Milken 2014: Economists fret about trouble spots

LOS ANGELES -- Despite gains, potential trouble spots -- from Russia to Europe -- threaten to create trouble for the world economy, three top economists told the Milken Institute Global Conference on Tuesday.

On the positive side, there has been huge innovations that lift economies. Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini global economics, points to gains from stem cell research, the rise of social media and advanced manufacturing as bright spots.

But on the negative side, the panel pointed to economies around the world with too much debt, overly adventuresome monetary policy and bubbles that threaten to burst. Income inequality is real, not just in the U.S. but elsewhere in the world, and may be eventually addressed through progressive taxation.

Best Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now

In the U.S., monetary policiy "has not been rooted," says Ken Rogoff, a Harvard University economics professor. "Experimental" policies have created uncertainty that more stable policy could help alleviate.

John Taylor, a Stanford University economist, says that now is the time for the Fed to return to more stable policies.

How they assess the world economy:

•Russia.

As the faceoff over Ukraine continues, risk rises and U.S. credibility is called again into question. "It's not a good thing," says it raisess the outside risk, raises u.s. crediblity again. it's not

a good thing," says Rogoff. "We would like to have Russia feel they are invested in the global economy. That relationship is important."

•China.

World economies will quake if China's economy slows down, Rogoff says. Despite China's reserves and controls over their economy, he says he's worried about a stumble. "It's hard to avoid some kind of rough landing in the next five years," he says.

•Europe

. "The debt ratios are still high," Taylor says and the fundamentals of the European economy is still an ! issue. Roubini says he believes the Euro is overvalued.

•Emerging markets.

Tailwinds that propelled emerging markets to big gains in recent years are becoming headwinds, Roubini says. Some growth rates, especially in China, are unsustainable.

Rogoff points out that while China's and India's economics have pulled millions out of poverty, wage inequality is a growing problem around the world.

Taylor says a focus should be on improving education. In the U.S., he says he points to huge disparities in the quality of education between states.

China Makes Tiffany a Top Investment

Tiffany (NYSE: TIF  ) is down more than 5% during the last month. It tumbled earlier this year on a weak earnings report and has yet to recover. But this could be offering investors a great buying opportunity. Given its exposure to high-end consumers, Tiffany remains one of the most resilient investments in the market. That's because high-end shoppers are less susceptible to economic declines.

Why shares are weak
On an adjusted basis (adjusted for arbitration proceedings), Tiffany's earnings were $1.47 a share during the fourth quarter. Wall Street was looking for $1.51 a share. And the company also guided 2014 earnings below analysts' expectations. 2014 earnings per share are expected to come in at $4.05 to $4.15, per the company, while Wall Street had been looking for $4.31.

There are bright spots
One of the key opportunities for Tiffany is abroad, namely in the Asian market. During the January-ended quarter, Asia-Pacific sales were up 23% year over year. China should be one of the brightest spots for Tiffany going forward. A decade ago, Tiffany only had 11 stores in China. Now it has 45. And China already has the second-largest jewelry market, but it's set to keep growing given the rising middle-class in the country. Also helping it grow will be the rise in penetration of engagement rings in the country.

There's also a changing dynamic in China that should help Tiffany. In the U.S., it's common practice to give an engagement ring, but not so much in China. About 80% of marriages in the U.S. involve an engagement ring, but that number is as low as 30% in China. With the affluence in China growing, that number could see the same type of growth that engagement rings saw in the U.S. in the mid-1900's. From the 1940's to 1960's, engagement ring usage rose from 10% to 50%.

Another key aspect is that many Chinese residents are shopping at Tiffany abroad. And China travel is increasing, which is a big positive for Tiffany. Tourism by Chinese (those traveling outside of China) has grown by nearly 25% annually over the last decade.

What about the other high-end retailer?
Coach (NYSE: COH  ) is still facing challenges when it comes to its U.S. market share. Michael Kors appears to be taking market share on the domestic front, with Coach's North America same-store sales falling nearly 14% in the December-ended quarter. Coach has been relying more on international markets and the men's business to help hedge the North American decline.

But this fall it could see a return to glory. That's when Coach is launching a new line that is spearheaded by Stuart Vevers. Vevers joined in the fall of last year as creative director. Vevers previously worked at the likes of Mulberry and Louis Vuitton.

The industry gets a little smaller
One risk to Tiffany might be the joining of forces by two of the largest jewelers in the U.S., Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG  ) and Zale. The acquisition of Zale by Signet will strengthen Signet's market share to 16% for U.S. retail jewelers.

From an investment perspective, shares of Signet are up big on the acquisition news. Signet is up nearly 28% year to date. That has put Signet's P/E up to 17.5 based on next year's earnings estimates. That's above where the company has historically traded.

Hot Telecom Stocks To Invest In Right Now

The other thing worth noting is that Signet operates on a bit of a different level than Tiffany, catering more to the mid-market versus the high-end market. Signet's key brands are Kay Jewelers and Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry.

How shares stack up
As mentioned, Signet is already trading at a 17.5 forward P/E. Tiffany trades at a slightly higher forward P/E, at 18.3. Meanwhile, Coach's is 14.5. But Tiffany's P/E is still at a slight discount to its 10-year average of 21.5 And both Coach and Tiffany offer investors a dividend yield. Tiffany's dividend yield is at 1.6% and Coach's is at 2.7%. And only one of the 26 analysts following Tiffany have a sell rating on the stock.

Bottom line
Both Coach and Tiffany are brand leaders, holding strong positions in the accessory market. Coach offers a solid dividend yield, but Tiffany has one of the best opportunities out there for tapping into the rising prosperity of China. For investors who still need a high-end retailer in their portfolio, Tiffany is worth a look.

3 stocks to own for the rest of your life
As every savvy investor knows, Warren Buffett didn't make billions by betting on half-baked stocks. He isolated his best few ideas, bet big, and rode them to riches, hardly ever selling. You deserve the same. That's why our CEO, legendary investor Tom Gardner, has permitted us to reveal The Motley Fool's 3 Stocks to Own Forever. These picks are free today! Just click here now to uncover the three companies we love. 

Does Oracle Support a Move Higher?

With shares of Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) trading around $34, is ORCL 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

Oracle is a provider of enterprise software and computer hardware products and services. The company’s software, hardware systems, and services businesses develop, manufacture, markets, host, and support database and middleware software, applications software, and hardware systems, with the latter consisting primarily of computer server and storage products. It is organized into three businesses: software, hardware systems, and services. Information technology products and services are seeing increasing demand due to the surge of companies in developing economies. As businesses continue to grow, look for Oracle to offer the support required that will send it to rising profits.

NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW!

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Mixed

Oracle stock has been steadily moving higher over the last several years. The stock has recently pulled-back from multi-year highs but looks to be preparing for a move higher. 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, Oracle is trading slightly above its tangled key averages which signal neutral price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Hot Gas Utility Stocks To Invest In Right Now Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Oracle Options	24.37%	96%	95%

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
June Options	Steep	Average
July Options	Steep	Average

As of today, there is an 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 very significant amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bearish 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 Oracle’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Oracle 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)	6.12%	23.26%	13.89%	9.68%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-0.90%	3.43%	-2.30%	1.39%
Earnings Reaction	-9.7%	3.68%	0.65%	3.09%

Oracle has seen increasing earnings and mixed revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these figures, the markets have been mostly pleased with Oracle’s recent earnings announcements.

NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW!

P = Poor Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Oracle stock done relative to its peers, International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), SAP (NYSE:SAP), and sector?

	Oracle	IBM	Microsoft	SAP	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	3.15%	8.75%	29.77%	-1.08%	6.87%

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

Conclusion

Oracle provides essential information technology products and services to a multitude of companies and consumers around the world. The stock has been rising steady, over the last few years, but has seen increased selling pressure in recent times. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been on the rise while revenue has been mixed resulting in pleased investors. Relative to its peers and sector, Oracle has been a poor year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what Oracle does in coming quarters.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015

The United States is still slowly recovering from the recession, and incomes across the nation have declined in recent years. Nationwide, median household income was $51,771 a year during the three-year period of 2010 to 2012, a decline of 5.8% compared with the previous three-year period of 2007 to 2009, when the U.S. median household income was $54,951 a year.

The economic recovery is not uniform across the country, as some cities have weathered the financial crisis better than others. Median incomes increased by more than 15% in nine U.S. cities between the three-year periods of 2007 to 2009 and 2010 to 2012, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. A typical New Bern, N.C., resident earned 25.3% more between 2010 and 2012 compared with the prior three-year period of between 2007 and 2009.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Daimler AG (DAI)

Daimler AG (Daimler), incorporated on May 6, 1998, develops, manufactures, distributes and sells a range of automotive products, mainly passenger cars, trucks, vans and buses. It also provides financial and other services relating to its automotive businesses. The Company offers its automotive products and related financial services primarily in Western Europe and in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) region, which consists of the United States, Canada and Mexico. During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company derived approximately 46% of its revenue from sales in Western Europe and 21% from sales in the United States. It operates in five segments: Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services. Its other business interests consist primarily of its equity investments in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (EADS) and in Tognum AG. In October 2009, Deutsche Bank AG completed the disposal of its interest in the Company. In June 2011, Daimler AG and Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC had secured around 94% interest in Tognum AG-DJ.

Mercedes-Benz Cars

Mercedes-Benz Cars designs, produces and sells Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, Maybach luxury sedans and smart micro compact passenger cars. During 2009, Mercedes-Benz Cars contributed approximately 51% of the Company�� revenue. The Company offers Mercedes-Benz passenger cars with a range of diesel and gasoline engines. Under the AMG brand, it offers versions of Mercedes-Benz vehicles with V8 or V12 engines in all classes, except in the A-, B-, R-, GL- and GLK-Classes. The Mercedes-Benz passenger car product range consists of S-Class, E-Class, C-Class, A-/B-Classes and ML-/R-/G-/GL-/GLK-Classes.

The S-Class is a line of luxury sedans, which are available in short and long wheelbase versions. In June 2009, the Company introduced a new generation of the S-Class sedans, including a hybrid version, the new S 400 BlueHYBRID. The S-Class sed! ans are complemented by the CL, a top-of-the-line two-door coupe, and the SL, a luxury roadster. The E-Class is a line of luxury sedans, coupes, convertibles and station wagons. It also offers the CLS, a four-door coupe based on the E-Class. The C-Class is a line of compact luxury sedans and station wagons. The CLC Sports Coupe and the SLK, a two-seat roadster, complement the C-Class product family.

The A-Class is a front wheel drive compact and the B-Class is a front wheel drive 4-door Compact Sports Tourer (CST). The Company does not offer the A- and B-Classes in the United States. The ML-Class is a line of sport utility vehicles with permanent all-wheel drive. The R-Class is a line of SUV Tourers, which is available in a short and a long wheelbase version. The GL-Class is a line of seven seat luxury sport utility vehicles. The GLK-Class is a line of compact sport utility vehicles. The G-Class is a line of cross country vehicles with permanent four-wheel drive that come in a short and a long wheelbase version, and as a convertible. Under the Maybach brand, the Company offers a line of luxury sedans with outstanding luxury, comfort, and individuality. Maybach sedans are available in a short and a long wheelbase version, including the Maybach 57S and 62S as sportier variations. The smart brand represents a micro compact car concept. It offers two models, the smart fortwo coupe and the smart fortwo cabrio.

Daimler Trucks

Daimler Trucks manufactures and sells trucks and specialty vehicles under the brand names Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses and Fuso. During 2009, Daimler Trucks contributed approximately 21% of its revenue. During 2009, the Company ceased production of trucks under the Sterling brand name. The Company�� European Mercedes-Benz truck lines consist of the Actros and the Axor in the heavy-duty category, the Atego in the medium-duty category, and the specialty vehicles Econic and Zetros. The Unimog, a four-wheel drive ve! hicle for! special purpose applications, complements the line-up. In Turkey and Brazil, it manufactures heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks for the respective local and certain export markets. Its Mercedes-Benz trucks range from 6 metric tons gross vehicle weight (GVW) to 41 metric tons GVW.

The Company�� United States subsidiary, Daimler Trucks North America LLC, manufactures trucks and buses (based on truck chassis) in Classes 3 through 8 (from 9,000 lbs. GVW to 160,000 lbs. GVW) and sells them under the Freightliner, Western Star, and Thomas Built Buses brand names, primarily in the NAFTA region. It also manufactures chassis for trucks, buses, walk-in vans and motor homes in Classes 3 through 7 (from 10,000 lbs. GVW to 33,000 lbs. GVW). During 2009, Freightliner introduced a new version of the Coronado, an on-highway truck. It Japan-based subsidiary, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), offers a truck portfolio and several bus lines, primarily for the Japanese and other Asian markets. The line-up includes the Canter trucks (light-duty), the Fighter trucks (medium-duty) and the Super Great trucks (heavy-duty) and also certain bus models (Rosa and Aero). MFTBC also sells trucks in Africa, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States.

Mercedes-Benz Vans

Mercedes-Benz Vans designs, manufactures and sells vans under the brand names Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner. During 2009, Mercedes-Benz Vans contributed approximately 8% of its revenue. The Company offers three lines of Mercedes-Benz vans between 1.9 metric tons (t) and 7.5t gross vehicle weight (GVW): the Vario, the Vito/Viano and the Sprinter. In the NAFTA region it sells the Sprinter under the Freightliner brand name and, since January 1, 2010, also under the Mercedes-Benz brand name. As of December 31, 2009, subsidiaries of Chrysler Holding LLC sold the Sprinter in the United States under the Dodge and Freightliner brand names, and in Canada under the Dodge brand name.

Daimler Buse! s

!

Daimler Buses is a global supplier in the worldwide bus market. During 2009, Daimler Buses contributed approximately 5% of the Company�� revenue. Its product portfolio includes city buses, coaches, intercity buses, midi buses and bus chassis. It sells complete buses under the Mercedes-Benz and Setra brands in Europe, under the Mercedes-Benz brand name in Mexico, and under the Setra and Orion brand names in the United States and Canada. In addition, Daimler Buses produces and sells worldwide a range of bus chassis under the brand name Mercedes-Benz.

Daimler Financial Services

The Company�� financial services activities contributed approximately 15% of its revenue during 2009. It consists principally of financing and leasing services supporting its Mercedes-Benz and other vehicle businesses. The financial services the Company offers consist mainly of customized financing and leasing packages for its retail and wholesale customers in the automotive sector. It also provides financing to its dealers for vehicle inventory and property, plant and equipment purchases, and it offers insurance brokerage and fleet management services, including dealer property and casualty insurance. In Germany, the Company operates a licensed bank, the Mercedes-Benz Bank. The Mercedes-Benz Bank offers financial services to its customers and employees in Germany. These services include leasing and sales financing services, car savings plans, credit cards and demand deposit accounts. In addition, the Mercedes-Benz Bank operates branches in Great Britain and Spain to refinance the local dealer portfolios.

The Company competes with BMW, Volkswagen, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, PSA, Renault, Tata Motors, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Scania, Iveco, Volvo, DAF, Navistar International, Paccar, Hino, Isuzu, MAN Commercial Vehicles, Irisbus and Agrale.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Namitha Jagadeesh]

  Herro�� fund has beaten 96 percent of its peers in the last five years, data compiled by Bloomberg show. He owns shares in Daimler AG (DAI), the Stuttgart, Germany-based maker of luxury cars, and Fiat Industrial SpA (FI), the maker of commercial and agriculture vehicles spun off from Fiat SpA in 2011.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Nestle SA (NSRGY)

Nestle SA is a company engaged in the nutrition, health and wellness sectors. It is the holding company of the Nestle Group, which comprises subsidiaries, associated companies and joint ventures throughout the world. The Company has such business units as Food and Beverage, Nestle Waters and Nestle Nutrition. Nestle is also active in the pharmaceutical sector. It divides its products into nine categories: Prepared dishes and cooking aids, Beverages, Confectionery, Ice cream, Water, PetCare, Milk products, Nutrition and Pharma. It has numerous subsidiaries engaged in various areas of activity, including Alcon Ophthalmika GmbH (Austria), Alcon Bulgaria EOOD (Bulgaria) and Galderma Laboratorium GmbH (Germany) for pharmaceuticals; Novartis Nutrition GmbH (Austria) and Hjem-IS A/S (Denmark) for food and beverages, and Galderma International SAS (France) and Galderma Laboratorium GmbH (Germany) for health and beauty activities. The Company is headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. In July 2008, Novartis AG acquired a 25% stake in Alcon, Inc. from Nestle SA. In March 2010, the Company acquired Kraft Foods Inc' frozen pizza business.

In April 2008, L'Oreal and Nestle SA's joint venture, Galderma Pharma S.A., announced that its United States holding company, Galderma Laboratories, Inc., had acquired approximately 97% interest in CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. During the year ended December 31, 2004, Nestle had 500 factories in 83 countries around the world. In 2004, 15 factories were acquired or opened and 29 closed or divested.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  The largest dedicated Europe ETF by assets is the Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK), with about $13 billion under management. Top holdings include U.K.-based Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), Swiss consumer products maker Nestle (NSRGY) and HSBC.

• [By Louie Grint]

  The European Central Bank could make an important decision soon. Pricing data in the European Union has been coming in weak, hitting the lowest level in more than four years. This adds pressure to ECB President Mario Draghi, who might start looking for ways to counter the deflationary threat in the region. What can he do? Two things: cut interest rates and/or start a round of quantitative easing to boost activity levels and push prices up. During last week's monthly meeting, the ECB left its policies unchanged, but calls for action are mounting, and Draghi says measures including asset purchases are on the table.
  
  With the U.S. Federal Reserve winding down its quantitative-easing program and the Japanese central bank finishing its strong QE of 2013, it might be Europe's turn to try a more aggressive policy to drive its economy. After all, the austerity measures designed to curtail the unsustainable deficit spending kept demand soft in the region and did not solve its problems.
  
  How could this impact European assets? �
  Normally, a drop in interest rates and expansive monetary policies are positive for capital markets. In Japan, for example, the Nikkei grew more than 60% last year, while the U.S.' S&P 500 gained 28%.
  
  For a closer look at how Europe is doing, consider the best-known broad European index ETF, Vanguard European Stock Index (NYSEMKT: VGK  ) . This fund invests in large- and mid-cap stocks based in 17 developed European markets, representing most of the investable market.� Many of the fund's largest holdings are quality multinational names such as Nestle (NASDAQOTH: NSRGY  ) , Royal Dutch Shell, Roche, and HSBC (NYSE: HSBC  ) . But if you consider weight by country, the U.K. comes first with 33%, followed by Switzerland with 14% and France with 14%.

Top 5 Logistics Stocks To Watch Right Now: Exide Technologies (XIDEQ)

Exide Technologies, incorporated on November 23, 1966, is engaged in stored electrical energy solutions, and is a manufacturer and supplier of lead-acid batteries for transportation and industrial applications in the worldwide. Exide operates in four business segments: Transportation Americas, Transportation Europe and ROW, Industrial Energy Americas, and Industrial Energy Europe and ROW. The Company�� operations in the Americas as well as Europe and Rest of World (ROW) represented approximately 42% and 58%, respectively, during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013), net sales.

Transportation

The Company�� transportation batteries include starting lighting and ignition (SLI) batteries for cars, trucks, off-road vehicles, agricultural and construction vehicles, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, marine, and other applications including Micro-hybrids. The Company�� principal batteries sold in the transportation markets are represented by brands: Exide, Exide Extreme, Exide NASCAR Select, Centra, DETA, Orbital, Fulmen, and Tudor, as well as other brands under various private labels. The market for transportation batteries is divided between sales to aftermarket customers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Transportation segments represented approximately 61% of the Company�� net sales in fiscal 2013. Within the transportation segments, aftermarket and OEM net sales, including original equipment service (OES) represented approximately 72.1% and 27.9% of fiscal 2013 net sales, respectively.

Some of the Company�� aftermarket customers include Pep Boys, Bosch, Tractor Supply, Canadian Tire, ADI, ATR International, and GroupAuto International. In addition, the Company is also a supplier of authorized replacement batteries for OEMs including the BMW Group, Fiat Group, Honda, Iveco, John Deere, PSA Group, Scania, Volvo Trucks, Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Renault-Nissan, PACCAR, and many others. Some of the Company�� OEM customers include t! he BMW Group, Fiat Group, International Truck & Engine, the PSA group (Peugeot S.A./Citroen), Case/New Holland, John Deere, Renault, Nissan, Scania, Volvo Trucks, Volkswagen Group, Chrysler, Toyota, Jaguar, Land Rover, among others.

In the Americas, the Company sells aftermarket transportation products through various distribution channels, including mass merchandisers, auto parts outlets, wholesale distributors, and battery specialists. The Company sells its OEM transportation replacement products principally through dealer networks. The Company�� Americas operations include a network of 74 branches which sell and distribute batteries and other products to the Company�� distributor channel customers, battery specialists, national account customers, retail stores, and OEM dealers. In addition, these branches collect spent batteries for the Company�� recycling facilities. These operations supply recycled lead for approximately 75 to 80% of Exide�� Transportation and Industrial Energy products manufactured in North America. The recycling facilities also recover and recycle battery acid as well as plastic materials that are used to produce new battery covers and cases.

In Europe and ROW, the Company sells OEM batteries to the light vehicle, light commercial vehicle and commercial vehicle industries. The commercial vehicle industry includes truck manufacturers as well as construction and agriculture vehicle manufacturers. Exide supplies its OEM batteries directly to the assembly plants of its customers. The Company also delivers service and replacement batteries into this segment. Those are either distributed by the OEM customers themselves or delivered directly to the service points through the Exide logistics network. The Company also supplies advanced lead-acid batteries for microhybrid vehicles equipped with carbon dioxide reducing technologies such as Start & Stop with and without regenerative braking systems. It sells Europe and ROW aftermarket batteries primarily th! rough aut! omotive parts and battery wholesalers, mass-merchandisers, auto centers, service installers, and oil companies. Battery specialists sell and distribute batteries to a network of automotive parts retailers, service stations, independent retailers, and garages throughout Europe.

The Company competes with Johnson Controls, Inc. and East Penn Manufacturing.

Industrial Energy

The Company�� Industrial Energy segments supply both motive power and network power applications. Motive power batteries are used in the material handling industry for electric forklift trucks, and in other industries, including floor cleaning machinery, powered wheelchairs, railroad locomotives, mining, and the electric road vehicles market. The battery technologies for the motive power markets include flooded flat plate products, tubular plate products, absorbed glass mat (AGM) products, and gel electrolyte products. The Company also offers a complete range of battery chargers and related equipment for the operation and maintenance of battery-powered vehicles. Network power batteries are used to provide back-up power for use with telecommunications systems, computer installations or data centers, hospitals, air traffic control systems, security systems, utilities, railway and military applications. Telecommunications applications include central and local switching systems, satellite stations, wireless base stations and mobile switches, optical fiber repeating boxes, cable television transmission boxes, and radio transmission stations. The Company�� strongest network power battery brands, Absolyte and Sonnenschein, offer customers the choice of AGM or gel electrolyte valve regulated battery technologies and deliver among the highest energy and power densities in their class.

In the Americas, the Company distributes motive power products and services through multiple channels. These include sales and service locations owned by the Company that are augmented by a network of indep! endent ma! nufacturers��representatives. The Company serves a wide range of customers including OEM suppliers of lift trucks, industrial companies, retail distributors, warehousing companies, and manufacturers. Motive power customers in the Americas include Toyota, MCFA, NACCO, Sears, Toyota, Walmart, and Target. The Company distributes network power products and services through sales and service locations owned by the Company augmented by a network of independent manufacturers��representatives. The Company�� primary network power customers in the Americas include AT&T, APC, Emerson Electric, and Verizon Wireless.

The Company distributes motive power products and services in Europe through in-house sales and service organizations and utilizes distributors and agents for the export of products from Europe to ROW countries. Motive power products in Europe are also sold to a wide range of customers in the aftermarket, ranging from industrial companies and retail distributors to small warehousing and manufacturing operations. Motive power batteries are also sold in complete packages, including batteries, chargers, and increasingly through on-site service. The Company�� OEM motive power customers include Toyota Material Handling, the KION Group, and Jungheinrich. The Company distributes network power products and services in Europe and batteries and chargers in Australia and New Zealand through in-house sales and service organizations. In Asia, products are distributed through independent distributors. The Company utilizes distributors, agents, and direct sales to export products from Europe and North America to ROW. The Company�� primary Network Power customers in Europe and ROW include Deutsche Telecom, Alcatel, Emerson Electric, Ericsson and Siemens Nokia Networks.

The Company competes with EnerSys Inc., East Penn Manufacturing, Hoppecke, MIDAC, GS/Yuasa, Shinkobe and C&D Technologies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  A real car wreck on the horizon
  Already crashing and burning was lead-acid battery maker Exide Technologies (NASDAQOTH: XIDEQ  ) , which confirmed it had hired a restructuring specialist to help it cope with is financial situation ahead of some of its debt maturing this fall. It's shares fell almost 48% on the news.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Spdr Dj Wilshire Small Cap Value Etf (SLYV)

SPDR DJ Wilshire Small Cap Value (ETF) seeks to replicate, as closely as possible, the performance of the Dow Jones Wilshire Small Cap Value Index (the Index). The Index represents the small-cap portion of the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index (the Composite Index). The Composite Index tracks all the United States common stocks regularly traded on the NYSE, the AMEX and the NASDAQ National Market.

The Index includes the components of the Composite Index ranked 751 to 2,500 by full market capitalization and that are classified as value based on analysis that accounts for six factors. The six factors are projected price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), projected earnings growth, price-to-book ratio, dividend yield, trailing revenue growth and trailing earnings growth. The Fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the total return performance of the float-adjusted Index.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tom Lydon]

  The following ETFs are some of the top-ranked small-cap ETFs by Zacks. SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF (SLYV) is up 5.8% over the past three months, and up 20.6% in 2013. The financial and industrial sectors are top weightings. Vanguard S&P Small Cap 600 Value ETF (VIOV) is up 6.4% and has gathered 21.5% year-to-date. Similar to SLYV, VIOV is heavy on the financial and industrial sectors.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Discount Dental Materials Inc (DDOO)

Discount Dental Materials, Inc. (DDM), incorporated on December 18, 2007, is a development-stage company. The Company focuses on selling disposable dental supply products at discount prices over the Internet. As of November 30, 2011, the Company had not generated any revenues.

The Company focuses on selling a limited number of products including burs (modern dental drills that can rotate at up to 800,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) and generally use hard metal rotary files). Dental burs come in a variety of shapes designed for specific applications. They are often made of steel with a tungsten carbide coating or of tungsten carbide entirely. The bur may also have a diamond coating), bearings, turbines and sterilization pouches. The Company uses a facility in Burbank, California to store and ship products.

The Company competes with Henry Schein and Patterson Dental.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Today, DDOO remains (0.00%) +0.000 at $1.05 thus far (ref. google finance Delayed:� 3:42PM EDT July 1, 2013).

  Cerebain Biotech Corp. a subsidiary of Discount Dental Materials, Inc. , previously reported that medical device product development company, Sonos Models, Inc. (��onos��, is set to complete the first prototypes of its medical device solution during the company�� first fiscal quarter, which begins July 1, 2013.

  Cerebain�� President, Eric Clemons, stated, ��e are excited with the imminent completion of the first set of prototypes of our Medical Device Product for the treatment of Alzheimer�� Disease. Years of hard work and research will culminate with the introduction of these prototypes which will utilize the Omentum for the treatment of patients with this debilitating disease. With these prototypes, we are introducing a leading edge approach to the treatment of Alzheimer�� Disease.��/p>

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Employers Holdings Inc (EIG)

Employers Holdings, Inc. (EHI), incorporated on March 9, 2005, is a holding company. The Company is a provider of workers compensation insurance focused on select small businesses in low to medium hazard industries. It employs a disciplined, conservative underwriting approach designed to individually select specific types of businesses, predominantly those in the lowest four of the seven workers' compensation insurance industry defined hazard groups, that it believe will have fewer and less costly claims relative to other businesses in the same hazard groups. Workers' compensation is provided for under a statutory system wherein employers are required to provide coverage for their employees' medical, disability, vocational rehabilitation, and/or death benefit costs for work-related injuries or illnesses. It operates as a single reportable segment and conduct operations in 31 states and the District of Columbia, with a concentration in California, where over one-half of its business is generated.

Workers' compensation provides insurance coverage for the statutorily prescribed benefits that employers are required to provide to their employees who may be injured or suffer illness in the course of employment. The level of benefits varies by state, the nature and severity of the injury or disease, and the wages of the injured worker. Each state has a statutory, regulatory, and adjudicatory system that sets the amount of wage replacement to be paid, determines the level of medical care required to be provided, establishes the degree of permanent impairment, and specifies the options in selecting healthcare providers. These state laws generally require two types of benefits for injured employees: medical benefits, including expenses related to the diagnosis and treatment of an injury, disease, or both, as well as any required rehabilitation and (indemnity payments, which consists of temporary wage replacement, permanent disability payments, and death benefits to surviving family members.

Disciplined Underwriting

The Company focuses on disciplined underwriting and continues to pursue profitable growth opportunities across market cycles. It carefully monitor market trends to assess new business opportunities that it expects will meet its pricing and risk standards. It prices its policies based on the specific risks associated with each potential insured rather than solely on the industry class in which a potential insured is classified. Its disciplined underwriting approach is a critical element of its culture and its believe that it has allowed them to offer competitive prices, diversify its risks, and out-perform the industry.

It executes its underwriting processes through automated systems and experienced underwriters with specific knowledge of local markets. It has developed automated underwriting templates for specific classes of business that produce faster quotes when certain underwriting criteria are met. Its underwriting guidelines consider many factors, such as type of business, nature of operations, and risk exposures, and are designed to minimize or prevent underwriting of certain undesirable classes of business.

Loss Control

Its loss control professionals provide consultation to policyholders to assist them in preventing losses and containing costs once claims occur. They also assist its underwriting personnel in evaluating potential and current policyholders and are an important part of its underwriting discipline.

Premium Audit

It conducts premium audits on substantially all of its policyholders annually upon the policy expiration. Premium audits allow them to comply with applicable state and reporting bureau requirements and to verify that policyholders have accurately reported their payroll and employee job classifications. It also selectively perform interim audits on certain classes of business or if unusual claims are filed or concerns are raised regarding projected annual payrolls, whi! ch could ! result in substantial variances at final audit.

Claims and Medical Case Management

The role of its claims department is to actively and efficiently investigate, evaluate, and pay claims, and to aid injured workers in returning to work in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. It has implemented rigorous claims guidelines and control procedures in its claims units and have claims operations throughout the markets it serves. It also provides medical case management services for those claims that it determines will benefit from such involvement. utilize medical provider networks affiliated with Anthem Blue Cross of California (Anthem) and Coventry Health Care, Inc. and make every appropriate effort to direct injured workers into these networks for medical treatments.

In addition to its medical networks, it work closely with local vendors, including attorneys, medical professionals, and investigators, to bring local to its reported claims. It pays special attention to reducing costs and have established discounting arrangements with the aforementioned service providers. It uses preferred provider organizations, bill review services, and utilization management to closely monitor medical costs. It actively pursues fraud and subrogation recoveries to mitigate claims costs. Subrogation rights are based upon state and federal laws, as well as the insurance policies it issues. Its fraud and subrogation efforts are handled through dedicated units.

The Company competes with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., Travelers Insurance Group Holdings, Inc., Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., and Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Employers Holdings (EIG) is a provider of worker's compensation insurance focused on select small businesses engaged in low to medium hazard industries. This stock closed up 2.9% at $28.48 in Thursday's trading session.

  Thursday's Volume: 252,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 119,789
  
  Volume % Change: 75%

  From a technical perspective, EIG jumped notably higher here right above its 50-day moving average of $26.48 with above-average volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last five months, with shares soaring higher from its low of $21.03 to its recent high of $29.12. During that move, shares of EIG have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of EIG within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if EIG manages to take out its 52-week high at $29.18 with high volume.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in EIG as long as it's trending above Thursday's low of $27.65 or above its 50-day at $26.48 and then once it sustains a move or close above its 52-week high at $29.18 with volume that's near or above 119,789 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then EIG will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $33 to $35.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Resolute Forest Products Inc (RFP)

Resolute Forest Products Inc., AbitibiBowater Inc., is a global forest products company. The Company�� products include newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products. The Company owns or operates pulp and paper mills and wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea. On November 7, 2011, it began doing business as Resolute Forest Products. As of December 31, 2011, it owned or operated 18 pulp and paper mills and 23 wood products facilities in the United States, Canada and South Korea. The Company�� segments include newsprint, coated papers, specialty papers, market pulp and wood products. On January 14, 2011, it acquired the noncontrolling interest in Augusta Newsprint Company (ANC). In April 2012, the Company held approximately 48.8% of the outstanding shares of Fibrek Inc. In December 2012, the Company purchased Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited. oklyn Power Corporation. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  There's no foolproof way to know the future for Resolute Forest Products (NYSE: RFP  ) or any other company. However, certain clues may help you see potential stumbles before they happen -- and before your stock craters as a result.

• [By George Putnam]

  Resolute Forest Products (RFP), formerly known as AbitibiBowater, entered into bankruptcy in early 2009, weighed down by roughly $6 billion in debt.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Enpro Industries (NPO)

EnPro Industries, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and markets engineered industrial products primarily in the United States and Europe. The company operates through three segments: Sealing Products, Engineered Products, and Engine Products and Services. The Sealing Products segment provides metallic, non-metallic, and composite material gaskets; dynamic seals; compression packing; resilient metal seals; elastomeric seals; expansion joints; heavy-duty truck wheel-end component systems, including brake products; flange sealing and isolation products; pipeline casing spacers/isolators; casing end seals; sealing systems for sealing pipeline penetrations; hole forming products; manhole infiltration sealing systems; safety-related signage for pipelines; bellows and bellow assemblies; pedestals for semiconductor manufacturing; polytetrafluoroethylene products; and sheeted rubber products. Its products are used in various industries, including chemical and petrochemical proc essing, petroleum extraction and refining, pulp and paper processing, heavy-duty trucking, power generation, food and pharmaceutical processing, primary metal manufacturing, mining, water and waste treatment, aerospace, medical, filtration, and semiconductor fabrication. The Engineered Products segment offers bearing products and aluminum bushing blocks for use in automotive, pump and compressor, construction, power generation, and general industrial markets; and components for reciprocating compressors and engines in refining, petrochemical, natural gas gathering, and storage and transmission markets. The Engine Products and Services segment manufactures, sells, and services heavy-duty, medium-speed diesel, natural gas, and dual fuel reciprocating engines for shipyards, municipal utilities, institutional and industrial organizations, sewage treatment plants, nuclear power plants, and offshore oil and gas platforms. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Cha rlotte, North Carolina.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  EnPro Industries (NYSE: NPO) shares rose 25.20% to $74.13. The volume of EnPro Industries shares traded was 2661% higher than normal. EnPro's Garlock won a trial on Asbestos liability. CL King upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy.

• [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 EnPro Industries (NYSE: NPO  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Kinross Gold Corporation(KGC)

Kinross Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing gold ores. It also involves in the exploration and acquisition of gold bearing properties. The company?s gold production and exploration activities are carried out principally in the Americas, Africa, and the Russian Federation. As of December 31, 2010, its proven and probable mineral reserves were 62.4 million ounces of gold, 90.9 million ounces of silver, and 1.4 billion pounds of copper. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricio Kehoe]

  Making smart investments in the gold industry is not an easy task. Firms suffer from different problems, such as high cash costs which leave them exposed to declining gold prices, and difficulties while executing expansion projects. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and Kinross Gold (KGC) are two such gold miners, which not only face different challenges, but very different outlooks.

• [By Rex Moore]

  Bad news for Ebix (NASDAQ: EBIX  ) shareholders today, as the stock drops 44% on a criminal investigation. Two 3-D players print up a merger.�Kroger (NYSE: KR  ) reported earnings that were up about 10%, and raised guidance for the year. And Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC  ) was down 8% today. In this installment of Investor Beat, Motley Fool analysts Jason Moser and Matt Koppenheffer discuss four stocks making big moves.

Hot Sliver Companies For 2015: Cummins Inc.(CMI)

Cummins Inc. designs, manufactures, distributes, and services diesel and natural gas engines, electric power generation systems, and engine-related component products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Engine, Power Generation, Components, and Distribution. The Engine segment offers a range of diesel and natural gas powered engines under the Cummins and other customer brand names for the heavy-and medium-duty truck, bus, recreational vehicle, light-duty automotive, agricultural, construction, mining, marine, oil and gas, rail, and governmental equipment markets. This segment also provides new parts and service, as well as remanufactured parts and engines. The Power Generation segment offers power generation systems, components, and services, including diesel, natural gas, gasoline, and alternative-fuel electrical generator sets for use in recreational vehicles, commercial vehicles, recreational marine applications, and home stand-by or residential applications. This segment also provides components that make up power generation systems, such as engines, controls, alternators, transfer switches, and switchgears. The Components segment supplies filtration products, turbochargers, aftertreatment systems, intake and exhaust systems, and fuel systems for commercial diesel applications. This segment offers filtration and exhaust systems for on-and off-highway heavy-duty and mid-range equipment, as well as supplies filtration products for industrial and passenger car applications. This segment also develops after treatment and exhaust systems to help customers meet emissions standards and fuel systems. The Distribution segment provides parts and services, as well as service solutions, including maintenance contracts, engineering services, and integrated products. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and other customers. Cummins Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Columbus, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sara Murphy]

  C2ES sees combined heat and power (CHP) systems as key to promoting manufacturing growth while reducing emissions. CHP, or cogeneration, is the production of two kinds of energy -- usually electricity and heat -- from a single fuel. Natural gas or diesel drives these systems. When natural gas is used, efficiency is high and emissions low, making the technology extremely attractive. Cummins Power Generation, a division of Cummins (NYSE: CMI  ) , makes CHP systems from as small as 30 kilowatts to more than 100 megawatts. CHP remains expensive and faces regulatory hurdles, according to C2ES, and is still in its early stages of development, but it holds serious promise. Cummins notes that CHP can save its customers up to 35% on overall energy costs.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Cummins (NYSE: CMI  ) has decided to inject a little power into its payout. The company has lifted its dividend, declaring a distribution of $0.625 per share to be paid on Sept. 3 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 22. That amount is $0.125, or 25%, higher than the firm's previous disbursement of $0.50 paid in early June.

• [By Daniel Ferry]

  Another important development last week was the announcement that Trillium CNG, a division of Integrys Energy Group (NYSE: TEG  ) , would build 101 new compressed natural gas (CNG) refueling stations across the country by 2016. This would expand the existing infrastructure of publicly available CNG refueling stations by nearly 20%. This is good news for Westport because many of Westport's products run on CNG, including its bi-fuel WiNG system for light-duty Ford pickup trucks, as well as the medium-duty ISL G and heavy-duty ISX12 G engines it produces through Cummins Westport Incorporated, its manufacturing joint-venture with independent engine maker Cummins (NYSE: CMI  ) . Users of the ISL G and ISX12 G engines include long-haul truck manufacturers like PACCAR (NASDAQ: PCAR  ) , Volvo, and Daimler. Freight trucking is a critical growth industry for natural gas engines, because the long miles and heavy loads that freight trucks endure relative to passenger vehicles make them especially sensitive to fuel costs.

• [By Neha Chamaria]

  PACCAR's earnings release is important for two reasons. One, it tells a good deal about the shape of things in the trucking industry. Two, as Cummins' (NYSE: CMI  ) largest customer, PACCAR can also give investors an idea of what to expect from Cummins' quarterly numbers, which will be up about a week later.

Top India Companies To Watch In Right Now

Indonesia has recently been lumped into a group of troubled countries dubbed the “Fragile Five” along with Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey, thanks to large deficits, slow growth and volatile currencies.

Given the negative outlook such a moniker implies, most analysts were caught off guard when Southeast Asia’s largest economy grew by a better-than-expected 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter; the average 2013 growth forecast was just 5.3 percent.

It’s important to note that full-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.8 percent was the slowest annual rate since 2009. It’s also not a good sign that much of that growth was driven by a sudden jump in exports.

As we’ve frequently pointed out, Indonesia is keen to develop its own domestic capacity. For example, to foster the growth of a processing industry, the country banned the export of unprocessed metal ores. Much of the country’s 7 percent increase in fourth quarter exports was likely due to miners rushing to ship as much ore as possible before the ban took effect on January 12.

Top India Companies To Watch In Right Now: Infosys Technologies Limited(INFY)

Infosys Ltd. provides information technology (IT) and consulting services worldwide. It offers IT services, such as application, architecture, independent validation and testing, information management, infrastructure, packaged application, SOA, systems integration, and knowledge services; product engineering services, manufacturing process and plant solutions, and product lifecycle management services; and consulting services in the areas of information and technology strategies, product innovation, next generation commerce, process excellence, and learning and complex change. The company also provides business process outsourcing solutions in the areas of business platforms, customer service outsourcing, finance and accounting, human resources outsourcing, legal services, sales and fulfillment, and sourcing and procurement outsourcing. In addition, it offers collaborative analytics solutions; digital consumer platform; Finacle universal banking solution; iProwe, a Web ac cessibility assessment product; mConnect, a real-time enterprise middleware; and research and analytical support services. Further, the company offers unified communications and collaboration solution that streamlines business processes between employees, customers, and suppliers; iTransform that helps healthcare organizations accelerate transition to new platforms; and supply chain visibility and collaboration product suite. It serves aerospace and defense, airlines, automotive, banking, capital markets, communication services, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, education, energy, healthcare, high technology, hospitality and leisure, insurance, life sciences, logistics and distribution, publishing, resources, utilities, and retail industries. Infosys Ltd. has a strategic partnership with Alstom SA. The company was formerly known as Infosys Technologies Limited and changed its name to Infosys Ltd. on June 16, 2011. Infosys Ltd. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered i n Bengaluru, India.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Infosys (NYSE: INFY  ) will release its quarterly earnings report next Monday, but investors are already skittish about how well the IT services company will be able to perform. In a sluggish environment for global economic growth generally and for IT spending in particular, the entire outsourcing and consulting industry has felt the pressure, and as a primary beneficiary of more positive trends in the industry over the years, Infosys is potentially vulnerable to a reversal in those trends.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) is expected to report its Q2 earnings at $0.70 per share on revenue of $2.01 billion.

  Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets

Top India Companies To Watch In Right Now: Stewart Information Services Corporation(STC)

Stewart Information Services Corporation provides title insurance and related information services required for settlement by the real estate and mortgage industries. It operates in two segments, Title Insurance-Related Services and Real Estate Information. The Title Insurance-Related Services segment offers services that include searching for and examining documents, such as deeds, mortgages, wills, divorce decrees, court judgments, liens, paving assessments, and tax records, as well as provides titles insurance for residential and commercial properties, undeveloped acreage, farms, ranches, and water rights. This segment serves attorneys, builders, developers, home buyers and home sellers, lenders, and real estate brokers. The Real Estate Information segment offers products and services, which primarily include lender services, title technology, foreign and domestic government services, mapping, title information, Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 tax-deferred property e xchanges, pre-employment services, and online filing and transaction management. Its customers include mortgage lenders and servicers, mortgage brokers, mortgage investors, government entities, commercial and residential real estate agents, land developers, builders, title insurance agencies, and others interested in obtaining property information, as well as accountants, attorneys, investors, and employers. The company has operations primarily in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, central Europe, Mexico, central America, and Australia. Stewart Information Services Corporation was founded in 1893 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Tower Group has dropped 12% to $3.88 today at 11:39 a.m., while Stewart Information Services (STC) has dipped 0.1% to $31.16, the�Navigators Group�(NAVG) has fallen 1.4% to $54.78 and HCI Group�(HCI) has gained 1% to $38.16.

• [By James Fink]

  My housing pick is Houston-based Stewart Information Services (STC), a 120-year-old real estate business founded in 1893, that is still owned and managed by the founding family.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Tower Group has dropped 40% to $4.43 today, and some other small insurers are also getting dinged this morning. HCI Group (HCI) has fallen 1.8% to $39.36, Stewart Information Services (STC) has declined 0.7% to $31.36 and the Navigators Group (NAVG) has ticked down 0.4% to $56.10.

Top 10 Electric Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Sify Technologies Limited(SIFY)

Sify Technologies Limited provides enterprise and consumer Internet services primarily in India. The company offers various corporate network/data services comprising e-commerce and network connectivity solutions, such as end-to-end services network, application, and security services; voice origination and termination services; co-location and managed hosting services; and system integration services for data centre build, hardware distribution, security solutions, and turnkey projects. It also provides application services, including SLEMS and Microsoft Exchange messaging platforms; I-test for online assessment and LiveWire, which enable management of training processes across the organization; document management system for the management of documents electronically; and Forum, a forward supply chain solution. In addition, the company operates e-Ports that offer browsing, chat, email, gaming, utility bill payment, travel ticketing, hotel booking, mobile recharge, Intern et telephony, and online share trading services; and portals, which provide news, views, reviews, interactions, and services in the areas of movies, sports, finance, food, videos, astrology, online games, shopping, and travel, as well as offers content offerings and broadband services. Further, it provides infrastructure management services, such as network management, datacenter and helpdesk outsourcing, desktop and storage outsourcing, IT security outsourcing, LAN and WAN outsourcing, database and telecom outsourcing, and application monitoring and management services to automotive, chemical, media, and financial enterprises; and virtualization design, integration, and deployment services for servers, storage, networks, and end user clients. Sify has approximately 1,278 e-Ports in 200 towns and cities; and serves 1,06,000 broadband subscribers through 1500 cable TV Operators. The company, formerly known as Sify Limited, was founded in 1995 and is based in Chennai, India. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY). Utilities shares dropped by 0.11 percent in the US market today.

Top India Companies To Watch In Right Now: Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd(RDY)

Dr. Reddy?s Laboratories Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a pharmaceutical company. It produces finished dosage forms, active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, and biotechnology products. The company also conducts research in the areas of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, inflammation, and bacterial infection. In addition, it involves in the contract manufacture generic prescription and over-the-counter products for branded and generic companies in the United States. The company primarily focuses on therapeutic categories of cardiovascular, diabetes management, gastro-intestinal, and pain management. It markets its products in India, the United States, Europe, and the Russian Federation. The company has a co-development and commercialization agreement with Rheoscience A/S for the development and commercialization of Balaglitazone/DRF 2593, a partial PPAR-gamma agonist for the treatment of type 2 diabetes; an agreement with ClinTec Internatio nal for the development of an anti-cancer compound, DRF 1042; collaboration with the National Cancer Institute in Maryland; and an agreement with Argenta Discovery Limited for the joint development and commercialization of a novel approach to the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It also has an agreement with 7TM Pharma for drug discovery collaboration on selected drug targets; and an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline plc to develop and market pharmaceuticals for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, oncology, gastroenterology, and pain management. Dr. Reddy?s Laboratories Limited was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Hyderabad, India.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Benjamin Shepherd] We’re now into day 15 of the US government shutdown, as House Republicans stubbornly try to defund Obamacare. No matter what sort of deal is eventually struck, health care costs aren’t likely to come down any time soon. And that’s good news for generic drug makers.
  
  Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (NYSE: RDY) is one of the biggest players in generic drugs, offering more than 200 off-brand medications in the areas of cardiovascular disease, pain management and oncology, among others. In fact, this India-based company has become one of the largest makers of generics in the world, helping to drive more than 20 percent annual compounded earnings growth at the company over the past decade.
• [By Dan Carroll]

  The company's generic drug segment should also help push emerging market sales. Abbott markets generic pharmaceuticals outside the U.S. only, and while the division isn't growth-oriented -- sales actually fell around 2% for the quarter -- it provides an entry for the company to push into lucrative new markets such as India, where generics make up the large majority of the country's retail market. The company will face tougher competition in this industry, however: Firms such as India-based Dr. Reddy's (NYSE: RDY  ) have also pushed hard into emerging markets lately, and Dr. Reddy's in particular should benefit from its being headquartered in one of the industry's top locales.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Teva has dropped 7.7% to $37.85 today at 3:23 p.m. but doesn’t seem to be spreading though the generic drug space. Taro Pharmaceuticals (TARO) ha gained 1.1% to $79, while Actavis (ACT) has gained 1.2% to $156.25 and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (RDY) has advanced 1% to $40.24. Mylan (MYL) has dropped 0.7% to $38.40.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Following FDA approval of its abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA,�Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (NYSE: RDY  ) announced today that it launched its lamotrigine extended-release tablets, the generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Lamictal.�

Top India Companies To Watch In Right Now: Tata Motors Ltd(TTM)

Tata Motors Limited, an automobile company, engages in the manufacture and sale of commercial and passenger vehicles primarily in India. The company offers cars, utility vehicles, trucks, buses and coaches, and defense vehicles, as well as develops electric and hybrid vehicles for personal and public transportation. It also involves in distributing and marketing cars; and financing the vehicles sold by the company. In addition, the company engages in the provision of engineering and automotive solutions, as well as machine tools and factory automation solutions; construction equipment manufacturing; automotive vehicle components manufacturing and supply chain activities; tooling and plastic and electronic components for automotive and computer applications; and automotive retailing and service operations. It offers its products and services through its dealership, sales, services, and spare parts network. The company also markets its commercial and passenger vehicles in Eu rope, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, South Asia, and South America. The company was formerly known as Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Limited and changed its name to Tata Motors Limited in July 2003. Tata Motors Limited was founded in 1945 and is based in Mumbai, India.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Among car makers, the Cadillac brand from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), the Lincoln brand from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), and Toyota Motor Corp.’s (NYSE: TM) Lexus brand make the list, as does Jaguar, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM).

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Tesla's good fortune mirrors that of Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM  ) in 2008, when the Indian automaker bought Ford's (NYSE: F  ) floundering Jaguar Land Rover company for a paltry $2.3 billion. And just like Tata, Tesla is hoping to maximize sales in the luxury vehicle department. In April alone, Jaguar sales clocked in at 4,710 units while Land Rover roared ahead with 23,790 units sold. Sales are up 12.2% year over year, and the company enjoyed more than 30% growth in the UK and Asia Pacific.

• [By Elliott Gue]

  This so-called One Ford initiative involved the US$2.3 billion sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors (TTM) and the US$1.6 billion divestment of Volvo to Geely Automobile Holdings (GELYF.PK). After selling the majority of its stake in Mazda Motor Corp (MZDAY.PK) and discontinuing Mercury, Ford Motor Company's portfolio consists of its eponymous mass-market brand and the higher-end Lincoln.

Is Tesla Motors Valuation Getting out of Hand?

When it comes to valuation, Tesla Motors' (NASDAQ: TSLA  ) stock price premium is second to none among auto manufacturers. The company trades at 142 times forward earnings estimates and about 15 times its trailing-12-month revenue. As if the six-month run-up of 188% since Jan. 1 wasn't enough, the stock has appreciated another 21% on top of that in the last month and a half. When is enough enough?

Tesla runs a lucrative operation
First, the positive. As Tesla Motors ramps up production, the company's manufacturing process benefits from greater economies of scale. This, of course, is no surprise -- it's a basic rule of thumb in business. But to what degree will Tesla benefit?

Already, the company has "reduced the hours required to build a car by almost 40% from December to March," asserts Tesla's first-quarter letter to shareholders.

Tesla Model S undergoing assembly. Source: Green Car Reports.

This, along with a number of other benefits associated with scale and $68 million in sales (12% of revenue) of its zero-emission vehicle credits, or ZEVs, helped the company double its gross margin from last quarter, to 17%.

In the first quarter, Tesla's gross margin of 17.15% outperformed a number of auto manufacturers. Ford (NYSE: F  ) , for instance, reported a gross profit margin of 16.21% during the same period -- and that was on sales of about 1.5 million vehicles. To make this comparison fair, however, it's important to note that Tesla's core auto business' gross margin was just 2% in the quarter, according to Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas. ZEV credits were a major contributor to the company's 17% gross margin, says Jonas.

But here is where things get really interesting. In the first-quarter letter to shareholders the company reaffirmed its guidance for a gross margin of 25% by the fourth quarter of 2013, "assuming zero ZEV credit revenue".

Valuation
Can Tesla's improving gross profit margin save the company from the Street's lofty expectations? Probably not by itself, but it's definitely a start.

A gross margin of 25% is about 1.46 times the company's current gross margin of 17.15%. Taking Tesla's first-quarter gross profit of 96 million and multiplying it by 1.46, Tesla could earn a gross profit of 140 million every quarter at today's revenue levels and with a gross profit margin of 25% -- that's 560 million annually. In other words, Tesla trades at 25 times a very conservative estimate of 2014 gross profit. Conservative or not, 25 times 2014 gross profit is a significant premium. Ford trades at just three times its trailing-12-month gross profit. 

It's about expectations
Tesla will need far more than gross margin improvements to grow into its valuation. Fortunately, gross margin improvements are not the end of the story for Tesla. Last quarter alone the company's sales increased by 83% from the prior quarter. Can sales growth and gross margin improvement combined save the stock from its valuation?

The average analyst estimate for Tesla's 2014 revenue is 2.32 billion. Assuming a gross margin of 25%, Tesla's gross profit would equal 580 million in 2014. At today's price, that means Tesla is trading at about 23 times its 2014 gross profit, assuming a 25% gross profit margin and 2.32 billion in revenue (146% higher than Tesla's trailing-12-month revenue of 945 million). This is definitely a lofty expectation.

As Tesla's stock continues to rise, I'm withdrawing my buy recommendation. Importantly, however, I don't believe this means current investors should sell. I'm a big believer in holding onto companies as long as they are meeting or exceeding my original thesis -- and Tesla hasn't failed me on that front. In other words, I don't sell good businesses (no matter the valuation), but I do consider valuation when I make an initial buy decision.

As price increases relative to the underlying fundamentals, risk increases too. Tesla is too expensive to buy, but as a business firing on all cylinders I wouldn't sell it and pay taxes on my gain yet either.

Are you looking for growth stocks?
Tired of watching your stocks creep up year after year at a glacial pace? Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner, founder of the No. 1 growth stock newsletter in the world (Hulbert Financial), has developed a unique strategy for uncovering truly wealth-changing stock picks. And he wants to share it, along with a few of his favorite growth stock superstars, WITH YOU! It's a special 100% FREE report called "6 Picks for Ultimate Growth". So stop settling for index-hugging gains... and click HERE for instant access to a whole new game plan of stock picks to help power your portfolio.

Larry Roth's doing a lot more than selling nontraded REITs

Gerardo Tabones

Larry Roth surprised some people last summer when he jumped ship as chief executive of leading independent broker-dealer network Advisor Group to become chief executive at Realty Capital Securities.

The move struck some as odd, because Realty Capital is the wholesaling broker-dealer for nontraded real estate investment trusts sponsored by American Realty Capital. Advisor Group, owned by American International Group Inc., is a broker-dealer network of four firms and 6,135 reps and advisers — a markedly different business.

At the time, Nicholas Schorsch, CEO of ARC, said that Mr. Roth would be at the forefront of distributing products, from mutual funds to nontraded REITs, with an emphasis on wirehouses. The potential for Realty Capital's and ARC's new relationships with wirehouses is “a huge area for Larry,” Mr. Schorsch said.

(See also: Brash REIT boss hires his opposite)

A number of people in the industry doubted his pronouncements. Mr. Roth is a known dealmaker, having spent 2001 to 2005 at Berkshire Capital, a top mergers and acquisition investment bank that focuses on financial services firms and independent broker-dealers.

Such prowess looked to be a perfect fit for Realty Capital. Its parent, RCS Capital Corp., has been on a buying spree, with RCS Capital or related entities completing one broker-dealer acquisition and announcing four others since last June. The transactions affect almost 9,000 reps and advisers.

(More: No end in sight for Schorsch tear)

Why would Mr. Schorsch hire Mr. Roth and ignore his M&A expertise, particularly as Mr. Schorsch and RCS Capital were assembling a top-tier IBD network? That was a prevalent industry question when Mr. Roth joined Realty Capital last September.

Well, it looks as though Mr. Roth has been doing a lot more than wholesaling alternative mutual funds and nontraded REITs in the past several months. In fact, he was sitting at Mr. Schorsch's side, at least through the initial discussions of RCS Capital's most significant deal to date, the pending $1.15 billion purchase of Cetera Financial Group from private equity manager Lightyear Capital.

According to RCS Capital's proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 8, Mr. Roth and Mr. Schorsch met Donald Marron, chairman of the Cetera board and Lightyear's founder, on Nov. 23 in Lightyear's New York offices. The purpose of the meeting, which involved a smattering of other Lightyear and Realty Capital executives, was “to discuss a potential strategic transaction between [RCS Capital] and Cetera,” the filing states. The deal progressed rapidly and was announced in January.

Meanwhile, the industry is waiting for Mr. Schorsch's next acquisition. RCS Capital indicated such a move in March, saying it had another potential broker-dealer acquisition teed up but was waiting for the Cetera ! purchase to close.

Top 10 Small Cap Stocks To Watch Right Now

Will Mr. Roth be sitting next to Mr. Schorsch when that deal is done? Will he help engineer a bid for another large broker-dealer network that he knows well?

Don't be surprised if he does.

Daniel Kahneman on the Intersection of Economics and Psychology

Dr. Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, joins us to discuss his book Thinking, Fast and Slow.

When economists rubbed elbows with psychologists 40 years ago, assumptions were challenged. Kahneman has spent much of his career examining those assumptions to better understand the effects of human psychology on the field of economics. The full version of the interview can be seen here. A full transcript follows the video.

Morgan Housel: We're very lucky today to have Dr. Daniel Kahneman with us. He is a psychologist from Princeton University. He's the author of the book Thinking, Fast and Slow. He's been called "one of the most influential psychologists since Sigmund Freud." He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. Please welcome Dr. Daniel Kahneman.

Dr. Kahneman, you won the Nobel Prize in Economics, but you're not an economist; you're a psychologist. From what I understand, that's the first time that's ever happened in that award for economics.

To me, that's a confirmation that so much of what is important in economics and in investing has less to do with numbers and spreadsheets and Greek formulas as it does what's going on in our head, and fooling ourselves.

Just to get a background of your career, from what I understand the first time that your work intersected with economics was in the early 1970s, when a colleague brought to you an economics paper and the first line of the paper was, "The agent of economic theory is rational, selfish, and his tastes do not change." For a psychologist, that's ridiculous, so what happened next?

Daniel Kahneman: Well, nothing happened immediately, but I found that very surprising, actually, because the economics building was next door. I was at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and we had one building, and the economists were next door. I learned from that one sentence something I hadn't know before -- that they sort of lived in a different intellectual world than we did.

For a psychologist it's obvious that people are not fully rational, and that they're not selfish, and that their tastes change. It was just a collection of statements that seemed almost absurd. I had no idea, at that stage, that a lot of my career would be dedicated to that conversation. That sort of happened almost by accident, later.

Housel: In the last decade, behavioral economics has grown in influence. It's much more accepted now than it was in the past. I guess my question is, why did it take so long?

Kahneman: It didn't take long. Twenty-five years is a blink of an eye, in intellectual developments. Our first serious paper appeared in an economics journal, Econometrics, in 1979. It appeared there by accident. We were not intending to influence economists. It was the best journal for this sort of theory paper.

I think my Nobel was 2002. That is very, very, very quick. They had two Clark medals. You know, the Clark medal is really more prestigious than the Nobel in economics. It's given to the best economist under 40, and they had two behavioral ones. Twenty years is very, very fast.

Apple vs. Google: Whose Growth Is Better?

When Gartner released its most recent report on worldwide device sales, it demonstrated that, in terms of raw numbers, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) is still growing at a faster rate than Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) . As important as considering the raw data can be, however, the quality of growth needs to be understood, as well.

In the video below, Fool.com contributor Doug Ehrman discusses the information contained in the Gartner report, and what it means to Apple, Google, as well as to investors.

It's incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out "Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?" in 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.

The Wild West of Stock Exchanges

I recently met up with longtime exchange trader Doreen Mogavero at the NYSE. In this video, Mogavero discusses the percentage of stock trades that actually occur at a major exchange versus smaller, lesser known locations. Have a look (transcript follows):

Morgan Housel: What percentage of all stock transactions actually occur on this floor behind you?

Doreen Mogavero: I think it varies from stock to stock. I would have to say on an average from the statistics that I have seen, and granted I don't work for the New York Stock Exchange, so I don't have the most current statistics that they have. I would guess somewhere around 25%.

Morgan Housel: And 10 or 15 years ago, that was significantly higher.

Doreen Mogavero: Oh, probably significantly higher, yeah. The bulk of the volume that we have lost, so to speak, and I'll say "lost" for lack of a better word, but for the percentage of volume that does not come here has gone to internalized venues, and that would be in the dark pools in the large banking houses, right? So it's not really that we lost it because we've done something wrong; it's the fact that these big banks have not released it into the public marketplace. It resides in their own internal matching engines or dark pools. 

Top Services Companies To Invest In Right Now

More from the Motley Fool
The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

Google Earnings Impacted by Nest: What Wall Street's Saying

Updated from 10:18 a.m. to include thoughts from Deutsche Bank analyst.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- First-quarter earnings for Google (GOOG) missed Wall Street estimates, but pending any further hiccups it looks like the gravy train is continuing, at least for now.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google (GOOGL) reported first-quarter results that missed analysts' estimates, as the company earned $6.27 a share on a non-GAAP basis, generating $12.19 billion in revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC). Google site revenue of $10.47 billion rose 21% from last year's first quarter and accounted for 68% of Google's revenue. Including TAC, Google generated $15.45 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting Google to earn $6.40 a share on $15.52 billion in revenue, including TAC. Analysts surveyed by Estimize were expecting earnings of $6.19 a share on $12.87 billion in sales, excluding TAC.

Google, which split its stock during the quarter to now include both Class A shares and Class C shares, was trading lower in Thursday trading. GOOG shares were falling 3.9% to $534.75, while GOOGL was off 3.9% to $542.00.

The company noted cost-per-click (CPC), a key advertising metric, remained flat from the previous quarter, as it appears Google's initiative to bundle advertising buying on various platforms, known as enhanced campaigns, is working. However, CPCs still fell 9% year over year. Paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of its network members, increased approximately 26% year over year, but fell 1% sequentially.

On the earnings call, Nikesh Arora, Google's senior vice president and chief business officer, noted CPCs will start to move higher as more advertisers begin to understand mobile devices. He noted that in the medium to long term, mobile ad pricing will be better than desktop because more will be known about the user and the context of what they're doing for what they're searching. Additionally, Google is working to making its payment enabling system easier, which should cause CPCs to rise. But getting advertisers to focus on the mobile side as opposed to desktop is a much harder initiative and will take some time. Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette noted this was a particularly expense-heavy quarter, led in large part by the Nest acquisition, as Google spent more than $3 billion for the smart thermostat and fire alarm company. That impacted somewhat the company's earnings.

"The one-time M&A deal costs are largely stemming from the Nest deal, which was a pretty large transaction for us this quarter," Pichette said on the call. "But I think that the best way to describe it is that our expenses in Q1, they are completely in line with our objectives if you'd kind of take apart these two items, so that's how I would describe it." Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Graham (Buy, $700 PT GOOG) "Amidst an Internet sector correction that has been driven mostly by sentiment and valuation, Google reported solid Q1 results (especially for core revenue/margins) that should lend some stability to the stock and the sector. We believe the key number is 21% for Web sites revenue growth, which provides the foundation for our BUY thesis: 1) ~20% revenue growth with slight operating leverage leads to >20% EPS growth for a few years, with a bigger acceleration this year; 2) undemanding valuation; 3) sale of MMI creates margin expansion that should help the stock screen well; still largely-undiscounted potential from YouTube, mobile ad pricing reaching (higher) maturity, and other adjacent businesses."

Stock quotes in this article: GOOG, GOOGL 

Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz (Buy, $700 PT GOOG)

"We are buyers on the dip given the EPS miss was attributed primarily to discrete one-time expenses. Solid top-line trends reflected continued positive contributions from a range of products including PLAs / Search, YouTube, and Android / Google Play. Google now trades at 14x (ex-cash) our new '15 EPS estimate; we think this is a reasonable multiple given our belief Google remains best positioned against a number of secular growth trends."

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali (Buy, $630 PT GOOG) "We're maintaining a BUY rating and adjusting our PT to $630 from $650, following 1Q:14 results, which came in 1% and 2% shy on the top and bottom lines, respectively. While the business is arguably becoming more capital intensive, Google continues to gain market share with gross revenue growing at +21% (ex. FX) and EBITDA margins of 50%. We believe that Google remains one of the best plays on global online advertising growth, and at 12.5x EV/EBITDA/20.9x P/E on our FY:14 estimates, we continue to find the stock compelling." Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju (Outperform, $735 PT GOOGL) "Despite the mixed set of financial results, we believe the most important takeaways from the 1Q14 report was the positive inflection in the CPC decline rate, which was -9% YOY (vs -11% in 4Q13) on what were tougher comps coupled with continued strong volume growth. We believe this is one of the first fledgling signs of the benefits Google is set to realize from the pricing convergence between mobile and desktop on the back of products such as Enhanced Campaigns, App Indexing, as well as tools to help advertisers make cross-device attributions. As such our investment thesis remains unchanged and we reiterate our Outperform rating." UBS analyst Eric Sheridan (Buy, $665 PT GOOG)
"Into the earnings print, most investors were looking for strong/stable revenue growth & stable margin trends. Google's report delivered on revenue expectations but fell short on margins. Investors were left confused about the impact of one-time and recurring opex from recent M&A activity (notably the Nest transaction that closed on Feb 7th). Based on our calculations, the one-time items likely caused a 50-100bps drag on Google's operating margins (a normalized result slightly below Street ests). Despite this upward pressure on opex and capex, we think investors will continue to view Google as a solid risk/reward at current levels. In our view, Google is the best positioned stock in our coverage universe for exposure to a full range of secular growth trends at a very reasonable valuation on both EV/EBITDA and P/E on our 2015 estimates." Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Sandler (Buy, $625 PT GOOG) "Google's 1Q results were broadly in-line with consensus, with net revenue of $12.2B (-2% q/q) and core EBITDA of $6.01B. The tone of the conference call was upbeat and consistent, highlighting the solid growth in Google Websites (+21% y/y), Licensing/Other (+48% y/y), and ROW (+30% y/y), with laggards UK (+11% y/y) and Network Sites (+4% y/y). Overall, we continue to view Google as a top idea, and a safe-haven during times of high volatility in consumer Internet. Maintain Buy." -- Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York >Contact by Email. Follow @Chris_Ciaccia

Stock quotes in this article: GOOG, GOOGL 

Yahoo Earnings Lifted by Alibaba, Modest Ad Progress

Top Low Price Stocks To Invest In Right Now

Julie Jacobson/APYahoo CEO Marissa Mayer SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo (YHOO) is still prospering from its lucrative investments in Asia while the Internet company's listless advertising sales are picking up, if ever so slightly, under CEO Marissa Mayer. The positive signs in the Yahoo's first-quarter report overshadowed a 20 percent decline in the company's earnings during the opening three months of the year. The results released Tuesday highlight the contrasting performances of Yahoo's investment portfolio and the company's main business of running ad-supported online services. Yahoo Inc. is making most of its money from its holdings in two Asian Internet companies -- China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Meanwhile, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company has been struggling to sell more ads, even as marketers divert more of their budgets to the Internet. Most of those digital dollars, though, have been flowing toward Google (GOOG), the Internet's search leader, and Facebook (FB), the online social networking leader. Yahoo's share of the worldwide market for digital advertising is expected to shrink to 2.5 percent this year, down from 3.4 percent in 2012, while Google's share climbs to 33 percent and Facebook's share rises to 8 percent, according to the research firm eMarketer. A 24 percent stake in Alibaba has turned into Yahoo's crown jewel as the Chinese company prepares to go public on the New York Stock Exchange later this year. Since selling Yahoo its stake for $1 billion in 2005, Alibaba has built a massive e-commerce network that caters to businesses and consumers in the world's most populous country. Yahoo's report provided that latest tantalizing peek at how rapidly Alibaba has been growing. The numbers covered Alibaba's fourth quarter from last year because there is a three-month lag before Yahoo books its portion of Alibaba's income. Alibaba's fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled from the previous year to $1.35 billion while its revenue surged 66 percent to $3.06 billion. The stellar performance reinforced hopes that Alibaba's market value could range somewhere between $150 billion and $200 billion when it goes public. By comparison, Facebook started off with a market value of $104 billion in its highly anticipated Wall Street debut in 2012. Yahoo is now in line for a huge windfall when it sells its Alibaba stake, providing money to expand its reach through acquisitions and buy back more of its stock. Yahoo has already spent $6 billion buying back its stock since the beginning of 2012. The anticipated gain from the Alibaba investment is the main reason Yahoo's stock has more than doubled since Yahoo hired Mayer from Google in July 2012 to revive its ad sales. Yahoo's stock gained $2.19, or 6.4 percent, to $36.40 in Tuesday's extended trading. Even if the shares rally similarly in Wednesday's regular trading, the stock will remain below its 52-week high of $41.72 reached in early January. Macquarie Securities analyst Benjamin Schachter estimates Yahoo's stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan are worth nearly $29 a share. He values the rest of Yahoo's business at just $11 to $12 a share. Mayer still hasn't been able to snap Yahoo out of an advertising funk that began six years ago, although some segments showed modest improvements in the first quarter. In a particularly heartening sign, Yahoo's display ad revenue crept up by 2 percent from the same time last year, after subtracting commissions from ad partners. That was the first uptick in Yahoo's first-quarter display ad revenue in three years. "We believe we are moving from our core business being in decline to modest or stable growth," Mayer said in a video conference call. Yahoo earned $312 million, or 29 cents a share, during the first three months of this year. That compared to $390 million, or 35 cents a share, at the same time last year. If not for special items, Yahoo said it would have earned 38 cents a share. That was a penny above the average estimate among analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue fell 1 percent from last year to $1.13 billion. After subtracting ad commission, Yahoo's revenue totaled $1.09 billion -- about $20 million higher than analyst projections. Yahoo expects its revenue for the current quarter ending in June to total about $1.08 billion, minus ad commissions. That would be 1 percent increase from last year. If there's a grandmother of the female-tech leadership movement, it's Weili Dai, who in 1995 co-founded semiconductor company Marvell Technology (MRVL). Dai was the first woman to be a founder of a global semiconductor company. But co-founder isn't the only hat Dai has worn for Marvell. She's also served as chief operating officer and executive vice president, among other positions. Dai's influence has helped the company become a dominating force in the semiconductor market. Marvell has brought in annual revenue of more than $3 billion over the past three years.