Taper Fears Aren't Causing It - Ahead of Wall Street

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Taper fears are believed to be the reason for the stock market's Wednesday pullback and negative pre-open sentiment today. But this would make sense only if one started with the assumption that the stock market wasn't pricing in some sort of Taper action later this year. The stock market isn't blind to developments in the bond market and benchmark treasury yields haven't budged much in either direction after spiking more than 100 basis points since May.

What this tells me is that the current bout of stock market tentativeness may be nothing more than an excuse to take easy profits in a slow news, low volume summer period. We have roughly six weeks to go before the next Fed meeting, which will most likely user in some sort of Taper. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if this bleed down continues through the rest of August.

Taper fears may not be a good enough reason for investors to flee the market, but there is no shortage of other meatier reasons to do just the same. The most important of these reasons is the 'iffy' earnings outlook for the second half of the year and next year. The market's strong gains thus far need to be confirmed by momentum on the earnings front. But we are witnessing the opposite of what should be happening at this stage. Estimates for the second half of the year in general and Q3 in particular are falling sharply as the Q2 earnings season has moved towards the finish line.

Stocks market bulls continue to hold out hopes for earnings growth ramp up towards the end of the year and next year - that's why estimates for Q4 and next year still reflect double-digit growth rates. They can justifiably point towards the improving macro backdrop like the recent strong ISM readings, the narrower trade deficit, the not-so-shabby jobs picture, and even some tell-tale signs of green shoots in Europe. But if we don't see any evidence of positive earnings momentum, as has been the case thus far, then the bulls would need to co! me up with a more plausible justification for the market's record level.

With the Fed getting ready to get out of the QE business, irrespective of whether the Taper comes next month or later this year, stocks need earnings power to justify current lofty levels. We haven't seen that thus far. Is it any surprise then that investors are cashing in their gains before heading out to the beach? That's exactly what they should be doing anyway, irrespective of what this or that member of the Federal Open Mouth Committee may be saying any given day.

Sheraz Mian
Director of Research

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Should You Let Your Winners Run Or Take Profits Off The Table?

Carl Icahn had big things in mind when he invested in Netflix Netflix last year at the behest of two hungry young investors helping manage his money, but even the irascible billionaire admits that a 457% gain exceeded his expectations. His response to the windfall is a lesson for investors big and small.

Icahn revealed last week that he slashed his Netflix holdings by more than half – over the objections of the two money managers who prompted the initial investment, son Brett Icahn and David Schechter – even though he still believes the stock could go higher.

"[A]s a hardened veteran of seven bear markets I have learned that when you are lucky and/or smart enough to have made a total return of 457% in only 14 months it is time to take some of the chips off the table," Icahn wrote.

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Considering the broader market's big gains – the S&P 500 sits near record levels and is up almost 24% this year – and the tremendous advances in certain stocks like Netflix, investors are no doubt wondering if they should follow Icahn's lead or let their winners run.

Most professional money managers, like Icahn, will tell you that a blanket "let your winners run" philosophy is no kind of investment strategy. The general argument is that prudent investing requires a price target and the discipline to hit eject (or at least pull out profits) when a stock reaches that figure.

Will News Corp. Post Higher Prices?

With shares of News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA) trading around $31, is NWSA an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

News Corp. is a diversified global media company that operates in six segments: Cable Network Programming; Filmed Entertainment; Television; Direct Broadcast Satellite Television; Publishing; and Other. The company is involved in programming distribution through cable television systems and direct broadcast satellite operators; live-action and animated motion pictures distribution and licensing; operation of broadcast television stations and the broadcasting of network programming and in direct broadcast satellite business through its subsidiary, SKY Italia. News Corp. distributes information and entertainment through just about every medium possible which reinforces a powerful presence. As companies and consumers continue to search for entertainment and information at increasing rates, look for companies like News Corp. to see rising profits.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Strong

News Corp. stock has witnessed an explosive run extending back to early 2009. The stock is now resting a bit as it digests gains from the first half of this year. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, News Corp. is trading between its rising key averages which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

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(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	5 Best Cheap Stocks For 2014 Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
News Corp. Options	28.43%	96%	91%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
July Options	Flat	Average
August Options	Flat	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3	2012 Q2
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	221.05%	140.48%	235.71%	273.83%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	13.54%	5.01%	2.22%	3.87%
Earnings Reaction	4.48%	-2.33%	1.60%	-0.21%

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

P = Average Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has News Corp. stock done relative to its peers, Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA), Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), and sector?

	News Corp.	Viacom	Time Warner	Walt Disney	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	23.21%	23.62%	18.48%	25.51%	23.31%

News Corp. has been an average performer, year-to-date.

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Conclusion

News Corp. provides highly sought entertainment and information through a wide range of mediums to interested consumers and companies worldwide. The stock has been on a surge higher, in recent years, but is now digesting gains from the first half of this year. Over the last four quarters, investors have been optimistic about the company as earnings and revenue figures have been rising. Relative to its strong peers and sector, News Corp. has been a year-to-date average performer. Look for News Corp. to continue to OUTPERFORM.

J.C. Penney Chairman: CEO Search Started In July

J.C. Penney (JCP) jumped nearly 7% during regular trading on news that the retailer was searching for a replacement for interim CEO Mike Ullman at the behest of activist shareholder Bill Ackman, who criticized the company’s slow pace.

After the close, J.C. Penney Chairman Thomas Engibous released a statement saying that the search for a new CEO began "in earnest three weeks ago," and promising that the process will be "careful and deliberate to ensure we find the right long-term leader" for the firm.

He concludes: “The Board of Directors strongly disagrees with Mr. Ackman and is extremely disappointed that his letter was released to the media at the same time that it was sent to the Board. Mr. Ackman has been integrally involved in the Board’s activities since he joined two years ago. This includes leading a campaign to appoint the Company’s previous CEO, under whose leadership performance deteriorated precipitously. His latest actions are disruptive and counterproductive at an important stage in the Company’s recovery.”

Verizon Takes Shape, and Illumina Steps Up

On this day in economic and business history ...

The company now known as Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) was first created when Bell Atlantic announced its acquisition of rival telecom GTE on July 28, 1998. The $52.8 billion megadeal immediately vaulted the as-yet-unnamed Verizon (it would be nearly two years before "Verizon" was chosen as the new telecom's corporate name) into the highest levels of American telecom power. Of course, a deal of this size prompted federal regulators to announce plans for a close examination, as Bell Atlantic was already the largest local phone company in the United States, and the two telecoms would also combine to serve 10.6 million wireless subscribers, nearly a sixth of the entire U.S. wireless market at the time.

It took two years for the deal to work its way through the regulatory process, and by the time the two companies officially merged into Verizon, they served 77 million wired-line subscribers. Verizon became the 10th-largest company by revenue in the U.S. in its first year of operation, and its wireless partnership has long held on to the subscriber lead, with more than 106 million subscribers reported in its 2012 fiscal year a nearly fivefold improvement over the 23 million subscribers reported after the merger closed. Verizon's importance to the engines of American prosperity earned it a spot on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) a mere four years after its creation.

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew
July 28, 1586, is the earliest precise date known for the introduction of potatoes to the European continent. That day, Sir Walter Raleigh and Thomas Harriot returned to England from a voyage to the New World with some of the hardy tubers in their cargo hold. Some records exist of potatoes in Europe from as far back as the mid-1570s, when Spanish explorers returned with potatoes from their colonies. However, for its precise date and for its importance to later Irish economic development, the 1586 introduction should be considered vital.

Today, the potato is the fifth most important crop in the world, but it achieved this status in Europe far later than the four other largest staple crops. It remained largely a curiosity in the Old World until the 18th century. Once potatoes became widely accepted, they imparted enormous benefits to the European continent -- a study by Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian discovered that potatoes were responsible for at least a quarter of Old World population growth between 1700 and 1900. In Smithsonian magazine's feature on potatoes (a worthwhile read for curious food-history buffs), one historian is quoted as crediting the potato with the rise of the West.

A sequence of success
Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN  ) went public on July 28, 2000, becoming one of many companies to see its stock more than double on the first day during the end of the dot-com bubble. Its initial $16 pricing became a $39 share price by the end of the day, turning the unproven company into a $230 million market-cap multibagger in just a few hours while leaving more than $100 million in financing on the table.

Illumina stood out from the fly-by-night websites that typified dot-com investing excess, because it would soon become one of the leaders in the fast-moving field of genome sequencing. Exactly five years earlier, on July 28, 1995, scientists working for the Human Genome Project had successfully sequenced the first complete genome, that of bacterial influenza (a cause of pneumonia and meningitis, but not of the flu, which is caused by a viral infection). Less than a year later, the project would near its goal of sequencing the complete human genome -- and that goal was reached in 2003, two years ahead of schedule. By this point, Illumina had joined the race with a genotyping product of its own, and by 2005 Illumina stepped to the fore of genomics with a whole-genome sequencing product.

Today, Illumina dominates two-thirds of the global sequencing market. Tomorrow, it might be anyone's game. The cost of sequencing a complete genome has already fallen from $70 million in 2002 -- when Illumina launched its first genomic product -- to less than $7,000 today, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute. Such rapid progress points to one of two situations -- dominance by the incumbent, or an uprising of next-gen technology.

Innovations like genome sequencing will be essential to meet Obamacare's goals of driving down health-care costs for everyone, but road to Obamacare's successful future is far from clear for millions of ordinary Americans. To help educate investors about the massive changes coming to the American health-care system, The Motley Fool has created a special free report that makes this complex topic easily understandable. Download "Everything You Need to Know About Obamacare" now and discover how the law may affect your taxes, health insurance, investments, and more. Click here for your free copy today.

Two Tech Giants Lead the Dow's Gains

Whether Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve are backing off tapering plans or not, investors took his speech yesterday evening as a bullish sign for stocks. Bernanke said short-term rates would remain near 0% until unemployment reaches 6.5% and would likely remain low after that, given the slow increase in jobs domestically. None of this was really new news, but sometimes the market needs to be coddled and told that everything will be all right -- and that's exactly what Bernanke did yesterday. Late in today's trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) is up 1.1%, and the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) has gained 1.4%. 

PC stocks helped drive those gains after IDC said global PC sales fell 11.4% in the second quarter. That was slightly better than expectations and a 13.9% decline in the first quarter. This doesn't mean PC sales are booming, but it may be a sign that the PC market is starting to stabilize. Shares of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) were the biggest beneficiary of the news, jumping 3.1% today on hope that this will give the company more time to execute its plan to get into the mobile-chip business. 

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) is up 3% today after CEO Steve Ballmer announced a reorganization of the company that will allow it to innovate "with greater speed, efficiency, and capability." The company is trying to become more than a software company, integrating devices and services into its offerings as well. Microsoft "will pull together disparate engineering efforts today into a set of our high-value activities," according to Ballmer, making Microsoft a more focused and functional organization.  

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It will take years to tell whether the reorganization will pay dividends to shareholders, but this could be a sign that Microsoft is struggling to find its way in the new tech world. It survived for years as a software maker, but it's been forced to get into the device business, and it is struggling to market these products to consumers who have plenty of options.

It's an uphill battle for Microsoft but with only a handful of companies with the size to compete in the new tech world it has a fighter's chance to win the war. Find out who may be a better bet in "Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks," The Motley Fool's latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.

Mulally staying at Ford - for now

  Is Ford only as good as Mulally? NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Ford CEO Alan Mulally tried Thursday to damp down reports he's preparing to leave the automaker to take the top job at Microsoft. But his denial doesn't necessarily rule out a move.

In a call with analysts to discuss Ford's strong third-quarter results, the very first question was about talk in the media that Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) wants Mulally to replace outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer. Mulally answered that his plans to stay at Ford until "at least 2014" haven't changed.

"I'm clearly excited and honored to continue to serve Ford," he said.

But when asked by a reporter if he had talked to Microsoft, he refused to answer the question, saying he would not comment on speculation. When asked what the chances were that he'd stay at Ford beyond 2014, all he would say was "our plan has not changed."

Ballmer, in announcing his retirement In August, said he would leave within the next 12 months. So Mulally's previously stated departure plan doesn't necessarily rule out his moving to the software maker.

Last year, when Ford disclosed Mulally's plans to stay through 2014, it named Mark Fields as president, a position that hadn't previously been filled. He is seen as the likely successor to the 68-year old Mulally.

Mulally has been Ford (F, Fortune 500) CEO since 2006, joining the company from the commercial aircraft unit of Boeing (BA, Fortune 500). He is widely credited with helping Ford avoid bankruptcy and the federal bailout that rivals General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler Group endured in 2009. Under his leadership, Ford recaptured the No. 2 spot in U.S. car sales from Japanese rival Toyota (TM).

Ford shares were higher in Thursday trading after it reported a record third-quarter pretax profit of $2.6 billion, up 19% from a year earlier. Revenue was up 12% on an increase in the number of vehicles sold worldwide.

The company was able to trim its ongoing losses in Europe and raise its earnings guidance. It did report a drop in net income, but that was due to severance costs from plant closings in Europe and a charge for a shift in white-collar pension plans.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014

The following video is from Wednesday's installment of The Motley Fool's daily Financials show, in which analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson highlight for investors the most important stock news from the financial sector.

An article in Financial Times came out suggesting that smaller investment banks, such as Greenhill (NYSE: GHL  ) or Lazard (NYSE: LAZ  ) , might be workplaces that offer more options and flexibility for those pursuing a banking career. Will we start to see the best talent move away from Wall Street's biggest banks to find the true opportunities? In the video, Matt tells us what effect this could have on big banking as a whole.

Many investors are scared about investing in big banking stocks after the crash, but the sector has one notable stand-out. In a sea of mismanaged and dangerous peers, it rises above as "The Only Big Bank Built to Last." You can uncover the top pick that Warren Buffett loves in The Motley Fool's�new report. It's free, so click here to access it now.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: Violin Memory Inc (VMEM)

Violin Memory, Inc., incorporated on March 9, 2005, is pioneering a new class of flash-based storage systems that are designed to bring storage performance in-line with high-speed applications, servers and networks. The Company�� Flash Memory Arrays are specifically designed at each level of the system architecture starting with memory and optimized through the array to leverage the inherent capabilities of flash memory and meet the sustained requirements of business-critical applications, virtualized environments and Big Data solutions in enterprise data centers. The Company�� Velocity Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), Flash Memory Cards leverage its persistent memory-based architecture in servers and are optimized for applications that require continuous access to quantities of low latency persistent memory located directly in servers.

The Company�� storage systems are based on a four-layer hardware architecture, which is integrated with its Violin Memory Operating System (vMOS), software stack to optimize the management of flash memory at each level of its system architecture. The Company�� Velocity PCIe Flash Memory Cards leverage its expertise in persistent memory-based storage and controller design, as well as its vMOS software stack, to offer a differentiated architecture in a deployable PCIe form factor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Stocks on the Move: J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down 13.9% at $8.97 after a secondary stock offering�that might have been designed to drive out short sellers. Violin Memory Inc. (NASDAQ: VMEM) is down 21% at $7.11 on a lousy IPO�day. RingCentral Inc. (NYSE: RNG) is up 39.5% at $18.14 on a good IPO day.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: International Speedway Corporation(ISCA)

International Speedway Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, promotes motorsports themed entertainment activities in the United States. The company?s motorsports themed event operations consist of racing events at its motorsports entertainment facilities. Its motorsports entertainment facilities promoted approximately 100 stock car, open wheel, sports car, truck, motorcycle, go-kart racing, and other racing events. The company is also involved in souvenir merchandising operations; food and beverage concession operations; the provision of catering services in suites and chalets; creation of motorsports-related programming content, including national satellite radio service; the usage of its track facilities for testing for teams, driving schools, riding experiences, car shows, auto fairs, concerts and settings for television commercials, print advertisements, and motion pictures; and rents show cars for promotional events. As of November 30, 2011, it owned and/or op erated 13 motorsports entertainment facilities. The company was formerly known as Daytona International Speedway Corporation and changed its name to International Speedway Corporation in 1968. International Speedway Corporation was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Flannelly]

  Before the opening bell on Thursday, motorsports and entertainment company International Speedway Corporation (ISCA) reported that its third quarter loss widened compared to the previous year despite an increase in revenues. The higher losses were mostly due to a number of one-time costs.

  The Daytona Beach, Florida-based company posted a third quarter net loss of $7.9 million, or 17 cents per share, versus last year’s third quarter loss of $1.04 million, or 2 cents per share.

  Excluding various one-time items, International Speedway Corp. said its adjusted net income came in at $2.3 million, or 5 cents per share, in the third quarter. According to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, the company was expected to see an adjusted loss of 1 cent per share for the quarter.

  International Speedway’s third quarter revenues were $117.05 million, up slightly from the $115.93 million in revenues posted last year. On average, analysts were expecting the company to post revenues of $118.6 million in the quarter.

  “We remain encouraged with our quarter and year-to-date financial results; generating increased total revenue for the periods,” stated ISC Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy. “Adjusting for comparable events, our attendance revenue, which has been our principal risk, was down less than one percent for the quarter delivering results within our range of expectations and showing further signs of stabilization in our business.”

  Looking forward, the company maintained its fiscal 2013 guidance. It expects full year revenues to come in between $610.0 million and $625.0 million, with adjusted earnings coming in between $1.35 and $1.55 per share. However, the company said it feels more comfortable expecting full year results to be at the low-to-mid range of this guidance.

  International Speedway Corp shares were inactive during pre-market trading on Thursday. The stock is up 20.76% year-to-date

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

• [By Brian Pacampara]

  Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, motorsports entertainment promoter International Speedway (NASDAQ: ISCA  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

Top 5 Small Cap Stocks To Own Right Now: Canada Fluorspar Inc (CFI.V)

Canada Fluorspar Inc., a specialty mineral resource company, engages in the development and production of fluorspar deposits in Canada. It holds a 100% interest in the St. Lawrence Fluorspar project, which consists of six mineral licenses located in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and Labrador. The company is headquartered in St. John�s, Canada.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.02(WI)

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides online price comparison services in the United Kingdom. The company, through its Web sites moneysupermarket.com and travelsupermarket.com, provides online services to compare various products in the money, insurance, travel, and home services markets. It offers comparison services for financial products, including loans, credit cards, current accounts, mortgages, debt solutions, savings accounts, and business finance; insurance products, such as home insurance, life insurance, medical and motor insurance, breakdown cover, mortgage payment protection, payment protection, and pet and travel insurance; travel products comprising airport parking, car hire, flights, hotels, and package holidays; and home services products consisting of products for broadband, mobile telephones, vouchers, shopping, and utilities. The company also offers support services to customers to research the product they wish to purc hase, as well as sends emails to customers, enabling them to keep up to date with the latest deals, offers, and best buys on a range of products. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Chester, the United Kingdom.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: Copper Fox Metals Inc. (CUU.V)

Copper Fox Metals Inc., a resource development company, engages in the exploration and development of porphyry copper mineral properties in western Canada. It primarily holds 100% interest in the Schaft Creek deposit, a copper-molybdenum-gold-silver deposits project covering approximately 44,022.46 hectares located in northwest British Columbia. The company also holds mineral claims totaling 3,937 hectares in the Liard mining district of British Columbia. The company is based in Calgary, Canada.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: Tangoe Inc (TNGO.O)

Tangoe, Inc. (Tangoe), incorporated on February 9, 2000, is a global provider of communications lifecycle management (CLM), software and services to a range of enterprises, including large and medium-sized businesses and other organizations. CLM encompasses the entire lifecycle of an enterprise's communications assets and services, including planning and sourcing, procurement and provisioning, inventory and usage management, mobile device management (MDM), invoice processing, expense allocation and accounting, and asset decommissioning and disposal. Its on-demand Communications Management Platform is a suite of software designed to manage and optimize the complex processes and expenses associated with this lifecycle for both fixed and mobile communications assets and services. On February 21, 2012, it acquired ttMobiles Limited (ttMobiles), On January 10, 2012, Tangoe acquired Anomalous Networks Inc. On December 19, 2011, it acquired ProfitLine, Inc. (ProfitLine).On Mar ch 16, 2011, the Company acquired the telecommunications expense management division of Telwares, Inc. and its subsidiary Vercuity Solutions, Inc. (Telwares). On January 25, 2011, it acquired HCL Expense Management Services Inc. (HCL). On August 8, 2012, the Company acquired the Telecommunications Expense Management Business of Symphony Teleca (TEM Business).

The Company�� solution is implemented worldwide, providing service coverage in over 180 countries and territories in over 125 currencies with support for approximately 1,700 different communications carriers and 1,900 different billing formats. Its user interface is translated into 16 different languages and its solution supports compliance with the requirements of 63 regulatory committees around the world. Its on-demand software organizes disparate billing, ordering, asset and usage data into a format, allowing its customers to access, query and analyze their communications expense and asset profile info rmation. Improved control of the billing process helps ent! er! prises ensure they pay their bills on time, avoiding late payments and associated service interruptions. Its software also provides customers proactive and predictive mobile usage alerts allowing them to avoid mobile bill overages. Its solution allows its customers to manage the financial, legal and reputational risks associated with unauthorized or unintended use of their communications assets and services.

Communications Management Platform

The Company�� customers can engage the Company through its client service group to manage their communications assets and services using a combination of CMP and its client services. The services it offers include help desk, asset procurement and provisioning and carrier dispute resolution. Its Communications Data Management technology processes and normalizes service-provider billing and order-related information for its customers. CMP also integrates with its customers' critical third-party enterprise syst ems, including enterprise resource planning, accounts payable, general ledger and human resources systems, which enables automated, real-time access to and synchronization with employee, accounting, user access authentication and security policy information.

The Company sells CMP in three standard bundles: Asset Management, Expense Management and Usage Management. The Asset Management bundle of CMP provides asset procurement, provisioning, tracking and disposal capabilities for fixed and mobile communications assets and services. The Asset Management bundle tracks and audits all add, move, change or disconnect service transaction orders and manages all customer assets and services by location, business unit and employee. Its MDM software allows its customers to manage and maintain their mobile inventory with wireless, real-time monitoring and remote update functions. Key capabilities of the Asset Management bundle of CMP include catalog management, procure, prov ision, track, maintain and dispose.

Catal! og Man! a! gement i! nclude Customer-configurable catalog of over 51,500 services, devices, features and plans with dynamic access and presentation based on corporate policy and user profile. Procure include capture, validation, approval, submission and tracking of fixed and mobile service and equipment orders. Provision is engaged in establishment of mobile device enterprise connectivity with installation of corporate applications, usage and security policies utilizing wireless provisioning capabilities. Track includes tracking of fixed and mobile assets, including information regarding characteristics, configurations, ownership and operational and connectivity status. Maintain include centralized management of mobile devices enabled through on-device software providing security and usage policy enforcement as well as automated mobile policy and mobile application deployments and updates. Dispose include collection, data cleansing and disposal of mobile devices.

The Expense Managem ent bundle of CMP provides automated processing and services to manage every aspect of the fixed and mobile communications billing function, from receipt to payment. Key capabilities of the Expense Management bundle of CMP include contract management, billing, audit, dispute, allocate, payment and optimize. The Usage Management bundle of CMP provides enterprises with visibility and control over how communications assets and services are being used in fixed and mobile environments through a combination of real-time and historical usage tracking as well as corporate communications and security policy enforcement. The Company�� capabilities of the Usage Management bundle of CMP include secure, policy management, monitor, real-time, compliance, performance and support. The Company offers Real-time Telecommunications Expense Management (rTEM) bundled or as a point solution. Its rTEM solution serves the enterprise, medium and small business and carrier deployment markets.

The Company�� rTEM solution provides bu! sinesses ! and! carriers! of all sizes the ability to monitor, report and analyze data, voice, short message service (SMS) and roaming consumption of their mobile devices in real-time. Its rTEM solution utilizes predictive algorithms designed to proactively identify and help prevent costly, unexpected overages from occurring. Its rTEM solution also provides device location monitoring services to help find lost or stolen devices, as well as device geo-fencing features to alert appropriate individuals that an asset is leaving or entering pre-defined geographic tracking areas, providing additional device security tracking. Its rTEM solution supports implementation on smartphones, tablets and machine-to-machine communication devices.

Strategic Consulting and Other Services

The Company offers a set of strategic consulting services that address all areas of CLM for fixed and mobile environments. These services can be contracted separately or in conjunction with CMP. Its strategi c consulting services offerings include sourcing, strategic advisory service, bill auditing, inventory optimization, mobile optimization and policy administration. The Company assists its customers with reviewing and negotiating contracts with communications carriers. The Company provides its clients with peer comparison analysis and benchmarking. It works with its customers to identify billing errors and other issues related to usage and contract activity. The Company advises its customers on how to align their current asset and service inventories with their business objectives. The Company aids its customers in aligning their mobile policies, assets, contracts and requirements. It works with its customers to formulate policies concerning the appropriate use of communications assets and services. In addition, the Company helps its customers develop policies regarding risk mitigation, entitlements, cost management, liability models, cost allocation methodologies and positiv e behavioral management. The Company also of! fers stan! dard im! plementat! ion services, including data conversion, system configuration, process review and corporate system integration, to assist its customers in the setup and deployment of CMP.

The Company competes with Emptoris, Rivermine, MDSL, Symphony SMS, Vodafone, XIGO, AirWatch, BoxTone, Good Technology, MobileIron, Sybase, Zenprise, CSC, Orange, Ariba and PAETEC.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: TNS Inc.(TNS)

TNS, Inc. a data communications company, provides networking, managed connectivity, data communications, and value added services in the United States and internationally. The company?s Telecommunication Services division operates Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) network that provides call signaling and database access services. This division offers network solutions, such as SS7 and Internet protocol network services; identification and verification services; registry services; and roaming and clearing services. Its Payment Services division offers network connectivity services that enable transmission of card-based payments data between the point of sale device or off-premise automated teller machine and the processor?s host computer; card-present and card-not-present payment gateway solutions; and value added services comprising settlement file transfer, offline polling, outsourced payment processing, and card scheme gateways, as well as operates a software platform. This segment markets its services directly to payment processors, financial institutions, card associations, and merchants in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific; and data communications services to entities that engage in the transmission of state lottery transactions, federal and state electronic benefits transfer, and healthcare transactions, as well as directly to merchants and retailers. The company?s Financial Services division provides data network services to the financial services industry. This segment connects approximately 1,800 financial community end-points located at approximately 625 distinct financial services companies representing buy and sell-side institutions, market data and software vendors, exchanges, and alternative trading venues. TNS, Inc. serves telecommunication firms, retailers, banks, payment processors, and financial institutions. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: United Security Bancshares(UBFO)

United Security Bancshares operates as the bank holding for United Security Bank that provides a range of commercial banking services primarily to the business and professional community, and individuals in California. Its deposit products comprise personal and business checking accounts and savings accounts, interest-bearing negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, money market accounts, and time certificates of deposit. The company?s loan portfolio consists of real estate mortgage, commercial and industrial, and real estate construction loans, as well as agricultural, lease financing, and consumer loans with a focus on short and medium-term obligations. In addition, it offers a range of specialized services, which include online banking, safe deposit boxes, ATM services, payroll direct deposit, cashier's checks, traveler's checks, money orders, and foreign drafts; and various specialized financial services, including wealth management, employee benefit, insurance, and l oan products, as well as consulting services. As of December 31, 2009, United Security Bancshares operated 11 banking branches, 1 construction lending office, and 1 financial services office in Fresno, Madera, Kern, and Santa Clara counties. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Fresno, California.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: Skyepharma(SKP.L)

SkyePharma PLC engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of prescription pharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers Pulmicort PMDI, a hydrofluoroalkane metered dose inhaler for the treatment of asthma; and Solaraze, a topical gel treatment for actinic keratosis. The company?s oral products consist of Sular, a calcium channel blocker antihypertensive therapy; Triglide, an oral fibrate that reduces elevated plasma concentrations of triglycerides; Lodotra, an anti-inflammatory drug for treating the pain and stiffness caused by rheumatoid arthritis; Paxil Controlled Release, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant; Xatral OD/Uroxatral, a selective alpha-blocker for treating the urinary symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia; Coruno for the oral treatment of chronic angina pectoris; Madopar Dual Release, which is indicated for the oral treatment of various forms of the Parkinson disease; diclofenac-ratiopharm uno for pain and inflammati on treatment; ZYFLO CR, a leukotriene synthesis inhibitor oral anti-inflammatory asthma drug; and Requip XL, a once daily formulation for Parkinson?s disease. Its inhalation pipeline products include Flutiform, which completed Phase-III clinical trials for the treatment of asthma; and Flutiform that is in Phase-III clinical trials for the treatment of asthma. The company?s oral pipeline products comprise Lodotra, which is in Phase-III clinical trials for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis; SKP-1041 that is in Phase-II clinical trials for the treatment of sleep maintenance; and SKP-1052, which is in Phase-I clinical trial for the treatment of diabetes. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

10 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2014: Rudolph Technologies Inc.(RTEC)

Rudolph Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells process control defect inspection, metrology, and process control software systems to microelectronics device manufacturers. The company provides yield management solutions for use in wafer processing and final manufacturing through a range of standalone systems for macro-defect inspection, test systems, and transparent and opaque thin film measurements. It also offers a range of process control software solutions for semiconductor, solar, and LED manufacturing. It provides products for various applications in the areas of macro-defect detection and classification, diffusion, etch, lithography, CVD, PVD, and CMP. The company sells its products and solutions to logic, memory, data storage, and application-specific integrated circuit device manufacturers. It sells its products in the United States, Taiwan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Europe. The company was founded in 1940 and is based in Fla nders, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Emerson]

  Orbotech (ORBK) and Rudolph Technologies (RTEC) Sizable Net-Nets in the AOI Sector

  As noted previously, I rode the elevator up and then back down on Camtek (CAMT), a tiny Israeli automated optical inspection (AOI) company. By late 2008 the company had fallen to below $1 per share. Both of Camtek�� larger rivals, RTEC and ORBK, had dropped to absurdly low levels by November 2008. I used the opportunity to switch out of CAMT and some of my other losing propositions in favor of these superior companies. In the process, I created a large amount of tax loss carry-forwards which would allow me to minimize my future taxation when I decided to sell these cyclical entities.

September Employment Growth Slows

Today's nonfarm payrolls report finally arrived, but it wasn't worth the wait. Private-sector employment increased by a net 126,000 jobs last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the US Labor Department. That's not the slowest pace this year, but it's close. Only July's meager 100,000 rise is lower so far in 2013. There's nothing to cheer about in today's employment release, but it's still not obvious that the jig is up for the business cycle. True, the latest monthly perspective looks discouraging, but that's not the only statistical lens at our disposal. Consider that the year-over-year percentage change for private-sector employment continued to expand by just over 2% through last month. That rate is unchanged from the previous month and is in line with the annual pace of growth we've seen so far this year.

Nonetheless, the best you can say about the labor market at the moment is that it's growing modestly. Perhaps today's update is an early warning that the trend is set to deteriorate in the months ahead. Maybe, but at this point that's just speculation fueled by looking at last month's estimate alone.

It's well known that the monthly numbers for payrolls are sufficiently volatile to inspire taking each data point with a grain of salt. Between revisions and the standard noise that infects this series in the short term, it's hard to say much of anything by looking at monthly comparisons. This caveat is routinely ignored in the rush to find drama in the data du jour.

The annual trend, by comparison, is moderately more reliable for assessing business cycle risk. The good news is that nothing much has changed with this benchmark in September vs. what we've seen in recent history. That said, there's still reason to wonder if the labor market is headed for a rough patch or worse. For instance, last week's jobless claims report wasn't all that encou! raging, even though the latest number fell.

Meanwhile, yesterday's update of the monthly US Economic Profile remains upbeat, but this too could be a head fake because we're still missing several key indicators due to the government shutdown from earlier this month. One of those numbers is finally here, although it isn't all that helpful other than to suggest that labor market growth in September was soft. Keep in mind too that some of last month's downshift in growth for payrolls may be partly related to rising uncertainty in September as the threat of a government shutdown, and the possibility of a Treasury default, inched closer.

In any case, the outlook for the economy remains muddled at the moment, in part because we're still waiting for numbers that should have already been published. But clarity, at least in relative terms, is coming. Next week, for instance, we'll see the delayed September numbers for industrial production (Monday, Oct. 28) and retail sales (Tuesday, Oct. 29). More data is headed our way, although for now there's still a fair degree of uncertainty about what we'll see.

Source: September Employment Growth Slows

The Best and Worst of the Dow Today

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) is being weighed down by IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) , its largest component, after a competitor reported bad results. In economic news, consumer sentiment came in better than analysts' expectations. As of 1:15 p.m. EDT, the Dow was down 48 points to 14,976. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) was down two points to 1,611.

There has been just one U.S. economic release today. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for June came in at 84.1, above analysts' expectations of 83, but below May's index of 84.5.

Source: University of Michigan

Consumer sentiment about current conditions dropped from 98 to 93.8 while sentiment about future conditions rose from 75.8 to 77.8. Consumer sentiment continues its slow trend upward, and is likely to continue despite the Fed's talk of tapering, which has had little effect on most consumers' daily lives.

IBM is a drag on the Dow today: The stock has slid 2.80% to $190.58 as competitor Accenture reported its third-quarter sales and income, which were both below analysts' expectations. IBM makes up just over 10% of the Dow, so its movement has outsize effects.

I've written before why I'm not a fan of how the Dow is structured. The Dow is weighted by the stock prices of its component companies and nothing else. As such, IBM, with its stock price of $190, has nearly double the weight of the next component, Chevron, a stock with a price of $119. It was meant to be easily calculable in the time of pencil and paper. To calculate, you simply add up the 30 stock prices of the components and divide the total by the Dow divisor. When the index was formed, the divisor was 30, but after 116 years of stock splits, dividend payments, and component changes, it currently stands at 0.130216081.

Today's Dow leader
Today's Dow leader is Home Depot (NYSE: HD  ) up 1.22% to $77.23. During the past few months there has been continuous good news about the housing market, and yesterday was no different: The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sales index rose 6.7% in May to its highest level in over six years. The association said that people have been rushing to close sales as mortgage rates continue to rise – yesterday they hit a two-year high of 4.46%.

U.S. 30-Year-Mortgage Rate data by YCharts

Home sales will likely slow in the short term, but with the existence of so much pent-up demand for homes as the economy strengthens, the housing market will continue to improve and Home Depot is in prime position to benefit.

3 Big Stocks Close To New 52-Week Highs With Still Single Digit P/E's

The markets are at all time highs and the valuations are getting increasingly more expensive, as measured by earnings multiples. Not all stocks are highly priced. There are still quite a few opportunities with a single P/E multiple.

Today I would like to show you those stocks that are close to new 52-Week-Highs and having a single earnings multiple at the same time. In order to reduce the results, I observed only companies with a market capitalization over $10 billion.

Ten stocks fulfilled my criteria of a very low forward P/E and a stock price up to 3% below new highs. All ten have a current buy or better rating.

Here are the biggest results:

BP (BP ) has a market capitalization of $136.37 billion. The company employs 85,700 people, generates revenue of $388.285 billion and has a net income of $11.816 billion. BP's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $39.891 billion. The EBITDA margin is 10.27 percent (the operating margin is 5.08 percent and the net profit margin 3.04 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 16.26 percent of BP's assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 41.21 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 10.07 percent was realized by BP. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $8.07. Last fiscal year, BP paid $1.98 in the form of dividends to shareholders. Forward P/E: 8.16.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 5.37, the P/S ratio is 0.35 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.17. The dividend yield amounts to 4.98 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 1.48.

Eni (E) has a market capitalization of $87.84 billion. The company employs 77,838 people, generates revenue of $176.203 billion and has a net income of $6.761 billion. Eni's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $39.104 billion. The EBITDA margin is 22.19 percent (the operating ma! rgin is 11.67 percent and the net profit margin 3.84 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 17.52 percent of Eni's assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 41.32 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 7.32 percent was realized by Eni. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $1.75. Last fiscal year, Eni paid $2.96 in the form of dividends to shareholders. Forward P/E: 9.97.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 27.65, the P/S ratio is 0.50 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.09. The dividend yield amounts to 5.98 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 1.15.

Ford Motor (F) has a market capitalization of $69.06 billion. The company employs 171,000 people, generates revenue of $134.252 billion and has a net income of $5.664 billion. Ford Motor's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $13.338 billion. The EBITDA margin is 9.94 percent (the operating margin is 4.68 percent and the net profit margin 4.22 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 55.13 percent of Ford Motor's assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 658.79 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 36.58 percent was realized by Ford Motor. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $1.52. Last fiscal year, Ford Motor paid $0.20 in the form of dividends to shareholders. Forward P/E: 9.93.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 11.54, the P/S ratio is 0.51 and the P/B ratio is finally 4.34. The dividend yield amounts to 2.28 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 2.01.

Take a closer look at the full list of cheap large cap stocks close to New 52-Week Highs. The average P/E ratio amounts to 13.02 and forward P/E ratio is 9.18. The dividend yield has a value of 3.47 percent. Price to book ratio is 1.33 and price to sales ratio 0.6! 2. The op! erating margin amounts to 14.36 percent and the beta ratio is 1.62. Stocks from the list have an average debt to equity ratio of 1.59.

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Related Stock Ticker Symbols:
VIP, BP, E, NTT, F, MUR, PRU, DB, HIG, DAL

Selected Articles:
· 15 High Yields With Room To Grow Dividends
· Best Dividend Paying Stock List As Of October 2013
· 100 Most Bought Stocks By Investment Gurus
· 13 Safe Haven Large Caps With Over 3% Dividend Yields

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Fund sponsors compete for advice attention online

Money managers are seldom singled out for their innovation in technology, but a consulting firm has done just that.

On Thursday, kasina LLC released its annual ranking of fund providers that it says offer the most engaging and substantive web experience for advisers.

Just one in five advisers are using asset managers’ own websites to research their funds, according to kasina data, but firms are working hard to change that by designing more-compelling websites.

“It’s the cost of doing business today,” said Mark McKenna, head of global marketing at Putnam Investments, which ranked second on kasina’s list of fund websites. “We compete in a global environment on a daily basis and we’re striving to be the best.”

OppenheimerFunds Inc., which rolled out a redesigned website for advisers last month, ranked first in kasina’s list of mutual fund sponsors, while the Royce Funds from Legg Mason Inc. rounded out the top three.

Among ETF sponsors, The Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc.’s iShares unit and The Charles Schwab Corp. were at the top of the heap.

These companies aren’t your grandfather’s staid financial services firms. They use social media, ambitious data visualizations and seamless integration for mobile phones and tablet devices to stand out in the crowded $15 trillion U.S. market for funds which advisers help their clients navigate.

In the process, the web has forced asset managers to reinvent the role of wholesalers, sales professionals from asset management firms who used to be one of advisers sources for information. Now they meet with advisers who come prepared with reams — or tablets — full of information from third-party sources such as Morningstar Inc., Bloomberg or IndexUniverse LLC.

Increasingly, money managers are looking outside the financial services industry to innovative, consumer-facing e-commerce websites for guidance on how to market their brand, executives said. When OppenheimerFunds redesigned its website, the company turned to Zappos.com, Amazon.com, the Food Network and Ticketmaster.com for inspiration, said Erik Schneberger, head of digital strategy for the mutual fund firm.

OppenheimerFunds redesigned its website to show more personality, making videos with its portfolio managers, and in it, they discuss not just their investment strategy but their lives and hobbies.

It’s a way for the firm to distinguish its personality and expertise,! a crucial exercise for the asset manager that wants to stand out, according to Julia Binder, who wrote kasina’s study.

“Online, people are very averse to the traditional product pitch,” Ms. Binder said. “They’re looking for solutions to problems, and advisers are too, especially since 2008, 2009, when their phones were ringing off the hook. They want to know how to hedge against volatility; they want to know how they can help members of the ‘sandwich’ generation that are trying to help their parents, trying to provide for their retirement, trying to put their kids through school.”

The asset managers, therefore, have embraced the challenge of delivering compelling and informative content, much like the news and data services such as Reuters News and Dow Jones. Putnam Investments, for instance, is boiling down its analysis of the long-term U.S. debt crisis into an accessible graphic primer. Its website includes a way to compare funds it provides with those of competitors, as well as a blog on how advisers can use technology, Mr. McKenna said.

Asset managers could always connect with advisers through wholesalers, advertisements on third-party websites and through content deals with brokerage intranets. But on asset

Is BlackBerry Stock Oversold?

With shares of Blackberry (NASDAQ:BBRY) trading around $8, is BBRY an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework.

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

BlackBerry is a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software, and services, it provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to information such as email, voice, instant messaging, SMS, Internet, intranet-based applications, and browsing. Its products and services feature the BlackBerry wireless solution, the Research In Motion Wireless Handheld product line, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, software development tools, and other software and hardware.

BlackBerry's latest desperate move involves taking out newspaper ads in an attempt to soothe investors and the few people who still use the company's devices that everything will be all right, Bloomberg reports. The full-page ads, which have been appearing in newspapers around the world, are in the form of an open letter. "These are no doubt challenging times for us and we don't underestimate the situation or ignore the challenges. We are making the difficult changes necessary to strengthen BlackBerry," BlackBerry says in the ads, which are meant to communicate with customers directly.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Weak

Blackberry stock has been struggling over the past several years. The stock is currently trading near lows for the year as it continues to digest negative news. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Blackberry is trading below its key averages, which signals neutral to bearish price action in the near term.

Source: Thinkorswim

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Blackberry Options	68.80%	16%	14%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
November Options	Steep	Average
December Options	Steep	Average

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

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	-308.89%	83.84%	178.41%	-96.08%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-45.02%	9.37%	-35.97%	-47.21%
Earnings Reaction	-0.99%	-27.76%	-0.89%	-22.73%

Blackberry has seen mixed earnings and decreasing revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been disappointed about Blackberry’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Weak Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Blackberry stock done relative to its peers – Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Nokia (NYSE:NOK) — and sector?

	Blackberry	Apple	Google	Nokia	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	-32.5%	-6.28%	24.72%	74.94%	16.22%

Blackberry has been a poor relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

BlackBerry provides innovative wireless communication products to consumers and companies worldwide. The company is reportedly making desperate moves in order to ease investor concerns. The stock has struggled to make positive progress in recent years and is now trading near lows for 2013. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenues have been decreasing, which has left investors disappointed about recent earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, BlackBerry has been a weak year-to-date performer. STAY AWAY from BlackBerry for now.

How to "Light Up" 300% Gains

They used to call it dark fiber...

It was the 1990s. Telecom firms plowed billions into fiber optic networks to prepare for the coming explosion in traffic for the web, wireless systems, and computer networks.

Turns out, the supposed "gold rush" was just a few years ahead of its time. So, much of the fiber optic systems sat unused. They were quite literally dark - no light, no data, was shining down the high-speed cables.

But quietly over the past few months, the fiber-optic sector has hit critical mass.

It's lit up like never before.

Consider that one small-cap leader has already handed savvy broadband investors gains of nearly 300% over the past year.

And with a market cap of just $342 million, the fast-moving stock still has plenty of room to run.

In a moment, I'll show you just what I mean...

First, we need to look at the big trends pushing this and other fiber optic stocks into the stratosphere.

Time to Invest in "Ultra-Broadband" Just Like Google

Simply stated, we have entered the era of ultra-broadband technology.

What that means, for users and investors alike, is that network demands are growing exponentially. And suppliers are scrambling to meet the need for higher bandwidth.

No less an authority than broadband supplier Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) notes that Internet traffic has doubled every year for the past five years. And much of that data, voice, and video travel over fiber optic cables for at least a portion of the journey.

Several factors are pushing broadband needs like never before, Cisco and industry analysts note.

Let's start with the tidal wave of video demands brought on by YouTube, a unit of Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG). YouTube reports that roughly 100 hours of video are uploaded to its servers every minute of the day, and that people watch about 6 billion hours of video a month.

Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) is a broadband provider's dream come true. The online video streaming service counts roughly 26 million customers, who watched roughly 1 billion hours of video in the month of June alone.

And these numbers don't count the millions of hours of corporate video that companies are hosting on their websites.

Neither do they account for what's happening in the TV industry, where broadcasters are gearing up for ultra-high-definition (UHDTV) sets. These are TVs that display images at roughly four times the resolution of today's high-def technology. That means they will soak up bandwidth like never before.

All this is occurring as the demand for  web-centric smartphones and tablets is putting huge strains on wireless networks, which also use fiber optic systems.

Welcome to the Internet of Everything...

7 Trillion Sensors, Working Together

Consider that Google says it has activated more than 900 million devices using its Android operating system. Each day it adds roughly 1.5 million handhelds to the world's wireless networks.

Throw the Internet of Everything (IoE) into the mix, and you have years of pent-up demand for ultra-fast networks. As the name implies, the IoE means connecting nearly every physical object in the world to the Web.

Cisco says by the end of this decade some 50 billion devices will be on the IoE, and the number will quickly grow to 10 times that amount. And the giant German firm Bosch predicts that, by the time it's all said and done, we'll see some 7 trillion sensors transmitting data to the IoE.

Now you know why the broadband industry is building out networks to deliver a 10-fold increase in capacity from today's pipes, now more than a decade old.

We're talking about 100-g networks. That means the systems can deliver Web content at 100 gigabits per second - roughly 200 times faster than what most consumers have at home these days.

All of which puts optical networking firms front and center. Then again, when it comes to raw speed, nothing beats light.

Enter Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. (Nasdaq: AFOP). Basically, Alliance helps make fiber-optic technology possible for homes and businesses.

These Shares Are Unstoppable

The company builds optical networking components, modules, and subsystems needed by long-haul carriers as well as those who connect what's called the "last mile" from the network to your home.

Ironically, if ever there was a dark fiber bust it was Alliance. Riding the original Internet wave, the stock traded as high as $27.65 a share in February of 2001.

Then the dot-com bust cut the legs out from under the stock. By October of 2002, AFOP shares were trading for $0.97 each.

Today, however, Alliance has become an unstoppable force on greatly improving profits and cash flow. In fact, the company has raised guidance several times this year.

That's why Alliance has gained roughly 300% over the past year and has turned in a 785% gain over the past five years.

Demand for the stock has been so intense the company recently split two-to-one - and the gains reflect the split-adjusted prices.

With a market cap of about $320 million, the stock trades at a post-split price of less than $18. Alliance has excellent financials, as well. It boasts a 24% profit margin, and a return on equity of 20.6%. It has $38 million in cash, and no debt.

Aside from the market's chaos brought on by Washington's budget battles, the main short-term risk remains possible shareholder dilution.

Later this month, the company will host a special meeting in which one of the proposals is to increase the number of authorized shares to 100 million from the current 20 million.

Let me be blunt. Yes, I see risk in more shares trading. But that will be greatly reduced by  institutions snapping up shares, which I believe will be the most likely outcome. They currently hold less than one-third of the stock, and all indications are they want to own more of it.

I don't expect the firm to issue all its new shares at once, either, unless it has lined up buyers who will take them without asking for a substantial discount.

Either way, there's no denying that Alliance and other firms in the sector will continue to face explosive demand for their products as the world moves to ultra-broadband technology.

Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now

The government shutdown may force a reprise of one of the hardest-fought battles over the new health care law's details, as medical-device companies and their backers press for repeal of a 2.3% tax on everything from artificial hips to defibrillators.

The $150 billion industry says the tax, part of a broader plan to subsidize insurance for up to 30 million people, will slice into profits in an industry already battling price cuts. Stryker, a Michigan-based maker of artificial hips and knees, said prices for its products dropped 1.9% in the second quarter from a year ago.

Such news makes companies worry that they won't be able to pass the tax increase along, as the authors of the tax had expected, said Steve LaPierre, vice president of government affairs at Boston Scientific, which makes cardiac stents and other devices.

Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: American International Group Inc.(AIG)

American International Group, Inc. is an international insurance organization. The company operates property and casualty insurance networks worldwide and conducts activities in the U.S. life insurance and retirement services industry. It also involves in commercial aircraft leasing and residential mortgage guaranty insurance businesses. The company, through Chartis Inc., provides various property and casualty insurance products under commercial and consumer categories worldwide. These products include surplus lines, executive liability/directors? and officers? liability, employment practices, excess casualty, and travel/assistance lines. American International Group, through SunAmerica Financial Group, offers a suite of life insurance and retirement products and services, including term life, universal life, accident and health, fixed and variable deferred annuities, fixed payout annuities, mutual funds, and financial planning products and services to individuals and grou ps in the United States. The company, through International Lease Finance Corporation, operates as an aircraft lessor that acquires commercial jet aircraft from various manufacturers and other parties, and leases those aircraft to airlines worldwide. It also sells aircraft from its fleet to other leasing companies, financial services companies, and airlines, as well as provides management services to third-party owners of aircraft portfolios. American International Group, through United Guaranty Corporation, issues residential mortgage guaranty insurance that covers mortgage lenders from the first loss for credit defaults on high loan-to-value conventional first-lien mortgages for the purchase or refinance of one- to four-family residences in the U.S. and internationally. The company was founded in 1967 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Berkowitz�� top holdings continue to be: American International Group Inc. (AIG), AIA Group Ltd. (AAIGF.PK), Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM).

• [By Jessica Alling]

  American International Group (NYSE: AIG  ) has recently spent close to $600 million expanding its presence in China in a joint venture with the PICC Group, initiated in the fourth quarter of 2012. The company reported a 10% return in the first quarter from its investment and re-upped its involvement. But due to the rapid expansion plan, investors might be a bit concerned this morning, sending the insurer down 4.2% so far in trading. AIG's plan in China hinges on the continued growth of the emerging middle class and discretionary income for both insurance and retirement products and services. If the Chinese economy slows to a crawl, the returns seen by the insurer in the first quarter may not be matched for quite a while.

• [By Anand Chokkavelu, CFA]

  I'm buying more of some of my favorites in the financials-centric real-money portfolio I manage for The Motley Fool: best-in-class megabank Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) , ongoing insurance comeback story AIG (NYSE: AIG  ) , and Midwestern regional banker Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB  ) .

• [By Jessica Alling]

  It might be an overstatement to say that AIG (NYSE: AIG  ) wants Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC  ) head on a platter, but it's not far-fetched to say that the insurer is ready to get tough with the bank. With one more court ruling going to AIG's win column, a long-standing suit can start moving along, with $7 billion in damages hanging in the balance.

Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: Aflac Incorporated(AFL)

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiary, American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac), provides supplemental health and life insurance. The company offers various voluntary supplemental insurance products, including cancer plans, general medical indemnity plans, medical/sickness riders, care plans, living benefit life plans, ordinary life insurance plans, and annuities in Japan. It also provides loss-of-income products, such as life and short-term disability plans; and products designed to protect individuals from depletion of assets, which comprise hospital indemnity, fixed-benefit dental, vision care, accident, cancer, critical illness/critical care, and hospital intensive care plans in the United States. The company sells its products through sales associates and brokers, affiliated corporate agencies, independent corporate agencies, and individual agencies. Aflac Incorporated was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Columbus, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

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• [By The Part-time Investor]

  In January of 2010, again, due to stock sales (and buyouts) a further four new stocks were bought.

  Aflac (AFL)Colgate Palmolive (CL)Hormel (HRL)Wal-Mart (WMT)

  The following table shows all the stocks that were bought during the study period, the number of shares bought, the final number of shares held (due to reinvestment), and the final value either on 5/16/13 or when the stock was sold. Special situations are marked by asterisks and explained below.

• [By Russ Krull]

  Aflac (NYSE: AFL  ) sold $700 million in 10-year notes. The money will go toward redeeming two yen-denominated notes with a principal value of about $340 million due in 2014 and $300 million in U.S. dollar-denominated notes due in 2015. Any money left over goes toward "general corporate purposes," including capital contributions to subsidiaries, if needed. With Japan's Central Bank aggressively easing, it's curious that Aflac chose to borrow dollars to pay back yen-denominated notes.

• [By Dividend]

  AFLAC (AFL) has a market capitalization of $27.40 billion. The company employs 8,673 people, generates revenue of $25.364 billion and has a net income of $2.866 billion. AFLAC�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $5.747 billion. The EBITDA margin is 22.66 percent (the operating margin is 16.96 percent and the net profit margin 11.30 percent).

Top Canadian Companies To Own For 2014: Old Republic International Corporation(ORI)

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various insurance and mortgage guaranty products in North America. The company operates in three segments: General Insurance, Mortgage Guaranty, and Title Insurance. The General Insurance segment provides liability insurance coverages to businesses, government, and other institutions in commercial construction, forest products, energy, general manufacturing, and financial services industries; and transportation, including trucking and general aviation industries. It provides various insurance products, such as automobile extended warranty, aviation, commercial automobile insurance, general liability, home warranty, inland marine, travel accident, and workers? compensation, as well as liability coverage for claims arising from the acts of owners or employees, and protection for the physical assets of businesses. This segment also offers financial indemnity products, such as consumer credit indemnity , errors and omissions/directors and officers, guaranteed asset protection, and surety, as well as bonds that cover the exposures for losses of monies, or debt and equity securities due to acts of employee dishonesty. The Mortgage Guaranty segment insures first mortgage loans, primarily on residential properties incorporating one-to-four family dwelling units to mortgage bankers, brokers, commercial banks, and savings institutions. The Title Insurance segment provides lenders' and owners' title insurance policies to real estate purchasers and investors based upon searches of the public records. It also provides escrow closing and construction disbursement services; and real estate information products, national default management services, and services related to real estate transfers and loan transactions. Old Republic International Corporation markets its products directly, as well as through insurance agents and brokers. The company was founded in 1887 and is based in Chi cago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Prem Watsa is renowned for his long track record of outstanding returns using Buffett-style value investing through his worldwide insurance and reinsurance company, Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings. His five-year cumulative is 176.4%, compared to 12.2% for the S&P 500. Most recently, he made headlines for making a large contrarian bet on Research In Motion (RIMM) and joining its board in his first activist investing foray. In the fourth quarter, he added to this position. He also added to his positions in Citigroup Inc. (C), Old Republic Corp. (ORI) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and dramatically reduced one of his largest holdings, Dell (DELL). As a Ben Graham devotee, Watsa looks past short-term fluctuations in price to the underlying strength of a business. His stance on the economy, as of September and October 2011, was that he believed the U.S. was showing Depression-level interest rates and deficits, but he still liked some stocks and would hedge his exposure, he told CFA Institute Magazine.

• [By Fredrik Arnold]

  Ten Champion dogs that promised the biggest dividend yields into July included firms representing five of nine market sectors. The top stocks were three of five from the financial sector: Universal Health Realty Trust (UHT); Mercury General Corp. (MCY); Old Republic Int'l (ORI). The other two financial firms, HCP Inc., and United Bankshares Inc. (UBSI), placed sixth and eighth.

Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: Cincinnati Financial Corporation(CINF)

Cincinnati Financial Corporation engages in the property casualty insurance business in the United States. Its Commercial Lines Property Casualty Insurance segment provides coverage for commercial casualty, commercial property, commercial auto, and workers? compensation. It also offers specialty packages, including coverages for property, liability, and business interruption for specific industry classes, such as artisan contractors, dentists, or street businesses. In addition, this segment provides contract and commercial surety bonds, fidelity bonds, and director and officer liability insurance, as well as machinery and equipment coverage. The company?s Personal Lines Property Casualty Insurance segment offers coverage for personal auto and homeowners, as well as other insurance products, such as dwelling fire, inland marine, personal umbrella liability, and watercraft coverages to individuals. Cincinnati Financial?s Excess and Surplus Lines Property Casualty Insurance s egment offers commercial casualty insurance that covers businesses for third-party liability from accidents occurring on their premises or arising out of their operations, including products and completed operations; and commercial property insurance, which insures loss or damage to buildings, inventory, equipment, and business income from causes of loss, such as fire, wind, hail, water, theft, and vandalism. The company?s Life Insurance segment provides term insurance; universal life insurance; whole life insurance; and worksite products, which include term, whole life, universal life, and disability insurance offered to employees through their employer. This segment also markets disability income insurance, deferred annuities, and immediate annuities. Its Investment segment invests in fixed-maturity investments, equity investments, and short-term investments. Cincinnati also offers commercial leasing and financing services. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquarte red in Fairfield, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Cincinnati Financial Corp. (CINF) is an insurance holding company that primarily markets property and casualty coverage. It also conducts life insurance and asset management operations. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1954 and has increased its dividend payments for 53 consecutive years. Yield: 3.3%

• [By Insider Monkey]

  Cincinnati Financial (CINF), lastly, is an under-covered insurance company that has grown dividends in 53 straight years. The stock pays a yield of 3.5% at a modest payout of 47% of earnings, and in 2013, it has appreciated by more than 20%. Three Cincinnati Financial insiders-one director, a senior VP and the company's CFO-have bought shares in the past six months. CFO Michael Sewell initiated the biggest transaction of the bunch when he bought $147K worth of the stock in the last few days of July.

• [By Dividends4Life]

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• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Loew’s, however isn’t just cheap on its own terms. It’s also cheap relative to other investor insurers, including Markel (MKL), Cincinnati Financial (CINF) and Berkshire Hathaway. Shanker and Stefano write:

Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: The Travelers Companies Inc.(TRV)

The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Business Insurance; Financial, Professional, and International Insurance; and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers property and casualty products and services, such as commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial auto, and workers? compensation insurance. It operates in six groups: Select Accounts, which serves small businesses; Commercial Accounts that serves mid-sized businesses; National Accounts, which serves large companies; Industry-Focused Underwriting that serves targeted industries; Target Risk Underwriting, which serves commercial businesses requiring specialized product underwriting, claims handling, and risk management services; and Special ized Distribution that offers products to customers through licensed wholesale, general, and program agents. The Financial, Professional, and International Insurance segment provides surety and financial liability coverage, which uses a credit-based underwriting process; and property and casualty products primarily in the United States., the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals. It distributes its products through independent agents, sponsoring organizations, joint marketing arrangements with other insurers, and direct marketing. The company was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jessica Alling]

  And of course, once you've bought a house you need insurance. Traveler's Companies (NYSE: TRV  ) is the No. 6 provider in home insurance, with a 4.3% market share. As the rate of new homeowners rises, a greater need for insurance will allow Traveler's and its competitors to fight for more market share.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Travelers (NYSE: TRV  ) has traveled north of the border for its latest large-scale asset purchase. The company announced Monday that it has agreed to a deal with Canada's E-L Financial to acquire The Dominion of Canada General Insurance.

Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: ING Groep NV (ING)

ING Groep N.V. (ING), incorporated in 1991, is a global financial institution offering banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services to meet the needs of the customers. The Company�� segments include banking and insurance. Banking segment includes retail Netherlands, retail Belgium, ING direct, retail central Europe (CE), retail Asia, commercial banking (excluding real estate), ING real estate and corporate line banking. Insurance segment includes insurance Benelux, insurance central and rest of Europe (CRE), insurance United States (US), Insurance US closed block VA, insurance Asia/Pacific, ING investment management (IM) and corporate line insurance. In February 2011, the Company divested its real estate investment operation ING Real Estate Investment Management (ING REIM) to CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. In June 2011, the Company sold Clarion Partners. In July 2011, ING announced the completion of the sale of Clarion Real Estate Securities. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company divested its interests in ING Car Lease and ING IM Philippines. In February 2012, Capital One Financial Corp. acquired ING Direct business in the United States from the Company.

In June 2011, ING had completed the sale of its interest in China�� Pacific Antai Life Insurance Company Ltd. In June 2011, ING announced the completion of the sale of real estate investment manager of its United States operations, Clarion Partners, to Clarion Partners management in partnership with Lightyear Capital LLC. In October 2011, ING announced that it had completed the sale of REIM�� Asian and European operations to CBRE Group Inc. In December 2011 ING completed the sale of its Latin American pensions, life insurance and investment management operations.

Retail Netherlands

Retail Banking reaches its individual customers through Internet banking, telephone, call centers, mailings and branches. Using direct marketing methods, it is a provider of current account services an! d payments systems to provide other financial services, such as savings accounts, mortgage loans, consumer loans, credit card services, investment and insurance products. Mortgages are offered through a tied agents sale force and direct and intermediary channels. ING Bank Netherlands operates through a branch network of approximately 280 branches. It offers a range of commercial banking activities and also life and non-life insurance products. It also sells mortgages through the intermediary channel.

Retail Belgium

ING Belgium provides banking, insurance (life, non-life) and asset management products and services to meet the needs of individuals, families, companies and institutions through a network of local head offices, 773 branches and direct banking channels (automated branches, home banking services and call centers). ING Belgium also operates a second network, Record Bank, which provides a range of banking products through independent banking agents and credit products through a multitude of channels (agents, brokers, vendors).

ING Direct

ING Direct offers a range of financial products, such as savings, mortgages, retail investment products, payment accounts and consumer lending products. It operates in Canada, Spain, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom. In June 2011, ING Group announced the sale of ING Direct USA to Capital One Financial Corporation.

Retail Central Europe

Retail Central Europe has a presence in Poland, and Romania and Turkey. ING in Poland is an Internet bank. During 2011, ING Bank Turkey launched the Orange account, the variable savings product. ING in Turkey also launched a mobile phone banking application. ING Bank Romania carried out its Internet banking site, Home��ank. In September 2011, a mobile version of the Home��ank Website was introduced.

Retail Asia

Retail Banking has a presence in Asian markets of India, China and Thailand. As o! f Decembe! r 31, 2011, the Company had 44% interest in ING Vysya and 30% interest in TMB Bank in Thailand. Bank of Beijing (BoB), in which ING has the largest single interest (16.07%) is a commercial bank in China. ING provides principally risk management and retail banking to BoB.

Commercial Banking

ING Commercial Banking supports the banking needs of its corporate and institutional clients to invest both retail and commercial bank customer deposits. It is a commercial bank in its home markets in the Benelux, as well as in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe. In addition to the banking services of lending, payments and cash management and treasury, it also provides solutions in other areas, including specialized and trade finance, derivatives, corporate finance, debt and equity capital markets, leasing, factoring and supply chain finance. Payments and Cash Management (PCM) and General Lending are its some of the product lines. Structured Finance (SF) is a specialist commercial lending business, providing loans to support capital intensive investments and working capital. It is managed in three groups: the Energy, Transport and Infrastructure Group; the Specialized Financing Group; and International Trade and Export Finance. Leasing and Factoring (L&F) provides financial and operating leasing services for a range of equipment, as well as receivables financing and other factoring solutions for commercial banking clients. The Financial Markets (FM) is the global business unit that manages ING�� financial markets trading and non-trading activities. FM is managed along three business lines: ALCO manages the interest rates exposures arising from the traditional banking activities, Strategic Trading Platform incorporates the primary proprietary risk taking units, and Clients and Products is the primary customer trading facilitation business line.

Real Estate

During 2011, Real Estate Finance (REF) maintained its credit portfolio. Real Estate Development (ING RED) and! Real Est! ate Investment Management (ING REIM) has a controlled wind down of activities.

Insurance Benelux

Duirng 2011, Nationale-Nederlanden introduced bank pension savings products and annuities. ING Life Belgium introduced a new Universal Life product. Nationale-Nederlanden also received a license from the Dutch Central Bank to launch a defined contribution DC company pension product PPI in Europe. NN Services introduced a processing and information technology system (business process management layer) for several legacy lines of retail Life businesses. NN Services IT manages all the closed book business of Nationale-Nederlanden. ING�� life insurance products in the Benelux consist of a range of traditional, unit-linked and variable annuity policies written for both individual and group customers. ING is also a provider of (re-insured) company pension plans in the Netherlands.

NG Benelux��non-life products, mainly in the Netherlands, include coverage for both individual and commercial/group clients for fire, motor, disability, transport and third party liability. Nationale-Nederlanden has also a central product manufacturing service for property and casualty insurance, which has developed products for ING Bank in Belgium and ING Bank in the Netherlands. ING offers a range of disability insurance products and complementary services for employers and self-employed professionals (such as dentists and general practitioners).

Insurance Central and Rest of Europe

Insurance Central and Rest of Europe has life insurance companies in Hungary, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain and Turkey. It has pension funds in Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Bulgaria, Romania and in Turkey. ING offers a range of individual endowment, unit linked, term and whole life insurance policies designed to meet specific customer needs. It also has employee benefits products, as well as pension funds, that manage individu! al retire! ment accounts for individuals. The latter comprise both mandatory and voluntary retirement savings.

Insurance United States (Excluding US Closed Block Va)

ING Insurance US offers retirement services (primarily defined contribution plans), life insurance, fixed annuities, employee benefits, mutual funds, and broker-dealer services in the United States. ING Insurance US operates four businesses: Retirement Plans, Individual Retirement, Individual Life and Employee Benefits. ING Insurance US�� Retirement Plans business is a contribution providers, which offers a range of retirement solutions to all sizes and types of employers, including businesses for-profit ranging from start-ups to large corporations, public and private school systems, higher education institutions, state and local governments, hospitals and healthcare facilities, and not-for-profit organizations. ING Insurance US�� Retirement Plans business is a provider of defined contribution (DC) retirement plans in the United States based on assets under management and administration.

Insurance US Closed Block Va

ING US Closed Block VA consists of variable annuities issued in the United States that are primarily owned by individuals and were designed to address the demand for tax-advantaged savings, retirement planning, and wealth-protection. These annuity contracts were sold in the United States, primarily through independent third party distributors, including wirehouses and securities firms, independent planners and agents and banks.

Insurance Asia/Pacific

ING Insurance Asia/Pacific (IAP) is a provider of life insurance products and services. It is a life insurer in the region, with nine life operations in eight markets. IAP has ip operations in Japan and South Korea, operates a nt business in Malaysia, and is well in China, Hong Kong, Macau, India and Thailand. In April 2011, IAP, together with Public Bank Berhad and Public Islamic Bank Berhad, launched a joint ! venture i! n Malaysia, ING PUBLIC Takaful Ehsan Berhad, which will develop Takaful insurance products. In June 2011, IAP completed the sale of its 50% interest in Pacific-Antai Life Insurance Company Limited (PALIC).

The business units of IAP offer select types of life insurance, wealth management, and retail products and services. These include annuities, endowment, disability/morbidity insurance, unit linked/universal life, whole e, participating life, group life, accident and health, term life and employee benefits. In Hong Kong non-life insurance products (including medical, motor, fire, marine, personal accident and general liability) are also offered.

Insurance Latin America

ING completed the sale of its pensions, life insurance and investment management operations on December 29, 2011. These operations were in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

ING Investment Management

ING IM is an investment manager of ING Group with activities in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. In October 2011, ING IM sold ING IM Australia. ING IM provides a range of actively-managed strategies, investment vehicles and advisory services in all major asset classes and investment styles. It delivers a range of investment strategies and services to ING�� global network of businesses and third-party clients.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Vaughan Scully, ,]

  Three of the fund's top 10 holdings��NG Groep (ING), BNP Paribas (Paris:BNP) (US:BNPQY), and Credit Suisse Group (CS)��re European financials that came into the fund beginning in early 2012, when the team began to sense the pessimism regarding the European banking sector was too extreme.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  ING is a financial services company providing service to consumers and companies around the world. The company is being forced to sell its South Korean life insurance unit by European regulators. The stock is now trading near highs for the year and looks poised to continue. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenues have been decreasing, however, investors in the company have been pleased with the company’s recent announcement. Relative to its peers and sector, ING has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for ING to OUTPERFORM.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  ING's (NYSE: ING  ) Latin American operations will soon be one division lighter. The company announced it reached an agreement to sell its mortgage business in Mexico to�Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico (NYSE: BSMX  ) , the local presence of Spanish financial group Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN  ) . The price was 643 million pesos ($51 million), according to Mexico City newspaper La Cronica de Hoy.

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

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

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Infinity Group]

  With 515 million shares outstanding, this equates to 33% of all shares being shorted. It should also be noted that Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings (FRFHF.PK) is holding 51.8 million BlackBerry shares. Prem Watsa stated at the annual FairFax shareholders meeting that Fairfax is holding a long position with BlackBerry and anticipates shareholder value increasing over the next 2-3 years. The cost basis for FairFax financial holdings is approximately $17 per BlackBerry share.

• [By Alex Jordon]

  There's talk that Prem Watsa, head of Fairfax Financial Holdings (FRFHF.PK), could possibly be involved in a privatization bid for the company. Consider:

Best Insurance Stocks To Own Right Now: Genworth Financial Inc (GNW)

Genworth Financial, Inc., a financial security company, provides insurance, wealth management, investment, and financial solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers various insurance and fixed annuity products, including life and long-term care insurance products; payment protection insurance products for consumers primarily to meet specified payment obligations; and wealth management products, such as managed account programs with advisor support and financial planning services. It also provides mortgage insurance products and related services to insure prime-based, individually underwritten residential mortgage loans or flow mortgage insurance; and mortgage insurance on a structured or bulk basis, as well as offers services, analytical tools, and technology that enable lenders to operate and manage risk. In addition, the company provides institutional products consisting of funding agreements, funding agreements backing notes, and guaranteed in vestment contracts. Genworth Financial, Inc. distributes its products and services through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors, affinity groups, and sales specialists. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW  ) will release its quarterly report tomorrow, but investors have already gotten a head-start in celebrating. With the recovery in housing greatly bolstering the creditworthiness of mortgage-backed securities compared to their financial-crisis lows, companies that insure those bonds against loss have bounced back sharply, and Genworth earnings look poised to reap the benefits.

• [By Jessica Alling]

  The life and retirement segments at Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW  ) , Hartford Finanical (NYSE: HIG  ) , and ING (NYSE: VOYA  ) were among 11 insurers slapped with a new settlement for unpaid benefits. In the video below, Motley Fool contributor Jessica Alling discusses how the insurers misconduct lead to unpaid monies, how much the settlement is, and how investors should be looking at the situation.