Will Pepsi Continue to Trade Near Highs for the Year?

With shares of Pepsi (NYSE:PEP) trading around $85, is PEP 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

Pepsi operates as a food and beverage company worldwide. The company is organized into four business units: PepsiCo Americas Foods, PepsiCo Americas Beverages, PepsiCo Europe, and PepsiCo Asia, Middle East, and Africa. It manufactures, markets, and sells a range of salty, convenient, sweet and grain-based snacks, carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, dairy products, and other foods. Convenience foods are seeing significant demand worldwide as consumers in growing economies are opting for these products. Pepsi stands to see a continued rise in profits for many years as a leading provider of quick, convenient, inexpensive, and enjoyable products worldwide.

Pepsi may be facing the reality of a declining number of soda drinkers in North America, but the beverage and food company isn't letting any depressing forecasts get the best of its competitive spirit. After reporting modest third-quarter earnings in mid-October, the soda maker welcomed the Halloween season by taking a jab at longtime rival Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), effectively proving to consumers that the company is still alive and kicking. Consumers enjoyed the risk Pepsi's Belgian ad agency took by directly mentioning a competitor in its marketing effort. Close inspection of the ad highlights how the Purchase, New York-based company avoided a copyright lawsuit by cleverly interchanging Coca-Cola's "L" and "C."

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Pepsi stock has seen a consistent uptrend in the last several years. The stock is currently trading near highs and looks poised to continue. 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, Pepsi 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 Pepsi options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Pepsi Options	14.80%	20%	18%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
December Options	Flat	Average
January 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 minimal 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 Increasing 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 Pepsi’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Pepsi look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	1.65%	36.17%	-2.82%	18.81%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	1.54%	2.12%	1.23%	-1.01%
Earnings Reaction	2.07%	-0.64%	3.04%	1.09%

Pepsi has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been optimistic about Pepsi’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Pepsi stock done relative to its peers, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), Dr.Pepper Snapple (NAYSE:DPS), Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST), and sector?

	Pepsi	Coca-Cola	Dr.Pepper Snapple	Monster Beverage	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	25.31%	9.92%	8.40%	5.43%	13.26%

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

Conclusion

Pepsi provides convenient and affordable beverage and food items to consumers in a multitude of countries around the world. The company may be facing the reality of a declining number of soda drinkers in North America, but the beverage and food company isn't letting any depressing forecasts get the best of its competitive spirit. The stock has been moving higher in recent years and is now consolidating near highs for the year. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been rising, which has left investors optimistic about earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, Pepsi has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Pepsi to OUTPERFORM.

Modern Day Horror Stories: 'And Then My Money ... Vanished'

Getty Images They come slinking out of the shadows like disembodied spirits, trying to steal your life and all that goes with it. No, not ghosts, ghouls or vampires: We're talking about a more modern diabolical threat -- identity thieves looking to make off with your hard-earned cash. On this day of tricks and treats, we offer you a few tales of the unfortunate victims of such tricks -- and treat you to some advice about what to do if it happens to you. Double Trouble Credit card fraud affects around 10 percent of all Americans each year, according to the Federal Trade Commission, so odds are it will strike you at some point. Keeping an eagle eye on your credit card charges is key -- the sooner you alert your credit card issuer to fraudulent charges, the faster you can stop the crook. The good news is, credit card companies have become quite familiar with fraudsters' patterns now, and most are good about removing the charges quickly. Ghouls Go Shopping There's not much you can do to thwart a determined thief other than keep a close watch on your wallet. But carrying only one card around can at least make the theft a little less painful. It's also a good idea to photocopy all your cards, front and back, in case you need to contact your banks and credit card companies quickly. Bad News Bidders Phishing has become ubiquitous -- if you have an email account, it's likely you've been targeted -- and the tricksters are moving their scams to text messages now, too: Ferris Research says more than 4 million phishing texts were sent in 2012. There's one fail-safe way to avoid phishing scams that look like they come from your bank, credit card issuer, or popular sites like eBay (EBAY) and Paypal. Simply delete the message and type the company's web address directly into your browser. If the message is legitimate, eBay, Paypal, and many financial companies store it in an online "message center" in your profile that you can access from their sites. If you're really concerned, call the company to check. There are plenty of scammers out there, but you can keep scary situations from becoming true nightmares with a little knowledge and planning. Happy Halloween!

Top Insider Trades: GMCR TTWO MUSA AL

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By Jonathan Moreland, founder of Insider Insights and author of Profit From Legal Insider Trading.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It is a victory for common sense. Tracking the trading behavior of company executives, directors and large shareholders in the stocks of firms they're registered in as "insiders" has proven to be profitable, according to both academic studies and (more importantly) the experience of professional investors.

Below are lists of the top 10 mainly open-market insider purchases and sales filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013 as ranked by dollar value. Please note, however, that these are only factual lists, not buy and sell recommendations. Dollar value is only one metric to assess the importance of an insider transaction, and, frankly, often not even the most important metric that determines if an insider transaction is significant. At InsiderInsights.com, we find new investment ideas just about every day using these and more intricate insider screens to determine where we should focus our subsequent fundamental and technical analysis. And while stocks don't (or shouldn't) move up or down based on insider activity alone, insiders tend to be good indicators of when real stock-moving events like earnings surprises, corporate actions, and new products may be in the offing. So use these regular Top Insider Trades columns as the initial research tools they are meant to be, and click the links in the tables to analyze a company's or insider's full insider his

Want to Dine Well, Save Money and Be 'Green'? Eat Weird Fish

Getty Images Whether you're talking about nutrition or taste, fish is hard to resist. High in protein and nutrients, low in cholesterol and saturated fats, it lends itself to dozens of different cuisines and thousands of different dishes. And, while there are some dangers associated with factory-farmed seafood, eating farm-raised fish is hardly the culinary Russian roulette of consumer beef, pork or chicken. On the surface, fish seems like the perfect food for concerned consumers. Unfortunately, however, environmental issues lurk below the surface. The biggest problem with fish is that its public relations have, arguably, been too good. A handful of well-known species -- including salmon, tuna, sea bass, and swordfish -- have captured the public attention, and its palate. Fishing fleets sail far and wide to collect these restaurant favorites; in the process, they have often overfished many of the classics, driving prices up and breeding populations down. Many of the popular fish are predators, but things are also pretty bad on the other end of the food chain. Some less-beloved forage fish, like sardines and anchovies, are also heavily fished, either for use as high-protein animal feed, or as the base ingredient in nutritional supplements. By intensively harvesting these fish, companies diminish the bottom of the food chain, further endangering salmon, tuna, swordfish, and all the other species that are higher up the ladder. So how can you satisfy your craving for finny friends without blowing all your money or destroying the ocean? The answer is simple: Eat weird fish. The species that you've heard of, that you grew up eating, are the same ones that are currently struggling to survive. On the other hand, there are dozens that you probably haven't heard of that are much less at risk and would taste great on your plate. Several resources, notably the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch, offer lists of sustainable fish. Monterey Bay, in fact, even offers a smartphone app that can make it easy to scan the menu for sustainable choices. In fact, while it might be overstating to claim that your fish-eating choices can actually help the environment, there are some invasive species that are crowding out more popular choices. If you can develop a taste for swamp eel, walking catfish or rusty crawfish, you could conceivably open up a little more space for other species. In the meantime, though, here are a few of our favorite less-common fish choices:

Best China Stocks To Own Right Now

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Shanda Games (NASDAQ: GAME  ) have popped today by as much as 11% after the game maker launched a new title with early success.

So what: Shanda launched Million Arthur last night on Apple's iOS platform in China, and the company said it promptly rose the charts to become the No. 3 top grossing app across all categories within Apple's App Store in China. That climb occurred in less than eight hours.

Now what: The casual gaming market in China is growing quickly, and investors are optimistic about Shanda's new title getting such a warm reception. Shanda President Tunghai Chien said that Million Arthur grabbed more first-day daily active users in China than its combined total when it launched in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Separately, iPhone apps within the top 10 grossing spots have been estimated to generate at least $47,000 in revenue daily within the U.S. market. The figures are likely different for the Chinese market, but there's no doubting Million Arthur's strong showing out the gate.

Best China Stocks To Own Right Now: Ambow Education Holding Ltd. (AMBO)

Ambow Education Holding Ltd. provides educational and career enhancement services in the People?s Republic of China. The company?s Better Schools division offers K-12 degree programs and tutoring services that enable students to enhance their academic results and educational opportunities. This division provides tutoring services, including classroom instruction, small class, and one-on-one tutoring for students to prepare for important tests, primarily high school and university entrance exams; educational curriculum and software products through Web-based applications to allow students the access to tutoring services; and eBoPo that offers subjects, online practice tests, and instruction for K-12 level students. Its K-12 schools provide full-subject national curriculum, including mathematics, language, history, sciences, and arts. Ambow Education Holding?s Better Jobs division offers career enhancement service programs and college programs that facilitate post-secondary students to obtain employment. This division provides career enhancement services primarily to students at universities, colleges, and community colleges and recent graduates of these institutions. Its career enhancement services provides hands-on training for professional skills, including case studies, job environment simulation, and specific technical skills; and soft skills training comprising courses on time management, presentation, leadership, and interview techniques. This division also offers corporate training programs for employees; career GPS system, a career assessment platform for job seekers; and degree programs to incoming students. As of December 31, 2010, the company operated 107 tutoring centers and 5 K-12 schools; and 17 career enhancement centers and 2 colleges in the Bohai Rim Area, Central South Area, and the Yangtze River Delta. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Best China Stocks To Own Right Now: Sina Corporation(SINA)

SINA Corporation provides online media and mobile value-added services (MVAS) in the People?s Republic of China. It provides advertising, non-advertising, and free services through SINA.com, Weibo.com, and SINA Mobile. SINA.com offers free interest-based channels that provide region-focused format and content, including news, sports, automobile-related news, finance, entertainment, luxury, technology, digital, tools, collectibles, video, music, and wireless application protocol, as well as interactive platform for fashion-conscious users to share comments and ideas on a range of topics, such as health, cosmetics, and beauty. The company's microblogging platform, Weibo.com, enables its users to follow the hottest topics being discussed online, as well as discussions related to people they know. Weibo accounts consist of celebrities, commercial enterprises, government entities, and grass root Internet users. Its SINA Mobile service allows users to receive news and informatio n, download ring tones, mobile games and pictures, and participate in dating and friendship communities. The company also offers SINA Game, which serves as an interactive platform that provides users with downloads and gateway access to popular online games; SINA eReading, a shop for book reviews; SINA.net, an enterprise solutions platform to assist businesses and government bodies; and SINA Mall, an online shopping Website. In addition, it provides a platform for Chinese bloggers; photo-sharing platform; free email, VIP mail, and corporate email for enterprise users; audio and video-based instant messaging tools; proprietary search technology; and classified advertising services, as well as hosts topic-specific discussion forums in Chinese language; and creates user-maintained and supported online communities. The company has strategic cooperation agreement with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. SINA Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the Peop le?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  Weibo has put Sina back on the map. As long as Sina doesn�� make a critical error, Weibo should remain incredibly valuable. However, due to poor valuation and a questionable Chinese economy, Sina is a neutral WAIT AND SEE.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  A month ago he was concerned about SINA (NASDAQ: SINA  ) , fearing that Alibaba purchasing an 18% stake in SINA Weibo might lead to problems for Baidu. SINA could potentially limit access to its real-time searches of Weibo content, just as domestic search giants had to shell out for access to Twitter. It would be a pretty big gamble for the popular micro-blogging platform since Baidu still commands the lion's share of China's search requests.

Top 5 Undervalued Companies To Buy Right Now: SmartHeat Inc.(HEAT)

SmartHeat Inc. manufactures, sells, and services plate heat exchangers (PHE) in the People?s Republic of China. It offers PHE units, which combine PHEs with various pumps, temperature sensors, and valves and automated control systems; heat meters for use in commercial and residential buildings; and spiral and tube heat exchangers. The company?s products are used in various applications that include energy conversion for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; and industrial use in petroleum refining, petrochemicals, metallurgy, food and beverage, and chemical processing. SmartHeat sells PHE units under the brand name of Taiyu; and PHEs under the brand names of Taiyu and Sondex. It sells its products through sales force and a network of national distributors. The company is headquartered in Shenyang, the People?s Republic of China.

Best China Stocks To Own Right Now: China Green Agriculture Inc.(CGA)

China Green Agriculture, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, production, and sale of various types of fertilizers and agricultural products in the People?s Republic of China. Its fertilizer products include humic acid-based compound fertilizers, compound fertilizers, blended fertilizers, organic compound fertilizers, slow-release fertilizers, water-soluble fertilizers, and mixed organic-inorganic compound fertilizers. The company markets its fertilizer products to private wholesalers and retailers of agricultural farm products in 22 provinces, 4 autonomous regions, and 3 central government-controlled municipalities. It also engages in the development, production, and distribution of agricultural products, such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, and colored seedlings. The company sells its decorative flowers to flower shops, luxury hotels, and government agencies; fruits and vegetables to supermarkets and upscale restaurants; and seedlings to city planning departments in Shaanxi and its neighboring provinces. China Green Agriculture, Inc. is based in Xian, the People?s Republic of China.

Best China Stocks To Own Right Now: Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc(HMPR)

Hampton Roads Bankshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Hampton Roads (BOHR) and Shore Bank that provide community and commercial banking services primarily to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. It offers traditional loan and deposit banking services, as well as telephone banking, Internet banking, remote deposit capture, and debit cards. The company also accepts commercial and consumer deposits that consist of various forms of demand and time accounts, including checking accounts, interest checking, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and IRA accounts. In addition, it provides a range of commercial, real estate, and consumer lending products and services; commercial and industrial loans; construction loans; real estate-commercial mortgage; real estate-residential mortgage; and installment loans to individuals. Further, the company offers travelers? checks, coin counters, wire services, and safe deposit b ox services. Additionally, it provides letters of credit and standby letters of credit, and cash management products to commercial customers. The company also offers insurance products to businesses and individuals; securities, brokerage, and investment advisory services; and non-deposit investment products, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and insurance products, as well as engages in originating and processing mortgage loans. As of June 2, 2011, the company operates 48 banking offices in Virginia and North Carolina; and 8 banking offices in the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia. It operates a network of sixty-seven ATM machines. The company was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.

Solar Cell Efficiency Sets a New Record At 44.7%

The solar market is difficult to read because it relies on quickly changing technology while being heavily tangled in politics and other sectors of the economy, such as the volatile price of fossil fuels.

In addition, the wide range of solar technologies from quantum dots to nano-crystals make it difficult to track clear progress.

Despite its popularity, solar energy has come under fire from critics who cite expensive kilowatt per hour (kWh) compared to other energy sources. The EIA states that in 2017, solar energy will be 55.3 percent more expensive than coal, 63.2 percent more expensive than nuclear, and 73.9 percent more expensive than wind.

Solar companies continue to make grand claims of groundbreaking advancement, which would allow solar energy to be economically viable for an average consumer in near future. However, there is skepticism in the marketplace because leading solar advocates seem to dodge any binding quotes.

This Monday, German Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz Center Berlin announced the development of 44.7 percent efficiency solar cell. While some claim that the new record will allow for cheaper solar energy, others state that III-IV based multijunction cells used for this record is expensive to produce and do not hold much commercial value.

While there has been no promise of cost efficient energy application from this new record, Soitec's Chairman and CEO, André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, conveys that the quickening rate of development in the solar technology may allow solar energy to outcompete other energy sources earlier than expected.

"This world record increasing our efficiency level by more than one point in less than four months demonstrates the extreme potential of our four-junction solar cell design which relies on Soitec bonding techniques and expertise,” he announced in the press release held this Monday “It confirms the acceleration of the roadmap towards higher efficiencies which represents a key contributor to competitiveness of our own CPV systems. We are very proud of this achievement, a demonstration of a very successful collaboration."

US solar consumption has jumped by 55 percent since 1995 and appears in a multitude of commercial merchandises ranging from phone chargers to parking meters. In addition, big name companies have started to use solar as an energy source in their stores. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) lead the way with 144 and 134 stores using the energy source. Other leaders include Kohl's (NYSE: KSS), Costco (NASDAQ: COST) and Macy's (NYSE: M).

Is solar energy the hope for humanity or is it the second coming of corn ethanol, propelled by green-energy zealots and angst about the rising price of fossil fuels?

Most experts agree that solar power will soon become a reliable and economically sensible energy source across the private and public sectors.

Assuming those analysts are right, a multitude of companies will enter and fade from the industry as the solar market takes form. Forbes reports that 40 solar companies went out of business in 2012 with several others declaring bankruptcy. Despite these failures, investors have huge expectations for solar, with these companies trading at huge multiples.

The Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE: TAN), which tracks the performance of 25 solar companies, is up more than 97 percent this year.

Advisers meet record-setting rally with joy and skepticism

Financial advisers watched with a mix of joy and growing skepticism about the forces behind the record rally as two of the most widely followed stock market indexes touched new highs Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 16,000 shortly after the opening bell, reflecting a gain of more than 22% from the start of the year. The broad market S&P 500, which has gained 26% so far this year, crested 1,800 for the first time ever.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index, which is up more than 31% this year, is still well off its peak of more than 5,000, a level reached during the tech bubble in the late 1990s. Still, the technology-heavy index is hovering just below the 4,000 mark for the first time in more than a decade.

The milestone coincidences may be just that, according to Sam Jones, president of All Season Financial Advisors, who described the index performance levels as “math magic.”

Like a lot of advisers, Mr. Jones is happy to take what the equity markets are giving, but he is also growing increasingly wary of the market's extended run.

“I think this market is way overbought,” he said. “Over the past 12 months, we haven't had a correction of more than 5%, and people are starting to think that's normal.”

The fact is, with the Federal Reserve's record level quantitative easing program now in its fifth year with no specific end in sight, it has been difficult to apply any parameters to quantify the current bull market.

“Oftentimes, in a great bull market, it doesn't feel that way,” said Marty Leclerc, chief investment officer at Barrack Yard Advisors.

“Advisers have to remind their clients that this past few years is pretty unusual and they have to have a Plan B for when things change,” he added. “This has all been predicated on cheap money and that seems to be here for a while.”

Joseph Witthohn, vice president of product development at Emerald Asset Management, looked past the index milestones to put the market rally in perspective.

“The S&P is up over 26% and of course this is causing some concern, but we've seen it before,” he said. “The S&P's total return has risen more than 26% 13 times since it was created in 1950, which is one out of every five years, and it might just be that this is one of those years. So relax.”

But while Mr. Witthohn is relaxing, Mr. Jones prefers a more cautious approach to current market conditions.

“We've gotten really accustomed to a friendly market, but people need to be reminded that this is not normal,” he said. “It just feels like a setup to me, and that doesn't mean I'm going to act on it or start hedging positions, but I am conscious ! of it and ready to cut and run if I need to.”

Best Financial Stocks To Own Right Now

LONDON -- To me, capital growth and dividend income are equally important. Together, they provide the total return from any share investment and, as you might expect, my aim is to invest in companies that can beat the total return delivered by the wider market.

To put that aim into perspective, the FTSE 100 has provided investors with a total return of around 3% per annum since January 2008.

Quality and value
If my investments are to outperform, I need to back companies that score well on several quality indicators, and buy at prices that offer decent value.

This series aims to identify appealing FTSE 100 investment opportunities, and today, I'm looking at�Diageo� (LSE: DGE  ) (NYSE: DEO  ) , the owner of many well-known alcoholic drink brands.

With the shares at 1,968 pence, Diageo's market cap is 49,437 million pounds.

This table summarizes the firm's recent financial record:

Year to June

Best Financial Stocks To Own Right Now: American Select Portfolio Inc.(SLA)

American Select Portfolio Inc. is a close ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by FAF Advisors, Inc. It is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors, Inc. and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. The fund invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in mortgage-related assets that directly or indirectly represent a participation in or are secured by and payable from mortgage loans. The fund has an overall credit quality of BBB. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Lehman Brothers Mutual Fund Government/Mortgage Index. The fund will not invest in inverse floaters, principal-only securities, interest-only securities, inverse interest-only securities, Z-bonds. American Select Portfolio Inc. was formed on September 21, 1993 and is domiciled in the United States.

Best Financial Stocks To Own Right Now: National Penn Bancshares Inc.(NPBC)

National Penn Bancshares, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for National Penn Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to residents and businesses primarily in eastern and central Pennsylvania. It offers various deposit products, including demand, NOW, money market, and other checking and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company also provides consumer loan products, such as installment loans, home equity loans, residential mortgage loans, multi-family loans, educational loans, and credit cards; commercial loans, including short-term loans for seasonal and working capital purposes, term loans secured by real estate and other assets, loans for construction and expansion needs, and revolving credit facilities; and commercial real estate lending services, including loans to developers of residential and commercial projects. In addition, it offers automated teller services; safe deposit and night depository facilities; Interne t banking services, including online bill paying services; remote deposit capture, disbursement, and collection; and private banking services. Further, the company provides investment management and fiduciary services to individuals, corporations, government entities, and non-profit institutions; investment and consulting solutions to the retirement plan market; securities brokerage services; property and casualty insurance services to individuals and businesses; employee benefits consulting services; and equipment leasing services. At March 31, 2011, it operated through 123 offices, including 122 community banking offices in Pennsylvania; and 1 office in Maryland. The company was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.

Top 5 Gold Companies To Own For 2014: Corporate Office Properties Trust(OFC)

Corporate Office Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the acquisition, development, ownership, management, and leasing of suburban office properties. As of December 31, 2005, the company?s portfolio consisted of 165 office properties; 14 wholly owned office properties under construction or development; and land parcels totaling 311 acres. As of the above date, the company, through joint ventures, owned 18 operating properties, 2 office properties, and land parcels totaling 138 acres. As an REIT, it would not be taxed on the portion of its income, which is distributed to shareholders, provided it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income. Corporate Office Properties Trust was founded in 1988 and is based in Columbia, Maryland.

Best Financial Stocks To Own Right Now: Walker Crips Weddle Beck(WCW.L)

Walker Crips Group plc, an integrated financial services company, offers investment management services in the United Kingdom. Its services include stock broking, fund management, administrating individual savings accounts, and managing clients? deposits in the course of conducting investment business. The company?s services also comprise corporate finance, pension management and advice, corporate trustee services, structured investments design, and personal financial services; and securities trading, ISA/CTF, custody, deposit, and nominee services. In addition, it provides financial advice to individuals, partnerships, and companies; unit trust fund management to private and corporate clients; and corporate broking, as well as pension administration services. Walker Crips Group plc was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Best Financial Stocks To Own Right Now: Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (FRFHF)

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (Fairfax) is a financial services holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, is principally engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and the associated investment management. The Company�� segments consist of Insurance, Reinsurance, Insurance and Reinsurance Other, Runoff, and Corporate and Other. On December 22, 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of 75% interests in Sporting Life Inc. On August 16, 2011, the Company acquired William Ashley China Corporation. On March 24, 2011, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax completed the acquisition of The Pacific Insurance Berhad. On February 9, 2011, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax completed the acquisition of First Mercury Financial Corporation. In October 2012, its RiverStone runoff subsidiary acquired all the outstanding shares of Brit Insurance Limited. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  That business model has been so successful that other, smaller insurance companies have emulated it. For instance, Fairfax Financial (NASDAQOTH: FRFHF  ) and Markel (NYSE: MKL  ) have used the same investing model to take advantage of their respective core insurance businesses. Both Fairfax and Markel have had substantial success, showing the power of using temporarily available premium reserves to make higher-return investments.

• [By Tim Brugger]

  Citing the letter of intent to be acquired�for $9 a share signed Monday with a consortium led by its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial (NASDAQOTH: FRFHF  ) , BlackBerry� (NASDAQ: BBRY  ) �has opted to cancel its conference call and webcast following the 7 .a.m EST release of Q2 earnings this Friday, the company announced yesterday.

Best Financial Stocks To Own Right Now: Popular Inc.(BPOP)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) shares tumbled 5.54 percent to $27.48 after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock from Equal-weight to Underweight.

  Pacific Coast Oil Trust (NYSE: ROYT) down, falling 7.13 percent to $16.70 after the company priced a public offering by Pacific Coast Energy Company LP and other selling unitholders of 13,500,000 trust units at a price of $17.10 per unit.

[video] Activist Investor Buys 8% Stake in Aeropostale

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Aeropostale (ARO) shares were surging 17% after Hummingbird LLC disclosed in a regulatory filing that it purchased nearly an 8% stake in the teen retailer.

Hummingbird is indirectly owned by Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private-equity fund focused on consumer and retail investments,which owns Hot Topic and Talbots. Sycamore has approximately $1 billion in capital under management as of June 2013, according to its Web site.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission13D filing on Tuesday, Hummingbird acquired 6.25 million shares, or 7.96%, of Aeropostale's common stock. [Read: 5 Breakout Trades to Take Ahead of the Fed]

The share acquisition, valued at about $53.9 million, is seen as "an attractive investment," and part of the investment activities on behalf of Sycamore Funds, the filings said. Aeropostale shares were rising 16.5% to $10.04. "The reporting persons may communicate with the issuer's management, members of the issuer's board of directors, other stockholders of the issuer and other relevant parties concerning the business, assets, capitalization, financial condition, operations, management, governance, strategy and future plans of the issuer," the filing said. Stifel analyst Richard Jaffe said he believes that Hummingbird will attempt to take the company private at a price of about $10 a share. "Given Sycamore Partners' track record, we believe Hummingbird will ultimately attempt to take Aeropostale private," Jaffe wrote in a research note. "In our opinion Stefan Kaluzny, co-founder of Sycamore Partners, is involved in the bid on ARO and his presence, in our opinion, adds credibility to the bid and in our estimation, the likelihood of its success." [Read: Unwarranted Apple Hate ] Aeropostale reported an adjusted loss of 34 cents a share for the second quarter. Analysts were expecting a loss of 24 cents a share. The retailer said net sales dropped 6% in the quarter to $454 million, while comparable-store sales plunged 15% compared to the same period a year earlier. Aeropostale joins the likes of the teen retail segment, including Abercombie & Fitch (ANF) and American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), which reported dismal earnings and weak outlooks for the rest of the year as their target segment spends their dollars elsewhere. -- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York. Follow @LKulikowski To contact Laurie Kulikowski, send an email to: Laurie.Kulikowski@thestreet.com. >To submit a news tip, email: tips@thestreet.com. Follow TheStreet on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014

With the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) at a new record high, cautious investors are starting to pay attention to valuation more closely than ever on the stocks that interest them. Yet whenever you use simple measures to try to assess whether a stock is cheap or expensive, you need to understand that your conclusions are only as strong as the accuracy of the data. If you rely on numbers that might not be correct, then you could make mistakes in your evaluation of a stock's true value.

Book value is a great example of how financial numbers can be misleading. Let's look at the four cheapest stocks in the Dow in terms of price-to-book ratios and try to assess whether those stocks are actually good values at their current prices.

A valuation that's lighter than aluminum
Among Dow stocks, Alcoa (NYSE: AA  ) has the cheapest valuation based on price-to-book ratio, with shares fetching just 68% of book value. The aluminum industry overall is in terrible condition, and so peers such as Chinalco also trade at similar levels compared to book value. For its part, Alcoa has had to shutter some of its production facilities recently, strongly suggesting that its plant and equipment items on its balance sheet aren't necessarily producing as much profit as their book value would suggest.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Local.com Corporation(LOCM)

Local.com Corporation operates as an Internet search advertising company that enables businesses and consumers to find each other and connect locally. Its Owned and Operated business unit manages its flagship online property Local.com and a proprietary network of approximately 20,000 local Websites that reach approximately 15 million monthly unique visitors. The company places various display, performance, and subscription advertisement products on its Local.com and proprietary network. Its Network business unit operates a private label local syndication network of approximately 1,000 U.S. regional media Websites; 80,000 third-party local Websites; and its own organic feed of local businesses plus third-party advertising feeds that focus primarily on local consumers to a distribution network of hundreds of Websites. The company?s Sales and Ad Services business unit provides approximately 45,000 direct monthly subscribers with Web hosting or Web listing products. The compan y was formerly known as Interchange Corporation and changed its name to Local.com Corporation in November 2006. Local.com Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquarters in Irvine, California.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc.(WEN)

The Wendy's Company operates as a quick-service hamburger company in the United States. The company, through its subsidiary, Wendy's International, Inc., operates as a franchisor of the Wendy's restaurant system. As of December 26, 2011, the Wendy's system comprised approximately 6,500 franchise and company restaurants in the United States and the United States territories, as well as in 26 other countries worldwide. The company was formerly known as Wendy's/Arby's Group, Inc. and changed its name to The Wendy's Company in July 2011. The Wendy's Company was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  We still have many key oil and energy companies reporting in the week ahead but we have now seen the sector leaders report earnings. Earnings previews have been prepared for the following stocks:

  CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) and OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) American Water Works Company Inc. (NYSE: AWK) Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) The Wendy’s Company (NYSE: WEN)

  CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) reports earnings on Monday morning. With all of the exchange mergers of the last decade this remains one of the dominant exchanges. Estimates are $0.73 EPS and $713.3 million in revenue. Keep in mind that this exchange is now worth $25 billion. At $74.70, the consensus analyst price target is only just barely higher at almost $75.50.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another under-$10 stock that's starting to move within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Wendy's (WEN), which operates quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches throughout the U.S. This stock has been on fire so far in 2013, with shares up sharply by 57%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Wendy's, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways and consolidating for the last two months, with shares moving between $8.11 on the downside and $8.88 on the upside. This consolidation has been occurring just above WEN's 50-day moving average of $8.23 a share. Shares of WEN are now starting to spike higher and move within range of triggering a major breakout trade above the upper-end of its recent range.

  Market players should now look for long-biased trades in WEN if it manages to break out above its 52-week high at $8.88 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above that level with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 6.61 million shares. If that breakout hits soon, then WEN will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets of that breakout are $12 to $15 a share.

  Traders can look to buy WEN off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below its 50-day moving average at $8.23 a share, or below more support at $8.11 a share. One can also buy WEN off strength once it clears its 52-week high at $8.88 a share with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Top 5 Undervalued Companies To Watch In Right Now: Kimber Resources Inc(KBX)

Kimber Resources Inc., a junior mineral resource company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral resource properties in Mexico. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. Its principal property includes the Monterde Property, which consists of 35 mineral concessions totaling approximately 29,296 hectares located in the Sierra Madre mountains of southwestern Chihuahua State. Kimber Resources Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Alliance Holdings GP L.P.(AHGP)

Alliance Holdings GP, L.P., through its subsidiaries, produces and markets coal primarily to utilities and industrial users in the United States. It produces a range of steam coal with varying sulfur and heat contents. The company operates nine underground mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 697.4 million tons of proven and probable coal reserves in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. In addition, the company leases land; and operates a coal loading terminal, with a capacity of 8.0 million tons with ground storage of approximately 60,000 to 70,000 tons, on the Ohio River at Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Further, it engages in purchasing and selling coal; and providing services, including ash and scrubber sludge removal, coal yard maintenance, and arranging alternate transportation services. Alliance GP, LLC, serves as the general partner of the company. Allian ce Holdings GP, L.P. is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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 Alliance Holdings GP (Nasdaq: AHGP  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Sirius XM Radio Inc.(SIRI)

Sirius XM Radio Inc. provides satellite radio services in the United States and Canada. It broadcasts a programming lineup of approximately 135 channels of commercial-free music, sports, news and information, talk and entertainment, traffic, and weather on subscription fee basis through two satellite radio systems in the United States; and holds an interest in the satellite radio services offered in Canada. The company also simulcasts music and selected non-music channels over the Internet; and offers applications to allow consumers to access its Internet services on mobile devices. As of December 31, 2010, it had 20,190,964 subscribers. In addition, the company designs, establishes specifications, sources or specifies parts and components, and manages various aspects of the logistics and production of satellite radios; licenses its technology to various electronics manufacturers to develop, manufacture, and distribute radios under various brands; and imports radios distri buted through its Websites. The company?s satellite radios are primarily distributed through automakers, retailers, and its Websites. Further, it provides music services for commercial establishments; a satellite television service to offer music channels as part of certain programming packages on the DISH Network satellite television service; music and comedy channels to mobile phone users through mobile phone carriers; Backseat TV, a service offering television content designed primarily for children in the backseat of vehicles; Travel Link, a suite of data services that include graphical weather, fuel prices, sports schedules and scores, and movie listings; and real-time traffic and weather services. The company was formerly known as Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and changed its name to Sirius XM Radio Inc. in August 2008. Sirius XM Radio Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  This is not a big number compared to its more than 70 million active listeners. Most of Sirius XM's (NASDAQ: SIRI  ) 24.4 million subscribers are paying subscribers. Spotify attracts a smaller total audience than Pandora but has more more than twice as many premium accounts. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) rolled out All Access this month exclusively as a premium platform.�

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Things never get dull for the country's lone satellite radio provider. Shares of Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI  ) moved lower on the week, shedding 2% of its value to close at $3.64. The media darling's slide wasn't as bad as Nasdaq's 0.3% decline on the week.

• [By Rich Smith]

  As if competition from Rhapsody, Spotify, Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI  ) , and last.fm weren't enough, free-music-streamer Pandora (NYSE: P  ) may have a new rival to contend with. On Monday, Japanese electronics titan Panasonic (NASDAQOTH: PCRFY  ) announced that it has just bought Germany's Aupeo GmbH, a "leading content and audio streaming service" based in Berlin.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Bears continue to shuffle toward the exit turnstiles at Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI  ) .

  Fresh exchange data this week shows that there were 368.8 million shares of the satellite radio provider sold short at the end of May. Since peaking at just above 414 million at the end of February, shorting activity at Sirius XM has fallen in five of the six bi-monthly reporting periods.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Ford Motor Credit Company(F)

Ford Motor Company primarily develops, manufactures, distributes, and services vehicles and parts worldwide. It operates in two sectors, Automotive and Financial Services. The Automotive sector offers vehicles primarily under the Ford and Lincoln brand names. This sector markets cars, trucks, and parts through retail dealers in North America, and through distributors and dealers outside of North America. It also sells cars and trucks to dealers for sale to fleet customers, including daily rental car companies, commercial fleet customers, leasing companies, and governments. In addition, this sector provides retail customers with a range of after-sale vehicle services and products in the areas, such as maintenance and light repair, heavy repair, collision repair, vehicle accessories, and extended service contracts under the Ford Service, Lincoln Service, Ford Custom Accessories, Ford Extended Service Plan, and Motorcraft brand names. The Financial Services sector offers vari ous automotive financing products to and through automotive dealers. It offers retail financing, which includes retail installment contracts for new and used vehicles; direct financing leases; wholesale financing products that comprise loans to dealers to finance the purchase of vehicle inventory; loans to dealers to finance working capital, purchase real estate dealership, and/or make improvements to dealership facilities; and other financing products, as well as provides insurance services. Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 and is based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Miller]

  Ford's (NYSE: F  ) Fusion has outsold any other Ford vehicle this year, with the exception of America's No. 1 selling vehicle, the F-Series pickup truck. It's been a huge success with critics and consumers alike, and the only thing holding its sales back is that production plants are running 114% of capacity and struggling to keep up with demand. The Fusion has dominated its crosstown rival General Motors' (NYSE: GM  ) Chevy Malibu, and GM has responded with early changes to its model in hopes of keeping sales competitive.

• [By Eric Bleeker, CFA, Jason Moser, and Chris Hill]

  While much ado has been made about the battle for your living room among the tech giants, your car is a battleground often overlooked by investors, and the competition is heating up. In this segment, Eric discusses how including cars in Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iOS or Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) Android ecosystems could keep the technology from becoming outmoded longer than if automakers make their own proprietary in-car systems. He also discusses which automakers are already on board with the idea, and why some holdouts such as Ford (NYSE: F  ) could be making a big mistake.

• [By Morgan Housel]

  It's already more than a theory. The new fleets of vehicles being produced by Ford (NYSE: F  ) and General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) have a common denominator: A forceful push away from power and size toward efficiency. Whether it's an SUV or a tiny commuter car, efficiency now sells, and that's what automakers are delivering.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Tesla has gained 2% to $184.65 at 11:41 a.m, while Toyota has dropped 1.5% to $126.05, General Motors (GM) has fallen 0.7% to $35.44 and Ford (F) has declined 1.2% to $16.89.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Compass Minerals Intl Inc(CMP)

Compass Minerals International, Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and markets inorganic mineral products primarily in North America and the United Kingdom. The company operates in two segments, Salt and Specialty Fertilizer. The Salt segment produces salt and magnesium chloride for use in road deicing and dust control, food processing, water softeners, pool salt, and agricultural and industrial applications. This segment also purchases potassium chloride and sells as a finished product. The Specialty Fertilizer segment produces and markets sulphate of potash crop nutrients and industrial grade sulfate of potash for use in the production of specialty fertilizers for vegetables, fruits, potatoes, nuts, tobacco, and turf grass. The company also produces and markets consumer deicing and water conditioning products, ingredients used in consumer and commercial food preparation, and other mineral-based products for consumer, agricultural, and industrial applications. In ad dition, Compass Minerals provides records management services to businesses located in the U.K. The company operates rock salt mines in Goderich, Ontario, Canada; and Winsford, Chesire, the United Kingdom. It primarily serves producers of intermediate chemical products used in the production of vinyls and other chemicals, and pulp and paper, as well as water treatment and other industrial uses. The company markets its products through direct sales personnel, contract personnel, and a network of brokers or manufacturers? representatives. Compass Minerals International, Inc., formerly known as Salt Holdings Corporation, was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Compass Minerals (CMP) is a producer of minerals, including salt, sulfate of potash specialty fertilizer and magnesium chloride. This stock closed up 3.4% at $75.60 in Wednesday's trading session.

  Wednesday's Volume: 913,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 212,481
  
  Volume % Change: 315%

  From a technical perspective, CMP gapped higher here off its recent low of $64.24 with heavy upside volume. This stock recently gapped down sharply from around $90 to $64.24 with heavy downside volume. That move pushed shares of CMP into extremely oversold territory, since the stock's current relative strength index reading is 25.78. Oversold can always get more oversold, but it's also an area where a stock can experience a powerful bounce higher from. Shares of CMP are now starting to move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if CMP manages to take out its gap down day high of $78.20 and then once it clears its 200-day moving average at $79.14 with high volume.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in CMP as long as it's trending above Wednesday's low of $73.07 or $72.50 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 212,481 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then CMP will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone that started near $90.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Partner Communications Company Ltd.(PTNR)

Partner Communications Company Ltd. provides various telecommunications services in Israel. It offers cellular telephony services on GSM/GPRS and UMTS/HSDPA networks. The company also provides basic services, including domestic mobile calls, international dialing, roaming, voice mail, short message services, intelligent network services, content based on its cellular portal, data and fax transmission, and other services. In addition, it offers Internet services provider services that provides access to the Internet, as well as home WiFi networks; value added services, such as anti-virus and anti-spam filtering; and transmission services; and Web video on demand services, music tracks, and games. Further, the company provides voice over broadband and primary rate interface fixed-line telephone services; and data capacity services. Additionally, it offers content services comprising voice mail, text, and multimedia messaging, as well as downloadable wireless data application s, including ring tones, music, games, and other informational content; and sells handsets, phones, routers, and related equipment. The company markets its products through its sales centers, business sales representatives, traditional networks of specialized dealers, and non-traditional networks of retail chains and stores under the Orange brand name. Partner Communications Company Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha-ayin, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another under-$10 wireless telecom player that's starting to move within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Partner Communications (PTNR), a telecommunications company, provides cellular and fixed-line telecommunication services in Israel. This stock is off to a strong start in 2013, with shares up sharply by 29%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Partner Communications, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways for the last month, with shares moving between $7.28 on the downside and $7.96 on the upside. Shares of PTRN are bucking the overall market weakness today as the stock starts to move within range of triggering a breakout trade above the upper-end of its sideways trading chart pattern.

  Market players should now look for long-biased trades in PTNR if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $7.80 to $7.85 a share and then once it clears its 52-week high at $7.96 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that registers near or above its three-month average volume of 107,303 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then PTNR will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $10 to $12.20 a share.

  Traders can look to buy PTNR off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $7.38 to $7.28, or below its 50-day at $6.97 a share. One can also buy PTNR off strength once it clears those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

How Currency Works

Whether we pull out paper bills or swipe a credit card, most of the transactions we engage in daily use currency. Indeed, money is the lifeblood of economies around the world.

To understand why civilized societies have used currency throughout history, it's useful to compare it to the alternative. Imagine you make shoes for a living and need to buy bread to feed your family. You approach the baker and offer a pair of shoes for a specific number of loaves. But as it turns out, he doesn't need shoes at the moment. You're out of luck unless you can find another baker - one who happens to be short on footwear - nearby. Money alleviates this problem. It provides a universal store of value that can be readily used by other members of society. That same baker might need a table instead of shoes. By accepting currency, he can sell his goods and have a convenient way to pay the furniture maker.

In general, transactions can happen at a much quicker pace because sellers have an easier time finding a buyer with whom they want to do business.

There are other important benefits of money, too. The relatively small size of coins and dollar bills makes them relatively simple to transport. Consider a corn grower who would have to load a cart full of food every time he needed to buy something.

Additionally, coins and paper have the advantage of lasting a long time, which is something that can't be said for all commodities. A farmer who relies on direct trade, for example, may only have a few weeks before his assets spoil. With money, she can accumulate and store her wealth.

Various Forms

Today, it's natural to associate currency with coins or paper notes. However, money has taken a number of different forms throughout history. In many early societies, certain commodities became a standard method of payment. Around the 16th century, for example, the Aztecs often used cocoa beans instead of trading goods directly. However, commodities have clear drawbacks in this regard. Depending on their size, they can be hard to carry around from place to place. And in many cases, they have a limited shelf life.

These are some of the reasons why minted currency was an important innovation. As far back as 2500 BC, Egyptians created metal rings that they used as money, and actual coins have been around since at least 700 BC, when they were used by a society in modern-day Turkey. Paper money didn't come about until the Tang Dynasty in China, which lasted from 618-907 AD.

More recently, technology has enabled an entirely different form of payment: electronic currency. Using a telegraph network, Western Union (NYSE:WU) completed the first electronic money transfer way back in 1871. With the advent of mainframe computers, it became possible for banks to debit or credit each others' accounts without the hassle of moving large sums of cash.

Types of Currency

So, what exactly gives our modern forms of currency – whether it's an American dollar or a Japanese yen – value? Unlike early coins made of precious metals, most of what's minted today doesn't have much intrinsic value. However, it retains its worth for one of two reasons.

In the case of "representative money," each coin or note can be exchanged for a fixed amount of a commodity. The dollar fell into this category in the years following World War II, when central banks around the world could pay the U.S. government $35 for an ounce of gold.

However, worries about a potential run on America's gold supply led President Nixon to cancel this agreement with countries around the world. By leaving the gold standard, the dollar became what's referred to as "fiat money." In other words, it holds value simply because people have faith that other parties will accept it.

Today, most of the major currencies around the world – including the euro, British pound and yen – fall into this category.

Exchange-Rate Policies

Because of the global nature of trade, parties often need to acquire foreign currencies as well. Governments have two basic policy choices when it comes to managing this process. The first is to offer a fixed exchange rate.

Here, the government pegs its own currency to one of the major world currencies, such as the American dollar or the euro, and sets a firm exchange rate between the two denominations. To preserve the local exchange rate, the nation's central bank either buys or sells the currency to which it is pegged.

The main goal of a fixed exchange rate is to create a sense of stability, especially when a nation's financial markets are less sophisticated than those in other parts of the world. Investors gain confidence by knowing the exact amount of the pegged currency they can acquire, if they so desire.

However, fixed exchange rates have also played a part in numerous currency crises in recent history. This can happen, for instance, when the purchase of local currency by the central bank leads to its overvaluation.

The alternative to this system is letting the currency float. Instead of pre-determining the price of a foreign currency, the market dictates what the cost will be. The United States is just one of the major economies that uses a floating exchange rate.

In a floating system, the rules of supply and demand govern a foreign currency's price. Therefore, an increase in the amount of money will make the denomination cheaper for foreign investors. And an increase in demand will strengthen the currency – that is, make it more expensive.

While a "strong" currency has positive connotations, there are drawbacks. Suppose that the dollar gained value against the yen. Suddenly, Japanese businesses would have to pay more to acquire American-made goods, likely passing their costs on to consumers. This makes U.S. products less competitive in overseas markets.

The Impact of Inflation

Most of the major economies around the world now use fiat currencies. Since they're not linked to a physical asset, governments have the freedom to print additional money in times of financial trouble. While this provides greater flexibility to address challenges, it also creates the opportunity to overspend.

The biggest hazard of printing too much money is hyperinflation. With more of the currency in circulation, each unit becomes worth less. While modest amounts of inflation are relatively harmless, uncontrolled devaluation can dramatically erode the purchasing power of consumers.

If inflation reaches 5 percent annually, each individual's savings – assuming it doesn't accrue substantial interest – is worth 5 percent less than it was the previous year. Naturally, it becomes harder to maintain the same standard of living.

For this reason, central banks in developed countries usually try to keep inflation under control by indirectly taking money out of circulation when the currency loses too much value.

The Bottom Line

Regardless of the form it takes, all money has the same basic goals. It helps encourage economic activity by increasing the market for various goods. And it enables consumers to store wealth and therefore address long-term needs.

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014

DALLAS (AP) ��The government's insider-trading case against billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is heading toward the final buzzer.

After six days of testimony, closing arguments are expected Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Dallas.

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Cuban, claiming that he avoided $750,000 in losses by selling his 6% stake in a Canadian search engine company called Mamma.com after the CEO told him about a planned stock offering. The sale would have cut the value of his shares. The CEO, Guy Faure, said that Cuban agreed to confidentiality on a phone call in 2004, then, when told of the stock deal, angrily said, "Now I'm screwed. I can't sell." Cuban disputes Faure's account.

The verdict could come down to whether jurors believe Cuban or the company's CEO, a Canadian citizen who declined to come to Dallas. His testimony had been recorded on video and shown to the jury. Jurors also heard from bankers, stockbrokers and professors.

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014: Thor Industries Inc.(THO)

Thor Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells a range of recreation vehicles and small and mid-size buses, as well as related parts and accessories in the United States and Canada. The company offers a range of travel trailers and motorhomes under the trade name of Airstream, which include Airstream Safari, International, Flying Cloud, and Bambi travel trailers, as well as Interstate Class B motorhomes. It also manufactures and sells conventional travel trailers and fifth wheels under the trade names of Dutchmen, Four Winds, Aero, Grand Junction, Colorado, Cruiser, Seville, Zinger, and Sunset Trail; travel trailers and fifth wheels under trade names of Montana, Springdale, Hornet, Sprinter, Outback, Laredo, Everest, Mountaineer, Challenger, Cougar, Komfort, and Trailblazer; and gasoline and diesel Class C, Class A, and Class B motorhomes under the trade names of Four Winds, Hurricane, Windsport, Mandalay, Dutchmen, Chateau, Serrano, Ventura, and Fun Mover. In addition, it manufactures and sells gasoline and diesel Class A motor homes under the trade names of Daybreak, Challenger, Astoria, Tuscany, Outlaw, and Avanti; travel trailers, fifth wheels, truck campers, and park models under the trade name of General Coach; and park models under the trade names of Tranquility, Westchester, and Breckenridge. Further, the company manufactures small and mid-size transit and commercial buses under the trade names of Aerolite, AeroElite, Aerotech, Escort, MST, Transmark, EZ Rider, Axess, Challenger, Defender, Crusader, American Cruiser, Classic Coach, EZ Trans, GC II, and Pacer. It markets its vehicles through independent dealers to municipalities and private purchasers, such as rental car companies and hotels. The company has a joint venture agreement with Cruise America, Inc. to provide short-term rentals of motorized recreation vehicles to the public. Thor Industries was founded in 1980 and is based in Jackson Center, Oh io.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  My first earnings short-squeeze trade idea is recreational vehicle maker Thor Industries (THO), which is set to release numbers on Thursday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Thor Industries to report revenue of $964.54 million on earnings of 95 cents per share.

  The current short interest as a percentage of the float Thor Industries is notable at 6.7%. That means that out of the 50.23 million shares in the tradable float, 3.01 million shares are sold short by the bears. If the bulls get the earnings news they're looking for, then shares of THO could easily rip sharply higher post-earnings.

  From a technical perspective, THO is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last six months, with shares moving higher from its low of $34.38 to its recent high of $55.93 a share. During that uptrend, shares of THO have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of THO within range of triggering a big breakout trade post earnings.

  If you're bullish on THO, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $55.29 to its 52-week high at $55.93 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 397,012 shares. If that breakout hits, then THO will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $65 to $70 a share.

  I would simply avoid THO or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout, and then drops back below some key near-term support levels at its 50-day moving average of $53.11 to $52.52 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then THO will set up to

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  What: Shares of recreational vehicle maker Thor Industries (NYSE: THO  ) popped 10% today after its quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations.

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014: Bank Of Montreal (BMO)

Bank of Montreal, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of retail banking, wealth management, and investment banking products and solutions in North America and internationally. It offers personal banking products and services to consumers and small businesses, including deposit and investment services, mortgages, consumer credit, small business lending, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services to small business, medium-sized enterprise, and mid-market banking clients comprising lending, deposits, treasury management, and risk management services. The company also offers cards and payments services; investment and wealth advisory services; self-directed investing services; private banking services to high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients; investment fund solutions across a range of channels; pension plans; investment management services; and creditor insurance, and life insurance and annuity products and services. In add ition, it provides capital markets products and services, including equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and recapitalizations, balance sheet management, liquidity management, merchant banking, securitization, foreign exchange, derivatives, debt and equity research, and institutional sales and trading to corporate, institutional, and government clients. As of October 31, 2010, Bank of Montreal operated and maintained approximately 1,230 bank branches in Canada and the United States. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Wednesday, Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO  ) will release its latest quarterly results. With a solid reputation as a strong Canadian financial institution, the bank has benefited from superior conditions in the Canadian economy over the past several years, avoiding much of the trouble that U.S. banks suffered during the financial crisis in 2008.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  U.S. investors first became aware of the relative strength of Canadian banks during the U.S. financial crisis, but since then, they've realized the benefits of looking north of the border. Canada does have its own systemically important banks, which include not only Scotiabank but also Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY  ) , Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO  ) , and three other large financial institutions, but high capital requirements have demonstrated their creditworthiness and relative safety.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC  ) Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC  ) Securities unit, KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY  ) subsidiary KeyBanc Capital Markets, and Bank of Montreal's (NYSE: BMO  ) BMO Capital Markets are the joint book-running managers of the issue.

Top Stocks To Buy Right Now: (CG)

The Carlyle Group is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led buyouts, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings. The firm typically invests in agriculture, aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer, retail, industrial, infrastructure, energy, power, healthcare, software, technology, real estate, financial services, transportation, business services, telecommunications, and media sectors. Within the industrial sector, the firm invests in manufacturing, building products, packaging, chemicals, metals and mining, forestry and paper products, and industrial consumables and services. In consumer and retail sectors, it invests in food and beverage, retail, restaurants, consumer products, consumer services, personal care products, direct marketing, and education. W ithin aerospace, defense, business services, and government services sectors, it seeks to invest in defense electronics, manufacturing and services, government contracting and services, information technology, distribution companies. In telecommunication and media sectors, it invests in cable TV, directories, publishing, entertainment and content delivery services, wireless infrastructure/services, fixed line networks, satellite services, broadband and Internet, and infrastructure. The firm seeks to hold its investments for four to six years. In the healthcare sector, it invests in healthcare services, outsourcing services, companies running clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies , managed care, pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical related services, healthcare IT, medical, products, and devices. It seeks to invest in companies based in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, North America, and South America. The firm seeks to invest in food, financial, and healthcare industries in Western China. In the real estate! sector, the firm seeks to invest in Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States with a target on Florida and Atlanta. It typically invests between $5 million and $50 million for venture investments and between $50 million and $1 billion for buyouts. It typically holds its investments for three to five years. Within automotive and transportation sectors, the firm seeks to hold its investments in for four to six years. The firm originates, structures, and acts as lead equity investor in the transactions. The Carlyle Group was founded in 1987 and is based in Washington, District of Columbia with additional offices across North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By The Value Investor]

  Clearly the market has not been enthusiastic about this debt-loaded offering. Note that ownership following the offering will still be tightly controlled with the Carlyle Group LP (CG) holding a roughly 79% stake. CommScope's net debt position of $2.4 billion following the offering is large due to the acquisition by Carlyle back in 2011. Following the deal, CommScope took on a lot of debt, partially to pay itself a $750 million dividend. Note that Carlyle is still being represented on 9 out of the 11 board seats, possibly creating a mis-alignment between all investors.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  As part of its refocusing, DuPont made a big move to streamline its business during the quarter, finally closing on its $4.9 billion deal to sell its car paint division to private-equity firm Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG  ) . Carlyle arguably got a good deal, given the relatively low price, and it has a opportunity to whip the division back into shape. But the move should help DuPont improve its margins and reduce its exposure to Europe, whose economic woes have been holding the company back recently.

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014: Penn West Petroleum Ltd(PWE)

Penn West Petroleum Ltd. engages in acquiring, exploring, developing, exploiting, and holding interests in petroleum and natural gas properties and related assets in North America. The company produces light and medium crude oil, natural gas liquids, heavy oil, and natural gas. It operates in two major regions, including the Southern District, which covers properties within Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and southern and east central Alberta with developed and undeveloped land base totaling approximately 3.3 million net acres; and the Northern District encompassing northeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta, parts of west central Alberta, and the Northwest Territories with developed and undeveloped land position of approximately 2.9 million net acres. The company was formerly known as Penn West Energy Trust and changed its name to Penn West Petroleum Ltd. in January 2011. Penn West Petroleum Ltd. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Insider Monkey]

  Penn West Petroleum (PWE) is the next on the list, with Y/Cap raising its position by over 100,000 shares to 875,000 shares, worth around $9.7 million. Penn West reported a net loss of $40 million in the second quarter, after reporting an income worth $235 million, with revenue also remaining almost flat on the year. The company also reduced the number of its employees by 25% since the beginning of the year, in order to increase its competitive performance.

• [By Alex Planes]

  One thing investors need to watch is Pengrowth's sky-high payout ratio, which, at present levels, is clearly unsustainable. Pengrowth's asset sales will help paper over the shortfall in the near term, but it's not good policy to pay out so much in the middle of a major exploration project. The company has no plans to cut its dividend, in spite of anticipated production declines in the near term, which stands in stark contrast to competitor Penn West (NYSE: PWE  ) , which slashed its dividend by nearly half�in a wide-ranging announcement earlier this week. Both Pengrowth and Penn West trade at substantial discounts to book value, but at least Pengrowth's monster dividend gives investors something more substantial while waiting for big exploration projects to bear fruit. However, given the company's multi-year weakness, it will take a strong stomach, and a very firm belief in Pengrowth's prospects, to jump in today.

• [By CRWE]

  Penn West Exploration (NYSE:PWE) wishes to notify interested parties that Rob Wollmann, Senior Vice President, Exploration will present at the EnerCom Oil & Gas Conference on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 1:55pm (MST) in Denver, Colorado.

• [By Stephan Dube]

  Peace River's most notable producers:

  PennWest Exploration (PWE), see article here.Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), see article here.Baytex (BTE), see article here.Strata Oil and Gas (SOIGF.PK), see article here.Petrobank Energy & Resources (PBEGF.PK), see article here.

  Cold Lake's most notable producers:

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014: Iamgold Corporation(IAG)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  IAMGOLD (NYSE: IAG  ) will release its quarterly report on Monday, and as with most gold mining companies, it's expected to post disappointing results compared to last year's figures because of the big drop in gold prices during the second quarter. Yet investors still expect IAMGOLD earnings to show the company's profitability, giving it a competitive advantage over weaker producers that are struggling to stay out of the red.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  As a result, Chidley and team upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and�Yamana Gold (AUY) to Neutral from Underweight, and raised Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG) and Iamgold (IAG) to Overweight from Neutral.�Gold Fields (GFI) was downgraded “due to increased risk and also reduced expectations for the South Deep operation,” Chidley says.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  IAMGOLD (NYSE: IAG  ) might specialize in a precious metal, but it's continuing to pay its dividend in hard currency. The company has declared its latest semi-annual distribution at $0.125 per share of its common stock.

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014: Sensata Technologies Holding N.V.(ST)

Sensata Technologies Holding N.V., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells sensors and controls primarily in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. It operates in two segments, Sensors and Controls. The Sensors segment offers pressure sensors, force sensors, temperature sensors, speed sensors, position sensors, motor protectors, and thermal and magnetic-hydraulic circuit breakers and switches. Its sensors are used in various applications, such as automotive air-conditioning, braking, transmission, air bag, heavy vehicle off-road, industrial, aerospace, defense, and data/telecom applications, as well as heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) applications. The Controls segment provides bimetal electromechanical controls, thermal and magnetic-hydraulic circuit breakers, power inverters, and interconnection products. This segment also offers application-specific products, including motor and compressor protectors, circuit breakers, semicondu ctor burn-in test sockets, electrical HVAC controls, power inverters, precision switches, and thermostats. Its products are used in heating and air-conditioning systems, refrigerators, aircraft, automobiles, and light industrial system applications in industrial, aerospace, military, commercial, and residential markets. The company offers its products primarily under the Sensata, Klixon, Airpax, and Dimensions brand names. It serves original equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the automotive, industrial, and commercial end-markets; and industrial and commercial manufacturers and suppliers in the climate control, appliance, semiconductor, datacomm, telecommunications, and aerospace industries, as well as motor and compressor suppliers. The company was founded in 1916 and is based in Almelo, the Netherlands. Sensata Technologies Holding N.V. is a subsidiary of Sensata Investment Company S.C.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Toshiro Hasegawa]

  Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) fell 1.1 percent to A$73.73. Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (ST) retreated 1.1 percent to S$3.78 today after posting earnings.

• [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 Sensata Technologies Holding (NYSE: ST  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014: Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd(TNP)

Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services worldwide. The company offers marine transportation services for national and independent oil companies and refiners under long, medium, and short-term charters. As of August 16, 2011, its fleet consisted of 50 vessels comprising 59 tankers, including 2 dynamic positioning 2 (DP2) shuttle tankers under construction, and 1 liquefied natural gas carrier. The company was formerly known as MIF Limited and changed its name to Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited in July 2001. Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited was founded in 1993 and is based in Athens, Greece.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of energy transporter Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (NYSE: TNP  ) jumped 17% today after the company released earnings.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  We can start with Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (NYSE: TNP  ) . Shares of the energy transporter moved 27% higher last week after surprising the market with a quarterly profit. Business isn't great at Tsakos. Revenue dipped slightly during the period, and a profit of $0.02 a share may not turn heads. However, analysts were bracing for a loss of $0.08 a share on a sharper decline in revenue.

Best Canadian Stocks To Buy For 2014: Information Services Group Inc.(III)

Information Services Group, Inc. operates as a fact-based sourcing advisory company principally in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. It provides strategic consulting, benchmarking and analytics, managed services, and research services with a focus on information technology, business process transformation, and enterprise resource planning. The company serves financial services, telecom, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, transportation and travel, and energy and utilities industries; and state and local governments and airport and transit authorities. Information Services Group, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014

The argument I've made for some time with BRF S.A. (Nasdaq: BRFS) is that this company is on a long-term plan to transform itself from a commodity- and export-driven protein company into a global branded food company like Kraft (Nasdaq:KRFT) or Nestle (Nasdaq:NSRGY). With that, I not only expect significant growth, but significant margin and free cash flow expansion over the next decade. BRF S.A. is by no means cheap according to conventional metrics, but the shares are still slightly undervalued on a cash flow basis and offer investors good exposure to emerging market consumer spending growth.

Q2 A Little Light On Sales, But Strong On Margins
BRF S.A. came in just slightly (1%) below average sales growth expectations, with 10% growth for the second quarter. Growth was driven by the company's large export business (up 19%), as domestic sales (up 4%) were weighed down by a weak demand environment across the Brazilian food sector.

With a better mix (more processed foods) and improving export conditions, BRF S.A. saw significantly better margins this quarter. Gross margin improved about three points from the year-ago period, beating the average estimate by almost a point and a half. Operating income jumped 79% on a huge improvement in export margins, while EBITDA rose 49% and the company logged an almost three-point margin improvement.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: MEDIWARE Information Systems Inc.(MEDW)

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

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

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: CVS Corporation(CVS)

CVS Caremark Corporation operates as a pharmacy services company in the United States. The company?s Pharmacy Services segment provides a range of pharmacy benefit management services, including mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy services, plan design and administration, formulary management, and claims processing; and drug benefits to eligible beneficiaries under the Federal Government?s Medicare Part D program. This segment primarily serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, managed care organizations and other sponsors of health benefit plans, and individuals. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 44 retail specialty pharmacy stores, 18 specialty mail order pharmacies, and 4 mail service pharmacies located in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. This segment operates business under the CVS Caremark Pharmacy Services, Caremark, CVS Caremark, CarePlus CVS/pharmacy, CarePlus, RxAmerica, Accordant, and TheraCom names. The company?s Retail Pharmacy segment sells prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, beauty products and cosmetics, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods through its pharmacy retail stores and online, as well as offers film and photo finishing, and health care services. This segment operated 7,182 retail drugstores located in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia; and 560 retail health care clinics in 26 states and the District of Columbia under the MinuteClinic name. It has a strategic alliance with Alere, L.L.C. for the management of disease management program offerings that cover chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease. CVS Caremark Corporation was founded in 1892 and is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt Brownell]

  Alamy Following an onslaught of media coverage and social media mockery, CVS has agreed to stop giving comically long receipts to its ExtraCare Rewards members. In a Facebook post Friday night, CVS (CVS) chief marketing officer Rob Price acknowledged the complaints about its receipts -- which in some cases measure more than 3 feet long for a single item -- and said it would take steps to shorten them. "You asked for ALL the savings and LESS paper," he wrote. "So, we've found a way to reduce the size of the ExtraCare portion of your receipts by 25% while still providing you all the coupons and rewards." He went on to say that the shorter receipts will be rolling out in the next few weeks, and that the "Send to Card" program, which allows you to send select coupon offers directly to your ExtraCare card, will be expanded next year to include all coupons and offers. That means that ExtraCare members can get all the offers, but with a standard-sized receipt. We stumbled across the issue last week, when an AOL employee bought a single item at a local CVS and wound up with a 38-inch receipt. As we would discover, plenty of shoppers had begun grumbling on social media about similarly long receipts, with some musing about alternative uses for the paper. Other media outlets, including FastCompany and the Huffington Post, likewise picked up on the spreading meme. In its post Friday, CVS showed some sense of humor, acknowledging the "very creative uses" people had come up with for their receipts. It's worth noting that the receipts are still going to be pretty long. It's only a 25% reduction, and only in the coupon portion of the receipt; by our math, that's a reduction of between 6 and 10 inches, so you're still looking at receipts that are upwards of 2 feet in length. That's not quite long enough to wear as a beauty pageant sash, and will prompt a bit less mockery on Twitter, but it still seems like quite a waste of paper. So if that's a concern for you, by all mea

Top 5 Growth Companies To Own For 2014: Cloud Peak Energy Inc(CLD)

Cloud Peak Energy Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in coal mining operations in the Powder River Basin of the United States. It produces sub-bituminous steam coal with low sulfur content for electric utilities and industrial customers. The company owns and operates Antelope surface coal mine located to the south of Gillette, Wyoming; the Cordero Rojo surface coal mine located to the south of Gillette, Wyoming; and the Spring Creek surface coal mine located in Montana. It also owns a 50% interest in the Decker surface coal mine located in Montana. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 970 million tons of proven and probable reserves. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Gillette, Wyoming.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The price of natural gas, however, has dropped 0.4% today, and wouldn’t you know it, coal stocks are weak. Cloud Peak Energy (CLD) has dropped 4.2% to $16.15, while Peabody Energy (BTU) has fallen 2.9% to $17.27. Arch Coal (ACI) is off 1.3% at $4.45, Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) has declined 1.4% to $5.76 and Consol Energy (CNX) has dipped 0.7% to $31.35.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: AeroVironment Inc.(AVAV)

AeroVironment, Inc. designs, develops, produces, and supports unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and efficient energy systems for various industries and governmental agencies. Its UAS provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, including real-time tactical reconnaissance, tracking, combat assessment, and geographic data to the small tactical unit or individual war fighter. The UAS wirelessly transmit critical live video and other information generated by their payload of electro-optical or infrared sensors directly to a hand-held ground control system, enabling the operator to view and capture images during the day or at night on a hand-held ground control unit. AeroVironment also provides spare equipment, alternative payload modules, batteries, chargers, repair services, and customer support for the UAS. In addition, the company produces industrial productivity and clean transportation solutions for commercial and government customers, develops potential clean t ransportation solutions, and performs contract engineering services; offers PosiCharge electric vehicle charging systems for industrial electric material handling fleets, electric vehicle charging systems for passenger and fleet vehicles, and power cycling and test systems for developers and manufacturers of plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as battery packs, electric motors, and fuel cells; and supplies power cycling and test systems to research and development organizations that focus on developing electric propulsion systems, electric generation systems, and electricity storage systems. It supplies its UAS primarily to the organizations within the United States department of defense. AeroVironment, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Monrovia, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Shares of unmanned aerial vehicle specialist-cum-battery fast-charger equipment maker AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV  ) surged in early Wednesday trading, helped by kind words from a new investor that's just taken a substantial stake in the company.

• [By Blake Bos]

  In the video below, Blake observes how smaller companies like iRobot� (NASDAQ: IRBT  ) and AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV  ) , as well as huge defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin� (NYSE: LMT  ) and Northrop Grumman� (NYSE: NOC  ) , are positioned to benefit from this trend.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One aerospace player that insiders are loading up on here is AeroVironment (AVAV), which is engaged in the design, development, production and support of unmanned aircraft systems and efficient energy systems for various industries and governmental agencies. Insiders are buying this stock into decent strength, since shares are up 23% during the last six months.

  AeroVironment has a market cap of $504 million and an enterprise value of $379 million. This stock trades at a premium valuation, with a trailing price-to-earnings of 108.75 and a forward price-to-earnings of 44.35. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 47.4%, and for next year it's pegged at 82.1%. This is a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $128.81 million and its total debt is zero.

  A director just bought 5,000 shares, or about $112,000 worth of stock, at $22.50 per share.

  From a technical perspective, AVAV is currently trending right below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving averages, which is neutral trendwise. This stock has been trending sideways for the last two months, with shares moving between $20.78 on the downside and $23.97 on the upside. Shares of AVAV are now starting to trend within range of triggering a breakout trade above the upper-end of its recent sideways trading chart pattern.

  If you're bullish on AVAV, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above support at $22.30 or above its 200-day at $21.05 and then once it breaks out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $23.60 to $23.97 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average volume of 205,927 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then AVAV will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $25 to $28 a share.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Uranium Resources Inc.(URRE)

Uranium Resources, Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and mining of uranium properties, using the in situ recovery or solution mining process. It owns developed and undeveloped uranium properties in South Texas; and undeveloped uranium properties in New Mexico. The company?s primary customers include utilities who utilize nuclear power to generate electricity. Uranium Resources, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is based in Lewisville, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Since the start of the week, small cap nuclear fuel stock USEC Inc (NYSE: USU) more than doubled for investors, something that has not happened for investors in uranium stocks like Uranium Resources, Inc (NASDAQ: URRE), Denison Mines Corp (NYSEMKT: DNN), Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT: URG) and Uranerz Energy Corp (NYSEMKT: URZ). To recap: USEC Inc closed at the $6 level on Friday, but then it surged to the $15 level on Monday only to open at the $10 level on Tuesday when it ultimately closed at $12.46. So what in the world is going on with USEC Inc and is it time to revisit nuclear fuel and uranium stocks?

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: First Busey Corporation(BUSE)

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that provides various retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It accepts noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing transaction, savings, money market, and time deposits. The company?s loan portfolio includes commercial, agricultural, and real estate loans; individual, consumer, installment, first mortgage, and second mortgage loans; and commercial real estate, residential real estate, and consumer loans. It also provides money transfer, safe deposit, fiduciary, automated banking, and automated fund transfer services. In addition, the company provides asset management, brokerage, and fiduciary services, including financial planning, investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and trust and estate advisory services to individuals; investment management, business succession planning, an d employee retirement plan services to businesses; and investment management, investment strategy consulting, and fiduciary services to foundations. Further, it offers pay processing solutions, such as walk-in payments processing for payments delivered by customers to retail pay agents; online bill payment solutions for payments made by customers on a billing company?s Website; customer service payments for payments accepted over the telephone; direct debit services; electronic concentration of payments delivered by the automated clearing house network; money management software and credit card networks; and lockbox remittance processing of payments delivered by mail. The company has 33 locations in Illinois, 7 locations in southwest Florida, and 1 location in Indianapolis, Indiana. First Busey Corporation was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Express-1 Expedited Solutions Inc.(XPO)

XPO Logistics, Inc. provides third-party logistics services using a network of relationships with ground, sea, and air carriers in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It operates in three segments: Express-1, Concert Group Logistics, and Bounce Logistics. The Express-1 segment offers ground expedited surface transportation services for freight. It operates a fleet ranging from cargo vans to semi tractor trailer units. The Concert Group Logistics segment provides domestic and international freight forwarding services through a network of independently owned stations. Its domestic freight forwarding services include air charter, expedites, and time sensitive services, as well as cost sensitive services comprising deferred delivery, less than truckload, and full truck load services; and international freight forwarding services consist of on-board courier and air charters, time sensitive services, less-than-container and full-container-loads, and vessel charters. This segm ent also offers documentation on international shipments, customs clearance and banking, trade show shipment management, time definite and customized product distributions, reverse logistics and on site asset recovery projects, installation coordination, freight optimization, and diversity compliance support services. The Bounce Logistics segment provides premium freight brokerage services for truckload shipments. The company serves approximately 4,000 retail, commercial, manufacturing, and industrial customers through 6 U.S. operations centers and 22 agent locations. It offers its services to the automotive manufacturing, automotive components and supplies, commercial printing, durable goods manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, food and consumer products, and high tech sectors. The company was formerly known as Express-1 Expedited Solutions, Inc. and changed its name to XPO Logistics, Inc. in September 2011. XPO Logistics, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in Buchanan, Michi gan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO  ) jumped 13% today after announcing an acquisition.

  So what: The company will pay $365 million for logistics provider 3PD, consisting of $357 million in cash an $8 million in XPO restricted stock. Is will use its own cash and borrow $195 million from Credit Suisse Group for the remainder of the purchase. �

Hot Cheap Companies To Own For 2014: Ford Motor Credit Company(F)

Ford Motor Company primarily develops, manufactures, distributes, and services vehicles and parts worldwide. It operates in two sectors, Automotive and Financial Services. The Automotive sector offers vehicles primarily under the Ford and Lincoln brand names. This sector markets cars, trucks, and parts through retail dealers in North America, and through distributors and dealers outside of North America. It also sells cars and trucks to dealers for sale to fleet customers, including daily rental car companies, commercial fleet customers, leasing companies, and governments. In addition, this sector provides retail customers with a range of after-sale vehicle services and products in the areas, such as maintenance and light repair, heavy repair, collision repair, vehicle accessories, and extended service contracts under the Ford Service, Lincoln Service, Ford Custom Accessories, Ford Extended Service Plan, and Motorcraft brand names. The Financial Services sector offers vari ous automotive financing products to and through automotive dealers. It offers retail financing, which includes retail installment contracts for new and used vehicles; direct financing leases; wholesale financing products that comprise loans to dealers to finance the purchase of vehicle inventory; loans to dealers to finance working capital, purchase real estate dealership, and/or make improvements to dealership facilities; and other financing products, as well as provides insurance services. Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 and is based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Rosevear]

  Ford's (NYSE: F  ) latest cars and trucks are getting terrific reviews. Vehicles like the all-new Fusion and Escape are posting big sales gains, month after month. But Ford dropped way down the charts in this year's JD Power Initial Quality Study, while rival General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) stole the show. What's the deal?

• [By John Rosevear]

  But the story behind the story is this: GM expects its new trucks to generate much bigger profits for the company than the old models ever did -- thanks to a strategy that GM borrowed from Ford (NYSE: F  ) . In this video, Fool contributor John Rosevear looks at GM's new pickup strategy -- and how the new trucks were designed from the start to make it happen.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  Ford Motor is revolutionizing its vehicles and hoping to make American vehicles a very competitive option for most consumers and companies around the world. The stock is on a strong run that has put it near a critical price level where a solid break higher may see it coasting towards prices not seen in years. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue figures have been mixed which has led to investors expecting a little more. Relative to its peers and sector, Ford Motor has been a year-to-date average performer. WAIT AND SEE if Ford Motor can break above these key price levels.

• [By John Rosevear]

  In this video, Motley Fool contributor John Rosevear looks at what's working -- and at what isn't -- for the smallest of the Detroit automakers. He also contrasts recent trends at Chrysler with what has been happening at Ford (NYSE: F  ) and General Motors� (NYSE: GM  ) -- and points out a potential big flaw in Chrysler's product strategy.