1 Dividend to Buy, 1 Dividend to Sell

The following video is part of our "Motley Fool Conversations" series, in which Brendan Byrnes, industrials editor and analyst, and Andrew Tonner, technology editor and analyst, discuss topics around the investing world.

In today's edition, they continue their series of looking at one dividend stock to buy and one to sell in 2012. Brendan likes the impressive same-store-sales growth and the reliable and steady revenue stream at McDonald's. Andrew dislikes Hewlwtt-Packard, which is struggling after some questionable decisions.

McDonald's is a solid and steady dividend stock, but it's certainly not the only one. If you're looking for some more high-yielders, The Motley Fool has compiled a special free report outlining our 11 favorite, dependable, dividend-paying stocks. It's called "Secure Your Future With 11 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks." You can access your complimentary copy today at no cost! Just click here to discover the winners we've picked.

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AAPL: Barclays Mulls 6 Catalysts for ’12, Including TV and Dividend

Barclays Capital’s Ben Reitzes this afternoon offers up his predictions for Apple’s (AAPL) trajectory in the new year.

When Apple announces fiscal Q1 results in January, the report will likely be “very solid,” but the outlook “subdued,” because of a transition to a new iPad model, and because the Euro is weak, he believes.

But Reitzes’s main focus are the six things he think could help the stock:

1. A new iPad in April, with the existing iPad 2 perhaps dropping to $400 for the $16 gigabyte model. It’s also possible the company will offer a 4G wireless version of the iPad next year. “We also believe Apple may consider a 7�� screen tablet for the fall if the Amazon.com (AMZN) Kindle [Fire] takes too much share �C and even use this form factor down the road for a potential remote for a TV.”
2. Greater distribution of the iPhone, especially in China, will lift sales. He estimates 135.8 million iPhone units next year.
3. A new iPhone model, which he calls the “iPhone 5,” should come out around the September quarter, he thinks, perhaps with 4G wireless, perhaps with “near-field communications,” or NFC, for payments.
4. The Mac could switch to chips based on ARM Holdings (ARMH) designs, away from Intel’s (INTC) processors, as Apple tries to distance itself from the new competition in Windows-based “Ultrabook” laptops. ” We believe there is increased evidence that Apple is looking to do more with ARM based processors and probably contemplating putting the processors in non-iPad devices. Apple has a major advantage vs. Windows in terms of time to market and features given its experience with iOS and the iPad.”
5. Reitzes thinks it’s too soon to proclaim an Apple televis ion set coming out next year, given that the iPhone and the iPad are still the focus for the company. But he believes the company’s interested in one. “Combined with iOS software and Siri, the potential interface for a TV or improved Apple TV box could be groundbreaking.”
6. And lastly, Apple might institute a “real policy” for capital use:

Apple is running out of realistic excuses for hoarding so much cash. Apple recently announced that Robert A. Iger, President and CEO of the Walt Disney Company (covered by Anthony DiClemente), joined Apple’s board and is serving on the audit committee. Iger’s appointment is interesting since former CEO Steve Jobs was Disney’s largest shareholder as well as a member of Disney’s Board. Disney has been a strong partner and friend of Apple’s iTunes distribution model. In our opinion, the ?Board also faces an interesting decision over the next year regarding its growing cash hoard (now at over $81 billion with about one third held in the US). We believe Apple has the ability to easily pay a dividend with a significant yield (2-4% range) along with the ability to grow it over time. Furthermore, we believe consistent buybacks over time would be a better option than an accelerated buyback or a special dividend. Iger has shown a propensity for consistent buybacks at Disney as well as more recently �C dividend increases. We believe that Apple’s Board could look at its cash strategy a bit differently over the course of the next year �C and attract more value shareholders.

Reitzes maintains an Overweight rating on Apple shares and a $555 price target.

Apple shares today are up $12.63, or 3%, at $394.84.

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ConAgra Foods Inc. Second Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, December 20, 2011. ConAgra Foods supplies frozen potato products, as well as other food products, to restaurants and commercial customers.

ConAgra Foods, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of 43 cents per share, a decline of 4.4% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 46 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at 43 cents during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net income of $1.79 per share, a rise of 2.3% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: The company has missed estimates in the last two quarters. In the first quarter, it missed the mark by 2 cents as a result of reporting profit of 29 cents against an estimate of net income of 31 cents per share. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, the company fell short of forecasts by one cent.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $3.32 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 5.1% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $12.98 billion for the year, a rise of 5.5% from last year’s revenue of $12.3 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts seem relatively indifferent about ConAgra Foods with eight of 12 analysts surveyed maintaining a hold rating.

A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit fell 41.7% to $85.3 million (20 cents a share) from $146.4 million (33 cents a share) the year earlier, missing analyst expectations. Revenue rose 9% to $3.07 billion from $2.82 billion.

Key Stats:

Revenue has gone up for three straight quarters. It rose 11.3% in the ! fourth q uarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier and 1.9% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year.

The decrease in profit in the first quarter came after net income rose in the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, net income rose more than twofold.

Competitors to Watch: General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS), TreeHouse Foods Inc. (NYSE:THS), Lancaster Colony Corp. (NASDAQ:LANC), Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:KFT), J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF), Seneca Foods Corporation (NASDAQ:SENEB), The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM), and Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RAH).

Stock Price Performance: During September 20, 2011 to December 14, 2011, the stock price had risen $2.49 (10.9%) from $22.77 to $25.26. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between November 1, 2011 and November 8, 2011 when shares rose for six-straight days, rising 3.2% (+80 cents) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 26, 2011 and August 4, 2011 when shares fell for eight-straight days, falling 7.7% (-$1.99) over that span. Shares are up $3.52 (+16.2%) year to date.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

 

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Krispy Kreme Doughnuts at its Peak Price of the Year - NYSE:KKD

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE:KKD) achieved its new 52 week high price of $9.78 where it was opened at $9.69 UP 0.21 points or +2.21% by closing at $9.73. KKD transacted shares during the day were over 1.94 million shares however it has an average volume of 2.40 million shares.

KKD has a market capitalization $657.07 million and an enterprise value at $667.14 million. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 1.75 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 7.61. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 3.29% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 5.85%.

The company made a return on asset of 7.95% in past twelve months and return on equity of 15.76% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $374.44 million gaining $5.47 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 13.60% holding 105.30% quarterly earnings growth.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $24.70 million cash in hand making cash per share at 0.37. The total of $34.77 million debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 40.26. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 1.80 and book value per share was 1.28.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 24.53% where the stock current price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average price $7.95 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average price $6.84.

KKD holds 67.53 million outstanding shares with 54.75 million floating shares where insider possessed 18.76% and institutions kept 32.40%.

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Financial Choices For Companies In Good Times And Bad

Revenue So, you’re a CEO, CFO or COO of a company struggling to generate demand for your products or services. You decide on a new or tweaked strategy that will get your revenue on the right track, back to growth or new areas for growth. You implement the changes. While efforts are continuing to make the behavioral and tactical improvements to achieve the goals and objectives you have set forth in your strategy, you begin to look further into what else can be done to improve the company financials.

Profitability Whether or not your company is grappling with revenue issues, you and your Board are always interested in ways to improve profitability. You look more closely at where you can cut the fat, if there’s any left to cut. Your largest operating expense is your employees. Like many companies in America in the recent and not so recent past, you consider starting a new round of budget cuts in salaries, benefits and even people. Can you really afford to cut or possibly discourage your troop’s way to more productivity?

Energy Expenses If you house your organization in expansive facilities, another large operating expense is your monthly/yearly/ever-present electric bill. What can you do about that, the power company has a monopoly in your geography as it does in most. The least expensive steps you can take are to ask employees to turn-off lights and reduce the comfort level of the thermostat setting. Have you ever walked into a government, commercial or industrial build that is dimly lit or is too warm and stuffy, or even too cold during the winter. Not a very attractive place to visit, let alone work.

Technical Solution to a Financial Problem You may want to consider the things you can do to reduce your power consumption that give you an attractive payback and ROI. Treating your motors, lighting, HVAC and refrigeration systems can give you the best bang-for-your-buck, when the proven approaches and technologies are engineered and installed properly. It may also help ! your dec ision to move forward with such a project if it is guaranteed every step of the way, including your continued savings after the installation and throughout your payback period. In terms of savings, the project should result in the gift that keeps on giving, for a couple of decades.

Caveat Emptor Words of caution, when considering such a solution, make sure that you award your project to an engineering firm with experience in designing, installing and guaranteeing your project and results. And be certain you are not hiring a performance contractor or a company that has you sign a long-term contact sharing in your savings for a decade or more by replacing your hardware with insufficient new motors, lighting, HVAC or refrigeration. Otherwise, you could be better off dimming the lights yourself!

Save Money On Your Company’s Energy Bill, visit Energy Edge Technologies site for strategies on saving a tremendous amount of capital on your Corporate Energy Bill or call 888-729-5722 Ext. 100.

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REPRINT: What Happens if Steve Jobs Leaves?

This is an reprint of an article that was written on January 6, before Steve Jobs resigned from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

The original article in its entirety:

He is the P.T. Barnum of our time, the greatest showmen of the 21st century.

But what happens if Steve Jobs were to leave Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) either via death, or otherwise?

Jobs has already battled pancreatic cancer, not a disease many overcome. I don't want to be bleak and morbid, but what happens if Jobs passed away? Would Apple's stock plummet? Most certainly it would, probably for a couple of days.

Jobs is as important to Apple as Warren Buffett is to Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A), so I would expect a couple of days of mourning and some selling in the stock, but I think this is only a blip.

Apple has a strong pipeline of products, including the iPhone 5, the Verizon (NYSE: VZ) iPhone, iPad 2, and refreshes to the Mac and iPod lines for years.

When Verizon gets its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network fully operational around the country, I would expect to see Apple launch additional products for LTE.

Then there's the Mac App Store. Gartner thinks this market could grow to $25 billion + in just a couple of years, up from $4 billion today.

The Mac App store could potentially revolutionize the computing industry, much like the microchip. If it takes off, I would expect Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Hewlett-Packrd (NYSE: HPQ) and other OEM's to copy.

The management team, led most notably by Tim Cook, has become more accessible to investors over the past few years, not to mention the company has $50 billion in cash sitting on its books.

Let's not forget that Apple's product designers have revolutionized the music (iPod), telephone and (iPhone), and print (iPad) industries. All three of these devices support gaming, and has revolutionized this industry as well.

Apple has already started its entry into social, with Ping. No word on how that is doing, which some consider to be sign of a f! ailure.< /p>

If Apple TV can really take off, now that the price has been lowered, Apple could potentially revolutionize the TV business.There's a reason that Foxconn has hired more than 1 million people so far.

Should something unforeseen happen to Jobs, shareholders will be just fine.

It just may take a couple of days.

Discuss the latest news and trading ideas on Benzinga's Facebook page

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Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc recently Stroke its 52 Week High Price - NASDAQ:SPPI

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ:SPPI) achieved its new 52 week high price of $15.09 where it was opened at $14.74 up 0.22 points or +1.49% by closing at $14.96. SPPI transacted shares during the day were over 1.11 million shares however it has an average volume of 1.45 million shares.

SPPI has a market capitalization $853.47 million and an enterprise value at $693.09 million. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 4.83 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 4.84. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 25.69% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 30.83%.

The company made a return on asset of 16.49% in past twelve months and return on equity of 37.51% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $173.93 million gaining $3.35 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 204.90%.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $148.90 million cash in hand making cash per share at 2.61. The total of $17.00K debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 0.01. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 2.75 and book value per share was 3.05.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 2.27% where the stock current price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average price $11.89 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average price $9.68.

SPPI holds 57.05 million outstanding shares with 49.96 million floating shares where insider possessed 12.52% and institutions kept 28.60%.

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States Where People Marry Young (and Old)

The percentage of Americans over the age of 18 who are married has dropped from 57% in 2000 to 51% in 2011, according to a report published by Pew Research Center. If this trend continues married people will soon be in the minority.

To fully understand the state of marriage in the U.S., 24/7 Wall St. examined marriage data on a state level. Other than divorce, one of the greatest differences in marriage trends by state is the average age of marriage. 24/7 Wall St. has examined data from the Pew Research Center for the 50 states to identify where people marry the youngest and where they marry the oldest.

Read The States Where People Marry The Youngest

Read The States Where People Marry The Oldest

There are a number of preconceived notions about why people marry young. Some of these are true and some are not.

States where residents get married early tend to be poor. These states have very low median household incomes and high poverty rates. The five states where people marry youngest include Oklahoma and Arkansas — two of the worst off states. The states in which people wait the longest to get married include some of the richest states, including Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

It is also often assumed that people who marry at younger ages are less educated. 24/7 research shows that this is not true. High school graduation rates vary greatly among the states where people marry young and old. Wyoming, where people marry young, has the highest high school graduation rate in the country. Rhode Island, where people marry old, has the 10th-lowest graduation rate.

The states where people tie the knot at a younger age also have higher rates of population growth. While states like Rhode Island and New York, where people wait a bit longer for marriage, have particularly low population growth rates.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed Census data to identify! the sta tes where people marry young and old. All other data is from the Census Bureau and Pew Research Center.

These are the states where people marry the youngest and oldest.

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Aiding the Bottom 10%: A Recipe for Economic Decline

By John Tamny? RealClearMarkets

It’s a rule-of-thumb among many well run U.S. companies that they must routinely make redundant the 5 to 10 percent of their least productive employees. One obvious reason for doing so is to keep costs down, but there are many other reasons unrelated to cost for doing so.

For one, just as bad apples in sports tend to ruin chemistry such that total team performance declines, subpar performers in an office setting tend to worsen the performance of the most productive for wasting resources, all the while giving the productive an unworthy benchmark of success that allows them to become needlessly satisfied. To shed the least effective is to infuse a more competitive atmosphere among the survivors that aids the bottom line, plus the departed are a flashing signal to the survivors of their fate should they stop working hard.

Read more….

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Best of AdvisorOne: Top 5 Retirement Planning Articles

In case you missed them the first time around, or would like to review them at your leisure, these are the most widely read stories on AdvisorOne.com for the month of January that focused on where and how to find retirement income for clients:

Best of AdvisorOne: Retirement Income

The top stories in January on the latest trends and strategies for producing steady income in retirement.

Top Story #1:

Specific ERISA Fiduciary Standard Lacking: Don Trone

By Don Trone

On Jan. 22, 2011, the SEC officially released its long-awaited study on the appropriate standard of care for investment advisers and broker-dealers. But Don Trone wonders about ERISA and the fiduciary standard?

 

Top Story #2:

Tax Alert: IRA Direct Contributions to Charities for 2010

By Kathleen McBride, AdvisorOne

Donating up to $100,000 to charities from IRA accounts was an attractive option for certain investors in 2009, but the rule permitting such qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) expired at the end of 2009, leaving investors to wonder if they would be part of tax legislation in 2010, retroactively. IRA investors must take annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) once they reach 70-1/2 years of age.

Top Story #3:

Clients and the New Higher Deductibility Limits for LTC Insurance

By Rosanne Roge, R.W. Roge & Co. | The Gerontologist

The planning implications of the new IRS guidelines on long-term care insurance.

 

 

Top Story #4:

IRS Rules Renew Interest in Cash Balance Pension Plans

By John Sullivan, AdvisorOne

Uncertainty surrounding plans ‘virtually eliminated,’ says Towers Watson.

 

 

Top Story #5:

Video: Behavior in Retirement—The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Ugly

By John Sullivan, AdvisorOne

Author Susan Hirshman and advisor Michelle Smith tell Investment Advisor and AdvisorOne’s John Sullivan about the retirement red flags to watch out for—and how to handle them once they arise.

Companies with Buybacks: OVTI Edition

OmniVision (OVTI) designs and markets high-performance semiconductor image sensors. Its OmniPixel and CameraChip products are highly integrated single-chip CMOS image sensors for mass-market consumer and commercial applications such as mobile phones, notebooks and webcams, digital still and video cameras, security and surveillance systems, entertainment devices, automotive and medical imaging systems.

Balance sheet Omni has a pristine balance sheet. The main items are shown below:



As we see, Omni has enough cash to pay all liabilities and still have $1 per share in cash. If we use the current assets, then paying all liabilities it will have $8 per share. Omni has traded as low as $10.5 in the last three months and is currently trading at $13.73.

Valuation Omni has been a consistent cash generator.



Although not copious, the cash generation is there. The current market cap of $860 million (starting from $126 million free cash flow), the market is expecting a negative FCF growth worse than -8% at a 10% discount rate. Although, for a business of this predictability I will not put much into the DCF calculation.

Share dilution

• As of July 15, 2011, we had 345,408 shares available for grant in the 2007 Plan, 3,757,132 outstanding stock options with a weighted average exercise price of $19.3859 and weighted average remaining contractual term of 5.50 years and 2,507,869 outstanding full-value awards (e.g., RSUs). The 2007 Plan is our only currently active equity award plan.
• The executives received $3.8 million in RSU and 2.7 million in stock awards. The company had diluted nearly 2 million of stock each year since 2001. This is a burn rate of almost 4%. Even after such outrageous dilution the executives own less than 2.2% of stock as of the last proxy statement.

Omni��s stock is suffering from many problems. Some of them are listed below.

< li>Omni was the main camera maker for iPhone 3 and iPhone 4 and the market was expecting the same for iPhone 4s. But this now seems to be not the case. Sony has won this round.
• The other user of Omni��s cameras, HTC, has also forecasted a lower guidance for its sales. This will also hurt Omni��s top line.
• Omni lowered is third-quarter guidance to $212 million revenue to $217 million. Separately, towards the end of the second fiscal quarter, the company started to ship in very limited quantities the OV8830, the company's 8-megapixel OmniBSI-2 based product. The company sees third-quarter earnings of 5 to 17 cents per share and revenue of $160 to $180 million, versus consensus views calling for earnings of 26 cents per share and revenue of $201.4 million.

OmniVision has announced that its board of directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $100 million of the company's outstanding common stock, effective immediately. I have following to say about this buyback.

For a company with $800 million in market cap, it is sad that they have no other use of 100 million cash than to buy back shares. It can be argued that the current stock price values the company quite badly and hence a buyback is good use of capital. But with this buyback the company will not even be able to buy back the shares which it has diluted on compensation so far. The company's share count has gone from 44 million in 2002 to 60 million in trailing 12 months. If we look at the insider activity, they have been selling shares and getting stock awards. They have not bough any shares in the last year, even after the share price has taken a beating.

More troubling, Ominvision��s moat has been threatened (if it can be called a moat). Sony has already nicked the Apple contract. I would stay away from this stock unless it goes below $9 per share. It might get interesting then, but purely because it will have more than that in current assets minus liability.

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Don

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Holiday Discounts: 10 Retailers With High Profitability

According to a report from the Commerce Department, U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in November, bruising assurances of a strong shopping season. Some retailers were hit worse than others thanks to some heavy price slashing that cut into profit margins.

Best Buy is one such company who may have laid the discounts on a little too thick; the company's quarterly profits missed Wall Street Estimates prompting shares to drop 11% on the news.

November retail sales only grew by just 0.2%, missing economists' expectation of 0.6% growth.

Price slashing
CNBC reports retailers are seeing sales dry up halfway through the holiday sales period, according to a consumer survey completed Sunday.

To keep sales up, retailers may continue piling on the discounts. "The trend may force discounts as deep as 70 percent on coats and flat panel TVs as Christmas Eve approaches."

If heavy price cutting is the best tactic for sales, Reuters argues that it poses a "worrisome longer-term scenario for Best Buy and other brick-and-mortar chains with massive investments in infrastructure and major efforts to increase the service side of the business."

In that sense, brick-and-mortar chains face fierce competition from online retailers like Amazon.com who don't worry too much about infrastructure investments, or big discounters like Wal-Mart and Target that have a business model centered around low profit margin goods.

More last-minute discounts?
It may be hard to believe, but according to the America's Research Group/UBS Christmas Forecast Survey, 40% of consumers are completely done with their holiday shopping at this point.

"What's more, only half of consumers hit the malls this last weekend, meaning those that are left are sitting on their hands awaiting bigger mark-offs, the survey showed."

With less than 12 days left for Santa to begin his delivery route, do you think retailers! will gi ve in to consumers' demand for bigger discounts?

Investing ideas
To help you find retailers who might buck the low profit margin trend, we compiled a list of U.S. retail stocks and screened the names for high levels of profitability as determined by the DuPont analysis.

One of analysts' favorite profitability tools is DuPont analysis. It's a way to look at changes in return on equity (ROE) profitability [i.e., net income/equity] by attributing those changes to certain sources. Some of the sources are more sustainable than others, thereby giving an analysis of strength in increasing profitability.

DuPont analysis breaks up a company's ROE into three components: net margin, asset turnover, and leverage. Companies with increasing ROE along with increasing net margin, increasing asset turnover, and decreasing leverage are viewed favorably.

Do you think these retail companies are operating well? Use this list as a starting-off point for your own analysis. (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)

1. Macy's (NYSE: M  ) : Operates department stores and Internet websites in the United States. Market cap of $12.89B. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 2.37% from 0.18% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.26 from 0.26, while Assets/Equity decreased to 3.80 from 4.48.

2. Sally Beauty Holdings (NYSE: SBH  ) : Engages in the distribution and retail of professional beauty supplies. Market cap of $3.64B. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 6.49% from 5.62% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.48 from 0.47, while Assets/Equity decreased to -7.89 from -3.45.

3. Office Depot (NYSE: ODP  ) : Office Depot,, together with its subsidiaries, supplies office products and services. Market cap of $625.45M. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 3.56% from 1.42% year-o! ver-year , Sales/Assets increased to 0.68 from 0.62, while Assets/Equity decreased to 3.78 from 4.11.

4. The Men's Wearhouse (NYSE: MW  ) : Operates as a specialty retailer of men's suits in the United States and Canada. Market cap of $1.61B. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 6.82% from 4.59% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.40 from 0.39, while Assets/Equity decreased to 1.40 from 1.43.

5. hhgregg (NYSE: HGG  ) : Operates as a specialty retailer of consumer electronics, home appliances, and related services. Market cap of $563.01M. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 0.97% from 0.82% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.94 from 0.78, while Assets/Equity decreased to 2.27 from 2.28.

6. Tractor Supply Company (Nasdaq: TSCO  ) : Operates retail farm and ranch stores in the United States. Market cap of $5.17B. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 4.37% from 3.60% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.63 from 0.56, while Assets/Equity decreased to 1.65 from 1.67.

7. Vitamin Shoppe (NYSE: VSI  ) : Operates as a specialty retailer and direct marketer of nutritional products. Market cap of $1.07B. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 5.70% from 3.87% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.43 from 0.38, while Assets/Equity decreased to 1.41 from 1.75.

8. Columbia Sportswear (Nasdaq: COLM  ) : Engages in the design, development, sourcing, marketing, and distribution of outdoor apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. Market cap of $1.61B. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 11.92% from 10.36% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.42 from 0.38, while Assets/Equity decreased to 1.29 from ! 1.29.

9. Foot Locker (NYSE: FL  ) : Operates as a retailer of athletic footwear and apparel. Market cap of $3.67B. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 4.73% from 4.06% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.46 from 0.44, while Assets/Equity decreased to 1.45 from 1.47.

10. Quiksilver (NYSE: ZQK  ) : Designs, produces, and distributes branded apparel, footwear, accessories, and related products. Market cap of $488.87M. MRQ Net Profit Margin increased to 2.07% from 1.88% year-over-year, Sales/Assets increased to 0.29 from 0.26, while Assets/Equity decreased to 3.21 from 3.52.

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.

Kapitall's Rebecca owns shares of AMZN. ROE data sourced from Google Finance. All other data sourced from Finviz.

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Ron Paul, Master Investor?

Barron's Jim McTague recently wrote an article highlighting GOP presidential contender Ron Paul's investing strategy. Not surprisingly, the Texas Congressman has whipped the markets with his stock picks, which consist primarily of buying precious metals miners. The author of the Barron's piece, hilariously, contends that Paul follows a "stopped clock" investment strategy which "finally seems to be paying off." While he certainly is a long-term investor who rarely buys or sells, the idea that Paul's strategy is all of a sudden paying off is ridiculous.

The fact is that Representative Paul has predicted nearly all of the major economic developments in recent years, and as such, has killed the major market averages with his approach. Is Jim McTague aware that gold has been in a bull market for the last 10 years and that Ron Paul predicted the housing collapse, the plunging dollar, and most obviously, the rise of precious metals?

In his most recent financial disclosure, Paul had between $1.6 million to $3.5 million in gold mining stocks. He also had stakes in three bear market funds, which profit from declining stock prices. The GOP candidate has held positions in major gold miners such as Goldcorp (NYSE: GG), Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM), and Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) since 1994. He also owned significant stakes in silver miners such as Mag Silver (NYSE: MAG), Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS) and Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW).

According to the author, Paul's portfolio is "is a financial planner's nightmare," due to his heavy exposure to precious metals. What he forgets to mention, however, is that Paul's predictions have been prescient, and based on his track record, he would likely school just about any financial adviser on the economy and economic history. In fact, many citizens probably wish Paul had been their financial adviser for the last 10 years, during which the S&P 500 has lost around 1.50%, including nearly 10% over the last 5 years.

Peter Schiff, writing for th! eStreet. com, noted earlier this week, the misleading tone of McTague's article. Schiff wrote, "And while the reporter, Barron's Washington bureau chief Jim McTague, grudgingly recognized how these "stopped clock" investments had made strong gains over the last few years, he glaringly under-reported the long-term success and wisdom of the congressman's strategy."

According to Schiff, the average 10-year returns of the 8 stocks listed in Paul's top 10 holdings (the two other stocks do not have 10-year track records) are above 600% versus a loss for the S&P of 3% over the same time period.

Nice "stopped clock" strategy, right? In reality, it suggests that not only is Ron Paul an honest and principled politician with a rock solid knowledge of economic history and theory, but he is also a master investor with a track record that would make many of the Street's top hedge funds envious. Just don't expect Barron's to acknowledge it.

Sino Clean Energy moved 10.75% higher after Benzinga Pro reported the Chairman share purchase. Try Benzinga Pro for free now and don't miss out on profits like these!

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Comcast and Verizon to Stream Super Bowl for First Time Ever

NBC (NASDAQ:CMCSA) announces history-making?plans to stream?the Super Bowl online and to Verizon (NYSE:VZ) mobile phones.?The decision?is?another?major step?in the?gradual?shift of live content away from cable and satellite providers.

Here’s how shares of CMCSA and Verizon are trading on the news:

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA): CMCSA shares recently traded at $23.40, up $0.53, or 2.32%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $19.19 to $27.16. Volume today was 18,835,063 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 19,352,700 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 16.83, while trailing earnings are $1.39 per share. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ): VZ shares recently traded at $39.21, up $0.58, or 1.5%. They have traded in a 52-week range of $32.28 to $39.35. Volume today was 20,106,644 shares versus a 3-month average volume of 15,531,500 shares. The company’s trailing P/E is 15.77, while trailing earnings are $2.49 per share. Get the most recent company news and stock data here >>

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Life Protection Insurance Compare Premiums and Policies

There are many different types of life protection insurance policies to consider and which is best for you will depend on your circumstances. You will have to take many things into account when choosing which level of cover is the most suitable and bear in mind what it is you are looking to leave your family.

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to take out life protection insurance is to go for term life assurance. This is a popular affordable form of ensuring that your family would be able to manage financially without you. You would pay a premium each month for the cover and this would be paid over a certain amount of years. If you should expire during the term of the cover then your family would receive the lump sum that you insured against. However if you were to outlive the policy then the policy would simply end.

Of course when taking out life insurance you have to know how much you need to cover your life for. While of course factors such as whether you have dependents or a mortgage need to be taken into account you can come to a reasonable sum by going on your income. This is the amount you have coming into the home each month. You can take this sum and then multiply it by at least 10 times, in some cases you could consider boosting this up to as much as 25 times your salary. This would ensure that your loved ones would not be left struggling financially and would allow them to recover.

If you want to be assured that your loved ones would receive a lump sum upon your death guaranteed then you could consider whole of life assurance. This is a dearer type of life protection as your loved ones are guaranteed the sum that you insure against when you pass away. You would choose the amount you wished to insure against and then while you continued to pay the premium that sum is guaranteed.

As a general rule of thumb the premiums for life protection insurance will be set by many different factors. All insurance companies will take into account your age. ! The olde r you are then the dearer your life insurance will be as you are seen as a bigger risk. The insurance company will also take into account your health at the time of applying for the policy. You will also be assessed for your height and weight and this will be taken into account. Insurance will cost more for people who are classed as being overweight. If you have any existing medical complaints such as asthma then the premiums for the insurance will cost more especially if you are a smoker. With all policies you have to check the terms and conditions as this is where you will find the exclusions. The exclusions are what could stop you from claiming on a policy. When taking out a policy it is important that you are totally honest, while this might cost you more if you are found to lie on your policy then the insurance company would not pay out.

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1 Small Cap to Watch

Very few companies transform themselves in a short period of time like Samson Oil & Gas (AMEX: SSN  ) has over the past two years. In just that time frame, the company radically shifted its production mix and cleaned up its balance sheet, becoming a much different company.

Changing things up
Last year, Samson sold part of its DJ Basin Niobrara acreage to Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK  ) in a transaction valued at $3,150 per acre. This transaction strengthened the company's balance sheet, which included a net cash position of $54 million as of the latest quarter.

With a war chest built up, the company plans on developing its core projects, all of which target liquids. This transformation was actually visible as early as mid-2010. The company went from having 15% of total production being oil to 72% at the end of the most recent quarter. Now that it has successfully raised cash and de-emphasized natural gas, it must rapidly increase production so that it can fund drilling through its own cash flows.

Acreage breakdown
Samson's main producing asset is the North Stockyard Field, where the company has five producing wells with Bakken potential. So far, these five wells have achieved initial production rates of between 900 and 2,936 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or BOEPD. One additional well is waiting to be fracked, and the company expects to drill six additional wells, four in 2012 and two in 2013. These wells should provide reasonably strong results, since they're infill wells being drilled alongside its producing wells.

The next asset is the Roosevelt Project, located in Montana. The company has 26,000 net acres, good for 81 net drilling locations. While this acreage is considered by some as a fringe play, the company has high hopes and will be completing two initial wells in cooperation with Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) . There have been some decently producing wells in the area, so there's a reasonable chance the acreage is prospective.

To the east of Samson's acreage, Brigham Exploration, since acquired by Statoil (NYSE: STO  ) , has two nearby wells: Its Swindle No. 16-9 well had an initial production rate of 1,065 BOEPD and its Rogney No. 17-8 well had an IP of 909 BOEPD. To the south of Samson's Roosevelt Project, Continental Resources' (NYSE: CLR  ) Tolksdorf No. 1-1H well did 642 BOEPD of initial production and its Rognas No. 2-22H did 1,013 BOEPD.

Finally, there is Samson's Hawk Springs project, which contains more than 16,000 net acres of Niobrara and additional conventional oil targets located in the DJ Basin. Samson's direct neighbors here are Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN  ) . The company is in the process of exploring its prospects through two wells, the Defender No. 2-29H targeting the Niobrara and the Spirit of America No. 1-29 targeting the Permian/Pennsylvanian.

Looking forward
The company's latest capital spending plan showed $31.7 million in spending, $23.2 million of it allocated to drilling capital expenditures. The company expects to end the year with $32 million in cash, which means it'll draw down its cash by $22 million in just the fourth quarter alone.

The company certainly has been busy with its exploration and development projects, and they could not come on line soon enough. The company only produced about 375 BOEPD in the third quarter, so the current wells being drilled and completed should provide a welcome boost to its production and cash flow.

Foolish bottom line
It's nice to have a net cash position as a micro-cap energy company, but Samson's cash balance won't last forever -- it must ac! hieve su ccess on its exploration projects in order to ramp up its production. Most of its acreage appears to be prospective, but that doesn't quite guarantee the company's success. It'll be an interesting story to watch over the coming year.

If you're looking for more ideas, The Motley Fool has created a new special report titled "The Only Energy Stock You'll Ever Need," which you can download today, absolutely free.

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Is Crosstex Energy Earning Enough for You?

Margins matter. The more Crosstex Energy (Nasdaq: XTXI  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, comparisons to sector peers and competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Crosstex Energy's competitive position could be.

Here's the current margin snapshot for Crosstex Energy and some of its sector and industry peers and direct competitors.

Company	TTM Gross Margin	TTM Operating Margin	TTM Net Margin
Crosstex Energy	14.3%	3.8%	(0.3%)
Energy Transfer Equity (NYSE: ETE  )	26.7%	15.6%	3.8%
Inergy (NYSE: NRGY  )	31.5%	8.0%	0.8%
Atlas Energy (NYSE: ATLS  )	15.6%	4.2%	(0.6%)

Source: S&P Capital IQ. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Unfortunately, that table doesn't tell us much about where Crosstex Energy has been, or where it's going. A company with rising gross and operating margins often fuels its growth by increasing deman! d for it s products. If it sells more units while keeping costs in check, its profitability increases. Conversely, a company with gross margins that inch downward over time is often losing out to competition, and possibly engaging in a race to the bottom on prices. If it can't make up for this problem by cutting costs -- and most companies can't -- then both the business and its shares face a decidedly bleak outlook.

Of course, over the short term, the kind of economic shocks we recently experienced can drastically affect a company's profitability. That's why I like to look at five fiscal years' worth of margins, along with the results for the trailing 12 months, the last fiscal year, and last fiscal quarter. You can't always reach a hard conclusion about your company's health, but you can better understand what to expect, and what to watch.

Here's the margin picture for Crosstex Energy over the past few years.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Because of seasonality in some businesses, the numbers for the last period on the right -- the TTM figures -- aren't always comparable to the FY results preceding them. To compare quarterly margins to their prior-year levels, consult this chart.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

Here's how the stats break down:

• Over the past five years, gross margin peaked at 14.4% and averaged 9.2%. Operating margin peaked at 3.3% and averaged 1.3%. Net margin peaked at 1% and averaged 0.4%.
• TTM gross margin is 14.3%, 510 basis points better than the five-year average. TTM operating margin is 3.8%, ! 250 basi s points better than the five-year average. TTM net margin is -0.3%, 70 basis points worse than the five-year average.

With recent TTM operating margins exceeding historical averages, but net margins still negative, Crosstex Energy still has some work to do.

If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're probably ahead of 95% of the market's individual investors. To stay ahead, learn more about how I use analysis like this to help me uncover the best returns in the stock market. Got an opinion on the margins at Crosstex Energy? Let us know in the comments below.

• Add Crosstex Energy to My Watchlist.
• Add Energy Transfer Equity to My Watchlist.
• Add Inergy to My Watchlist.
• Add Atlas Energy to My Watchlist.

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Bank of America Denies Needing Capital, Then Raises Capital At 6% From Buffett

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has been telling all of Wall Street for weeks now that it does not need to raise capital. The market, on the other hand, was making it abundantly clear that it thought BAC definitely needed to raise capital. It was a showdown, and BAC shares kept plummeting despite the protestations of management with regard to the bank's liquidity situation.

Frankly, the problem that Bank of America's management has is that no one believes what they say, because of a track record of speaking less than accurately about the company's financial condition. On Thursday, BAC raised capital through a special deal with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett gave them $5 billion and in return he got preferred shares which will pay an annual dividend of 6%. Berkshire also is getting warrants to buy 700 million Bank of America shares at an exercise price of $7.14. The warrants may be exercised in whole or in part in the 10 years following the closing of the deal.

Essentially, Buffett got an unbelievably good deal. One that only he could engineer because of his status as the Oracle of Omaha. It is not as if he went out and bought the common stock. Instead he used BAC's vulnerability to strike a nice deal for Berkshire shareholders. A real vote of confidence would be if he had purchased common stock.

This deal appears to be little more than a ploy to stabilize the financial sector and hopefully the American economy, fundamentals be damned. It serves both Buffett and Bank of America, but it really doesn't change much. The $5 billion is a drop in the bucket for the Oracle's empire. Consider that Berkshire has a massive stake in Wells Fargo worth around $10 billion and positions in other financial stocks. It certainly was in Buffett's best interest to attempt to stabilize the plunging share price of BAC, and financials in general, particularly given the favorable terms he received.

This deal also allows Bank of America to save face, but only in a superficial way. Sure, on! the sur face, it appears to be a vote of confidence, but why is the bank giving Berkshire such favorable terms if it didn't need capital? Of course it needed the money. As of this writing, BAC shares are already more than 12% off of their highs for the session. It does not appear that the market is totally fooled by this Berkshire investment, which only Buffett could obtain.

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What Happens With North Korea Now?

Kim Jong-Il died this past weekend. North Korea's "Dear Leader" succumbed to great mental and physical strain, according to official government reports. Perhaps the effort of keeping up a vast curtain of lies finally got to him. North Koreans, meanwhile, will continue to believe that he was the perfect dictator, a demi-god on Earth, and had a better golf game than Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus put together.

A devastating dynasty
The North Korean poverty trope is well-worn in the media, but how often do you see the country directly compared to its more successful southern cousin?

?	North Korea	South Korea
Population	24,457,492	48,754,657
GDP	$40 billion	$1.459 trillion
GDP per Capita	$1,800	$30,000
Growth Rate	(0.9%)	6.1%
Annual Imports	$3.096 billion	$422.4 billion
Annual Exports	$1.997 billion	$464.3 billion
Government Budget	$3.3 billion	$222.2 billion
Electricity Consumption	18.9 billion kWh	402 billion kWh
Oil Imports	15,810 barrels/day	3.07 million barrels/day
Natural Gas Imports	None	43.6 billion cu. meters

Source: CIA World Factbook.

Any comp! arisons to East and West Germany underestimate the utter depths of North Korean poverty -- while reunification cost the two countries dearly, one estimate pegged East Germany's per capita GDP at $9,800 in 1984 dollars. While this apocryphal source probably exaggerated the truth, it just goes to show how far away North Korea is from modernity when compared to other woeful outposts of outdated ideologies.

The long-standing Kim policy of military-backed extortion worked out pretty well for the ruling party, though its haul has declined of late. Prior to the election of Lee Myung-bak to the South Korean presidency in 2007, the North successfully extorted some $2.2 billion in annual "protection" money from its neighbors in a sort of Sopranos-esque Mafia racket on a global scale. But by last year, the payoff was estimated to be closer to just $700 million a year. The money -- and its decline -- isn't much for the South, but a big deal in the devastated North, which has smirked and snarled its way to aid while simultaneously demonizing its industrialized patrons to the North Korean people for decades.

Potential outcomes
The situation in North Korea is far from a binary outcome. For one thing, Kim Jong-Un has been a public figure for a far shorter time than his father, who succeeded North Korean founder Kim Il-Sung after a promotional campaign that stretched on for two decades. Much of the established party leadership is getting old, and none (including Kim Jong-Un) have anywhere near the presence of the Dear Leader, whose face is plastered across much of the country.

Even with more preparation, transitioning from Kim Il-Sung to Kim Jong-Il back in 1994 didn't go all that smoothly, and it's hard to imagine such a heavily propagandized and isolated country immediately settling into a similar routine with an unknown master. Young Kim may feel the need to do more than rattle the military's saber at the South to endear himself to his people. If the transition goes poor! ly, any number of chaotic scenarios might play out. Using U.S. family businesses as an analogy, the odds are against the transition from a business standpoint -- only 13% of businesses maintain their success through a third generation of the same family.

South Korea is on alert, as is Japan. Russia and China, too, must keep an eye on North Korea's potential instability. Investors may want to avoid the iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund (NYSE: EWY  ) for the time being. An unexpected bombing (though probably unlikely) could be devastating for Seoul, which sits a rocket's launch away from the border. Any national reconciliation (though also unlikely) would, as with Germany, take years and bear immense reconstruction costs.

How you can play it
Political pessimists aren't likely to find much to invest in here -- with the possible exception of gold, via the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD  ) or a miner such as Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY  ) . Patiently optimistic investors might find opportunities in the chaos, particularly in energy companies that could take integral roles in any North Korean rebuilding and powering-up, to say nothing of those bringing greater connectivity to the masses.

The Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSE: RSX  ) is one way to play things, as it's well-stocked with Russian oil companies that could supply needed petro-power for any sort of regime. Korea Electric Power (NYSE: KEP  ) is a longer shot, contingent on much greater unity between the two nations. Based on the rapid adoption of mobile telephony in other developing nations, SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM  ) , the South's largest mobile carrier and a leader in technology adoption, would be! an idea l company to lead the mobile charge northwards.

Foolish final thoughts
Keep in mind that many things might happen in North Korea in the near future, and many more could take place before we know for sure how Kim Jong-Un's government will operate -- or if it even can. Don't let regional instability hinder your investing, but make sure to look at this situation with a critical eye before diving in or running away.

I remain a pragmatic idealist: I hope that this marks the beginning of a transition toward greater economic success and freedom for the North Koreans, but any such transition will take blood, sweat, tears, and gobs of money. Power rarely gives up its hold until its hand is forced.

Let me know your thoughts with a comment. If you'd rather find some companies that won't be thrown into chaos by regional conflict, we've got a new report for 2012 with 11 rock-solid dividend stocks that our analysts feel can hold up in any economy. Claim your free copy while they last.

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Baidu Sinks as Index Falls Most Since September: China Overnight

Chinese stocks trading in the U.S.posted the biggest weekly drop in three months as Baidu (BIDU) Inc. andYanzhou Coal Mining Co. (YZC) declined on concern the economicslowdown in the world��s second-largest economy is worsening.

The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index of the most-traded Chinesestocks lost 5.1 percent last week to 94.19 on Dec. 16, thebiggest five-day slump since September. Baidu, owner of thecountry��s biggest search engine, has slid 12.3 percent sinceDec. 9 after Credit Suisse AG cut its earnings estimates for thecompany. Yanzhou, China��s fourth largest coal producer, fell 9.6percent last week to $20.84, representing a 3-cent premium overthe shares trading in Hong Kong.

Speculation is growing that policy makers may cut lenders��reserve requirement ratio for a second time since November afterthe money supply grew the least in a decade last month andmanufacturing contracted in December. Fitch Ratings put creditratings for European nations, including France, Spain and Italy,under review for a downgrade, underscoring the need for China torevive domestic demand as Europe��s debt crisis hurts exports.

��They are probably slowing down a bit too much perhaps fortheir own taste, so they are easing monetary policy,�� Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development, said in an interview on BloombergTelevision. ��External demand around the world is dropping.China is going to have to do more�� to boost domestic demand, hesaid.

Jobs, Inflation

A survey of China��s business confidence is scheduled forrelease on Dec. 22. In Hong Kong, the government is slated torelease unemployment and inflation reports this week.

The Shanghai Composite Index of domestic shares fell 3.9percent last week and reached the lowest close since March 2009.The index rose 2 percent on Dec. 16 amid the speculation centralbankers will lower reserve requirements.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI), which tracks Chinesecompanies tr! ading in Hong Kong, fell 2 percent last week whilethe Standard & Poor��s 500 Index of U.S. shares lost 2.8 percent.The IShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (FXI), the biggest Chineseexchange-traded fund in the U.S., tumbled 4.9 percent to $34.53.

21Vianet Group Inc., an Internet data center servicesprovider, jumped 9.7 percent on Dec. 16 to $9.58. The companysaid that it has exercised its option to acquire the remaining49 percent equity interest in two companies that provide managednetwork services.

Sina Corp, owner of the Twitter-like Weibo service in China,advanced 4.3 percent on Dec. 16 after earlier falling as much as11 percent on a move by Beijing��s municipal government totighten regulation on microblog users.

Internet Rules

The new rules ban users from setting up accounts withaliases and sending public messages containing state secrets orinformation that could harm national security. Sina said in astatement that it��s ��evaluating the impact�� the changes mayhave on the Weibo operation.

Chinese officials have pressured microblog services tostrengthen supervision after a fatal rail crash in July sparkedan outburst of criticism of the government on the Internet.Microblogs, which are used to publish short messages on theInternet, have at least 300 million registered users in China.Sina��s Weibo accounted for 66 percent of the market in August,according to a Sept. 15 report by BOCOM International.

The news isn��t the ��worst case scenario�� for Sina asinvestors had already anticipated the tightening of governmentregulations, according to Adam Krejcik, an analyst at RothCapital Partners.

Tencent, Sohu

��Following months of speculation, we believe Sina��smanagement is relatively prepared and also believe the actualreporting of this news, versus numerous rumors, is better forthe market,�� Krejcik wrote in a note to clients. ��We do notbelieve this signals the end of Weibo in China.��

Sina��s shares lost 11 percent last week, extending itsdecline ! this yea r to 20 percent.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), based in Shenzhen, is the second-biggest operator of microblogs with a 25 percent share,according to BOCOM International. Beijing-based Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU),owner of the country��s fifth-most visited website, also offerssimilar services. Tencent rose 0.9 percent on Dec. 16 to $19.33in New York, trimming its weekly decline to 0.7 percent. Sohuadded 3.9 percent to $48.18, reducing the drop for the week to8.1 percent.

Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) rose 3.7 percent on Dec. 16after the semiconductor company said it will buy back up to $50million in shares.

FDI Decline

Youku.com Inc., (YOKU) China��s biggest online-video website,gained 5.1 percent on Dec. 16 to $18.05. The company filed acopyright infringement lawsuit against rival Tudou Holdings Ltd.at the People��s Court in Shanghai, Youku said in an e-mailedstatement. Tudou declined 1.2 percent to $11.12.

Baidu fell to a two-month low after Credit Suisse cut itsearnings estimates for the company on Dec. 13, citing lowerprices the company charged advertisers on search results.

China��s domestic bourse has lost 21 percent this year,following a 14 percent decline in 2010, as policy makers raisedborrowing costs to combat inflation and took measures to curbhousing price increases. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) is tradingat 10.7 times forecast earnings in the next 12 months, comparedwith 13.4 in India, 4.8 in Russia and 10 in Brazil.

Reports last week show that the slowdown in the world��ssecond-biggest economy is deepening. Foreign direct investmentdropped for the first time since 2009. The Conference Board��sleading index for China, which captures prospects over the nextsix months, fell in October.

Yuan Gains

The central bank reduced reserve requirements for lenderson Nov. 30 for the first time since 2008 to temper the slowdown.The central bank will cut reserve requirements once more thisyear and five times in 2012, Li Wei and Stephen! Green,e conomists at Standard Chartered Plc., wrote in a note toclients this week.

The Chinese yuan gained 0.4 percent on Dec. 16 to 6.3484per dollar in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign ExchangeTrade System.

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U.S. Hot Stock Alerts: $VTPI.OB, $RELM.PK, $GSPT.OB, $RNWF.PK, $ZANE

PINK: RELM – RELM HOLDINGS INC - Lots of volume today. Keep this stock on your watch list for the rest of the week.

OTC:VTPI VITAL PRODUCTS, INC.- Another volume play that saw a lot of profit taking in the last hour of trading. It could be safe to say the sellers have left the building. Time for a swift move higher. It’s time to buy!

OTC:GSPT Golden Spirit Enterprises Ltd.- Could be a great play with increased volume.

NASDAQ: ZANE Zanett Inc.- The investor attention is back, watch for new highs in this stock.

PINK:RNWF Renewal Fuels, Inc. - Lots of profit takers who probably moved on to the next play. This stock is ready to break the .003 resistance.

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XLNX Cuts Outlook; Cisco, Europe To Blame, Says Piper

Shares of Xilinx (XLNX) are down 5 cents at $31.16 after the company this morning cut its outlook for this quarter, citing “a decline in large customer business in the Communications end market.”

Xilinx now expects sales to drop 9% to 12% this quarter from last quarter’s level, versus a prior view for sales to be down 3% to 8%. However, the company also said its gross profit margin will be higher than previously expected at 65% versus 64% previously.

In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray chip analyst Gus Richard observes communications gear accounts for upwards of 45% to 50% of Xilinx’s chip sales.

“We believe this is Cisco Systems (CSCO) and European wireless infrastructure suppliers,” writes Richard.

We understand that European customers have been de stocking. There may also be some weakness from Chinese communication suppliers, but we do not believe that XLNX has as high an exposure as ALTR to the Chinese customers. We do see some evidence that the wireless demand will improve in the March quarter.

Morgan Stanley’s Ehud Gelblum wrote this morning that communications equipment makers are suffering from a slowdown in carrier capital spending.

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Are Investors Taking Advantage of Lower Gold Prices?

Last week, gold futures climbed 1.3 percent on Friday, but still posted a 6.9 percent loss for the week.? It was the biggest decline for gold in three months.? Some were quick to announce the gold bull market dead, but many investors disagree.? Furthermore, actual demand for physical precious metals continue to show strength.

In a recent Bloomberg survey, only 10 of 21 traders expect gold prices to rise this week, which represents the lowest proportion since July.? ��Bears are in the driver seat,�� said Miguel Perez-Santalla, vice president of sales at Heraeus Precious Metals Management LLC in New York.? However, this does not mean the fundamentals have changed, or the decade long bull market is dead.? Perez-Santalla goes on to explain, ��The problems in Europe have not been solved and buying will come back and we will see higher prices because of a lack of confidence in the financial system.��

Investor Insights: Will Moving Average Deter Gold Investors?

As the chart below shows, there is significant support for gold between $1,500 and $1,600 per ounce as investors step in to take advantage of lower gold prices.? More importantly, gold��s multi-year upward channel is still intact.? A similar channel can also be found in silver.

Many investors viewed the pullback in precious metals last week as a another buying opportunity in the gold bull market.? Gerhard Schubert, Head of Precious Metals at Dubai-based Emirates NBD explained, ��I was resigned to the fact that the physical buying in our market had finished for the year, and then came Thursday, December 15.? We saw excellent buying from customers which reminded us very strongly of the heydays in August and September.��

The pullback seen last week was not exclusive to gold and silver.? Commodities across the board declined the most in nearly three months as the euro hit its lowest level since January.? Looking at the options market for gold, it appears that investors are betting on the gold bull market to continue.? ! The most widely held option gives owners the right to purchase gold at $2,000 by March.? ��The fundamentals remain positive,�� said Adrian Day, the president of Adrian Day Asset Management in Maryland. ��Both the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve remain easy. After this cleansing, gold will move up again.��

Recently, the House passed a $1 trillion budget bill paying for day-to-day operations of the U.S. government and avoiding a partial government shutdown.? Overseas, EU finance ministers are seeking an additional 200 billion euros in IMF crisis funds in order to deal with the euro zone debt crisis.? These latest developments should serve as a firm reminder to investors that the global debt and spending problem is not going away.? In a world of fiat currencies, precious metals are still the best hedge.

If you would like to receive more professional analysis on equity miners and other precious metal investments,?we invite you to try our premium service free for 14 days.

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Expect More Layoffs In Finance Next Year

There was some good news for the U.S. jobs market this morning but for employees on Wall Street it looks like 2012 will be another year of job cuts.

U.S.-based chief financials officers are planning to grow their respective workforces by 1.5% next year which could help lower the unemployment rate to 8%? at the end of 2012 from the current 9%,according to a quarterly survey from Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business.

On the flip side, CFOs at financial firms expect modest workforce reductions next year, according to the survey. The same goes for CFOs of media companies.

There have already been many of those job cuts announcements from financial firms across the globe. Most recently Morgan Stanley said it would be cutting 1,600 jobs in the first quarter of 2012. Bank of America has plans to cut about 30,000 jobs by the end of 2012. Citi recently confirmed plans to kill off 4,500 jobs.

The good news is that there is a bit more optimism among U.S. based CFOs according to the survey which polled 1,050 CFOs from a broad range of public and private companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The U.S. CFO optimism index increased to 53 this quarter from 49 last quarter (based on a scale of 100).

The bad news is that they believe there is a 31% chance the U.S. economy will enter recession in the next six months. Those CFOs with a contingency plan (54%) say they’d slash their workforce by 8% and cut spending by 30% if a recession did indeed occur.

Meanwhile in Europe the debt problems are weighing on CFOs minds and books. Not surprisingly, the survey finds that many European CFOs believe their countries will soon enter recession or are already in a recession.

According to survey,? of the 90% of European CFOs who say the European debt crisis is negatively affecting their businesses, 45% describe the negative effect as significant. Meanwhile, half of European firms say it has become more difficult to borrow in the ! past yea r, and only 7% say it has gotten easier.

It seems 2012 will only become more strenuous as far as the Euro debt crisis goes. Fitch ratings said today it is considering downgrading Italy, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and Cyprus by one or two notches. The ratings agency revised its outlook on France to negative from stable but it affirmed its AAA rating.

Over in Asia CFOs are more optomistic than their European and U.S. counterparts but even their outlook has dimmed somewhat. According to the survey results, 50% of Asian firms say it’s become more difficult to borrow money in the past year while 75% say the Euro debt crisis is negatively affecting their business.

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