Hot Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now

Like a roller coaster, the exchange traded funds for the United States Dollar (NYSE: UUP) and gold, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), have gone up and down in response to statements from the Federal Reserve. What is obvious by the continuation of Quantitative Easing III by Federal Reserve Chairman is that the United States economy is still weak. With that and the improving Chinese economy (NYSE: FXI), the future for gold assets such as the GLD, Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), and Wishbone Gold PLC (PINK: WISHY) is bullish.

China is the second largest consumer of gold. Eventually, it will surpass India. It is a "perfect storm" for gold when the American economy is weak and the Chinese economy is strong. In terms of the Chinese economy improving, the exchange traded fund for China, iShares FTSE China, is up more than 10% for the last month of market action.

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

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matthew Leising]

  The study, commissioned by CME Group Inc. (CME), the Futures Industry Association, the Institute for Financial Markets and the National Futures Association, surveyed private insurance companies to gauge their interest in providing protection to customers if their futures broker goes bankrupt, according to a statement released today.

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

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

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

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

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

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Among exchanges, the action is beyond the stock market. With the rise in trading of futures, options, and other derivative investments, NYSE Euronext's ownership of the NYSE Liffe exchange in London was a key element of ICE's interest. CME Group (NASDAQ: CME  ) and CBOE Holdings (NASDAQ: CBOE  ) have worked hard to preserve their respective strength in futures and options, and rising market turbulence has made many of their products look a lot more enticing. Given that derivatives can help hedge market risk and reduce overall exposure, all of the exchange companies have an opportunity to bolster their presence in the derivatives market with innovative products that meet the new needs investors have in a more turbulent financial environment.

Hot Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Northgate Minerals Corporation(NXG)

Northgate Minerals Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in exploring, developing, processing, and mining gold and copper deposits in Canada and Australia. Its principal producing assets include 100% interests in the Fosterville and Stawell Gold mines in Victoria, Australia; and the Kemess South mine located in north-central British Columbia, Canada. The company was formerly known as Northgate Exploration Limited and changed its name to Northgate Minerals Corporation in May 2004. Northgate Minerals Corporation was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Hot High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: NEW GOLD INC.(NGD)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

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

Hot Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.(TC)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

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

• [By Jim Jubak]

  The stock market liked what it heard Wednesday, August 7, from Thompson Creek Metals (TC) after the close in New York. Second quarter adjusted net earnings of 8 cents a share crushed the Wall Street consensus of a penny a share. Revenue climbed 3.8% to $117.8 million versus expectations for revenue of just $1.3.8 million. The company also said that its new Mt. Milligan mine is on schedule with a start-up for the concentrator expected this month, with first ore-feed by mid-August. The company said it expects commercial production to begin in the fourth quarter of 2013, with production ramping to full capacity over the next twelve months.

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  The biggest new holdings are Chesapeake Energy�puts, and shares of Discovery Communications. Other new holdings of interest include Halcon Resources (NYSE: HK  ) , and Thompson Creek Metals (NYSE: TC  ) . Oil and gas company Halcon, operating in the promising Bakken region, as well as Texas's productive Eagle Ford shale region, among others, is expected to grow by 30% annually over the coming years. It recently reported 2012 net daily production 128% higher than year-ago levels, and proven reserves up 417%. Halcon was recently one of my colleague Joel South's top two energy holdings, and analysts at Stifel recently upped its rating�from Hold to Buy.

Hot Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Newmont Mining Corporation(Holding Company)

Newmont Mining Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and production of gold and copper properties. The company?s assets or operations are located in the United States, Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico. As of December 31, 2009, it had proven and probable gold reserves of approximately 93.5 million equity ounces and an aggregate land position of approximately 27,500 square miles. The company was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

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

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Hebba Investments]

  Even with rising Q2 costs, GG still has lower true all-in costs than many of its larger competitors' Q1FY13 costs. Compared to Q1FY13 numbers of competitors such as Yamana Gold (AUY) (costs just over $1300), Kinross Gold (KGC) (costs above $1350), Silvercrest Mines (SVLC) (costs below $1100), Newmont Gold (NEM) (costs around $1300) Agnico-Eagle (AEM) (costs around $1400) and Barrick Gold (ABX) (costs around $1200).

• [By Daniel Putnam]

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

• [By Patricio Kehoe] e, has cash costs of $912 per ounce, and Agnico Eagle�� costs do not even reach the $700 per ounce mark. Hence, it comes as little surprise that revenue has been decreasing steadily, since gold prices are hovering around the $1300 mark at best. As the company is hemorrhaging money, investment gurus the like of John Burbank and Seth Klarman have decided to sell their entire stake in the firm. I agree with this bearish stance, and recommend investors stay away from Kinross Gold.

  Any Long Term Investment?
  
  If you were to follow Jean-Marie Eveillard�� purchases, one would be inclined to see good growth prospects for Agnico Eagle, and thus believe in this stock�� potential. And, you wouldn�� be wrong, as the firm has been growing at a steady pace, with no end in sight to its expansion possibilities. However, with a 171% price premium, investors might be better off waiting until a more favorable entry-point is available. Nevertheless, as a long-term investment, I feel highly optimistic and would thus even consider paying the additional cost.

  Disclosure: Patricio Kehoe holds no position in any stocks mentioned.
  
  Also check out: Jean-Marie Eveillard Undervalued Stocks Jean-Marie Eveillard Top Growth Companies Jean-Marie Eveillard High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Jean-Marie Eveillard keeps buying John Burbank Undervalued Stocks John Burbank Top Growth Companies John Burbank High Yield stocks, and Stocks that John Burbank keeps buying
  The Strategy of Ben Graham ��Warren Buffett�� Mentor From 1923 to 1957 Warren Buffett�� mentor, Ben Graham, followed a strategy of investing in net-nets. He said: ��t always seemed, and still seems ridiculously simple to say that if one can acquire a diversified group of common stocks at a price less than the...net current assets alone��he results should be quite satisfactory. They were so in our experience, for more than 30 years.��br> Today net-nets are rare. They are collected under Gu

Hot Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Iamgold Corporation(IAG)

IAMGOLD Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration, development, and production of mineral resource properties worldwide. It primarily explores for gold, silver, zinc, copper, niobium, diamonds, and other metals. The company holds interests in eight operating gold mines, a niobium producer, a diamond royalty, and exploration and development projects located in Africa and the Americas. Its advanced exploration and development projects include the Westwood project in Canada; and the Quimsacocha project, which consists of 3 mining concessions covering an aggregate area of approximately 8,030 hectares in Ecuador. The company was formerly known as IAMGOLD International African Mining Gold Corporation and changed its name to IAMGOLD Corporation in June 1997. IAMGOLD Corporation was founded in 1990 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Blair]

  IAMGOLD (IAG) is one of my favorite gold stocks principally because it is a relatively high cost producer with long lived mines. That paradox arises since high cost producers have the most volatility when gold prices change. If they are operating close to break even, a relatively small rise in gold prices makes them quite profitable. Conversely, when prices fall they bleed all over the floor.

Hot Gold Stocks To Buy Right Now: Golden Star Resources Ltd(GSS)

Golden Star Resources Ltd., a gold mining and exploration company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of gold properties. It owns and operates the Bogoso/Prestea gold mining and processing operation that covers approximately 40 kilometers of strike along the southwest-trending Ashanti gold district in western Ghana; and the Wassa open-pit gold mine located to the east of Bogoso/Prestea in southwest Ghana. The company also has an 81% interest in the Prestea underground gold mine located in Ghana. In addition, it holds interests in various gold exploration projects in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Cote d?Ivoire, as well as holds and manages exploration properties in Brazil in South America. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Littleton, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricio Kehoe] ating price of the commodity, along with the geopolitical risks involved in mining in African nations such as Ghana, are just two of the obstacles the firm is facing. In addition, as one of the smallest gold mining firms in the industry, with a market cap of just $122 million, Golden Star has had a very difficult time financing its latest expansion projects. With share prices tumbling towards all-time lows, gurus such as Steven Cohen, Chuck Royce and Arnold Schneider have already sold out their positions in the troubled firm.

  Why Have Gurus Lost Faith in Golden Star?

  Despite aggressive expansion over the past decade, the Toronto-based gold mining firm has not been able to take advantage of its increased production output. Gold prices might have exploded over a ten-year period, yet the recent six-month decline has put a huge strain on Golden Star. The expedited maturation of its mines is particularly troubling, since the accelerated extraction rates, which allowed for short-term profits, are now falling considerably. The impact of the company�� excessive overproduction on profits and growth is clear: decreasing gold reserves mean less production, and thus reduced revenue for the gold miner. When the decline in metal prices are taken into account, the outlook is even more grim.

  In addition to overexpansion at the wrong time, Golden Star�� position has weakened due to its comparably less efficient operations. Unlike industry peers, such as IamGold Corp. (IAG) or Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI), the majority of the Toronto-based miner�� assets contain refractory ore, which is far more expensive to extract than non refractory ore. And, in an attempt to switch production to the lower cost gold ore, and thus increase margins, Golden Star has depleted its mines��non refractory ore. With low reserves and mounting cash costs, the firm inevitably turned to new acquisitions.

  Overpriced Acquisitions and Geopolitical Risk

  The purchase

• [By Sean Williams]

  Golden Star Resources (NYSEMKT: GSS  )
  It's simple physics: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. When gold prices nosedived earlier this week, gold miners with historically higher operating costs took the brunt of the hit. For the most part, that meant that development-stage miners, and those operating in Africa, where labor and political costs make cost-effective mining a challenge, took it on the chin. Possibly no stock was hammered more than Golden Star Resources, a gold miner in Ghana, which lost about one-quarter of its value on Monday alone.

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now

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

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

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Technology stocks performed well on Wednesday. Former Dow component Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) rallied after a better-than-expected earnings report. International Business Machines (IBM) led gainers in the Dow industrials.

• [By Jayson Derrick]

  IBM (NYSE: IBM) has purchased Aspera, a developer of technology that speeds up the transfer of extremely large files over long distances. Big Blue has been attempting to grow its storage software sales as hardware sales continue to be a drag on the company. Shares gained 0.86 percent, closing at $180.23.

• [By Matt Thalman]

  When the Dow falls more than 100 points, it's usually easy to find a few losers. This morning, I talked about why American Express, Du Pont, and Caterpillar were all lower;�click here to read about those stocks, or continue reading to learn about�JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) , AT&T (NYSE: T  ) , and IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) .

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: Philip Morris International Inc(PM)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Global tobacco giant�Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) announced this morning its second-quarter dividend of $0.85 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters after raising the payout 10% from $0.77 per share.

• [By Dan Dzombak]

  However, the tobacco industry has been a great hunting ground for investors. While no tobacco companies pay as high a dividend as Vector Group, long-term investors would do well to look at Altria in the U.S. or Phillip Morris International (NYSE: PM  ) . Both were part of the original Phillip Morris conglomerate that split up around 2008 by spinning off Kraft and Phillip Morris International.� Both businesses are leaders in their respective markets -- Altria in the U.S. and Phillip Morris the world, excluding China and the U.S -- and have exceptionally high-returning businesses. This is in part due to both having one of the top brands in the world with Marlboro. For dividend investors, the key part is that both have long-term histories of steadily increasing their dividends. If I had to choose just one, while Altria has a higher yield than Phillip Morris (4.9% vs. 3.9%), I would go with Phillip Morris. The company has better growth prospects and a lower payout ratio, and the business is far more diversified in terms of legal risk, whereas Altria could be hurt by any laws or rulings that go against tobacco companies in the U.S.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Buy Right Now: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Though mostly in line with expectations, McDonald�� (MCD) just delivered disappointing third-quarter earnings that showed stagnant revenue yet again. A meager 2.4% increase in the top line this quarter followed a disappointing 0.9% increase last quarter.

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: Chevron Corporation(CVX)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Some stocks didn't manage to recover from early losses, however. Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) finished the day down 0.8%, extending its losses over the past few days. Given crude oil's price gain of nearly $1 per barrel today, most of Chevron's energy-company peers managed to post at least modest rebounds today, even though the sector has underperformed the broader market throughout the rally of the past six months. Investors might be concerned that the unfreezing of the company's assets in Argentina might lead Chevron to make greater investment in the country, potentially exposing it to future nationalizations of assets that could end up costing Chevron even more in lost assets. Avoiding political risk will be key for the company as it navigates various world energy markets.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Dow components ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) have actually fallen slightly on oil's new high because they may not see a big benefit from higher prices. Oil is becoming more expensive to extract, and demand isn't rising rapidly, which would lead to higher profits from refining, retail, and extraction. Instead, demand is flat or declining slightly in the developed world, and there are big worries that supply disruptions will hit the Middle East as violence spreads there.

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)

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

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Moreover, it's starting to appear that Clorox has weathered a tough part of its business cycle. Throughout the industry, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) , Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) , and Clorox all had to deal with rising costs for the inputs they needed to make their respective products. The companies responded by implementing price-cutting measures and passing on part of their higher costs to their customers. For its part, Clorox was able to expand its gross margins by a full percentage point, with a worse-than-normal flu season contributing to sales. Now that input-cost inflation is easing, P&G and Clorox expect to see better profitability, with growth starting to approach the faster rates that Colgate has enjoyed.

• [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]

  Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  )
  Colgate's shares are trading well below the $62 high they hit just last month. The consumer goods company is heavily levered to international sales, with more than 80% of its business coming from outside the U.S. and more than half coming from emerging markets.

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: Visa Inc.(V)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Associated Press]

  NEW YORK (AP) -- The National Retail Federation on Tuesday urged a federal judge to reject a proposed $7.2 billion settlement with Visa (NYSE: V  ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) over alleged fee-fixing.

• [By Daniela Pylypczak]

  Visa (V) released its fourth quarter earnings results on Wednesday after the closing bell, posting earnings that fell in line with expectations.

  V’s Q3 Performance in Brief
  - Revenue climbed 9% to $3 billion in Q4, slightly below analysts’ estimates of $3.02 billion.
  - Net income came in at $1.2 billion for the quarter, or $1.85 per share, a 15% �increase from a year prior. Analysts had expected EPS to come in at $1.85.
  - Net income for the full year 2013 was reported at $5.0 billion, an 18% increase from a year prior.

  Visa’s 2014 Financial Outlook
  - Visa expects annual net revenue growth in 2014 to come in at the low double-digits on a constant dollar basis, with an expectation of two percentage points of negative foreign currency impact.
  - Annual operating margins are expected to come in around the low 60s.
  - Annual diluted class A common stock EPS growth is expected to be in the mid to high teens.
  - Annual free cash flow is expected to come in at $5 billion in 2014.

  Visa Announces Share Buyback
  Visa’s Board of Directors also approved a new $5.0 billion class A common stock share repurchase program. The shares may be repurchased from time to time as market conditions warrant,�and authorization for the program is subject to further change at the discretion of the Board.

  CEO Commentary
  CEO Charlie Scharf commented, “Visa delivered strong financial performance during the fourth quarter and full year across our global businesses, a reflection of solid revenue and transaction growth. We continued investing in high growth regions of the world, in products and technology to drive our performance, while maintaining disciplined expense control. We also have been consistent and decisive in returning excess cash to shareholders and maintain this commitment. Both the increase in our quarterly dividend payment by 21% to $0.40 per share and our new $5 billion share repurchase auth

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  2. A simple savings account
  Savings accounts aren't popular among financial institutions because they aren't big revenue generators. The profits from prepaid cards come from merchant charges that Visa (NYSE: V  ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) collect, keeping a portion and giving the rest to card-issuing institutions. That's likely where SpendSmart expects to get the money to pay Bieber's $3.75 million endorsement fee.

• [By Tim Beyers]

  Getty Images There are some people who spend $5,000 each year going out to lunch. And then there are some who spend nothing. But according to a new Visa (V) survey, on average, Americans spend $936 a year -- or $10 per outing -- on restaurant-made lunches. That kind of money could easily help fund a winter trip to the beach, but it's going to stale chips, soda, and six-inch subs instead. Or, if you're among the 1 percent who spend more than $50 a lunch -- nearly $5,000 a year -- you'd have that beach trip completely covered. Here's a closer look at how the rest of us spend our lunch breaks: Men spend more. They spend 44 percent more, specifically: $21 weekly compared to $15 on average for women. So do the poor. Those who makes $25,000 or less spent more per meal, $11.70, than any other income bracket. Chitown = cheaptown. Midwesterners spent the least on eating out, just $8.90 per meal. Northeasterners ate out the least often -- just 1.5 times per week -- while Southerners spent an average of $10 each time on two weekly visits to the lunch counter. Resisting the temptation to get takeout for lunch can really pay off. "Simple choices have a large impact on your wallet," says Nat Sillin, Visa's head of U.S. Financial Education."Clipping a coupon, choosing a less expensive item, or brown-bagging it can save you hundreds over the course of a year." But Sillin isn't condemning eating lunch out. Rather, it's about being aware of how much you're spending and whether you can afford to spend that amount. "Going into debt for a tuna sandwich isn't worth it." Fair point. But what if you don't know where to start? Here are four tips for reducing your lunch tab without going hungry: 1. Bring leftovers. This should be obvious, but for many it isn't. Cook enough over the weekend for multiple weekday meals and then store the remainder in portable containers you can bring to work. Reheat, serve, and bask in the savings as you watch YouTube at your desk. 2. Buy frozen.

Top Blue Chip Companies To Watch In Right Now: Apple Inc.(AAPL)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is about to be pilloried again for ��thical and legal��labor violations at the Chinese factory of one of its parts suppliers. A watchdog group called China Labor Watch reports that the Wuxi manufacturing plant of Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) has failed to pay workers millions of dollars in overtime wages, demanded 100 hours of mandatory overtime pay per month, required more than 11 hours a day of standing work with no rests except a 30-minute meal break, and other violations.

• [By Stoyan Bojinov]

  Morgan Stanley reiterated its “Overweight” rating on the Cupertino-based consumer electronics juggernaut Apple Inc. (AAPL), but went lowered its price target for the company.

  Katy Huberty, an analyst with the firm, noted “We increase FY14 EPS by $2.47 to $44 on better iPhone 5c pricing and margins offset partially by weaker Mac sales due to DRAM constraints. Our new interactive model allows investors to test the impact of iPhone user growth, upgrades, mix and margins.” In light of the mixed outlook, Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the stock from $630 to $540 a share.

  Apple Inc. shares traded lower on Tuesday, shedding 0.31% on the day. The stock is down 8% YTD.

6-Step Guide to Getting Rich Is Buried In 76-Year-Old Book

The Booklight/Flickr Thousands of personal finance books on shelves today promise to teach you to spend less, save more, invest better, retire earlier, get out of debt faster, and solve just about every financial conundrum in between. But perhaps none said it better than a book published in 1937. Napoleon Hill, a Great Depression-era author and former adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, interviewed "more than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known" to figure out the key to their good fortune. He wrapped all of his insights in a 200-page package and published "Think and Grow Rich," which went on to become one of the best-selling books of all time. Don't expect to find any stock-picking or gambling advice in it. Despite Hill interviewing some of the most iconic businessmen of his day, none of his findings involved any particularly hard-to-attain skills. His entire premise is helping people overcome the psychological barriers that keep them from wealth. "Wishing will not bring riches," Hill writes. "But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches." In one passage, he sums up six steps to turning a desire for wealth into "its financial equivalent":

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First. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money." Be definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for definite- ness which will be described in a subsequent chapter). Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as "something for nothing.") Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire. Fourth. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action. Fifth. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it. Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. AS YOU READ, SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

It seems basic, but if you actually compare this to just about any personal finance guide out there, you'll find exactly the same simple steps. They just come with a lot more bells and whistles. If anything, Hill's book is a reminder that one of the only ways to achieve true wealth is to understand that more often than not our emotions and our mindset are what keep us from succeeding, and that it's our job to come up with a plan to overcome them.

Obama: Decision by Fall on Next Fed Chief

Charles Dharapak/AP WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has said he's still considering a range of candidates to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve and that whoever gets the job will need to focus in the near term on reducing unemployment. Obama said during a White House news conference Friday that former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and current Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellen are both highly qualified for the job, and that he's also considering others. He said he'll make his decision in the fall. Obama acknowledged that many think Summers has "an inside track" to the job after Obama gave a strong defense of him last week at a closed-door meeting with House Democrats. But Obama said he was simply standing up for Summers because he was "getting slapped around in the press for no reason." "The perception that Mr. Summers might have an inside track simply had to do with a bunch of attacks that I was hearing on Mr. Summers preemptively, which is sort of a standard Washington exercise that I don't like," Obama said. Summers served as the head of the National Economic Council during Obama's first term and Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton. Current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's current term ends Jan. 31. The president's choice to succeed Bernanke would have to be confirmed by the Senate. In his meeting with House Democrats, Obama had said that former Fed Vice Chairman Don Kohn was also being considered for the job. The administration's search for a successor for Bernanke has been unusually public. And it has stood in stark contrast to the more behind-the-scenes process that previous administrations have used for vetting potential Fed chairmen. A group of liberal Democratic senators has written Obama urging him to pick Yellen and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has also weighed in on Yellen's behalf. Summers has attracted support from former officials of the Clinton and Obama administrations who have said his crisis-management skills would make him the best choice. Obama said that his main objective is to find someone who strongly supports the Fed's dual mandate of keeping inflation in check while pursuing maximum employment. But he noted that unemployment is the bigger priority right now for the economy. "Right now the challenge is not inflation, the challenge is we've still got too many people out of work," Obama said "There's too much slack in the economy." -.

Top 10 Tech Companies To Invest In Right Now

PNM Resources: Takeover Target?

We've uncovered one utility stock that is ripe for the picking; importantly, we like the stock even without a takeover offer, says Roger Conrad, utility sector expert and editor of Conrad's Utility Investor.

PNM Resources (PNM) is a potential target, trading at little more than book value, despite being on track for solid growth.

Management is guiding toward full-year 2014 earnings per share of $1.42 to $1.52, supporting the recently announced 12% dividend increase. The company also affirmed it's on track to meet previous 2013 full-year guidance of $1.35 to $1.41.

Utility capital spending growth underlies those projections. Texas customer growth is expected to average roughly 1% to 2016, with New Mexico somewhat less.

But the company is also asking state regulators' permission to retire two older coal-fired stations, recover $205 million in under-appreciated power plant assets, and to bring its share of unit three of the Palo Verde nuclear power plant into rate base.

Palo Verde is majority owned and operated by Arizona's Pinnacle West (PNW), itself a takeover target, though its larger size ($5.81 billion market capitalization), will likely require a bigger buyer.

Operating performance has improved markedly over the past decade, with most output sold into wholesale markets. Adding it to rate base would further stabilize PNM's earnings. So would approval to build a 177-megawatt gas peaker plant and 40 megawatts of solar.

During the 2014 forecast conference call, Chairman, President, and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn stated she expects Arizona regulators to make their decision in the case by early next autumn.

In the meantime, Palo Verde is fully hedged for 2014, eliminating risk to volatile wholesale markets in the Southwest, so long as the transfer to regulated rate base is successful.

PNM's great task remains strengthening its balance sheet. But the volatile, unregulated operations are gone. The company is set to refinance its 9.25% Notes of May 2015 with cash. And it expects to cover its $2.1 billion in planned five-year capital spending without issuing stock.

Prospective suitors may wait until New Mexico regulators rule on Palo Verde, and other capital spending issues are resolved.

But PNM does meet the most important test for any takeover target: It can grow earnings, boost dividends, and strengthen its balance sheet, even if no one ever makes an offer. I rate the stock a buy up to 24.

Subscribe to Conrad's Utility Investor here…

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If Your Stocks Could Talk, Would You Listen?

Picture a person you talk to only four times a year...

Do you know exactly what's happening in this person's life? Do you think this person considers how his or her actions affect you on a daily basis? Most of all, would you feel comfortable trusting this person with $1,000, $10,000, or even $100,000?

As earnings season bears down on us again, I'm reminded of a terrifying reality: Our money is in the hands of companies that have us in the dark practically 361 days a year. And if you're like me, you know the unfortunate feeling of opening up a shareholder letter to find that, since you last heard, things have gone very, very wrong.

For long-term investors, agonizing over the quarterly income statement is a fairly trivial exercise. In general, one quarter's earnings performance is not indicative of the overall health of the business.

However, the bigger concern is the status of business-specific "core metrics" that are vital to the company's station moving forward. These figures don't appear on the balance sheet, but from restaurants to retail, they're almost more important than cash flows. Think of search traffic growth for Google, or the amount of new stores opened for Whole Foods or McDonald's. These core metrics are far more important to a company's long-term health than the amount of money made in a three-month period.

But the question still remains: In the time between quarterly reports, is there a way to gauge the well-being of your company and investment capital?

Covert company communications
Whether you realize it or not, hundreds of publicly traded companies give you a peek into their businesses every day; these peeks just don't take the shape of 10-Q reports. Instead, you see them on television, on the Internet, and in magazines -- in the form of advertising.

An advertisement is a strategic brand communication that encourages consumers to think about their buying decisions. But it's also a way for companies to interface with the public when they aren't formally communicating performance. Sometimes, you can tell how a company's core metrics are faring based on the themes of their advertising. 

Let's take a look...

The good ones
Three companies in particular have captured my attention with recent advertising campaigns. And in doing so, addressed some pressing questions I had about their respective business models.

In terms of its business and advertising, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) truly reinvented itself with the launch of Windows 8. Facing both decreased global PC penetration and the rise of cloud computing, the future of Microsoft's business depended on management's ability to adapt and think outside the box. The result was an operating system that united the desktop and mobile experience, and the release of an iPad competitor.

I'll admit: I was skeptical. But after seeing more than six months of Windows 8 and Surface Tablet ads, I think they've got the right idea. Say what you will about the hiccups in the operating system, Microsoft's ad campaign completely rebuilt their public image and, in my opinion, started taking pages out of Apple's old-school underdog playbook. Microsoft has yet to see the real payout from this attitude adjustment, but with 100 million Windows 8 licenses already sold, I think the future is looking better than it did 12 months ago. 

Along with Microsoft, I've been extremely impressed by the advertising of LED lightbulb maker Cree (NASDAQ: CREE  ) , and the cult-favorite homemade soda producer SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA  ) . In both cases, the companies used memorable ad campaigns to introduce their products to mass markets. Much like an FDA approval for a pharmaceutical company, a successful ad campaign shows the world that the company is ready for growth. From an investing perspective, that's what I like to see.

Describing his company's latest campaign, SodaStream's president, Yonah Lloyd, said, "It's smart business. It's the right time." The company saw its soda machine sales climb from 2.7 million in 2011 to close to 3.5 million in 2012 and expects $1 billion in revenue by 2016. By upping its game in advertising, SodaStream sent a wake-up call to investors, telling them to get on board before the growth train leaves the station. A major check in the "win" column as far as I'm concerned.

In March, Cree became the new kid on the block in the LED lightbulb market, but after pronouncing the death of Thomas Edison's greatest invention, the company caught my attention. In the short time after, Cree has been a hot topic on Mad Money and has received several analyst upgrades, including one from Goldman Sachs banking on "better-than-expected" sales numbers. Much like SodaStream, Cree's advertising primed my expectations for growth and looks to be living up to them.

The bad eggs
On the flip side, advertising can be interpreted as a red flag. Revealing, in some instances, that a company's core metrics aren't performing as well as we may have thought.

In my mind, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) is the poster child for this sin. Having built its brand reputation on growth, evolution, and the slogan "Think Different," much of its recent advertising has screamed, "Think the Same." Instead of using advertising to announce a new product (as the market would hope), Apple has chosen to reflect upon a decade of goodness and show no meaningful desire to move forward.

If my 12-month memory serves me, it's this kind of thinking that got Apple into trouble in the first place. In order for Apple's stock to rebound, it needs to do more than just flex its impressive balance sheet; it needs to show Wall Street that the growth story isn't over yet. Unfortunately, by the looks of its advertising, I'd be hesitant to jump back in at present.

As a shareholder, it pains me to say that Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) advertising has me worried. In 2013, Netflix has exploded thanks in large part to rapid member growth. However, Netflix will only be able to keep the party going if it can consistently add impressive amounts of members each quarter. This is where the success of its original content comes into play, because refreshed content creates the largest catalyst for subscription growth.

The problem is, until recently, Netflix wasn't advertising -- not even to promote its most acclaimed original series, House of Cards. Word of mouth was working and it was free. But after a "flop" release of Season 4 of Arrested Development, we started seeing ads popping up everywhere to create buzz. Why the change? 

I'm not condemning Netflix for trying to market a new product, I'm just suspicious of its timing. It seems to me that management has noticed a member shortage and is trying to manufacture growth before revealing its numbers. Maybe it'll work, but I have to say, these Netflix ads have me expecting the worst on earnings day.

The Foolish takeway
No one can inform you about a company's health better than the company can. Yet every day, your stocks are talking to you. If you listen up and examine how the business is presented to the public through advertising, you could uncover small nuggets of information that can aid your other analyses -- and as a result, arrive at a better idea of what to expect in the future. 

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

Is SkyWest Flying Into a Brighter Future?

On Wednesday, I wrote that regional airline king SkyWest (NASDAQ: SKYW  ) is a business under threat, due to the growing obsolescence of 50-seat jets. The company has long-term contracts to fly its fleet of more than 500 50-seat jets for various partners -- particularly Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL  ) and United Continental (NYSE: UAL  ) -- but once those contracts end, nobody will want these fuel-guzzling aircraft.

Other regional airline competitors like Republic Airways (NASDAQ: RJET  ) are better positioned for where the industry is headed. Republic primarily flies larger regional jets, which are far more popular with the legacy carriers today. Still, SkyWest is not standing still. Today, I'll look at some initiatives SkyWest is pursuing in order to survive and thrive despite the rapidly changing business environment.

Downsizing or upsizing?
SkyWest is aggressively expanding into larger (two-class) regional jet service, as the industry is rapidly moving in that direction. The company already operates 185 large regional jets and is looking to grow that number quickly. Last August, SkyWest agreed to remove 66 small regional jets from service with Delta by the end of 2015 in return for getting contracts to fly 34 larger regional jets.

While SkyWest will be operating fewer aircraft -- it's a natural result of flying larger planes -- this will not necessarily damage profitability. The major airlines are willing to pay a premium for two-class regional jets, so profit margins can be significantly better than for 50-seat flying.

In fact, in 2012, the ExpressJet segment -- which operates more than two-thirds of the company's 50-seat-jet fleet -- posted a loss. By contrast, the SkyWest segment (which operates most of the company's two-class jets), earned a respectable 5.5% pre-tax margin. In other words, SkyWest can benefit from addition by subtraction. Overall revenue from Delta may be somewhat lower under the restructured agreement, but SkyWest has an opportunity to offset that revenue loss through margin improvement.

SkyWest also recently won a 12-year contract to operate 40 Embraer (NYSE: ERJ  ) E175 76-seat regional jets for United. Moreover, United ordered another 30 E175 aircraft in April, which it plans to assign to one of its regional partners. Since SkyWest will already be flying E175s for United, the company may have a leg up vis-à-vis competitors in the bidding process for that additional work.

Optimistic management
SkyWest's management clearly believes that the company can remain the leading regional carrier for many years to come. Not only did SkyWest order 100 aircraft last month (40 for its United agreement and 60 for other contracts it hopes to win), the company also became the launch customer of the second-generation E175 this week with a firm order for 100 E175-E2 aircraft, and 100 options. The E175-E2 is expected to offer significant cost improvements compared to the current generation of regional jets, and will enter service in 2020.

SkyWest will also be one of the first operators of the new Mitsubishi Regional Jet, with firm orders for 100 aircraft, which will begin arriving in 2017. All of these new orders indicate that management is confident that SkyWest will win plenty of large regional jet business to replace the 50-seat flying that will disappear.

Investors should be on the lookout for new long-term agreements for SkyWest to operate these aircraft for the major airlines. Without new deals, SkyWest would have trouble making use of all the new planes it will be receiving. One potential cause for optimism is that top competitor Republic Airways is currently at an impasse in contract negotiations with its pilots, which makes it harder for Republic to bid for new business (because it lacks cost certainty). By contrast, most of SkyWest's workforce is not unionized.

Opportunities balance risks
I continue to think that Republic is better positioned than SkyWest and is a better investment opportunity at present. However, SkyWest does have a few things going for it. Most notably, the 50-seat flying that it will lose over the next five years is not very profitable. If the company can return or sell those unwanted aircraft without incurring excessive charges, SkyWest could be well positioned to benefit from the higher margins of the large regional jet business.

SkyWest has won two major contracts in the past year, indicating that the company is still very competitive with other regional airlines. Management has also been active in ordering state of the art regional jets, in the hope that their better fuel efficiency will help SkyWest win future deals. Threats remain for SkyWest, but the company is working hard to adapt and find a profitable niche in the new U.S. airline landscape.

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Verizon to Launch Samsung Galaxy S4 Earlier Than Expected

Top domestic carrier Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) Wireless has announced that it will launch Samsung's newest Galaxy S4 slightly earlier than expected. The flagship smartphone will be available on May 23, compared with the previously expected availability date of May 30. After a $50 mail-in rebate, the Galaxy S4 will be priced at $200 on contract.

The news comes after Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S  ) and T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS  ) ran into inventory-related delays last month when launching the device on their respective networks. Verizon is the last of the four major wireless carriers to launch the Galaxy S4, completing Samsung's lineup of the biggest U.S. carriers.

The Galaxy S4 promises to be among the top Android smartphones of 2013 and may put competitive pressure on the rival HTC One.

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The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock in our brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." I invite you to take a copy, free for a limited time. Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

A High Yield Oil & Gas Portfolio

Even when the Federal Reserve has already decided to start diminishing the rate at which its buying securities, interest rates are still at record low levels. Hence, its still very tough to get decent yields through buying high grade bonds with maturities below 15 years. If rates start going up, high grade bond prices should plunge, and this makes them risky at current market prices. On the other hand, we can find most international corporations increasing their cash returns to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. Here I chose three high quality oil and gas stocks that are poised to keep paying high cash dividend yields.  

A Dividend King  

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) has never cut its dividend in over 70 years and its current dividend yield, at 5.2%, is one of the highest among peers, as its the company's main way to returning cash to shareholders. The company has distributed over $11 billion of dividends in the last twelve months, including the scrip dividend, which accounted for 44% in the second quarter this year.

In addition, the company is on track to complete $5 billion of buybacks before 2013 comes to an end. On the other hand, Shell's new projects are expected to generate operating cash flows of $175 billion at $80 Brent and $200 billion at $100 Brent into 2015. This means the company will be able to increase its operating cash flow by 30% to 50% over the 2008 to 2011 average. Shell, which is held by Scott Black, trades at 2014 8.57 times earnings and 5 times EV/EBITDAX.  

Cash Returns Will Drive Performance  

British Petroleum (BP) is now recovering fast from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico incident that erased well over $40 billion from the oil major's market capitalization. Now, the company expects cash margins from its major projects starting up in 2014 to be twice the average of it current portfolio. The company has recently decided to increase its quarterly dividend by 5.6% and use $10 billion from a! dditional asset sales to increase distributions to shareholders in the coming two years – mostly through buybacks. According to most analysts, British Petroleum shall pay a 5% dividend yield in 2014 and the company should be able to keep increasing its cash payout at the current pace. Held by Baupost's Seth Klarman, British Petroleum sells for 2014 8.8 times earnings and times 5.3 times EV/EBITDAX.  

The Italian Cash Cow  

Eni (E) is an authentic cash cow for its shareholders. I believe the company will be able to sustain a greater than 6% cash dividend yield in 2014 even when the company's estimated 2015 free cash flow (FCF) yield is at just 4%. Asset sales as well as high oil prices should help the company meet its capex requirements and to continue giving back cash to shareholders through dividends. The recent sale of its stake in Sever Energia to the Novatek-GazpromNeft Joint Venture represents a clear hint into the company's strategy. After all, Eni's portfolio has several high quality disposal candidates which could attract the industry's interest – the first disposal candidate that comes to my mind is the remaining 8% stake Eni owns in Galp. The Italian oil and gas leader, which is held by Tom Gayner, sells for 12.5 times 2014 earnings and 5.5 times EV/EBITDAX.  

Bottom Line  

If you were to build a portfolio just with these three stocks you would own a portfolio which pays an increasingly high yield thanks to rock-solid companies that are constantly ameliorating their operating cash flows. Overall, I think your money would be safer here than in any 10-year high grade bond trading well above par.

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Chevron Shrugs Off Lawsuit Revival

Last night, news broke that Canada would allow Ecuador to go ahead with a lawsuit seeking to seize Chevron’s (CVX) Canadian assets to cover a $9.5 billion judgment.

The Wall Street Journal has the news:

Ecuadoreans trying to collect a $9.5 billion environmental verdict against Chevron Corp. can attempt to seize the oil giant’s assets in Canada, a Canadian appellate court ruled on Tuesday.

The plaintiffs, residents of Ecuador’s jungles, are seeking to enforce a 2011 judgment against Chevron by confiscating its properties in other countries where it operates. In May, a lower court in Ontario held that the Ecuadorean judgment didn’t apply to Chevron subsidiaries like the one that owns its assets in Canada, halting the plaintiffs’ lawsuit against the company there.

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Yesterday, Chevron took the news badly, as shares fell 1.2% following the news. Today, however, Chevron’s shares are up 1.9%, and it’s not just the taper that has seen shares higher–they opened up 0.5%.

Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov explains why investors aren’t bothered:

The court ruling you are referring to is essentially procedural in nature – it simply means that the court can hear the argument of the Ecuadorean plaintiffs. But, to be clear, I cannot imagine any realistic scenario under which Chevron's Canadian assets could actually be seized on the basis of the Lago Agrio case. Canada is a fellow common law jurisdiction to the U.S., and U.S. court rulings (as well as international tribunal rulings) carry far more precedential weight in Canada than Ecuadorean ones – especially given how corrupt and tainted the Lago Agrio case has been.

Shares of Chevron have gained 1.8% to $1230.91 at 3:01 p.m.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) Q2 Preview: Can FedEx Deliver Another Earnings Upside?

FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) is expected to release its second quarter financial results on Dec.18. The delivery services company will host a conference call for the investment community on the same day at 8.30 Eastern Time.

FedEx, with annual revenue of $45 billion, provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services.

Wall Street expects FedEx to earn $1.63 a share, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The consensus estimate implies an increase of 17.3 percent from $1.39 a share in the same quarter last year. FedEx saw EPS growth of 6 and 7 percent the last two quarters, after reporting three straight periods of falling profits in late 2012 and early 2013.

[Related -FedEx Corporation (FDX) Breakout Into Parabolic Arc Pattern]

FedEx's earnings have managed to top Street view twice in the past four quarters. The consensus estimate has improved by a penny the last 90 days, and six analysts have upped their earnings estimate for the company in the past month.

Quarterly revenue is expected to increase 2.9 percent to $11.43 billion from $11.11 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. In the past four quarters, the average revenue growth was 3 percent.

FedEx is turning around its core business and reporting growth in overall demand for its global portfolio of solutions. FedEx Express remains focused on reducing costs while facing challenging global economic conditions, and FedEx Ground continues to generate strong profitability on growing customer demand for its services.

[Related -Calls Options Active in Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc (DWA)and FedEx Corporation (FDX)]

Package volume (both domestic and international) is a key metric in FedEx results. For the first quarter, U.S. domestic average daily package volume increased 1 percent while U.S. domestic revenue per package was essentially flat as a higher rate per pound and weight per package were offset by lower fuel surcha! rges.

FedEx international's export average daily volume grew 4 during the first quarter as FedEx International Economy grew 15 percent. International export revenue per package fell 4% primarily due to lower fuel surcharges, lower rates and the demand shift to lower-yielding international services.

Operating income and margin growth would be watched as they were generally constrained by the significant net negative impact of the fuel surcharge timings.

FedEx Ground is the sweet spot of FedEx operating results, with volume growth hovering around 10 percent, and FedEx Freight Segment is showing improvement in the less-than-truckload (LTL) yields.

The company would also benefit from the recently announced rate increases. Effective Jan. 6, 2014, the company would increase shipping rates for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery by an average of 4.9 percent FedEx Express will increase shipping rates by an average of 3.9 percent for U.S. domestic, U.S. export and U.S. import services. FedEx Freight implemented a 4.5 percent general rate increase on July 1, 2013.

Meanwhile, the outlook for the third quarter should hog the limelight as it includes the results of the busiest holiday period amid surging e-commerce sales.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), holiday sales are expected to grow 3.9 percent to $602 billion. This is higher than the average increase of 3.3 percent over the last 10 years. Online holiday sales are expected to increase 15.1 percent year-over-year to $61.8 billion, according to eMarketer.

FedEx saw its busiest day in company history when it moved more than 22 million shipments around the world on Cyber Monday, Dec. 2, 2013. The 11 percent year-over-year increase was driven by online retailers feeding the FedEx Ground and FedEx SmartPost networks. During the busiest week of the year, Dec. 1 – 7, FedEx recorded more than 85 million shipments through its global networks.

The Street will look for any update on the full year outlook! . FedEx s! ees full-year earnings per share growth of 7 to 13 percent from last year's adjusted results. This outlook assumes the market outlook for fuel prices, U.S. GDP growth of 2.1 percent and world GDP growth of 2.6 percent. The capital spending forecast for fiscal 2014 remains $4 billion. FedEx Express unit is expected to achieve its $1.6 billion operating profit improvement target by the end of fiscal 2016.

Top 5 Energy Stocks To Own Right Now

For the first quarter ended Aug.31, FedEx reported earnings of $1.53 a share, compared to $1.45 a share last year. Net income grew 7 percent to $489 million, and revenue rose 2 percent to $11.0 billion.

Shares of FDX have gained 46 percent this year and 20 percent since its last quarterly report. They trade 15.6 times forward earnings versus larger rival UPS' 18.6 times.

KKR Rolls Up Specialty Finance Arm in $2.6B Stock Deal

Top Medical Stocks To Own For 2014

Updated from 5:41 p.m. ET to include comments from Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Private equity giant KKR & Co. (KKR) is buying its publicly traded specialty finance arm KKR Financial (KFN) in a $2.6 billion all-stock transaction that the Henry Kravis and George Roberts-run company says will boost its earnings per share.

Shareholders of KKR Financial will receive 0.51 common units of KKR for each common share they own, valuing the company at $12.79 a share based on Monday closing prices. The deal implies a 35% premium to the Monday closing price of KKR Financial, KKR said in a statement.

KKR Financial shares were rising over 30% to $12.43 in after-hours trading. KKR shares were trading lower by just over 1% to $24.80.

"The deal makes sense. The price is fair. We own KKR and KFN and look forward to owning more KKR," Leon Cooperman, head of hedge fund Omega Advisors, said in an e-mail to TheStreet.

Omega Advisors is the second largest shareholder of KKR Financial, with an over 7% stake in the company's shares according to quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission filings as of Sept. 30. Omega also is an investor in KKR shares with an over 1% stake, the filings show. KKR Financial has a $2.9 billion portfolio that is invested in collateralized loan obligations, special situations investments and traditional private equity. The merger is expected to combine complimentary investment portfolios, make use of KKR Financial's fully invested funds and improve the overall entity's financial structure. "The acquisition of KFN will accelerate the diversification of KKR's balance sheet holdings, in addition to increasing their liquidity and yield profile," KKR said. The company also highlighted that it will preserve KKR Financial's funding structure, including $1 billion of long-term, largely fixed-rate debt and perpetual preferred securities, which will remain obligations of KFN without recourse to any other KKR entity. Overall, the deal is expected to improve KKR's distributable earnings per share, the company's preferred earnings metric. KKR calculates that after the acquisition, its book value per share will rise 13% to $11.34 a share. "Through this transaction, we are acquiring a business with a fully invested, complementary portfolio of assets while increasing the scale and diversity of KKR's balance sheet. Furthermore, through the distribution of KFN's realized earnings, the transaction is expected to provide a meaningfully greater recurring component to KKR's distribution and also be immediately accretive on a total distribution per unit basis," Henry Kravis and George Roberts, co-chairmen and co-chief executive officers of KKR, said in a joint statement.

KKR and KFN's boards of directors have both approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2014, according to a statement. Goldman Sachs and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett are representing KKR, and Lazard and Cravath Swaine & Moore are serving as independent financial and legal advisors to the independent directors of KKR. Sandler O'Neill & Partners and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are serving as independent financial and legal advisors to the independent committee of the KKR Financial's board of directors. Follow @antoinegara -- Written by Antoine Gara in New York.

Stock quotes in this article: KKR, KFN 

8 Budget-Friendly Winter Activities

Top Medical Stocks To Own For 2014

Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images Johnny and I are self-proclaimed winter haters. Or, to be more specific, cold haters. You know, that thing where the temperature drops below 50 degrees and doesn't come back up for four months. We were both raised in warm climates where "winter" was the one day each year that you looked ridiculous wearing a scarf with shorts. Yet somehow, we've spent our entire marriage freezing our buns off in cold climates. We learned the hard way that handwarmers are often little more than lukewarm beanbags. Six years later, we've finally begun to adapt to the cold climate, allowing our winter-hating hearts to thaw just a little. And we've done it in such a way that keeps our wallets winterized. After all, December has enough expenses for all the winter months combined. So Johnny and I have compiled a list of eight of our favorite budget-friendly ways to give the winter blues the cold shoulder (sorry; cold-weather puns are in my veins).

Stocks to Watch: Lululemon, Ciena, Facebook

Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Thursday’s session are Lululemon Athletica Inc.(LULU), Ciena Corp.(CIEN) and Facebook Inc.(FB)

Lululemon cut its sales guidance for the fiscal year as the yoga gear maker offered a cautious outlook for the current quarter, which includes the critical holiday shopping season. Shares slid 9.1% premarket to $62.10, despite Lululemon’s reporting stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter.

Ciena Corp.’s fiscal fourth-quarter loss narrowed as the telecom-equipment company’s revenue grew faster than expected, but margin pressures kept the bottom-line improvements in check. Shares fell 10% to $20.06 in premarket trading as adjusted earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Best Stocks For 2014

Social-media giant Facebook Inc., which has been public for less than two years, will join the Standard & Poor’s 500 index after the close of trading on Dec. 20. Facebook shares rose 3.8% to $51.23 premarket.

Fortis Inc.(FTS.T) agreed to acquire UNS Energy Corp.(UNS) for about $2.5 billion, as the Canadian utility moves to boost exposure within the U.S. by acquiring a firm with a presence in the U.S. southwest. Shares of UNS jumped 30% to $59.02 premarket.

Athenahealth Inc.(ATHN) shares tumbled 14% to $113.13 premarket as the provider of electronic health-care records released a muted outlook for the next fiscal year.

Vera Bradley Inc.'s(VRA) fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 14% as the handbag designer recorded a drop in sales. The company also lowered its annual guidance again, with Chief Executive Robert Wallstrom citing recent trends. The news sent Vera Bradley’s shares down 8% at $20.95 premarket.

Roche Holding AG(ROG.VX) has entered a pact with Prothena Corp.(PRTA) PLC to develop and commercialize a treatment the clinical-stage biotechnology firm is developing for Parkinson’s disease. In after-hours trading, Prothena’s stock rose 8.6% to $29.75 premarket.

SunEdison Inc.(SUNE) said unit volumes in its semiconductor business are expected to be below prior expectations for the fourth quarter, due to continued market weakness, while pricing remains about flat. The chip and solar technology company also said it has decided to keep additional solar projects on its balance sheet in the fourth quarter rather than sell them, in order to retain more long-term project value. Shares slid 8.1% to $11.75 premarket.

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd.(IMUC) said its leading product candidate, a dendritic cell-based vaccine for brain cancer, didn’t show a statistically significant advantage in overall survival in a Phase II study. In a research note, Maxim Group said it is pushing its EU approval date target to 2019 and lowered its estimate on the stock to $12 a share from $18 a share. The stock plunged 62% to $1.04 premarket.

Aecom Technology Corp.(ACM) on Wednesday said its current president, Michael S. Burke, would succeed John M. Dionisio as chief executive, part of a planned succession process at the engineering and infrastructure design firm.

American Airlines Group Inc.(AAL) signed agreements with Bombardier Inc.(BBD.B.T) and Embraer S/A (ERJ, EMBR3.BR) to purchase 90 new 76-seat regional jets, a multibillion-dollar order coming just after the airline completed its merger with US Airways Group Inc.

Centene Corp.(CNC) agreed to acquire a roughly 68% interest in U.S. Medical Management LLC, a provider of in-home health services, for $200 million in cash and stock as the Medicaid insurer continues to expand its stable of services. Centene also said it is forming a new health-care enterprise holding company that will connect it and other health solution providers.

Chevron Corp.(CVX) intends to spend $39.8 billion on capital and exploratory investments next year, about $2 billion less than is expected for 2013, which was a relative peak year for such spending.

Coldwater Creek Inc.'s(CWTR) fiscal third-quarter loss widened as the women’s apparel retailer reported a sharp drop in same-store sales and ebbing gross margins. Results missed expectations.

Danaher Corp.(DHR) offered a 2014 outlook below consensus expectations, continuing the diversified manufacturer’s trend of issuing conservative guidance.

Lpath Inc.(LPTN) said it is no longer actively seeking to reacquire exclusive rights to its leading product candidate from Pfizer Inc.(PFE), saying the pharmaceutical giant informed the company that its offers weren’t competitive. The biotechnology company in October had warned that Pfizer might may divest itself of its exclusive option to co-develop the smaller firm’s leading product candidate–known as iSONEP.

Men's Wearhouse Inc.'s(MW) fiscal third-quarter profit slid 22% as the apparel retailer reported higher overhead costs and weaker tuxedo-rental and alteration margins. Still, results for the period exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, and the company affirmed its full-year profit outlook.

Nordson Corp.'s(NDSN) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 12% on weaker demand, though the maker of dispensing equipment noted improvement in recent order trends.

Oxford Industries Inc.'s(OXM) fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 70% despite continued sales growth at the apparel company’s Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer brands.

Consumer Ratings of America’s Top Four Banks

The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its ranking of the nation’s top four banks which include JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)

The ACSI reports:

Among the four largest banks, JPMorgan Chase maintains the lead following a 3% gain to an
CSI benchmark of 76. The improvement in customer satisfaction comes at a time when
JPMorgan negotiated a record $13 billion civil settlement with the government related to the
subprime mortgage crisis. The ACSI retail banking does not include mortgages and investment
products and what happened did not affect checking and savings account holders. For now,
improved customer service and new and remodeled branches help keep JPMorgan on top.

 

Among the largest four banks, JPMorgan Chase maintains
the lead with a 3% gain to 76, while Citigroup jumps 6% to 74, and Wells Fargo edges up 1%
to 72. Bank of America registers its largest improvement in a decade (+5% to 69) but remains
in last place, and is the only bank that has yet to restore its pre-recession level of customer
satisfaction.

And "Even though banks have raised fees again, the 15th straight year of such increases, no negative
repercussions have been detected regarding customer satisfaction," says Claes Fornell, ACSI
founder and chairman.  "In part, this is because a fair number of consumers are changing
their behavior to avoid the fees by exclusively using their own bank's ATMs and maintaining
sufficiently large account balances." The methodology: The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a national economic indicator of customer
evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the
United States. The ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually
as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with more than 230
companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, as well as over 100 services, programs,
and websites of federal government agencies.

7 ways to keep holiday shoppers coming back

If you were fortunate, customers came surging in to your shop or café on Small Business Saturday or were clicking away at your e-commerce store on Cyber Monday.

I hope this holiday season brings you lots of customers.

COLUMN: Season of good tidings, great revenue
COLUMN: 9 tips for small-biz holiday success

But how do you make the most of your holiday small-business success? After all, you want your cash register ringing all year, not just when sleigh bells jingle.

Take heart. The holiday season is the perfect time to create new, long-lasting customers for your business — whether you have a shop or offer a service.

I've come up with eight ways to keep holiday customers coming back long after all the ornaments and tinsel have been packed away:

1. Build your mailing list. Every holiday customer has the potential to be a year 'round customer, but you have to work to make that happen.

Most important? You have to know who they are.

Think about creating packages for your product or service, such as a Massage of the Month Club.(Photo: Kamil Cwiklewski, Getty Images)

So do everything you can to capture holiday customers' names and contact information for your mailing list. Hold drawings for small giveaways and gifts.

Customers just need to drop their business cards or leave their names and e-mail addresses in a bowl. (Do make sure you let them know that they'll be added to your mailing list.)

Or leave a sign-up form beside the cash register. Place a prominent "sign up for our mailing list" link on your website.

Don't have a mailing list? Start one. Every name on your mailing list is a corporate asset.

2. Start or expand your newsletter. Once you have a mailing list, use ! it.

Send notices of special sales, new merchandise, new services and information that can help your customers.

Using an online service, newsletters are easy to manage. Very small businesses can use a service such as MailChimp for free.

3. Increase your social-media following. Just as you build your mailing list, you also should use the holidays to attract more followers to your social-media activities.

Prominently tell customers where they can find you on social media —Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, whatever. Run specials that are available only to those who "like" or follow you.

4. Create subscription products or services. Now is a great time to sell a year's worth of your product or service to keep customers coming back throughout 2014.

Instead of selling one product, see if you can turn it into a "of-the-month" club: Massage of the Month Club, Housecleaning of the Month Club, Lunch of the Month Club. Or try variations: quarterly oil changes, twice yearly pet sitting.

Whatever you sell, look for ways to create a recurring relationship with a customer.

5. Offer deals for 2014. Right now, while you're at your busiest, offer specials to be used only next year.

Customers can buy these as gifts or for themselves. For instance, hair salons are packed for the rest of the year but slow in January. Sell those spots now: You'll even out your workload and put money in your bank.

6. Sell gift cards or gift certificates. Gift cards bring back existing customers or attract new clients because many of the recipients never have been your customers before.

Encourage them to sign up for your newsletter or like your Facebook page.

7. Schedule a new year promotion. Last but not least, as the holidays wind down, start thinking of creative ways to keep people coming in even during the doldrums of late January and February.

Don't necessarily mark down your best merchandise, but you certainly can discount holiday goods and offer specials on servic! es that a! re less likely to be in demand the early part of the year.

Remember, if you sell a product, you'll likely to have some returns soon after the holidays. Make sure you schedule extra staff for the first week or so after Christmas specifically to handle returns.

Work hard on your customer service. Your goal is to create lifelong customers.

With a little planning and ingenuity, you can turn holiday customers into people who will be returning happily during March and June and October — not just when they're frantically looking for a present for Aunt Minnie.

Rhonda Abrams is president of The Planning Shop and publisher of books for entrepreneurs. Her most recent book is Entrepreneurship: A Real-World Approach. Register for Rhonda's free newsletter at PlanningShop.com. Twitter: @RhondaAbrams. Facebook: facebook.com/RhondaAbramsSmallBusiness.Copyright Rhonda Abrams 2013.

Dow Chemical Up 2.6% on Spinoff News; Deal Could Generate $3B

Dow Chemical (DOW) is not your grandfather's chemical company.

The 115-year old firm is shedding another unit, announcing early Monday that it is exploring the spinoff or sale of its commodity chemical business as part of the company's ongoing efforts to shift toward higher-margin products and technologies.

Investors applauded. On a day when Dow Jones Industrial Average remained largely flat, Dow Chemical jumped 2.6% to just over $40 a share after more than 6.6 million shares exchanged hands.

So far this year, Dow has lagged the broader stock market, rising 21% as of Friday's closing bell.

Dow Chemical announced earlier this year it plans to raise $1.5 billion over a span of 18 months by ridding itself of non-core businesses. It has also cut jobs and closed plants to trim expenses.

In October, CEO Andrew Liveris said the company will proceed with its divestiture plans, saying the actions were valued at a minimum of $3 billion to $4 billion.

Dow Chemical recently agreed to sell its polypropylene licensing and catalysts business to fellow chemicals company W. R. Grace & Co. (GRA) for $500 million.

The commodity chemical business generates sales totaling roughly $5 billion, and includes about 40 manufacturing facilities at 11 sites and nearly 2,000 employees.

Alembic Global Advisors analyst Hassan Ahmed says these assets could fetch up to $3 billion in deal proceeds – an estimate he bases on a 10% EBITDA margin and a 5.5x EV-to-EBITDA multiple.

Dow isn't the only chemical play gaining on the news.  Axiall (AXLL) rose 9.3% to $49.58 in Monday market action. Olin (OLN) rose 6.1% to $26.36. And Westlake Chemical (WLK) rose 2.2% to $115.10.

 Alembic's Ahmed wrote:

…From an industry perspective Dow announced that in addition to their separation actions they would shut down around 800k tons of chlorine and caustic equivalent capacity in Freeport, TX to match the capacity the company is bringing on-line with the start-up of the Dow-Mitsui JV in early 2014. We believe this move would keep North American chlor-alkali supply/demand balanced and would be a positive for North American chlor-alkali producers AXLL, OLN and WLK.

Resist the urge — don’t buy a big-screen TV on…

Would it still be Black Friday without the cheap HDTVs? Nearly every major store -- including some, like Kohl's, that don't even typically sell TVs -- will be offering flat-panel displays at rock-bottom prices this week, all in an attempt to aggressively court bargain hunters.

But, though the deals may appear enticing (who doesn't want a 32-inch flat-panel for less than $100?) buyers are better off saving their money for a different day. More often than not, the TVs sold on Black Friday are flawed in some major way; given how much time the average American spends watching TV, consumers shouldn't waste their money on Black Friday TV "bargains."

Most Black Friday TVs are terrible quality

For starters, most of the TVs sold on Black Friday are off-brands. Top TV-makers are in short supply; instead, mostly no-name manufacturers like Funai, Element, Magnavox, and Apex are offered. None of these brands have been particularly well-reviewed -- CNET's list of top-rated TVs is dominated by sets from established brands like Samsung, Panasonic and Sony (NYSE: SNE ) .

There are many Vizio-made sets on sale next Friday; Vizio has become somewhat of a rising star among TV manufacturers, posting massive sales boosts, despite offering TVs of questionable quality. HD Guru criticized Vizio's sets as "disposable TVs," noting that many of Vizio's TVs are difficult (or even impossible) to repair once the warranty has expired.

Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD ) is offering a couple of ultra-high-definition, 4K TV sets for less than $1,000, a shocking price point given how expensive most 4K TV sets are. Sony's cheapest 4K set costs $2,999, for example -- Samsung offers one near the same price point. But Sears isn't selling 4K sets made by these manufacturers; instead it's offering 4K sets made by a company called Seiki.

As one might imagine, Seiki's sets have been heavily criticized. CNET compared Seiki's 50-inch 4K set to a $500 budget Samsung Plasma -- Samsung's set had the better picture.

Don't ! be fooled by the name brands

"That's fine," you might think. "There are lots of name-brand TVs on sale too! I'll just get one of those."

Not so fast. While there are a handful of critically acclaimed TVs on sale, simply buying a name-brand is not enough. On Black Friday, buyers should be sure to carefully check the model number on any TV before plunking down their hard-earned cash.

In their quest to attract shoppers, stores will partner with big-name manufacturers to create "derivative models" -- stripped-down versions of pre-existing TVs. These TVs, made specifically for Black Friday, are often not as good as the model they're based on: The picture may be lesser quality, or the warranty may be altered. There could be some missing features or components. In short, that 42-inch Samsung TV you buy on Black Friday might not be as good as a 42-inch Samsung bought back in October.

One TV in particular stands out this year: Best Buy (NYSE: BBY ) will sell a 55-inch LG LED for $499. It seems like a hot deal, but I would have to urge caution. LG isn't the most respected brand, but it's considered fairly reputable. That TV in particular, however, appears to be a derivative model. That specific model number, 55LN5100, isn't available at any other retailer -- it seems to have been made by LG just for Best Buy, with the intention of attracting attention to the retailer.

Comparing its specifications to a similar LG set, the 55LN5200, a few things stand out. Most notably, Best Buy's model lacks smart TV features, and doesn't offer as many settings: It has just two different aspect ratios to choose from, while the non-Best Buy-specific version has six.

To be fair, nondiscriminate buyers might not notice or care about these features, but consumers should at least be aware of what they're purchasing.

You watch almost five hours of TV a day, why buy a bad set?

The typical American spends about 34 hours per week -- nearly five hours per day -- watching TV. That's more than! half as ! much time as they spend sleeping, and five times as much as they spend commuting to and from work. In fact, given that the average American works about 4.6 hours per day, many spend more time with their TVs than they do at their jobs.

Although TV replacement cycles have shortened recently, TVs still last a fairly long time, about six to eight years. Over its life, a single TV will get watched for thousands of hours -- why waste all that time with an inferior set? Resist the siren's song -- stay away from cheap TVs on Black Friday.

The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

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