SolarCity Corp (SCTY): Aggressively Priced?

SolarCity Corporation (SCTY) has a lot more to add to today's advance of more than 4% according to Baird. The broker upgraded SolarCity to an "Outperform" from a "Neutral" rating. Analyst Ben Kallo upped his price-target to $70 from $50, which is potential upside of 24.4% to target as we type.

SolarCity engages in the design, installation, and sale or lease of solar energy systems to residential and commercial customers, and government entities in the United States. SCTY installs solar panels at minimal or no cost to customers who agree to purchase the energy from SCTY.

Kallo likes that SCTY was able to raise money with a debt offering backed by revenue from rooftop solar projects. Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Stefan Linder says, "This is really the first time we've seen asset-backed financing for a distributed-solar company." The green-tech company raised $54.4 million.

[Related -Futures Higher Ahead Of Alcoa, Inc. (AA) Earnings]

Kallo agrees with Linder, "The announcement represents one of the first solar asset backed securities (ABS), and separates SCTY as one of the most innovative public solar financing companies. We have lowered our discount rate for future projects based on the 4.80% interest rate of the ABS, and believe the stock will react favorably as investors recalibrate their expectations for SCTY."

To evaluate the possibility of $70, iStock has to focus on price-to-sales (P/S) since the sun stock doesn't make a profit and isn't expected to profitable in 2015, either.

[Related -Futures Rise Before Fed Meet; Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) Drops]

For 2014, Wall Street has a consensus revenue estimate of $256.62 million, which is 61% higher than this year's forecast of $159.44 million. SolarCity's five-year P/S sales range is 1.47 to 29.24 with an average of 10.18 – whew! those are some lofty valuations, even with 61% revenue growth. Today, the stock is setting a new record at 30.39 times revenue.  

To hit Baird's $70, investors ! will pay 21.08 times 2014's consensus revenue estimate. That's double the five-year average but well below today's record. SCTY would trade at $32.69 with the five-year average P/S ratio.

If SolarCity is able to string a series of successes together as Kallo believes will happen, then it is not too much of a stretch for P/S to expand; however, of the 31 solar stocks that trade for more than $1, SCTY has the second highest P/S ratio already. In fact, if you throw out number one and two (SCTY), the other 29 solar stocks trade with an average price-to-sales ratio of 0.97.

Perhaps, the wide discrepancy explains why 34% of SolarCity's float (stock available for trading) is sold short. The large short-position, as well as only 79.92 million shares outstanding, is going to make for volatile price swings.

Overall: SolarCity Corporation (SCTY) is appropriate for hyper-aggressive investors, in our view. Considering the enormous P/S premium relative to the solar industry, it's our opinion that 24.4% upside to Baird's target is not worth the additional valuation risk relative to 29 other peers.  

Zynga Inc (ZNGA): Can Zynga's Turnaround Bear Fruit?

Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is showing signs of life as investors are attracted to the substantial cash balance, potential of a new management team, and a reduced cost structure.

Zynga shares have gained 60 percent in the last three months while the company is taking substantial steps to restructure its business away from web-based social PC games in an attempt to narrow its focus on mobile gaming. Mobile contributed 30 percent of bookings in the first nine months of 2013, up from 20 percent last year.

Although the shift of web-based social games to mobile may hurt bookings in the short term, it could grow in 2014, reflecting increased focus on the company's core titles, coupled with improved execution in the mobile space.

[Related -Zynga Inc (ZNGA) Q3 Earnings Preview: What To Expect?]

Meanwhile, CEO Don Mattrick's (who formerly headed Microsoft's Xbox business) long history within the games industry where he has navigated through dozens of platform launches and transitions, coupled with COO Clive Downie's mobile background, should help to better position the company for the emerging opportunity within the mobile platforms.

Apart from keeping a lid on costs, Zynga should turn its focus on core properties and franchises to yield better results for the company.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams expects the new management team to be more efficient and effective at deploying its capital in a way that is able to generate better returns on investments. Some of this should be brought on by the company's focusing of its resources on core brands and by its being more judicious about which games are green lit.

[Related -Zynga Inc (ZNGA): Former Xbox Chief Unleashes Microsoft-Style Top Order Shakeup]

The company's renewed focus on investment opportunities in new franchises and new brands that could help to reestablish traction for the company with regard to usage, monetization, and revenues.

However, Williams don't expect to gain visibility on some! of these new opportunities until 2014 as potential release dates move closer.

Though Zynga lost its position as the top game-maker for Facebook to King.com, which develops "Candy Crush Saga," Zynga remains the second-leading provider of games on the world's largest social network with 90 million MAUs (monthly active users) and 17 million DAUs (daily active users), according to AppData. The company is ahead of its next competitor by 41 million MAUs and 8 million DAUs.

Zynga is focused on properties that can show strong and sustainable revenues and users. A review of the top Facebook games highlights Zynga's top three titles on the social network, FarmVille 2, Zynga Poker, and Words with Friends remain popular on the platform by DAUs and MAUs.

The company indicated that combined bookings of its FarmVille franchise grew for the third quarter in a row, increasing by 45 percent in the September quarter.

However, the company continues to lose share to other competitors as mobile DAUs fell to 14 million in the recent September quarter, down from a peak of 22 million a year ago. Mobile MAUs declined from 72 million in the last three months of 2012 to 51 million in the three months ending September 2013.

Williams noted that mobile remains a critical growth sector for the ultimate success of Zynga given the shift in playing trends from PCs to iOS and Android smartphone and tablets.

With a new management team and a significantly lower cost structure, Zynga has taken the necessary steps to leverage its assets toward become a leading mobile game developer. The company removed nearly $200 million of cash costs and operating expenses year to date versus last year, excluding restructuring charges. Overall, headcount was 2,206 people at the end of the second quarter, down one-third from a year ago.

The continued improvements to its cost structure could help deliver incremental opportunities to drive further savings over the rest of the year, apart from helping the company execu! ting the ! turnaround.

On the balance sheet front, Zynga's cash and current marketable securities at the end of the September quarter totaled $1.523 billion, or $1.90 a share, versus $1.648 billion a year ago or $2.18 a share. This represents approximately 43 percent of its current market cap.

Top 5 Performing Companies To Invest In Right Now

With shares of Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) trading at around $70.17, is TGT an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let�� analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

C = Catalyst for the Stock�� Movement

As most investors already know, Target mostly blamed the weather for its mixed to disappointing Q1 performance. In most cases, a company blaming the weather is absurd and nothing more than an excuse. If the weather is an issue, then�the company complaining should get�some products on the shelves that match the current environment. However, Target�� excuse is at least somewhat justifiable because the weather seemed to affect the majority of the industry opposed to just Target. Seasonal items such as gardening equipment and spring apparel didn�� sell as well as anticipated. High-priced electronics have also been performing poorly, but this has been more a long-term problem, and it�might serve as a warning sign that the consumer isn�� as strong as advertised, but that�� a story for another time.

Top 5 Performing Companies To Invest In Right Now: Cazador Acquisition Corporation Ltd.(CAZA)

Cazador Acquisition Corporation Ltd., a development stage company, intends to effect a merger, share capital exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more operating businesses or assets. It would focus on a business combination in developing countries in central and eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The company was founded in April 2010 and is based in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. Cazador Acquisition Corporation Ltd. is a subsidiary of Cazador Sub Holdings Ltd.

Top 5 Performing Companies To Invest In Right Now: Minco Gold Corp Com Npv(MMM.TO)

Minco Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold properties. The company owns 16 gold properties covering an area of approximately 1,000 square kilometers of mineral rights in China. It also explores for iron, silver, lead, zinc, and other base metals in various properties. The company was formerly known as Minco Mining & Metals Corporation and changed its name to Minco Gold Corporation in January 2007. Minco Gold Corporation was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Best Medical Stocks For 2014: Energold Drilling Corp.(EGD.V)

Energold Drilling Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides contract diamond drilling services to the mining and mineral exploration industries primarily in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia. As of December 31, 2010, it owned fleet of 103 drilling rigs. The company also engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and mining of mineral properties, primarily silver, lead, zinc, and gold properties located in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. In addition, it manufactures drilling rigs and associated equipment for water well, mineral exploration, and geotechnical drilling. Energold Drilling Corp. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top 5 Performing Companies To Invest In Right Now: Revlon Inc.(REV)

Revlon, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in manufacturing, marketing, and selling cosmetics, women?s hair color, beauty tools, anti-perspirant deodorants, fragrances, skincare, and other beauty care products worldwide. The company?s cosmetics include face makeup products, including foundation, powder, blush, concealers, bronzers, and finishers; lip makeup products comprising lipsticks, lip glosses, and lip liners; eye makeup products consisting of mascaras, eyeliners, eye shadows, and brow products; nail color and nail care products, such as enamels, treatments, and cuticle preparations; and face and eye makeup removers. Its beauty tools comprise nail, eye, and pedicure grooming tools, such as clippers, scissors, files, tweezers, eye lash curlers, and makeup brushes; and fragrances consist of perfumes, eau de toilettes, colognes, and body sprays. The company markets its products primarily under Revlon, Revlon ColorStay, Revlon Super Lustrous, Revlon Age Defying, A lmay Intense i-Color, Almay Smart Shade, Revlon ColorSilk, Mitchum, Charlie, Jean Nate, Ultima II, and Gatineau names. Revlon, Inc. sells its products through sales representatives and independent distributors to mass volume retailers, chain drug stores, chemist shops, hypermarkets, general merchandise stores, department stores; other specialty stores, such as perfumeries; and to the United States military exchanges and commissaries. It also licenses its brand names to third parties for the manufacture and sale of beauty-related products and accessories. The company was founded in 1932 and is based in New York, New York. Revlon, Inc. is a subsidiary of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Revlon (NYSE: REV  ) will need to have a serious discussion with its headhunters. The company revealed in an SEC filing that Executive Vice President and CFO Steven Berns has tendered his resignation. He has done so in order to take up the same positions at privately held media conglomerate Tribune Company.�

Top 5 Performing Companies To Invest In Right Now: Golden Goliath Resources Ltd. (GNG.V)

Golden Goliath Resources Ltd., an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. The company focuses on gold, silver, lead, and zinc deposits. It holds interests in 7 properties covering a total area of 20,794 acres located in the Uruachic mining district; the La Cruz silver property covering an area of 90 hectares located on the Sierra Madre Belt; and the Chamizal property covering an area of 689 hectares located to the south-southwest of the city of Chihuahua in Central Chihuahua. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Do These Factors Support BlackBerry?

With shares of BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) trading around $8, is BBRY an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

BlackBerry is a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software, and services it provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to information such as email, voice, instant messaging, SMS, Internet, intranet-based applications, and browsing. Its products and services feature the BlackBerry wireless solution, the Research In Motion Wireless Handheld product line, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, software development tools, and other software and hardware.

BlackBerry has reportedly gained some interest from the Chinese electronics company Lenovo, although sources are differing on whether Lenovo's interested in purchasing BlackBerry as a whole or just parts. The Wall Street Journal reported that Lenovo is interested in buying all of BlackBerry, but Reuters has said that the Chinese company would face too much regulatory scrutiny, particularly in regards to BlackBerry's secure network. Reuters reported that Lenovo would more likely get BlackBerry's handset business, while a North American buyer would be better suited for BlackBerry's network.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Weak

BlackBerry stock has struggled to make positive progress in the last several years. The stock is currently trading near lows for the year and looks poised to continue this trend. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, BlackBerry is trading below its key averages, which signal neutral to bearish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
BlackBerry Options	67.12%	16%	15%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
November Options	Steep	Average
December Options	Steep	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	-308.89%	83.84%	178.41%	-96.08%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-45.02%	9.37%	-35.97%	-47.21%
Earnings Reaction	-0.99%	-27.76%	-0.89%	-22.73%

BlackBerry has seen mixed earnings and decreasing revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been disappointed about BlackBerry’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Weak Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has BlackBerry stock done relative to its peers, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), and sector?

	BlackBerry	Apple	Google	Nokia	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	-29.70%	-4.60%	42.14%	81.14%	20.16%

BlackBerry has been a weak relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

BlackBerry provides innovative wireless communication products to consumers and companies worldwide. More takeover news is hitting headlines as Lenovo has reportedly gained some interested in the company. The stock has not done well in recent years and is now trading near lows for the year. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenues have been decreasing which has disappointed investors. Relative to its peers and sector, BlackBerry has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what BlackBerry does this quarter.

Wal-Mart to Microsoft Shifts Show CEO Change Fastest Since ’08

U.S. corporations are switching chief executive officers at the fastest pace in five years as companies from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) grapple with shifting customer tastes, competition from upstarts and restive shareholders.

This year, through the third quarter, 43 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were working under new CEOs, according to executive recruiter Spencer Stuart. That suggests 2013 will surpass the 49 of 2011, the biggest for turnover since 2008. Wal-Mart joined those ranks yesterday, saying Doug McMillon, head of its international business, will replace Mike Duke in February.

CEOs are required to master a broader range of skills than in the past, when top executives might have climbed the ranks with just one discipline. Companies are bigger, more global and increasingly complicated, and there's accelerating competition in countries such as China, India and Brazil. Executives must also adapt to quicker technological change, including shifts brought on by widening use of mobile devices.

"Companies in every industry are dealing with a new digital world where sales happen differently, the consumer is reached differently and products have to be made and moved around the world in a new way," said Bob Benson, who heads RL Benson & Associates, a New Canaan, Connecticut-based consultant to search firms. "CEOs who don't have a digital orientation are worried. We're in a new world."

Wal-Mart Sales

The holiday shopping season, which officially kicks off with the so-called Black Friday sales this week, is a stark reminder of the changes. Online holiday sales will increase as much as 15 percent to $82 billion this year, more than three times faster than the total retail sales gain of 3.9 percent to $602.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

It's against that backdrop that Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is bringing in a new leader.

Wal-Mart is struggling to restore U.S. sales growth with Amazon.com Inc. and dollar stores luring away customers. Overseas, it's accelerating an expansion in China and other emerging markets while probing allegations of bribery in Mexico and possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

CEO change at Wal-Mart and Microsoft has been propelled by the need for better strategies, said Michael Useem, director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Wal-Mart needs to improve performance in some overseas markets where it has stumbled, while Microsoft needs to better tackle the Internet, he said.

Microsoft Transition

"CEOs today have to think about where smartphones and the Internet are going, which no one had to do before," Useem said in an interview. "So you need leaders with the intellectual firepower to master new things who can also figure out how to grow huge global organizations."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said he will retire as the Redmond, Washington-based company transitions from its roots as the world's largest software maker to focus on devices and services. Rivals Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have shifted the technology landscape away from Microsoft's mainstay personal-computer business to mobile computing.

Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) this year hired Microsoft executive Don Mattrick as the San Francisco-based social-gaming pioneer faced challenges to shift from titles aimed at Facebook Inc. (FB) users toward customers playing games on smartphones.

'Digital Landscape'

CEOs who aren't comfortable around technology and digital trends will have difficulty setting strategy for the future, said Dawn Lepore, former CEO of Drugstore.com and a director at AOL Inc., TJX Cos. (TJX) and RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK)

"If you don't understand the digital landscape, how will you make the right decisions about what your company will be for the next 10 years?" Lepore said. "Everything from cars to manufacturing plants have more computers in them."

It's not just the changes in technology that are driving the high rate of CEO turnover. The record stock market in the U.S. also makes it a very lucrative time for an executive to retire, said John Wood, vice chairman at executive recruiter Heidrick & Struggles in New York.

When a CEO retires, most of the payout comes from shares accumulated in the tenure, Wood said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) closed above 16,000 for the first time last week.

Activist Shareholders

When a company does stumble or slow, activist investors are increasingly willing to jump in, Wood said.

"They are now willing to directly go to boards with what they believe to be a legitimate commentary on the CEO's performance," he said.

In this year's first half, activists' second-most-common strategy was the removal of a CEO, trailing only the quest for a board seat, according to data from Activist Insight, which tracks the industry. As recently as 2010, removing the CEO was sixth, the data show.

Activists this year have helped force out executives at Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) and J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) Investors have also put pressure on management at Microsoft and Sotheby's, among others.

At P&G, investor Bill Ackman pushed for changes after the Cincinnati-based company lost customers in such categories as detergents and had to scale back plans in emerging markets. Once known for inventing new categories, P&G hasn't had a $1 billion hit since re-imagining the household mop with the Swiffer a decade ago.

Pressure Jobs

With the added pressure of activists and the CEO job already requiring an executive to be plugged in 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there's more incentive to leave the job if the opportunity presents itself, said Tom Flannery, a leader of executive recruiter Boyden Global Executive Search's North American Board Practice and a managing director in Pittsburgh.

"The pressure is getting tougher and tougher," Flannery said. "The digital shift is taking its toll on people in their 60s because it's not something they grew up with. These people are so well compensated that they don't need to be in the job for 10 years before they can afford to retire."

The CEO changes tracked this year by Spencer Stuart in the S&P 500 included 30 retirements and another 10 instances where the executive was ousted or stepped down; other changes were caused by the death of executives or mergers.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) and Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (DNB) had new CEOs starting this quarter and several other companies have changes pending, according to Equilar Inc., which tracks executive compensation.

'Musical Chairs'

The confluence of circumstances is creating a real-life game of "musical chairs" for CEOs, said Peter Felix, president of the Association of Executive Search Consultants in New York, which tracks recruiter activity. Fees are rising, reflecting the increase in CEO and top executive searches, he said.

"Boards are saying we'd better make some changes now because it may be too late if we don't, the time is right and George, or Henry or Bill is ready to retire," Felix said. "It's the coming together of a whole bunch of forces and that can spell serious change."

Stock of companies being bought often jump

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

Q: What happens to the shares of acquiring companies after buyouts?

A: When a company is bought out, it's often a bonanza for its shareholders. Shares of acquired companies tend to soar in most cases.

It's been a bonanza for companies being bought this year. So far, companies are paying 20% above the current stock prices for companies being bought, says Richard Peterson of S&P Capital IQ. Seeing a 20% gain overnight is epic and something many investors try to anticipate.

But what about the flipside of the situation, or what happens to the companies doing the buying? It's usually less positive for the investors in the companies that buy the target.

A study analyzed buyouts between 1980 and 2001. It turns out investors in the acquiring company lost $25.2 million on average after the buyout deal was announced, according to the research by Sara Moeller of the University of Pittsburgh and her co-authors.

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That trend appears to holding this year. One of the biggest deals of the year, Microsoft's buy of part of smartphone maker Nokia for roughly $7 billion, announced on September 2 . Shares of Nokia soared 31% on the news, but shares of Microsoft dropped nearly 5%, even though investors were somewhat expecting the deal. Shares of Microsoft, though, have recovered since.

Investors can't exactly bank that stocks will fall by a large amount after an acquisition. Biotech firm Regeneron saw its stock fall 0.4% after announcing its plans to buy a production facility from Dell.

Disney's Earnings Were Not As Magical As Many Investors Were Hoping

Though Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) became the latest media company to post better-than-expected earnings, they weren't good enough for Wall Street.

Shares of the Burbank, Calif.-based company, which have underperformed their peers such as Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), 21st Century Fox (Nasdaq:FOXA) and CBS (NYSE:CBS) over the past year, slumped nearly 3% in after-hours trading Thursday because of unexpected weakness in its Media Networks business. By mid-day Friday, the bulls managed to reverse the selling pressure and sent shares higher by 3.15%. The stock has gained about 38% since January, even as investors fretted about "The Lone Ranger" bombing at the box office. The company has said it will take a write down of as much as a $190 million because of the critically disliked Western that stars Johnny Depp.

The parent of ESPN, Walt Disney World and Pixar yesterday reported net income in the most recent quarter of $1.39 billion, or 78 cents per share, an increase of 12% from $1.24 billion, or 69 cents, a year earlier. Revenue at the Burbank, Calif.-based company rose 7% to $11.6 billion, helped by an unexpectedly strong performance from its Parks and Resorts business. The earnings beat Wall Street's expectations for a profit of 76 cents on revenue of $11.4 billion. For a closer look at the numbers, click here.

Though hit movie and television shows help Disney's bottom line, what attracts investors to the house of Mickey are the company's Media and Networks business, which includes ESPN and the ABC television network, and Parks and Resorts, which includes theme parks such as Walt Disney World and the Disney cruise ships. Hit movies and television shows, as it's often been said, come and go. Unfortunately, the Media Networks business, Disney's largest, proved disappointing. Operating income at the division, fell 8% to $1.44 billion, as the company absorbed higher sports programming costs. It was the only Disney business that posted a profit decline. Revenue rose 1% to $4.9 billion. That was b! elow the $5.26 billion expected by B. Riley analyst David Miller.

These results may be particularly worrisome since ESPN has long been a cash cow for Disney. It charges cable and satellite providers the highest fees of any channel and routinely generates huge television ratings. Though rival Fox Sports 1 recently launched and hasn't had much impact on ESPN yet, some investors may wonder whether that will change over the long run.

Disney's Parks and Resorts business was a bright spot thanks to rising attendance and guest spending. Operating profit surged 15% to $471 million while revenue jumped 8% to $3.71 billion. That matched the $3.7 billion forecast of Needham analyst Laura Martin. The Studio Entertainment, Consumer Products and Interactive divisions all posted gains in revenue. Unfortunately for investors, however, many of Disney's rivals had better quarters.

For instance, net income at Time Warner, the largest media company, rose 44% to $1.18 billion. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share rose to $1.01. Revenue at the parent company of Warner Bros. and CNN was little changed at $6.86 billion. 21st Century Fox saw its net income slump more than 40% to $1.26 billion, or 44 cents per share, in part because of the expenses it incurred for launching Fox Sports 1. Revenue surged 18% to $7.06 billion. Profit from continuing operations at New York-based CBS jumped 22% to $469 million, or 76 cents a share, as sales jumped 11% to $3.63 billion.

The Bottom Line

Disney's shares aren't particularly cheap and it remains unclear when things will get better for the company. Some have pointed to Walt Disney's $4.billion acquisition of Lucasfilm, the producer of the "Star Wars" films, as a potential catalyst for the stock. The company is adding "Star Wars" attractions to its parks. CEO Robert Iger announced yesterday that the first "Star Wars" film under its watch is going to be released in 2015. However, that may be too long time for investors to wait for a pay off.

Patronizing Disney's theme parks and watching the company's movies and television shows has been more enjoyable than owning the company's stock for many investors. It has underperformed its peers over the past five years. Unless the company blows away Wall Street expectations in the next few quarters, that trend will probably continue.

Disclosure - At the time of writing, the author did not own shares of any company mentioned in this art! icle.

LA Auto Show: For People Wanting to Do Some Real Shopping on Black Friday

After nearly a week of press previews, the Los Angeles Auto Show opened to the public on Friday and will run through next weekend. The number of new cars, concept cars, announcements, and awards over the past few days should be enough to keep any car buff happy until the next round of shows that start after the holidays.

Here's our take on some of the show's highlights.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) introduced a new mid-size pickup, the Chevy Colorado, which may make some buyers happy, but seems strange somehow because both Dodge and Ford have stopped making their Dodge Dakota and Ford Ranger mid-size models. Toyota has some success with its Tacoma and Nissan is working on a redesign of its Frontier. Honda sold an anemic 1,239 units of its Ridgeline pickup in October. And as a category, mid-size pickups have sold around 205,000 units so far in 2013, just ahead of luxury SUV sales but well ahead of the luxury sports car categories according Kelley Blue Book.

Speaking of luxury sports car, Mercedes-Benz showed off a concept called Vision Gran Turismo that is expected to be the basis for a GT AMG that will replace the company's SLS AMG sports car. The car is expected to take a run at the Porsche 911 and the GT AMG is scheduled to be unveiled in October 2014 at the Paris Motor Show.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC), Toyota, and Hyundai showed off hydrogen fuel-cell cars with Hyundai announcing that its car will be available on a leased basis in the U.S. in February. And as far behind fossil fuel-powered cars as electric vehicles are, hydrogen-powered cars are that far behind electrics. The state of California is investing up to $20 million a year over several years to build up the number of hydrogen refueling stations to 100.

The luxury SUV segment gets another entrant, this one from Ford's Lincoln division. The Lincoln MKC will be competing with Acura, Porsche, and Mercedes in this segment which is pretty small but has seen sales so far increase by 8.8% for the first 10 months of the year.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) showed off a concept of its Edge mid-size crossover vehicle that is scheduled for introduction in model year 2015 or 2016. The Edge is the second-best selling vehicle in this segment, behind only the Honda Pilot and ahead of the Toyota Highlander in the year to date.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) isn't sitting on its hands with the Highlander. The company introduced a hybrid version of the vehicle that will reach dealers in February of next year. The base price for the Highlander is just over $48,000. Official mileage numbers aren't available yet, but the 2013 non-hybrid version sports a combined city/highway rating of 28 miles per gallon.

Volkswagen introduced an all-electric version of its Golf subcompact called the E-Golf that will hit U.S. dealers next Spring. This car is not likely to do much to boost the company's sagging U.S. sales, down 5% year to date and 18% in October compared with October 2012.

Gold's Shocking New "Pick and Shovel" Play

Ever since humans realized the intrinsic value of gold, we've constantly searched for - and perfected - ways to find more.

From early methods like panning and trenching, to lode prospectors hunting for rock outcrops and veins, to the invention of drill bits...

In modern times, we use increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques, such as seismic sensors, magnetometry, and gravimetrics to help locate potential gold deposits.

But, after thousands of years of digging for gold, the low-hanging fruit's already been picked. Most remaining deposits are becoming increasingly difficult to find, and increasingly low grade.

Now, a surprising, brand-new gold prospecting tool may be in the offing - one that's far less technologically demanding, and much less invasive.

It seems nature itself has found a way to extract gold from the ground.

Take a look at this picture...

Money Does in Fact Grow on Trees

Resource-rich Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, was the site of a major gold rush in the 1890s. And it also happens to be where this recent discovery was made.

Scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) found that tiny nuggets of gold were hiding in the leaves of eucalyptus trees, just like the one at left.

So, how did the gold get there?

It seems the roots, which extend down over a hundred feet, suck up ground water wherein the gold particles are suspended.

According to geochemist Mel Lintern, the gold is toxic to the tree, so the eucalyptus just naturally sends it on "to the leaves and branches where it can be released or shed to the ground."

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Full Report

Now, before you set off to Australia to hunt for gold-dusted eucalyptus leaves... It turns out the gold particles are so tiny, they measure only a fifth as wide as a human hair, and require advanced X-ray imaging to be seen.

Put another way, the concentration is so low, that all the gold in 500 trees would scarcely make a wedding ring.

Even so, that gold has considerable worth.

You see, scientists can use a method called biogeochemical sampling to test for potential gold.

Lintern told Daily News Egypt, "By sampling and analyzing vegetation for traces of minerals, we may get an idea of what's happening below the surface without the need to drill." He continued, "It's a more targeted way of searching for minerals that reduces costs and impact on the environment."

He figures that this same method could prove valuable in finding other metals too, like copper and zinc.

Nigel Radford, a geochemist who has been involved in gold exploration for decades in Western Australia, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the discovery was a world-first with major implications for prospectors. "A lot of this stuff has been speculated about for some time, but the identification of the gold particles in the leaf materials is completely convincing and very, very important for the future of mineral exploration."

But this interaction between valuable metals and their natural neighbors is not new.

In fact, nature's been making major contributions not just to finding metals, but extracting them too.

Gold Bugs, Literally

Bioleaching is the use of bacterial microorganisms to extract metals from the ore where it's embedded. By feeding on the nutrients in minerals, bacteria separate the metal from its surrounding ore.

The Rio Tinto River in Spain owes its name to copper-bearing waters, thanks to microbial leaching.

Using microbes to leach metals from ore has been traced back millennia. As far back as 150 BCE, the Chinese dipped iron ore into a blue vitriol solution in order to extract copper.

But it was only in 1947 that scientists figured out that bacteria were actually responsible..

Recognizing the massive potential of having bugs do the work, the process was fast-tracked to commercialization.

Within a decade, bacterial leaching began at the Kennecott Utah Copper Company's Bingham Canyon Mine, where naturally occurring bacteria were oxidizing iron sulfides in waste piles, producing blue copper-containing solutions.

Today, some of the largest mining companies have developed bio-oxidation processes to extract metal.

Instead of using smelting or roasting processes, bioleaching is more cost-effective when metals are found in lower concentrations.

About 20% of copper today is produced through bioleaching, which emits little air and water pollution overall.

And as newer deposits are increasingly low grade, we can expect these methods to gain popularity in base metals mining.

But with ever-advancing technology, the demand for rare earth metals is rocketing.

Another Little Bug with Big Potential

That's why another ground-breaking discovery is so exciting; it could eventually lead to the extraction of these crucial metals through the use of microorganisms.

This time it's Dutch scientists who've found evidence of a life form that actually depends on rare earths to survive.

It may sound like an episode of Star Trek, but it's not.

Deep inside the mud of Italian volcanoes lives a bacterium that flourishes on lanthanides.

Those are metals employed all around us, used to reduce auto emissions, in fiber optic communications, and as the red in our televisions screens.

What's interesting is that this methane-consuming bacterium flourished when scientists added the rare earth metals cerium, lanthanum, praseodymium, and neodymium under controlled conditions.

Before this no one had considered that such elements could be essential to particular living organisms.

Admittedly, it's still early stage, so we could still be years away from using bacteria to mine rare earths.

But with demand for all metals exploding alongside lightning-speed technological advances, the new "picks and shovels," like trees and exotic bacteria, might become common tools for prospecting - and mining - sooner than anyone expects.

Next: The Only Way to Truly "Democratize Gold"

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now

"The truth is out there," a certain fictitious FBI agent once declared. But increasingly, it seems "the truth" is that there are no UFOs -- or at least none in our neighborhood.

That's the upshot of a couple of surprising revelations out of Canada and the United Kingdom. In twin announcements, the U.K. Ministry of Defence (yes, they know they're spelling it wrong) and the Canadian Department of National Defence (ditto) recently revealed that they have halted investigations of reports of unidentified flying objects over their respective skies.

Citing documents it obtained under Canada's Access to Information Act, CBC News reported in March that the Canadian MND -- and Transport Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well -- has ceased to track and investigate UFO sightings north of our border. Similarly, secret files that have only just been released by the British MoD confirm that in 2009, the British also called a halt to UFO investigations in that country.

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Yamana Gold Inc.(AUY)

Yamana Gold Inc. engages in gold and other precious metals mining, and related activities, including exploration, extraction, processing, and reclamation. It also explores for copper, molybdenum, zinc, and silver metals. The company's portfolio includes 7 operating gold mines namely Chapada; El Pen Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Jubak]

  At a minimum of 163.5 million shares, the offering represents 16% dilution for current shareholders. (Earnings would have to be spread over 16% more shares.) And that has raised fears across the sector, as traders and investors try to figure out which company might be next. Of course, as is usual, the initial reaction is to sell first and figure out the danger to any specific company later.

  Shares of Barrick Gold fell 11.2% on November 1. Want an example of collateral damage? Shares of Yamana Gold (AUY) dropped 5.6% on the day. (Yamana Gold is a member of my Jubak's Picks portfolio.)

• [By Rich Smith]

  Bugs of a feather flock together
  Arizona's proposed law was flawed from the get-go, because it fatally misunderstood the philosophy behind precious-metal investors. Stock investors sometimes buy gold stocks such as Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY  ) or Goldcorp (NYSE: GG  ) in hopes they will rise in value, so they can cash out at a profit. (Although with Yamana shares down 13% so far this year, and Goldcorp down 21%, there have been precious few profits to cash out lately.) They're equally willing to trade one gold-mining stock with a high P/E (Goldcorp costs 16.5 times earnings for example, and Yamana more than 20) for a gold miner that looks cheaper than the competition -- for example, Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM  ) , which costs only 10 times earnings.

• [By Steve Symington]

  To be sure, take a look at how prominent miners such as Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX  ) and Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY  ) have performed relative to the S&P 500 since then:

• [By Jim Jubak]

  On this scorecard, I think Yamana Gold (AUY) is a good example of what you should be looking for in the sector, even if it may still be a little early in the transition to buy anything. (If you disagree with me on timing, I'd start with a stock such as Yamana. Yamana is a member of my long-term Jubak Picks 50 portfolio. And I do think Yamana is a good trading vehicle for this market in gold.)

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Grupo Televisa S.A.(TV)

Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a media company in Mexico and internationally. It operates in seven segments: Television Broadcasting, Pay Television Networks, Programming Exports, Publishing, Sky, Cable and Telecom, and Other Businesses. The Television Broadcasting segment engages in the production of television programming and broadcasting of channels 2, 4, 5, and 9; and production of television programming and broadcasting for local television stations in Mexico and the United States. The Pay Television Networks segment provides programming services for cable and pay-per-view television companies in Mexico, as well as other countries in Latin America, the United States, and Europe. The Programming Exports segment offers international licensing of television programming. The Publishing segment primarily publishes Spanish-language magazines in Mexico, the United States, and Latin America. The Sky segment provides direct-to-home broadcas t satellite pay television services in Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic. The Cable and Telecom segment operates a cable and telecommunication system in the Mexico City metropolitan area. This segment provides data and long-distance services solutions to carriers and other telecommunications service providers through its fiber-optic network in Mexico and the United States; basic and premium television, pay-per-view, and telephone services. The Other Businesses segment engages in sports and show business promotion, soccer, feature film production and distribution, Internet, gaming, radio, and publishing distribution operations. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.

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 Grupo Televisa (NYSE: TV  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Daniel Cross]

  Grupo Televisa (NYSE: TV) is a broadcasting company that is set to take advantage of growth in several areas. The increase in the United States' Hispanic population means there are 53 million potential users of Spanish-language networks like Univision. Grupo Televisa receives royalties from licensing its programs to Univision, and revenue is expected to top $270 million this year. The emergence of Mexico as a manufacturing powerhouse means that the middle class should see a boost as well. Pay TV is popular in Mexico, as seen by a 12% rise in that segment's revenues from last year. Operating margins are improving as well, increasing from 17% in 2011 to 26% as of the most recent quarter.

• [By Michael J. Carr]

  Grupo Televisa (NYSE: TV) provides programming and cable and satellite services to viewers in the U.S., Mexico, the Dominican Republic and other countries. The company reported more than $5.5 billion in revenue over the past 12 months and earnings of more than $680 million, or $1.10 per share. Cash flow per share doubled in the past 12 months.

5 Best Dividend Stocks To Own For 2014: Transcananda Pipelines Ltd.(TRP)

Transcanada Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. The company operates in three segments: Natural Gas Pipelines, Oil Pipelines, and Energy. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment develops and operates energy infrastructure, including natural gas pipelines and regulated gas storage facilities. Its network of natural gas pipelines extends approximately 60,000 km tapping into gas supply basins in North America. The Oil Pipelines segment operates Keystone crude oil pipeline system, which includes completed 3,467 km Wood River/Patoka and Cushing Extension phases, and the proposed 2,673 km U.S. Gulf Coast Expansion. The Energy segment engages in the acquisition, development, construction, ownership, and operation of electrical power generation plants; the purchase and marketing of electricity; the provision of electricity account services to energy and industrial customers; and the development, construction, ownership, and operation of non-regulat ed natural gas storage in Alberta. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  Today, many newly discovered unconventional sources are very light, sweet, and easy to refine. Since our Gulf Coast refineries are still geared toward heavy, sour crudes, we will continue to import that grade to use in these facilities. In fact, one type of crude oil that is strikingly similar to�Venezuelan�and Mexican crudes is Canadian oil sands. Canadian oil sands are in�desperate�need of refineries capable of treating this heavy mix, and Gulf of Mexico refineries are just the type of refinery these crudes need. This is the driving force for Canadian pipeline companies TransCanada (NYSE: TRP  ) and Enbridge (NYSE: ENB  ) expanding their takeaway capacity to the Gulf through the Keystone XL and the Trunkline conversion, respectively.

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Talisman Energy Inc.(TLM)

Talisman Energy Inc., an upstream oil and gas company, engages in the exploration, development, production, transportation, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. It primarily operates in North America, the North Sea, and southeast Asia. The company was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Value Digger]

  Manitok's competitive advantage is its management team, who knows well where the shallow opportunities exist, from years of bypassing many conventional reservoirs and drilling deeper targets for Talisman Energy (TLM).

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd(TNP)

Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services worldwide. The company offers marine transportation services for national and independent oil companies and refiners under long, medium, and short-term charters. As of August 16, 2011, its fleet consisted of 50 vessels comprising 59 tankers, including 2 dynamic positioning 2 (DP2) shuttle tankers under construction, and 1 liquefied natural gas carrier. The company was formerly known as MIF Limited and changed its name to Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited in July 2001. Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited was founded in 1993 and is based in Athens, Greece.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  We can start with Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (NYSE: TNP  ) . Shares of the energy transporter moved 27% higher last week after surprising the market with a quarterly profit. Business isn't great at Tsakos. Revenue dipped slightly during the period, and a profit of $0.02 a share may not turn heads. However, analysts were bracing for a loss of $0.08 a share on a sharper decline in revenue.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of energy transporter Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (NYSE: TNP  ) jumped 17% today after the company released earnings.

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Mobile TeleSystems (MBT)

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC, together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services primarily in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Belarus. The company provides a range of mobile and fixed line voice and data telecommunications services, including transmission, broadband, pay-TV, and various value-added services; and sells equipment and accessories. It also offers network access services, including mobile cellular voice and data communication services; automatic roaming services; GPRS and Internet access services; and 3G technology. In addition, the company�s services include the design, construction, and installation of local voice and data networks capable of interconnecting with fixed line operators; installation and maintenance of cellular payphones; lease of digital communication channels; and provision of access to open computer databases and data networks, including the Internet, as well as video conferencing, and fixed, local, and long-distance telecommunications services. Its value-added services comprise call divert/forwarding, caller ID and anti-caller ID display, conference calling, WiFi, GPRS, intelligent call assistant, APN remote access point, fixed mobile convergence, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution, call barring, SMS, mobile office, voicemail, mobile banking, wireless application protocol, MTS-Connect, SIM-browser, point-to-point transfer, unstructured supplementary services data, downlink packet access, mobile TV, call waiting, MMS, ring tones, missed call alert, itemization of monthly bills, information and directory, international access, WEB and WAP portal, customer care system, ring back tone, collect call, and location-based services. As of December 31, 2011, the company had a mobile subscriber base of approximately 101.14 million. It has a strategic partnership with Vodafone. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Moscow, the Russian Federation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Manitoba Telecom (MBT) gained 5.7 percent to C$33.93 after selling its Allstream fiber network business to Accelero Capital Holdings for C$520 million. The company will use the cash to invest in new wireless spectrum and improve the speed of its existing networks, Manitoba Telecom said in a statement.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Over in Russia, market-leading cell phone provider Mobile TeleSystems (NYSE: MBT  ) has just confirmed that, as of 2012, it no longer sells Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) new iPhone models to its customers directly. The company does still stock, and sell, some older iPhone models. But for iPhone5 and on up, MTS now answers phone calls from Apple with a Spasibo, ne nada. ("Thanks, but no thanks.")

• [By Dan Radovsky]

  VimpleCom, a joint venture of Norwegian telecom Telnor and the Russian Alfa Group, operates under the BeeLine brand in Russia. BeeLine has joined the two other ex-iPhone carrying Russian heavyweight mobile carriers, Megafon and Mobile TeleSystems (NYSE: MBT  ) , and not renewed its iPhone contract with Apple.

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Crown Castle International Corporation (CCI)

Crown Castle International Corp., through its subsidiaries, owns, operates, and leases towers and other wireless infrastructure primarily in the United States and Australia. Its infrastructure includes distributed antenna system (DAS) networks, as well as rooftop installations. The company involves in the rental of antenna space of its towers to wireless communications companies. It also provides network services relating to its towers, which primarily include antenna installations and subsequent augmentations, as well as additional services, such as site acquisition, architectural and engineering, zoning and permitting, other construction, and other services related network development. As of December 31, 2010, it owned, leased, or managed approximately 23,900 towers, including 43 completed DAS networks. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Rooney]

  AT&T (T, Fortune 500) shares gained after the company announced over the weekend that it had inked a $4.8 billion lease deal with Crown Castle International Corp (CCI).

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  We just gave a fresh synopsis of which telecom and wireless players could still be up for M&A in the final round of consolidation. American Tower’s market cap is about $28 billion and shares are up more than 4.5% at $71.75. To show how hard things have been, the 52-week trading range is $67.89 to $85.26. What today’s transaction does is quite simply add value to the rest of the public companies that own and operate cell towers:

  Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) is up almost 2.5% at $70.90, against a 52-week range of $63.16 to $81.16. SBA Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SBAC) is up about 1.8% at $76.70. against a 52-week range of $59.00 to $82.31.

  American Tower expects that the portfolio addition will generate about $345 million in revenues and approximately $270 million of gross margin in 2014. If you value the deal solely on the 5,400 or so owned U.S. towers, this comes up to about $611,000 per tower before calculating the debt and other rights. Suddenly, SBA Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: SBAC) is vindicated because a deal it made in 2012 was deemed pricey as it paid about $1.45 billion for 3,252 towers from TowerCo, at about $445,000 per tower. Crown Castle also has spent close to $2.4 billion to acquire T-Mobile cell tower rights in late 2012.

Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: MicroFinancial Incorporated(MFI)

Microfinancial Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialized commercial finance company that provides microticket equipment leasing and rental, and other financing services in the United States. The company provides financing alternatives, and leases and rents commercial equipment to start-up and established businesses for use in their daily operations. It leases water filtration systems, food service equipment, security equipment, point-of-sale cash registers, salon equipment, health care and fitness equipment, and automotive equipment. The company primarily sources its originations through a network of independent equipment vendors, sales organizations, and other dealer-based origination networks. Microfinancial Incorporated was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Alacer Gold Corp. and Iamgold Corp. rallied at least 5.9 percent as the metal traded at its highest in 11 weeks. Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MFI) jumped 7.8 percent as it agreed to sell a unit for C$645 million ($614 million). Penn West Petroleum (PWT) Ltd. added 1.7 percent after cutting 25 percent of its workforce to reduce costs.

Top Growth Companies To Buy For 2014

Though natural gas still comprises three-quarters of Chesapeake Energy's (NYSE: CHK  ) total production, the company has made impressive strides in boosting oil production.

Because of severely depressed natural gas prices over the past few years, the Oklahoma City-based company embarked on a strategy to diversify its commodity mix away from the out-of-favor commodity and toward more profitable opportunities, such as oil and gas liquids.

Highlights from Chesapeake's first quarter show that this shift in strategy will continue for the foreseeable future, or at least until gas prices recover to a level where the company's gassy assets start generating rates of return that are competitive with its oilier assets. Let's take a closer look.

Oil production growth
Chesapeake's first-quarter oil production came in at 103,000 barrels per day, up 6% sequentially and 56% year over year, while natural gas liquids production was roughly 54,300 barrels per day, representing an 8% sequential increase and a 14% year-over-year improvement. �

Top Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD)

Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. engages in the ownership, operation, and franchise of restaurants in the United States. The company provides quick casual and casual dining services, as well as serves bottled beers, wines, and liquor. As of July 26, 2011, it had 773 Buffalo Wild Wings locations in 45 states in the United States, as well as in Canada. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Monday
  The first trading day of the week kicks off with Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD  ) getting deeper into the craft-brew game. Game Changer Ale -- a new pale ale by Redhook Brewery -- will make its debut at more than 925 Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants on Monday.

Top Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Checkpoint Systms Inc.(CKP)

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. manufactures and markets identification, tracking, security, and merchandising solutions for the retail and apparel industry worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Shrink Management Solutions, Apparel Labeling Solutions, and Retail Merchandising Solutions. The Shrink Management Solutions segment provides shrink management and merchandise visibility solutions. It offers electronic article surveillance systems, such as EVOLVE, a suite of RF and RFID-enabled products that act as a deterrent to prevent merchandise theft in retail stores; and electronic article surveillance consumables, including EAS-RF and EAS-EM labels that work in combination with EAS systems to reduce merchandise theft in retail stores. This segment also provides keepers, spider wraps, bottle security, and hard tags, as well as Showsafe, a line alarm system for protecting display merchandise. In addition, it offers physical and electronic store monitoring solutions, incl uding fire alarms, intrusion alarms, and digital video recording systems for retail environments; and RFID tags and labels. The Apparel Labeling Solutions segment provides apparel labeling solutions to apparel retailers, brand owners, and manufacturers. It has Web-enabled apparel labeling solutions platform and network of 28 service bureaus located in 22 countries that supplies customers with customized apparel tags and labels. The Retail Merchandising Solutions segment offers hand-held label applicators and tags, promotional displays, and queuing systems. The company serves retailers in the supermarket, drug store, hypermarket, and mass merchandiser markets through direct distribution and reseller channels. Checkpoint Systems was founded in 1969 and is based in Thorofare, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Three months after settling upon a new chief executive officer, it looks like Thorofare, N. J.-based Checkpoint Systems (NYSE: CKP  ) will soon have itself a new CFO as well.

Hot Warren Buffett Stocks To Buy For 2014: Waste Management Inc.(WM)

Waste Management, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides waste management services to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in North America. It offers collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. The company also owns, develops, and operates waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Its collection services involves in picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility, or disposal site; and recycling operations include collection and materials processing, plastics materials recycling, and commodities recycling. In addition, it provides recycling brokerage, which includes managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties; and electronic recycling services, such as collection, sorting, and disassembling of discarded computers, communications equipment, and other electronic equipment. Further, the company e ngages in renting and servicing portable restroom facilities to municipalities and commercial customers under the Port-o-Let name; and involves in landfill gas-to-energy operations comprising recovering and processing the methane gas produced naturally by landfills into a renewable energy source, as well as provides street and parking lot sweeping services. Additionally, it offers portable self-storage, fluorescent lamp recycling, and medical waste services for healthcare facilities, pharmacies, and individuals, as well as provides services on behalf of third parties to construct waste facilities. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. Waste Management, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  It can be good, though, with kids, to add a few individual company stocks to the mix, to keep things more interesting. A solid, dividend-paying blue chip such as Waste Management (NYSE: WM  ) can be a smart choice, in part because it's relatively easy to understand. It's reliable because garbage collection is likely to be in great demand for a long time, and the company has become a major recycler, too, even generating energy from some waste.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Keep in mind that some companies�deserve�their current valuations. Take Waste Management (NYSE: WM  ) , for instance, which has rallied ever since reporting its first-quarter results last week. The company's internal revenue growth from yield for its collection and disposal operations came in at a two-year high, 1.4%, and the company modestly improved its adjusted year-over-year EPS. Trash disposal and recycling are necessity businesses and make Waste Management a solid long-term buy.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  For instance, Waste Management (NYSE: WM  ) has amassed a fleet of around 2,000 trucks that are powered by compressed natural gas and plans to add more, while UPS (NYSE: UPS  ) recently announced plans to purchase 285 more gas-powered trucks next year.

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  For example, a company involved in a mundane business like running hair salons ��like Regis (RGS), dentist offices ��like Birner Dental (BDMS), grocery stores ��like Village Supermarket (VLGEA), or garbage dumps ��like Waste Management (WM), may be easy to estimate as essentially a no-growth business.

Top Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Thoratec Corporation(THOR)

Thoratec Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of proprietary medical devices used for circulatory support. The company?s primary product lines include ventricular assist devices, such as HeartMate II, an implantable left ventricular assist device consisting of a rotary blood pump to provide intermediate and long-term mechanical circulatory support (MCS); and HeartMate XVE, an implantable and pulsatile left ventricular assist device for intermediate and longer-term MCS. Its ventricular assist devices also comprise Paracorporeal Ventricular Assist Device, an external pulsatile ventricular assist device, which provides left, right, and biventricular MCS approved for bridge-to-transplantation (BTT), including home discharge, and post-cardiotomy myocardial recovery; and Implantable Ventricular Assist Device, an implantable and pulsatile ventricular assist device designed to provide left, right, and biventricular MCS approved for BTT comprising hom e discharge, and post-cardiotomy myocardial recovery. The company also provides CentriMag, an extracorporeal full-flow acute surgical support platform that offers support up to 30 days for cardiac and respiratory failure. In addition, it offers PediMag and PediVAS extracorporeal full-flow acute surgical support platforms designed to provide acute surgical support to pediatric patients. The company sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, as well as through a network of distributors internationally. Thoratec Corporation was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Pleasanton, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of medical device company Thoratec (NASDAQ: THOR  ) sank 12% today after its quarterly results missed Wall Street expectations. �

Top Growth Companies To Buy For 2014: Sara Lee Corporation(SLE)

Sara Lee Corporation engages in the manufacture and marketing of a range of branded packaged meat, bakery, and beverage products worldwide. Its packaged meat products include hot dogs and corn dogs, breakfast sausages, sandwiches and bowls, smoked and dinner sausages, premium deli and luncheon meats, bacon, beef, turkey, and cooked ham. It also offers frozen baked products, which comprise frozen pies, cakes, cheesecakes, pastries, and other desserts. In addition, Sara Lee provides roast, ground, and liquid coffee; cappuccinos; lattes; and hot and iced teas, as well as refrigerated dough products. The company sells its products under Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee, State Fair, Douwe Egberts, Senseo, Maison du Caf

Secondary Offerings at JinkoSolar, Shutterstock Send Shares Higher

It is not often that a secondary stock offering sends a company's shares higher, but we are seeing that very phenomenon Friday morning. Chinese solar PV maker JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) and stock image company Shutterstock Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTK) both priced secondary offerings this morning and shares in both companies have risen sharply.

At JinkoSolar, shares priced at $16.25, after closing Thursday night at $16.48, and shortly before noon the stock was up by 13.8% at $18.75. The company offered 3.8 million shares and an underwriters' option on an additional 570,000. JinkoSolar says it will use proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include expanding its manufacturing capacity. That by itself should have sent shares down.

Shutterstock closed last night at $60.32 and priced its offering of 4.6 million shares at $60.00 this morning. The company is selling only 1 million shares; the rest are being sold by some existing shareholders. The underwriters have an option on an additional 690,000 shares. The company said the purpose behind the offering is to increase the company's public float, among other things.

As far as JinkoSolar is concerned, part of the reason for the price jump is almost certainly a short squeeze. Institutional investors also are likely the heaviest buyers as they move toward some momentum stocks to juice up returns.

Shutterstock only had a public float of about 6.5 million shares, so it is likely adding liquidity. The stock is up more than 200% since the company's IPO, and we can assume that there are real buyers out there who want in on the party. In addition, nearly 13% of the stock is held short, so there is some covering going on as well.

Still, it is an interesting turn of events to see shares jump on secondary offerings.

Shares of JinkoSolar are trading at $18.43 a few minutes after noon on Friday, in a 52-week range of $3.18 to $20.06.

Shutterstock's shares are up nearly 12% at $67.46, after posting a new 52-week high earlier this morning of $68.42. The 52-week low is the IPO price of $21.00.

'Mad Money' Lightning Round: Cisco Is Smokin'

Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's what Jim Cramer had to say about some of the stocks callers offered up during the "Mad Money Lightning Round" Tuesday evening:

ARM Holdings (ARMH): "This stock is building an empire and is the semiconductor to own. I also like Intel (INTC)."

Baidu.com (BIDU): "Let's hold off on that one." Coach (COH): "I'm holding off. They have not delivered the past few quarters." Zoltek (ZOLT): "I've been looking at this one. These are basic American companies that are doing well." Cisco Systems (CSCO): "I think this one is coming back. Business is smokin'. Buy, buy, buy." Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA): "No, I've not liked this one for awhile. I don't want to touch this stock." To read a full recap of "Mad Money" on CNBC, click here. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here. To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC. -- Written by Scott Rutt in Washington, D.C. To email Scott about this article, click here: Scott Rutt Follow Scott on Twitter @ScottRutt or get updates on Facebook, ScottRuttDC

5 Stocks Insiders Love Right Now

DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- Corporate insiders sell their own companies' stock for a number of reasons.

>>Beat the S&P With These 5 Shareholder Yield Champs

They might need the cash for a big personal purchase such as a new house or yacht, or they might need the cash to fund a charity. Sometimes they sell as part of a planned selling program that they have put in place for diversification purposes, which allows them to sell stock in stages instead of selling all at one price.

Other times they sell because they think their stock is overvalued and the risk/reward is no longer attractive. Some even dump their own stock because they have inside knowledge that a competitor is eating their lunch and stealing market share.

But insiders usually buy their own shares for one reason: They think the stock is a bargain and has tremendous upside.

>>5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings

The key word in that last statement is "think." Just because a corporate insider thinks his or her stock is going to trade higher, that doesn't mean it will play out that way. Insiders can have all the conviction in the world that their stock is a buy, but if the market doesn't agree with them, the stock could end up going nowhere. Also, I say "usually" because sometimes insiders are loaned money by the company to buy their own stock. Those loans are often sweetheart deals and shouldn't be viewed as organic insider buying.

At the end of the day, its large institutional money managers running big mutual funds and hedge funds that drive stock prices, not insiders. That said, many of these savvy stock operators will follow insider buying activity when they agree with the insider that the stock is undervalued and has upside potential. This is why it's so important to always be monitoring insider activity, but it's twice as important to make sure the trend of the stock coincides with the insider buying.

>>5 Stocks Under $10 in Breakout Territory

Recently, a number of companies' corporate insiders have bought large amounts of stock. These insiders are finding some value in the market, which warrants a closer look at these stocks. Here's a look at five stocks whose insiders have been doing some big buying per SEC filings.

Clean Energy Fuels

One energy player that insiders are snapping up a big amount of stock in here is Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE), which is engaged in the business of selling natural gas fueling solutions to its customers mainly in the U.S. and Canada. Insiders are buying this stock into modest strength, since shares are up 6.1% so far in 2013.

Clean Energy Fuels has a market cap of $1.18 billion and an enterprise value of $1.35 billion. This stock trades at a reasonable valuation, with a price-to-sales of 3.15 and a price-to-book of 2.11. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 46.7%, and for next year it's pegged at -27.5%. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $148.26 million and its total debt is $368.13 million.

>>5 Stocks Ready for Breakouts

The CEO just bought 127,000 shares, or about $1.61 million worth of stock, at $12.69 per share.

From a technical perspective, CLNE is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has just started to trend back above both of those key moving averages with decent upside volume flows. That move is quickly pushing shares of CLNE within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.

If you're bullish on CLNE, then I would look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above its 50-day at $12.79 or above more support at $12.20, and then once it breaks out above some near-term overhead resistance at $13.58 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 942,047 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then CLNE will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $14.48 to its 52-week high at $14.82 a share. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give CLNE a chance to tag $17 to $18.

Home Depot

Another home improvement retailer that insiders are active in here is Home Depot (HD), which sells an assortment of building materials, home improvement and lawn and garden products and provides a number of services. Insiders are buying this stock into decent strength, since shares are up 22% so far in 2013.

>>5 Rocket Stocks to Buy as Mr. Market Climbs

Home Depot has a market cap of $108 billion and an enterprise value of $116 billion. This stock trades at a reasonable valuation, with a trailing price-to-earnings of 22.52 and a forward price-to-earnings of 17.41. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 19%, and for next year it's pegged at 18.4%. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $3.42 billion and its total debt is $12.76 billion. This stock currently sports a dividend yield of 2.1%.

A director just bought 100,000 shares, or $752,000 worth of stock, at $75.20 per share.

From a technical perspective, HD is currently trending above its 200-day moving average and just below its 50-day moving average, which is neutral trendwise. This stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern after it found support just above its June low of $72.03 a share after the stock hit $72.21 a share this move. Shares of HD have started to rebound higher off that $72.21 low and it's now moving within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.

If you're in the bull camp on HD, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above some near-term support levels at $74 or at $73, and then once it breaks out above its 50-day at $76.85 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that registers near or above its three-month average action of 7.25 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then HD will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $80 to its 52-week high at $81.56 a share.

Illinois Tool Works

One industrial conglomerate that insiders are jumping into here is Illinois Tool Works (ITW), which is a manufacturer of a range of industrial products & equipment. Insiders are buying this stock into solid strength, since shares are up 23% so far in 2013.

Illinois Tool Works has a market cap of $33 billion and an enterprise value of $35 billion. This stock trades at a reasonable valuation, with a trailing price-to-earnings of 14.9 and a forward price-to-earnings of 16.2. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 3.7%, and for next year it's pegged at 10%. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $2.77 billion and its total debt is a $5.07 billion. This stock currently sports a dividend yield of 2.3%.

>>5 Hated Earnings Stocks You Should Love

The CFO just bought 7,000 shares, or about $519,000 worth of stock, at $74.25 per share.

From a technical perspective, ITW is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last six months, with shares soaring higher from its low of $59.68 to its intraday high of $75.63 a share. During that move, shares of ITW have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of ITW within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

If you're bullish on ITW, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above its 50-day at $72.86 or above more support at $71.07, and then once it breaks out above its new 52-week high at $75.63 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 1.72 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ITW will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $80 to $85 a share.

Digital Realty Trust

One real estate investment trust player that insiders are in love with here is Digital Realty Trust (DLR), which is engaged in the business of owning, acquiring, developing, redeveloping and managing technology-related real estate. Insiders are buying this stock into weakness, since shares are off by 19% so far in 2013.

Digital Realty Trust has a market cap of $7 billion and an enterprise value of $12 billion. This stock trades at a reasonable valuation, with trailing price-to-earnings of 38.19 and a forward price-to-earnings of 10.43. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 8.4%, and for next year it's pegged at 9.2%. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $24.26 million and its total debt is $4.7 billion. This stock currently sports a dividend yield of 5.7%.

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The CFO just bought 10,000 shares, or about $529,000 worth of stock, at $52.94 per share.

From a technical perspective, DLR is currently trending below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $50.23 to $50.26 a share. Following that bottom, shares of DLR have started to spike notably higher and it's quickly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade.

If you're bullish on DLR, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending some key near-term support at $52 or at $50.23, and then once it breaks out above some near-term support levels at $55.44 to $55.65 a share to its 50-day at $55.94 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 1.65 million shares. If that breakout hits soon, then DLR will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at its 200-day at $62.15 a share to more resistance at $64.47 a share.

Energy Transfer Partners

One final name with some big insider buying is Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), which is a publicly traded partnership owning and operating a portfolio of energy assets. Insiders are buying this stock into notable strength, since shares are up 16% so far in 2013.

>>5 Stocks Rising on Big Volume

Energy Transfer Partners has a market cap of $18 billion and an enterprise value of $35 billion. This stock trades at a premium valuation, with a trailing price-to-earnings of 32.30 and a forward price-to-earnings of 20.44. Its estimated growth rate for this year is -45.4%, and for next year it's pegged at 1.7%. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $532 million and its total debt is a whopping $17.41 billion. This stock currently sports a dividend yield of 7%.

A director bought 20,000 shares, or about $1.03 million worth of stock, at $51.82 per share.

From a technical perspective, ETP is currently trending above its 200-day moving average and just below its 50-day moving average, which is neutral trendwise. This stock has been downtrending over the last month and change, with shares falling from its high of $54.85 a share to its recent low of $50 a share. During that move, shares of ETP have been making mostly lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action.

If you're bullish on ETP, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above some key near-term support levels at $50 or at $49.40, and then once it breaks out back above its 50-day at $51.36 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.77 million shares. If that breakout hits soon, then ETP will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $53 to its 52-week high at $54.85 a share.

To see more stocks with notable insider buying, check out the Stocks With Big Insider Buying portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis.

RELATED LINKS:

>>Why Wall Street Got Apple Wrong

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Making Big Moves

>>4 Stocks Within Range of Breakouts

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Roberto Pedone, based out of Delafield, Wis., is an independent trader who focuses on technical analysis for small- and large-cap stocks, options, futures, commodities and currencies. Roberto studied international business at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and he spent a year overseas studying business in Lubeck, Germany. His work has appeared on financial outlets including

CNBC.com and Forbes.com. You can follow Pedone on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zerosum24 or @zerosum24.

Top 5 Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now

You should stock up for the coming economic collapse, because American businesses aren't. A just-released Commerce Department report adds to the growing list of indices pointing to a major economic decline coming our way. February inventories rose just 0.1%, well below the 0.4% increase economists had anticipated and much worse than the downwardly revised 0.9% increase seen in January.

When companies slowly rebuild their inventories, as they are now, it means factories produce less, lowering overall economic output.�And if we look at the Institute for Supply Management's inventory survey for March, we get a sense that when Commerce releases its own figures for the month, it's going to look ugly. The ISM survey showed a 2% decline in March inventories to 49.5, an indication that things are contracting at an accelerated rate.�

The down escalator
That's on top of a collapse in consumer confidence, the non-participation rate in the labor market hitting Depression-era levels, unadjusted weekly unemployment claims jumping again, vehicle sales missing estimates, and a whole slew of other economic indicators coming in below expectations.

Top 5 Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: Powell Industries Inc.(POWL)

Powell Industries, Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and servicing of custom engineered-to-order equipment and systems for the management and control of electrical energy and other critical processes in transportation, environmental, energy, industrial, and utility industries. The company operates in two segments, Electrical Power Products and Process Control Systems. The Electrical Power Products segment offers electrical power distribution and control systems that are used to distribute, monitor, and control the flow of electrical energy, as well as to provide protection to motors, transformers, and other electrically-powered equipment. It offers power control room substation packages, traditional and arc-resistant distribution switchgear, medium-voltage circuit breakers, offshore generator and control modules, monitoring and control communications systems, motor control centers, and bus duct systems directly to end-users or to engineering, procuremen t, and construction firms. This segment serves oil and gas producers, oil and gas pipelines, refineries, petrochemical plants, electrical power generators, public and private utilities, co-generation facilities, mining/metals operations, pulp and paper plants, transportation authorities, governmental agencies, and other industrial customers. The Process Control Systems provides technology solutions, including instrumentation, computer controls, and communications and data management systems to control and manage critical processes and facilities; and technical services to deliver these systems. This segment sells its products and services directly to end-users in transportation, environmental, and energy sectors. The company has operations in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, Africa, North America, South America, and Central America. Powell Industries, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Top 5 Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: Tribune Co (TRBAA)

Tribune Company, incorporated on March 19, 1968, is a media and entertainment company engaged in newspaper publishing, television and radio broadcasting and entertainment through its subsidiaries. The Company�� operations are divided into two industry segments: publishing and broadcasting and entertainment. In publishing, the Company�� daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call and Daily Press. The company�� broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, WGN America on national cable and Chicago�� WGN-AM.

Broadcasting

The Company�� broadcasting owns and operates 23 major-market television stations and reaches more than 80% of United States television households. The group is anchored by WGN America, which can be seen in more than 70 million United States households via cable and satellite services. 13 Tribune stations are affiliates of The CW. Seven are FOX affiliates.

Publishing

The Company�� newspapers include the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. Tribune Media Services specializes in entertainment listings and syndication, providing news and information for print, broadcast and interactive media.

Tribune Digital

Tribune Digital manages the operations of Tribune�� daily newspapers and their associated Websites, plus all aspects of the Company�� classified advertising operations, as well as Websites for Tribune�� TV stations. Its national classified sites include CareerBuilder.com, Cars.com and Apartments.com.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Brugger]

  Murray McQueen has been named to the newly created position of president, real estate, to oversee Tribune's (NASDAQOTH: TRBAA  ) "valuable portfolio of more than seven million square feet of real estate assets," the company announced today. McQueen will take over his new role effective immediately.

• [By Michael Lewis]

  The owner of the Los Angeles Times, and recent bankruptcy court emergent,�Tribune� (NASDAQOTH: TRBAA  ) �has made some interesting moves since its downfall in 2008, when the company drowned under the weight of its $13 billion debt load -- a parting gift from a leveraged buyout a year earlier. This week, the story got even more interesting, as management announced that the company would split its profitable operations (TV), and its less appealing businesses (papers), into two separate entities. While more details need to emerge before we can determine whether the company is a worthwhile investment, this unloved company could present an interesting opportunity to sophisticated investors.

10 Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: Focus Metals Inc (FMS.V)

Focus Graphite Inc., mid-tier junior mining company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Quebec, Canada. It focuses on producing technology graphite for clean energy applications. The company principally holds a 100% interest in the Lac Knife graphite property that consists of 57 mining claims covering an area of approximately 3,000 hectares located to the south of Fermont, Quebec. It also has interests in the Kwyjibo rare earth elements and copper project, located to the north of Lac Manitou; and the Romer & Labrador Trough project for the discovery of gold, platinum, palladium, copper, zinc, and nickel in northern Quebec. In addition, the company, through its investment in Grafoid Inc., focuses on producing commercialized graphene for industrial, infrastructural, medical, military, and other sectoral applications. The company was formerly known as Focus Metals Inc. and changed its name to Focus Graphite Inc. on May 24, 2012. Focus Graphite Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Ottawa, Canada. The company operates as a subsidiary of 360House.com, Inc.

Top 5 Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: NMDC Ltd (NMDC.NS)

NMDC Limited (NMDC) is an India-based iron ore producer and exporter. The Company operates in two business segments: iron ore and other minerals and services. The Company is engaged in the exploration of a range of minerals including iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, lime stone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, and beach sands. As of March 31, 2012, it produced about 30 million tons of iron ore from three fully mechanized mines, which include Bailadila Deposit-14/11C, Bailadila Deposit-5, 10/11A (Chhattisgarh State) and Donimalai Iron Ore Mines (Karnataka State). As of March 31, 2012, NMDC supplied 269.16 lakh tons of iron ore to domestic industries and had exported 3.85 lakh tons of iron ore. Its sponge Iron production was at 37,260 tons and its diamond production was 18043.44 carats during the year fiscal ended March 31,2012. On December 12, 2011, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary NMDC Power Ltd was incorporated.

Top 5 Heal Care Companies To Own In Right Now: Xerox Corporation(XRX)

Xerox Corporation provides business process and information technology (IT) outsourcing, and document management services worldwide. Its business process outsourcing services include human resources services; finance and accounting services; healthcare payers and pharma; customer management solutions; healthcare provider solutions; technology-based transactional services for retail, travel, and non-healthcare insurance companies; programs for federal, state, county, and town governments; transportation solutions; and government healthcare solutions. The company is involved in designing, developing, and delivering IT solutions, such as comprehensive systems support, systems administration, database administration, systems monitoring, batch processing, data backup, and capacity planning services; telecommunications management services; and desktop services. Its document outsourcing services comprise managed print services that optimize, rationalize, and manage the operation of Xerox and non-Xerox print devices; and communication and marketing services that deliver design, communication, marketing, logistic, and distribution services through SMS, Web, email, and mobile, as well as print media. The company also manufactures and sells products, including desktop monochrome, color and compact printers, multifunction printers, copiers, digital printing presses, and light production devices for small/mid-size businesses and large enterprises. In addition, it sells paper, wide-format systems, network integration solutions, and electronic presentation systems. The company sells its products and solutions through its sales force, as well as through a network of independent agents, dealers, value-added resellers, systems integrators, and the Web. Xerox Corporation was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  This week's loser
  On the flipside, information technology and print services specialist Xerox (NYSE: XRX  ) tumbled 6.2% on the week after reporting uninspiring first-quarter earnings results. For the quarter, Xerox delivered $5.36 billion in total revenue and an adjusted profit of $0.27. Profits topped expectations by $0.03; however, revenue was $130 million shy of expectations. Xerox saw sales at its document technology segment fall 9%, while service revenue jumped 4%. As Xerox continues to transition toward a service-based model, these sales fluctuations will lessen dramatically. As a big catalyst, I'll be looking for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to drastically boost its Medicare processing business next year in California.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Xerox (NYSE: XRX  ) is getting out of the European paper biz.

  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 Sean Williams]

  Finally, if you like money, then you're going to love printing service and IT-software specialist Xerox (NYSE: XRX  ) , which declared a $0.0575-per-share dividend on Tuesday. The dividend will be payable to shareholders on July 31, 2013, and marks the second quarter in a row that it'll be paying a stipend of $0.0575. With IT software and services slowly growing into the primary business for Xerox, you can expect sales and cash flow to stabilize and this dividend to grow consistently over the coming years.