Will Adobe Stock Continue to Rise on Recent Earnings?

With shares of Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) trading around $51, is ADBE an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Adobe operates as a diversified software company worldwide. It offers a line of software and services used by creative professionals, marketers, knowledge workers, application developers, enterprises, and consumers. Adobe markets and licenses its software directly to enterprise customers through its sales force and to end users through application stores and its website. Software products and platforms are seeing an increased adoption rate worldwide by consumers and businesses who are seeing increased technology exposure. The efficiency and ease offered by Adobe products make it a viable option to many.

Adobe reported its fiscal third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, and investors are feeling optimistic about Adobe despite the fact that the company missed forecasts for its third-quarter earnings and fourth-quarter guidance. Adobe's Creative Cloud service has shown impressive growth, passing 1 million paid subscribers. The growing popularity of cloud-based software and Adobe's success with the model has investors feeling good about the company even though it posted a decline in earnings and revenue in the last quarter.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Adobe stock has been on a strong move towards higher prices in the last couple of years. The stock is currently trading at all-time high prices but it may need time to digest these levels. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Adobe is trading above its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Adobe Options	23.05%	0%	0%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
October Options	Flat	Average
November Options	Flat	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Decreasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	-44.83%	-66.67%	-64.86%	26.03%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-7.92%	-10.13%	-3.57%	0.11%
Earnings Reaction	6.25%*	5.58%	4.19%	5.71%

Adobe has seen decreasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been pleased with Adobe’s recent earnings announcements.

*As of this writing

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Adobe stock done relative to its peers, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), and sector?

	Adobe	Apple	Microsoft	Oracle	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	36.94%	-12.80%	23.51%	-0.06%	11.37%

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

Conclusion

Adobe provides valuable software products and services to a wide range of companies and consumers operating in diversified industries worldwide. The company recently reported earnings and issued guidance that has investors optimistic. The stock has been trending higher in recent years and is currently trading near all-time high prices. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been decreasing, however, investors have been pleased with the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Adobe has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Adobe to continue to OUTPERFORM.

Best Blue Chip Companies To Invest In Right Now

What do you get when you combine a strong jobs report plus a promising beginning to earnings season, and soothing words from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke? A new record closing high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) , of course.

The blue chips jumped 169 points today, or 1.1%, to close out at 15,460, topping the previous closing high of 15,409 that it hit on May 28 of this year. The S&P 500 also hit a new closing high. The Dow's intraday high from May 22, of 15,542, still stands. Today's surge came as Ben Bernanke said that the Fed's accommodative monetary policy would stay in place in order to lower the unemployment rate, which currently sits at 7.6%. It should come as no surprise to see the markets respond like this, as investors have been obsessed with monetary policy since Bernanke first seriously floated the idea of tapering the central bank's $85 billion a month bond-buying program on May 22. His recent statement seems to indicate that the Fed will not be hasty in reducing the stimulus.

Best Blue Chip Companies To Invest In Right Now: Chevron Corporation(CVX)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Claudia Assis]

  Major oil companies were mixed, with shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) �down 0.2%. Shares of Chevron Corp. (CVX) �and ConocoPhillips (COP) �rose 0.3% each.

• [By David Smith]

  Bowing out of Egypt
  It's also noteworthy that Egypt shares a western border with Libya, which is a significant producer, but where chaos and contretemps also reign. Is it any wonder, then, that Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) announced on Tuesday that it will unload its Egyptian downstream operations, including 66 service stations and a couple of oil depots, to Total (NYSE: TOT  ) ? The French company is also buying the retail assets in the land of the Sphinx from Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-B  ) . Perhaps it knows something of which the rest of us are unaware.

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

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

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

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

Best Blue Chip Companies To Invest In Right Now: Visa Inc.(V)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is another top credit card stock investors can look to buy. The company engages in the operation of retail electronic payments network worldwide. It facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses and government entities. A staggering 21 analysts across Wall Street rate the stock at Buy, and nobody has a Sell rating on it. The consensus price target for the stock is $212. Investors are paid a 0.8% dividend.

• [By Rupert Hargreaves]

  Even so, thanks to its checkered past, many companies such as Visa� (NYSE: V  ) �and�MasterCard� (NYSE: MA  ) �have been late to the party.�However, astute companies, such as�Deutsche Bank� (NYSE: DB  ) have been active in the market since the mid 1970s.

• [By Don Miller]

  By way of example, let's take a look at three solid companies with some of the best profit margins in their sectors:

  By the very nature of their business, financials tend to have wide profit margins, and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is no exception. The fourth-largest bank in the country in terms of assets, with outstanding customer service and a strong brand, WFC has a current profit margin of 25.5%. WFC offers a broad range of banking services, including retail banking, asset management, and retirement planning. WFC carries a market cap of $219 billion and a price/earnings (P/E) ratio of 11.3; the overall return for the past 52 weeks is 20.5%. Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) holds an 80% share of the world's microprocessor market, giving them a moat as wide as any brand on the planet. Intel invested $12 billion in research and development last year, far more than any of its competitors. Even though it briefly lost its technology edge in the smartphone and tablet market, its Atom processors are becoming much more competitive. This should achieve more design wins and give Intel pricing power. Even though the stock is off 11% in the last year, its sheer scale and profit margins of 18.1% make Intel a sleeping giant that's about to wake up. Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) has a coveted gatekeeper's role in the financial services marketplace, with the bulk of its revenue coming from transaction fees. As e-commerce and mobile payments continue to grow, Visa and counterpart MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) are in the catbird seat. Visa sports a fat profit margin of 47.2%, and the stock has more than doubled over the past five years.� Earnings are projected to increase by 19.6% per year over the next five years. With a presence in virtually every country on the planet and the explosion of e-commerce payments, Visa is a great way to tap into a business with unlimited growth opportunities.

  Now that you know where to invest, find out how to prot

Best Oil Stocks To Buy For 2014: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)

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

• [By Ong Kang Wei]

  Another example of such a product is Colgate-Palmolive (CL)'s Colgate toothpaste. I do not think I have to elaborate much here. Toothpaste is needed in our everyday life, and we will definitely have to buy more toothpaste after we have finished using a packet of it, ensuring that Colgate gets more and more sales over the years.

Best Blue Chip Companies To Invest In Right Now: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  IBM is a global technology company that provides essential products and services to companies and consumers worldwide. The company is currently undergoing some measures in order to improve the company. The stock has not done well in recent quarters and is now trading near lows for the year. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been rising while revenues have been declining which has not really pleased investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, IBM has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what IBM does in coming quarters.

Best Blue Chip Companies To Invest In Right Now: Apple Inc.(AAPL)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By U.S. News]

  In at least one Texas bank and one Ohio credit union, 3D video banking is currently undergoing testing, according to TheFinancialBrand.com, a website for bank and credit union marketing executives. Three-dimensional video banking is similar to a consumer video conference with a bank representative –- only in this case, the executive looks like a living, breathing person sitting across from you. Thanks to theater surround sound, the representative also sounds as if they're in the same room. And since the consumer is interacting with a real person and not an automated hologram, the experience apparently isn't much different than the real thing. Banking and managing money isn't what it used to be. The 1970s and 1980s brought us the rise of the ATM. Consumers became acquainted with online banking during the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. The 2010s are shaping up as the era of mobile banking. That was underscored Sept. 10-11 in New York City when Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK), a San Diego-based technology company, debuted its Mobile Photo Account Opening product at Finovate, a trade show where banking tech products are often unveiled. The product allows consumers to open a bank account within 60 seconds. If you have your bank's app, you can use your smartphone's camera to take a photo of the front and back of your driver's license, and presto, your new checking, savings or credit card account is open. Here's a look at other financial products and services personal financial experts think we'll be using in the future. Within 10 years. "The economic payments system will begin to 'know us,' either through biometrics, optical sensor or facial recognition," says Joshua Siegel, managing principal of StoneCastle Partners, a New York-based asset management firm that invests in banks. That's already happening to some extent with smartphones –- the new Apple (AAPL) iPhone 5S, for example, uses fingerprint scanning to unlock the phone. Meanwhile, some fi

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was given new analyst coverage with a Buy rating this week and what felt like a ridiculous $777 price target. While we took a slight issue with that call, there is yet another upgrade taking place on Friday on Wall Street.

• [By Jared Cummans]

  Apple (AAPL) has been making moves to establish a more global presence in recent years, and it appears as if �those efforts are paying off.

  A recent article from Digitimes�showed that Apple controls nearly 65% of China’s table market, while Lenovo came in second place with just 76% by comparison. It seems that that iPad mini and its lower price point caught on with the Chinese consumer, making the upcoming low-cost iPhone even more exciting.

  Apple will hold an event tomorrow to announce the latest iPhone model and shed light on yet another highly anticipated device from the tech bellwether. It will also mark the first time that Apple will utilize a lower cost mobile device to target an emerging market, which could help boost sales.

  Apple shares were up $7.95, or 1.57%, at Monday’s close. The stock is down just over 5% on the year.

Best Blue Chip Companies To Invest In Right Now: Philip Morris International Inc(PM)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividend]

  Philip Morris International (PM) has a market capitalization of $135.05 billion. The company employs 87,100 people, generates revenue of $77.393 billion and has a net income of $9.154 billion. Philip Morris International�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $14.827 billion. The EBITDA margin is 19.16 percent (the operating margin is 17.89 percent and the net profit margin 11.83 percent).

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Company % of Assets Pepsico (PEP) 3.4 Philip Morris (PM) 2.3 Tesco PLC ADR (TSCO) 2.1 Molson Coors Brewing (TAP) 2.1 Microsoft (MSFT) 1.9 Merck (MRK) 1.9 Procter & Gamble (PG) 1.8 Avon Products (AVN) 1.6 Wal��art (WMT) 1.6 Medtronic 1.6 Hospira (HSP) 1.5 BP (BP) 1.4 Medco Health Solutions (MHS) 1.3 Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 1.3 Unilever NV (UL) 1.3
  Jeff is also optimistic about natural gas and believes the recession in Europe could be setting up "a generational buying opportunity."

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Phillip Morris (PM) gained 2.8% to $86.56 after boosting its dividend by 10.6%.

  Restoration Hardware (RH) dropped 12% to $68.04 despite what many considered to be a solid earnings�report. Not Barron’s.

• [By GuruFocus]

  The decade low yield of tobacco stocks can be clearly seen from our new interactive charts, which are embedded below. The chart shows the dividend yield of three tobacco stocks: Reynolds American (RAI), Philip Morris International (PM) and British American Tobacco (BTI).

Best Blue Chip Companies To Invest In Right Now: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

  The arms war among the fast-food chains escalated as McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) confirmed that it would begin to sell chicken wings nationwide next month. Dubbed “Mighty Wings,” the new offering will come to market along with a growing set of coffee flavors and desserts. The move is just the kind of competitive menu maneuver that in this case threatens Yum Brands! Inc.’s (NYSE: YUM) KFC, but has been part of McDonald’s strategy for years — launch products meant to take customers from competitors and to build the bottom line.

You Could Double Your Money With This Future Medical Superstar

I am willing to bet that more than a few readers have experienced the painful medical condition that I suffered about a decade ago. 

It started soon after the birth of my son. I was awakened in the middle of the night with a searing pain in my abdomen that radiated up into my chest. At first, I was terrified, thinking I was having a heart attack. 

Fortunately, the hospital was less than a mile away from our home. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room to avoid waking my family.  

The emergency room personnel determined that the source of the pain wasn't my heart and that there was nothing wrong with my gastrointestinal region. By that time, the pain had faded, and the hospital gave me a clean bill of health, along with a prescription for painkillers. 

Several days later, the debilitating pain returned. It lasted a few hours and then began to fade again. 

This began to occur at least once a week, and I visited several medical facilities to determine the cause. No one was able to diagnose the cause, and painkillers remained the only solution to help me stay functional when the pain started. 

Finally, I visited a specialist who diagnosed me with an impacted kidney stone in my urinary tract. The stone was very small, but it periodically caused built-up scar tissue to break away, resulting in my excruciating condition. I underwent surgery, and the condition has never recurred.

This problem made me realize that, despite all the technological advances of modern medicine, medical diagnostics is still in the dark ages. Even something as common as kidney stones can go undiagnosed for months while the victim continues to suffer both mentally and physically until the problem is correctly diagnosed. I can only imagine the confusion and pain that come with undiagnosed issues far more severe than the common kidney stone. 

Fortunately, diagnostic issues may soon be a thing of the past. Several publicly traded companies are currently making great strides in the field of medical diagnostics, and my favorite company right now in that arena is TrovaGene (Nasdaq: TROV).

Not only is this company involved in revolutionary cancer molecular monitoring diagnostics, but the technical picture has "buy now" written all over it. Let's take a deeper look.

	Diagnostic issues may soon be a thing of the past. Several companies are currently making great strides in the field of medical diagnostics, and my favorite company right now in that arena is TrovaGene.

TrovaGene's proprietary technology enables medical professionals to analyze a patient's DNA to determine the best course of colon cancer treatment. This is usually done with a biopsy of the diseased areas, but TrovaGene is developing a method that analyzes the patient's urine. Because its method isn't invasive or painful, TrovaGene's approach could lead to more people getting tested and therefore treated for cancer. The company expects this technology to hit the market shortly. In addition, TrovaGene's DNA/RNA diagnostics are used to monitor and diagnose hereditary and infectious diseases. 

TrovaGene isn't just a pie-in-the-sky theory. In March, the company launched its urine-based human papillomavirus (HPV) test, which screens for 15 high-risk strains of the papilloma virus. It also expects the previously mentioned colon cancer technology, as well as a test for mutations, to be launched by the end of the year. 

In other bullish news, TrovaGene entered into a material agreement with multibillion-dollar diagnostics technology leader PerkinElmer (NYSE: PKI) to jointly develop a test to determine a person's risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The terms have not been disclosed, but PerkinElmer will make milestone payments to TrovaGene. 

TrovaGene boasts a market cap of $125 million but has a tiny revenue stream of just under an average $90,000 per quarter. The vast majority of the revenue is from royalty agreements.

This company has substantial development costs, but I think it will soon turn the corner to profits. PerkinElmer may be the start of other large pharmaceuticals joining forces. In addition, the market for the diversified pending products is huge with TrovaGene, which is well positioned to capture it in stages as the tests are approved and launched.

In the technical picture, shares have dropped from a high of more than $10 to find support at the 200-day simple moving average. As the bullish catalysts start to happen, the price could easily bounce into the $15 range within the next 18 months. Buying now with stops just below $6 and a 12-month target of $10 and an 18-month target of $15 creates a strong risk-to-reward ratio for investors.

Risks to Consider: Despite the potential, investors need to be fully aware that this company is not yet profitable. Although it has enough cash to survive awhile, it has a high burn rate and risks the possibility of another company creating better products before TrovaGene can exploit the market. This type of investment can produce huge rewards, but it remains highly speculative at this time.

Action to Take --> I think right now is the perfect time to buy into this diagnostic company. The convergence of the pending diversified launches combined with the technical picture creates a bullish environment from the current level.

Technologies that make medical care less painful stand to make a fortune for their investors. If you think TrovaGene's future sounds bright, click here to read about a little-known company that's revolutionizing the operating room.

Active management is no panacea for down markets

This fall's market forecast calls for an increase in volatility, which means that financial advisers can expect to hear a lot about how active stock pickers can help cushion against a drawdown.

However, much like the fabled stock picker's market, the message is more sales pitch than reality.

The theory — or marketing pitch — says that active managers can better protect assets when stocks take a nosedive because they can do things such as raise cash, stick to the highest-quality stocks or a combination of both. An index, meanwhile, has to stay fully invested at all times, so it will take investors to the market's bottom.

Unfortunately for active managers, a recent study that looked at the past 20 years of mutual fund returns found the promise of active management in down markets is too good to be true.

“It's a good story, but most managers don't succeed in down markets,” said Harold Evensky, co-author of the study and president of Evensky & Katz LLC.

The study, “Modern Fool's Gold: Alpha in Recessions,” looked at the monthly returns of 1,511 mutual funds from 1990 to 2010 and found that, on average, actively managed stock funds weren't able to add enough alpha to offset their fees during recessions.

“From an investor standpoint, they added no value,” Mr. Evensky said.

The funds' performance during recessions was an improvement over how they behaved when the economy was growing.

During periods of expansion, the average mutual fund cost investors about 1% of performance a year, the study found.

Of course, not all managers fail to add alpha during a downturn. Think of American Funds circa the technology bubble, for example. The vast majority of those that did were unable to repeat the feat during the next downturn.

Hot Casino Stocks To Watch For 2014

In fact, just one out of five portfolio managers who outperformed during a past recession was able to do so again, according to the study.

American Funds, the company Mr. Evensky calls the “Rolls Royce” of actively managed equity funds, was one of those that failed to repeat its success during the tech bubble when the financial crisis struck.

Even though the statistics paint a dire picture for active management, Mr. Evensky isn't in the all-passive investments camp.

“The index wins most of the time, but we're agnostic,” he said.

“We look at the people, the process and the performance,” Mr. Evensky said. “If an active manager can pass those screens, there's a good chance of o! ur clients getting some of that fund in the future.”

As Mr. Evensky said, most advisers would benefit from keeping an open mind about actively managed funds.

It is important to let the fund's process, expenses and performance drive the decision making. though, instead of a story that sounds too good to be true.

Set To Boom: Blue Sphere CEO Says His Cleantech Firm is Poised to Develop Portfolio of High Yield Assets in the U.S.

Blue Sphere Corp. (OTCQB: BLSP),  a company in the cleantech sector which develops waste-to-energy and other renewable energy projects has been attracting the attention of investors and media as they ramp up their innovative projects in the U.S.  The Company aspires to become a key player in the global waste-to-energy and renewable energy markets and CEO Shlomi Palas, took time to answer questions about his firm.

Q: Briefly explain to investors who may not be familiar with Blue Sphere, what your company does and why an investment in your company is a good opportunity right now?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: Blue Sphere develop-build and operate facilities which use organic waste to produce clean energy. Blue Sphere is positioned in a multibillion arena which is currently serviced by very few and small scale competitors. The endless supply of waste, which we call "the new oil fields", the new strict Federal and State legislation to divert organic waste from land fields, the already in force legislation to substitute fossil energy with renewable energy, the Federal and State incentives for the activities above, all these tectonic movements are the power behind Blue Sphere raison d'être. Blue sphere has an objective of building a portfolio of 60 Mw/h high yield assets with IRR greater than 15% with-in the next 5 years. 

Our projects have multiple sources of 15-20 years secured revenues including power purchase agreements from tier 1 electricity companies in the US.

If you understand the new immense business that is developing, you might want to consider investing in it, either in Blue Sphere or in our competition. We believe we are the best.

 

Q: What is anaerobic digestion and how big is this technology in other parts of the world? Do you think it will catch on in the U.S. and why?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: Anaerobic Digestion is a well established and proven technology, which has been perfected along the years, to extract from organic waste the methane gas, in a relative speedy way.

The methane gas which has been extracted out of the organic waste is being injected into generators which are being used to produce electricity which is then supplied to the grid.

There are about 8000 facilities in Europe and more in other parts of the world. In the US there are only several hundred small ones mainly for manure.

Anaerobic digestion is the optimal solution for many types of organic waste management and production of different energy sources (heat, steam, gas and electricity).

We have no doubt that in the future there will be thousand of AD projects in the US. For a more detailed answer just have a look at what the relevant US authorities say.

Q:  Briefly tell us about the projects you currently have in development and Blue Sphere's roll? When will they be ready for ground breaking?  When will they be up and running?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: Blue Sphere is in very advance stages of 2 immediate large projects in the U.S. The first project is a 5.2 Mw/h project in NC and the second one of 3.2 Mw/h in RI. Both projects are expected to start construction this year and will start producing energy in Q3-Q4 2014. We are developing additional projects in the US, with a focus on the North East side of the country where the legislation is supportive of such projects. We expect these projects to start construction in 2014. 

 

Q: What kind of revenue streams these projects will generate?  What are the financials expected from these projects, revenues and cash flow? What will be Blue Sphere's ownership in the projects?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: Each one of these projects has 4 revenues sources: Tipping fee, Feed in Tariff, Carbon Credit and Compost.  Blue Sphere is going to manage these projects and generate direct revenues for its management services.

The projects are expected to generate profits in the range of $1.5m to $3m per year, depending of the specific site and size of the project. Blue Sphere is expected to own 30%-60% from each one of these projects.

Q:  You have several larger companies partnered with you and financing your projects, why are they interested in working with Blue Sphere?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: The companies we partnered with are very familiar with the Anaerobic Digester market and the huge potential of this business.  They want to contribute to a better environment for us and the generations to come, this is truly important for them. Not less important, they believe as we do that the business potential is huge and that we are best positioned to benefit from it. They believe in our capability to develop the business, bring the right solution, tailor the required components for each of these projects, make these projects happen and generate good business for them.

 

Q:  Give us the biggest risk you see in the company and what might be done to mitigate it.

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: What we do is a complicated task, people and companies identify with the changes, want to contribute, but it is all new. There are many parameters that have to be taken care of and you need to have the ability to adjust quickly and overcome hurdles. We have a great team and we work hard and we believe nothing will stop us. So far we have proven it.

 

Q:  What will it take for you to be able to establish yourself as a leader in your space?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: We have identified a couple of good companies in the US which do Anaerobic Digesters. They are not big and they have a slightly different approach to the business. Our projects are on a substantially larger scale and address mainly the organic food waste segment which represents the largest potential. The potential is too big anyway for all of us right now. We truly wish our competitors success and we hope to lead the pack.

 

Q:  Are there any upcoming catalysts that investors should be looking forward to? If so, what are they?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: The changing regulation regarding the treatment of organic waste and the shutdown of landfill in different states in the US will push the need for alternative solution for organic waste which is a big driver for our industry. 

 

Q: Would you say that you are "on time" or "ahead of schedule" when it comes to where the company is positioned today?

Shlomi Palas, CEO of Blue Sphere: The legal infrastructure, incentives and direction of the market are all set. We need to do the hard work of integrating it all together. The whole infrastructure for business in this field is ready but it is not easy to integrate the many components that create a project. It is a rare case that changes are so big and so fast and businesses are not ready yet to exploit it. But we are.

Will Facebook Reach All-Time Highs?

With shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) trading around $44, is FB an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock's Movement

Facebook is engaged in building social products in order to create utility for users, developers, and advertisers. People use Facebook to stay connected with their friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world around them, and to share and express what matters to them with the people they care about. Developers can use the Facebook platform to build applications and websites that integrate with Facebook to reach its global network of users, building personalized and social products. Advertisers can engage with more than 900 million monthly active users on Facebook — or subsets of its users — based on information they have chosen to share.

Facebook's privacy policy is coming under fire from some privacy groups, which wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the government agency to block some upcoming changes to the policy that would allow Facebook to give personal information about its users to advertisers. "Facebook users who reasonably believed that their images and content would not be used for commercial purposes without their consent will now find their pictures showing up on the pages of their friends endorsing the products of Facebook's advertisers," the letter noted.

Facebook is inching closer to reaching its all-time high of $45 that the stock hit on May 18, 2012. After reporting second-quarter earnings that blew analyst expectations out of the water last month, the stock has continued its surge higher. Investors will be watching the stock closely today to see if it can reach or surpass $45.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Facebook stock has been exploding higher in the last couple of months. The stock is currently trading at highs for the year and near the key $45 per share price level. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Facebook is trading above its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

Best Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Facebook Options	41.23%	86%	85%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
September Options	Flat	Average
October Options	Flat	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Improving Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	58.33%	0.00%	-89.46%	-120.00%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	53.13%	37.81%	40.14%	32.29%
Earnings Reaction	29.61%	5.61%	-0.83%	19.12%

Facebook has seen improving earnings and rising revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been excited about Facebook's recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Facebook stock done relative to its peers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), LinkedIn (NASDAQ:LNKD), and sector?

	Facebook	Microsoft	Google	LinkedIn	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	66.91%	16.91%	24.72%	120.20%	35.46%

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

Conclusion

Facebook looks to provide a valuable social networking experience to its users, developers, and advertisers. The company is under fire once again due to privacy issues as it gets closer to previous all-time high prices. The stock has been exploding higher in recent months and is now trading at highs for the year. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been improving while revenues have been rising which have left investors excited about the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Facebook has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Facebook to OUTPERFORM.

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM): Well Positioned Across Key Growth Drivers

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is making the right kind of investments to position itself to win across key growth drivers including cloud, mobile, analytics and big data. All these mega-themes are expected to evolve in the next 3-5 years.

IBM does not view cloud as cannibalistic to its software business, but rather an enabler of new IT delivery methods and business models (i.e. selling traditional middleware as a set of services without owning your own data center).

New York-based IBM recently introduced new cloud and mobile-enabled social-business software and service capabilities which will allow line of business executives to move their business processes quickly into the cloud to drive better decision making and increase productivity.

IBM's SmartCloud Connections includes new features, such as mobile file sync and share; new community features such as social bridging; and bringing traditional office productivity tools into the social realm.

IBM is also a key contributor of the Openstack initiative which it expects to act as a tide that raises all boats (opening significant new opportunities to sell its hardware, software and services into new applications) and is fully supporting its development through direct investment as an active contributor.

IBM acquired SoftLayer to accelerate its public cloud advancement, particularly in enterprise-centric, high SLA applications. Dallas-based SoftLayer has 21,000 customers and 13 data centers in the US, Asia, and Europe.

IBM's SmartCloud is targeted more at large enterprises while SoftLayer focuses on small and medium businesses (SMB). Depending on the workload and SLA requirements, SoftLayer could allow IBM to sell more easily to SMB, which should be an early adopter of public cloud.

IBM is offering a new cloud-based hybrid server deployment option for companies that allow them to bridge on-premises and cloud with a single administration console while also accelerating their transition from weeks! and months into hours with no hardware investment.

Today more than 9,000 cloud clients, and 75 percent of the Fortune 100 are transforming their business operations with IBM enterprise social software, and the momentum continues to grow.

Meanwhile, IBM is well positioned for big data. IBM has invested $15 billion in M&A to position itself for the Big Data opportunity and believes it has built the industry's leading big Data / Cloud platform, bar none.

IBM is combining its Big Data platform and analytics tools into Apps that for specific customer applications. For example, in the airline industry, IBM is harnessing customer insight by ingesting real time twitter and other contextual data to enhance customer loyalty (e.g. personalized call / emails to Elite members).

"This 'customer sentiment' data is one of the most sought after items in Big Data and IBM believes its capabilities in this area are unique," Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore wrote in a note to clients.

In addition, the proliferation of mobile devices is taxing existing IT systems as these devices access internal data through private and less secure public clouds which makes security an increasingly vital area.

IBM bolstered the security aspect of cloud offering with its recent acquisition of Trusteer, which specializes in secure consumer–to-business transactions in financials. IBM is forming a cybersecurity software lab in Israel that will bring more than 200 Trusteer and IBM researchers and developers together to focus on mobile and application security, advanced threat protection, malware, counter-fraud, and financial crimes.

IBM should be well positioned for the IT as a service (ITaaS) era. The company's bet on Big Data, increasing investment in cloud, and traditional strength in managing complexity may result in a better competitive position than in the client-server era.

Twitter Favorites the Jobs Act, For Now

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Twitter's tweet about its expected initial public offering shook up Twitter late Thursday afternoon.

But the company's 140-character admission of what many Silicon Valley VCs and the markets have been craving for months wasn't timed to coincide with Facebook's (FB) resurgence in its stock, as some market pundits speculated.

It was likely timed to make the most of the Jobs Act, and to provide Twitter as much privacy and time as it needs pre-IPO. The Jobs Act only applies to companies with revenues under $1 billion. [Read: Will Twitter Sell Its Soul Like Facebook Did?]

Which means that Twitter, which several sources said would likely top the $1 billion revenue threshold by next year, wouldn't be able to take advantage of the new law. Industry sources also previously told The Deal that the company's market capitalization is likely to be between $12 billion and $15 billion. So far, Twitter's progression toward public markets appears to be taking lessons from its predecessors. For years, the company fought to curtail unrestricted trading of its stock on secondary markets, like SharesPost and Secondmarket The startup did this by raising massive amounts of capital, some of it not actually used for operations, but for maintaining its capital structure. It accomplished this through "Right of First Refusal" agreements that many of its investors -- but not all -- agreed to as part of its venture capital rounds. (Twitter's earliest VC rounds were not subject to these stipulations, which allowed for limited out-of-control secondary market trading.) Facebook, which did next to nothing to curb secondary market trading of its stock, was helpless as its valuation grew like kudzu, and its bankers fueled the fire by jacking up its share price and float size during its road show. This was a significant factor leading to the company's poor performance in the initial months after its IPO. After the IPO, Facebook underwhelmed with product announcements. Shareholders were left perplexed, and perhaps disappointed, when there was no new phone being developed by the social network -- after a flood of rumors. [Read: Why Wall Street Got Apple Wrong This Week] With Twitter, sources say, this won't be the case. Other than ad revenue, industry insiders said they expect Twitter to add new verticals. Its hiring of former Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Nathan Hubbard, for instance, is a sign that Twitter could get into live events ticket sales, putting them on a collision course with Live Nation and Eventbrite.

And it isn't just Facebook that served as a good, and bad, example for Twitter.

The public pain of Groupon (GRPN) -- and the public ousting of CEO Andew Mason by his directors after more than a year of rudderless leadership -- is another example of what Dick Costolo and Twitter must want to avoid.

Groupon's many trip-ups as it went through the standard process of the IPO, pre-Jobs Act, were embarrassing to Mason and distracted from any positive hype the online coupon company could generate. Just like Facebook, Groupon's IPO underperformed out of the gate. [Read: The 5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week: Sept. 13]

The micro-messaging startup's CEO famously fired his own board after two venture capitalists that backed Twitter, Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson and Spark Capital's Bijan Sabet, decided to dump substantial amounts of their stock into secondary markets, at a valuation substantially lower than where Twitter is expected to IPO. Costolo is notorious, but well-regarded, in Silicon Valley for his protectiveness of Twitter's private financial information -- even from his own investors. However, Costolo's next act as CEO is what he will be judged for most, and remembered best. And unlike everything he's done to date, the startup's boss will have to work under the pressure of everyone knowing exactly how well his company is performing. Goldman Sachs reportedly has been tapped to lead the IPO; other underwriters have yet to be revealed. --Written by Jonathan Marino in New York--

Our Autumn of Discontent

By Salil Mehta, statistician and blogger at (Statistical Ideas)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The fall months may be some of the riskiest months in the market. After all, most of the infamous 10, worst one�-day market panics on the Dow, have occurred near October. But a ranked listing of only 10 is a freakishly small sample of extreme events from which to draw any statistical significance.

The history of the Dow goes back to the late 19th century. And with enough data, we can better understand the frequency of when severe market drops occur. We know that Mark Twain once said at about the same time the Dow started, "It is not worth while to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible."

There is a statistically strong historical repetition of market crashes, occurring in the months near October. But so too do crashes more often occur on Mondays, for any month of the year. Of the 29,400 trading days in the history of the Dow, we looked at the worst 294 (or 1%) of them. In order to qualify for this club of the worst 1% days, a daily price drop of at least 3.2% was needed. And while we expect five of these worst 1% days biennially, the most recent one we have had was November 2011. Here is the distribution of those 294 days by month, in red on the chart. As a statistical alternate, we also show, in light green, the distribution of 294 days evenly spread across 12 months.

Next we show the distribution of these worst 1% trading days, by the weekday when they occurred. The statistical strength of Mondays is very powerful, and it does not transfer over to either the trading day before or after (e.g., Fridays or Tuesdays). We can see this with a simple kernalized smoothing technique, with a width of plus or minus one day. We see the kernalized distribution essentially matches the uniform distribution in light green, so we fail to appreciate that the Monday result is a product of luck during the five-weekday cycle.

On the contrary, a similar smoothing exercise in the monthly distribution data above wouldn't have changed the monthly seasonal pattern we see. Additionally, we know that there are two weekend, non-trading days, breaking the psychological rhythm between Friday and Monday. There is no similar large break, of any non-trading months, in the monthly distribution.

It is worth noting that the combinations of the weekday and monthly data are also statistically significant. Again, here we use a Chi-square non-parametric test, to measure possible differences from expectations. With the 294 worst trading days, spread over 60 weekday and month combinations, we have designed a statistically large enough sample to see significance within the weekday and month combination. We see this 60-weekday and month combination distribution above. October is represented in yellow; Monday is represented by blue. We see that the riskiest time for the markets, shown in green, have been near October, and particularly on Mondays. None of the above analysis is statistically significant for the average severity of market drops, beyond the 3.2% threshold, just to be in this worst 1% club. But as we have shown in this note, it is important to also pay attention to the frequency of highly risky market times when planning any investment strategy for the uncertain autumnal season ahead. Written by Salil Mehta, creator of the Statistical Ideas blog. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned, although positions may change at any time. This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Buy For 2014

Ethanol blends of 15%, or E15, just got a green light from the Supreme Court. Trade groups representing the oil, food, and automaker industries challenged that such high blends of ethanol would damage engines, raise food prices, and hike the price paid at the pump by consumers. The Supreme Court decided to leave current Environmental Protection Agency rules in place after the consortium (in three separate cases) failed to provide evidence that those claims were, in fact, harmful to its members. It sure isn't good news for the argument against E15, but it is vindication for ethanol producers. Since biofuels figure to be staying put with mandated growth for the time being, let's review four of the best biofuels stocks.

Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE  ) The leader in compressed natural gas, or CNG, for the transportation industry got a boost from the EPA earlier this year when CNG sourced from landfills gained the ability to qualify for advanced biofuel subsidies. It's the next best thing to cellulosic ethanol credits, if not better. That can add a nice revenue stream to Clean Energy's already promising business model, and expedite its journey to profitability. Except for a tad more paperwork, the company doesn't have to change operations one bit. What's not to like?

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Buy For 2014: Bhp Billiton PLC (BBL)

BHP Billiton plc, incorporated in 1996, is diversified natural resources company. The Company generally operates through customer sector groups (CSGs). The Company operates in nine segments: Petroleum, Aluminium, Base Metals, Diamonds and Specialty Products, Stainless Steel Materials, Iron Ore, Manganese, Metallurgical Coal and Energy Coal. As of June 30, 2012, the Company was working in more than 100 locations worldwide. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company total petroleum production was 222.3 millions of barrels of oil equivalent. During fiscal 2012, its aluminium had a total production in 1.2 million tones (Mt) of aluminium. In August 2011, the Company acquired Petrohawk Energy Corporation. On September 30, 2011, it acquired HWE Mining Subsidiaries from Leighton Holdings. On September 7, 2012, the Company announced the sale of its 37.8 % non-operated interest in Richards Bay Minerals.

Petroleum Customer Sector Group

The Company�� petroleum customer sector group (CSG) consists of a base of onshore and offshore operations that are located in six countries throughout the world. The Company�� production operations include Bass Strait, North West Shelf, Australia operated, Gulf of Mexico, Onshore United States, Liverpool Bay and Bruce/Keith, Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago and Zamzama. Together with its 50-50 joint venture Esso Australia (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil), the Company has been producing oil and gas from Bass Strait, off the south-eastern coast of Australia. The Company dispatches the majority of its Bass Strait crude oil and condensate production to refineries along the east coast of Australia. Gas is piped onshore to its Longford processing facility, from which it sells the Company�� production to domestic distributors under contracts with periodic price reviews.

The Company is a joint venture participant in the North West Shelf Project in Western Australia. The North West Shelf Project was developed in phases the do! mestic gas phase supplies gas to the Western Australian domestic market mainly under long-term contracts, and a series of liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion phases supplying LNG to buyers in Japan, Korea and China under a series of long-term contracts. The project also produces liquefied petroleum gas LPG and condensate. The Company is also a joint venture participant in four nearby oil fields. Both the North West Shelf gas and oil ventures are operated by Woodside.

The Company operates two oil fields offshore Western Australia and one gas field in Victoria. The Pyrenees oil development consists of three fields, two of which (Crosby and Stickle) are located in blocks WA-42-L, while the third (Ravensworth) straddles blocks WA-42-L and WA-43-L. The project uses a FPSO facility. The Stybarrow operation is an oil development located offshore Western Australia. The Minerva operation is a gas field located offshore Victoria. The operation consists of two subsea producing wells which pipe gas onshore to a processing plant. The gas is delivered into a pipeline and sold domestically.

The Company operates two fields in the Gulf of Mexico (Neptune and Shenzi) and hold non-operating interests in a further three fields (Atlantis, Mad Dog and Genesis). The Company divested its interest in the West Cameron and Starlifter areas in June 2012. The Company delivers its oil production to refineries along the Gulf Coast of the United States. The Company operates in four shale fields located onshore in the United States Fayetteville, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Permian. The combined leasehold acreage of the Onshore United States fields is approximately 1.6 million net acres in the states of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Its ownership interests range from less than 1% to 100%. During fiscal 2012, the Onshore United States business delivered 6.9 million barrels of crude oil and condensates, 448 billion cubic feet of natural gas and four million barrels of natural gas liquids.

The Liv! erpool Ba! y, United Kingdom, integrated development consists of five producing offshore gas and oil fields in the Irish Sea, the Point of Ayr onshore processing plant in north Wales and associated infrastructure. The Company delivers the Liverpool Bay gas by pipeline to E.ON�� Connah�� Quay power station. The Company owns 46.1% of and operates Liverpool Bay. It also holds a 16% non-operating interest in the Bruce oil and gas field in the North Sea and operates the Keith field, a subsea tie-back, which is processed via the Bruce platform facilities.

The Company�� Algerian operations consists its 38% interest in the ROD Integrated Development, which consists of six satellite oil fields that pump oil back to a dedicated processing train. The Company exited its effective 45 % interest in the Ohanet wet gas development in October 2011. The Greater Angostura project is integrated oil and gas development located offshore east Trinidad. The Company operates the field and has a 45% interest in the production sharing contract for the project. The Company holds a 38.5 % working interest in and operates the Zamzama gas project in Sindh province of Pakistan. Both gas and condensate are sold domestically.

Aluminium Customer Sector Group

The Company�� Aluminium customer sector groups (CSG) is a portfolio of assets at three stages of the aluminium value chain, such as mining bauxite, refining bauxite into alumina, and smelting alumina into aluminium metal. The Company also produced 12.8 metric ton of bauxite and 4.2 metric ton of alumina. Its Boddington/Worsley is an integrated bauxite mining/alumina refining operation. The Boddington bauxite mine in Western Australia supplies bauxite ore to the Worsley alumina refinery via a 62-kilometre long conveying system. It is the Company�� sole integrated bauxite mining/alumina refining asset. The Company owns 14.8 % of Mineracao Rio do Norte (MRN), which owns and operates a large bauxite mine in Brazil.

The Company's Alumar! is an in! tegrated alumina refinery/aluminium smelter. The Company owns 36 % of the Alumar refinery and 40 % of the smelter. Alcoa operates both facilities. The operations, and their integrated port facility, are located at Sao Luis in the Maranhao province of Brazil. Alumar sources bauxite from MRN. During fiscal 2012, approximately 27 % of Alumar�� alumina production was used to feed the smelter, while the remainder was exported. Its Hillside and Bayside smelters are located at Richards Bay, South Africa. It has a capacity of approximately 715 kiloton�� per annum. Hillside imports alumina from its Worsley refinery. The Company owns 47.1 % of and operates the Mozal aluminium smelter in Mozambique, which has a total capacity of approximately 563 kiloton�� per annum. Mozal sources power generated by Hydro Cahora Basa via Motraco, a transmission joint venture between Eskom and the national electricity utilities of Mozambique and Swaziland.

Base Metals Customer Sector Group

The Company�� Base Metals CSG is producers of copper, silver, lead and uranium, and a producer of zinc. Its portfolio of mining operations includes the Escondida mine in Chile and Olympic Dam in South Australia. Its total copper production during fiscal 2012, was 1.1 metric ton. In addition to conventional mine development, it pursue advanced treatment technologies, such as leaching low-grade chalcopyrite ores. The Company markets five primary products, such as copper concentrates, copper cathodes, uranium oxide, lead concentrates and zinc concentrates.

The Company has 57.5% interest owned and operated Escondida mine. During fiscal 2012, its share of Escondida production was 333.8 kiloton of payable copper in concentrate and 172.0 kiloton of copper cathode. Its Olympic Dam is a producer of copper cathode and uranium oxide and a refiner of smaller amounts of gold and silver bullion. The Company owns 33.75 % of Antamina copper/zinc mine in Peru. The Company�� wholly owned Spence copper mine produces! copper c! athode. During fiscal 2012, the Company produced 180.3 kiloton of copper cathode. The Company also has interest in Pampa Norte Cerro Colorado Operation, Cannington and North America-Pinto Valley.

Diamonds and Specialty Products Customer Sector Group

The Company�� diamonds and specialty products CSG operate its diamonds business and engage in the exploration and development of a potash business. Its diamonds business is consists of the EKATI Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The Company�� interest in EKATI consists of an 80%t interest in the Core Zone Joint Venture, consisting existing operations and a 58.8 % interest in the Buffer Zone Joint Venture, primarily focusing on exploration targets. The Company sells its rough diamonds to international diamond buyers through its Antwerp sales office.

Stainless Steel Materials Customer Sector Group

The Company�� Stainless Steel Materials CSG is primarily a supplier of nickel to the stainless steel industry. The Company also supplies nickel to other markets, including the specialty alloy, foundry, chemicals and refractory material industries. The Company�� nickel business consists of two assets, including Nickel West and Cerro Matoso. Nickel West is the name for its wholly owned Western Australian nickel Asset, which consists of an integrated system of mines, concentrators, a smelter and a refinery. The Company mine nickel-bearing sulphide ore at its Mt Keith, Leinster and Cliffs Operations north of Kalgoorlie. The Company operates concentrator plants at Mt Keith and at Leinster, which also concentrate ore from Cliffs. The Company also operates the Kambalda concentrator south of Kalgoorlie, where it source ore through tolling and concentrate purchase arrangements with third parties in the Kambalda region. The Company�� Cerro Matoso is its 99.94 % owned nickel Asset in Colombia, combines a lateritic nickel ore deposit with a ferronickel smelter. Production in during fiscal 2012, was! 48.9 kil! oton of nickel in ferronickel form.

Iron Ore Customer Sector Group

The Company�� Iron Ore CSG consists of its Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) interests and a 50 % interest in the Samarco Joint Venture in Brazil. The Company sells lump and fines product produced in Australia and pellets from its operations in Brazil. WAIO�� operations involve integrated system of mines and more than 1,000 kilometers of rail infrastructure and port facilities in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. WAIO operations consist of three joint ventures, such as Mt Newman, Yandi and Mt Goldsworthy and Jimblebar. The Company is a joint venture partner with Vale at the Samarco Operation in Brazil. Samarco consists of a mine and two concentrators located in the State of Minas Gerais, and three pellet plants and a port located in the State of Espirito Sant.

Manganese Customer Sector Group

The Company�� Manganese CSG produces a combination of ores and alloys from sites in South Africa and Australia. Aproximately 80 % of its ore production is sold directly to external customers and the remainder is used as feedstock in its alloy smelters. The Company owns and manages all manganese mining operations and alloy plants through joint ventures with Anglo American. Its joint venture interests are held through Samancor Manganese, which operates its global Manganese assets. In South Africa, Samancor Manganese (Pty) Ltd owns 74 % of Hotazel Manganese Mines (Pty) Ltd (HMM) and 100 % of the Metalloys division. In Australia, it owns 60 % of Groote Eylandt Mining Company Pty Ltd (GEMCO) and has an effective interest of 60 % in Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company Pty Ltd (TEMCO) through GEMCO, which owns 100 % of TEMCO.

Metallurgical Coal Customer Sector Group

The Company�� Metallurgical Coal CSG is a supplier of seaborne metallurgical coal. Metallurgical coal, along with iron ore and manganese, is a key input in the production of steel. The Comp! any�� e! xport customers are steel producers around the world. The Company has assets in two resource basins, such as the Bowen Basin in Central Queensland, Australia, and the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia.

The Bowen Basin is well positioned to supply the seaborne market. The Company also has access to key infrastructure, including a modern, integrated electric rail network and its own coal loading terminal at Hay Point, Mackay. The Company owns and operates three underground coal mines in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, which supply metallurgical coal to the nearby BlueScope Port Kembla steelworks, and other domestic and export markets. Total production in during fiscal 2012, was approximately 7.9 metric ton.

Energy Coal Customer Sector Group

The Company�� Energy Coal CSG is a producers and marketers of export energy coal (also known as thermal or steaming coal) and is also a domestic supplier to the electricity generation industry in Australia, South Africa and the United States. The Company makes export sales to power generators and some industrial users in Asia, Europe and the United States, usually under contracts for delivery of a fixed volume of coal. The Company operates three assets, including a group of mines and associated infrastructure collectively known as BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa; its New Mexico Coal operations in the United States; and its New South Wales Energy Coal operations in Australia. The Company also owns a 33.33 % share of the Cerrejon Coal Company, which operates a coal mine in Colombia.

BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa (BECSA) operates four coal mines being Khutala, Klipspruit, Middelburg and Wolvekrans in the Witbank region of Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The Company owns and operates the Navajo mine, located on Navajo Nation land in New Mexico, and the nearby San Juan mine located in the state of New Mexico. Each mine transports its production directly to a nearby power station.! New Sout! h Wales Energy Coal�� operating asset is the Mt Arthur Coal open-cut mine in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, which produced approximately 17 metric ton during fiscal 2012. The Company has a one-third interest in Cerrejon Coal Company, which owns and operates open-cut export coal mines in La Guajira province of Colombia, as well as integrated rail and port facilities through which the majority of production is exported to European, Middle Eastern, North American and Asian customers.

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Buy For 2014: Malbex Resources Inc(MBG.V)

Malbex Resources Inc., an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal projects in Argentina and Peru. The company primarily explores for gold and silver. Its principal property includes Del Carmen project that covers approximately 15,129 hectares located near the southern end of the El Indio Gold Belt, Argentina. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

5 Best Value Stocks To Own Right Now: Costain Grp(COST.L)

Costain Group PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of consultancy, engineering, construction and operations, and maintenance services in Spain. The company operates in four segments: Environment, Infrastructure, Energy and Process, and Land Development. The Environment segment offers engineering solutions in water, waste, education, and retail sectors. The Infrastructure segment provides engineering solutions for various infrastructure providers, such as highways, rail, and airports markets. The Energy and Process segment offers consultancy, engineering, project delivery, and asset support services for power, nuclear process, and hydrocarbons and chemicals. The Land Development segment is involved in the land and marina development activities. The company was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Maidenhead, the United Kingdom.

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Buy For 2014: Wireless Telecom Group Inc.(WTT)

Wireless Telecom Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and supply of noise source products, electronic testing and measurement instruments, and passive components to commercial customers, the U.S. Government, and prime defense contractors. The company offers a range of noise source products, including components and instruments that are primarily used as a method of testing to determine if communications systems are capable of receiving the information being transmitted; and a line of broadband test equipment to cable television and cable modem industries for measuring CATV equipment, data-over-cables, and digital TVs. Its noise source products are used as a reference standard in test instruments that measure unwanted noise and interference in devices and components utilized in various communications equipment; coupled with other electronic devices for use as a means of jamming, blocking, and disturbing enemy radar and other commu nications; and used in radar systems as part of built-in test equipment to monitor the radar receiver and in satellite communications. The company also designs and produces electronic testing and measuring instruments, including power meters; passive inter modulation test equipment for cellular transmission signals; voltmeters; capacitance meters; audio and modulation meters; and accessory products. In addition, it designs and manufactures passive microwave components for the wireless infrastructure market and for other commercial, aerospace, and military markets. The company?s passive components are used in microwave systems, UMTS, PCS and cellular communications base stations, television transmitters, avionic systems, and medical electronics. It markets its products through its in-house sales people, as well as through manufacturers? representatives and distributors worldwide. Wireless Telecom Group, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.< /p>

Hot Performing Companies To Watch In Right Now

I have searched for highly profitable companies that pay very rich dividends and that are in a short-term uptrend and in a mid-term uptrend. Stocks in an uptrend are performing well and are in a buying mode. Those stocks would also have to show a very low trailing and forward P/E ratio.

I have elaborated a screening method, which shows stock candidates following these lines. Nonetheless, the screening method should only serve as a basis for further research. All the data for this article were taken from Yahoo Finance and finviz.com. The screen's formula requires all stocks to comply with all following demands:

The forward dividend yield is greater than 3.90%. The payout ratio is less than 85%. Trailing P/E is less than 12. Forward P/E is less than 12. The stock price is above the 20-day simple moving average (short-term uptrend). The stock price is above the 50-day simple moving average (mid-term uptrend).

After running this screen on August 16, 2013, before the market open, I discovered the following four stocks:

Hot Performing Companies To Watch In Right Now: Lavendon Group(LVD.L)

Lavendon Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rental of powered access equipment. The company offers boom lifts, scissor lifts, van mounts, and truck mounts, as well as telehandlers and fork-lift trucks. Its powered access equipment provide temporary aerial access for people in a range of applications, including industrial repair and maintenance, construction, telecommunications, outside broadcasting, sign erection, and highway maintenance. The company operates an equipment fleet of approximately 21,000 units through a network of 100 depots. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. The company is headquartered in Lutterworth, the United Kingdom.

Hot Performing Companies To Watch In Right Now: Cross Country Healthcare Inc.(CCRN)

Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. provides healthcare staffing and outsourcing services to the healthcare market in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Asia. The company?s Nurse and Allied Staffing segment provides nurse and allied staffing services; healthcare professionals in various specialties, such as operating room and radiology technicians, rehabilitation and respiratory therapists, radiation therapy technicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants; and registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nurse assistants for per diem assignments. This segment markets its nurse and allied staffing services primarily to acute care hospitals, health systems, public and private healthcare facilities, and for-profit and not-for-profit facilities under the Cross Country TravCorps, MedStaff Healthcare Solutions, NovaPro, Cross Country Local, CRU-48, Allied Health Group, and Assignment America names. Its Physician Staffing segment offers temporary physici an staffing services. The company?s Clinical Trial Services segment provides contract staffing and outsourcing, drug safety monitoring, and regulatory consulting services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies, as well as contract research organization customers under the ClinForce, Assent, and AKOS brands. Its Other Human Capital Management Services segment offers education and training, as well as retained search services primarily related to physicians, allied health, and healthcare executives. The company was formerly known as Cross Country, Inc. and changed its name to Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. in May 2003. Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.

Best High Tech Companies To Watch For 2014: ViewPoint Financial Group Inc.(VPFG)

ViewPoint Financial Group, Inc. operates as the holding company for ViewPoint Bank, which provides financial services for consumers and businesses. Its deposit products include checking, savings, money market, demand accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company?s loan portfolio comprises real estate loans, such as one-to four-family, commercial construction, and home equity loans, as well as commercial real estate loans for office buildings, retail centers, light industrial facilities, warehouses, and multifamily properties; consumer loans, including new and used automobile loans, recreational vehicle loans, loans secured by savings deposits, and unsecured consumer loans; and commercial non-mortgage loans, including loans to finance business working capital, commercial vehicles, and equipment, as well as lines of credit. It also offers brokerage services for the purchase and sale of non-deposit investment and insurance products through a third party brokerage arrang ement. As of March 31, 2011, the company operated 23 community bank offices in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and 13 loan production offices located in Texas, Oklahoma, and Ohio. ViewPoint Financial Group, Inc. is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Hot Performing Companies To Watch In Right Now: Highway Holdings Limited(HIHO)

Highway Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and supplies metal, plastic, electric, and electronic components, as well as subassemblies and finished products for original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers. The company?s products are used in the manufacture of various products, including photocopiers, laser printers, compact disc players, laser disc players, cassette players, computer equipment, electrical components, electrical connectors, cameras, automobile accessories, vacuum cleaners, light fixtures, electro motors, air pumps, automobiles, and dishwasher and other washing machine components. It also manufactures consumer products, such as cases for mobile phones; and assists its customers in the design and development of the tooling used in the metal and plastic manufacturing process, as well as provides other manufacturing and engineering services. In addition, Highway Holdings Limited provides manufacturing services, including me tal stamping, screen printing, plastic injection molding, and pad printing services, as well as electronic assembly services comprising chip on board assembly, IC-bonding, and SMT automatic components assembly of printed circuit boards. It offers its products and services primarily in Hong Kong and China, Europe, the United States, and other Asian countries. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong.

Hot Performing Companies To Watch In Right Now: Cross(A.T.)

A.T. Cross Company engages in the design and marketing of personal and business accessories. It operates in two segments, Cross Accessory Division (CAD) and Cross Optical Group (COG). The CAD segment manufactures and markets writing instruments under the Cross brand, including ball-point pens, fountain pens, selectip rolling ball pens, mechanical pencils, and writing instrument accessories, such as refills and desk sets. It also provides various personal and business accessories, including leather goods, reading glasses, watches, desk sets, cufflinks, and stationery. This segment sells its products through direct sales force and manufacturers' agents or representatives to approximately 2,400 retail and wholesale accounts; and directly to consumers through its Web site, cross.com, and the Cross retail stores in the United States, as well as through distributors and retailers worldwide. The COG segment designs, manufactures, and markets polarized sunglasses and goggles under the Costa and Native brnads in the United States. This segment sells its products through employee representatives and manufacturers? agents to optical and sunglass specialty shops, department stores, and sporting goods retailers in the United States. A.T. Cross Company was founded in 1846 and is headquartered in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Stock Market Crash Talk Gains More Steam

What is a stock market crash? The short answer is that it depends on your risk profile. The financial media covers a one-day drop of 4% as though it were a crash. What happened after the terror attacks in 2001 was a crash. What happened going into the recession of 2008 and 2009 was a crash. The market crash of 1987 was a crash. The bull market of 2013 is not yet dead, but talk is picking up for another market crash, even if the logic and reasoning is different in each major discussion.

Here is what is working against the bulls. The debt ceiling debate is back. Earnings growth is slowing at a time when sales growth is almost nonexistent. Greece and Italy are in the “at risk” headlines again. Emerging markets and BRIC nations just are not supporting the wild growth we all have been used to. Interest rates are rising, even while economic data remains very mixed. Egypt and Syria are becoming serious risks beyond mere discussion. And the market internals are getting more questionable. Valuations of U.S. stocks are not overly expensive, but they are not cheap anymore either.

We already had a serious call for a crash, one of 10% to 20% as a possible mirror of 1987, by gloom and doom preacher Marc Faber. And now the latest trading glitch by NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) brought back memories of the so-called Flash Crash. It also was just shown that margin debt, borrowing against existing stock holdings, is at a record high.

Best Bank Companies To Buy Right Now

Before you go hit the panic button, note that some believe a mini-crash would be a great entry point. We still have a live call from a technician that the S&P 500 Index is heading north of 2,500 for a secular bull market. Many investors have missed the rally almost in its entirety. If interest rates truly are going to rise further, as the risks sure seem, then it almost certainly has to be in anticipation of real economic growth returning. After all, stagflation is merely too painful an outcome after all the stimulus that has been thrown at this market.

Our own news screener is running light on the actual term “stock market crash” on Tuesday. What is not light the past three trading days are more than elevated. A news screener on EIN shows the past three days as the highest of any going back to May.

If you truly are scared of a stock market crash, there are many things you can do. You can lighten up on how much stock you own and slide into cash for a while. You can buy bonds, though the risks of rising interest rates still seem to outweigh the hope of lower interest rates. You can sell call options to increase income or hope your shares get called away at higher prices. And you can even buy put options.

This may be a quiet week based on weeks ahead of Labor Day in most years. That does not mean that you have to put your pocket-book and brain away from risks. Keep in mind that so far in 2013, the Dow Jones Industrial Average itself and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) are up more than 15%, and the S&P 500 Index and the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) are both up more than 16%, as of Tuesday, August 27, 2013. It almost seems painful to consider this notion, but perhaps a mini stock market crash just needs to happen.

Canadian Stocks Little Changed as Banks Gain, Commodities Drop

Canadian stocks were little changed, after rising to a one-week high yesterday, as gains among bank shares offset losses in raw-material producers amid concern about a U.S. military strike on Syria.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest lender, added 0.4 percent. Air Canada, the nation's largest airline, climbed 3.6 percent for a fourth day of gains. Niko Resources Ltd. lost 9.5 percent as crude slipped for the third time in four days. Torex Gold Resources Inc. and B2Gold Corp. retreated more than 1.4 percent as the U.S. faced opposition from Russia on an attack against Syria, eroding demand for gold as a haven. Silvercorp Metals Inc. sank 5 percent as silver prices fell.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index (SPTSX) rose 3.21 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,743.71 at 2:27 p.m. in Toronto. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has risen 2.5 percent this year. Trading volume was 4.3 percent higher than the 30-day average at this time of the day.

"The oil price and gold price are reflecting geopolitical risk," said Jeffrey Burchell, a fund manager with Aston Hill Financial Inc., in a telephone interview from Toronto. His firm manages about C$8 billion ($7.6 billion). "People are getting settled in and trying to figure out what to do next."

Gold and silver futures fell the most in eight weeks. Torex Gold sank 5.6 percent to C$1.53 and B2Gold dropped 1.4 percent to C$2.80. Silvercorp Metals fell 5 percent to C$3.82.

The S&P/TSX Materials Index lost 1 percent as 45 of 55 members retreated. The group has plunged 25 percent this year, the worst performer among 10 industries in the S&P/TSX.

Chemical Weapons

The international community's credibility is on the line after Syria used chemical weapons against civilians, U.S. President Barack Obama said at a news conference today in Stockholm, repeating a claim the Syrian government has denied.

Canada's trade deficit widened to C$931 million in July from C$460 million in June, Statistics Canada said. The gap exceeded the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Exports fell 0.6 percent to C$39.2 billion on a 7.3 percent drop in shipments of metal and non-mineral products.

"The hearty gain in energy exports that the street was expecting didn't quite materialize," Emanuella Enenajor, an economist with CIBC World Markets Inc., said in a note to clients today. "Overall a disappointing figure."

The Bank of Canada today kept its main interest rate unchanged at 1 percent for the 24th meeting. Policy makers reiterated that current monetary policy remains appropriate as an expected rotation of demand to exports and investment is being delayed.

Niko Resources declined 9.5 percent to C$4.29 and Bankers Petroleum Ltd. slipped 1.5 percent to C$3.56. Crude for October delivery lost 1.4 percent to $107.01 a barrel in New York.

Air Canada (AC/B), the nation's largest airline, rose 3.6 percent to C$2.92. The stock has jumped 9.8 percent in the past four sessions, the longest winning streak since June.