| The All-In-One Screener |
 Tim Boyle/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesA customer views a Ford Focus vehicle displayed for sale at a dealership in Niles, Ill. | Rising gas prices got you down? Maybe you should buy a new car. The average fuel efficiency of American vehicles has risen significantly over the past seven years, thanks to across-the-board improvements on all vehicles and changing vehicle preferences. That's contributing to lower overall gas usage for passenger vehicles, and blunting the blow when gas prices rise. "The most recent increases are really substantial," said Michael Sivak, a research professor at the University of Michigan. Sivak said that the average driver of a new vehicle spends about $28 less a month for gas than a new-car buyer just three years ago, based on his analysis of average miles driven, fuel efficiency and gas prices. Americans who buy a new car are saving money on gas whether they buy a new version of the same car or opt for a more fuel-efficient vehicle, he said. "There has been an improvement for any given model vehicle," he said. Experts say it's unlikely that most people are choosing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a new car just so save tens of dollars on gas each month, although it is a nice perk. Alexander Edwards, president of the consulting firm Strategic Vision, said his company's research has shown that fuel economy is a consideration when buying a new car, but consumers are more likely to say that reliability, durability, value for the money and even seating comfort are extremely important to their decision-making. He thinks that in recent years, Americans have started to realize that instead of buying a big SUV, they could spend significantly less on a sedan that also offered the things many SUVs do: Seating for five with room left over for groceries and sports equipment. "They weren't getting angry one to two times a week when they went to the gas station to fill up," Edwards said. "What was really motivating them ... is that they didn't want to pay $35,000 for an SUV when a $25,000 [vehicle] would fit all their needs." Then when they got that smaller vehicle, Edwards said, their decision was reinforced every time they went to the gas pump and saw a smaller bill. Sivak's research has shown that there was virtually no improvement in the overall fuel economy of American passenger vehicles from the mid-1920s to the mid-1970s, and then a pattern of modest improvements began. The change has been especially dramatic since 2007. Sivak said the average fuel economy of new cars, light trucks and SUVs purchased has gone from 20.1 mpg in October 2007 to 25.6 mpg this past May. That's based on the window sticker ratings, but Sivak said that even if the number on the sticker doesn't exactly match what a driver gets on the road, the pattern of improvement is still accurate and substantial. Americans tend to be preoccupied with any slight fluctuation in gas prices. But Edwards, whose clients include many major automakers, doesn't think that carmakers have increased fuel efficiency in recent years because of consumer preferences. Instead, he thinks they have been motivated by tough new government standards. "It is an artificially created issue," he said. "The [automakers] would much rather focus on performance, styling and capability, because that's what customers are going to base their decisions on." Still, Sivak notes that the improvements have come as Americans' driving preferences appear to be changing, and not just because of the recent weak economy. His research has found that the amount of miles each person drives and the amount of fuel each person consumes peaked in 2004, several years before the Great Recession began in late 2007. "We consuming less fuel because of those two factors: We are driving less per person, but more importantly we are driving more fuel efficient vehicles," he said. The economy may have played a role in those declines, but Sivak also said there appears to be a shift, especially in Americans under age 40, in how much they drive or want to drive.
Related WLT Stocks To Watch For June 19, 2014 Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Surge; PVH Shares Slip On Downbeat Results Coal stocks are moving higher Monday on what appears to be little fundamental data. Most coal stocks have a high short interest, leaving open the possibility that much of the move may be shorts covering their positions after initial momentum on the open. Interestingly, European coal fell to a four-year low Monday after Credit Suisse cut its target on the commodity by 6.3 percent. The note stated that US shipments of coal may fall below 40 million tons for 2014 versus 51 million tons the year before. Related: ParkerVision Shares Down +60% Price updates on the sector are given below: Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) +6.36 percent Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) +2.05 percent Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR) +3.73 percent Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) +0.41 percent Anglo American (OTC: AAUKY) +1.14 percent Posted-In: coal Credit SuisseCommodities Markets Trading Ideas © 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Most Popular Micron Technology Earnings Preview: Can Momentum Continue? Earnings Expectations For The Week Of June 23: Nike, Walgreen And More Stocks To Watch For June 23, 2014 Morgan Stanley Reiterates On General Electric Following Alstom Board Recommendation #PreMarket Primer: Monday, June 23: BNP Expected To Pay $9 Billion For Sanctions Violations Barron's Recap: 50 Best Annuities Related Articles (ACI + AAUKY) Coal Sector Shooting Higher Arch Coal Held in Balance - Analyst Blog Cloud Peak to Drill Exploratory Holes in PRB - Analyst Blog Coal: A 'Million Dollar Mile' Getting Longer In the U.S. Balanced View on Peabody Energy - Analyst Blog UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Upgrades Peabody Energy Around the Web, We're Loving...
Pick a mining stock, any mining stock, and there’s a very good chance that its future earnings are highly dependent on commodity prices. Rio Tinto (RIO) and Vale (VALE)? That’s iron ore. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX)? That’s copper. Alcoa (AA)? That’s aluminum.  Reuters The problem: Analysts are really bad at predicting commodity prices, which inevitably leads to earnings forecasts being wrong as well. Bernstein’s Paul Gait and team explain: Over the last ten years, consensus has been the best at forecasting prices for aluminium, zinc and nickel and the worst at forecasting copper, iron ore, gold and silver. The average error over a 1 year time frame for aluminium has been 4%, and over a 2 year period 5%. For Zinc this is 2% and 4%, Nickel 5% and 3%. By contrast, the error on the copper forecast has averaged -7% and -19% and iron ore -8% and -21% for 1 and 2 year horizons, respectively. This suggests that a counter consensus view on aluminium, zinc and nickel prices is unlikely to be the correct course of action, while it for copper and iron ore one has to be contrarian to stand any chance of being right. In other words, the pricing dynamic of aluminium, zinc and nickel appears to be well understood while the market still finds copper and iron ore opaque. The upshot: While “it is hard to justify a call on the value of aluminium, zinc and nickel equities based on a commodity call, while it is imperative to do so for iron ore and copper,” Gait says. Gait believes that iron and copper stocks have the most upside, with his favorite being Rio Tinto. “To like Rio Tinto, one simply has to disbelieve that the bear scenario for iron ore prices will not play out in quite the simple way that current negative sentiment indicates,” he says. Gait, meanwhile, has concerns about the use of capital at Vale. Shares of Rio Tinto have gained 1.6% to $52.59, while Vale has advanced 2.2% to $12.92, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold has dropped 0.6% to $30.89 and Alcoa is up 0.9% to $11.94.
  Popular Posts: 2 Safe, Cheap Stocks You Need to Buy Now3 Small Financial Stocks With Big Potential3 Bargain Stocks to Buy Now Recent Posts: These 2 Banks Are Overdue for Buyouts 3 Small Financial Stocks With Big Potential Be Cautious – Avoid These 4 Stocks View All Posts Thrift conversions are one of the most boring ways I have ever found for making an enormous amount of money.  Source: Flickr
When mutual savings banks convert to public ownership, the process is known as a thrift conversion, which involves offering shares to the public (“conversion offering”), similar to any other IPO. Most of the time, the money that comes in adds to book value and creates a chance to buy a stock at a huge discount to the new book value. Great investors like Seth Klarman and Peter Lunch have invested in these deals with a great deal of success over the years. It works something like this. A mutual thrift with a net asset value of $10 per share and a total worth of $100 million sells 10 million shares at $10 to complete the first step of the conversion process. The thrift takes in the $100 million, and the shares now have a higher book value. It is instant value creation, and even if you cannot get in on the first day of the offering you can usually buy the shares at $11-$12 and own the stock at a huge discount to book value. Between 1990 and 2008 the average newly converted thrift had a pretty short lifespans. Within about 4 years after the closing of the transaction, roughly 75% of them had been purchased by a larger bank. They were cheap, well-run institutions with conservative loan portfolios and were too tempting to pass up. The financial crisis bought an end to the takeover activity, but as the industry has recovered and valuations have stabilized we should once again see the former thrifts become too tempting for growth-starved larger banks to ignore. It is a worthwhile exercise to look at some older thrift conversions that may be beyond their “sell by” dates. Northwest Bancshares (NWBI) Northwest Bancshares (NWBI) did its conversion offering back in 2009, right near the bottom of the financial crisis. The bank has 65 community banking offices in central and western Pennsylvania, western New York, eastern Ohio, and Maryland as well as 52 consumer finance offices in Pennsylvania. The bank has an above-average equity-to-assets ratio of 13.42, and nonperforming assets are just 1.59% of total assets. That puts NWBI in solid financial shape. NWBI stock trades at 1.12 times book value and serves a very attractive market. It would be a great acquisition for a bank looking to expand into the region, which includes part of the Marcellus Shale fields. Investors get paid to wait for good things to happen, as the dividend yield is currently 3.65%. OmniAmerican Bancorp (OBAF) It is very surprising to me that OmniAmerican Bancorp (OBAF) hasn’t yet been bought out by another bank in the red-hot Texas banking market. The bank has 15 branches located in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex region and total assets of about$385 million of assets. It has held onto its capital, and the equity-to-asset ratio is more than 16. Non-performing assets are just 0.18% of total assets, so this is another financially solid bank. The bank went public back in 2010 and is nearing the average sale time for a converted thrift. The stock is one of the cheapest Texas banks with a price-to-book-value ratio of just 1.2. I would be less than surprised to see OBAF taken over in 2014, but with insider ownership at more than 30% it will have to be at a decent premium to the current share price. With practically no organic growth in the banking sector, the regional banks will be looking to grow via acquisition, and former mutual thrifts will be one of their favorite targets. As of this writing, Tim Melvin was long NWBI and OBAF.
 AFP/Getty Images/Frederic J. Brown Over the past decade or so, waves of computer-aided identity theft have washed over the U.S. Since the first big hack attack on ChoicePoint in 2005, through more recent data breaches at Evernote, LivingSocial, and now the massive Target (TGT) breach involving 110 million pieces of data (just the third-largest data breach in U.S. history, by the way), companies have more or less figured out a routine for dealing with data breaches. You notify the FBI. You (eventually) notify your customers. And you replace everybody's credit cards. With the latest breach at Target, that process is already well under way. Megabanks like JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Citigroup (C) have collectively handed out millions of new cards, with new card numbers, to customers whose data may have been compromised by the Target data breach. Last week, the Independent Community Bankers of America issued a release confirming its members -- small banks around the country -- have "reissued more than 4 million credit and debit cards." To ensure that credit and debit card numbers that hacker stole from Target and Neiman Marcus will soon be useless, ICBA member bankers absorbed costs in excess of $40 million. And as a result of their quick action, says the group, "community banks' initial fraud costs were relatively low, with less than 1 percent of community bank customers reporting fraud." So, while the Target breach and the "110 million pieces of data lost" sounds bad, the damage probably won't be as bad as you think. In fact, you can use this epic data fail to your advantage. You Have to Set up New Auto-Payments When your bank sends you a new credit or debit card, it will come with a new number to replace the one that Target lost. Your old number has been canceled. This means any automatic payment plans you've set up -- your subscriptions and the card numbers that you have preselected for payments on Amazon (AMZN), PayPal or (ahem) Target.com -- are going to stop working. Is this inconvenient? A hassle? No doubt. But on the plus side, being forced to manually retype your card number and reauthorize payments, may force you to rethink -- do you really want to authorize this payment or that commitment? Thanks to Target and its data breach, here's your chance. Change Your Logon and Password While You're Updating Your Online Accounts Before you can log on to any sites to enter your new credit card number, the site is going to ask you for your user name and password, right? As long as you're switching up the credit card, now's a good time to change that password, too. Experts say that around the world, 50 percent to 60 percent of computer users use the same password for most, if not all, the websites they use on a regular basis. A 2011 report in PCmag.com noted that for the most common websites -- like email and Facebook -- "repeat" password usage rises as high as 75 percent. Considering how hard it is to remember multiple passwords, and the constant caution to "Never write your passwords down," it's probably asking too much for consumers to remember dozens of passwords for dozens of websites. But at the very least, changing your "universal" password every once in a while is probably prudent -- and again, there's no time like the present. Someone's Watching Your Back Now Any time one of these big businesses gets hacked, it has become an industry best practice to offer any customer who's been affected a free year's subscription to a credit monitoring service. Target is actually going an extra mile on this front. On its website, the company is offering free credit monitoring not just to the 1 percent of customers known to have been affected by the data breach, but to anyone who has shopped in a U.S. Target store. Go to creditmonitoring.target.com before April 23 to sign up for "one year of free credit monitoring that includes identity theft insurance ... a complimentary copy of your credit report ... daily credit monitoring, identity theft insurance where available and ... access to personalized assistance from a highly trained fraud resolution agent." Granted, the credit monitoring expires in a year. But the way things are going, you'll have another data breach by someone else -- and another year's free credit monitoring -- before that happens.
The latest report out of NPD shows good news in the video game console market, as retail sales are on the rise big time. The transition to the newest generation of hardware seems to finally be on track. It took some time, with Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT ) market-leading Xbox 360 showing strong software sales through the end of 2013, and many customers seeing little reason to shell out top dollar for its successor, the Xbox One. That's a concern with every transition that is finally fading. Sony rises
The big winner of this shift so far is Sony (NYSE: SNE ) , who after losing market share with the PlayStation 3 seems positioned to return to a leadership position with the PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 4 has been outselling the Xbox One by a wide margin every month this year. Financially, Sony has seen better days, trading near its 52-week low after missing badly twice in a row on earnings. But with shares trading at only about 0.75 times book value there, is a chance for a substantial return once it has weathered this storm. Mario steps up to save Nintendo again
Nintendo (NASDAQOTH: NTDOY ) was crushed by a very poor early adoption rate for its Wii U system. Refusing to follow trends, as usual, the Wii U was panned for its lower performance and unusual video screen controller. That sentiment looks like it's turning around, and the reason as usual is games. The newly released Mario Kart 8 was not only the second-highest selling retail console game in the latest NPD report, but it also drove a substantial increase in Wii U sales. Nintendo already has a winner with its handheld 3DS, and with more big Wii U games coming around the holidays, it is time to start talking recovery. Nintendo's stock is still trading at about a third of the price it saw in 2010-2011, when the Wii U's predecessor was selling like hotcakes. It may not get back to those highs, but with its debt-free balance sheet and trading at a modest 1.26 times book value, there is a lot of room for the stock to go higher. Microsoft figures it out
Microsoft is always going to be a player, and even as poorly as the Xbox One was received early on, it's too early to call this console race. The company scored a big exclusive hit with Electronic Arts' Titanfall, and has finally started selling Xbox Ones without the Kinect camera/microphone, answering the long-standing complaints of the privacy-minded. Microsoft's big advantage, as always, is financial, as it is sitting on a mountain of $87 billion in cash, and is alone among the big three console makers in being profitable. That means the company can keep pouring money into advertising and buying more exclusive titles, trying to buy future profits with today's. The downside is that Microsoft is trading near its 52-week high, and while the Xbox line's relatively small impact on the bottom line means it's tough to invest in Microsoft as a bet on the Xbox One. If you decide to though, you will enjoy a 2.7% dividend yield. Final foolish thoughts
Microsoft is a big company in a lot of industries other than games, and I'm not a fan of its computer software segment, which seems perennially under pricing pressure from lower cost alternatives. It's a company worth considering, but has limited upside. Sony's recent earnings misses are a concern, but the PlayStation brand has driven the company to success in the past, and seems positioned to do so again. Keep a close eye on Sony, because its balance sheet isn't as favorable as the others, but it feels like a good bet for recovery. Nintendo is ultimately my favorite of the bunch, as it is the most focused of the companies, has a great debt-free balance sheet, and a library of intellectual property that it can wield when trying to drive their sales. A recovery to the heights of a few years ago is a long shot, but there is plenty of upside potential all the same. {%sfr}
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) will probably not be acquiring Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA ) . But that doesn't mean the companies couldn't work together. In fact, they have one common factor that could lay the foundation for a long-term partnership: batteries.  Tesla's fully electric Model S uses a lithium-ion battery. It is installed on the floor of the car. Apple has the cash, Tesla has the batteries
"Apple and Tesla need about the same tonnage of batteries this year," explained Monday Note's Jean-Louis Gassee. Given the companies' common interest in massive amounts of lithium-ion, Jean-Louis explores the idea of an alliance between Tesla and Apple based on batteries. Tesla CEO Elon Musk did admit in an appearance on Bloomberg TV that the electric-car maker met with Apple's head of acquisitions, Adrian Perica, last spring. But Musk said any purchase would be "very unlikely." Musk continued: We need to stay super focused on... creating a compelling mass-market electric car. And I'd be very concerned in any kind of acquisition scenario, whoever it is, that'd we become distracted from that task which has always been the driving goal of Tesla. But Gassee, who was a high-level Apple executive in the eighties, proposes an alliance founded on the companies' common interest in lithium-ion and that it could make sense. In an article on Monday Note, he writes: A more likely explanation for Apple's conversation with Tesla might be something Apple does all the time: Sit with a potential supplier and discuss payment in advance as a way to secure supply of a critical component. Of course, neither Tesla nor Apple will comment. Why should they? But a partnership born of their comparable needs for battery volumes makes a lot more sense than for the two companies to become one. Tesla's recent announcement that it will be building a massive battery mill called the Gigafactory, which will cost between $4 billion to $5 billion, is an excellent reason for Tesla to look to Apple for a potential alliance. A few billion-dollar investments from Apple in exchange for a supply arrangement with the world's most scaled lithium-ion supplier could make sense. The investment wouldn't even budge Apple's cash hoard.  Rendering of Tesla's planned Gigafactory. Image source: Tesla. A way for Tesla to diversify?
The biggest problem for such an arrangement would be the obvious difference in a vehicle battery compared to the batteries used for Apple's increasingly thinner devices: Producing much larger vehicle batteries would require a different manufacturing process than that used for producing small consumer electronics batteries. But supplying gadget batteries could be a way for Tesla to diversify while also paving the way to making a separate business out of supplying batteries for various purposes. Wired author Marcus Whohlsen recently chimed in on the topic, too: If Tesla really produces batteries at the scale it's promising, cars could become just one part of what the company does. One day, Tesla could be a company that powers just about everything, from the phone in your pocket to the electrical grid itself. Apple will probably not acquire Tesla. But that doesn't mean the companies couldn't work together. A strategy for finding growth stocks that works
They said it couldn't be done. But David Gardner has proved them wrong time, and time, and time again with stock returns like 926%, 2,239%, and 4,371%. In fact, just recently one of his favorite stocks became a 100-bagger. And he's ready to do it again. You can uncover his scientific approach to crushing the market and his carefully chosen six picks for ultimate growth instantly, because he's making this premium report free for you today. Click here now for access.
Master limited partnerships (MLPs) focused on upstream energy exploration and production usually pay the highest yields but must also constantly acquire new assets. While these partnerships have historically acquired assets from traditional E&P companies, we could soon see consolidation in the space and acquisitions of other partnerships. Look to distributable cash flow (DCF) and coverage ratios for value in the major players and potential accretive value as a takeover target. A constant need for acquisitions
Upstream partners do less exploration than most E&P companies, choosing instead to buy producing assets and drill additional wells. This means they are more exposed to depletion and must constantly increase drilling or buy new assets. We have already seen consolidation in the upstream space with the Linn Energy (NASDAQ: LINE ) acquisition of Berry Petroleum last year. The deal helped to increase Linn's distributable cash flow and have helped the shares surge 36% from last year's low of $22.79 per unit. Profits are much more a function of drilling success and resources in contrast to midstream partnerships that derive their profits from volume of product passing through pipelines. While much of the expected production is hedged to lock in prices, upstream partnerships have much more exposure to rising or falling commodity prices than their midstream peers. The table below presents twelve upstream energy MLPs and the general data I look at when analyzing value. All data are from the most recent filing and believed to be current.  Highlighted are the best three partnerships in each category of distribution coverage, unit price-to-DCF, and yield. While higher yields may be tempting, I prefer the coverage ratio as my favorite metric for two reasons. First, a partnership that can cover its distribution is more likely to increase the payout and less likely to issue more units. Second, a partnership with a high coverage ratio is a more attractive target because its cash flow can help support a lower coverage ratio at another partnership. Atlas Resource Partners (NYSE: ARP ) offers the lowest cost to DCF and the second-highest yield of the group. The company is active in the Barnett Shale, Appalachian Basin, the Raton Basin, the Black Warrior Basin and the Mississippi Lime with an interest in over 12,000 producing natural gas and oil wells. The partnership's coverage ratio just missed a top rank as well, and the units could be a solid addition. May saw insider purchases by four officers for 52,530 units at an average price of $19.73 per unit with no insider selling in the past twelve months. Eagle Rock Energy Partners (NASDAQ: EROC ) is also relatively attractive on valuation and yield, but the coverage ratio is a concern. The company sold its midstream assets to Regency Energy Partners (NYSE: RGP ) in December to become a pure-play upstream partnership. The $1.3 billion asset sale will be used to pay down debt and for acquisitions and could help to turn around the company's poor performance. Eagle Rock is active in the Barnett Shale, Eagle Ford, the Permian Basin, and the Cana Shale. Fellow Fool contributor Dajahi Wiley recently outlined the buy case and an improving balance sheet after the company's sale of assets and management's new focus. Even though LINN Energy is not one of the top three among the categories, I have owned shares since early last year and will continue to hold. MLPs may not be appropriate for a trading portfolio because some of the deferred taxes on distributions are counted as income when the units are sold. Instead of trading in and out of MLPs, I generally look to valuation to increase or start a new position. Right now, the upstream partners have two important points in their favor. First, interest rates continue to hover around historic lows and the debt market is hungry for higher yield. This should continue for at least another year and allow companies to raise money through debt to fund acquisitions. Share prices are fairly strong, which will also allow the companies to issue more units to raise cash for acquisitions. While issuing more units is not optimal since it dilutes current holders, using the cash for acquisitions should increase distributable cash flow so it is not usually met with the negativity seen when other companies issue more shares. You will want to look at how partnership assets fit with possible acquirers to cement your acquisition thesis. Proximity to current wells and any midstream assets usually make a good case for a merger or acquisition. I would not necessarily take a position in a partnership on the hope for a buyout alone, but valuation and coverage metrics can also be used to make the case for adding units to a portfolio. With the developing theme of U.S. energy production and independence, even the partnerships that do not get bought should provide strong income and returns over the next several years.
Top dividend stocks for the next decade
The smartest investors know that dividend stocks simply crush their non-dividend paying counterparts over the long term. That's beyond dispute. They also know that a well-constructed dividend portfolio creates wealth steadily, while still allowing you to sleep like a baby. Knowing how valuable such a portfolio might be, our top analysts put together a report on a group of high-yielding stocks that should be in any income investor's portfolio. To see our free report on these stocks, just click here now.
 ShutterstockYour plan's fund families will offer financial advice, but that advice is full of conflicts. Unfortunately, the primary purpose of your 401(k) plan seems to be to enrich just about everyone but you. For starters, most 401(k) plans are bundled and lumped together with administrative fees and expenses charged by the funds in the plan. The 401(k) vendor (mutual fund firms, brokerage houses or insurance companies) controls the investment options available in the plan. In most plans, actively managed funds (where the fund manager attempts to beat a designated benchmark) dominate the available options. Because these funds charge significantly higher management fees (called "expense ratios") than lower-cost index funds, the expected returns of active funds are lower than comparable index funds. Mutual fund companies often pay a kickback (euphemistically called "revenue sharing") to be included as an investment option. Most index funds, exchange-traded funds and passively managed funds don't pay revenue sharing, so including them would require the company to kick in some cash to cover the overhead. That is unlikely to occur. The primary beneficiaries of this cozy system are the mutual fund companies charging high fees for their actively managed funds. Participants are often confronted with a dizzying array of actively managed mutual funds, with few or no index fund options. It would be fairly easy to fix this flawed system. In fact, the federal government has already shown us the way. The Thrift Savings Plan is a defined contribution plan administered by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, an independent government agency. The board is required to manage the plan "prudently and solely in the interest of the participants and their beneficiaries." What's so great about this plan? All of the investment options in the plan are extremely low-cost index funds. The plan has no actively managed funds and uses the leverage of its huge size to negotiate extremely low fees. Net administrative expenses in 2013 for five out of six Thrift Savings Plan funds were less than 0.03 percent. Your 401(k) plan should emulate the features of the Thrift Savings Plan. It should offer portfolios of index funds, ETFs or passively managed funds at various risk levels. It shouldn't have any actively managed funds as investment options. It should negotiate the lowest fees it can, based upon the size of the plan. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen. You are likely going to be left with trying to make the best of a bad 401(k). Here are some suggestions to do so: 1. Look for index funds. Although most plans are dominated by poor investment choices, many of them will toss in a few index funds for optics. If you can find a domestic stock index fund, an international stock index fund and a bond market index fund, you will be able to put together a portfolio with a suitable asset allocation (the division of your funds between stocks and bonds). 2. Focus on fees. If you are stuck with choosing from investment options consisting only of actively managed funds, pick the ones in each asset class with the lowest expense ratio. Avoid all funds that hit you with a sales charge. 3. Avoid company stock. Some companies encourage the purchase of company stock in 401(k) plans. They may even make matching contributions in company stock. You should avoid purchasing company stock in your 401(k) plan. You are already "invested" because you depend on your company for your paycheck. It would be a devastating blow if your company went out of business and you lost your job. Don't compound that risk by adding company stock to your 401(k) plan. 4. Be wary of financial advice. The same fund families that manage high-expense-ratio, actively managed funds in your plan often offer "financial advice" to plan participants. You should be wary of this advice. It is rife with conflicts. The fund family increases profits by steering you into its more expensive funds (including its proprietary funds) and away from low-cost index funds. It is in your best interest to focus on fees and select low-cost index funds if they are available. Relying on sound financial advice from those people who populate your plan with poor choices is akin to hiring the fox to guard the hen house. 5. Minimize your reliance on your 401(k) plan. If you have a bad plan and your employer does not make any matching contribution, consider not participating. If your employer does offer a match, consider contributing the minimum amount necessary to obtain the maximum employer contribution. Supplement your retirement savings by opening an individual retirement account (either a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, if you qualify) and invest some of the money that you normally would have tucked away inside your 401(k). With your own IRA, you control your investment choices. The securities lobby has successfully opposed meaningful reform of the 401(k) system. There is little incentive for Congress to act in your best interest. After all, its members are beneficiaries of a superbly run 401(k) plan, and they apparently don't believe your plan should replicate theirs. You are basically on your own to navigate around a system that many believe is a national disgrace.
BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- As we get deeper into 2014, real estate investment trusts -- better known as REITs -- continue to be a pocket of stellar performance for stock market investors. Year-to-date, the average large REIT is up more than 11.6%, double the performance of the S&P 500 over the same stretch. You'd better believe that hedge fund managers are paying attention to the trend too. In the last quarter, funds' five biggest REIT bets grew by a whopping $19.1 billion, an indication that the smart money is buying REITs with both hands right now. And with the broad market's flight to yield holding up as the S&P presses up against new highs, the only question is why aren't you buying them too? Today, we'll take a closer look at hedge funds' five favorite REITs for 2014. To figure those out, we've got to take a closer look at 13F filings. Institutional investors with more than $100 million in assets are required to file a 13F -- a form that breaks down their stock positions for public consumption. From hedge funds to mutual funds to insurance companies, any professional investors who manage more than that $100 million watermark are required to file a 13F. In total, approximately 3,700 firms file 13F forms each quarter, and by comparing one quarter's filing to another, we can see how any single fund manager is moving their portfolio around. While the data is generally delayed by about a quarter, that's not necessarily a bad thing – research shows that applying a lag to institutional holdings can generate positive alpha in some cases. That's all the more reason to crack open the moves being made with pro investors' $19.6 trillion under management. Without further ado, here are hedge funds' 5 favorite REITs. Simon Property Group First up is Simon Property Group (SPG), a $51 billion name that tips the scales as the largest U.S. real estate investment trust. SPG owns a wide collection of retail real estate assets, with U.S. regional malls and outlet centers making up approximately 90% of net lease income. Simon also owns a 29% stake in Klepierre, which gives the firm exposure to European retail properties as well. Funds picked up 2.27 million shares of SPG last quarter. Simon's scale is one of its biggest benefits. The firm is better able to secure access to cheap capital than its smaller peers, and it's able to participate in larger projects that a smaller firm would require a partner for. The decision to spin off its smaller strip mall properties into Washington Prime Group (WPG) is a positive for the SPG shareholders. It retains the highest-quality assets under the SPG banner while unlocking shareholder value at a time when REITs are looking comparatively attractive in the marketplace. In many cases, SPG also gets added exposure to retail sales. Because the firm's main properties are malls, lease agreements typically include a cut of store revenue. That's an attractive sweetener in an environment where consumer spending continues to be on the upswing. Right now, SPG pays out a 3.16% dividend yield. While this stock isn't the beefiest payout, it's a staid bet for investors looking for their first taste of REIT exposure. American Realty Capital Properties 2014 has been a challenging year for shares of American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP). Since the calendar flipped to January, this commercial real estate name has dropped by 6% and change, underperforming the rest of the REIT space in dramatic fashion. But with event risk largely shaken out of ARCP, this landlord is starting to look like an interesting, if speculative, bet. Last quarter, funds picked up a whopping 383.99 million shares of ARCP, a buy operation that amounts to 42% of this firm's outstanding shares. That's a conviction bet if ever there was one. ARCP invests in single-tenant commercial properties, with a portfolio that includes everything from retail restaurant space to office buildings. The firm recently made news when it announced that it was planning on selling essentially all of its shopping center assets to Blackstone Group (BX) for $1.975 billion, rather than unloading those shopping centers through a spinoff. Simultaneously, the firm plans to use the proceeds of the Blackstone deal to fund a major sale-leaseback transaction in Red Lobster restaurants for $1.5 billion. Shares dropped hard on news of the change in course, but now that they've settled, this stock could be a particularly solid name for income-seekers who aren't exceptionally risk-averse. Right now, ARCP pays out an 8.33-cent monthly dividend, a payout that adds up to a massive 8.3% yield at current levels. That big payout should continue to hold significant appeal as interest rates stay constrained near zero. Public Storage $29 billion self-storage REIT Public Storage (PSA) stands apart from most of the other names on this list because of its structure. As a self-storage stock, the firm receives far more revenue directly from consumers than the typical retail landlord ever would. Likewise, it generally leases storage units on a month-to-month basis rather than through a long-term arrangement. Despite the glaring differences, PSA is still a REIT worth taking a closer look at in 2014. Hedge funds agree. They picked up 2.37 million shares of PSA last quarter. Public Storage owns approximately 140 million square feet of leasable storage units spread across 38 states here in the U.S. as well as parts of Western Europe. Unlike a conventional landlord, where location is typically the deciding tenant factor, brand matters to PSA. Because the items stored at PSA's facilities are inherently valuable (they must be worth something for customers to bother storing them), customers are more likely to weigh a brand's reputation before securing space. Public Storage's huge scale gives it advertising and reputational advantages that smaller rivals can't match. Demand remains high for storage facilities in 2014, and that tailwind should help to propel growth. Financing is another space where PSA stands out from its peers. Unlike most REITs, Public Storage has historically opted to finance most of its growth through equity rather than debt, leaving just $360 million in net borrowings on its balance sheet at last count. Right now, PSA pays out a 3.3% dividend yield. Boston Properties Commercial landlord Boston Properties (BXP) is enjoying a solid run in 2014. Since the start of the year, shares of the $17.6 billion REIT have rallied more than 14.5%. And with the commercial real estate market looking strong this year, there's reason to expect a lot more upside in this high-quality trust. Funds picked up 804,650 shares of BXP in the most recent quarter, a $92 million buying spree at current share prices. Boston Properties owns interests in more than 160 properties spread across the country, with a focus on office buildings in large metropolitan areas. In addition, the firm owns a hotel, three residential properties and another four retail spaces. BXP's properties are mostly concentrated in just five markets: Boston, New York, Princeton, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Location is everything, and that's the approach BXP has used to pursue high-quality properties in prime locations that continue to enjoy strong demand for leases. BXP has historically been more tactical than most of its peers, selling off buildings when markets get frothy and buying again when prices drop. That approach is a bit more hazardous than the typical "own it forever" approach to real estate that most REITs follow, but Boston Properties has frankly been able to walk the line very effectively. Today, BXP's 65-cent quarterly dividend adds up to a 2.26% yield. Essex Property Trust Last up is Essex Property Trust (ESS), an $11.2 billion apartment REIT that owns interests in 234 residential communities with a total of 33,468 units among them, as well as five commercial buildings. Essex's properties are focused on the West Coast. As a residential REIT, there are some major differences between Essex and a conventional commercial landlord. For starters, while commericals are able to lease space triple-net and very long-term (that is, tenants pay for insurance, maintenance, and taxes directly), housing trusts don't. That exposes ESS to some short-term pricing risk if the firm gets caught with surprise bills – it also exposes the firm to risks from housing laws in jurisdictions that are tenant friendly. Similarly, residential leases typically span just a year, rather than the 20-year average seen in commercial property leases. Combating all of those factors, Essex is able to charge retail and has the big tailwinds of a hot rental market in the regions where it operates. In April, Essex purchased BRE Properties in a $6.2 billion deal that dramatically grew Essex's scale, making it the largest multifamily REIT on the West Coast. While the ink is basically still wet on the purchase, the combined firm should be able to provide big economies of scale for ESS shareholders in 2014. Hedge funds seem to think so. They picked up 5 million shares of the firm last quarter, adding to their previous holdings by approximately 15%. To see these stocks in action, check out the Institutional Buys portfolio on Stockpickr.
-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore. RELATED LINKS: >>5 Rocket Stocks to Buy for a Correction Week >>3 Big-Volume Stocks to Trade for Breakouts >>5 Retail Stocks to Trade for Gains in June Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. At the time of publication, author had no positions in the names mentioned.
Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.
Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji
After the closing bell on Tuesday, La-Z-Boy Incorporated (LZB ) reported its fourth quarter earnings, posting slightly higher revenues and EPS than last year’s Q4 figures.
LZB’s Earnings in Brief La-Z-Boy reported fourth quarter revenues of $353.3 million, up from last year’s Q4 revenues of $345.8 million. Net income for the quarter was down to $12.24 million compared to last year’s Q4 figure of $18.31 million. The company's adjusted EPS came in at 33 cents, which is up from last year’s Q4 EPS of 30 cents. LZB met analysts’ EPS expectations of 33 cents, but revenue missed the expected $369.2 million. Same-store sales for the quarter were down 0.9% for quarter, compared to 11.2% growth in last year’s Q4. CEO Commentary LZB chairman, president and CEO Kurt L. Darrow had the following comments: “Overall, we are pleased with our results for fiscal 2014 full year. With respect to our performance, we increased sales, operating profit, cash flow and the dividend while strengthening our balance sheet. Additionally, we recorded a 6% increase in written same-store sales for the La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® network of stores, while solidifying one of the largest growth initiatives in the company’s history with our 4-4-5 store strategy. We improved the performance of both our wholesale upholstery and retail segments, demonstrating our integrated retail model is delivering results. Moving forward, we believe the initiatives we have established throughout our wholesale and retail operations, coupled with the financial strength and flexibility to invest in our business, will position us for continuing, long-term profitable growth.” LZB’s Dividend La-Z-Boy paid its last dividend on June 10, and we expect the company to declare its next quarterly dividend of 6 cents in the coming months. Stock Performance LZB stock was down $2.34, or 9.42%, in after hours trading. YTD, the stock is down 21.7% LZB Dividend Snapshot As of Market Close on June 17, 2014  Click here to see the complete history of LZB dividends.
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) plans to release its fourth quarter and full-year 2013 financial results on Feb.18. It would hold a conference call on Feb. 19 at 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. EST) to discuss its recent results and provide an update on current business trends. Herbalife is a global nutrition company that sells weight-management, nutrition and personal care products. Herbalife products are sold in more than 90 countries through a network of independent distributors. Wall Street expects Herbalife to earn $1.24 a share, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The consensus estimate implies an increase of 18.1 percent from last year's $1.05 a share. The company sees fourth quarter adjusted EPS of $1.26 to $1.30. [Related -Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) Q3 Earnings Preview: What To Watch?] Herbalife's earnings have topped the Street's view in all of the past four quarters, with upside surprise ranging between 1.9 and 23.7 percent. The consensus estimate has gained 7 cents in the past 90 days, and three analysts raised their quarterly profit views in the last month. This reflects the ongoing positive sentiment of the Street. The company has grown profit for the last nine quarters. Quarterly sales are estimated to grow 17.6 percent to $1.25 billion from $1.06 billion a year-ago. In the past four quarters, the company has recorded an average sales growth of 18.5 percent while the company expects revenue growth of 19.8 percent for the fourth quarter. [Related -How To Invest Like Bill Ackman] For the full year, Herbalife is estimated to report earnings of $5.32 a share on revenue of $4.81 billion. The company forecasts full-year earnings of $5.35 to $5.39 a share and sales growth of 18.5 percent Volume points would be one of the key metrics to watch. The company sees volume points for the full year and fourth quarter 2013 to increase approximately 13.1 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively. Third-quarter worldwide volume growth was 14 percent, with a spurt in all regions including North America, South and Central America, and EMEA. The Street would be focusing on the volume growth on emerging markets such as China and India apart from South & Central America. China witnessed a growth of 71 percent in volume points in the third quarter. Further, inventory and accounts receivables figures would be keenly monitored. As of Sept.30, the company had inventories of $347.73 million, and receivables valued at $109.83 million. The long-term debt of $875 million should also be on investors' radar. The company had a cash balance of about $892.55 million at the end of the third quarter. The company recently entered into an amendment relating to its $500 million senior term loan and $700 million senior revolving loan credit facility. The amendment will increase the highest applicable margin payable by Herbalife by 0.50 percent when its total leverage ratio exceeds 2.50 to 1.00 and increase the permitted consolidated total leverage ratio of Herbalife under the credit facility. The company also sold $1 billion of convertible senior notes due 2019 with the intention to use the majority of net proceeds for share repurchases. The initial purchasers of the notes will be Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, HSBC and Morgan Stanley. Herbalife has been in the news ever since William Ackman, the activist manager of hedge fund Pershing Square, announced a large short-position in the company calling it a pyramid scheme that would fail soon. Herbalife has 2.5 million distributors and Ackman said the company posts its profits from selling its products amongst distributors and not to the consumers. He claimed that 90 percent of the profits from the distributors are earned by adding other distributors to the network. Ackman calls for a regulatory probe on Herbalife. Senator Ed Markey is also lobbying for an investigation into accusations that the company is running a pyramid scheme. However, there haven't been signs of any regulatory probe in the U.S. on Herbalife. Moreover, the company's fundamental thesis remains strong as consumers are becoming more health conscious, driving demand for Herbalife's products. These healthy products attract consumers to join the distribution network to gain monetary benefits and this augments sales. In December, the company filed amended financial statements for 2010, 2011 and 2012 as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) with no material changes. In April, Herbalife's auditor KPMG resigned due to alleged insider trading by an auditor. According to regulatory filings, some investors have added positions, and some have sold the stock during the quarter. Hayman Capital sold its entire stake of over 2.2 million Herbalife shares. On the other hand, Susquehanna disclosed a 6.7 percent stake (in excess of 6.8 million shares) in the company. Morgan Stanley currently owns more than 2.9 million shares of Herbalife, accounting for 2.9 percent stake in nutrition-supplement maker. Investors would expect the company to update on its buyback plans. The company's board of directors has increased the existing share repurchase authorization to an available balance of $1.5 billion. The company's former share repurchase authorization of $1 billion had an available balance of $653 million. In addition, the market will keep an eye on the 2014 outlook. The company's sees 2014 volume point growth and adjusted EPS of 6.5 percent to 8.5 percent and $5.45 to $5.65, respectively. For the first quarter, it expects adjusted EPS of $1.24 to $1.28. For the third quarter, Los Angeles, California-based Herbalife's profit rose to $142.0 million or $1.32 a share from $111.9 million or 98 cents a share last year. Adjusted earnings were $1.41 a share. Sales for the third quarter grew 19 percent to $1.21 billion. Shares of Herbalife have gained 75 percent in the last one year but dropped 1.5 percent since its last earnings report and 17 percent in the last one month. The stock trades 11.4 times its forward earnings and traded between $34.52 and $83.51 during the past 52-weeks. An upside surprise and upbeat outlook could take the stock close to $75.
China is about to step on the gas and boost bank lending once again. That's despite both the IMF and World Bank thinking it's unnecessary. But concerns of China's growth moderating and housing prices dropping 5% this year aside, this might be the real reason for renewed easing: Recent reports indicate that copper and aluminum used as loan collateral may have been rehypothecated or, worse, may never have existed at all... Rampant Fraud Is to Blame You may be wondering, "What does rehypothecation even mean?" Well, it's the process of pledging an asset as collateral twice, or perhaps even many times over. And it may have happened in a big way at Qingdao, the third-largest foreign trade port in China, and seventh largest in the world. Qingdao port temporarily halted shipments of aluminum and copper as authorities investigated possible rehypothecation of stockpiles or, worse, loans against metals that simply aren't there. Port authorities are assessing whether multiple receipts have been issued for single cargoes. Banks make loans against these metals in order to provide funding to trading houses. Right now, it appears the focus is on Decheng Mining. Local police have told Reuters that Decheng is being investigated for its financing activities and over fraud claims. Standard Bank Group Ltd. (JSE: SBK), CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd. (HKG: 1205), and GKE Corp. Ltd. (SGX: 595) have warned they may be affected as they try to assess whether they are at risk of related losses. And it may not end there, as some Western banks are worried about similar fraud activity at Penglai port in Shandong province. This Isn't the First Time All this has some observers concerned that the affected metals may drop in price should imports to China weaken and stockpiles be sold off to unwind positions. Yet this isn't the first time China's been host to such shenanigans. Back in 2012, Reuters reported that "Chinese authorities are investigating a number of cases in which steel documented in receipts was either not there, belonged to another company or had been pledged as collateral to multiple lenders, industry sources said." The Size of the Problem Means Everything My view is that this will ultimately have little effect on prices for the concerned metals, unless the problem is shown to have occurred on a very large scale. Chinese officials have been quick to respond. Starting July 1, all transactions affecting bonded zones at Qingdao port need to be recorded, including documents such as storage agreements, sales contracts, and packing lists. From a macro perspective, there's also the fact that China's urbanization push was recently upgraded. The State Council approved a plan to see 60% (up from the former 52.8%) of China's population living in cities by 2020. This more aggressive target alone represents an additional 100 million people. That's going to support and likely push up demand (and therefore prices) for required basic metals like copper, aluminum, and steel. Already this year, copper stockpiles tracked by Shanghai, New York, and London exchanges are down by 47%, recording the lowest supply levels in six years. Asian Supply and Demand Are Tightening Limiting supply further is Indonesia's ban on unrefined metal concentrates, a move that's certainly not without consequences. Mega-miner Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) just announced that it's shutting down its Batu Hijau copper-gold mine in Indonesia, responsible for 161 million pounds of copper last year. Newmont was stockpiling copper concentrate but now has simply exhausted its storage space. Some larger miners will likely build refining capacity to meet the new rules, but such projects are costly and take years to complete. For now, the ore continues to pile up or, worse, just plain stays in the ground. Meanwhile, on the demand side, there's also India. The nation's 1.2 billion people recently elected no-nonsense, proactive Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has ambitious plans to build up India's infrastructure, deregulate, fight corruption and red tape, and attract foreign investment. Modi also wants to bring electricity to the more than 400 million Indians who currently lack this basic power source. It's a phenomenon I detailed for you a couple of weeks back in my article: "This is Like Investing in China...In 1980." Base Metals Have a Lucrative Future What's more, China continues to stimulate. The China Banking Regulatory Commission recently announced that commercial banks could lower the cash proportions they are required to keep on deposit with the central bank. The People's Bank of China also said it was dropping the main money market rate in order to keep credit supply abundant. And encouraging activity further, the central bank made an additional $16 billion available to commercial banks to lend to farming projects. So despite some limited potential weakness in the very near term, the global picture for base metals looks to be heating up from both a supply and demand perspective.
LPL Financial (LPLA) said late Monday that it is building a regional headquarters in Fort Mill, S.C., and will move its 1,000 employees in the Charlotte, N.C., area to the new facility. The independent broker-dealer also says it will invest about $150 million in the region, which is located about 30 miles south of Charlotte, over the next eight years. "We plan to create a work environment that supports innovation, collaboration, and engagement — a space that promotes employees' overall well-being and a place that they will feel proud and excited to come to work every day,” said Chairman and CEO Mark Casady, in a press release. “We believe that by building such an exciting workplace, our employees will be further empowered to do their best to support our clients." Construction of the new building will begin in 2015, with completion expected in fall 2016. Earlier this year, the IBD opened a new regional San Diego headquarters, which it says is among the largest net-zero energy commercial office buildings in the United States. About 1,600 LPL Financial employees, who previously worked in seven office buildings in the La Jolla area of San Diego, are now based in the new 13-story facility. "LPL Financial is one of the nation's premier financial advisor firms, and we couldn't be more excited that they are choosing to grow and succeed here in South Carolina, investing $150 million and intending to create a total of 3,000 new jobs in the state of South Carolina," said Gov. Nikki Haley, in a statement. In the Carolinas, LPL’s regional headquarters will be located in Kingsley Park, near Interstate 77. --- Check out LPL Goes Green With New San Diego Headquarters on ThinkAdvisor.
 Bloomberg News After another big year for stocks in 2013, many investors are questioning how much longer the bull market can run before it collapses from exhaustion. This doubt has intensified with the early 2014 selloff. However, based on what we see, it's not time to worry about the market's stamina yet. The S&P 500 returned more than 32% in 2013 — the fifth-straight year of positive equity-market returns and the best year since 1997. As the market chalked up these strong gains, earnings per share grew by about 6%. So there was a significant increase in the price/earnings ratio — the amount investors pay for a dollar of S&P 500 earnings. How much room is there for P/E multiples to expand, paving the way for further gains? Some investors aren't convinced that they'll expand at all — they seem more worried that multiples could head in the other direction if interest rates rise. Proponents of this view point to the modest market correction when (now former) Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke mentioned tapering at the May Fed meeting. The pain was acute in interest-rate-sensitive sectors, including those linked to housing. But we think they're discounting the powerful new market highs in the last few months of 2013 against a backdrop of rising rates, stronger economic data and the actual onset of Fed tapering. Despite talk about a “bubbly” market, the P/E multiple for the S&P 500 was about 16 times at year-end. While that's higher than it was two or three years ago, it still reveals stock valuations to be modest — and dramatically lower than the two prior market peaks in 2000 and 2007. Earnings yields are also more attractive versus bond yields than in those earlier periods. In our view, if interest rates rise gradually and economic growth accelerates (as we expect), the powerful bull market isn't likely to lose steam yet. What's driving our positive outlook? Relative valuations: Even after five
Silver prices today remain discounted due to last week's drop, creating a perfect window of opportunity for investors to buy the commodity before it heads higher. Last week saw a 3.71% decline in silver prices, which ended January down 4%. That followed a rough 2013, when the precious metal started out the year at $31 and ended at $19.50 for a 36.3% drop. But today silver prices inched forward, opening at $18.62 per ounce, up 1.06% since Friday. It's just the beginning for what's about to happen to the precious metal in the weeks ahead... Silver Prices in 2014 The first strong indicator silver is about to pop requires a look back to early December. Silver-futures short positions of all speculators (in the Commitment of Traders COT report from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission) hit a current bull-market high of 54,000 contracts. "This kind of extreme often signals a strong performance in the silver price over the next 1 to 3 months," Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth said. Another good sign for silver prices in the weeks ahead is the more recent COT reports. "They show speculators have already pared back their short bets considerably, so this reversing trend is playing out in textbook fashion," Krauth said. "We saw this happen in each of the past three years, and conditions look ripe for a repeat." But perhaps the biggest indicator silver prices are about to pop is that exchange-traded fund (ETF) managers are drastically increasing their holdings. "Their physical holdings bifurcated during 2013, saying a lot about investors' mindset," Krauth said. Note: The $65 billion cybersecurity industry is poised for a boom - experts predict a 39% increase in corporate spending alone by 2017. Here are the best cybersecurity stocks to buy now. The two flagship physically backed precious metals ETFs are iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE ARCA: SLV) and SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE ARCA: GLD). GLD investors sold right out of the gate as 2013 started. From record-high inventories, GLD saw its level of gold bars rapidly decline more than 40% by year's end. When the gold price panic hit in April, GLD lost 15% of its holdings within just a month and a half. But SLV investors decided to hold onto their shares despite silver's plummeting price. In fact, during both the early and late parts of 2013, SLV's silver holdings were actually up from their average 2012 levels. "The lower silver prices clearly didn't scare investors away from the major silver ETF," Krauth said. Finally, this chart shows four more reasons why silver's ready to pop:  The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a momentum indicator that attempts to determine whether an asset is over- or undervalued. If the RSI indicator hits 70 or higher, it's considered to be overbought. Here, the RSI is safely below the threshold. Silver has strong support at the $19.75 level and will likely break out of its wedge pattern (represented by the converging arrows in the middle graph) soon, Krauth expects to the upside. Target prices: Initial level is $23, if that's taken out, silver could rally to $25. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) momentum indicator shows a healthy positive divergence (long-term and short-term prices moving together), pointing to a rally. Krauth also gave investors the best company to invest in to play this silver move...
If you ever feel as if the demands of your job and your industry are moving too fast to keep on top and maintain your sanity, you're not alone. Rapid technology changes, worldwide competition and increasing demands from employers can make even the most confident worker a bit shaky. COLUMN: Not all education comes from college
STORY: Learning how learning works That's why self-directed learning is gaining momentum. Workers can find online resources to learn about everything from project management to marketing, helping them learn when the time is best for them. Instead of taking days or even weeks to try to figure out a problem on their own, they also can tap into an online expert to give them information in a matter of minutes or hours — for a fee. "I don't think schools are going away, but new tech provides another option to learn," says Ken Howery, a PayPal cofounder and now founder and partner with Founders Fund. Last year he was part of a $2 million investment in an education start-up called PopExpert. PopExpert provides hundreds of experts that meet one on one through video sessions and charge a per-hour rate for services. But PopExpert goes beyond job skills, also targeting workers' well being. Howery says he personally uses PopExpert meditation instructor Kenneth Folk. “I don't think schools are going away, but new tech provides another option to learn.” — Ken Howery, Founders Fund "I have worked with Kenneth in person when he's in San Francisco, and nothing is as good as in person," Howery says. "But still, video is way better than a phone call." Folk is listed on PopExpert as available for instruction at $125 a session. But other sessions, such as meeting with a productivity expert, may cost only $37 for the first session, the site reveals. For Satya Twena, fashion entrepreneur and fine milliner in New York City, the decision to tap into a social media-expert from PopExpert came about after she realized! that her in-house social-media hire wasn't delivering for her business. The expert Twena chose spent about an hour researching her company's social-media strategy and met with her online to show her how she could put in place a better social-media effort. "I found out what we were not doing. By finding this expert, I believe it saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars by creating a social media strategy that made sense for us," Twena says. "Meeting with her cost me less than $100." Twena, who has a psychology and women's study degree from Wellesley but little prior business experience before her current venture, says online learning provides her a way to gather information quickly and helps prevent her from falling behind in a competitive business environment. Because people learn differently, Howery says online learning offers another option.  Even a business like millinery isn't just about making hats anymore.(Photo: Alexandra Bahou, Detroit Free Press) "Some people do best by reading a book. Some others learn best from teachers. And some people need to experiment on their own," he says. "Online learning means that you have to figure out what you want to learn as opposed to just following what a teacher tells you. Self-directed learning does require self-motivation." COLUMN: 7 keys to crowdfunding success At this point in her life, Twena, 30, says going back to school for a master's for several years and spending $80,000 makes little sense when she can get the skills and expertise she needs through online learning and exposure to key people and resources. Twena hired a Kickstarter expert whom she believes was critical i! n develop! ing a strategy that helped her raise $172,000 through the online crowdfunding site. The money is being used to purchase one of New York City's last hat factories and rehire its employees. "Learning, changing, zigging and zagging — that's how you learn to be successful," she says. Twena echoes the concern of many professionals who fret that the marketplace is moving too rapidly. She say she must hone her skills constantly and as rapidly as possible to keep her career and business thriving. She lamented that she spent three days researching the best shipping options for her product when she could have tapped into an online expert to give her the best advice in a fraction of the time. "I've done everything backwards because I don't do anything forward," she says, laughing. "Believe me, next time I have a question I'm going right to an expert." Anita Bruzzese is author of 45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy ... and How to Avoid Them, www.45things.com. Twitter: @AnitaBruzzese.
|
Are America's malls dying? NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Dead shopping malls are a sad sight. 
Getty Images As a 19-year-old, Robert Knoll made a mistake that many young people do -- he got into debt. Knoll did it by living beyond his meager salary as a U.S. Marine, and using small payday loans to help him get by between paychecks. "The problem, though, is it puts you behind the next payday," Knoll says. Those $80 to $200 payday loans added up, along with the $50 in interest he'd pay to borrow $200 for five days. With an annual percentage rate on the loan of more than 200 percent, Knoll would post-date a check for $250 for a $200 loan that would be paid off five days later when his paycheck was deposited into his checking account. "You can spend your entire paycheck before you get it," says Knoll, now an account executive at DRIVEN Public Relations in Temecula, California. He retired as a Marine master sergeant in 2013. Help From the ARK Unlike servicemembers today, Knoll didn't have help from the military on payday loans back then. One program that officials are trying to remind military members and their families about is the Asset Recovery Kit. For a $5 fee, members of 17 credit unions supported by the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation can borrow up to $500 interest-free for 30 days. The program has loaned more than $3.8 million in 8,724 loans since it started in 2004, says Jane Whitfield, president and CEO of the PenFed Foundation. "We want to help in preventing short-term emergencies becoming long-term problems," she says.
Reuters 
Popular Posts: 10 Oil and Gas Stocks to Buy Now15 Oil and Gas Stocks to Sell NowBiggest Movers in Energy Stocks Now – NGLS EXXI WTI TPLM Recent Posts: Biggest Movers in Capital Goods Stocks Now – ATRO APOG AIR TEX Hottest Healthcare Stocks Now – PCRX ISRG SHPG BIIB Hottest Financial Stocks Now – AB NBG BX BOKF View All Posts 4 Restaurant and Resort Stocks to Sell Now 
Big win for broadcasters against Aereo NEW YORK (CNNMoney) A huge win for the nation's biggest television broadcasters: in a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that streaming television startup Aereo violates the Copyright Act. 
Subscribe via Email 
Subscribe RSS Comments Please leave your comment: 
MORE GURUFOCUS LINKS