Bank fees rise for 15th straight year

Bank fees rose for the 15th straight year, with fees for overdrafts and out-of-network ATM usage hitting record highs, according to Bankrate.com.

The average overdraft charge rose 3% in 2013, to a record $32.20, Bankrate says. The average cost for using another bank's ATM rose 2%, to $4.13 — also a record.

"Overdraft and out-of-network ATM fees are the low-hanging fruit in terms of raising fees," says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.

Overdraft fees have risen so far that a recent study by Moebs Services says that it's cheaper to borrow $100 from a payday lender than it is to bounce a $100 check. The median price for a $100 loan from a payday lender is $18, Moebs says.

The fees in both cases are entirely avoidable, McBride says.

Overdraft fees were steepest in Milwaukee, where they average $34.16, and lowest in San Francisco, where they average $27.18.

Out-of-network ATM fees were highest in Denver, where they average $4.70, and lowest in Baltimore, when they average $3.59. The calculation includes the fee from the owner of the ATM and from your bank. The charge for using another bank's ATM rose 4%, to $2.60, while the average fee from your bank for using another bank's ATM fell 3%, to $1.53.

A few bank products became more affordable, according to the Bankrate survey of 10 banks in each of 25 large U.S. markets. The average minimum balance to offer a no-interest checking account fell 19% to $60.27 — about where it's been since 1998.

Good luck finding a free interest-bearing checking account: Just 3% were free to all customers, unchanged from 2012. But 95% of all the institutions surveyed would waive the fee if you kept an average balance of $5,802, down 5% from last year. Average monthly service fee fell 1% to $14.65. Average monthly service charge for a non-interest-bearing checking account: $5.54, up 1% from last year.

So far, fewer than 1% of banks charge for using a debit card.

"Fees continue to go up, and it's b! est to spend time strategizing how to avoid them," McBride says. "There's always room for consumers to shop around."

Banks do take notice when you leave, particularly when you take a big balance with you, McBride says. Seventy percent of consumers consider switching banks when checking account fees get too high, and those who are most likely to do so often have the highest balances.

Top 5 Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014

The wealth-building power of compound interest will never cease to amaze me. It's a story of patience and attention to detail, where small, short-term differences add up to massive divergence over decades. And in the end, the biggest winners don't always deliver the fattest share-price returns.

Soft-drink veteran Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) most definitely fits that description. Sure, Coke stock has beaten its peers on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) over the last five years without accounting for dividend boosts, but those payouts make a huge difference in the magnitude of your winning returns.

KO data by YCharts.

Reinvesting Coke's dividend checks along the way would have turned a respectable 42% return into a market-crushing 66% jump. For those keeping score at home, that's a 54% higher return on your five-year investment. It's hard to say no to investment boosts like that, isn't it?

Top 5 Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (HWD)

Harry Winston Diamond Corporation, a diamond company, engages in mining and retailing diamonds in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company supplies rough diamonds through holding a 40% interest in the Diavik Diamond Mine located at Lac de Gras in Canada�s Northwest Territories; and retails fine jewelry and watches under the Harry Winston brand. As of January 31, 2012, it operated 20 directly operated salons, 4 licensed salons, and 194 wholesale watch doors. The company was formerly known as Aber Diamond Corporation and changed its name to Harry Winston Diamond Corporation in 2007. Harry Winston Diamond Corporation was founded in 1980 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Top 5 Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Niko Resources Com Npv (NKO.TO)

Niko Resources Ltd. engages in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas and oil properties. The company has operations in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Kurdistan Iraq, Trinidad, Pakistan, and Madagascar. It has interests in 33 exploration blocks covering approximately 37 million acres in 7 countries, as well as has production operations in India and Bangladesh. Niko Resources Ltd. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

10 Best Casino Stocks To Buy Right Now: Croflight Minerals Inc (CML.TO)

CaNickel Mining Limited, a junior mining company, engages in the exploration, extraction, and processing of nickel-containing ore properties in Canada. The company owns and operates the Bucko Lake Mine located near Wabowden, Manitoba. It also holds interests in nickel, copper, and platinum group mineral projects in Thompson Nickel Belts, Manitoba and the Sudbury Basin, Ontario. The company was formerly known as Crowflight Minerals Inc. and changed its name to CaNickel Mining Limited in June 2011. CaNickel Mining Limited was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top 5 Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Tucows Inc Com Npv (TC.TO)

Tucows Inc. distributes Internet services worldwide. The company offers domain name registration, and security and identity products through digital certificates, email, and mobile telephony services. It provides OpenSRS, a wholesale service, which manages domain names, mailboxes, and digital certificates through a network of approximately 11,000 Web hosts, Internet service providers (ISPs), and other resellers; Platypus, a billing service that provides ISPs with an industry-specific solution for billing, service provisioning, and customer account management; and Hover, a retail service, which offers domain names, mailboxes, and digital certificates management services for consumers and small businesses. In addition, the company offers YummyNames that manages various domain names with a portfolio of approximately 42,000 domains; and Butterscotch, a content service, which operates butterscotch.com and tucows.com advertising-supported Websites that provide content in the for m of approximately 4,000 videos and 385,000 software and mobile listings, and articles. The company was formerly known as Infonautics, Inc. and changed its name to Tucows Inc. in August 2001. Tucows Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Top 5 Heal Care Stocks To Own For 2014: Sirtex Medical Ltd(SRX.AX)

Sirtex Medical Limited, a biotechnology and medical device company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of liver cancer treatments utilizing small particle technology. The company offers SIR-Spheres microspheres with Yttrium 90 radioactive microspheres for the treatment of liver tumors. It also focuses on the research and development of Radioprotector, Nanoparticle, and Microsphere technologies. Sirtex Medical Limited markets its products in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the United States. The company, formerly known as Paragon Medical Limited, was founded in 1997 and is based in North Sydney, Australia.

Fastenal's 2Q EPS In Line, Revs Lag - Analyst Blog

Fastenal Company's (FAST) adjusted earnings of 41 cents per share in the second quarter of 2013 were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The earnings rose 7.9% year over year, on the back of year over year growth in revenue and margin.

Fastenal's net sales of $847.6 million, lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $857 million by 1.1%. Net sales grew 5.3% year over year, due to an increase in unit sales and favorable impact of the FAST solution initiative, which offset the decline in fastener sales.

Fastenal serves customers in the manufacturing and non-residential construction markets. Sales were slow in both the markets.

Quarter Details

Fastenal's daily sales growth rates came in at 4.8%, 5.3% and 6.0% for the months of April, May and June, respectively, significantly down from the daily growth rates of 17.3%, 13.1% and 14.0% in the corresponding prior-year months. The sequential change in daily sales for 6 months from January to June also fell short of historical averages. Foreign exchange dragged second quarter daily sales growth rates by 0.1%.

Daily sales to manufacturing customers (representing almost 50% of revenues) grew 5.9% in the second quarter compared with 15.8% growth in the prior-year quarter and 7.0% in the preceding quarter. Daily sales growth rates to manufacturing customers declined sharply due to lower sales of its fasteners product line, hurt by end market slowdown and broader economic uncertainty.

The company supplies two types of products to manufacturing customers, one for industrial production and the other for maintenance of the manufacturing business.

Sales of products for industrial production dipped significantly, owing to a continuous decline in daily sales growth rates of fastener products (used mainly for industrial production) to 1.9% in the quarter from 8.0% in the prior-year quarter. However, sales improved sequentially from 1.7% growth recorded in the previous quarter.

Sales of non-fastener pro! ducts (used mainly for maintenance) increased 8.5% in the second quarter of 2013, down from 10.8% in the preceding quarter. The decline was less dramatic than fasteners due to strength in FAST Solutions, which was partially offset by a weak industrial environment.

In the non-residential construction market, daily sales to non-residential construction customers (representing 20% to 25% of revenues) grew 0.7% in the second quarter of 2013, down from 12.7% in the second quarter of 2012 and 2.9% recorded in the first quarter of 2013. Management blamed the weakness in the overall non-residential construction market and the uncertainty in U.S economic policy for the decline in this business.

Vending Machine Activity Gaining Traction

The company has adopted FAST Solutions, an industrial vending process that has the potential to revolutionize the industrial distribution system and increase profitability. The company installs vending machines that aid in controlling inventory and administrative costs while reducing product consumption. Despite overall weak sales, the company is seeing some progress around its vending program.

In the second quarter, the company installed 4,102 new machines, down 5.7% sequentially. As of Jun 30, 2013, the company operated 29,549 FAST Solutions vending machines. The vending machines now account for over 30% of the company's sales. During the quarter, the company signed 5,272 vending machine contracts, down 8.0% sequentially.

Margins

In second quarter 2013, gross margin improved 60 basis points from the prior-year quarter to 52.2% attributable to improved transactional margins. The company believes that its normal gross margin range is 51% to 53%. However, the company witnessed 10 basis points sequential decline in gross margin due to weakness in faster products and construction business.

Store Count

Fastenal had 2,677 stores at the end of second quarter of 2013, up from 2,660 stores in the sequentially preceding quarter! . During ! the second quarter of 2013, the company opened 22 new stores, up 100% sequentially.

Fastenal carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

With the overall housing market improving steadily, other companies in the broader housing sector are also performing well. These include Builders FirstSource, Inc. (BLDR), Lennar Corporation (LEN) and The Home Depot, Inc. (HD). All the companies carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Shutdown Would Shave U.S. Growth as Much as 1.4 Pctg. Points in Q4

A shutdown of the U.S. government would reduce fourth-quarter economic growth by as much as 1.4 percentage points depending on its length, economists say, as government workers from park rangers to telephone receptionists are furloughed.

Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics Inc. estimates a three-to-four week shutdown would cut growth by 1.4 points. Zandi projects a 2.5 percent annualized pace of fourth-quarter growth without a shutdown. A two-week shutdown starting Oct. 1 could cut growth by 0.3 percentage point to a 2.3 percent rate, according to St. Louis-based Macroeconomic Advisers LLC.

A shutdown would slow the expansion because output lost when workers are furloughed subtracts from gross domestic product. The combined prospect of a budget standoff between the White House and Congress and haggling over the debt ceiling could have a bigger impact on the economy as businesses hold off on investment and households delay spending.

"What we have is a political and not economic maelstrom," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at Economic Outlook Group LLC in Princeton, New Jersey. "What everyone is watching right now is if the uncertainty is affecting consumer and business psychology, that they are postponing spending until they get more clarity about what's going to happen in Washington."

Americans were still spending in August, a report from the Commerce Department showed today. Household purchases, which account for 70 percent of the economy, climbed 0.3 percent after rising 0.2 percent in July. Incomes increased 0.4 percent in August, the most in six months.

'Holding Pattern'

"The consumer is still in a holding pattern, still waiting for better employment prospects," said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) in Detroit.

Data today from Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan showed consumer confidence fell to a five-month low in September.

Stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor's 500 I! ndex headed for its first weekly drop since August, amid concern the budget impasses will hurt growth. The S&P 500 declined 0.5 percent to 1,689.42 at 11:12 a.m. in New York.

Elsewhere, economic confidence in the euro area increased more than forecast in September, adding to signs the single-currency bloc's recovery is picking up. An index of executive and consumer sentiment rose for a fifth month, to 96.9 from a revised 95.3 in August, the European Commission in Brussels said today.

Health Care

In the U.S., the Republican-controlled House has passed a measure that would deny funding for President Barack Obama's health-care law as part of a bill to pay for government operations after the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. The Democratic-controlled Senate will vote today on a stopgap spending bill, which party leaders said will exclude the Republican language ending funds for the law.

A shutdown wouldn't be unprecedented: 17 funding gaps happened between 1977 and 1996, based on a Congressional Research Service analysis. In 1995 and 1996, interruptions lasted from Nov. 14 to Nov. 19 and from Dec. 16 to Jan. 6, as Republicans led by then-House speaker Newt Gingrich clashed with President Bill Clinton's administration.

Those back-to-back shutdowns cut GDP by 0.25 percentage point in the fourth quarter of 1995, almost entirely because federal employees were furloughed, according to an analysis by Joel Prakken, senior managing director at Macroeconomic Advisers.

Civilian Employees

Prakken, in his estimate of the impact on GDP this time, assumes that 36 percent of the federal government's 2.1 million civilian employees would be furloughed. Non-essential employees may include park rangers and most workers at the Internal Revenue Service. Zandi, on the other hand, assumes that about half of government employees would be furloughed.

Spending by government workers is unlikely to be affected because they will expect to receive back pay after returning to! work, ac! cording to Macroeconomic Advisers.

A shutdown of just a few days would have little impact on the economy, analysts say. On the other hand, a closure of more than two months would "likely precipitate another recession," Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said Sept. 24 in testimony to the Senate Budget Committee. Even a three- or four-week gap would "do significant economic damage."

Continuing Resolution

Haggling over a continuing resolution to fund the government past the end of the month comes as House Republican leaders prepare for what Speaker John Boehner last month called a "whale of a fight" over the nation's $16.7 trillion debt limit.

The leaders are banking on winning public support for a strategy of pairing their goals of spending cuts, looser environmental regulations and an Obamacare delay with the increase in the debt cap, rather than using the possibility of a government shutdown as leverage to win their objectives.

A quick agreement on a continuing resolution might bode well for talks on raising the debt ceiling, said Millan Mulraine, director of U.S. rates research at TD Securities USA LLC in New York.

"The initial cue for markets will come from how easily we are able to resolve the discussion on the government shutdown," Mulraine said.

Debt Ceiling

Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said this week the government probably would exhaust extraordinary measures it has been using to keep under the debt ceiling no later than Oct. 17 and will have about $30 billion cash on hand. That's down from a projection of $50 billion last month.

The U.S. was stripped of its AAA credit ranking by Standard & Poor's in August 2011, a move that partly reflected an impasse in Congress over raising the debt ceiling as well as the government's lack of a plan to rein in its debt load.

While the downgrade didn't result in investors charging the U.S. more to borrow, as 10-year Treasury yields slipped to record lo! ws in Jul! y 2012, the move contributed to a global stock-market rout that erased about $6 trillion in value from July 26 to Aug. 12, 2011.

"A shutdown of non-essential services is inconvenient for a while. If we hit the debt ceiling, we're in unchartered territory," Prakken said. "If you miss an interest payment on the national debt, that's a sovereign default of sorts, and I think it would shake the foundations of the global financial system."

Man Group shuts funds in overhaul of guaranteed products

Man Group Plc, the world's largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager, is shutting a range of products aimed to protect clients from losses after they failed to meet performance targets.

The company decided this month to shut Man Vision Ltd., a $40 million pool that sought to generate returns of more than 10 percent annually, according to an Aug. 12 letter sent to clients and obtained by Bloomberg News. Man Group is also closing similar offerings that, like Vision, were tied to the performance of AHL Diversified, the firm's biggest hedge fund, said a person with knowledge of the moves who asked not to be identified because they aren't public.

AHL, a $14 billion hedge fund that uses computer algorithms to try to profit from trends in asset prices, has been hurt after the U.S. Federal Reserve roiled markets earlier this year by indicating that it may taper its bond purchases. Guaranteed products based on AHL and other hedge funds are Man Group's most profitable offerings, because they levy fees that can be more than twice what the industry typically charges.

“They definitely have the highest margins and that's due to large management fees and because AHL is run by a computer that's not demanding a bonus at the end of the year,” said David McCann, an analyst at Numis Securities Ltd. in London who has a sell rating on Man Group. Still, “no one has wanted to buy these products in the last three to four years” because the returns have been lackluster.

Vision, which totaled about $160 million a year ago, fell about 5.6 percent in the first half of 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The fund has lost about 12 pe

The High (and Mostly Hidden) Costs of Obesity

Alamy It's no secret that Americans are a bit "fluffy," as comedian Gabriel Iglesias politely puts it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35.9 percent of adults age 20 and over are classified as obese -- and another 33.3 percent as overweight. It's also no secret that these extra pounds can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. When you add it up, billions of dollars are spent every year to treat obesity-related conditions. Estimates range from the oft-cited $147 billion from the CDC to a new Cornell University study published in the Journal of Health Economics that puts the number at $190 billion annually. On an individual level, the annual medical costs for people who are obese run thousands more than those of normal-weight people -- $1,429 more (in 2006 dollars, according to the CDC) to $2,741 more per individual (in 2005 dollars, according to the Cornell study). These dollar amounts are startling to consider. But as is often the case, it's the not-so-obvious costs that are even more shocking. Here's What Really Weighs Down the Wallet of an Overweight American A study published by McKinsey & Company on the obesity pandemic emphasizes that the economic burden of excess weight goes far beyond just medical costs. In fact, the researchers estimate that "obesity currently costs the United States at least $450 billion annually." Even if you back out the medical costs from that figure, you're still left with billions spent on non-medical (or "other") costs of being overweight. #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-110284{display:none}.cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-110284,#postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-110284{width:570px;height:411px;display:block} According to the McKinsey report, the added costs -- to individuals, employers, and society at large -- include: • Additional food -- An overweight person burns more calories than a normal-weight person. So an overweight person's body requires more calories simply to maintain their current weight. This additional food costs an extra $90 billion a year, according to the McKinsey report. • Larger clothes -- Bigger waistlines require more fabric. Which is why plus-size clothes are more costly to make and therefore more expensive to buy, according to a New York Times article on the business of plus-sized clothing. McKinsey estimates that overweight people spend an extra $30 billion a year on clothing. • Diet regimens -- Most folks know they should trim off a few pounds. So they spend money to help them achieve their goals, turning to companies like Weight Watchers (WTW) for assistance. All told, according to McKinsey, this spending on weight-control programs costs an estimated $20 billion annually. • Time off from work -- The McKinsey research states that obese people have "higher absenteeism rates," and are "much more likely to need short-term disability leaves." This burdens their employers with $60 billion in sunk costs each year. • Lost output -- Along similar lines, obese people "tend to be less productive on the job than people of normal weight," according to a 2010 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. McKinsey puts this cost of decreased productivity for companies at an additional $70 billion annually. • Larger everything -- Society as a whole shares in these hidden costs of obesity. For example, as the McKinsey report notes it costs more fuel for airlines to get those extra pounds off the ground. Stadiums and theaters must build larger seats. Hospitals require bigger equipment. And so forth. This totals an estimated $20 billion each year. Add it all up, and these hidden costs total nearly $300 billion every year. And while these costs often go hidden, they certainly have a significant impact on people's lives and financial futures.

'Mad Money' Lightning Round: Gogo Has Momentum

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

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

Motorola Solutions (MSI): "No. No. I like Cisco (CSCO). Cisco's down and out but shouldn't be."

Pacific Coast Oil Trust (ROYT): "I don't like these anymore because they're depleting assets." Gogo (GOGO): "This was a mistake that I didn't recommend this thing when it became public. It's a good situation. It's got real momentum." Brunswick (BC): "Brunswick is the boat company ... But be careful. The stock has had a monster run and if I recommend it up here I'm violating all my discipline." HD Supply (HDS): "No! You can't come out and disappoint from day one and have me on the team." Uni-Pixel (UNXL): "I don't want to be there with the crowded shorts. And I don't recommend shorts on this show." Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): "Last quarter was nasty, but they do have some gaming revenue coming in. I think under $4 you want to buy the stock." To read a full recap of "Mad Money" on CNBC, click here. To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here. To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC. -- Written by Chris Sahl in Boston.

Gold heads for third straight day of declines

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold prices lined up for a third straight session of losses on Tuesday as traders of the precious metal continued to grapple with the possibility of a reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus.

December gold (GCZ3)  shed $13, or 1%, to $1,314 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange — losses that would mark gold's third consecutive decline. Prices have tallied a loss of 3.1% in the previous two trading sessions.

Gold modestly pared some of its losses shortly after the data Tuesday showed that the U.S. consumer confidence index fell to 79.7 in September from a revised 81.8 in August. MarketWatch-polled economists expected the index to drop to 79.5.

But "amid a lack of major geopolitical developments or markets-moving economic data the past several days, the world market place continues to buzz about last week's decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to not 'taper' its monthly bond-buying program-and when might the Fed begin that endeavor," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.com. "Several Federal Reserve officials have already spoken so far early this week, with the common thread among them being that the Fed would begin to wind down its quantitative easing when U.S. economic conditions warrant."

The December gold contract on Monday fell $5.50, or 0.4%, unable to find relief after Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and New York Fed President William Dudley offered downbeat views about the pace of U.S. economic recovery.

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The comments underscored the Fed's decision last week to keep buying $85 billion in securities each month because the economy wasn't strong enough to handle a reduction in monetary stimulus. Analysts have said gold prices benefitted from the Fed's stimulus measures.

Separately, prominent economist Nouriel Roubini on Monday said tail risks for the global economy have declined, which in turn has hurt demand for a metal often seen as a safe haven.

Gold futures had rallied on Thursday after the Fed held stimulus measures intact, but reversed course Friday after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told Bloomberg Television that a small tapering of bond purchases is "possible" in October.

The foreign-exchange and bond markets reacted to that tapering assessment much more calmly than the gold market "where market players are clearly more sensitive," wrote analysts at Commerzbank on Monday. "This is evident from the fact that speculative net long positions fell by a further 10,000 contracts in the week before the last Fed meeting and gold [exchange-traded funds] saw renewed outflows of 2 tons last Friday."

Shares of the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD)  edged down by 0.5% and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV)  lost 0.2% Tuesday morning. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (XAU)  was down 0.7%.

Back on Comex Tuesday, December silver (SIZ3)  fell 32 cents, or 1.5%, to $21.54 an ounce, and copper for December delivery (HGZ3)  lost nearly 6 cents, or 1.7%, to $3.24 a pound.

December palladium (PAZ3)  fell $4.30, or 0.6%, to $713.65 an ounce and October platinum (PLV3)  shed $2.80, or 0.2%, to $1,423.10 an ounce.

Time to Graduate to Futures?

Jared Woodard of Condor Options explains how investors can incorporate futures trading into their portfolios. If you've been trading equity index ETFs for a while, it may be time to graduate to futures. Investors who are familiar with popular exchange-traded products like SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA), and iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) can track the same benchmark indexes by using mini stock index futures. Here are some things to be aware of when choosing between ETFs and futures contracts.

- Size: The contract size of futures is much larger than for ETF shares. With SPY at $164, for example, a buyer of one share controls $164 worth of fund components. With an E-mini S&P 500 Index futures contract (symbol: ES) at $1640, a buyer of one contract controls a much larger amount of value. The contract multiplier for ES is $50, so the notional value of a contract is the index value times fifty. In this example: $1640 x 50 = $82,000. Each futures product has its own specific contract multiplier, and the futures exchanges provide those multipliers as part of the contract specifications.

The larger product size can be helpful. Consider the case of an investor who wants to allocate 30% of a million dollar portfolio to a position that tracks the Russell 2000. With IWM trading at $100, the investor would need to buy 3,000 shares of the ETF to gain that exposure. Alternatively, with Mini Russell 2000 Index futures (symbol: TF) trading at $1,000 and a contract multiplier of 100, the investor would need to buy only three TF contracts to achieve the same exposure. One advantage in favor of trading the futures is that the commission bill to buy three futures contracts may be much lower than to buy 3,000 ETF shares, depending on your brokerage rates; for options, the commission differences may be even greater.

- Dividends: Equity index ETFs typically entitle investors to receive periodic dividends. Holders of futures contracts do not receive dividends. Does that mean futures traders are missing a key source of income? No: futures contracts are discounted to re! flect the lack of dividend payments.

- Tax advantages: For investors who intend to hold positions for less than one year, there may be some tax advantages to trading futures. Gains on ETFs held for less than one year are taxed at the personal income tax rate, which can be much higher than the long-term capital gains rate, depending on your income tax bracket. In comparison, gains or losses on futures contracts are treated according to section 1256 of the tax code, which means that, at the end of the year, 60% of the gains or losses are treated as long-term items, while the remaining 40% are taxed at the short-term rate. Consult your tax advisor for more details.

- Holding period: ETF shares are perpetual instruments, and can be held until an investor is ready to sell them. Futures contracts expire - typically in March, June, September, and December, although some products have expirations in other months as well. To maintain a position in futures, investors must "roll" their positions from one month to the next.

- Regulation: Two important regulatory differences between ETFs and futures are the capital requirements for different assets and the ease of establishing short positions in futures. First, most investors fall under Reg T margin requirements for securities, which means that they must hold capital equal to 50% of the value of the securities in their account, limiting the account to 2:1 margin. For futures, margin requirements vary by contract, but they are generally much lower: initial margin may be 5%-10% of the notional value of the contract or less. Additionally, shorting ETFs requires the broker to find securities to sell, and in 2008 the SEC banned what it called "abusive naked short selling." In futures markets, short positions can be initiated just as easily as long positions.

For more on the differences between equity index ETFs and futures, see "Comparing E-minis and ETFs" from the CME. OptionsProfits can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/OptionsProfits Jared can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/CondorOptions

The Deal: Vivendi's Activision Sale Stalled by Court

Paris - (TheDeal) - A Delaware court has slapped an injunction on Vivendi's   (VIV) plan to sell an $8.2 billion stake in Activision Blizzard (ATVI) back to the video game maker and its management.

The ruling follows a challenge to the deal, filed last week, by a minority shareholder who successfully argued that the transaction should be subject to approval by a majority of Activision's minority shareholders. [Read: Blackberry Fails at the 'Vision Thing']

Vivendi in July agreed to sell a 49.1% stake in Activision, leaving the Paris-based group with an about 3.9% holding. The deal involved the sale of 429 million shares in Activision to the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company, and 172 million shares to ASAC II LP, an investment consortium led by Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and co-chairman Brian Kelly.

"The Delaware Chancery Court, in Hayes v. Activision Blizzard, Inc., preliminarily enjoined the previously announced concurrent transactions between the Company [Activision] and ASAC II LP, on the one hand, and Vivendi SA, on the other hand, halting the closing of the transaction unless the injunction is modified on appeal or the transaction is approved by a stockholder vote of the non-Vivendi stockholders," Activision said after the market closed on Thursday, Sept. 18. The maker of World of Warcraft and Call of Duty video games said it remained committed to the deal and "is exploring the steps it will take to complete the transaction as expeditiously as possible." The injunction raises the prospect that the deal will not close by an Oct.15 deadline, after which any of Vivendi, Activision or ASAC II have the option to terminate their agreement. Unless Activision wins an appeal against the injunction it will have to call an extraordinary general meeting, a process that usually requires 60 days' notice. A vote amongst non-Vivendi shareholders is likely to approve a deal that was struck at $13.60 per share, about 5% below Activision's Wednesday closing share price of $17.15. "We see a modest risk that Vivendi sees it left money on the table from the original transaction and seeks to modify the purchase agreement," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts Justin Post and Ryan Gee wrote Thursday. "However, we still think Vivendi has few other options without a willing buyer." [Read: 5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar] Vivendi's agreement to sell its Activision stake is part of a disposal program that is repositioning the French conglomerate as a pure-play media group. Vivendi has also sold a majority stake in Maroc Telecom SA and last week announced that it will split its supervisory board in preparation for a spinoff of French telecommunications unit Soci�t� Francaise du Radiotelephone SA, or SFR. Shares in Vivendi traded Thursday morning in Paris at �17.59 ($23.83), up �0.14, or less than 1% on their Wednesday close. By Paul Whitfield In Paris

Boeing Projects Surge in China’s Airplane Demand (BA)

The Boeing Company (BA) reported on Thursday that it is now predicting demand for 5,580 new airplanes in China over the next 20 years.

The company now sees China’s fleet tripling in the next 20 years and expects the country to purchase approximately $780 billion worth of aircrafts during that period. The increase in demand will be caused primarily by a rise in China and Asia based tourism.

The rise in tourism will likely grow demand for single aisle airplanes. The company expects the Next-Generation 737 and the new 737 MAX to improve current capabilities, fuel efficiency and maintenance costs.

Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for BA, commented: “Thanks to strong economic growth and increased access to air travel, we project China traffic to grow at nearly 7 percent each year.”

“China is a key market for Boeing. Our current and future products will allow our customers to meet the growing demand with the most efficient airplanes.”

Boeing shares were mostly flat during Thursday morning trading. The stock is up 41% YTD.

Morgan Stanley CEO: Odds of Another Crash 'Close to Zero'

James Gorman/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMorgan Stanley CEO James Gorman. With the five-year anniversary of the financial meltdown just around the corner, many still worry it could happen all over again. But James Gorman isn't one of them. Gorman, chief executive at Morgan Stanley (MS), told "The Charlie Rose Show" (via Bloomberg) that he believes the likelihood of another panic of the kind that nearly drove the U.S. economy to the brink is very low. "The probability of it happening again in our lifetime is as close to zero as I could imagine," Gorman said. Financial-services companies today are very different animals, he said. "The way these firms are managed, the amount of capital that they have, the amount of liquidity that they have, the changes in their business mix -- it's dramatic."

Chinese yuan now among most traded currencies

Trading in the Chinese yuan has picked up significantly in recent years.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Chinese yuan was the ninth most traded currency in the world in the most recent ranking by the Bank for International Settlements, the first time the currency has broken into the top 10.

The Chinese government has traditionally worked to keep the currency pegged to the dollar as a way of promoting manufacturing in its export-driven economy. That has prompted charges by critics that it is involved in currency manipulation.

Pressure from other nations has led the Chinese government to allow more movement in the value of the yuan in recent years, which in turn has increased the trading activity.

The currency was involved in 2.2% of foreign exchange trading worldwide in April, the period examined by this week's report. That's more than twice the share of the foreign exchange trading it participated in April 2010. The dollar was involved in 87% of all trades, the euro was part of 33% of trades, and the Japanese yuan was involved in 23%.

But while the dollar and yuan both gained in their share of the foreign exchange market, trading in the euro was down significantly from 39% of all trades in 2010. The lessening of worries about European sovereign debt resulted in the declining trade to the lowest share since the European common currency was introduced.

The amount of foreign exchange trading increased to $5.3 trillion per day in 2013, up from $4 trillion in 2010.

The Dow Becomes Less “Industrial” and “Average”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is going through another shakeup.

Three members of the 30-stock index are being replaced: Alcoa (NYSE: AA), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ). Their replacements are Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Nike (NYSE: NKE) and Visa (NYSE: V).

The switches will go into effect at the start of trading on Monday, Sept. 23 It’s the largest revision to the index since April 2004.

Adjustments in the Dow’s makeup have considerable symbolic significance. The Dow is the nation’s oldest and most popular index. It began in 1896 with 12 stocks, including General Electric (NYSE: GE), the lone original still there.

The Dow is closely watched as a barometer of the broader market. When people want to know how the stock market is doing or what it did today, the answer usually is “The Dow is up 100 points” or “The Dow dropped 50 points.”

But replacements are less important for the individual stocks. There’s little need to buy or sell based on the changes because relatively few investment products track the Dow. Switches in such indexes as the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Russell 2000 are meaningful for the new and old components because there’s a lot of money in products that are linked to these indexes.

The changes “were prompted by the low stock price of the three companies slated for removal and the Index Committee’s desire to diversify the sector and industry group representation of the index,” said S&P Dow Jones Indices, the company that oversees the Dow.

The stated wish to diversify the index leaves it even less industrial than before.

Alcoa, a Dow member since 1959, has long grappled with a global slump in aluminum demand. The stock is down 83 percent from its 2007 peak.

Hewlett-Packard was only the second computer company in the Dow (after Interna! tional Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) when it was added in 1997). Now it’s fighting to turn around its business. Despite a strong rebound this year, the stock has fallen 66 percent from its all-time high set 13 years ago.

Bank of America entered the Dow in February 2008, during the early stages of the financial crisis, which was strange timing to say the least. BAC also has struggled, although the stock is up 80 percent over the last 18 months.

The three new stocks are of two financial companies and a sports-apparel company whose goods are made overseas. All three are leaders in their fields, and their shares have done well. Visa and Nike, in particular, inject some needed growth potential into the Dow.

Still, as one observer put it: “When you get put in the Dow, it is a lagging indicator. It means you’ve already succeeded. It’s like getting elected to the Hall of Fame.”

The strangest thing about the Dow is that it’s a price-weighted index, so the stocks with the highest share price have the greatest weight. While this may have been appropriate in the Dow’s early days, it makes no sense now.

The S&P 500 and most other indexes, in contrast, are weighted by the stocks’ market capitalization. So PF Growth Portfolio holding Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), for example, account for much more of the index’s performance than Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL), say.

The three stocks now being dropped from the Dow are low-priced issues (particularly Alcoa and Bank of America) that together make up only 3 percent of the total average.

The addition of Visa, recently trading at $185, and Goldman Sachs ($163) will give those two stocks disproportionate influence in the Dow. They’ll rank second and third, just behind IBM ($190).

Five stocks will account for one-third of index: IBM, Visa, Goldman Sachs, Growth holding Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and 3M (NYSE: MMM). Four large companies—Pfizer (NYSE: ! PFE), Gro! wth holdings Cisco Systems (NSDQ: CSCO) and Intel (NSDQ: INTC), and GE—will have a combined weighting of about 5 percent, or less than Goldman Sachs alone. Goldman, with a market value of $75 billion, will carry about five times the weight of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), which has a $270 billion market cap.

Adding to the oddity, the Dow holds only one of the four biggest public companies by market cap in the US: ExxonMobil. The other three are #1: Apple, #3: Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and #4: Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A, NYSE: BRK-B).

Under the current methodology, the inclusion of Google (trading at $892) and Apple ($470) would completely distort the index. Berkshire Hathaway, with its voting stock at $170,000 and the other one at $113, would also present challenges.

Silly, isn’t it?

Top Cheap Stocks For 2014

After a rough year in 2012, coal companies hope that they could bounce back a bit this year. In the latest deal between utilities and the coal industry, Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK  ) has agreed to purchase between 1.7 million and 1.9 million short tons of coal from Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU  ) .

Currently, Peabody Energy is the lowest-cost producer of coal in the United States, which should be a critical fact now that natural gas prices are above $4 per MMBtu. It is well-diversified geographically and is the leading player in the cheapest basins in the U.S.

If you are an investor looking for another coal company that could capitalize from rising natural gas prices, turn to CONSOL Energy (NYSE: CNX  ) . This is a company that owns the largest export facility on the East Coast and has turned the majority of its attention toward natural gas production, a move that is likely to provide a nice hedge against any continued domestic coal weakness.�

Top Cheap Stocks For 2014: Cowen Group Inc.(COWN)

Cowen Group, Inc. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides alternative investment management, investment banking, research, and sales and trading services for its clients. It manages separate client focused portfolio through its subsidiaries. Through its subsidiaries, the firm invests in equity and fixed income markets. It also invests in alternative investments markets through its subsidiaries. Cowen Group, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in New York, New York with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, Cleveland, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, and San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Brush]

  The name isn't as common as others here, but you might remember the boutique investment banking and stock research shop Cowen Group (COWN). It helped hatch many of the midsize, high-growth tech and health-care companies during the late 1990s boom. Cowen itself went public in 2006, just in time to get trounced by an economic meltdown.

  Since the economy's upward turn, Cowen's stock hasn't rebounded as well as bigger rivals like Goldman Sachs, GS. But its time will come, insists Anton Schutz, the manager of the Burnham Financial Industries Fund (BMFIX), which owns the stock. "In a true bull market, Cowen is capable of earning over $1 a share," says Schutz. Since boutique investment banks carry price-to-earnings ratios at least in the low teens in good times, this stock could double or even triple from recent levels of $4 a share, Schutz reasons.

  Cowen recently purchased the brokerage LaBranche (LAB), whose presence on the Hong Kong stock exchange should help Cowen increase its investment banking business in China. "I expect this area to be of vital importance in growth for us," Cowen CEO and Wall Street veteran Peter Cohen said in the company's most recent conference call. LaBranche also gives Cowen much-needed electronic platforms supporting options and high frequency trading, says Sandler O'Neill analyst Devin Ryan, who has a $7 price target on the stock.

  Asset management arm Ramius, which offers hedge funds and mutual funds, should continue to perform well as the stock market and economy rebound. These trends will also support Cowen's U.S. brokerage and investment banking businesses. "The smaller brokers don't need that many crumbs to fall off the table to make some really good money," Ryan says.

  Meanwhile, Cowen's stock looks cheap, trading at about 70% of book value, compared with a 24% premium to book value at bigger rivals like Goldman Sachs (GS). That protects investors against downside, and also makes Cowen a possible buyout target.

Top Cheap Stocks For 2014: MEDIWARE Information Systems Inc.(MEDW)

Mediware Information Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, and marketing of software solutions targeting specific processes within healthcare institutions. The company offers software systems consisting of company's proprietary application software, and third-party licensed software and hardware. It licenses, implements, and supports clinical and performance management, blood donor, and blood and biologic management products in the United States; and medication management solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and South Africa. The company?s blood and biologics management solutions include HCLL Transfusion and HCLL Donor, which address blood donor recruitment, blood processing, and transfusion activities for hospitals and medical centers; BloodSafe suite of hardware and software that enable healthcare facilities to store, monitor, distribute, and track blood products; LifeTrak software for blood centers; a nd BiologiCare, a bone, tissue, and cellular product tracking software. Its medication management products comprise WORx, a pharmacy information system to manage inpatient and outpatient pharmacy operations; MediCOE, a physician order entry module; MediMAR, a nurse point-of-care administration and bedside documentation module; MediREC, which assists in achieving compliance with a Joint Commission mandate; and pharmacy management and electronic prescribing systems. The company?s performance management products include InSight software that tracks performance metrics to assist healthcare managers to manage performance. It also provides software installation and maintenance services, as well as billing and collection services to home infusion and home/durable medical equipment markets. The company markets its products primarily through its direct sales force. Mediware Information Systems, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Mediware Information Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:MEDW) plans to acquire the assets of Indianapolis-based Strategic Healthcare Group LLC (SHG), a leading provider of blood management consulting, education and informatics solutions.

• [By Chris Stuart]

  Mediware Information Systems(MEDW), which has a market value of $88 million, sells blood- and biologics-management products and services to hospitals, surgery centers and other health-care facilities. The stock is down nearly 13% in the past three months, but the company has released little news. The stock is thinly traded, with only 17,000 shares of average daily volume, and with only 8 million shares outstanding, it doesn't take much to move the needle.

  Despite the drop in price, management reported impressive results in the most recent quarter, with revenue and earnings up 7% and 57%, respectively, from a year earlier. Mediware should continue to benefit from government stimulus money earmarked to improve health-care technology over the next few years.

  CEO Kelly Mann, formerly with 3M's(MMM) health-information division, has made great strides since his arrival nearly four years ago. Return on equity has improved to 10%, up from the low single digits three years ago.

  From a valuation standpoint, the shares look cheap, trading at just 6 times trailing EV/EBITDA and 15 times forward earnings. Plus, Mediware has no long-term debt and $30 million in cash. TheStreet Ratings has a $15 price target on Mediware.

Top 10 Penny Companies For 2014: WebMediaBrands Inc(WEBM)

WebMediaBrands Inc., an Internet media company, provides content, education, and career services to media and creative professionals through a portfolio of vertical online properties, communities, and trade shows. The company operates mediabistro.com, a blog network that provides content, education, community, and career resources about media industry verticals, including new media, social media, Facebook, TV news, sports news, advertising, public relations, publishing, design, mobile, and the semantic Web. Its mediabistro.com also includes a job board for media and business professionals focusing on various job categories, such as social media, online/new media, publishing, public relations/marketing, advertising, sales, design, and television. The company also operates a network of online properties, including AdsoftheWorld, DynamicGraphics, LiquidTreat, BrandsoftheWorld, Graphics.com, StepInsideDesign, Creativebits, and GraphicsDesignForum that provide content, educatio n, community, career, and other resources for creative and design professionals. In addition, it offers community, membership, and e-commerce offerings comprising a freelance listing service, a marketplace for designing and purchasing logos, and premium membership services. Further, the company provides online and in-person courses, panels, certificate programs, and video subscription libraries for media and creative professionals. Additionally, it organizes various trade shows that include Semantic Technology Conference, Monetizing Social Media, Social Media Optimization Conference, Social Gaming Summit, and Virtual Goods Summit. The company was formerly known as Jupitermedia Corporation and changed its name to WebMediaBrands Inc. in February 2009. WebMediaBrands Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in New York, New York.

Top Cheap Stocks For 2014: Popular Inc.(BPOP)

Popular, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of retail and commercial banking products and services primarily to corporate clients, small and middle size businesses, and retail clients in Puerto Rico and Mainland United States. It offers deposit products; commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans, as well as lease finance; and finance and advisory services. The company also offers trust and asset management, brokerage and investment banking, and insurance and reinsurance services. As of December 31, 2010, it owned and occupied approximately 94 branch premises and other facilities in Puerto Rico; and 119 offices, including 20 owned and 99 leased in New York, Illinois, New Jersey, California, Florida, and Texas. Popular, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Philip]

  Shares of Popular, Inc. (BPOP), of Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, closed at $1.75 Friday, declining 44% year-to-date. Based on a consensus price target of $3.55, the shares have 103% upside potential.

  The company owes $935 million in TARP money.

  Popular had $11.6 billion in total assets as of Sept. 30 and announced third-quarter earnings to common shareholders of $26.6 million, or 3 cents a share, compared to second-quarter earnings of $109.8 million, or 11 cents a share, and third-quarter 2010 earnings of $494.1 million, or 48 cents a share, when the company booked a $531 million gain on the sale of a 51% stake in its Evertec subsidiary.

  Third quarter earnings declined sequentially because of a $32 million increase in provisions for loan losses and because the second-quarter results included "a tax benefit of approximately $59.6 million related to the timing of loan charge-offs for tax purposes."

  Third-quarter provisions increased because the company on September 29 "completed the sale of construction and commercial real estate loans with an unpaid principal balance and net book value of approximately $358 million and $128 million, respectively," the majority of which were nonperforming loans.

  Following the earnings announcement, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Michael Diana reiterated his "Buy" rating on Popular, raising his price target for the shares to $2.50 from $2.25.

  All five analysts covering Popular rate the shares a buy.

Top Cheap Stocks For 2014: 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 Victor Mora]

  IBM provides essential information technology products and services to growing companies and consumers around the world. The stock has been on a strong bull run in recent years but is now consolidating slightly below all-time high prices. Earnings have been steadily increasing while revenue figures have decreased over the last four quarters, which has confused investors a bit. Relative to its strong peers and sector, IBM has trailed in year-to-date performance. WAIT AND SEE what IBM does this coming quarter.

• [By Victor Mora]

  IBM provides key information technology products to companies participating in a multitude of industries around the world. The stock has done well in recent years and is now consolidating in a range extending back a year. A recent disappointing earnings release sent the stock to the bottom end of its recent range. Earnings, revenue figures, and institutional shareholders have sent mixed signals to investors. Relative to its peers and sector, IBM has underperformed year-to-date. WAIT AND SEE what IBM does this quarter.

• [By Peter Hughes]

  International Business Machines (IBM) -- our aggressive pick for the year -- is one of the world's most dominant technology companies, with annual revenues of $105 billion and net income of $16 billion.

Top Cheap Stocks For 2014: Capstone Turbine Corporation(CPST)

Capstone Turbine Corporation develops, manufactures, markets, and services turbine generator sets and related parts for use in stationary distributed power generation applications. Its stationary distributed power generation applications include cogeneration combined heat and power (CHP), integrated (CHP), resource recovery, and secure power, as well as combined cooling, heat, and power; and its products are used as battery charging generators for hybrid electric vehicle applications. The company primarily offers microturbine units, subassemblies, and components. It also provides various accessories, including rotary gas compressors with digital controls, heat recovery modules for CHP applications, dual mode controllers that allow automatic transition between grid connect and stand-alone modes, batteries with digital controls for stand-alone/dual-mode operations, power servers for multipacked installations, and protocol converters for Internet access, as well as frames, ex haust ducting, and installation hardware. Further, it remanufactures microturbine engines; and provides after-market parts and services, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and factory and on-site training services. The company?s microturbines can be fueled by various sources, including natural gas, propane, sour gas, landfill or digester gas, kerosene, diesel, and biodiesel. It primarily sells its products directly to end users, as well as through distributors in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Russian Federation, and South America. Capstone Turbine Corporation was founded in 1988 and is based in Chatsworth, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) develops, manufactures, markets and services microturbine technology solutions. The stock has gained 88% year to date, compared to just 6% for the S&P 500 Index. It should also be mentioned that CPST posted quarterly revenue growth of 51%, year over year, last quarter.

Will a Recent Addition Boost Netflix?

With shares of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) trading around $220, is NFLX an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock's Movement

Netflix is an Internet subscription service streaming television shows and movies. The company's subscribers can watch unlimited television shows and movies streamed over the Internet to their televisions, computers, and mobile devices. In the United States, subscribers can also receive DVDs delivered to their homes. Netflix has revolutionized the television and movie industry with its services.

Recently, a deal was struck with Dreamworks (NASDAQ:DWA) that is fueling demand for Netflix stock as the streaming service is ramping-up its original programming menu with popular choices from the maker of Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda. Consumers in the United States and around the world look to access their favorite shows and movies via Internet mediums at increasing rates. Look for Netflix's increasing popularity to lead it to rising profits.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Strong

Netflix stock has witnessed powerful moves up and down over the last few years. The stock is now surging higher and looks to have previous all-time highs in its crosshairs. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Netflix is trading slightly above its rising key averages which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Netflix Options	63.30%	96%	95%

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

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

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

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

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3	2012 Q2
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	162.50%	-78.96%	-88.79%	-91.27%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	17.72%	7.96%	10.13%	12.75%
Earnings Reaction	24.28%	42.22%	-11.87%	-25.01%

Netflix has seen mixed earnings and rising revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been very excited with Netflix's recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Netflix stock done relative to its peers, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Outerwall (NASDAQ:OUTR), and sector?

	Netflix	Amazon	Comcast	Outerwall	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	17.84%	13.18%	10.12%	15.86%	14.27%

Netflix has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Netflix provides entertainment through its video streaming subscription service. The company continue to add programming that consumers across the nation enjoy. The stock has moved swiftly up and down and seems ready to head towards previous all-time high prices. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenue figures have been on the rise which has really impressed investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Netflix has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Netflix to continue to OUTPERFORM.

My Top 2 Picks From A Legendary Value Investor

Successful value investors often work in relative obscurity, delivering steady, market-beating returns over decades.

Jeremy Grantham is an investor that has been following a value approach to the markets since at least 1977, when he co-founded global investment management firm GMO. Over the years, GMO has grown to manage more than $100 billion in assets but is still relatively unknown.

Grantham applies a classic Graham and Dodd value approach to the markets. Benjamin Graham and David Dodd wrote the original textbook on value investing, Security Analysis, in the 1930s. Warren Buffett would later study under Graham.

 

And while countless investors have read the original and revised editions of Security Analysis, only a few have mastered the concepts. The very best value investors, a group that includes Buffett and Grantham, add a unique perspective to their study.

In the case of Grantham, his success is at least partly due to his ability to spot bubbles. He may know more about bubbles than any other investor. In a recent letter to investors, Grantham wrote, "We have studied more or less all assets for as long as we can find data, and we have found a remarkable total of 330 'bubbles,' 36 of which we call 'major, important bubbles,' which we define as 2-standard-deviation events."

Grantham used his knowledge of bubbles to deliver gains to his investors when the Internet bubble was bursting in 2000 and 2001. He also lost less than the market in 2008 as the housing bubble burst.

In addition to studying bubbles, GMO develops forecasts for asset classes based on its studies of long-term value. Right now, Grantham is most bullish on stocks in emerging markets, which he expects to provide average annual gains of 6.8%, after inflation, over the next seven years. In the U.S., Grantham's firm sees average annual losses of 2.1% in large-cap stocks and 3.5% in small-cap stocks over the next seven years.

In studying Grantham and other great investors, I learned that the biggest stock market winners have solid fundamentals and strong technicals. I combined these factors into a model that finds market-leading stocks with the fastest growth in cash flow. When applying this system to Grantham's stocks, two buys jumped out.

Given his outlook that emerging markets will provide the largest gains in the long term, it is not surprising to see that two of his largest holdings are in emerging markets. It might be surprising to see an Internet company on the list, but that shows Grantham invests in value, in no matter what sector he finds it.

Yandex (Nasdaq: YNDX) is Russ! ia's largest search engine, with about 60% of the market. Over the past five years, YNDX has reported average sales growth of 46.6% and an average increase of 39.5% in earnings per share (EPS). Free cash flow turned positive in 2008 and has grown from $0.15 a share to $0.74, an average growth rate of 37.6% a year.

In 2012, YNDX reported EPS of $0.82 and is expected to earn $1.12 in 2013. In 2014, analysts expect EPS of $1.43. After that, analysts expect EPS growth to average 29.5% a year in the next five years. Using 2014 estimated earnings, the stock trades at a P/E ratio of 24.

The PEG ratio compares the P/E ratio to the expected EPS growth rate, and YNDX has a PEG ratio of 0.81. The PEG ratio should be 1 for a stock that is fairly valued. This measure shows that YNDX is undervalued.

Copa Holdings (NYSE: CPA) is also undervalued with a PEG ratio of 0.53. Copa Holdings provides airline passenger and cargo services within Colombia and international flights from various cities in Colombia to Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Over the past five years, sales growth has averaged 17% a year, EPS grew an average of 14.7% a year, and free cash flow growth averaged 30.1% a year. Analysts expect earnings growth of 26.3% a year on average for the next five years. Based on 2014 EPS estimates, CPA could be worth more than $300 a share, more than double its recent price.

CPA has been profitable every year since 2006, including the global recession years of 2008 and 2009, when large U.S. airlines like United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) reported large losses.

Grantham has found winning stocks in the past, and equally important, he has avoided many of the large losses of the past. Most investors would not hunt for value in Russia and Columbia, but Grantham knows that successful investing requires hard work. He now holds YNDX and CPA, stocks which my system also highlights as potential winners.

My latest ! research ! shows that following market "gurus" like Grantham is one of the best ways to make money in the stock market. And Grantham is just one of the 20 investing gurus I follow.

But it's not as simple as looking at their portfolio and buying what they hold... Timing matters. I've come out with a new, free report, that helps you understand exactly how you can beat the best gurus in the country at their own game. To get access to the free report, "How To Outperform Soros, Icahn... Or Even Buffett," click here.

Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Buy For 2014

There's an old stock market adage: "Sell in May and go away, don't come back till Labor Day." Personally, I don't believe in timing the market, especially on the merits of an anonymous maxim, but today's sell-off certainly didn't do much to disprove the saying. That said, there was some actual news today -- global manufacturing is starting to cool down, U.S. companies are hiring more slowly than anticipated -- that substantiated the drop. By day's end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) had lost 138 points, or 0.9%, to close at 14,700http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-01/asian-stocks-fall-as-yen-gains-amid-growth-concerns-oil-drops.html.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS  ) was one of just a handful of blue chips to advance today, adding 0.6%. Although the House of Mouse doesn't report quarterly figures until next Tuesday, the stock was buoyed by good results from several other rival entertainment and broadcasting mainstays. Both CBS and Viacom surprised Wall Street today, and with big media beating expectations, investors grew optimistic for Disney's numbers next week.

Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Buy For 2014: 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 Dan Moskowitz]

  McDonald�� is one of the strongest brands in the world. For that reason alone, it would be unwise to bet against McDonald��. This doesn�� mean a long position should be initiated. It simply means that shoring the stock would be extremely risky.

• [By Brian Gorban]

   Fast food giant and world-renowned company McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) is undoubtedly a name you’ve heard of, as “the golden arches” are ubiquitous--and with good reason: The company operates over 33,000 restaurants in 119 countries. With over $27 billion in revenue and a market capitalization near $90 billion, McDonald’s is simply a juggernaut and should continue to be a beneficiary of the global growth story happening predominately in the “BRIC” (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries in the years and decades to come.

  Of course, those countries have not been spared the current economic carnage and that has caused the company to miss the past two quarters’ consensus estimates, but that has created a buying opportunity. With the stock trading not far above its $83.31 52-week low, McDonald’s is now yielding an attractive 3.5% dividend yield, and with a low 54% payout ratio, look for the dividend to not only be safe but be raised in the near future. Add in the fact that the company has a comparatively and historically low 16x forward and trailing P/E, and I think MCD should serve investors well for the long-term while one can wait and happily collect the nice 3.5% dividend.

• [By Victor Mora]

  McDonald�� provides highly demanded food items to significant amounts of consumers who enjoy their items around the world. The stock has done very well for investors of the last several years and is now trading at all-time high prices. Earnings and revenue figures have done reasonably well, however, investors have expected a little more from the company. Relative to its strong peers and sector, McDonald’s has been a performance leader, year-to-date. Look for McDonald’s to continue to OUTPERFORM.

Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Buy For 2014: 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 Geoff Gannon] bott Laboratories (ABT), Autodesk (ADSK), Cisco (CSCO) and Exelon (EXC). Others were ideas collected from places like news, etc.
  
  ��The ranking exercise (is) based on growth and fundamental analysis. EXC ranks at the bottom in both analyses��op 4 results are Apple, BHP Billiton (BHP), Mosaic (MOS) and Rio Tinto (RIO). MOS was eliminated as it has one year of negative FCF.
  
  Since AAPL is listed as No. 1, I went back and looked at P/E when I bought it at $333 in April and May 2011. The P/E was 11 - 13 times. It is currently 15 times��I think the iPhone 4s plus Sprint network addition plus iPad plus enterprise adoption of Mac will provide an impressive fabric of earning growth that is sustainable.
  
  The other two on the list are basic materials, they could be��good long-term to my stock portfolio. Assuming scarcity as their global trend (need to learn more here.)
  
  From the fundamental analysis: Rio is cheaper than BHP. But, RIO is qualitatively inferior when compared to BHP (ROIC, ROE, ROA). I have not looked at Vale (VALE), so maybe next weekend I will continue this exercise with VALE.
  
  I am not confident what the next step can be.
  
  Should I do more work or buy AAPL or EXC?
  
  Thank you very much.
  
  Ning
  
  (I should mention here that Ning included some very extensive Excel tables with this email.)
  
  Those are some extensive tables you included there. They are thorough. But I think the next step is not quantitative. It is qualitative. I would first look at the stocks you already own and feel you know best.
  
  This sounds like Apple (AAPL) and Exelon (EXC).
  
  I may be wrong about that. But it sounded to me like you had a lot of basic materials stocks show up for purely quantitative reasons, while you yourself didn�� have a strong feeling whether buying basic materials was a good idea or not. It could be. But you didn�� seem to have any special insight there. Am I right?
  
  Where you did have some special insight ��or at lea! st a very clear opinion ��was on Apple. Now, normally I wouldn�� encourage anyone to start with one of the most talked about, written about, gossiped about companies out there.
  
  Everybody has an opinion on Apple. Everybody knows the company. It is hardly a hidden gem. But it might be a gem in plain sight. And it sounds like you have some ideas about Apple beyond the numbers. So, that�� where you should start.
  
  The other company it sounds like you��e interested in is Exelon. Part of the reason why I�� saying you sounded interested in doing more work on Exelon is that you talked about the stock despite it finishing at the bottom of your purely quantitative comparison.
  
  Is that really a good sign? Am I really saying you should spend more time studying a company that finished at the bottom of a comparison you drew up?
  
  Here�� what I�� saying. You did a wonderful quantitative comparison of some very different stocks. A bunch of the stocks you��e got there are basic materials stocks. This should tip you off that something is ��amiss. When you do a purely quantitative survey of stocks you��e casting a net. When you get back a list of stocks that are all in the same industry, you need to take a good, long pause.
  
  You may not be measuring what you think you��e measuring. Or at least you may not be catching what you wanted in that numerical net you threw.
  
  I think Exelon and Apple are a good place to start.
  
  They are very different companies. That's good. Apple is a very high profile company. While Exelon is not. Both are potentially very interesting companies.
  
  You could argue that either has a wide moat.
  
  I wouldn't disparage the quality of either business relative to its peers. However, I think the next step ��for me at least ��would be to look at the industries they operate in. Are Apple and Exelon predictable? Do they have sustainable competitive advantages ��especially in regards to operating margins and return on equity. ! Look at t! he stocks found in GuruFocus�� Buffett-Munger Screener. Compare the stocks you��e interested in with those companies. Not just quantitatively, but qualitatively as well. Right now, it doesn�� look like either Apple or Exelon score very high in terms of business predictability (as GuruFocus measures it). Again, that�� a purely quantitative judgment ��like your own Excel tables ��but it�� worth keeping in mind.
  
  I��l tell you how I use quantitative measures. I don�� think of them as giving me the whole picture. I like to think of them more like vital signs. They are alerts. They let me know what areas of a stock I need to study more thoroughly. For example, Apple gets a 1-Star business predictability rating. Does that mean it�� a bad, unpredictable company?
  
  Absolutely not. It just means that the trajectory Apple has had these last 10 years hasn�� been predictable. It has been phenomenal.
  
  So you need to focus ��this is always true, but it�� especially true with Apple ��on whether or not the current level of sales, earnings, etc., are sustainable for the long-term. In Apple�� case, this means you need to do qualitative analysis. Probably competitive analysis.
  
  The industry Apple operates in ��consumer electronics ��is not an especially predictable one. It is not one where competitive advantages ����oats����tend to be especially durable. That doesn�� mean that Apple can�� maintain its terrific position. It doesn�� mean Apple lacks a moat. It just means that you need to investigate that issue.
  
  Okay. Another good question to ask is what the risks are. What happens if your assessment of a company is wrong? What if you think Apple has a wide moat and it doesn��? What if you think a barrel of oil will be $150 in 2013 and it ends up being $50? Often, investors focus on the probability of an event. That�� important. But it�� not more important than thinking about what happens if your assessment is wrong. Maybe $150 a barrel oil ! is way mo! re likely than $50 a barrel oil. But ��no matter how sure you felt about the future price of oil ��would you really buy a stock that could go to zero if oil stayed at $50 for any length of time? Probably not. Likewise, however strongly you feel about Apple�� ��oat��as of this moment ��it�� important to be honest about what would happen to the stock (and your portfolio) if Apple�� moat were breached.
  
  I wrote about mean reversion in one of my net-net posts. My point was that when you buy a company that's very cheap relative to its liquid and/or tangible assets any movement toward that company doing "about average" relative to American business generally is a positive for you. Well, these two stocks ��Apple and Exelon ��are far from net-nets. Any movement towards an "about average" business performance for stocks like Apple and Exelon will be very, very bad for you. That is because you are ��in both cases ��paying a high price to liquid and tangible assets (relative to the price you could buy many of their peers at).
  
  That doesn't mean they are bad businesses. An insurer or bank that trades at a premium to tangible book value may be quite a bargain if it is something like Progressive (PGR) or Wells Fargo (WFC).
  
  The important thing is not to confuse a temporarily wonderful competitive position with a competitive position like PGR or WFC that can probably be maintained for many, many years.
  
  You may disagree with me here, but I think in the case of Apple you are really betting on the organization. And in the case of Exelon you are betting on the assets. Basically, you are saying that Apple's brand and people and culture working together are going to achieve things ��like higher returns on investment ��than competitors who seek to do the same thing. In the case of Exelon, I think you are saying that their assets are lower cost (higher margin) generators of power than their competitors. In fact, you are saying they are so much more efficient that it is wort! h paying ! a substantial premium to tangible book value.
  
  I don't disagree with either claim. I think Apple has a superior organization. And Exelon has superior assets.
  
  Exelon's assets are clearly carried at far below their economic value. So the issue with Exelon is how to value those assets.
  
  Have you read Phil Fisher's "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits?"
  
  It is a good book to read if you are thinking about investing in Apple.
  
  And "There's Always Something to Do" is a good book to read when thinking about Exelon.
  
  After reading the information you sent me, I'd say that the most important thing for you to do now is get some distance from comparative numbers. Think about what it is you are buying in each case. What aspect of the business is providing you with your margin of safety?
  
  It�� not the price.
  
  These are not cheap stocks on an asset value basis if you consider only their tangible book value.
  
  Therefore, either the tangible assets must be worth much more than they are carried for on the books ��or the intangibles must be very valuable for you to buy these stocks.
  
  In your final analysis I think you should focus on one question:
  
  How comfortable would you be if you had to hold this stock forever?
  
  This is an important question because you may have in mind that you have a lot of faith in Apple right now. That faith may be well founded. But if you have little faith in Apple four or five or six years out ��do you really think you will be the first to spot the company's loss of leadership? Think about how quickly companies like Nokia (NOK) and Research In Motion (RIMM) saw their P/E ratios contract when investors realized just how far they were behind the competition. Do you really think you will be fast enough to spot a change in Apple's position? It�� not enough to see the writing on the wall. You have to see it faster than everyone else. You have to sell before they do.
  
  That�� not the Phil Fisher way. The Phil F! isher way! is to be very sure when buying a growth company. Then, yes, you do monitor the situation. But it is not about understanding the situation one or two years out. It is about understanding the qualities already present in the company that will prove durable.
  
  Even if you've read Phil Fisher and Peter Cundill's books, I'd suggest looking at them again as they are good examples of the kind of investing you are trying to do in Apple (Fisher) and Exelon (Cundill).
  
  Also, you might want to read a bit about Marty Whitman's philosophy and Mario Gabelli's philosophy. If you think Exelon is a buy, it is probably because you have reasons similar to the reasons those two investors have when they buy a stock.
  
  Basically, Marty Whitman and Mario Gabelli try to find out the value of a company's assets in a private transaction. They don't try to figure out what public markets will pay for the stock. They try to figure out what private owners would pay for the business and they work back from there to figure out the stock's value.
  
  So my advice is to step back from all the numbers. Zero in on just a couple companies. Don't look at more than one stock in the same day. If you are thinking about Apple today then think only about Apple for today. Exelon can wait until tomorrow. Think about what aspect of the company makes the stock clearly worth more than its current price. Then study that aspect. And don't add a dime to your investment in that stock until you are comfortable with betting on the permanence of that aspect.
  
  Make sure you understand the value in the company. And make sure that value is durable.
  
  Understanding often requires more than just numbers. So, I

Top 10 Oil Stocks To Watch For 2014: 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 Jonas Elmerraji]

  Surprisingly, one of the names that's correlating the highest with the S&P 500 right now is oil and gas supermajor Chevron (CVX). Just like the S&P, Chevron is trading in a very well-defined trend channel. The key difference is that the Chevron trade is further along; this stock is bouncing off of trendline support this week. That means it's time to be a buyer.

  Commodities and materials stocks are seeing some buoyancy this week, but Chevron's price action is different -- it's been more sustained over the course of 2013. This stock's proximity to trendline support right now makes it the best-in-breed oil name in my view. As geopolitical risks propel oil prices, the real story at CVX is the fact that support is just a few points away. That makes Chevron a great setup from a risk management perspective.

  Speaking of risk management, if you decide to jump into shares here, I'd recommend keeping a protective stopprotective stop just above the 200-day moving average.

• [By Hawkinvest]

  Chevron Corporation (CVX) is a leading integrated energy company with exposure to oil, natural gas, refining, etc. This could be one of the most undervalued stocks in the market. Chevron pays a dividend that beats many other stock and bond yields, plus it has a below market price to earnings ratio of about 8 times earnings. The average stock in the S&P 500 Index currently trades for over 12 times earnings. If oil prices continue to rise, the already healthy profit estimates for Chevron might be too low. With oil prices showing strength this early in the season, Chevron could be poised to beat earnings in the coming months. However, the stock is trading at the upper end of the recent trading range. Recently, it has been possible to buy this stock at about $102 per share, so waiting for dips could pay off.

  Here are some key points for CVX:

  Current share price: $104.25

  The 52 week range is $85.63 to $110.01

  Earnings estimates for 2012: $12.66 per share

  Earnings estimates for 2013: $13.20 per share

  Annual dividend: $3.42 per share which yields 3.1%

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  Oil and gas supermajor Chevron (CVX) is another name that's showing investors a bullish technical setup right now. Chevron is forming a textbook ascending triangle pattern, a price setup that we've seen a lot of on the way up in 2013. Here's how to trade it.

  Chevron's ascending triangle is formed by horizontal resistance above shares at $127.50 and uptrending support below shares. Basically, as CVX bounces in between those two technical price levels, it's getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above $127.50. When that breakout happens, we've got our buy signal.

  The energy sector spent the last quarter as a bit of a laggard, but it's been heating back up in the last month and change. With a breakout trade getting close to triggering here, Chevron offers one of the best-in-breed ways to play the trend this summer.

• [By Victor Mora]

  Chevron is an oil and gas bellwether that provides essential energy products and services to consumers and companies worldwide. The company recently won a bid to explore�for shale gas in western Lithuania. The stock is currently bouncing off an upward sloping trendline and may continue to do so. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been mixed, which has produced mixed feelings among investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Chevron has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Chevron to OUTPERFORM.

Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Buy For 2014: 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 Charles Sizemore]

  One of the “big picture” economic themes that I expect to play out over 2011 and beyond is the secular shift to a global cashless society.?Though the process is well on its way in the U.S. and Europe, roughly 40% of all transactions are still made with cash and paper checks according to Barron’s.

  This means that even in “boring” developed markets, there is ample room for growth in electronic payments. And there is no better company to benefit from this trend than credit card giant Visa (NYSE: V).

Top 5 Blue Chip Stocks To Buy For 2014: 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 ChuckCarlson]

  Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL), together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. The company has raised distributions for 48 years in a row. The 10 year annual dividend growth rate is 12.40%/year. The last dividend increase was 9.40% to 58 cents/share. Analysts are expecting that Colgate Palmolive will earn $5.52/share in 2012. I expect that the quarterly dividend will be raised to 64 cents/share in 2012. Yield: 2.60%