Top 10 Most Regressive Tax States

State tax systems rake in a much larger share from middle- and low-income families than from wealthy families, according to a study released Wednesday by the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

For all of the combined state and local income, property, sales and excise taxes state residents pay, the average overall effective tax rates by income group nationwide are 11.1% for the bottom 20%, 9.4% for the middle 20% and 5.6% for the top 1%, the study found.

The fourth edition of “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States” reported that in the 10 states whose tax systems most favor high earners, middle-income families pay up to three times as high a share of their income as the wealthiest families; low-income families pay up to six times as much.

“We know that governors nationwide are promising to cut or eliminate taxes, but the question is who’s going to pay for it,” Matthew Gardner, executive director of ITEP and an author of the study, said in a statement.

“There’s a good chance it’s the so-called takers who spend so much on necessities that they pay an effective tax rate of 10% or more, due largely to sales and property taxes. In too many states, these are the people being asked to make up the revenues lost to income tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers."

State consumption tax structures are particularly regressive, he said, with an average 7% rate for the poor, a 4.6% rate for middle incomes and a 0.9% rate for the wealthiest taxpayers nationwide.

The study found that of the 10 most regressive states, four have no taxes on personal income, one state applies it only to interest and dividends and the other five have a flat or virtually flat personal income tax across all income groups.

Five of the 10 most regressive tax systems rely heavily on regressive sales and excise taxes, deriving roughly half to two-thirds of their tax revenue from these taxes, compared with the national average of 34% in FY09-10.

In contrast, the study found that the least regressive tax systems—those of Delaware, District of Columbia, New York, Oregon and Vermont—had highly progressive income taxes and relied less on sales and excise taxes.

“Cutting the income tax and relying on sales taxes to make up the lost revenues is the surest way to make an already upside-down tax system even more so,” Gardner said.

Following are the 10 most regressive tax states, with each income group's effective tax rate, according to ITEP.

10. ALABAMA

Bottom 20%: 10.2%

Middle 60%: 9.4%

Top 1%: 3.8%

Progressive Features

• Provides one of the largest property tax homestead exemptions in the country

Regressive Features

• Narrow income tax brackets mean majority of taxpayers pay top income tax rate
• Sales tax base includes groceries
• Fails to provide a credit designed to offset sales tax on groceries
• Offers an income tax deduction for federal income taxes paid

Recent Developments

• Enacted double-weighted sales factor ap­portionment rules for calculating the corporate income tax

9. INDIANA

Bottom 20%: 12.3%

Middle 60%: 10.7%

Top 1%: 5.4%

Progressive Features

• Provides a refundable earned income tax credit
• Sales tax base excludes groceries

Regressive Features

• Income tax uses a single rate structure
• Comparatively low income tax exemptions

Recent Developments

• Enacted a gradual phase-out of the state’s inheritance tax
• Enacted a gradual reduction in the corpo­rate income tax rate from 8.5% to 6.5%
• Amazon will begin to collect sales tax from online purchases

8. PENNSYLVANIA

Bottom 20%: 12%

Middle 60%: 9.8%

Top 1%: 4.4%

Progressive Features

• Provides a nonrefundable “tax forgiveness” credit to low-income taxpayers

Regressive Features

• Income tax uses a single rate structure
• Fails to use combined reporting as part of its corporate income tax

Recent Developments

• Single-sales factor apportionment rules for calculating corporate income taxes fully phased in

 

7. ARIZONA

Bottom 20%: 12.9%

Middle 60%: 9.7%

Top 1%: 4.7%

Progressive Features

• Income tax uses a graduated rate structure
• Provides an income tax credit to offset the impact of sales tax
• Sales tax base excludes groceries

Regressive Features

• Provides a partial income tax exclusion for capital gains income
• Comparatively high reliance on sales taxes
• Comparatively high cigarette tax rate
• Fails to provide an earned income tax credit

Recent Developments

• Enacted a new capital gains exclusion from the personal income tax (applying only to assets purchased after 2011, and equal to 10% of gains in 2013, 20% in 2014 and 25% in 2015 and beyond)
• Enacted a phased-in reduction in corporate income taxes that will cut the state rate to 4.9%
• Enacted single-sales factor apportionment rules for calculating the corporate income tax (phased-in over 4 years)

6. TENNESSEE

Bottom 20%: 11.2%

Middle 60%: 8.6%

Top 1%: 2.8% 

Progressive Features

• Taxes interest and dividend income

Regressive Features

• No broad-based personal income tax
• Comparatively high reliance on sales taxes
• Groceries included in sales tax base, but taxed at a lower rate than other items

Recent Developments

• Sales tax rate on groceries lowered from 5.5% to 5.25%
• Amazon will begin to collect sales tax from online purchases in 2014
• Gradual elimination of inheritance tax

 

5. TEXAS

Bottom 20%: 12.6%

Middle 60%: 8.8%

Top 1%: 3.2% 

Progressive Features

• Sales tax base excludes groceries
• Requires the use of combined report­ing

Regressive Features

• No personal income tax
• Fails to provide a property tax “circuit breaker” credit for non-elderly taxpayers

Recent Developments

• Amazon will begin to collect sales tax from online purchases

4. ILLINOIS

Bottom 20%: 13.8%

Middle 60%: 11.1%

Top 1%: 4.9% 

Progressive Features

• Provides a refundable earned income tax credit
• Provides a nonrefundable property tax credit

Regressive Features

• Income tax uses a single rate structure
• Comparatively low income tax exemptions
• All business income is exempted through the personal income tax

Recent Developments

• Temporarily increased personal and corpo­rate income tax rates
• Increased and indexed the personal exemp­tion
• Doubled refundable earned-income tax credit

 

3. South Dakota

Bottom 20%: 11.6%

Middle 60%: 8.2%

Top 1%: 2.1%

Progressive Features

• No significant progressive features

Regressive Features

• No personal income tax
• Sales tax base includes groceries
• No corporate income tax

Recent Developments

• Eliminated refund for low-income taxpay­ers to offset impact of sales tax on food

2. FLORIDA

Bottom 20%: 13.2%

Middle 60%: 8.3%

Top 1%: 2.3%

Progressive Features

• Sales tax base excludes groceries

Regressive Features

• No personal income tax
• Comparatively high reliance on sales taxes

Recent Developments

• Raised exemption from Corporate Income Tax to $50,000 (from $5,000)

 

1. WASHINGTON

Bottom 20%: 16.9%

Middle 60%: 10.5%

Top 1%: 2.8%

Progressive Features

• Provides a refundable earned-income tax credit contingent on state appropria­tion

Regressive Features

• No personal income tax
• Comparatively high reliance on sales taxes
• Comparatively high combined state and local sales tax rate

Recent Developments

• Increased cigarette tax
• Increased alcohol tax

 

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More Top 10 Lists from AdvisorOne:

• Top 10 States With Most & Fewest Millionaires
• 10 Best Cities for Jobs in Financial Services
• Top 10 Wealth Zones With Fewest Advisors
• Top 10 Best Cities for Educated Job Seekers

Micron FY Q4 Revs, Profits Fall Short Of Street Estimates

Micron Technology (MU) this afternoon reported sales for its fiscal fourth quarter ended September 2 of $2.49 billion, up from $2.28 billion in the previous quarter, and $1.3 billion a year ago, but below the Street consensus at $2.66 billion. Profits of 32 cents a share were well shy of the consensus at 39 cents.

The company noted that DRAM revenue was down 14% from Q3, due to a 12% drop in units and a slight decrease in ASPs. NAND flash revenue was down 9% sequentially on a 7% drop in units and a slight decrease in ASPs.

Nonetheless, MU in late trading is up 10 cents, or 1.4%, to $7.21.

Israeli Jets Blast Arms Shipment Inside Syria

Israel bombed a suspected shipment of antiaircraft missiles in Syria on Wednesday, according to regional and U.S. officials, in its most ambitious strike inside its neighbor's territory in nearly two chaotic years of civil war there.

The early-morning strike in a border area west of Damascus targeted a convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made SA-17 missiles to Hezbollah, the anti-Israel Shiite militant and political group in Lebanon, according to a Western official briefed on the raid.

Is A. Schulman Working Hard Enough for You?

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

Here's the current margin snapshot for A. Schulman over the trailing 12 months: Gross margin is 13.1%, while operating margin is 4.0% and net margin is 2.3%.

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

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

Here's the margin picture for A. Schulman over the past few years.

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

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

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

Here's how the stats break down:

• Over the past five years, gross margin peaked at 14.9% and averaged 13.3%. Operating margin peaked at 4.1% and averaged 3.5%. Net margin peaked at 2.8% and averaged 1.5%.
• TTM gross margin is 13.1%, 20 basis points worse than the five-year average. TTM operating margin is 4.0%, 50 basis points better than the five-year average. TTM net margin is 2.3%, 80 basis points better than the five-year average.

With recent TTM operating margins exceeding historical averages, A. Schulman looks like it is doing fine.

Looking for alternatives to A. Schulman? It takes more than great companies to build a fortune for the future. Learn the basic financial habits of millionaires next door and get focused stock ideas in our free report, "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich." Click here for instant access to this free report.

• Add A. Schulman to My Watchlist.

SEC Drops The Ball With JOBS Act

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) broke the law when it failed to meet its Dec. 31 deadline for implementing rules that will establish new rights for entrepreneurs and small-business owners as part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, but the only ones facing consequences are citizens who would have benefitted from the action. New reports blamed the delay on the outgoing SEC chairman’s overriding concern for preserving her legacy, which will probably set back the process for another year. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission sure loves the big headlines it gets when going after Wall Street, but the agency's foot-dragging over the JOBS Act is just another example of the government letting the rest us down.

And President Obama's nomination of a former federal prosecutor as the next SEC chairman does little to show that he's serious about forcing the agency to implement an important measure that could spur a major economic expansion.

The SEC broke the law by missing its Dec. 31 deadline for finalizing rules that would foster the expansion of small businesses and the creation of jobs. And we might have to wait another year for the Securities and Exchange Commission to do its own job to implement the JOBS Act.

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act was signed into law by Obama last April with strong bipartisan support, which is unusual in Washington these days, and underscores the Act's importance at a time when initial public offerings by U.S. companies have slowed and banks are being careful in making loans.

The JOBS Act is meant to spur investment in smaller companies by easing securities registration and reporting requirements, while also opening up fundraising away from traditional markets by allowing entrepreneurs to raise up to $1 million in a 12-month period through crowdfunding.

Funding for small businesses and startup companies that aren't ready to go to the public markets has traditionally been limited to venture capital firms, private equity firms and wealthy individuals known as "accredited investors." The point of crowdfunding is to allow "ordinary" investors to make equity or debit investments in small businesses. This promises a large new source of investment capital for expanding businesses at a smaller cost than equity or debt filing with the SEC.

Regulatory Delay

The SEC was mandated under the JOBS Act to finalize rules to allow crowdfunding by Dec. 31. The Wall Street Journal in December reported that the outgoing SEC chairman had delayed proposing rules to end the ban on general solicitation for investments because of concern over her legacy for protecting investors, and "interference" from consumer groups, concerned that opening up the flood gates for investment could lead to widespread fraud.

While it might not be fair to comment on a federal official's concern over her legacy, there's no question that the SEC has failed to meet its legal mandate to implement the JOBS Act.

President Obama last week nominated former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White to serve as the next permanent SEC chairman.

Michael Zuppone, a partner in the corporate practice of Paul Hastings in New York, says "the SEC staff is working hard at crafting proposed regulations," but that it is "no surprise" that the agency missed the year-end deadline. In addition to Schapiro's departure, Meredith Cross also resigned. She was the SEC's director of the Division of Corporate Finance, who was leading the agency's implementation of the Dodd-Frank banking reform legislation, as well as the JOBS Act.

"Mary Jo White obviously comes to the agency with a strong enforcement background, but it is unknown what her views are on capital formation," Zuppone says, adding that "at this point it would be pure speculation" to comment on when the agency might meet the requirement of Congress to implement the JOBS Act.

Sunny Joseph Barkats, the founding partner of JSBarkats PLLC in New York, which specializes in corporate, capital markets and securities law, says that "as of now, the SEC hasn't even started" the process of enacting the crowdfunding rules, and "nobody sees a chance of the rules being implemented until early 2014, at best."

The SEC last May provided a Q&A about crowdfunding intermediaries, but reminded issuers that "any offers or sales of securities purporting to rely on the crowdfunding exemption would be unlawful under the federal securities laws."

Crowdfunding

Title III of the JOBS Act amended the Securities Act of 1933 to allow an individual with a net worth or annual income below $100,000 to invest up to the greater of $2,000 or 5% of their annual income in a small business in a 12-month period. The investment limit would increase to the greater of 10% annual income or net worth if the investor's income or net worth exceeds $100,000.

The solicitation for crowdfunding investments will be made through an intermediary, which could be a broker registered with the SEC or a "funding portal," which will likely be self-regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.

One of the major roles of the funding portals is to make a careful review of the businesses soliciting equity or debt crowdfunding investments to prevent fraud. It remains to be seen, of course, if FINRA really will turn out to be the regulator of the portals. However, it's obvious that the SEC has a big stake in the crowdfunding rules, because the agency simply isn't geared to handle what would possibly turn out to be thousands of fraud complaints, if even one fraudulent business was successful in attracting a large pool of investment capital through crowdfunding.

Barkats says that "the portal will be very careful, and the market can self-regulate. One fraud is a death sentence for a portal."

Kickstarter is an example of a successful portal that has avoided fraud, Barkats says. "Kickstarter has already transitioned more than $220 million, and no fraud has yet been detected or complained about," he says.

The crowdfunding investment intermediaries will also be responsible in providing disclosures to investors "related to risks and other investor education materials," according to rules that will be developed by the SEC. The portals will be required to make sure investors don't violate investment limits or hand money over to businesses raising funds until the aggregate target amount has been raised. Otherwise, investors' money must be returned.

Title III goes further in an effort to keep crowdfunding from becoming a free-for-all, by requiring that portals "not compensate promoters, finders, or lead generators for providing the broker or funding portal with the personal identifying information of any potential investor," and also by prohibiting "directors, officers or partners" of the portals from having financial interests in the businesses raising money.

"Democratization of Capitalism"

Barkats says the JOBS Act is a "game changer," as even the president and members of Congress "realize that creation of jobs and formation of capital cannot come from bureaucrats but from the bottom up." He calls the legalization of crowdfunding for equity and debt investments in the U.S. the "democratization of capitalism."

"It's insane that institutional investors have the right to participate in the growth of companies, while ordinary people are excluded. The JOBS Act creates a disintermediation between the so-called experts who brought us to a credit crunch and ordinary investors, allowing each and every of us to make a direct decision."

Barkats says medical-research companies provide a good example of how a revolutionary "combination of social media and investors" can benefit entrepreneurs, investors and the entire economy: "If you believe you are on the cusp of an innovative cure, you can solicit from anybody online, and not be held hostage by venture capital firms or Big Pharma, and not be held hostage by so-called non-profit organizations."

"The JOBS Act is a great step in the right direction," says Barkats, "but we need more 'doers' at the SEC than regulators. They are sitting on a great project that will allow our companies to compete with the rest of the world. Let the market be free and let people make their own decisions."

Top Stocks To Buy For 1/31/2013-4

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) achieved its new price of $44.60 where it was opened at $44.21 up 0.38 points or +0.86% by closing at $44.53. EPD transacted shares during the day were over 2.39 million shares however it has an average volume of 1.35 million shares.

EPD has a market capitalization $37.66 billion and an enterprise value at $51.58 billion. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 0.96 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 3.35. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 2.69% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 6.33%.

The company made a return on asset of 5.04% in past twelve months and return on equity of 13.39% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $39.05 billion gaining $67.64 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 48.70% holding 701.70% quarterly earnings growth.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $160.20 million cash in and making cash per share at 0.19. The total of $14.40 billion debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 122.27. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 0.81 and book value per share was 13.31.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 3.66% where the stock current price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average price $41.76 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average price $41.80.

EPD holds 845.83 million outstanding shares with 167.61 million floating shares where insider possessed 40.62% and institutions kept 21.50%.

JDS Uniphase Q2 Net Beats Expectations

JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU  ) announced its Q2 2013 results today. The company made $429 million in revenue on a non-GAAP basis during the quarter, a nearly 5% increase over the same period the previous year. Net profit came in at $42 million ($0.18 per share), for a 17% year-over-year rise.

On average, analysts had anticipated $423 million in top line, and EPS of $0.14 for the quarter.

The company also provided guidance for its current Q3. It expects revenue to be $405 million-$425 million. It did not indicate what it expected in terms of profit.

JDS Uniphase's shares dropped by 5% after the results were released, but were recovering in after-hours trading.

Colgate-Palmolive Earnings: An Early Look

With hundreds of companies having already reported quarterly results, we're now in the heart of earnings season. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarter reports is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Let's turn to Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL  ) . The consumer-goods maker has benefited from consistent demand for its products despite tough economic times, but headwinds from high raw-material prices have been a constant threat to profit growth. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Colgate-Palmolive over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report on Thursday.

Stats on Colgate-Palmolive

Analyst EPS Estimate	$1.40
Change from Year-Ago EPS	7.7%
Revenue Estimate	$4.31 billion
Change From Year-Ago Revenue	3.4%
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters	1

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Can Colgate-Palmolive keep cleaning up?
Colgate-Palmolive has hit the analyst-estimate mark right on the button in each of the three past quarters, and analysts have felt pretty confident about their guess this time around, boosting it by just a single penny in the past three months. The stock, though, has made shareholders quite happy, hitting a new all-time high yesterday and rising about 6% since late October.

Colgate has taken full advantage of some recent miscues by Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) , which has largely pulled back from focusing on the massive international exposure it has built over the years. Colgate has made Latin America its biggest market, and with high margins and returns on invested capital, Colgate has succeeded where some of its peers have failed.

But Colgate's success has come at a cost. With revenue having taken a hit due to global economic pressures, Colgate announced in late October that it would lay off about 2,300 workers, or 6% of its global workforce. Meanwhile, along with Colgate and P&G, Unilever (NYSE: UL  ) and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB  ) have all had to deal with rising costs of many of the key ingredients that go into their consumer products, which have hampered margins. Colgate's wide margins shine in this situation as they give the company more room to maneuver than Unilever and Kimberly-Clark, but it's still potentially negative for the business as a whole.

With Colgate's stock at high levels, it'd be ideal for the company to give investors something more than just analyst-matching results. As the global economy recovers, Colgate needs to show that it can grow along with the world's markets.

Invest in the world
Colgate is just one of the many companies that have profited from our increasingly global economy. To find more companies in your own backyard that are going global, read our free report "3 American Companies Set to Dominate the World." Getting your copy is easy; just click here to get it now.

Click here to add Colgate-Palmolive to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

Foolish Road Test! Driving the Ford Fusion Hybrid

Electric and hybrid vehicles made a lot of news at this month's International CES in Las Vegas and the big auto show in Detroit. The Nissan LEAF and General Motors' Chevy Volt have sold more than any other electrified vehicles, but Ford (NYSE: F  ) and others are working to narrow the gap.

Have you ever been in a hybrid vehicle? Do you know how it saves energy and achieves great mileage?

At CES, Motley Fool analyst Rex Moore was able to take a ride with Ford's Mike Tinskey in a 2013 Fusion Hybrid. In part one of this two-part test drive, Tinskey goes over the basics of hybrid technology.

Ford has been performing incredibly well as a company over the past few years -- it's making good vehicles, is consistently profitable, recently reinstated its dividend, and has done a remarkable job paying down its debt. But Ford's stock seems stuck in neutral. Does this create an incredible buying opportunity, or are there hidden risks with the stock that investors need to know about? To answer that, one of our top equity analysts has compiled a premium research report with in-depth analysis on whether Ford is a buy right now, and why. Simply�click here to get instant access to this premium report.

Facebook and the Cautious Investor

Break out the balloons and ticker tape! On May 24, 2012,�I recommended buying Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) , and yesterday was the first time since June last year that your purchase would have turned a profit. Actually, there's almost no way you would have made a profit, assuming that you pay any sort of transaction fees. The stock was up just 1.5% over the period, and that's not going to get anyone set up for retirement. But I do feel a certain sense of pride for having made the call. But even though it's "up," was there anything to my claim?

Why Facebook?
Back then, I had two main reasons for recommending Facebook. First, it had a huge -- and growing -- user base. Second, it had untapped revenue potential through its payment platform. Those two points still hold true, and I'm adding a third reason. Facebook is finally figuring out how to make its oceans of data usable, which in turn makes them monetizable. This was most recently evident in the release of company's new Graph Search tool. Ostensibly the tool is supposed to help you find people with common interests that will allow you to make new friends -- how sweet.

Really, the graph tool is a marketer's dream come true. Before, the system saw you as a 45-year-old male who had "liked" 600 random pages. Maybe your friend told you about that one band, maybe your cousin's new business needed some more likes, maybe you actually like Joe's Pizza -- in the eyes of the algorithm, it's all the same. Now those days are over. You keep looking for friends who live in Houston and really like bikes. Facebook is going to be able to target its ads with even more focus, which means that they can charge companies even more for the ads.

This is still early days for Facebook's big-data usage, though. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) is the undisputed king of big online data, and Facebook has a long way to go before it figures out the whole puzzle. But there are treasures to be found, for sure. Think of Google's ad targeting, or its promotion of companies that pay a bit more, or its forays into payments -- all of those can be in Facebook's future.

Why not Facebook?
So that's the tiny dance that's happening in my mind. Here's the other side of that coin: Time is money. If you're just breaking even on your Facebook shares now, you start to wonder what you could have had instead? Unfortunately, Facebook wasn't your best bet over that period. Even simple picks like Google or either of the two companies that I was pulling hard for last year, Buckle�and Gap, would have given you a better return.

Does that mean that those were better investments? I think so. It's an odd calculus, to be sure, but even though I stand by my recommendation for Facebook, it's not the best of the advice I gave. I knew that there would be ups and downs before the stock really paid off, which meant that there was a chance you'd buy on the high point, rather than the low. I knew that Gap and Buckle (especially the latter) were fundamentally more solid than Facebook. Those companies were both bringing in solid comparable sales growth, and consistently paid out a dividend. Google was, and still is, all by itself in a category. It's hard not to recommend a company that is so distinguished from its peers that it doesn't have peers.

The bottom line
In short, I'd recommend Facebook again and I'm happy that it's done what it's done over the last nine months, but it remains a risky stock. There are a lot of expectations that smaller or more stable companies never have to deal with. One little setback will drop the share price like a stone, and tomorrow may be one of those moments. On the other hand, on Wednesday I might look like a prophet, if payment processing fees are up and the company beats earnings expectations.

Regardless of what happens, Facebook is still a good company, and I still recommend it. But now I'll do so with a caveat: Remember that to buy Facebook, you have to not buy something else, and there are a lot of very good stocks out there.

If you've gotten this far and you're still considering Facebook, then you should get the inside scoop on the things every investor needs to know about the company. We've outlined them in our newest premium research report. There's a lot more to Facebook than meets the eye, so read up on whether there is anything to "like" about it today, and we'll tell you whether we think Facebook deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report by clicking here.

3 Stocks Pulling the Dow Higher

Positive housing data was released today as the Case-Schiller Home Index showed that home prices were higher by 5.5% on a year-to-year basis in November, but fell slightly from October to November. The Confidence Board also released data indicating that consumer confidence fell from 66.7 in December to 58.6 in January. Some believe the drop is related to the higher Social Security tax Americans began paying at the start of the year. Nonetheless, the lower reading essentially wiped out all the gains from the whole of 2012.�

Although not all economic data today was positive, overall the markets ended the day on a high note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) was the best-performing major U.S. index as it moved higher by 72 points, or 0.52%, and now sits at 13,954. The S&P 500�also had a winning day as it rose by 7.66 points, or 0.51%, while the Nasdaq�lost a mere 0.64 points, or 0.02%. Of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow, only nine of them ended the day in the red. Three of the losers this afternoon were Home Depot, Hewlett-Packard, and Boeing. To read about why those stocks were down, simply click here. Or to read about three of today's big winners, which were Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) , AT&T (NYSE: T  ) , and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) , continue reading below.

So why were they higher?
Shares of both Verizon and AT&T surged higher today. Verizon's 1.71% gain led all Dow stocks while AT&T's 1.61% increase wasn't far behind. Both stocks received more attention today because of the excitement surrounding the telecom industry as a whole. Research In Motion will be unveiling its new Blackberry 10 tomorrow while Apple announced a new full-sized iPad, which will be available through the wireless service providers, who will, in turn, take a cut of the profits. These outside forces are helping the telecom companies today and will continue to add value to the industry leaders in the future. �

Shares of Caterpillar added 1.18% after the company received an upgrade from an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. The analyst believes that Caterpillar deserved the move from "market perform" to "outperform" after the company explained to investors the true risks associated with its future. When management is up-front and honest, investors are less prone to making rash decisions and more likely to believe in the long-term prospects of the company. Caterpillar announced its earnings yesterday morning and warned that revenue and profits will probably be lower in the first half of 2013 than they were in 2012, but the second half of the year should be good. �

More Foolish insight

Caterpillar is the market share leader in an industry in which size matters, and its quality products, extensive service network, and unparalleled brand strength combine to give it solid competitive advantages. Read all about Caterpillar's strengths and weaknesses in our brand-new report. Just click here to access it now.

Treasurys close in on resistance

Just ahead of the FOMC statement, 10-year Treasury yield is pushing up toward a confrontation with its two-year resistance line, now at 2.06%. If hurdled and sustained, this should trigger upside continuation towards more significant resistance at 2.40%!

Why the rise in yield � which incidentally, has rocketed the ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury TBT �from 63.86 to 68.60 in the past week? It certainly can't be explained by the dismal GDP data for the 2012 fourth quarter, which only serves to reinforce the notion that regardless of improving trends in housing, autos, and labor, the U.S. economic "condition" remains relatively sluggish after three years of intense monetary stimulus.

Perhaps the overwhelming dual perceptions of money moving out of bonds into equities, and Mr. Market starting to worry increasingly about inflation, are finally impacting global investors and money flows. In addition, gasoline and crude oil are climbing strongly, while copper is nearing an upside breakout as well, adding more "fuel" to already pent-up fears of accelerating asset inflation in reaction to relentless monetary stimulus by the global central bankers.

If 10-year yield reacts higher to whatever the FOMC has to say later today, then Bernanke & Co. could really have a problem on their hands � a problem not merely confined to sluggish economic growth and anemic jobs creation!

See Mike's chart illustrating the technical patterns on the 10-year yield.

Bond links: Gundlach and Gross are leveraging up

Bloomberg: Gundlach to Gross leveraging up low yields.

Zero Hedge: How institutional bond trading actually works.

Learn Bonds: When credit ratings are useful to dividend investors.

Investment Week: GLG warns investors of rising rates.

Bloomberg: IL debt approaches weakest in 18 years.

Bond Buyer: BlackRock's head of municipal bonds says investors should play defense in 2013.

Bond Vigilantes: Junk-bond investors should look to exploit opportunities and pricing dislocations within the market itself.

ETF Trends: How to choose the right emerging-market bond ETF.

1 Great Stock for Global Growth

Caterpillar� (NYSE: CAT  ) left a lot to be desired during its recent fourth-quarter earnings call, reporting lower-than-predicted profits and providing a soft outlook for 2013. In short, there was nothing "earth-moving" about Caterpillar's segue into the new year. The company's net income fell to $697 million, or $1.04 per share, down significantly from $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share, a year before. Meanwhile, Caterpillar is right in the middle of an internally launched accounting inquiry involving a mining equipment manufacturer it purchased last year in China. From one vantage point, Caterpillar's seemingly on shaky ground.

Nevertheless, industrials analyst Isaac Pino believes Caterpillar's stock is still relatively cheap, which limits the downside risk. As economic activity picks up, which Caterpillar predicts will happen in the latter half of the year, so should Caterpillar. Furthermore, other industrial companies have provided positive outlooks for 2013, including GE and Honeywell, and their ties to a rapidly rebounding housing market are minimal, at best. Caterpillar, meanwhile, could reveal significant upside as the year progresses.

Caterpillar is the market share leader in an industry in which size matters, and its quality products, extensive service network, and unparalleled brand strength combine to give it solid competitive advantages. Read all about Caterpillar's strengths and weaknesses in our brand-new report. Just click here to access it now.

PLX Technology Misses on Revenues but Beats on EPS

PLX Technology (Nasdaq: PLXT  ) reported earnings on Jan. 28. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), PLX Technology missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue shrank and GAAP loss per share contracted.

Gross margins dropped, operating margins expanded, net margins increased.

Revenue details
PLX Technology booked revenue of $23.4 million. The three analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ predicted revenue of $24.9 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 9.6% lower than the prior-year quarter's $25.9 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.06. The two earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.01 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.01 for Q4 versus -$0.12 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 58.4%, 70 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 5.7%, 2,840 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -2.6%, 1,850 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $25.9 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.05.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $111.2 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.24.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a one-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 39 members out of 52 rating the stock outperform, and 13 members rating it underperform. Among 15 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 10 give PLX Technology a green thumbs-up, and five give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on PLX Technology is outperform, with an average price target of $5.83.

Is PLX Technology the best semiconductor stock for you? You may be missing something obvious. Check out the semiconductor company that Motley Fool analysts expect to lead "The Next Trillion-dollar Revolution." Click here for instant access to this free report.

• Add PLX Technology to My Watchlist.

Websense Halted, Falls 7%: Q4 EPS Misses; Q1, Year Views Miss

Shares of enterprise security technology vendor Websense (WBSN) were briefly halted this afternoon, and have now fallen $1.13, or 7%, to $15 in late trading after the company reported Q4 revenue that beat consensus estimates but missed on the bottom line, and offered forecasts for this quarter and the year that missed analysts’ estimates.

Revenue in the three months ended in December declined slightly, year over year, to $91.7 million, yielding EPS of 28 cents.

Analysts had been modeling $91.35 million and 31 cents a share. The results follow a January pre-announcement from Websense in which the company lowered its Q4 outlook.

For the current quarter, Websense expects revenue in a range of $84 million to $87 million, and EPS of 15 cents to 19 cents. That is below the consensus estimate for $89.9 million and 35 cents a share.

For the full year, Websense expects revenue in a range of $351 million to $361 million, and EPS of 78 cents to 93 cents. Analysts have been modeling $367 million and $1.54 per share.

Online Boost for William Hill

LONDON -- Once criticized for lagging behind its rivals in online betting, William Hill (LSE: WMH  ) looks to have successfully caught up and capitalized on this growth market, with today's trading statement showing a 27% increase in online net revenue in Q4 and a 24% rise across the unaudited comparative date for the full year.

The bookmaker's results were strong overall, with operating profit lifting 20% in the fourth quarter and 18% up on a 52-week basis, while group net revenue rose 12% in Q4, and grew 10% for the full year. Retail net revenue contributed a 6% growth in the 13 weeks compared against last year, and was 4% up on a 52-week basis.

Chief executive Ralph Topping, credited for the firm's online turnaround after forming a joint venture with betting software developer Playtech in 2008 and giving the latter a 29% non-controlling interest, commented:�"Performance was robust in Retail and profits continued to grow strongly in Online, with sporting results going in our favor in both channels. It was a pleasing end to an important year for William Hill, a year in which we have made substantial strategic progress."

The company now has the option to buy out Playtech's 29% stake and is currently undertaking a valuation process, which will end next month and management will then decide whether to exercise the option or not. There was also an update on William Hill's proposed 454 million pound acquisition of Sportingbet's Australian and Spanish licensed online businesses, as Topping said: "With both the acquisition of Sportingbet's online business in Australia and the current Playtech call option process expected to conclude during early 2013, the Group continues to enhance its already strong platform for the continued development of the business."

Today's results produced a third consecutive year of above-20% growth for William Hill Online, a remarkable turnaround, and the shares have risen in the last five years from a low of 147 pence in 2009 to reach a high of 382 pence today, having gained over 4% in early morning trading today.

Finally, The Motley Fool has a BRAND-NEW special free report, produced to power up your portfolio in retirement!�The report names one company that our analysts believe has a healthy balance sheet, dominant market position and reliable cash flow. But hurry, as all Fool reports are available for a limited time only.�Click here to have your delivered to your inbox immediately and completely free of charge.

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3 U.K. Stocks Paying Top-Dollar Income

LONDON -- It's official: Sterling is now the world's ugliest currency. If the British pound was a person, it would lock itself indoors out of shame. But this could be an opportunity for U.K. investors, because a handful of FTSE 100 stocks pay their dividends in dollars and euros, which are looking a lot more attractive right now. Does this make these stocks a beautiful investment?

BHP Billiton
With the pound falling to an eight-month low against the greenback, who wouldn't want to receive their income in dollars right now? If you invest in mining giant�BHP Billiton� (LSE: BLT  ) , that's exactly what you get. It currently yields 3.4%, safely covered 2.9 times, and generously paid in greenbacks, which means your income is worth 3% more year to date. With some analysts suggesting the pound could fall by anything up to 20% in 2013, there could be a lot more to follow. Better still, because BHP Billiton is listed on the FTSE 100, you are buying with pounds and getting dollars in return. Now that is beautiful.

I can see plenty of other reasons to buy this globally diversified miner. BHP Billiton's strategy is to invest in large, long-life, low-cost, expandable, upstream assets, spread across different commodities regions and markets. This makes it a diversified and relatively defensive stock (for a miner). I wouldn't call it low-risk, though. It remains a play on global growth in general, and Chinese growth in particular, both of which remain shaky. The recent bull run has left BHP Billiton looking more expensive than it was, with the share price of 23% since last June to 21 pounds. But it has dipped slightly, tracking metals prices lower. A little more slippage, and you might find the perfect time to serve yourself a dollop of dollar dividends.

Royal Dutch Shell
Investors in Anglo-Dutch�Royal Dutch Shell� (LSE: RDSB  ) (NYSE: RDS-B  ) were already enjoying its juicy 4.6% yield, but the slump in the value of the pound has made it that little bit tastier. I have been holding this oil and gas giant for years, but recent share-price growth has been disappointing. The vertically integrated oil majors don't automatically benefit from high oil prices because they have deliberately reduced their exposure by diversifying into storage, transportation, refining, chemical processing, and retailing. I still think Shell has a great long-term future, especially if it is correct in forecasting that global natural gas demand will increase by 60% from 2010 to 2030. With exploration interests as far apart as China, South Africa, and Ukraine, Shell has a place in every investor's portfolio. Especially today, when it trades at less than 9 times earnings. Analysts; consensus are putting its Q4 profits at 4 billion pounds, a 2.5% increase from 3.9 billion pounds in Q3. Now looks like a good time to buy Shell. After that, you can sit back and let the dollars roll in.

Unilever
Unilever� (LSE: ULVR  ) (NYSE: UL  ) is another Anglo-Dutch success story, and much more loved by markets. This purveyor of everyday household goods has enjoyed almost constant share-price growth since the financial crisis, and now it looks that little bit more attractive, once you remember its dividends are paid in euros. That didn't look so clever last year, when the single currency was looking sickly, and even the pound was hanging tough by comparison, but it looks a lot brighter now. Investors today get a yield of 3.8%, but that's worth 8.5% more to U.K. investors than it was last July, when the pound briefly hit 1.28 euros (it's now below 1.17 euros). That euro-denominated yield certainly isn't the main reason to invest in Unilever. It is a well-managed company selling many popular products, and it's now selling them to swaths of emerging-market consumers. This isn't a get-rich-quick stock -- earnings-per-share growth looks modest at 2% and 8% over the next couple of years, and it trades at around 18 times earnings. But you should get rich slowly, which is possibly even better.

Five more to think about
If you're looking for more great dividend opportunities, you might find them in our special in-depth report, "8 Top Blue Chips Held by Britain's Super Investor."

The report by Motley Fool analysts is completely free and shows where Invesco-Perpetual's dividend dazzler�Neil Woodford�believes�the best high-yield stocks are to be found�today. Availability of this report is strictly limited, so please�download it now.

Is The Inventory Story at Polaris Industries Making You Look Clever?

Here at The Motley Fool, I've long cautioned investors to keep a close eye on inventory levels. It's a part of my standard diligence when searching for the market's best stocks. I think a quarterly checkup can help you spot potential problems. For many companies, products that sit on the shelves too long can become big trouble. Stale inventory may be sold for lower prices, hurting profitability. In extreme cases, it may be written off completely and sent to the shredder.

Basic guidelines
In this series, I examine inventory using a simple rule of thumb: Inventory increases ought to roughly parallel revenue increases. If inventory bloats more quickly than sales grow, this might be a sign that expected sales haven't materialized. Is the current inventory situation at Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII  ) out of line? To figure that out, start by comparing the company's inventory growth to sales growth. How is Polaris Industries doing by this quick checkup? At first glance, OK, it seems. Trailing-12-month revenue increased 24.1%, and inventory increased 21.2%. Comparing the latest quarter to the prior-year quarter, the story looks decent. Revenue grew 20.6%, and inventory expanded 21.2%. Over the sequential quarterly period, the trend looks healthy. Revenue grew 16.5%, and inventory grew 14.5%.

Advanced inventory
I don't stop my checkup there, because the type of inventory can matter even more than the overall quantity. There's even one type of inventory bulge we sometimes like to see. You can check for it by examining the quarterly filings to evaluate the different kinds of inventory: raw materials, work-in-progress inventory, and finished goods. (Some companies report the first two types as a single category.)

A company ramping up for increased demand may increase raw materials and work-in-progress inventory at a faster rate when it expects robust future growth. As such, we might consider oversized growth in those categories to offer a clue to a brighter future, and a clue that most other investors will miss. We call it "positive inventory divergence."

On the other hand, if we see a big increase in finished goods, that often means product isn't moving as well as expected, and it's time to hunker down with the filings and conference calls to find out why.

What's going on with the inventory at Polaris Industries? I chart the details below for both quarterly and 12-month periods. (Polaris Industries reports raw materials and work-in-progress inventory combined.)

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of latest fully reported quarter. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of latest fully reported quarter. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

Let's dig into the inventory specifics. On a trailing-12-month basis, finished goods inventory was the fastest-growing segment, up 22.3%. On a sequential-quarter basis, raw materials inventory was the fastest-growing segment, up 20.0%. Polaris Industries seems to be handling inventory well enough, but the individual segments don't provide a clear signal.

Foolish bottom line
When you're doing your research, remember that aggregate numbers such as inventory balances often mask situations that are more complex than they appear. Even the detailed numbers don't give us the final word. When in doubt, listen to the conference call, or contact investor relations. What at first looks like a problem may actually signal a stock that will provide great returns. And what might look hunky-dory at first glance could actually be warning you to cut your losses before the rest of the Street wises up.

Looking for alternatives to Polaris Industries? It takes more than great companies to build a fortune for the future. Learn the basic financial habits of millionaires next door and get focused stock ideas in our free report, "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich." Click here for instant access to this free report.

• Add Polaris Industries �to My Watchlist.

Top Stocks To Buy For 1/29/2013-2

CMS Energy Corporation (NYSE:CMS) achieved its new 52 week high price of $21.11 where it was opened at $21.03 down -0.33 points or -1.57% by closing at $20.74. CMS transacted shares during the day were over 2.18 million shares however it has an average volume of 4.03 million shares.

CMS has a market capitalization $5.22 billion and an enterprise value at $12.09 billion. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 0.80 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 1.77. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 6.19% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 15.43%.

The company made a return on asset of 4.07% in past twelve months and return on equity of 13.71% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $6.54 billion gaining $26.98 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 1.80% holding 22.00% quarterly earnings growth.

According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $994.00 million cash in hand making cash per share at 3.95. The total of $7.48 billion debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 249.30. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 1.32 and book value per share was 11.75.

Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 3.66% where the stock current price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average price $19.92 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average price $19.59.

CMS holds 251.79 million outstanding shares with 249.30 million floating shares where insider possessed 0.43% and institutions kept 96.80%.

Halliburton Could Turn on the Jets in 2013

A superficial look at results for the fourth quarter of 2012 at Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) , the second-largest of the oil-field services contingent, would indicate a company with sliding fortunes. But a deeper analysis of the company's quarter, its directions, and its areas of emphasis clearly indicate that the company shouldn't be lightly passed over by those with an appetite for this important sector. Fortunately, the market has taken the latter approach, raising the company's shares by 5% on Friday, following its announcement.

For the quarter, the company earned $669 million, or $0.72 per share, compared with $906 million, or $0.98 per share for the comparable quarter a year earlier. However, if you back out one-time items, the most recent per-share earnings slid to $0.67, significantly lower year over year, but $0.06 above the consensus expectation of the analysts who follow the company. Revenue increased to $7.29 billion, versus $7.06 billion for the final quarter of 2011.

Pressured domestic earnings
As was the case with Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI  ) , the third-largest member of the services set, whose results were reported two days earlier, Halliburton's overall financial slide in the quarter was precipitated entirely by softness in the North American pressure pumping market. The result was a 22% reduction in operating income generated on the continent, versus the September quarter.

Indeed, as David Lesar, Halliburton's CEO, observed on his company's post-release conference call:

[Looking at] North America, 2012 was a very challenging year for the industry. Operations were affected by headwinds such as guar costs (referring to a thickening agent used in hydraulic fracturing), pricing pressures, and a significant drop in natural gas rig activity. However, I want to be clear...We believe that the fourth quarter marked the bottom for U.S. land margins...

The farther away, the better
Other geographic locations were significantly stronger across the board. In Latin America, for instance, revenue climbed 14% from the third quarter, despite a 2% dip in the rig count. Even more impressively, operating income for the region jumped by fully 25% sequentially. The market area comprised of the Middle East and Asia saw its revenue and operating income improve by 14% and 46%, respectively. Of particular note was increased activity in Saudi Arabia and Australia.

At the same time, a host of factors, including a hike in year-end sales of completion tools in Angola and the North Sea, higher demand for the company's drilling services in the North Sea and Russia, and improved activity in East Africa raised revenue and operating income by 8% and 23% in the Europe, Africa, and the CIS market area. As a result, revenue generated internationally climbed sequentially by 20%, while operation income was up by a solid 39%.

Among the significant events at Halliburton during the quarter was the selection by TNK-BP to provide a package of integrated services to deal with complex tight oil reserves in the Em-Yoga license area of the Krasnoleninskoe oil and natural gas field in Western Siberia. As you likely recall, TNK-BP is a decade-old joint venture that is equally owned by a group of Russian oligarchs and BP (NYSE: BP  ) . Russia's state-controlled Rosneft is expected to complete the acquisition of both halves during the first half of this year.

As Halliburton also noted in its earnings release, in a cooperative effort with independent producer Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA  ) and heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT  ) , it has developed "dual-fuel technology capable of safely and efficiently powering the pumping equipment used for fracturing...with a mixture of natural gas and diesel." I would only note that it appears that, as I told Fools last week, Baker Hughes has accomplished a similar feat.

A brightening picture ahead
But what is the perspective here for investors with a taste for the oil-field services segment? As Lesar said on the company's call:

[For 2013], we anticipate international customer spend increases in the high single digits, maybe more, maybe less. whatever it turns out to be, the market share gains we've had, we expect our revenue to outpace the increased spending levels. We also anticipate full-year margins should average in the upper teens for 2013. We believe that this above-market growth rate will come from volume increases as we ramp up on recent wins in new projects from continued improvement in those markets where we've made strategic investment in the past several years.

As expected, his prognostication for North America remains considerably more measured. As he said: "For the remainder of the year we expect activity levels to gradually increase, be we are expecting continued pricing pressure as we renew the last tranche of stimulation contracts."

For my money, Halliburton is a solidly managed and technologically sound company that is benefiting from strengthening markets everywhere on its home continent. Beyond that, I've been in and around the oil-field services market for long enough to know that our tendency to extrapolate current conditions ad infinitum is almost never wise.

The North America market will recover, almost certainly sooner than we expect and to a greater degree than we anticipate. On that basis, Halliburton warrants steady monitoring by Fools with the wisdom to maintain a yen for energy.

You may have been surprised to discover in this article that Caterpillar working hand-in-glove with energy companies like Halliburton and Apache. Beyond that, however, CAT is the market share leader in an industry in which size matters, and its quality products, extensive service network, and unparalleled brand strength combine to give it solid competitive advantages. Read all about Caterpillar's strengths and weaknesses in our brand new report. Just click here to access it now.

FB: Raymond James Ups to Buy on Q4 Trends, Mobile Monetization

Shares of Facebook (FB) are up 78 cents, or 2.5%, at $32.31 after Raymond James’s Aaron Kessler today raised his rating on the shares to Outperform from Market Perform, and introduced a $38 price target, based on 17 times his estimate for $5.2 billion of Ebitda in 2014.

Facebook is set to report Q4 results on Wednesday, January 30th, after market close, and the Street is estimating $1.51 billion and 15 cents a share in profit.

Kessler raised his estimate to $1.57 billion and 18 cents from a prior $1.5 billion and 17 cents, citing market research data that seem to suggest the company saw “strong” ad spending in Q4, a pickup in international markets, and progress in monetizing mobile use of the site:

We are increasing our 4Q ad revenue estimate by 6% to $1.35 billion (43% y/y vs. 36% y/y in 3Q) vs. consensus at $1.28 billion driven by 1) improved mobile ad monetization, 2) traction with new ad formats, and 3) improving international ad demand. Our checks with Facebook ad partners indicated that Facebook ad spend was strong in 4Q. For instance, Kenshoo indicating social ad spend for 1H12 increased ~36% y/y (vs. 12% y/y for paid search) and accelerated to ~50% y/y growth in 2H12. Additionally, international demand looks to be picking up, with both Kenshoo and AdParlor seeing global ad demand pick up, with Kenshoo noting strength in Brazil, Japan, and Europe. For 2013 overall, our ad revenue estimate increases by 2% to $6 billion (40% y/y vs. an estimated 36% y/y in 2012). Given the early positive feedback and traction from Mobile and News Feed as well as the Facebook Exchange, we believe Facebook is poised for strong ad revenue growth in 2013. Kenshoo noted that for many clients the increased social spend in 2013 will be additive to current budgets, while for others it will be a shift/re-allocation from other formats. Spruce Media noted added that it expects TV ad dollars specifically will migrate towards Facebook given the increased measurability of online vs. TV ad spend.

For the full year 2013, Kessler sees revenue of $6.77 billion and EPS of 74 cents, versus his prior estimate for $6.695 billion and 74 cents.

Buy, Sell, or Hold: Peregrine Pharmaceuticals

When considering any stock for your portfolio, don't be swayed by just the positives. Examine its pros and cons, and decide whether it's possible upside outweighs its risks. Let's take a look at Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PPHM  ) today and see why you might want to buy, sell, or hold it.

Founded in 1981 and based in California, Peregrine is a biotechnology company, focused mainly on diagnosing and treating cancer and viral infections. With a market capitalization of about $275 million recently, it's a small-cap company -- somewhat unproven, but with a lot of room to grow. The company's stock has more than doubled over the past year, though its 10-year average annual return is negative 3%.

Buy
One reason to consider buying Peregrine Pharmaceuticals is its business. With the world's population growing, getting older, and living longer, demand for health care products and services is likely to remain in demand.

As you'll see below, despite many cautions to consider, the company appears to be performing well, recently blowing away Wall Street expectations by reporting a smaller-than-expected loss.

A key disease it's tackling, non-small-cell lung cancer, meanwhile, is a major one, representing roughly 80% to 85% of all lung cancer cases. Successful NSCLC drugs are likely to generate big profits -- but developing such treatments is easier said than done.

Sell
One reason to consider selling, or walking away, is Peregrine's stock price, recently around $2 per share. That's firmly in penny-stock territory, where extra-risky companies abound and many fortunes have been lost. It's not a definite portent of doom, but it's a red flag to consider.

Another reason to stay away from Peregrine -- and other biotech companies -- is that most of us know very little about biotechnology and related fields. Thus, it can be especially hard for us to discern which companies are best poised for success, and what the risks are for each. It can make a lot of sense to just steer clear, or to invest in a bunch of biotech companies at once,�via an ETF. SPDR Biotech, for example, can instantly have you invested in more than 40 companies, such as Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL  ) , which received FDA approval for its thyroid cancer drug, cabozantinib -- which may also get approved to treat prostate cancer and, if the company's plans pan out, other diseases, as well.

One biotech thing to know, for example, is that the non-small-cell lung cancer it's targeting with its bavituximab drug is a tough nut to crack, and plenty of competitors also trying to crack it, some without much success so far. Geron� (NASDAQ: GERN  ) , for example, wasn't able to find enough patients for a clinical trial and canceled it, taking a stock-price hit. Infinity Pharmaceuticals� (NASDAQ: INFI  ) is looking into whether it can combat NSCLC with its heat shock protein 90 inhibitors, and Clovis Oncology�is focusing on an early stage oral inhibitor, but it's also been running low on cash and got whacked when a pancreatic cancer drug proved insufficiently effective. Successes include Celgene's (NASDAQ: CELG  ) Abraxane. Celgene is looking to expand Abraxane's use across other indications, as well as other geographic regions.

If you don't like uncertainty and volatility, you might not like Peregrine. It's been on a bit of a rocky road lately, due to a clinical trial data mix-up for bavituximab. Some recent phase 2 results are reportedly promising, but some remain wary and there's still phase 3 trials to get through. Still, the drug may perform well.

Peregrine's valuation numbers aren't too pretty, either, with a recent price-to-sales ratio of 13.1, nearly double its five-year average of 6.8. Its P/E ratios aren't too meaningful, given its negative earnings.

Dilution is a concern with Peregrine, too, as the company's share count has risen from 44 million in 2008 to about 100 million recently. Rising share counts shrink the value of each share, and this bears watching.

Meanwhile, short interest in Peregrine has been rising, though it's not at sky-high levels at this point. Still, that reflects growing skepticism about the company's future -- which may or may not be proven warranted. One issue troubling shorters is shareholder lawsuits the company faces. Even if it ends up victorious, lawsuits can consume a lot of company time, money, and attention.

Hold (off)
Given the reasons to buy or sell Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, it's not unreasonable to decide to just hold off on it. You might, for example, want to wait for bavituximab to make it through FDA approval, or for other promising drugs to approach or receive approval. You might also wait for it to get above penny-stock levels.

The verdict
I'm holding off on Peregrine Pharmaceuticals for now. Everyone's investment calculations are different, though. Do your own digging and see what you think. The company may perform spectacularly in the coming years, but remember that there are�plenty of compelling stocks�out there.

With Celgene's broad portfolio of drugs and a strong pipeline, to boot, many investors see it as a smart way to play the biotech investing game. While Celgene might be a safer stock than its small biotech brethren, investors need to know about the key opportunities and risks facing the company. We run through them all in The Motley Fool's brand new premium report on Celgene. To claim your copy today, simply click here now.

What to Expect from Fusion-io

Fusion-io (NYSE: FIO  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings on Jan. 30. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Fusion-io's revenues will grow 42.6% and EPS will expand 60.0%.

The average estimate for revenue is $120.0 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.08.

Revenue details
Last quarter, Fusion-io booked revenue of $118.1 million. GAAP reported sales were 59% higher than the prior-year quarter's $74.4 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Last quarter, non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.14. GAAP EPS of $0.04 for Q1 were 43% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.07 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Recent performance
For the preceding quarter, gross margin was 59.4%, 380 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 7.2%, 90 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 3.3%, 640 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead

The full year's average estimate for revenue is $530.5 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.41.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 228 members out of 252 rating the stock outperform, and 24 members rating it underperform. Among 57 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 50 give Fusion-io a green thumbs-up, and seven give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Fusion-io is outperform, with an average price target of $33.46.

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• Add Fusion-io to My Watchlist.

How Cubic Got More Awesome Last Quarter

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

Here's the current margin snapshot for Cubic over the trailing 12 months: Gross margin is 24.3%, while operating margin is 9.3% and net margin is 6.7%.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's how the stats break down:

• Over the past five years, gross margin peaked at 24.3% and averaged 22.3%. Operating margin peaked at 9.3% and averaged 8.6%. Net margin peaked at 6.7% and averaged 5.9%.
• TTM gross margin is 24.3%, 200 basis points better than the five-year average. TTM operating margin is 9.3%, 70 basis points better than the five-year average. TTM net margin is 6.7%, 80 basis points better than the five-year average.

With TTM operating and net margins at a 5-year high, Cubic looks like it's doing great.

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• Add Cubic to My Watchlist.

Top Stocks For 1/28/2013-7

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Crown Equity Holdings Inc. (OTCBB:CRWE) recently reported a 1 for 10 forward stock split.

Ken Bosket, CEO of Crown Equity Holdings, said, “The Company and shareholders are elated to see their shares multiplied by ten. 10,000 shares became100,000 shares and 100,000 shares became 1,000,000 shares, and we believe this is just the beginning.”

This is the second forward split of Crown Equity Holdings’ common stock in three years. The previous forward split was also a 1 for 10 forward split.

Crown Equity Holdings is a news service containing news from around the world, and an advertising media, consisting of :
crownequityholdings.com, CRWEnewswire.com, DrStockPick.com, CRWEfinance.com, CRWESelect.com, CRWEpicks.com, BestOTC.com , Stock-PR.com, PennyOmega.com, PennyToBuck.com, StockHotTips.com, CRWEwallstreet.com, Doubleinstocks.com, Crowntradingsystems.com

CRWE recently opened offices in Pakistan and Germany. Its mission is to become a world-renowned provider of media for information and up-to-date news.

Ken Bosket added, “Watch us grow, we are debt free, and our revenues have been increasing every quarter.”

Crown Equity Holdings Inc. is a company utilizing today’s technology to advertise, promote and market public companies globally. CRWE’s proprietary network technology allows their publishing department to get their content to millions of readers daily across the world. CRWE publishes financial content to all the major countries and covers all accredited stock exchanges.

Crown Equity Holdings is currently in the process of expanding its in-house IT infrastructure. Although their current web page load time is better than 75% of other internet websites, when completed, the modifications will raise this load time to better than 90% of other internet websites while increasing website visitor capacity by 400%.

Crown Equity Holdings has also moved to a dedicated in-house advertising server, allowing for faster response and a wider variety of ad space offerings to those interested in advertising on their numerous internet and affiliate internet properties.

Lamar Advertising Company (Nasdaq: LAMR), a leading owner and operator of outdoor advertising and logo sign displays, reports the Company�s operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010.

Lamar reported net revenues of $286.4 million for the second quarter of 2010 versus $274.7 million for the second quarter of 2009, a 4.2% increase. Operating income for the second quarter of 2010 was $49.3 million as compared to $34.0 million for the same period in 2009. The Company also recorded an expense of $17.1 million related to the loss on early extinguishment of debt resulting from the refinancing of its senior credit facility and the repurchase of all outstanding 7 1/4% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2013, of which $12.3 million is a non-cash charge attributable to the write off of unamortized debt issuance fees. The 7 1/4% Notes were repurchased pursuant to a tender offer and subsequent redemption, both of which were funded by proceeds from the issuance in April 2010 of $400 million 7 7/8% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2018. There was a net loss of $8.9 million for the second quarter of 2010 compared to a net loss of $11.8 million for the second quarter of 2009.

Lamar Advertising Company is a leading outdoor advertising company currently operating over 150 outdoor advertising companies in 44 states, Canada and Puerto Rico, logo businesses in 21 states and the province of Ontario, Canada and over 60 transit advertising franchises in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Onstream Media Corporation (Nasdaq:ONSM), a leading online service provider of live and on-demand Internet broadcasting, corporate web communications and virtual marketplace technology, has signed four MarketPlace365� promoter agreements. Each of the marketplaces represents a different industry vertical market and focus.

The World Dental Expo is planning to have potential exhibitors from all areas of the dental industry, including dental device manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, educators and specialty office management providers from around the world.

The PETS & VETS Virtual Trade Show & Conferencing Forum will bring together small animal veterinarians, veterinary technicians, practice managers and veterinary corporations from around the world.

Trade Show Exhibitors Association (“TSEA”) is a non-profit organization that provides knowledge to marketing and management professionals who use exhibits, events and face-to-face marketing to promote and sell their products, as well as to those who supply them with products and services.

ProActive Capital Resources Group provides strategic advisory, investor relations / public relations services for emerging-growth companies.

Davos Wrap-up: Fragile Economy, Global Woes Dominate

By EDITH M. LEDERER


DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - The fragile state of the world economy, along with the relentless turmoil in Syria and the rocky fallout from the Arab Spring, dominated discussions during this year's annual gathering of the global elite at Davos, leaving many participants uneasy about what lies ahead as they left for home Sunday.

Even broad agreement that there are some positive signs on the economic front, at least in emerging markets, was coupled with a warning from the head of the International Monetary Fund. "Do not relax," Christine Lagarde said. There's still a "risk of relapse."

More than 2,500 of the best and brightest in business, government, academia and civic life gathered for the five-day World Economic Forum at this Alpine resort. But much of the overt glitz and glamor that is a usual feature was toned down or absent this year, a decision founder Klaus Schwab said reflected the serious issues facing the world.

Political and economic issues vie for top billing each year at Davos, and this time, the economy had the edge, with a special focus on how to promote economic growth and jobs, especially for the youth among the world's 220 million jobless.

The IMF said that China, Africa, and other emerging markets could see significant growth, but Japan, eurozone nations and the U.S. are likely to struggle with negative to low growth. Ahead of the 43rd forum, the IMF downgraded its forecast for global economic growth this year by one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.5 percent.

While the U.S. avoided the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, and fears have abated that the euro currency union will break up, there is growing concern that governments may ease up on measures to improve growth and reduce debt that the IMF and many other institutions are calling for.

IMF chief Lagarde said the "very fragile and timid recovery" depends on leaders in the 17-nation eurozone, the United States and Japan making "the right decisions." The eurozone in particular "is fragile because it is prone to political crisis" and slow decision-making, she said.

Davos participants' uneasiness about the world economy was matched by growing concern over the political turmoil in the Arab world, terrorism in North Africa, a spate of natural disasters that have highlighted the failure to tackle climate change, and the growing inequality between the world's "haves" and "have nots."

"Two years ago, gloom around the stalled economic recovery was leavened by euphoria at the outbreak of the Arab spring," Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press at Saturday night's low-key final reception. "This year, relief at the improved economic outlook is tempered by despair at the unimpeded slaughter in Syria, uncertainty about the outlook in Egypt, and frustration over the Arab monarchies' resistance to reform."

The Arab Spring uprisings have ousted dictators in Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Egypt over the past two years. But now Islamists and liberals are wrangling over power, with Islamists mainly gaining the upper hand. Democracy is far from certain, and economic woes have left hundreds of thousands of young people jobless and frustrated that their "revolutions" haven't produced any dividends.

Former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, a losing candidate in Egypt's presidential election last year, said there have been achievements, but warned that democracy isn't only about casting a vote.

"It is the respect of human rights, for rights of women, separation of powers, independence of the judiciary. This meaning of democracy we have not yet achieved," Moussa said.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks remain stalled, Arab monarchs remain entrenched, and the death toll from the escalating civil war in Syria has topped 60,000 with no end in sight.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose country is hosting almost 300,000 Syrian refugees, predicted that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime will last at least another six months. He called for a transition plan involving all Syrians and the Syrian army.

He also urged stepped up international support to end the Syrian crisis, saying, "The weakest refugees are struggling now just to survive this year's harsh winter."

Abdullah told the forum that "unprecedented threats to regional and global stability and security" need international action now, not the "wait and see" response by some countries - which he did not identify - especially in helping governments emerge politically and financially from the Arab uprisings.

The king, considered one of the region's moderate leaders, also warned Israel to stop playing the "waiting game," and said President Barack Obama's second term offered the last opportunity to create two states - Palestine and Israel - that can live side-by-side in peace.

Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said the focus on resolving the world's economic crisis has distracted leaders from many other important issues, including education, the social consequences of unemployment and promoting ways to deal with climate change.

Nonetheless, Gurria said, the world should be "very worried" because there aren't many "tools" left to fix the economy if things get worse.

Trevor Manuel, South Africa's National Planning Commission minister, told AP that the key message from Davos for him was a positive one - that "many of the decisions that have been taken bring us closer to where we need to be." He warned that "a sense of an all-pervasive gloom ... frequently becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Top Stocks For 1/28/2013-5

BSQUARE Corp. (Nasdaq:BSQR) recently announced the expansion of sales, support and development services in the Asia Pacific region. BSQUARE has expanded its sales and support coverage and development capacity in APAC with new employees in Korea and Shenzhen, China and an increase in the size of its Development Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

BSQUARE is an industry leader with a proven track record in providing production-ready software products, engineering services, solutions and automated testing for smart, connected devices.For more information, visit www.bsquare.com.

BTU International Inc. (Nasdaq:BTUI) recently announced the receipt of a follow-on order for new Tritan� metallization firing systems.

BTU International is a market-leading, global supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment to the alternative energy and electronics assembly markets. Further information about BTU International is available at www.btu.com.

Cadence Design Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CDNS) recently announced that it has won Electronic Design’s Best Electronic Design award for 2010 for the Cadence Encounter Digital Implementation System 9.1 in the EDA – Design, Verification and Implementation Environment category.

Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today’s integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software and hardware, methodologies, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems.

 

 

China Seen Driving Oil to 3-Day High

An expectation that China will increase financial stimulus led to a rise in the price of oil to a three-day high, as France advanced arguments for an embargo on Iranian oil. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said it would try to stabilize the price of oil at around $100.

Bloomberg reported that slow economic expansion in China was expected to lead to a relaxing of monetary policy by Beijing, and therefore to higher demand for oil. Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, was quoted saying, “Everything is rising because of China. It’s general market sentiment.”

Expected higher demand from China, coupled with France’s efforts to restrict the length of a delay before an embargo on Iranian oil is enforced, caused crude prices to rise. February delivery prices for crude were up as high as $100.97 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange; that was an increase of $2.27 from the Jan. 13 closing price. In late morning London trading, crude traded at $100.76. March Brent oil on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange gained as much 1.3% to $112.76 a barrel, with the European benchmark contract coming in at a premium of $11.52 to New York-traded West Texas Intermediate grade, also for March.

The European Union wants to delay for six months an embargo on Iranian oil so that member states can find alternative sources for oil. France, however, is pushing for no more than three months. The ban is supposed to be decided on at a meeting of EU ministers on Jan. 23, but there will probably be an exemption for Italy’s largest oil company, Eni.

David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney who forecasts U.S. crude will average $110 a barrel this year, was quoted saying, “The embargo story is certainly not going away. The Saudis came out and said they were looking to target oil at about $100 a barrel. I suspect that’s what the driver has been.”

According to Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi of Saudi Arabia, that country, the largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, can make up for any loss of crude output if sanctions are placed on Iran, and it intends to stabilize the average of crude prices worldwide at $100 a barrel in 2012. Iran is the second-largest producer and has threatened to seal off the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil supply, in retaliation for international sanctions placed on it over its nuclear policies.

Johnson Named President of National Planning Corp.

National Planning Corp. named John C. Johnson president of the independent broker-dealer on Friday. He had been in this role on an interim basis since November 2012.

Before this, Johnson (left) was a senior vice president of NPC and first vice president of National Planning Holding, which includes four IBDs with about 3,540 financial advisors: INVEST Financial, Investment Centers of America, NPC and SII Investments. (NPH is an affiliate of Lansing, Mich.-based Jackson National; both NPH and Jackson are owned by Prudential PLC (PUK) of the United Kingdom.)

"John is uniquely qualified to lead NPC forward, having spent more than a dozen years with the firm in many different capacities, including working directly with our advisors through product support and business development, building relationships with them and servicing their needs," said Jim Livingston, CEO of NPH, in a press release. “He knows the business, the economic environment, and has the experience and vision to be a solid strategic partner to our advisors to help them build, manage and protect their businesses.”

Johnson is a fellow of the Life Office Management Association and holds LOMA Associate designations in insurance regulatory compliance and insurance agency administration, according to NPH. He has worked in the financial services industry for more than 25 years and holds FINRA Series 7, 8, 24 and 63 registrations, as well as a California insurance license.

"We have a great team here. I look forward to building on the past success at NPC and setting the direction for the future, working even more closely with all of our stakeholders including advisors, administrative professionals, employees and investors, to help each group reach its goals,” said Johnson, who worked for MetLife Investors before NHP, in a statement.

Over the past year, NPC -- which had about 1,460 reps as of Sept. 30 -- lost a number of advisor groups with as much as $2 billion in assets to rivals, such as LPL Financial (LPLA) and Royal Alliance, which is part of the AIG-owned Life & Retirement Group.

Top Stocks For 1/27/2013-8

EQ Labs (Pink Sheets:EQLB) announced today that it began a national advertising campaign with a 5 minute spot on ABC affiliate KTNV (Channel 13) in Las Vegas. Chief Executive Officer, Maurice Owens, was featured on “The Morning Blend” show talking about the virtues of EQ Energy drink while also displaying the company’s complete product line.

KTNV is owned by New York Stock Exchange-traded Journal Communications, Inc. The Company owns television stations, radio stations and newspapers in Arizona, Wisconsin, California, Florida and other major markets throughout the country.

In the interview, Owens stresses the health factor of EQ, “No sugar, five calories.”

Owens continued, “The flavors are super. We have Mo Apple and Strawberry Dream. It takes about 30 seconds to get going.”

Chief Executive Officer Owens also stated that the market for EQ is very large and that he expects EQ Energy drink to be in 5,000 additional stores by year end as the company’s products are already in 45 states. Owens stated that the “Healthy Energy Drink” is being used by students, truck drivers and young adults because of its wide spread appeal.

Owens added toward the end of the interview, “We have three top distributors so we have access to about 150,000 stores.”

EQ Labs is engaged in the development, marketing and sale of EQ (“The Smart Energy Drink”). EQ is an effervescent tablet that can be dissolved in any beverage to provide instant energy. Consisting of a blend of essential vitamins, Gingko Biloba, and less caffeine than a cup of coffee. EQ is currently sold at Best Buy, 7-Eleven, Walgreens and other leading retailers.

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), the world’s second-largest food and beverage business, and Senomyx, Inc., a leading company focused on using proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the food, beverage, and ingredient supply industries, have entered into a four-year collaborative agreement related to Senomyx’s sweet-taste technology.

PepsiCo’s collaboration with Senomyx will focus on the discovery, development and commercialization of sweet enhancers and natural high-potency sweeteners with the intent to bring to the marketplace lower-calorie, great tasting PepsiCo beverages. The agreement reflects the companies’ shared commitment to offer healthier products to consumers that maintain the sweet taste they want.

“This relationship with Senomyx reflects our increasingly long-term approach to research and development as well as our belief that global food and beverage companies can play an important role in identifying new ingredients that can lead to healthier products,” said Mehmood Khan, PepsiCo’s chief scientific officer. “The real challenge is to create products that not only are healthier but also taste great, and Senomyx has unique technologies that will allow us to improve the nutritional profile of our products without sacrificing taste. We’re very optimistic that this collaboration will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people around the world live healthier lives.”

“We are looking forward to working with PepsiCo on our common objective of developing products that meet the growing demand for lower-calorie offerings,” stated Kent Snyder, chief executive officer of Senomyx. “PepsiCo is an industry leader with its commitment to reducing added sugar in key global beverage brands, and we are particularly excited about expanding our research efforts for the discovery of enhancers of sweeteners such as sucrose and fructose and the identification of new natural high-potency sweeteners that would allow Senomyx to provide PepsiCo with a broad spectrum of sweet- taste options.”

PepsiCo will have exclusive rights to the Senomyx sweet flavor ingredients developed under the collaboration for use in non-alcoholic beverage categories. Under the agreement, Senomyx will receive an upfront payment of $30 million from PepsiCo, $7.5 million of which was paid previously. Senomyx also will be entitled to $32 million in committed research and development payments over the four-year research period. PepsiCo retains the option to extend the research collaboration for two more years, which would result in additional research funding commitments. Senomyx also will be eligible for milestone payments based on the achievement of predetermined goals as well as royalty payments.

Senomyx (Nasdaq: SNMX) is discovering and developing innovative flavor ingredients for the food, beverage, and ingredient supply industries using our unique proprietary technologies. Senomyx believes that their novel flavors, flavor enhancers, and bitter blockers will enable collaborators to achieve a competitive advantage and/or improve the nutritional profile of their products while maintaining or enhancing taste.

The Company’s key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products. In addition, Senomyx has a bitter blocker program to reduce or block bitter tastes and thereby improve the taste characteristics of foods, beverages and pharmaceutical products. Senomyx also has a cool flavor program for the discovery of novel flavor ingredients intended to provide a cooling taste effect for confectioneries, foods and beverages, as well as oral care and OTC healthcare products.

Senomyx has four savory flavor ingredients that were discovered and developed in-house and have received regulatory approval in the U.S. and many additional countries. Nestl� is currently marketing products that contain one of Senomyx’s Savory Flavor Ingredients in the Pacific Rim and Latin America.

Senomyx has entered into product discovery and development collaborations with some of the world’s leading food, beverage, and ingredient supply companies: PepsiCo, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Firmenich SA, Nestl� SA and Solae. These collaborations provide Senomyx with research and development funding, milestone payments based upon achievement of research or development goals, and royalties on sales of products incorporating our flavor ingredients.