BP) , Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) , Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) ,�Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) �and Chevron Corp. (CVX) , began evacuating workers earlier in the week.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

McDonald?s Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a worldwide foodservice retailer. It franchises and operates McDonald?s restaurants that offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries, of which 26,216 were operated by franchisees; and 6,262 were operated by the company. McDonald?s Corporation was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Neha Marway]

  However, several industry observers feel that the chicken issue is not the sole reason for the quick service restaurant chain�� China woes. The food industry grew in China mainly because of the increasing disposable income of the middle class. However, now China�� middle income group has restricted their spending after the government�� strict measures. Additionally, KFC and other Western-based corporations including McDonald�� (MCD) and Burger King (BKW) are facing tremendous competition from local eateries of the economy.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description: 1. Avg. High Yield Price 2. 20-Year DCF Price 3. Avg. P/E Price 4. Graham Number CINF is trading at a discount to only 3.) above. The stock is trading at a 36.8% premium to its calculated fair value of $34.96. CINF did not earn any Stars in this section. Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description: 1. Free Cash Flow Payout 2. Debt To Total Capital 3. Key Metrics 4. Dividend Growth Rate 5. Years of Div. Growth 6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15% CINF earned two Stars in this section for 1.) and 2.) above. A Star was earned since the Free Cash Flow payout ratio was less than 60% and there were no negative Free Cash Flows over the last 10 years. The stock earned a Star as a result of its most recent Debt to Total Capital being less than 45%. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1954 and has increased its dividend payments for 54 consecutive years. Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description: 1. NPV MMA Diff. 2. Years to > MMA The NPV MMA Diff. of the $62 is below the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as CINF has. If CINF grows its dividend at 1.2% per year, it will take 5 years to equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.68%. Memberships and Peers: CINF is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers��Index and a Divid

• [By Andrew Marder]

  Yesterday, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX  ) announced that starting next week, it will provide calorie counts on all of its menu boards in its U.S. stores. The move follows earlier menu updates by McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) and others, as companies try to get out in front of any new legislation. Since 2010, when health care legislation came into effect, the FDA has been working on a law requiring businesses to display calorie information. That effort seems to have stalled out due to strong lobbying and sharp differences between the sides in the debate.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) , also a defensive favorite, had its own problems today, falling from new highs to end down 0.4%. For the fast-food giant, an outbreak of bird flu in China could lead to reduced numbers of customers in the emerging nation, which has been an important part of the McDonald's growth story in recent years. Reported price cuts could help, but they might also merely exacerbate sales declines by trimming margins and leading to further weakness.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Philip Morris International Inc(PM)

Philip Morris International Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside of the United States. Its international product brand line comprises Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, Chesterfield, Bond Street, Lark, Muratti, Next, Philip Morris, and Red & White. The company also offers its products under the A Mild, Dji Sam Soe, and A Hijau in Indonesia; Diana in Italy; Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in the Russian Federation; Morven Gold in Pakistan; Boston in Colombia; Belmont, Canadian Classics, and Number 7 in Canada; Best and Classic in Serbia; f6 in Germany; Delicados in Mexico; Assos in Greece; and Petra in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It operates primarily in the European Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. The company is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Phillip Morris (PM) have been performing about as well as a soggy cigarette–but Morgan Stanley still hopes they will catch fire.

  Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

  How bad has performance of Phillip Morris been? Its shares have dropped 1.9% during the past 12 months, while American-focused Altria Group (MO) has gained 15%. British American Tobacco (BTI) has gained 3%, Reynolds American (RAI) has advanced 14%, and Lorillard (LO) has jumped 26%.

  And now Morgan Stanley’s David Adelman and team have cut their earnings-per-share forecast for Phillip Morris by 11 cents thanks to the strong dollar, after cutting it by 41 cents six weeks ago. Adelman explains why:

  While PM�� significant EM exposure has been an important driver of its 8%+ constant-currency 2008-2013 EBIT CAGR, recent weakness in a number of important EM currencies (e.g., Argentina, Turkey and Indonesia) will undoubtedly weigh on 2014 reported results. Further, it remains somewhat unclear the extent to which added Yen weakness will impact results, as PM�� F/X guidance already suggests that it was somewhat hedged on USD/Yen. Finally, with ~60% of its operating expenses denominated in ��ard dollar��currencies (USD, EUR and CHF), we have also incorporated a significant estimated transactional F/X impact (+40% of our $0.52/share est.).

  Still, Adelman kept Phillip Morris rated Overweight. He explains why:

  Remain OW, as stock should benefit from recent weakness and achievable 2014 targets: After underperforming US Tobacco and Staples by 18% and 24%, respectively, in 2013, and with expectations already lowered to a conservative level of 6-8% currency-neutral underlying EPS growth in 2014, we believe current valuation of ~14.5x 2015e P/E and <10x EV/EBITDA remains attractive. We continue to view local-currency earnings risk as to the upside, particularly as no new issues have appeared to emerge entering 2014 (such as unforeseen outsized excise

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Apple Inc.(AAPL)

Apple Inc., together with subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, as well as sells related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications worldwide. The company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, retail stores, direct sales force, third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, it sells third-party Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores; and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The company sells its products to consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise, government, and creative markets. As of September 25, 2010, it had 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. The company, formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc., was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  It had appeared that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) had bottomed out in April after hitting $385 just days before earnings. When the company reported its most recent figures, it took time for investors to digest the new information since Apple made a shockingly large increase to its capital return program and also said it would be partially be funding it with debt.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  On Tuesday afternoon, Apple announced a "landmark partnership" with International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM). Together, the two companies aim to gain foothold in segments of the corporate world like healthcare, retail, and transportation. And they intend to use mobile to do it.

• [By Mani]

  International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is making the right kind of investments to position itself to win across key growth drivers including cloud, mobile, analytics and big data. All these mega-themes are expected to evolve in the next 3-5 years.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Visa Inc.(V)

Visa Inc., a payments technology company, engages in the operation of retail electronic payments network worldwide. It facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company owns and operates VisaNet, a global processing platform that provides transaction processing services. It also offers a range of payments platforms, which enable credit, charge, deferred debit, debit, and prepaid payments, as well as cash access for consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company provides its payment platforms under the Visa, Visa Electron, PLUS, and Interlink brand names. In addition, it offers value-added services, including risk management, issuer processing, loyalty, dispute management, value-added information, and CyberSource-branded services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuters]

  Steven Senne/AP BOSTON -- Companies that help Target process payments could face millions of dollars in fines and costs resulting from the unprecedented data breach that struck the retailer during the holiday shopping season. Investigators are still sorting through just how thieves compromised about 40 million payment cards and the information of about 70 million Target (TGT) customers. But people who have reviewed past data breaches believe Target's partners could face consumer lawsuits and fines that payment networks such as Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) often levy after cybersecurity incidents. Target's partners "have deep pockets and are intimately involved in certain aspects of how Target gets paid," said Jamie Pole, a cybersecurity consultant in Asheboro, N.C., who works for government agencies and the financial industry. Fines and settlement costs could reach into the millions of dollars for individual companies, he said, though much will depend on how the ultimate liability for the breach is determined. Boston attorney Cynthia Larose of Mintz Levin said Target would likely seek to add its partners as defendants to lawsuits already filed over the breach. "These class-action lawsuits start to bring everyone in at some point," she said. After its systems were penetrated by hackers in the mid-2000s, retailer TJX Cos. (TJX) agreed to pay up to $40.9 million to cover fraud costs in a settlement with Visa. Visa also issued penalties of $880,000 against Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) of Ohio, which processed transactions for TJX. Asked about the business relationships and possible costs, Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation and pending suits. A Visa spokeswoman declined to comment. A MasterCard spokesman said the company couldn't discuss an ongoing investigation. Handling Target Transactions Several companies are involved in any purchase from a store such as Target. A bank issues the consumer's payment card

• [By Sue Chang and Ben Eisen]

  American Express Co. (AXP) �shares gained 3.6% while its competitor Visa Inc. (V) �rose 4.7%. American Express said late Thursday its fourth-quarter earnings jumped to $1.31 billion, or $1.21 a share, from $637 million, or 56 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding expenses, AmEx would have earned $1.25 a share. Revenue increased to $8.55 billion from $8.14 billion a year earlier.

10 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, and mouth rinses, as well as dental floss and pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals; personal care products, such as liquid hand soap, shower gels, bar soaps, deodorants, antiperspirants, shampoos, and conditioners; and home care products comprising laundry and dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, bleaches, dishwashing liquids, and oil soaps. The company offers its oral, personal, and home care products under the Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate 360 Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Colgate-Palmolive
  Toothpaste and toothbrushes may not be exciting business, but it's consistent and consumers tend to develop habits they rarely break. Once they find a toothpaste brand they like, it could be years before they try another one. That leads to another incredibly consistent business for Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) , one that has paid back investors with a dividend since 1895. �

• [By Holly LaFon]

  A: The stock market is a market of individual stocks that represent fractional ownership interests in real businesses. The key to investment success is first and foremost to identify individual, highly durable businesses and then have the discipline to buy them when prices are attractive and the risk/reward trade-off is compelling. We invest in what we understand, continuing to pour over the universe of businesses within our many circles of competence that meet our management, capital allocation, business model, and valuation criteria. Some areas that we believe offer the greatest opportunity in terms of prospective returns include:

  Global market leaders such as Nike (NKE), Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Philip Morris International (PM) that are beneficiaries of a growing global middle class and consumer culture. The global wealth effect, particularly in developing economies, is a real and very powerful force that should serve as a tailwind for these types of global brands over the long term. Well-managed financial services companies with true franchise value due to the success of their particular products or brand that have the ability and management prowess to build market share over time in a highly fragmented marketplace. Wells Fargo and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) are representative examples in this category. The depth of the recent financial crisis is well known. What is less understood is that certain market leaders used the downturn to dramatically strengthen their capital base and significantly grow their market share at the expense of weaker competitors. Certain health care-related businesses such as UnitedHealth Group and Laboratory Corporation of America that stand to benefit from growing health care spending by aging populations around the world. Workhorse technology companies such as Texas Instruments (TXN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Google that are market leaders with durable competitive moats and that also offer an attractive risk/reward proposition at
• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Procter & Gamble have dropped 3.2% during the past 12 months, lagging Unilever’s (UL) 2.5% rise, Colgate-Palmolive’s (CL) 8.7% advance and Kimberly-Clark’s (KMB) 3.1% gain.

Hot Sliver Companies To Own In Right Now

Hot Sliver Companies To Own In Right Now: American Realty Capital Properties Inc (ARCP)

American Realty Capital Properties, Inc., incorporated on December 2, 2010, is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company owns and acquires single-tenant, freestanding commercial real estate primarily subject to medium-term net leases with credit quality tenants. The Company is externally managed by ARC Properties Advisors, LLC. In February 2013, it announced the closing of the transaction to acquire American Realty Capital Trust III, Inc. In March 2013, it announced that it purchased a TD Bank office building in Falmouth, Maine. In April 2013, it closed lease acquisitions, including nine properties located in four states plus Puerto Rico with approximately 200,000 total rentable square feet. In April 2013, it closed an additional single tenant net lease acquisitions, including six properties leased to four investment grade or credit-worthy tenants, including CVS, Family Dollar, Hy-Vee and Advance Auto. In November 2013, American Realty Capital Properties, Inc acqu ired CapLease, Inc. Effective January 3, 2014, American Realty Capital Properties Inc, , through its Thunder Acquisition LLC unit, acquired the entire share capital of American Realty Capital Trust IV Inc (ARCT).

As of December 31, 2012, rental revenues derived from investment grade tenants. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned 146 properties, which consists of 2.4 million square feet and located in 26 states, excluding one vacant property classified as held for sale. The Company is holder of 95.9% of the interest in the ARC Properties Operating Partnership, L.P.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Louis]

  With about $5 billion in takeovers to complete and his companys stock down more than 30 percent, Nicholas Schorsch had his hands full. That didnt stop the chief executive officer of American Realty Capital Properties Inc. (ARCP) from making his biggest real estate bet.

• [By ! Lauren Pollock]

  American Realty Capital Properties Inc.(ARCP) agreed to buy Cole Real Estate Investments Inc.(COLE) for about $7 billion, joining together two real-estate investment trusts. The expanded company will include a combined portfolio of more than 3,700 properties with over 100 million square feet in 49 states and Puerto Rico. Cole shares surged 16% to $14.91 premarket, while American Realty climbed 5.8% to $14.12.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  And hes not the only insider buying. Director Sarofim Fayez chipped in $15 million of his own money, and Vice President James Street added $130,000.I recommend we invest with the insiders. At time of writing, KMI stock yields an attractive 4.7%, and management expects to raise the dividend by about 8% in 2014.

  Dividend Stocks to Buy Now:American Capital Realty Properties (ARCP)

  ARCP Dividend Yield: 7.5%

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  In order to emphasize its successful industrial business, GE has tried to shrink its once-dominant GE Capital unit. Yet the division is so large that it's hard to find viable buyers, and its $50 billion portfolio of credit card loans raises concerns that a buyer would have such a large stranglehold over the industry that it would create systemic risk. GE did manage to sell off some of its net-lease properties to American Realty Capital (NASDAQ: ARCP  ) late in the quarter, as American Realty has been going through a string of acquisitions with the aim of growing its overall business. But with the deal coming out to less than $800 million, GE will have to work harder to divest itself of GE Capital assets if it truly wants to de-emphasize that part of its business.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/hot-sliver-companies-to-own-in-right-now.html

Top 5 Communications Equipment Stocks To Own For 2016

Top 5 Communications Equipment Stocks To Own For 2016: Revolution Lighting Technologies Inc (RVLT)

Revolution Lighting Technologies Inc., incorporated on December 16, 1993, designs, manufacture, market and sells commercial grade, light emitting diode (LED) replacement light bulbs and LED-based signage, channel letter and contour lighting products. The Company sells these products under the Seesmart, Array Lighting and Lumificient brand names. The Company operates in two segments: LED replacement lamps and fixtures and LED signage and lighting strips. On December 20, 2012, the Company acquired Seesmart Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Simi Valley, California. In August 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Relume Technologies (Relume). In October 2013, the Company announced that it has acquired a portfolio of general illumination LED lighting products, including several product lines from CMG Energy Solutions (CMG). In November 2013, the Company acquired Tri-State LED.

The Companys LED replacement lamps and fixtures seg ment include the Seesmart business and the Array business, which has been integrated with the Seesmart business. The LED signage and lighting strips segment is comprised of the Lumificient business.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stock Investor]

  First up we have Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc (RVLT). As of last week RVLT had a market cap of $280m. Revenues for the last year came in at $4.4m. The company is averaging a cash burn of approximately $7m per quarter over the last two quarters. If I give the company the benefit of the doubt and assume the $7.5m of investments they made last quarter was a one time event, the cash burn then drops to under $4m per quarter. In March RVLT raised $5m from the issuance of shares priced at $1.17. The company is still in need of additional financing, and with the stock price up 400% in the last three months, it would be wise for them to issue shares right now. Thi! s increases the risk for investors dramatically right now.

source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-5-communications-equipment-stocks-to-own-for-2016.html

Best Undervalued Companies For 2016

Best Undervalued Companies For 2016: Tupperware Corporation(TUP)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Teresa Rivas]

  We think KMB will be perceived as the safest of the multinationals. Its sales outside the US are about 55% of total; this compares to 65%-70% for Procter & Gamble (PG) and Coty (COTY) and 80%-90% for Col! gate (CL), Avon and Tupperware (TUP). In general, its risk to the most volatile currencies is below average (its exposure to Eastern Europe is less than 2% of sales), though it is still translating results in Venezuela (about 3% of sales and profit) at the official rate of 6.3 VEF/$ (the parallel rate just hit 175 VEF/$) and Argentina (also 3% of sales) may devalue again. The cost of important raw materials has started to weaken; as they follow oil's decline they could boost gross margins in 2H15. Of note, polypropylene and natural gas are off 17% 4Q-to-date; pulp prices, while not declining much, seem manageable.

• [By James Brumley]

  CSCO stock might be one of the market’s dark-horse stories of 2014; the dividend yield is the icing on the cake.

  Dividend Stocks to Buy: Tupperware Brands (TUP)

  Dividend Yield: 3.2%

• [By Jonathan Berr]

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

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Corporate earnings took a back seat today to the Fed's latest policy decision. Still, quarterly financial results, and other news sent shares of McCormick & Co. (MKC) and Tupperware (TUP), falling during regular market hours Here's a rundown of several of today's moves:

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/best-undervalued-companies-for-2016.html

Top Casino Companies For 2016

Top Casino Companies For 2016: Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment Inc (DDE)

Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment, Inc., incorporated in December of 2001, is a premier gaming and entertainment resorts. The Companys operations consist of: Dover Downs Casino, a 165,000-square foot casino complex featuring table games, including craps, roulette and card games, such as blackjack, Spanish 21, baccarat, 3-card and pai gow poker, the latest in slot machine offerings, multi-player electronic table games, the Crown Royal poker room, a Race & Sports Book operation, the Dover Downs' Fire & Ice Lounge, the Festival Buffet, Doc Magrogan's Oyster House, Frankie's Italian restaurant, as well as several bars, restaurants and four retail outlets; Dover Downs Hotel and Conference Center, a 500 room AAA Four Diamond hotel with a full-service spa/salon, conference, banquet, ballroom and concert hall facilities, and Dover Downs Raceway, a harness racing track with pari-mutuel wagering on live and simulcast horse races. All of its operations are located at its entertai nment complex in Dover. Its two wholly owned subsidiaries include Dover Downs, Inc. and Dover Downs Gaming Management Corp.

Dover Downs Casino

The Company's casino had approximately 2,539 slot machines as of December 31, 2011. It is open for business around the clock. During the year ended December 31, 2011, that the facility was visited by approximately 2.6 million patrons. Its slot machines range from penny machines to $100 machines in the Premium Slots area and include games found in the country's major gaming jurisdictions. The Company operates with 40 tables, including blackjack, craps and roulette tables. The Crown Royal poker room has 12 poker tables. It has its Race and Sports Book operation featuring parlay sports wagering on NFL games and pari-mutuel wagering on live and simulcast horse races. Dover Downs, Inc. is authorized to conduct video lottery, sports wagering and table game operations. The Company's Capital ! Club, a slots players clu b and tracking system, allows it to identify customers and to reward their level of play through various marketing programs.

Dover Downs Hotel

The Company's luxury hotel facility, the Dover Downs Hotel and Conference Center, connects to the Company's casino. The facility includes 500 rooms, including 11 luxury spa suites, a multi-purpose ballroom/concert hall, a fine dining restaurant, swimming pool and a luxurious 6,000 square-foot full-service spa. It offers a range of entertainment options to its patrons, including concerts featuring prominent entertainers, live boxing, gourmet dining, spa facilities, trade shows and conferences. During 2011, hotel occupancy averaged 90%.

Dover Downs Raceway

The Companys Dover Downs Raceway conducts live harness races from November until April and is simulcast to more than 300 tracks and other off-track betting locations across North America on each of the Company's more than 120 liv e race dates. The Company's harness racing track is a 5/8-mile track that is located on DVD's property and is on the inside of its one-mile motorsports superspeedway. Additional amenities include the Winners Circle Restaurant overlooking the horse racing track. Within the Company's Race & Sports Book operation is the simulcast parlor where the patrons can wager on harness and thoroughbred races received by satellite into its facility year round from numerous tracks across North America. Television monitors throughout the area provide views of all races simultaneously and the betting windows are connected to a central computer allowing bets to be received on all races from all tracks.

The Company has an agreement with the Delaware Standardbred Owner's Association, Inc. (DSOA) effective September 1, 2010 and continuing through August 31, 2014. DSOA's membership consists of owners, trainers and drivers of harness horses participating in harness race meetings at it s facilities and elsewhere in th! e United ! States and Canada. Under the DSOA agreement, the Company is required to distribute as purses for races conducted at its facilities a percentage of its retained share of pari-mutuel revenues.

The Company competes with Harrington Raceway and Delaware Park.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  The REIT is expected to spend as much as $500 million in acquisitions in 2014, according to Barrons, and some potential acquisition targets include Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. (NASDAQ: ISLE) which has a market cap of around $323 million or Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: DDE) with a market cap of around $47 million.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Stocks on the move: Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) is up 8.1% at $31.80 on reports of discussions with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) that would result in the sale of Vodafones 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to the controlling shareholder. Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: DDE) is up 10.8% at $1.54 after Wednesdays launch of its online casino games that will soon be available to state residents to play for real money.

source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-casino-companies-for-2016.html

Actor Paul Giamatti aces art of driving a Lincoln

Paul Giamatti is getting raves for his role as the kindly chauffeur Ralph in the new film Saving Mr. Banks, who somehow befriends the impossible Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers.

But Giamatti is almost as proud about his driving skills on the the classic Continental limousine he used to drive Travers, played by Emma Thompson, in the film. By all accounts it's a bit like flying a plane or a boat.

The quintessential New Yorker says he loves to drive and mastered the controls so much so that he insisted on doing a tricky maneuver on camera-- driving into the confined Disneyland lot and pulling a turn before coming to a stop in front of Walt Disney, who is played by Tom Hanks.

"The stunt guys were like,' You're never going to be able to do this.' But I was like, 'Watch Me!' " says Giamatti. "I made the turn in that huge frickin' car. And I was awfully proud."

Director John Lee Hancock was impressed. "To get through the gates and make the big curve in Disneyland and land it right in front of Tom was a feat. He should be proud," he says.

There were some changes needed to the Continental to bring it back to its 1960s era for its movie close up. Hancock says period bumpers, tires and mirrors had to be added back, along with an engine make-over. You don't want your period car screwing up on the day your expensive talent (Thompson, Hanks, Giamatti) are all working.

"When you have old cars in the movies, the worst thing that happens is when the car doesn't start," says Hancock. "That's not a good use of hours in your day."

Top 5 High Tech Companies To Watch For 2016

At the end of the film, the vehicle was in far better shape than when the film crew took it over. And Giamatti was an excellent caretaker.

"There's wasn't so much as a scratch," says Hancock. "Paul earned his chauffeur status."

The Case Against Apple (AAPL)

First and foremost (and just for the record), no, I don't have a short position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). It's a point that needs to be made clear early, to stave off the lynch mob that will most assuredly develop after I dare to suggest AAPL is anything but a perfect stock. This isn't a "hit piece". It's just a handful of things for everyone - bulls as well as bears - to consider before making any long-term conclusions about Apple.

With that out of the way, here goes ... AAPL has become a company with some systemic problems that will be difficult to overcome. Although it hasn't gravely impacted the stock's price yet, eventually (and sooner than later), Apple's share price are going to be affected.

The overarching problem, but in a way the overarching symptom too, is the fact that Apple has decided to compete on price. Case(s) in point: The lower-cost iPhone 5C, and the decision to give away - rather than sell - the upgrade to its Mac operating system.

As for the 5C, what's interesting is that the pricier (by $100) 5S counterpart has found more demand than expected, while the 5C has been met with a lukewarm reception; Apple Inc. has already cut orders for the lower-end version of the newest iPhone iteration. Point being, the company was (relatively) wrong about the low-end consumer.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. If nothing else it underscores the fact that Apple is a premium brand that can still command a premium price ... though not everywhere the company was supposed to want to do well, and needed to do well. I'm talking about China, where the price of the 5S is about $870, versus the 5C's price of about $730. For only $140 more, those consumers can buy a considerably more powerful machine, yet both are still at the extreme high end of the price range most Chinese consumers are willing able to pay. Domestically - and this is telling - the now-cheaper 4S is being seen as a better device than the 5C, negating the need for an upgrade for some users who were on the fence, depending on price.

The numbers in themselves won't kill the company. But, the fact that Apple worked so diligently to bring a phone to the market that it didn't really need to forces an investor to wonder what else the company could be wrong about, marketing-wise.

(Side note: For all the discouraging numbers I could poke and prod here, none of them changes the fact that the debut-weekend sales of the 5C and 5S were record-breakers for the company's iPhone division. It's an admittedly-conflicting factoid, though it doesn't alter the bigger message here.)

The decision to offer a free operating system upgrade is no less questionable. Oh, it's a convenient and polite offer, though also a tad gimmicky. This isn't a full-blown "reformat the drive and install the new OS" kind of thing that we saw between Window 95, 98, Me, XP, Vista, 7, and 8 (or between NT and 2000); comparing the way Apple offers new operating systems to the Windows' naming and delivering of new OS's is like comparing apples to oranges; the iOS upgrades and updates aren't nearly as dramatic. But, that didn't prevent the company from polishing and presenting the news as a game-changer. Most likely, the upgrade is designed to get and keep users more deeply engrained in Apple's digital content ecosystem. It's not a bad idea, but not a game-changing one either. Indeed, in many ways it will quell the need for current Mac owners to buy all new hardware.

And in that light, one has to wonder if Apple's decision to offer OS X 10.9 was a "want to" situation, or a "have to" situation. Indeed, some onlookers are suggesting that Mac products are nothing more than a side project now. Perhaps Apple is giving it away because there's no point in trying to sell it.

Hot Specialty Retail Stocks To Buy For 2016

The bigger point is (and this has been the much-debated 800 pound gorilla in the room for a while now), AAPL isn't innovating. It's reiterating. The functional and meaningful difference between the 5S and the 4S - from an end-user's perspective anyway - isn't that significant. A lower-priced version of the phone doesn't exactly scream creativity.  Ditto for the iPad and the iPad mini. The mini has been cannibalizing sales of the full-size iPad for a while as well. More over, while the newly-unveiled versions of both are superior to their predecessors, the wow-factor of each subsequent update or newer version is getting sequentially smaller.

Point being, Apple is slowly losing its luster. Maybe it's because Steve Jobs is no longer around. Maybe it's because the competition finally caught up with Apple. Maybe it's because the company stopped innovating and just kept regurgitating newer versions of older products. Or (and this is most likely), maybe it's a combination of all three.

Whatever the case, there are numbers to support the philosophical idea that AAPL is now longer growing, but instead is simply treading water. Mark Rogowsky over at Forbes has the details, in a set of simple charts, that explain how newer and better products hasn't actually helped the company much in a couple of years. Growth seems to have peaked in 2012, even though we've seen several key product launches since then. Revenue is rising a little, but earnings are falling a lot. An iPhone 6 or an iPad 6 (maybe in 2014?) isn't going to change that; the next version of those products is likely to create less excitement than the recent unveilings did, because - and despite all the technical upgrades - consumers have an increasingly "been there, done that" perception.

To be fair, Apple could still coast for years on its name alone. But, it's not the growth company it once was, and it won't be again until it starts to create new products rather than rehash the old ones. In the meantime though, know that 2013 is starting to look like the year where a lack of innovation is really starting to take a measurable toll on the accounting statements... especially in terms of profit margins. The most recent quarter should be a decent one, as it will include 5S and 5C sales. If history is any indication, however, that revenue and any corresponding profits will start to wane - a lot - by the following (current) quarter, leaving growth-hungry investors waiting for an encore they may not get. Holiday gift-buying may be all that prevents the current quarter from being anemic, which sets up a really tepid beginning to 2014.

Apple's going to need to really wow us in 2014. Otherwise, it's just another consumer tech stock.

If you'd like to get more trading ideas and insights like this one, sign up for the free SmallCap Network daily e-newsletter. It's full of stock picks, market calls, and more.

5 Big Stocks to Trade for Big Gains

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Congress pulled the knife off of its own throat on Wednesday with a predictable budget deal that kicks the can down the road for a few more months. Then we get to do it all over again!

But for now, the gaping risks of a government default on the national debt are gone -- and markets are reacting with relief. That's actually pretty good timing as earnings season kicks into high gear and stocks move into what's historically the best time of the year.

Regardless of what's going on in the big picture, though, some of the biggest individual names on Wall Street are showing investors some tradable setups. Today, we're taking a closer technical look at five of them.

If you're new to technical analysis, here's the executive summary.

Technicals are a study of the market itself. Since the market is ultimately the only mechanism that determines a stock's price, technical analysis is a valuable tool even in the roughest of trading conditions. Technical charts are used every day by proprietary trading floors, Wall Street's biggest financial firms, and individual investors to get an edge on the market. And research shows that skilled technical traders can bank gains as much as 90% of the time.

Every week, I take an in-depth look at big names that are telling important technical stories. Here's this week's look at five high-volume stocks to trade this week.

BlackRock

First up is asset management giant BlackRock (BLK). It shouldn't be surprising that BlackRock has posted impressive performance so far in 2013; as the world's largest asset manager, BLK is basically a leveraged bet on stock prices. But despite a 40% rally since the calendar flipped over to January, the setup in shares points to more upside into the fourth quarter.

That's because BlackRock is currently forming an ascending triangle pattern, a bullish formation that's set up by a horizontal resistance level above shares -- in this case at $290 -- and rising support to the downside. Basically, as BLK bounces between those two technical price levels, it's getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above that $290 price ceiling. When that happens, it's time to be a buyer.

It makes sense to sell (or short) shares on a move through that key support level.

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

That support level at $111 is a price where there had been an excess of demand of shares; in other words, it's a place where buyers have been more eager to step in and buy shares at a lower price than sellers are to sell. That's what makes a breakdown below $111 so significant -- the move would indicate that sellers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess demand above that price level. That's why it makes sense to wait for that trigger before you sell.

Top Cheapest Stocks To Watch For 2016

Netflix

It's been quite a year for shareholders in Netflix (NFLX). Since the first trading session of the year, shares of the streaming video service have rallied 258% -- enough to squeeze out some of the loudest short sellers in this stock. But you don't have to be an expert technical analyst to figure out why Netflix continues climbing; this stock is still in a textbook uptrending channel right now.

Channels are valuable for traders because they provide high probability ranges for a stock's price action. In other words, Netflix's price is unlikely to trade outside of those two bands on the chart above -- and that's exactly what makes this stock tradable right now.

Buying off a support bounce makes sense for two big reasons: it's the spot where shares have the furthest to move up before they hit resistance, and it's the spot where the risk is the least (because shares have the least room to move lower before you know you're wrong). And by actually waiting for the bounce to happen first, you're ensuring the Netflix can actually still catch a bid along that line.

With shares around the center of the channel right now, it makes sense to do some waiting if you're looking for the ideal time to buy shares. But the channel is narrow enough that buyers won't be waiting long. When the time comes, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop at the 50-day moving average.

American Express

Even though American Express (AXP) has gotten buoyed alongside the rest of the financial sector in 2013, most of the excitement came in the first couple of quarters this year. Since then, shares have been slugging their way sideways ever since the start of the summer. But this stock is still tradable. Here's how:

Like Netflix, American Express is currently in a channel of its own, bounded by horizontal resistance at $78 and horizontal support below shares down at $72. The key difference between the two charts is the fact that AXP's channel is completely horizontal, unlike the uptrend in NFLX. While that tells us that the bias is less heavily skewed towards buyers, there's still a trade in this stock thanks to the rectangle in shares.

 

The rectangle gets its name because it effectively "boxes in" a stock's price action between two horizontal levels -- when a stock breaks out from the range, it becomes tradable. So the buy signal for AXP comes on a breakout above the $78 level, whereas a sell comes if shares fail to catch a bid and fall through $72. Until AXP exits the consolidation, stay away.

Disney

Last up is Disney (DIS), a stock that's showing some signs of life after meandering sideways since the start of the summer. Now $67 is the level to watch for a breakout in this entertainment giant.

Disney is currently forming an inverse head and shoulders pattern, a bullish setup that indicates exhaustion among sellers. The pattern is formed by two swing lows that bottom out around the same level (the shoulders) that are separated by a deeper low in between them (the head). The buy signal comes on a move through the neckline, which sits right at $67 for shares of DIS right now. That means that this Mickey Mouse and friends could be looking at a breakout in today's session.

If you think that the head and shoulders is too well known to be worth trading, the research suggests otherwise: a recent academic study conducted by the Federal Reserve Board of New York found that the results of 10,000 computer-simulated head-and-shoulders trades resulted in "profits [that] would have been both statistically and economically significant." That's good reason to keep an eye on both of these names in the next few sessions.

To see this week's trades in action, check out this week's Must-See Charts portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

Top 10 Retail Companies To Buy Right Now

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) crept higher once again today, gaining 20 points, or 0.13%, to close at 15,484, after briefly topping 15,500. Strong earnings from Citigroup helped reassure Wall Street, going into the heart of earnings season and coming on the heels of solid reports from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo last week. The nation's No. 3 bank by assets reported adjusted profits up 26% on strong investment banking earnings to $1.25 a share, topping the $1.18 analysts expected. Shares finished up 2%.

Elsewhere, June retail sales disappointed, growing just 0.4% on expectations of 0.7%. Excluding auto sales, growth was flat, and spending in several discretionary categories such as restaurants actually dropped from May. Retail sales are always a closely watched economic indicator, as consumer spending is one of the biggest drivers of economic growth. In the day's other noteworthy reports, the July Empire Stare Manufacturing index blew past estimates of 3.6, coming in at 9.5, indicating that manufacturing growth remains strong in the Northeast, and May business inventories topped estimates, growing 0.1%.

Top Gas Utility Stocks To Buy For 2016: Penske Automotive Group Inc.(PAG)

Penske Automotive Group, Inc. operates as an automotive retailer. It sells new and used vehicles of approximately 40 vehicle brands; offers vehicle maintenance and repair services; and engages in the sale and placement of third-party finance and insurance products, third-party extended service contracts, and replacement and aftermarket automotive products. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 320 retail automotive franchises, of which 166 franchises were located in the United States and 154 franchises are located outside of the United States primarily in the United Kingdom. It also has operations in Puerto Rico and Germany. Penske Automotive Group, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  But just because Parker sees underperformance for consumer stocks, doesn’t mean that some can outperform (just don’t look for consumer staples). They screened for stocks that appear set to outperform over three months and 24 months based on their quantitative models, yet are also favorites of Morgan Stanley’s fundamental analysts. Stocks that meet the criteria include Delphi Automotive, Macy’s and Penske Automotive (PAG), while stocks that fail on all criteria include J.C. Penney and VF Corp. (VFC).

• [By Richard Moroney]

  Penske Automotive (PAG) announced a 6.3% increase in its quarterly dividend on October 23, saying the move reflected its confidence in the ��trength of the auto retail marketplace.��

Top 10 Retail Companies To Buy Right Now: Sears Holdings Corporation(SHLD)

Sears Holdings Corporation operates as a specialty retailer in the United States and Canada. The company?s Kmart segment operates stores that sell merchandise under Jaclyn Smith and Joe Boxer labels; and Sears brand products, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard. This segment?s stores provide consumer electronics, seasonal merchandise, outdoor living, toys, lawn and garden equipment, food and consumables, and apparel, as well as operate in-store pharmacies. Its Sears Domestic segment operates stores that sell merchandise under the Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, Lands? End, Covington, Apostrophe, and Canyon River Blues brand names. This segment?s stores provide appliances, consumer electronics, tools, sporting goods, outdoor living, lawn and garden equipment, home fashion products, automotive products, apparel, footwear, jewelry, accessories, health and beauty products, pantry goods, household products, and toys. The Sears Domestic segment also provides clothing, acces sories, footwear, and soft luggage; appliances and services to commercial customers in single-family residential construction/remodel, property management, multi-family new construction, and government/military sectors; premium appliance and plumbing fixtures to architects, designers, and new construction or remodeling customers; parts and repair services for appliances, lawn and garden equipment, consumer electronics, floor care products, and heating and cooling systems; and home improvement services. The company?s Sears Canada segment engages in the retail of apparel and other softlines. Sears Holdings Corporation operates approximately 2,172 full-line stores and 1,338 specialty retail stores in the United States; 500 full-line and specialty retail stores in Canada, as well as operates 17 floor covering stores, 1,734 catalog pick-up locations, and 108 travel offices; and kmart.com and sears.ca Websites. The company was founded in 1899 and is based in Hoffman Estates, Illi nois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sue Chang and Ben Eisen]

  Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) �disappointed the market with plunging same-store sales , sending its shares tumbling 14%. The company said comparable sales declined 7.4% in the quarter-to-date holiday season. The firm, which investors have punished for its reluctance to invest in its stores, said it forecasts a full-year loss of $7.64 to 8.61 a share, compared to the average estimate of $6.80 a share loss, according to FactSet.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  JC Penney’s weakness is all its own. Macy�� (M) has gained 0.4% to $44.64, Sears�(SHLD) has risen 3.7% to $56.50 and Kohl���(KSS) has ticked down 0.1% to $53.90.

• [By Morgan Housel]

  Backfired
  BusinessWeek profiles Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD  ) Eddie Lampert's management style:�

  An outspoken advocate of free-market economics and fan of the novelist Ayn Rand, he created the model because he expected the invisible hand of the market to drive better results. If the company's leaders were told to act selfishly, he argued, they would run their divisions in a rational manner, boosting overall performance.

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Johnson was fired, but the bleeding has continued as the company continues to operate at a loss. There has been a small glimmer of hope lately, with a one-day pop of 25% on hopes that cost-cutting would succeed and revenue declines had finally bottomed ��but the end of bad news is not the start of growth, so don�� believe the turnaround hype just yet.

  Sears (SHLD)
  

  Returns since 1/1/14: -24%
  Returns since 1/1/11: -45%
  Revenue Growth Last Year: -9% ($39.8 billion in FY13 to $36.2 billion for FY14)

Top 10 Retail Companies To Buy Right Now: Lands End Inc (LE)

Lands��End, Inc. (Lands��End), incorporated on August 19, 1986, is a multi-channel retailer of casual clothing, accessories and footwear, as well as home products. The Company offers products through catalogs, online at www.landsend.com and affiliated specialty and international Websites, and through retail locations, primarily at Lands��End Shops at Sears and standalone Lands��End Inlet stores. The Company operates in two segments: Direct and Retail, and it offers merchandise that includes men��, women�� and kids��apparel, outerwear and swimwear; specialty apparel; accessories; footwear; and home products. In addition, Lands��End Business Outfitters offers business casual apparel and a variety of promotional products that can be embroidered to enhance a partner company�� image. The Lands��End School Uniform business provides school uniforms and school-appropriate clothing designed to meet dress-code requirements.

Lands��End Direct

The Company�� Direct business sells its products through its United States and international e-commerce websites and through direct mail catalogs. The customers can choose from several ordering methods- Internet, phone, mail, or in-store computer kiosks. The Company also offers specialty services, such as monogramming, embroidery and hemming pants to length. It also operates three call centers out of Dodgeville, Reedsburg and Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Its customer care representatives are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 364 days a year. The Company�� apparel sales include men��, women�� and kids��apparel, footwear and accessories. It offers a full range of fits from Petites to Plus for women, Slim to Husky for kids and Big and Tall for men. The Company�� Lands��End Canvas collection focuses on updating the Lands��End heritage pieces with tailored fits, designs and fabrics throughout the line. Through its Lands��End Business Outfitters and School Uniform businesses, it offers tailored and busi! ness casual apparel for office wear, trade shows and company events and uniforms and school-appropriate clothing designed to meet dress-code requirements.

Lands��End Retail

The Company�� Retail business sells products and services through standalone Lands��End Inlet stores and dedicated Lands��End Shops at Sears across the United States. Each Lands��End Shop at Sears features Lands��End products, personalized service, enhanced visuals and a shopping lounge where customers can search all of its offerings through the Internet and its catalog. The Company�� Lands��End Shops at Sears offer a selection of products for men, women and kids and select stores offer footwear and products for the home.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Sears Holdings recorded a hefty second-quarter loss Thursday on another sales slump, raising more concerns about the future of a company that once was a staple of American shopping. The company, which operates Sears and Kmart, said it plans to do more cost-cutting to right the ship. That includes closing more stores beyond the 130 that it had announced earlier this year. But investors weren't encouraged. They sent shares down 4 percent in premarket trading. Sears (SHLD), controlled by billionaire hedge fund investor Edward Lampert, lost $573 million, or $5.39 a share, for the period ended Aug. 2. That's more than double the loss of $194 million, or $1.83 a share, a year earlier. It marked its ninth straight quarterly loss. Revenue declined 10 percent to $8 billion from $8.87 billion. One bright spot was online and multi-channel sales, which increased 18 percent. The challenges facing CEO and Chairman Lampert are enormous. The company has been cutting costs, reducing inventory and selling assets to return to profitability. At the same time, it's shifting its focus on running a store network to operating a member-focused business called Shop Your Way. But its biggest albatross remains its stores, which have been criticized for being outdated and shabby. Lampert, a billionaire hedge fund investor, combined Sears and Kmart in 2005, about two years after he helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy. But it has faced mounting pressure from nimbler rivals such as Walmart Stores (WMT) and Home Depot (HD). Sears is also facing broader issues that are tripping up many other retailers. Like other stores catering to the low- to middle-income customers, Sears is grappling with a slowly recovering economy that's not benefiting all Americans equally. It also is wrestling with shoppers' shift away from physical stores to PCs and mobile devices for shopping and research. Lampert said in a statement that th

• [By Craig Jones]

  Worth said that the stock significantly underperformed peers in the last two months. While American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) and Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE: FDO) gained 38.5 and 28 percent, respectively, Amazon.com, Inc. fell 0.6 percent. Lands' End, Inc. (NASDAQ: LE) also did much better than Amazon.com, Inc., with an increase in price of 23.1 percent and Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS) managed to gain 19.5 percent. Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) jumped 17.9 percent and Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) added 15.8 percent. The weakness in 2014 is a concern for Carter Worth because between 2009 and 2014 Amazon.com, Inc. outperformed the market and the retail space.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  If Land’s End (LE) proved anything with its financial results today, it’s that it’s not Sears (SHLD).

  ZUMAPRESS.com

  Remember: Land’s End was spun off from Sears back in April, as CEO Eddie Lampert continued to pare back non-core assets, though a better term for those assets might be “the good stuff.”

  And that term appears appropriate for Land’s End following today’s financial results. Land’s End reported a profit of 37 cents a share, up from 35 cents a year earlier, while sales grew by more than 5% to $347.2 million. (When Sears last reported in August, its sales fell 9.7%, while reporting a loss of $573 million.)

  Investors rejoiced. Shares of Land’s End have jumped 21% to $40.39, a new all-time high, and even Sears is getting in on the fun. It’s shares have gained 2.2% to $33.63 at 3:42 p.m.

• [By James Brumley]

  Another decline in quarterly revenue came as no surprise when Sears Holdings (SHLD) reported first quarter results on Thursday morning. The retailer has been shedding revenue-bearing properties like Lands’ End (LE) in earnest for about three years now, while simultaneously axing operational stores; 80 more stores have been or will be closed in 2014.

Top 10 Retail Companies To Buy Right Now: Macy’s Inc (M)

Macy�s, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates stores and Internet Websites in the United States. Its retail stores and Internet Web sites sell a range of merchandise, including apparel and accessories for men, women, and children; cosmetics; home furnishings; and other consumer goods. The company also operates Bloomingdale�s Outlet stores that offer a range of apparel and accessories, including ready-to-wear, shoes, fashion accessories, jewelry, handbags, and intimate apparel products. As of January 28, 2012, it operated approximately 840 stores under the names of Macy�s and Bloomingdale�s; and 7 Bloomingdale�s Outlet stores, as well as macys.com and bloomingdales.com. The company was formerly known as Federated Department Stores, Inc. and changed its name to Macy�s, Inc. in June 2007. Macy�s, Inc. was founded in 1820 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Reuters]

  Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images NEW YORK -- Looks like the best suitor won. After an extended chase that included overtures on both sides, Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank will combine to create the nation's fourth largest seller of menswear. Men's Wearhouse (MW) said Tuesday that it's buying its rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers (JOSB) for $1.8 billion. The company will pay $65 a share, a 5 percent premium to Jos. A. Bank's most recent closing price. As part of the deal, Jos. A. Bank also said it's terminating its deal to acquire the parent company of Eddie Bauer, which sells rugged outerwear. Shares of both companies rose on the news: Men's Wearhouse's shares were up nearly 5 percent to $57.13, while shares of Jos. A. Bank increased nearly 4 percent to $64.22. The acquisition comes after months of the two chains publicly fighting over who would acquire whom. Industry watchers had speculated that a merger was inevitable given the challenges the companies face in the increasingly competitive menswear landscape. With more than 1,700 U.S. stores and $3.5 billion in annual sales, the combined company's reach in men's clothing will fall behind only Macy's (M), Kohl's (KSS) and J.C. Penney (JCP). "Together, Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank will have increased scale and breadth," Doug Ewert, president and CEO of Men's Wearhouse, said in a statement. Jos. A. Bank made the first move in October when it offered to buy its larger rival for $2.3 billion, just a few months after Men's Wearhouse ousted its founder and chairman. Men's Wearhouse shot down that offer, and turned the tables, offering to buy its rival for $1.54 billion. But after Jos. A. Bank turned down that bid, Men's Wearhouse increased its offer to $1.6 billion, and then again to $1.78 billion. In the middle of the back-and forth, Jos. A. Bank said last month that it was buying the parent of Eddie Bauer, but left the door open for a deal with Men's Wearhouse. At the time, it said if it received

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

  Macy�� online performance over the past three months hasn�� been good. However, management has been making a lot of wise moves that should lead to investor rewards. While Macy�� wouldn�� be capable of withstanding a severe stock market correction, it�� one of the most well-run retailers in the industry. That being the case, as long the broader market holds, Macy�� should perform well. This is in addition to a generous 2.10 percent yield.

• [By Rich Bieglmeier]

  [Related -Macy's, Inc. (M): The One Department Store Stock You Can Trust]

  Upside earnings surprises are what Macy's management has delivered 12 of the last 13 quarterly checkups. On average, the retailer earned 19.85% more than the consensus estimate.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  If any retailer was set primed to beat the Street come earnings time, it was Macy’s (M). The department-store operator is known for being among the best operators and its stock had remained resilient despite retail struggles this year.

  Bloomberg

  Not quite. Macy’s reported a profit of 80 cents, missing forecasts for 86 cents, and Macy’s said its sales would grow between 1.5% and 2%, compared with its previous forecast for 2.5% to 3%. As a result, its shares have dropped 6.2% to $56.04 at 1:55 p.m. Stifel’s Richard Jaffe and team don’t get all the fuss:

  Macy�� reported 2Q EPS of $0.80, below our EPS estimate of $0.87 and consensus of $0.86, representing an 11% increase from EPS of $0.72 LY. EPS was negatively impacted by $0.02 related to the timing of tax settlements. The company performed in-line with internal plans although below the street�� expectations (the company gave no guidance for 2Q) which is pressuring shares today. However, despite the challenging environment Macy�� comp sales increased 3.4% (+4% with leased departments) as sales trends improved when the weather patterns normalized. This leads us to believe merchandise assortments in stores are on-trend. Expenses were tightly managed, leveraging 70 bps as a percentage of sales. While gross margin declined 35 bps, the lean inventory levels likely helped minimize the need for significant clearance efforts. The tough economic environment for retail will likely continue to be a headwind for the company; however, we believe Macy�� continued effective execution of its key strategies: My Macys, MAGIC selling, omnichannel initiatives and merchandising improvements should drive sales longer term and help the company continue to gain market share. We maintain our Buy rating and 12-month target price of $64.

  As you might imagine, Macy’s miss has hit other department stores (I assume because if Macy’s isn’t able to beat, how will any

Top 10 Retail Companies To Buy Right Now: Walgreen Co (WAG)

Walgreen Co. (Walgreens), incorporated on February 15, 1909, together with its subsidiaries, operates the drugstore chain in the United States. The Company provides its customers with access to consumer goods and services, pharmacy, and health and wellness services in communities across America. The Company offers its products and services through drugstores, as well as through mails, by telephone and online. The Company sells prescription and non-prescription drugs, as well as general merchandises, including household items, convenience and fresh foods, personal care, beauty care, photofinishing and candy. On August 2, 2012, it acquired 45% interest in Alliance Boots GmbH (Alliance Boots). In September 2012, the Company completed the purchase of a regional drugstore chain in the mid-South region of the United States that included 144 stores operated under the USA Drug, Super D Drug, May��, Med-X and Drug Warehouse names. In September 2012, WP Carey & Co LLC acquired five retail stores leased to Walgreen Co. In December 2012, the Company completed a transaction giving company a ownership stake in Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Pharmacy LLC.

The Company's pharmacy, health and wellness services include retail, specialty, infusion and respiratory services, mail service, convenient care clinics and worksite health and wellness centers. These services help improve health outcomes and manage costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The Company's Take Care Health Systems subsidiary is a manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the United States.

As of August 31, 2012, Walgreens operated 8,385 locations in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. In 2012, the Company opened or acquired 266 locations for a net increase of 175 locations after relocations and closings. As of August 31, 2012, the Com! pany had 7,930 of Drugstores, 366 of Worksite Health and Wellness Centers, 76 of Infusion and Respiratory Services Facilities, 11 of Specialty Pharmacies and two of Mail Service Facilities. The Company's drugstores are engaged in the retail sale of prescription and non-prescription drugs and general merchandise. General merchandise includes, among other things, household items, convenience and fresh foods, personal care, beauty care, photofinishing and candy.

The Company offers specialty pharmacy services that provide customers nationwide access to a variety of medications, services and programs for managing complex and chronic health conditions. In addition, the Company offers its customers infusion therapy services, including the administration of intravenous (IV) medications for cancer treatments, chronic pain, heart failure, and other infections and disorders which must be treated by IV. Walgreens provides these infusion services at home, at the workplace, in a physician's office or at a Walgreens alternate treatment site. The Company also provides clinical services, such as laboratory monitoring, medication profile review, nutritional assessments and patient and caregiver education.

Customers can also access the Company's e-commerce solutions, which extend the convenience to purchase most products available within its drugstores, as well as additional products sold exclusively online through its walgreens.com and drugstore.com Websites, including beauty.com and visiondirect.com. The Company's Websites allow consumers to purchase general merchandise including beauty, personal care, home medical equipment, contact lenses, vitamins and supplements and other health and wellness solutions. The Company's mobile applications also allow customers to refill prescriptions through their mobile device, download weekly promotions and find the nearest Walgreens drugstore. The Company also offers services through Take Care Health Systems, which manages its Take Care Clinics at select Wa! lgreens d! rugstores throughout the country.

Alliance Boots is a pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing and pharmaceutical wholesaling and distribution business. As of March 31, 2012, its fiscal year end, Alliance Boots had, together with its associates and joint ventures, pharmacy-led health and beauty retail businesses in 11 countries and operated more than 3,330 health and beauty retail stores, of which over 3,200 had a pharmacy. In addition, Alliance Boots had approximately 625 optical practices, approximately 185 of which operated on a franchise basis. Its pharmaceutical wholesale and distribution businesses, including its associates and joint ventures, supplied medicines, other healthcare products and related services to more than 170,000 pharmacies, doctors, health centers and hospitals from over 370 distribution centers in 21 countries.

Alliance Boots�� stores located in the United Kingdom, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Thailand and Lithuania and through its associates and joint ventures in Switzerland, China, Italy, Russia and Croatia. In addition, as of March 31, 2012, there were 58 Boots stores operated in the Middle East on a franchised basis. In its Health & Beauty Division, Alliance Boots has product brands such as No7, Soltan and Botanics, together with other brands, such as Boots Pharmaceuticals and Boots Laboratories. Through its Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division and several of its associates, Alliance Boots sells Almus, its line of generic medicines, in five countries and Alvita, its line of patient care products, in six countries.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

  Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) is thought to be considering a deal, while Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE: PFE) attempt via a deal with Britain's AstraZeneca Plc. (NYSE ADR: AZN) fell apart.

• [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]

  Nevertheless, Rite Aid's relatively strong fiscal year 2013 results were driven by a number of one-time or short-term benefits. These items helped mask the company's fundamental competitive disadvantages vis-a-vis larger rivals Walgreen (NYSE: WAG  ) and CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS  ) . While Rite Aid could generate impressive stock returns in a best-case scenario, the company's poor competitive positioning creates substantial long-term risk for shareholders. Therefore, I still think investors would be wise to avoid the stock.

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  Walgreen Co. (WAG) �shares fell initially but rebounded to end up 3.7% after the drugstore chain�� fiscal first-quarter profit met estimates. Earnings rose to $695 million, or 72 cents a share, from $413 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. Chief Executive Greg Wasson said margins were affected by generics.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Wall Street expects Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) to report its Q1 earnings at $0.75 per share on revenue of $19.50 billion. Walgreen shares rose 0.01% to $74.28 in the after-hours trading session.

Top 10 Retail Companies To Buy Right Now: Citi Trends Inc (CTRN)

Citi Trends, Inc., incorporate on March 3, 1999, is a retailer of urban fashion apparel and accessories for the entire family. The Company offers branded apparel from national brands, as well as private label apparel, accessories and a limited assortment of home decor items. As of February 2, 2013, the Company operated 513 stores in both urban and rural markets in 29 states. The Company�� stores average approximately 10,700 square feet of selling space and are located in neighborhood shopping centers. The Company also offers products under its brands, such as Diva Blue, Red Ape, Vintage Harlem and Lil Ms Hollywood. The Company�� store offers a variety of products for men and women, as well as children. During the fiscal years ended February 2, 2013 (fiscal 2012), the Company opened four new stores.

The Company's merchandise includes apparel, accessories and home decor. Within apparel, the Company offers fashion sportswear for men, women and children, including offerings for newborns, infants, toddlers, boys and girls. Accessories include handbags, jewelry, footwear, belts, intimate apparel and sleepwear. All merchandise sold in the Company's stores is shipped directly from its distribution centers in Darlington, South Carolina and Roland, Oklahoma.

The Company competes with TJX Companies, Inc., Ross Stores, Inc., The Cato Corporation, Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp., Rainbow, Dots, It's Fashion!, Simply Fashions, Wal-Mart and Target, Kmart.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

Top 10 Retail Companies To Buy Right Now: Foot Locker Inc (FL)

Foot Locker, Inc., incorporated on April 7, 1989, is a global retailer of shoes and apparel, operating 3,335 primarily mall-based stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand as of February 2, 2013. The Company operates in two segments: Athletic Stores and Direct-to-Customers. The Athletic Stores segment is an athletic footwear and apparel retailer whose formats include Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Footaction, and CCS. The Direct-to-Customers segment includes Footlocker.com, Inc. and other affiliates, including Eastbay, Inc. and CCS, which sell to customers through Internet websites, mobile devices, and catalogs. In September 2013, the Company acquired Runners Point Warenhandels GmbH (Runners) from Hannover Finanz GmbH.

Athletic Stores

Foot Locker is a global athletic footwear and apparel retailer. Its stores offer the products manufactured primarily by the athletic brands. Foot Locker offers products for a variety of activities, including basketball, running, and training. Additionally, the Company operates 65 House of Hoops, primarily a shop-in-shop concept, which sells basketball inspired products. Foot Locker�� 1,883 stores are located in 23 countries, including 1,072 in the United States, Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands, and Guam, 129 in Canada, 590 in Europe, and a combined 92 in Australia and New Zealand. The domestic stores have an average of 2,300 selling square feet and the international stores have an average of 1,500 selling square feet. Lady Foot Locker is a United States retailer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories for active women. Its stores carry athletic footwear and apparel brands, as well as casual wear and an assortment of apparel designed for a variety of activities, including running, walking, training, and fitness. In November 2012, the Company announced the introduction of a new banner named SIX:02. This new banner is an elevated retail concept featuring brand! s in fitness apparel and athletic footwear for women. Lady Foot Locker and SIX:02 operate 300 and 3 stores, and are located in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. These stores have an average of 1,300 selling square feet.

The Company�� Kids Foot Locker is a national children�� athletic retailer that offers a selection of brand-name athletic footwear, apparel and accessories for children. Its stores feature an environment geared to appeal to both parents and children. Its 305 stores are located in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Europe, and Canada. These stores have an average of 1,400 selling square feet. Footaction is a national athletic footwear and apparel retailer. Its 283 stores are located throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and focus on marquee footwear and branded apparel. The Footaction stores have an average of 2,900 selling square feet. Champs Sports is a mall-based specialty athletic footwear and apparel retailers in North America. Its product categories include athletic footwear and apparel, and sport-lifestyle inspired accessories. Its 539 stores are located throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Champs Sports stores have an average of 3,500 selling square feet. As of February 2, 2013, the Company operated 22 stores in the United States.

Direct-to-Customers

The Company�� Direct-to-Customers segment is multi-branded and multi-channeled. This segment sells, through its affiliates, directly to customers through its Internet websites, mobile devices, and catalogs. The Direct-to-Customers segment operates the Websites for eastbay.com, final-score.com, eastbayteamservices.com, ccs.com, as well as Websites aligned with the brand names of its store banners (footlocker.com, ladyfootlocker.com, kidsfootlocker.com, footaction.com, and champssports.com). Eastbay is a direct marketer in the United States, providing the high sch! ool athle! te with a sports solution, including athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, team licensed, and private-label merchandise. CCS serves the needs of the 12-20 year old seeking an authentic board lifestyle shop. CCS is anchored in skate but appealing to the surrounding board culture. The CCS format offers board lifestyle merchandise that will fit the needs of the customer all year long and stocks a selection of both core and lifestyle brands. The retail store operations of CCS are included in the Athletic Stores segment.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Kell and Lauren Pollock var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); ]

  Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Friday’s session are Big Lots Inc.(BIG), Foot Locker Inc.(FL) and Analogic Corp.(ALOG)

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Tomorrow, Foot Locker (NYSE: FL  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed kneejerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

• [By Alex Planes]

  Colorful clog maker Crocs disappointed on both top and bottom lines in its latest quarter, because of sluggish back-to-school sales, weaker employment growth, and macroeconomic uncertainty both domestically and abroad. Crocs' same-store sales in the Americas and Japan fell by 8.3% and 16.3%, respectively, but it's still enjoying notable growth in European and Asia-Pacific markets, where customers have taken great interest in the comfortable brand. This recent weakness has led Crocs to underperform the indexes as compared to Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK  ) , Skechers (NYSE: SKX  ) and other shoe-makers -- its growth during our three-year tracking period is now the weakest of any major shoe brand (including shoe outlet Foot Locker (NYSE: FL  ) :

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) was also up, gaining 8.07 percent to $46.19 as the company announced better-than-expected Q4 results.

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Analogic (NASDAQ: ALOG) were down 16.00 percent to $80.11 after the company reported downbeat Q2 earnings. CJS Securities downgraded the stock from Market Outperform to Market Perform and cut the price target from $97.00 to $90.00.