15 Oil and Gas Stocks to Sell Now

Popular Posts: 13 “Triple A” Stocks to BuyHottest Energy Stocks Now – HK QEP CLMT SDRL9 Oil and Gas Stocks to Buy Now Recent Posts: Hottest Financial Stocks Now – ENV IBOC PHH UMBF Biggest Movers in Technology Stocks Now – CRAY TYPE ININ TSRA Biggest Movers in Healthcare Stocks Now – IMGN PBYI AUXL SRPT View All Posts

This week, the ratings of 15 oil and gas stocks on Portfolio Grader are down. Each of these rates a “D” (“sell”) or “F” overall (“strong sell”).

Crescent Point Energy Corp. () ratings are on the decline this week as the company earns an F (“strong sell”). Last week, it received a D (“sell”). In Portfolio Grader’s specific subcategories of Earnings Revisions, Earnings Surprise, Cash Flow and Margin Growth, CPG also gets F’s. The stock has a trailing PE Ratio of 109.90. .

Golar LNG Partners’ () rating falls to a D (“sell”) this week, down from C (“hold”) the week prior. Golar LNG Partners owns floating storage and regasification units and liquefied natural gas carriers. .

The rating of Kinder Morgan, Inc. Class P () declines this week from a D to an F. Kinder Morgan is a pipeline transportation and energy storage company. The stock currently has a trailing PE Ratio of 28.40. .

This is a rough week for Cosan Limited Class A (). The company’s rating falls to F from the previous week’s D. Cosan is a fully integrated company in the renewable energy and infrastructure segments in Brazil. The stock gets F’s in Cash Flow and Margin Growth. The trailing PE Ratio for the stock is 40.00. .

Slipping from a C to a D rating, Goodrich Petroleum Corporation () takes a hit this week. Goodrich Petroleum explores, develops, produces and acquires oil and natural gas properties. The stock receives F’s in Earnings Growth, Earnings Revisions, Equity and Cash Flow. As of May 9, 2014, 39.1% of outstanding Goodrich Petroleum Corporation shares were held short. .

This week, EXCO Resources, Inc. () drops from a D to an F rating. EXCO Resources is an oil and natural gas company involved in the exploration, exploitation, development and production of onshore North American oil and natural gas properties. The stock gets F’s in Earnings Surprise, Equity and Cash Flow. The stock price has fallen 11.3% over the past month, worse than the 1.7% decrease the S&P 500 has seen over the same period of time. As of May 9, 2014, 13.5% of outstanding EXCO Resources, Inc. shares were held short. .

Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. () earns an F this week, moving down from last week’s grade of D. Calumet Specialty Products produces hydrocarbon products in North America. The stock receives F’s in Earnings Growth, Earnings Momentum and Earnings Revisions. Cash Flow and Margin Growth also get F’s. Shares of the stock have been changing hands at an unusually rapid pace, three times the rate of the week prior. .

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. () gets weaker ratings this week as last week’s C drops to a D. Plains All American Pipeline is involved in interstate and intrastate crude oil pipeline transportation and crude oil terminalling storage activities. Shares of the stock have been trading at an exceptionally rapid pace, up twofold from the week prior. .

The rating of TransCanada Corporation () slips from a D to an F. TransCanada develops and operates energy infrastructures, including natural gas pipelines. The stock has a trailing PE Ratio of 29.80. .

Enbridge () experiences a ratings drop this week, going from last week’s D to an F. Enbridge is in the business of transportation and distribution of crude oil and natural gas primarily in Canada and the United States. The stock gets F’s in Earnings Growth, Earnings Momentum and Cash Flow. The stock’s trailing PE Ratio is 87.20. .

StealthGas () is having a tough week. The company’s rating falls from a C to a D. StealthGas offers marine transport services for liquefied petroleum gas producers and users. The stock gets F’s in Earnings Growth, Earnings Revisions, Earnings Surprise and Cash Flow. .

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. Sponsored ADR’s () rating weakens this week, dropping to an F versus last week’s D. Ultrapar Participacoes is engaged in the fuel distribution and chemical businesses in Brazil. .

This week, Gevo’s () rating worsens to an F from the company’s D rating a week ago. Gevo operates as a technology development company for biobutanol. The stock gets F’s in Equity, Cash Flow and Sales Growth. As of May 9, 2014, 11.1% of outstanding Gevo shares were held short. Shares of the stock have been changing hands at an unusually rapid pace, four times the rate of the week prior. .

PDC Energy () earns a D this week, falling from last week’s grade of C. PDC Energy is an oil and gas company with drilling and production operations in the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachian Basin and Michigan. The stock gets F’s in Earnings Revisions and Cash Flow. As of May 9, 2014, 12.1% of outstanding PDC Energy shares were held short. .

The rating of Chevron Corporation () slips from a D to an F. Chevron is an integrated energy company with operations in countries located around the world. .

Louis Navellier’s proprietary Portfolio Grader stock ranking system assesses roughly 5,000 companies every week based on a number of fundamental and quantitative measures. Stocks are given a letter grade based on their results — with A being “strong buy,” and F being “strong sell.” Explore the tool here.

Friday’s Analyst Moves: Apple Inc., Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Southwest Gas Corporation, More (AAPL, OXY, SWX, More)

Before Friday’s opening bell, a number of big name dividend stocks were the subject of analyst moves. Below, we highlight the important analyst commentary for investors.

ISI Group Downgrades Apple

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has been cut from “Strong Buy” to “Buy” at ISI Group on a valuation call, based on the firm’s $675 price target. AAPL has a dividend yield of 2.24%.

Covanta Upgraded to “Overweight”

Covanta Holding Corp (CVA) has been upgraded to “Overweight” at Barclays due to the EU’s rejection of the challenges of CVA’s waste project. The firm has a $22 price target on CVA, suggesting a 16% upside from the stock’s current price of $18.85. CVA has a dividend yield of 3.82%.

Citi Upgrades Occidental Petroleum

Citigroup has raised its rating on Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) from “Neutral” to “Buy” and has given the company a $111 price target. This price target suggests a 16% increase from the stock’s current price of $95.19. OXY has a dividend yield of 3.03%.

RenaissanceRe Cut to “Neutral” on Valuation

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR)

Oil Majors: Exxon, Yes; Chevron, No

The rally in energy stocks has lifted ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) almost equally during the past three months. Argus Research, however, is only downgrading one.

Reuters

Argus analyst Michael Burke explains why he downgraded Chevron:

We are lowering our rating on Chevron Corp. to HOLD from BUY as the stock has approached our $130 price target. [Chevron] shares have performed well over the last three months, with a total return of 16%, compared to a 5% gain for the S&P 500. We believe that the stock is trading near fair value following this run-up and see few positive catalysts in the near term. Although Chevron has several promising new projects, we do not expect them to contribute meaningfully to production until 4Q14. We also note that the increased capital spending has led to higher debt and significantly lower free cash flow. In 1Q14, trailing 12-month free cash flow came in at negative $484 million, down from positive $2.9 billion a year earlier and well below the all-time high of $14.6 billion in 2011.

Burke is feeling a little more optimistic about ExxonMobil, however. He explains why:

We are maintaining our BUY rating on Exxon Mobil Corp. and boosting our target price to $114 from $104. Our higher target reflects our positive view of management's planned reduction in capital spending, which should boost free cash flow going forward. We also like the company's plan to increase profitability in the upstream segment by focusing on higher-margin production and by increasing the percentage of production from liquids from a current 52% to 69% by the end of 2017.

We note that Exxon's plan to curtail capital spending in the coming years contrasts with that of rival Chevron, which continues to spend heavily on new projects. As a result, Chevron has struggled to generate free cash flow over the last 12 months.

In our view, Exxon will remain the global energy leader, with superior returns on invested capital. We also believe that the company's exceptionally strong financial position, as indicated by its AAA credit ratings, will enable it to return excess cash to shareholders. In short, we believe that [ExxonMobil] will put capital to work in the most productive manner possible, and that it will return undeployed capital to investors through dividends and buybacks

Despite the differing opinions, shares of Exxon and Chevron have dropped almost equally today. Shares of Chevron have fallen 0.6% to $125.42 at 11:53 a.m., while ExxonMobil has dropped 0.5% to $102.56.

Defensive Sectors Are No Help In Market Downturns

Wall Street's advice on how to prepare for possible market corrections has always been the same. No matter what happens to the economy people will still have to eat, drink, and take their medicines. So consumer staples, food, beverage, healthcare, and drug companies will do well even in economic and market downturns.

Also on the list are large solid companies with stable earnings, particularly those like utilities that pay solid dividends that should offset declines in their stock prices.

As one prominent brokerage firm posts on its website, "Defensive stocks represent necessary items, like food, gas and medicine, and tend to change very little with the economic cycle because consumers are likely to continue buying them even in tough economic times."

Defensive stocks currently recommended by Wall Street firms include the usual; Proctor & Gamble (PG), Kellogg (K), Coca Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), WalMart (WMT), McDonald's (MCD), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Amgen (AMGN), Pfizer (PFE), and utilities companies.

However, investors need to be aware that while consumers will indeed have to continue to eat, drink, and take their medicines, and therefore continue to buy the products of those companies, in a market decline investors do not have to continue to value the earnings of those companies as highly as during an exciting bull market. Furthermore, they do not.

In the enthusiasm of a bull market investors may be willing to pay 20 times earnings for a stock, while in the throes of a serious market decline they will perhaps pay only 12 times earnings for the same stock. Thus, although a company's earnings may continue to grow, even 'defensive' sector companies see their stocks decline in value in a market correction.

For instance, in the 2000-2002 bear market, the recommended 'defensive' stocks included Alcoa, Bristol Myer Squibb, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Disney, DuPont, Fannie Mae, General Electric, Home Depot, IBM, Merck, and WalMart. They plunged an average of 59% to their lows, worse than the Dow's decline of 38% and the S&P 500 decline of 49%.

The utility sector was also highly recommended as portfolio protection, since utilities are noted for paying high dividends. However, the DJ Utilities Average plunged 60% in the 2000-2002 bear market, more than the S&P 500's 49% decline.

In the 2007-2009 bear market, using ETFs as a proxy for the 'defensive' sectors, while the S&P 500 lost 50% of its value, the HLDRS Pharmaceuticals etf (PPH) declined 43%, the Van Guard Healthcare etf (VHT) plunged 42%, and the SPDR Consumer Staples etf (XLP), fell 35%. Meanwhile, the dividend-paying DJ Utilities Index plunged 48%.

Those were severe bear markets. How do 'defensive' sectors perform in less severe 10% to 15% corrections? Let's look at their performance in the last one, the summer correction in 2011.

The Dow declined 16% in that correction. The Van Guard Healthcare etf (VHT) declined 17%. The HLDRS Pharmaceuticals etf (PPH) declined 14%. The SPDR Consumer Staples etf (XLP) fell 10%. Meanwhile, the DJ Utilities Avg declined 13%.

History seems to show that repositioning a portfolio into so-called defensive sector holdings when risk rises of a market correction does not provide much, if any, protection.

Is there a better approach?

Moving to higher cash levels to avoid losses would seem to be one.

However, to borrow a phrase from sports, perhaps the best defense is a good offense.

Inverse ETFs are not merely defensive, but produce significant profits in market declines.

Gilead Sciences: Big Buyback ‘Good Use’ of Sovaldi Windfall

Who’d have thunk it? After lagging for much of the year, Gilead Sciences (GILD) is now outperforming the other big biotech stocks like Amgen (AMGN) and Biogen Idec (BIIB).

Bloomberg

Shares of Gilead have gained 6.4% this year, while Amgen has dropped 0.8% and Biogen Idec has risen 3.6%. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) has advanced 1.4% so far this year.

Gilead Sciences big earnings beat has certainly helped, as well as the fact that it lagged earlier this year. Sovaldi, too, looks like the blockbuster everyone expected. And now, Gilead has announced that it’s buying back even more shares. Barclays analyst Ying Huang and team call Gilead’s buyback “a good use of the cash flow generated by Sovaldi.” They explain:

[Gilead]  announced that its Board approved the repurchase of up to $5bn of the company's common stock. This new share repurchase program will expire 3 years after the completion of the current repurchase program…In January 2011 the [Gilead] Board approved the repurchase of $5bn in shares, which has ~$2.9bn left and is expected to be completed by September 2014…However, we expect [Gilead] to accelerate the share repurchase given the recent share weakness and the apparent lack of opportunities in the business development front…In light of the strength of [Gilead's] HIV and HCV franchises, we expect the company to further increase its share buyback at some point in the future.

Shares of Gilead Sciences have gained 1.3% to $79.82 at 11:24 a.m., while Amgen has risen 0.4% to $113.17, Biogen Idec has advanced 1.8% to $289.19 and the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF is up 1.2% at $230.10.

Top 10 Biggest Investment Failures Ever

Ann Summa/Time Life Pictures/Getty ImagesThe Pets.com sock puppet has become synonymous with the dot-com bust. As an investor, you need to be smart about where you're putting your money to work. Investing your hard-earned cash in companies that won't use it well -- or in products that haven't proven themselves -- can quickly come around to bite you. Case in point? These 10 famous examples of investment gone horribly wrong: 1. DeLorean Motor Marty McFly's time-traveling adventures weren't the only juicy story featuring the futuristic DeLorean. The inventor of the car with cool side-opening doors from "Back to the Future was caught on tape during an FBI sting declaring the suitcase of cocaine he planned to sell was as "good as gold." The cocaine, worth $24 million, was John DeLorean's last-ditch attempt to save his floundering company from financial ruin. This (combined with charges of defrauding his partners) lost all trust he had with investors. The firm filed for bankruptcy in 1982. (An unrelated company using the same name services the 9,000 cars made.) 2. The Dutch Tulip Craze In the 1630s, the Dutch were flying high on the flowers recently introduced from Turkey. Tulip bulbs became a highly sought-after commodity, with one bulb going for the equivalent of an entire estate. Many investors got so excited that they sold everything they had to get in on the deal. But, like any craze, tulip mania came to an end. As more people started to grow tulips and prices began to lower, investors raced to sell, resulting in an economic depression that still serves as a warning today. 3. Charles Ponzi The famous swindler, whose name is now synonymous with scams, did his dirty dealings back in the 1920s. Cashing in on people's desire to get rich quick, Charles Ponzi wasn't the first to run a pyramid scheme, but he was the first to get so good at it people took notice. His racket involved enticing investors to buy discounted foreign postal reply coupons, which they could redeem at face value for U.S. postage stamps. Using money from new investors to pay existing investors, Ponzi pocketed millions for himself before the whole thing collapsed, costing investors around $20 million. 4. Bernie Madoff Speaking of Ponzi schemes, former Wall Street stockbroker Bernie Madoff was behind one of the biggest in U.S. history. For decades, his investment firm defrauded its clients, fudged the numbers and cost an estimated $20 billion to investors. Pleading guilty to 11 federal felonies -- including securities fraud, investment fraud and money laundering -- Madoff is the prime example of investing gone horribly wrong. 5. Washington Mutual The biggest bank failure in history, according to assets, Washington Mutual won its spot in the list of infamy when it went out of business and was purchased by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) in 2008. Once the sixth-largest bank in America, it fell the furthest during the subprime lending fiasco, resulting in its seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and bankruptcy. Total lost assets? Around $300 billion. 6. Enron Energy, commodities and services company Enron seemed to be on top of the world. With (claimed) revenue in the hundreds of billions, it was consistently named "America's most innovative company" by Fortuneuntil it came to light that its success was based on fraudulent reporting. It hid massive debts from its balance sheets. Now one of the best-known examples of corporate fraud, greed and corruption, Enron lost its shareholders their retirement accounts, their jobs and $74 billion. ​7. Lehman Brothers Global financial services firm Lehman Brothers is another example of shaky reporting (to put it kindly). It hid more than $50 billion in toxic assets in the Cayman Islands from its balance sheets by disguising them as sales, making them look instead like $50 billion in cash. When the subprime mortgage crisis hit in 2007, Lehman Brothers was forced into bankruptcy and acquired by Barclays (BCS) and Nomura Holdings (NMR). 8. Premier Smokeless Cigarettes Long before today's e-cigarette trend, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco (RAI) attempted to eliminate some nasty side effects of smoking with its Premier smokeless cigarette. This "nicotine delivery device," made to look like a cigarette, flopped when it was found to have a horrible charcoal aftertaste and to be a convenient method of delivering substances other than nicotine to smokers. Less than a year after its 1988 release, it was pulled from the market -- after costing nearly $1 billion to develop. 9. Pets.com It had an adorable sock spokes-puppet and a ton of high-profile commercials, but Pets.com didn't manage to cash in on the dot-com bubble. The online pet supplies retailer rapidly gained attention with spots on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Super Bowl, but with no solid market to purchase the products it advertised, it quickly found itself losing money. In spite of $300 million in investment capital (largely spent on advertising), it failed after two years. 10. WorldCom Once the second-biggest long distance phone company in the U.S., WorldCom (also known as MCI WorldCom) was once seen as one of the great telecom success stories of the '90s. But when it tried to continue its growth-by-merger strategy by joining with Sprint (S), it was blocked by regulators as an attempt at monopolization. When it came to light that CEO Bernie Ebbers was financing his other businesses with personal loans from his WorldCom stock (to the tune of $360 million), things unraveled further. WorldCom filed for bankruptcy in 2002, resulting in an $11 billion loss to investors. ​

Effective Asset Allocation: For your Financial Wellness!

Our health requires proper mix of  various food items to get us balanced doses of  protein, vitamin, iron and other minerals in the body to remain physically fit  and helping us fight health related risks.  Same holds good for our  financial wellness too, we need to diversify our money into various  instruments by taking into perspective our  risk taking ability, to enable us maximize returns thus wading the risk of sacrificing our  financial health.

Studies have shown that proper asset allocation is more important to long-term returns than specific investment choices. But since guessing which asset category will do best at a certain point of time is very difficult, thus it makes sense to divide your investments among various asset categories. But right understanding of this strategy holds the  key to investment success.

Here I will comprehend Asset Allocation for all you investors.

Asset allocation means diversifying your money in various asset classes. The goal is to help reduce risk and enhance returns. Establishing a well-diversified portfolio may allow you to avoid the risks associated with putting all your eggs in one basket.

 Important variables affecting  your Asset Allocation:
 
1. Prioritizing  goals:

Prioritization makes it  imperative that you have clearly earmarked goals.  Time management teaches that you should prioritize your goals / objectives which will help you to analyze that you are working upon important goals instead of getting caught into minor things. This will make sure that your money is parked  for significant purpose.

2. Risk Tolerance:

Risk tolerance depends on your age, income and financial goals. For instance, the risk which can be taken by a 30 year old cannot be taken by a person who is on the verge of retirement. As a 30 year old person generally has a longer time frame to make up for any losses he / she may incur on his / her portfolio.

3. Duration of goals:

Time Horizon is another crucial factor, which one should look at. Knowing that  time horizon is extremely important when it comes to choosing the type of investments you want to make and  asset allocation you want to do. As you need to take proper medicine for a particular  duration to  recover fast, similarly you need to fix  the time horizon  for a particular goal, so that you are able to build the  desired corpus  for that  goal in the stipulated time frame.  When you have longer time horizon, you can have aggressive asset allocation with more exposure to equity, but if time period is short then you cannot afford to do so.

I am sure that after keeping these aspects in mind you can have balanced  asset allocation.  But that�s no all, we still have one important thing to take into account, namely, Inflation. While doing all this exercise to grow our fund with best asset allocation by taking into account above mentioned all three variables, we should also consider inflation for the same. So that optimum growth of your corpus may is not in doldrums.
         
Returns also depend on your Asset Allocation:

For  tenure of Investment - 10 - years and above:

Assets	Allocation	Underlying Returns	Weighted Average Return
Debt & Equivalents	30%	8.00%	2.40%
Equity & Equivalents	70%	15.00%	10.50%
Gold Fund	0%	8.00%	0.00%
Total	100%		12.90%

Keeping other things same if allocation changes:

Assets	Allocation	Underlying Returns	Weighted Average Return
Debt & Equivalents	30%	8.00%	2.40%
Equity & Equivalents	50%	15.00%	7.50%
Gold Fund	20%	8.00%	1.60%
Total	100%		11.50%

Looking at above example we can understand the importance of smart asset allocation to maximize the returns. But there is a twist in the story.

The  allocation depends on the category of your portfolio, classified as:

Aggressive portfolio: This portfolio suggests that maximum portion is invested into equity say  70%,  20% into debt instrument and 10% into gold. Mostly this portfolio is recommended in case of longer time horizon.

Moderate portfolio: This portfolio implies that equity portion is 60%, debt portion is  25% and 15 % is  gold. This portfolio would seek to provide regular income with moderate protection against inflation.

Conservative portfolio: This portfolio entails that equity portion is 30%, debt Instruments 60% and 10 % is  gold. This portfolio appeals to people who are risk averse.

The question remains, how to select the category?  So to answer that, as one joins the gym for physical fitness, same way  it is advisable to opt proper guidance from Certified Financial Planner who is an expert and knowledgeable enough to help you to maintain  sound financial health.

ApnaPaisa is India's leading price comparison site for financial products such as loans, credit cards and insurance plans . Author can be reached at www.facebook.com/apnapaisa

CBS shares take a dive after earnings

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- CBS Corp. (CBS.A) reported late Thursday a first-quarter net profit of $468 million, or 78 cents a diluted share, compared with $463 million, or 73 cents a diluted share, for the same prior-year period. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected first-quarter earnings of 75 cents a share on net income of $446 million. Revenues were $3.86 billion, compared with $4.04 billion in the first quarter of 2013 and expectations of $3.92 billion. Content licensing and distribution revenues grew 6%, thanks to higher international licensing of television programming, the company said. Affiliate and subscription fee revenues rose 9%, led by higher cable affiliate fees, retransmission revenues, and fees from CBS Television Network-affiliated television stations, it added. Shares of CBS were down 2.6% to $56.51 in after-hours trading.

Mortgage Debt Threatening Retirees’ Security: CFPB

The median amount older homeowners owed on mortgages jumped 82% from 2001 to 2011, increasing from approximately $43,400 to $79,000, which is jeopardizing retirees’ financial security, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In a Wednesday report, "Snapshot of Older Consumers and Mortgage Debt," the CFPB’s Office for Older Americans says that Census data shows that the percentage of homeowners age 65 and older with mortgage debt increased from 22% to 30% (3.8 million to 6.1 million homeowners) from 2001 to 2011. Additional data from the Federal Reserve shows that consumers older than 75 had the greatest increase during this period, and that the proportion of consumers 75 and older with mortgage debt more than doubled from 8.4% to 21.2%.

The CFPB report notes that in general, older consumers are carrying more debt, including mortgage, credit card, and even student loan debt, into their retirement years than in previous decades.

“Carrying a mortgage well into retirement poses many potential challenges for older Americans who typically live on reduced income yet face increased expenditures for health and long-term care,” the report states.

The Office for Older Americans also found from July 2011 through December 2013, consumers 65 and older submitted approximately 15,500 complaints on a range of financial products and services, with about one-third of their complaints, 32% being about mortgages.

The most common types of mortgage complaints from older consumers (46%) concerned problems they face when they are unable to make payments (such as issues relating to loan modifications, collections or foreclosures). Other common types of mortgage complaints (32%) involve problems older consumers have when making payments (such as issues with loan servicing, payments, and escrow accounts).

Fast Sailing: China's Cruise Market To Become World's Second Largest By 2017

There's a reason that 2013 was marked the Marine Tourism Year by China's government. Some 530,000 Chinese tourists took cruises beyond the mainland, more than double the previous year. Industry forecasts have the country second only to the U.S. in passengers by 2017.

To Chinese, ship travel once meant taking a steamer down the Yangtze River, mostly as basic transportation before jet service and an expansive highway system became the norm. Today, though, it has taken on an ever more luxurious sheen. This month Carnival's Carnival's Princess Cruises will christen a Sapphire voyage from Shanghai, with the 2,670 on board paying $900 to $5,000 to float to South Korea and southwestern Japan over six days.

Carnival, the world's largest cruise line, began the current era in 2006 when Allegra , from its more basic Costa line, departed from the old Shanghai docks. International rivals like Royal Caribbean and Star followed, along with a smaller domestic contingent. Now few can afford to stay away. They're banking on a potential market above 100 million in a few years–and an actual load, Carnival figures, of 2.3 million passengers.

Cruising with "Chinese characteristics" includes not only Chinese cuisines and language services but also mah-jongg rooms, larger duty-free shops with more European luxury brands and, in the case of one Carnival "global first," a "presidential menu" enjoyed by former president Hu Jintao during his 2011 White House visit. Although gambling tables are a mainstay in international waters, the lines say they aren't emphasizing that element in Chinese marketing.

Just about any cruise in China is likely to have the word "luxury" attached to it, and no doubt a first-generational sense of wealth is fueling the boom. If it's good enough for entertaining Westerners, why not? "First you have to play golf and tennis. Then you have to drink Bordeaux or expensive whiskey, and then travel internationally," says Wolfgang Georg Arlt, who runs a China outbound tourism research center in Germany. "To go on a cruise is just one of the things that the rich Americans do."

But, in fact, even the modestly affluent can take part. Four- to six-day cruises can cost as little as $600 and go up to $2,000 per person on Ctrip.com. Popular Popular destinations range from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to a few non-Chinese ports that accept visa-free visits. (Korea allows for three-days' entry; Japan still requires the paperwork.)

The growing Chinese middle class, seeking an escape from the city, fresh air, romance or, simply, as the Americans would say, to "chillax," are the real drivers. " A cruise cuts you off from your life. You can't really work on a cruise, and for a lot of time you have nowhere to go," says Shen Liang, a 34-year-old general manager at a software company in Shanghai, who was going for six days to Korea. Shen hastens to add that he can finally get his friends to play poker now that they're all trapped at sea.

Domestic lines are playing catchup by purchasing vessels from the multinationals because China's own cruise history is a blank slate. Henna, a cruise liner that HNA Group bought from Carnival, went on its maiden voyage last year. In March state-controlled Bohai Ferry rebranded imported Costa Voyager as China Tai Mountain. Another four domestic companies are contemplating similar schemes, according to Zheng Weihang, vice director at the China Cruise & Yacht Industry Association.

But if lacking in managerial experiences, the domestic players will at least benefit from policies that ban international cruises from ?sailing along China's coast lines and limit them from taking trips to Taiwan, which Zheng says has a high demand among mainland travelers.

The Chinese government itself is targeting 4.5 million in Chinese cruise traffic by 2020. Big bucks have gone to constructing terminals in Shanghai, Sanya, Tianjin and Xiamen in the past three years. The $140 million Wusongkou International Terminal in Shanghai now claims to be the largest in Asia. Terminals in Tsingtao, Zhoushan, Dalian and Shenzhen are under construction, and another seven are in the pipeline. The scale and grandeur of each terminal have made positive returns on investments difficult for the local governments, however. "Perhaps, with the exception of Wusongkou, all the other ports are losing money," Zheng says.

For cruise operators good terminal operations are as important as having the new berths. Paul Chong, vice president of business development for Carnival Asia, recalls an incident where the terminal's operators forgot to turn on the air conditioning, so passengers were waiting inside "a greenhouse."

China's political particulars, especially the visa constraints, are another big factor. The limited waiver choices have prompted concerns that "the cabin will become increasingly difficult to sell," Chong notes, and Beijing's tensions with neighbors are "making the ship difficult to sail." As Carnival's Costa unveils an 86-day global trip from China across five continents for next year, the ship-to-shore hurdle is probably looming larger than the peak price of $50,000 per person.

Jane Ho contributed to reporting from Shanghai. 

Royal Caribbean Cruises Royal Caribbean Cruises last year brought its latest Mariner of the Seas ship to Hong Kong in its bid for a Chinese clientele. Adam Goldstein, president/COO, discussed the company's China plans recently with FORBES ASIA's Russell Flannery. Click here  for the interview. 

First Solar Burns Bright as Profits Nearly Double Forecasts

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- First Solar (FSLR), one of the largest alternative energy developers, has posted a solid first quarter with earnings nearly double what analysts expected and sales closing in on the billion-dollar mark.

Shares are popping in post-market trading, gaining 4.1% to reach $70.20.

Over its March-ending quarter, the Arizona-based business earned $1.10 a share, or $112 million, compared to 69 cents a share, or $61.5 million, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of 56 cents a share, or $51.2 million in net income.

WATCH: More market update videos on TheStreet TV | More videos from Kori Hale In addition to better management of project costs, profits were boosted by 26% growth on the company's top-line. Revenue of $950.1 million blew past estimates of $837.95 million. >>Read More: First Solar Earnings to Shine a Light on Slow Progress First Solar's momentum is set to continue with the company guiding for higher full-year earnings between $2.40 and $2.80 a share, up from a previous range of $2.20 to $2.60 a share. Analysts had expected $2.49 a share over the year to December. Earlier, First Solar announced its contract with EDF Renewable Energy in California. As part of the agreement, the company will act as engineer for a 19.76 megawatt project and two 23 megawatt projects in Central California. --Written by Keris Alison Lahiff in New York.  

Stock quotes in this article: FSLR 

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015

The price of gasoline in the U.S. is on the rise again.

Futures prices for RBOB ("Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending"), the NYMEX futures contract for gasoline, are up over 11% for the year, and a full 6.6% of that increase has come in the past month.

In fact, gas is up 2.4% over the past week alone. Today, the average retail price is 4 cents higher per gallon than a year ago.

And you can bet that as we move into the "official" start of the summer driving season, the worst is yet to come. Prices will be headed even higher.

So with all the hoopla surrounding our newfound oil wealth and our legitimate move to become energy self-sufficient in as little as a decade, why are gas prices still climbing?

Let me explain...

More Oil Doesn't Necessarily Mean Lower Prices

But first I need to clear the record about what this new largess in unconventional oil actually means. Then I'll identify the two primary causes of higher gas prices, along with a third catalyst that is waiting in the wings.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: Cache Inc.(CACH)

Cache, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mall and Web based specialty retailer of women?s lifestyle sportswear and dresses in the United States. It offers eveningwear; casual and daytime sportswear, including tops, bottoms, and dresses; and accessories, such as jewelry, belts, and handbags under the Cache brand name. The company also provides its products online through its Web site, cache.com. As of March 22, 2012, it operated 267 stores in 43 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Cache, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  As we head into Black Friday and the holiday shopping season, small cap apparel retail stocks Cache, Inc (NASDAQ: CACH), Stein Mart, Inc (NASDAQ: SMRT), Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc (NASDAQ: PSUN) and Destination XL Group Inc (NASDAQ: DXLG) have the distinction of being the best performing small cap apparel retail stocks for this year (according to Finviz.com) with gains of 111.6%, 92.7%, 88.7% and 65.7%, respectively. What are these high flying small caps doing right in the apparel retail space and will they continue delivering a stellar performance for Black Friday and the all important holiday season for�investors? Here is what new and existing investors and traders alike need to know or consider:

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: Investors Title Company(ITIC)

Investors Title Company, through its subsidiaries, provides title insurance to residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. It underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and offers the reinsurance of title insurance risks to other title insurance companies. The company also provides tax-deferred real property exchange services, as well as serves as an exchange accommodation titleholder and holds property for exchangers in reverse exchange transactions; offers investment management and trust services to individuals, companies, banks, and trusts; and provides consulting services to title insurance agencies. Investors Title Company serves various customers in the residential and commercial market sectors of the real estate industry. It issues title insurance policies primarily through approved attorneys from underwriting offices, as well as through independent issuing agents in 24 states and the District of Columbia, the United States. The company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Investors Title Company (NASDAQ:ITIC), reported its results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. Net income increased 110.0% to $3,349,488, or $1.57 per diluted share, compared with $1,594,805, or $0.74 per diluted share, for the prior year quarter.

Top 10 Chemical Companies To Watch In Right Now: Progress Software Corporation(PRGS)

Progress Software Corporation operates as an enterprise software company worldwide. Its products include Progress OpenEdge platform, which offers development tools, application servers, application management tools, and an embedded database; Progress Orbix to address enterprise integration problems with standards-based solutions; and Progress ObjectStore, an object data management system to store data faster than relational database management system or file-based storage system. The company?s products also comprise Progress Responsiveness Process Management suite for business users; Progress Control Tower, an interactive business control panel; Progress Sonic, which comprises an enterprise messaging system and the enterprise service buses; Progress Actional that provides operational and business visibility, root cause analysis, and policy-based security and control of services; Progress Apama, which offers tools for creating, testing, and deploying strategies for applicat ions, including algorithmic trading, market aggregation, smart order routing, market surveillance and monitoring, and risk management; Progress Savvion BusinessManager, a business process management software; and Fuse products that provide customers with access to professional open source integration and messaging software. In addition, it offers Progress DataDirect Connect products, which provide data connectivity components; Progress DataDirect Shadow to provide foundation architecture for standards-based mainframe integration; and Progress Data Services product set that offers data integration for distributed applications. Further, the company provides maintenance, consulting, training, and customer support services. Progress Software Corporation sells its products to independent software vendors, original equipment manufacturers, and system integrators through direct sales force and independent distributors. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Bedford, Massac husetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

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

  Progress Software Corp.'s(PRGS) fiscal first-quarter profit fell 64% as the business-software provider’s revenue slipped due to the timing of certain deal closures.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Believing it should have a single, cohesive platform for the development of�cloud and mobile application development technologies, Progress Software (NASDAQ: PRGS  ) announced this morning it was selling its�Apama�complex event processing solution to Software AG for an undisclosed sum.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Progress Software (NASDAQ: PRGS) shares tumbled 11.15 percent to $22.82 after the company issued a weak Q1 forecast.

  FireEye (NASDAQ: FEYE) was also down, falling 9.35 percent to $81.20 after the company's secondary offering lead to fear on the street.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: China Fund Inc (CHN)

The China Fund, Inc. (the Fund), incorporated on April 28, 1992, is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund�� investment objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation through investment in companies and other entities with significant assets, investments, production activities, trading or other business interests in the People�� Republic of China, or which derive a significant part of their revenue from the People�� Republic of China.

The China Fund, Inc. may invest in equity-linked securities, such as linked participation notes, equity swaps and zero-strike options, and securities warrants collectively referred to as Access Products. The Fund invests various sectors, including industrials, consumer discretionary, energy, information technology, financials, consumer staples, materials, utilities, healthcare and telecommunications. Martin Currie Inc. serves as the investment manager for the Fund's listed assets. Asian Direct Capital Management is the investment manager for the Fund's assets allocated to direct investments.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephen Leeb, Founder and Research Chairman, Leeb Group]

  Healthy economic data, coupled with low inflation, make Chinese stocks attractive as well. Our first choice here is the China Fund (CHN). It holds a diverse portfolio of stocks primarily focused on the Chinese domestic market.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: Tesla Motors Inc.(TSLA)

Tesla Motors, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electric vehicles and advanced electric vehicle powertrain components. It offers Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car. The company markets and sells its vehicles directly to consumers through the phone and Internet, as well as through its network of Tesla stores. It operates 18 Tesla stores located in Boulder, Chicago, Los Angeles, Menlo Park, Miami, New York, Newport Beach, San Jose, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Copenhagen, London, Milan, Monaco, Munich, Paris, Tokyo, and Zurich. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Miller]

  Investors would be hard pressed to find a hotter topic under discussion out there today than the bull versus bear case on Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA  ) . If you were savvy enough to invest in Tesla six months ago, you're sitting pretty with a 223% increase in that time frame. Some investments never have that type of success before the companies close the doors and file for Chapter 11, so pat yourself on the back Tesla and Tesla-savvy investors. I cover the auto industry for The Motley Fool and I call it like I see it, always ��that's what has me a little perplexed with Tesla as an investment. Here's why.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: SolarCity Corp (SCTY)

SolarCity Corporation (SolarCity), incorporated on June 21, 2006, is engaged in the design, installation and sale or lease of solar energy systems to residential and commercial customers, or sale of electricity generated by solar energy systems to customers. The Company sells renewable energy to its customers. As of December 12, 2012, the Company served customers in 14 states. The Company�� residential customers are individual homeowners and homeowners. The Company�� commercial customers represent several business sectors, including technology, retail, manufacturing, agriculture, nonprofit and houses of worship. The Company has installed solar energy systems for several government entities, including the the United States Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy, and the Department of Homeland Security. The Company purchases major components, such as solar panels and inverters directly from multiple manufacturers. As of September 30, 2012, its primary solar panel suppliers were Trina Solar Limited, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited and Kyocera Solar, Inc., among others, and its primary inverter suppliers were Power-One, Inc., SMA Solar Technology, AG, Schneider Electric SA, Fronius International GmbH and SolarEdge Technologies, among others.

Solar Energy Products

The Company�� solar energy products include Solar Energy Systems, and SolarLease and power purchase agreement finance products. The major components of its solar energy systems include solar panels that convert sunlight into electrical current. Most of its solar energy customers choose to purchase energy from the Company pursuant to one of two payment structures: a SolarLease or a power purchase agreement. In both structures, the Company charges customers a monthly fee for the power produced by its solar energy systems. In the lease structure, this monthly payment is pre-determined and includes a production guarantee. In the power purchase agreement structure, the Company charges customers a fee per kilowatt! hour based on the amount of electricity actually produced by the solar energy system.

Energy Efficiency Products and Services

The Company�� energy efficiency products and services include home energy evaluation and energy efficiency upgrades. The Company sells home energy efficiency evaluations to new solar energy system customers and existing customers. The Company�� energy efficiency upgrade products and services address heating and cooling, air sealing, duct sealing, water heating, insulation, furnaces, weatherization, pool pumps and lighting. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had completed over 13,000 home energy evaluations and performed more than 2,000 energy efficiency upgrades.

Other Energy Products and Services

The Company�� other energy products and services include electric vehicle charging and energy storage. The Company installs electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment that it sources from third parties. SolarCity markets EV equipment to residential and commercial customers through retail partnerships with companies, such as The Home Depot, and through EV manufacturers and dealerships, such as its partnership with Tesla Motors, Inc. The Company is developing a battery management system built on its solar energy monitoring communications backbone. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had over 100 energy storage pilot projects under contract. As of December 12, 2012, the Company had sold over 750 charging stations.

Enabling Technologies

The Company�� enabling technologies include SolarBid Sales Management Platform, SolarWorks Customer Management Software, Energy Designer, Home Performance Pro and SolarGuard and PowerGuide Proactive Monitoring Solutions. SolarBid is a sales management platform, which incorporates a database of rate information by utility, sun exposure, roof orientation and a range of other factors to enable a detailed analysis and customized graphical presentation of each customer� �s savin! gs.

SolarWorks is the software platform the Company uses to track and manage project. Energy Designer is a software application its field engineering auditors use to collect pertinent site-specific design details on a tablet computer. Home Performance Pro is its energy efficiency evaluation platform that incorporates the United States Department of Energy�� Energy Plus simulation engine. Home Performance Pro collects and stores details of a building�� construction and energy use. SolarGuard and PowerGuide provide its customers a view of their home�� or business�� energy generation and consumption.

The Company competes with American Solar Electric, Inc., Astrum Solar, Inc., Petersen Dean, Inc., Real Goods Solar, Inc., REC Solar, Inc., Sungevity, Inc., Trinity Solar, Inc., Verengo, Inc., SunRun Inc. and Ameresco, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  That good news and Musk’s 60-minutes face-time–where Musk got to answer questions like “What is it about you that seems to invite skepticism?”–hasn’t been greeted with a higher stock price for Tesla today, however, after Barron’s Bill Alpert panned Tesla’s gigafactory. SolarCity (SCTY), though, has gained 1.8% to $62.58.

• [By Tyler Crowe and Aimee Duffy]

  There is no better way to get people to make big purchases than to offer a product with no money down. That is exactly what SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY  ) is planning to do. The company just announced that it will be extending its no-money-down offer to homebuilders and developers. It should come as so surprise that SolarCity is extending this deal, which was previously only available to homeowners, because the company recently signed a financing deal with�Goldman Sachs� (NYSE: GS  ) �for this very kind of move,�

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Source: ThinkstockSolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) reported third quarter 2013 earnings after markets closed Wednesday. For the quarter, the solar PV installer posted an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) loss of $0.43 on revenues of $48.6 million. In the same period a year ago, the company reported an unadjusted EPS loss of $3.41 on revenues of $31.97 million. Third-quarter results compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for an adjusted EPS loss of $0.44 and $42.52 million in revenues.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: Hecla Mining Co (HL)

Hecla Mining Company, incorporated on August 7, 2006, is engaged in discovering, acquiring, developing, producing, and marketing silver, gold, lead and zinc. The Company operates in two segments: the Greens Creek unit and the Lucky Friday unit. Its wholly-owned subsidiary is Hecla Alaska LLC. The Company produces zinc, lead and bulk concentrates at its Greens Creek unit and lead and zinc concentrates at its Lucky Friday unit, which it sells to custom smelters on contract, and unrefined gold and silver bullion bars (dore) at Greens Creek, which are sold directly to customers or further refined before sale to precious metals traders. The concentrates produced at its Greens Creek and Lucky Friday units contain payable silver, zinc and lead, and the concentrates produced at Greens Creek also contain payable gold. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company produced 6,394,235 ounces of silver, 55,496 ounces of gold, 21,074 tons of lead and 64,249 tons of Zinc. Effective February 26, 2013, Hecla Mining Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, acquired a 24.73% stake in Brixton Metals Corp. In June 2013, the Company announced that its acquisition of Aurizon Mines Ltd is complete.

The Greens Creek Unit

Greens Creek is located on Admiralty Island, near Juneau, Alaska. The Greens Creek unit is 100% owned. During the year ended December 31, 2012, Greens Creek contributed 100%, of its consolidated revenue.

The Lucky Friday unit

The Lucky Friday unit is located in northern Idaho. Lucky Friday is 100% owned by the company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Silver miner Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL  ) has completed the acquisition of Aurizon Mines, for which it paid approximately $760 million, the company announced today.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: ATAC Resources Ltd (ATC)

ATAC Resources Ltd. (ATAC) is a Canada-based exploration-stage company. ATAC is in the business of exploring for metals and minerals with a particular emphasis on gold. The Company holds interests in a number of other mineral properties outside of the Rackla Gold project area, which is located in the Mayo Mining District of central Yukon. ATAC�� wholly owned Rackla Gold project consists of an approximate center of the project area is 100 kilometers northeast of Keno City. The Rackla Gold project area is comprised of over 8,000 mineral claims. The claims cover an area of 1,700 square kilometers. The Rackla Gold project area includes Rau Trend and the Nadaleen Trend. Joint venture properties include the Connaught property. ATAC and Klondike Silver Corp. each hold a 50% interest in the Connaught property. Property interests under option include the Rosy Property, Green Gulch, Touleary, Dan Man and Shamrock Properties. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricio Kehoe]

  Management�� efficiency is also evidenced by its decision to reduce its non-core assets in order to concentrate on its most profitable businesses. Consequently, almost nine months after its initial tender, Orange divested its Dominican unit to Luxemburg-based Altice SA (ATC) for $1.4 billion last week.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: Endeavour International Corp (END)

Endeavour International Corporation (Endeavour), incorporated on January 13, 2000, is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and acquisition of energy reserves in the United States and United Kingdom. The Company has three producing fields in the United Kingdom, including Alba, Bacchus and Bittern, as well as a number of development projects including Rochelle and Columbus. In the United States, the Company has production in the Haynesville and Marcellus, as well as two oil frontier plays in Colorado and Montana. As of December 31, 2012, Endeavour had proved reserves of 71,591 million cubic feet (MMcf) of natural gas and 13,739 thousands of barrels (Mbbls) of crude oil for a combined 25.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (MBOE).

The North Sea is a resource area where it has a development project, producing properties and additional exploration licenses. During 2012, Alba production volumes were impacted by water handling issues. As of December 31, 2012, it held a 30% working interest in its Bacchus field asset, which is operated by Apache Corporation, who owns a 50% working interest. In April and July 2012, it achieved production from the first and second development wells, respectively, on the Bacchus field. The Company�� working interest in the Rochelle area is 44% and it is the operator of the field, which is comprised of Blocks 15/26b, 15/26c and 15/27. Its United States activity has targeted reserve and production growth in shale gas plays, including the Louisiana Haynesville and Pennsylvania Marcellus areas.

The Company is also targeting emerging oil-prone and liquids-rich plays, including the Montana Heath oil play and its new interests in the Colorado Niobrara area. The Company operates and controls the Marcellus assets while retaining a 50% position in its remaining producing Haynesville acreage. The Company has 19 Haynesville Units which held by production with an estimated over 80 remaining gross locations to be developed, dep! ending on development well spacing. The Company has interests in approximately 88,900 net acres in the emerging Heath Shale oil play in Montana, primarily in Rosebud and Garfield Counties.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Wednesday morning, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from SouFun Holdings (NYSE: SFUN) and E-House (China) Holdings (NYSE: EJ). In trading on Wednesday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.67 percent. Among the energy stocks, Endeavour International (NYSE: END)was down more than 22 percent, while TransGlobe Energy (NASDAQ: TGA) tumbled around 6 percent.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies For 2015: Valmont Industries Inc.(VMI)

Valmont Industries, Inc. produces and sells fabricated metal products, pole and tower structures, and mechanized irrigation systems in the United States and internationally. The company?s Engineered Infrastructure Products segment offers steel and aluminum poles and structures, to which lighting and traffic control fixtures are attached for applications in streets, highways, parking lots, sports stadiums, and commercial and residential developments; and roadway safety systems, including guard rail barrier systems, wire rope safety barriers, and crash attenuation barriers to redirect vehicles and to prevent collisions between vehicles. This segment also provides structures and components for the wireless communication market, as well as for the erection of infrastructure, industrial, and commercial access systems. Its Utility Support Structures segment offers tapered steel and pre-stressed concrete poles for high-voltage transmission lines, substations, and electrical dist ribution, as well as produces hybrid structures, which are structures with a concrete base section and steel upper sections. The company?s Coatings segment provides metal coating services, such as hot-dipped galvanizing, anodizing, powder coating, and e-coating. Its Irrigation segment offers mechanical irrigation equipment and related service parts under the Valley brand. The company also manufactures forged steel grinding media for the mining industry, tubular products for industrial customers, and electrolytic manganese dioxide for disposable batteries; and distributes industrial fasteners. It serves state and federal governments, contractors, utility and telecommunications companies, commercial lighting fixtures manufacturers, and large farms, as well as the general manufacturing sector. The company sells its products through direct sales force, independent and commissioned sales agents, and independent dealers. Valmont Industries, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headqua rtered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

GM engineer with switch link retires

Jim Federico, a General Motors engineer who led an internal analysis of the automaker's ignition switch defect more than a year before the company recalled 2.6 million cars, has retired, the company confirmed today.

Federico in 2012 was examining the defect that lower-level engineers first discovered more than a decade ago, according to GM documents released last month by Congress.

But GM failed to order a recall until February 2014, and the issue is now blamed for at least 31 accidents and 12 deaths in the U.S. and one fatal crash in Canada.

His latest title is executive director of global vehicle performance, safety, proving grounds and test labs. Before that, he was chief engineer for global compact, small, mini and electric vehicles, reporting directly to GM CEO Mary Barra, who was then global head of product development.

"After a 36-year career with General Motors, Jim Federico has decided to retire from the company to pursue other opportunities," GM spokesman Greg Martin said in an email. "We congratulate him on his retirement and wish him the very best in his future endeavors."

Federico's departure comes nearly a month GM suspended with pay two engineers -- Ray DeGiorgio and Gary Altman, who were involved in the decision to change the ignition switch design without changing the part number.

It also comes about two weeks after John Calabrese, GM global engineering chief, retired voluntarily.

Barra has vowed to hold executives responsible for the company's failure to promptly fix the ignition switch on 2.6 million small cars, mostly from the 2003 through 2007 model years.

The automaker is facing investigations by the U.S. Justice Department, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as its own internal probe.

Jim Federico, ranking GM engineer (fourth from right) linked to an earlier GM igntion switch probe, has retired, GM said. John Calabrese, to his right, GM global engineering chief, retired previously. The men are at a groundbreaking in March for a GM test facility.(Photo: General Motors)

U.S. stocks lower on Ukraine fears, China data

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks spent most of the Monday's session near the flatline, as investors weighed downbeat data from China and deteriorating situation in Ukraine with the better-than-expected report on the health of the services sector.

The S&P 500 (SPX)  was flat at 1,880.80, with the financials sector leading the losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)  slipped 9 points, or 0.1%, to 16,503.66, with half of its members trading in negative territory. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co lead the losses, after reporting a grim outlook for the second quarter.

/quotes/zigman/272085/delayed/quotes/nls/jpm JPM 54.07, -1.51, -2.72%

The Nasdaq Composite (COMP)  was flat at 4,123.83.

Follow MarketWatch's live blog of today's stock-market action.

"The resilience of this market is amazing, investors don't seem to be scared of anything and every dip in the market is bought," says Channing Smith, managing director at Capital Advisors.

"Any bad news, especially geopolitical risks such as in Ukraine, have a shelf-life of a day," he added.

Growth picked up last month for the U.S. service sector and other non-manufacturing companies, according to data released Monday. The Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index rose to 55.2% in April -- the highest reading in six months -- from 53.1% in March.

The highlight of the week could be an appearance by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen before the Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday.

Investment banks fall, Pfizer results disappoint

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (JPM)  shares dropped 2.7% after the bank said it expected revenue from fixed income and equities trading to fall 20% in the second quarter. The bank also reported it had incurred legal expenses of $347 million in the first quarter.

Shares of other investment banks were hit as well. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS)   fell 1.8%, Morgan Stanley (MS)  dropped 2.3%.

Bloomberg Enlarge Image

Shares of Pfizer (PFE)  fell 2.6% after first-quarter revenue fell short of expectations.

Shares of Target Inc. (TGT)  fell 3.1% after announcing chief executive officer Gregg Steinhafel will resign immediately. Chief financial officer John Mulligan was named interim CEO.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)   (BRK.A) , which late Friday reported lower first-quarter profits, fell 1.2%. Also read a recap of the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting over the weekend.

Reuters Warren Buffett.

In other markets, The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI)  slid 1.3% after HSBC's final version of China's April purchasing managers index came in at 48.1, below the initial reading of 48.3, adding to concerns about a slowdown in the world's second biggest economy. That news and increasing tensions out of Ukraine over the weekend weighed on Europe stocks (XX:SXXP) , with Germany's DAX 30 index (DX:DAX)  among the hardest hit, seeing a 1.2% loss.

London markets are closed for a holiday. In Asia, markets in Japan and South Korea were closed for holidays.

In commodities markets, gold (GCM4)  futures rose, while crude for June delivery (CLM4)  gave up earlier gains and fell below the $100 a barrel level.

More must-reads from MarketWatch:

Ira Sohn preview: The worst calls from last year's hedge fund conference

9 reasons the U.S. economy is stronger than you think

Warren Buffett is a mutual fund

SEI Investments Held at Outperform - Analyst Blog

On Jul 3, 2013, we reiterated our long-term recommendation on SEI Investments Co. (SEIC) at Outperform based on its encouraging capital deployment activities and robust asset inflows. Additionally, significant improvement in its organic revenue generation capacity over the past several quarters is expected to act as a positive catalyst.

Why Outperform?

SEI Investments is a sound asset for yield-seeking investors. Over the past several years, the company has been increasing its dividend every year. In May 2013, the company hiked its semi-annual dividend by 25% to 20 cents per share. It also extended the share repurchase program by $100 million, which increased the total shares to be repurchased to $139 million.

Apart from broad diversification and organic growth prospects, SEI Investments has a strong presence across the globe mainly in North America and Europe. Moreover, the company's diversified products and revenue mix is expected to enable it to adapt easily to the changing needs of the clients and continue to boost its top line.

SEI Investments maintains a robust asset inflow. In the past several years, the company recorded a rising trend in its assets under management and administration. Moreover, due to the current stabilization of the equity markets, asset inflows are expected to significantly contribute to its earnings growth.

Moreover, SEI Investments' first-quarter 2013 earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Results benefited from top-line growth, partially offset by higher expenses.

For SEI Investments, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2013 remained unchanged at $1.44 per share over the last 60 days. For 2014, the Zacks Consensus Estimate advanced 0.6% to $1.75 per share over the same time frame. This company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other banks that are worth considering include Noah Holdings Limited (NOAH) with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (! AMP) and Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (APAM) with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).