Three simple ways to make volatility your ally

None of us like market turbulence. Our clients deplore it and our employees can be frustrated with calls about it. But just like everything else in this world, there may be a positive in the midst of the negativity. Truth is, most of our clients think we earn our money when we are making them money, but those of us who have been around through multiple volatile markets know that we really earn our money when times are tough.

Winston Churchill had a wonderful expression: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Here are three ways to help turn the next big decline in the markets into an opportunity.

1. Prepare for the inevitable. Believe it or not, we have been through a period of relative calm since 2009. In fact, volatility has been historically low, and we can all be lulled into complacency. Prepare your clients in advance for a possible decline in stocks. Doing so when things are good allows you to refer back to your warnings and highlight your preparations. Most of your clients want you to be their guide and point out the blind spots they m

Is Bank Of America a Buy Now?

With shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) trading around $15, is BAC 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

Bank of America is a financial institution serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, corporations, and governments with a range of banking, investing, asset management, and other financial and risk management products and services. With its banking and various non-banking subsidiaries throughout the United States and international markets, the company provides a range of banking and non-banking financial services and products through several business segments: consumer and business banking, consumer real estate services, global banking, global markets, global wealth, investment management, and other.

Even though a jury rendered a verdict that Bank of America was liable for fraud regarding the sale of defective mortgages by its Countrywide Financial unit, the bank's attorneys urged U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan to impose no penalty. The Justice Department is seeking $863.6 million of damages from the company over losses that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac incurred after purchasing home loans in 2007 and 2008. But the request came to no avail: In a court filing on Wednesday night, four weeks after the jury verdict, Rakoff told Bank of America that under applicable law, it must pay the maximum $1.1 million.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Bank of America stock has been flying higher in recent quarters. The stock is currently surging higher and looks set to continue this path. 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, Bank of America is trading above its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Bank of America options	23.01%	53%	50%

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

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
December Options	Flat	Average
January Options	Flat	Average

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

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

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	20.00%	68.42%	233.30%	-77.15%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	-1.52%	3.46%	4.13%	-25.02%
Earnings Reaction	2.24%	2.80%	-4.72%	-4.24%

Bank of America has seen increasing earnings and mixed revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have had conflicting feelings about Bank of America’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Bank of America stock done relative to its peers, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), and sector?

	Bank of America	JPMorgan Chase	Wells Fargo	Citigroup	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	36.82%	31.21%	29.80%	34.43%	33.06%

Bank of America has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Bank of America is a bank and financial services giant that operates in a recovering financial industry, the backbone of the United States economy. The Justice Department is seeking $863.6 million of damages from the company. The stock has been exploding to the upside in recent quarters and is currently surging higher. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been rising while revenues have been mixed, which have produced conflicting feelings among investors about earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, Bank of America has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Bank of America to OUTPERFORM.

Online platforms a growing threat to traditional advisers

Online personal finance startups and discount trading platforms are not just for the do-it-yourself crowd anymore — and that poses a threat to traditional financial advisers, new reports from Corporate Insight and Cerulli Associates Inc. show.

The Corporate Insight study, released Wednesday, takes note of more than 100 investing and personal finance startups with great appeal for younger investors. Nearly twice as many U.S. retail investors are using direct-to-investor platforms offered by discount brokerages such as The Charles Schwab Corp., Fidelity Investments and E-Trade than in 2008, when the financial crisis hit, according to the Cerulli report, released Monday.

“As a member of Gen X/Y, I find obfuscated fees, wrap programs and commissions are a huge turnoff,” Bill Winterberg, a certified financial planner and publisher of the website FPPad.com, wrote in an e-mail. “The direct providers largely operate in this clear and simple pricing realm, so they're poised to win more and more business.”

While discount brokerages have long appealed to do-it-yourself investors, their improved tech platforms and financial planning services now also appeal to mass-affluent investors who lost trust in big banks during the market meltdown. Add to that the growing popularity of online startups, and it's clear that traditional financial advisers must now work harder to capture investors' assets.

Corporate Insight's report, “Next-Generation Investing: Online Startups and the Future of Financial Advice,” examined more than 100 investing and personal finance startups and found that they are redefining how investors get financial advice with scalable, low-cost solutions.

Among these startups are Jemstep, which offers automated “buy” and “sell” recommendations for client portfolios; Covestor, which allows investors to mimic the trades of professional investment managers; and LearnVest, which offers online-only personal financial adviser relationships without any face-to-face interaction.

To be sure, not all of these startups will succeed.

“The reality is that I looked at 130-odd startups and some of them will fail,” said Grant Easterbrook, a Corporate Insight analyst and the report's author. “There is an attrition rate, especially as they are tied to the market. If the market tanks due to the euro or the Middle East or quantitative easing, customers will flee to the sidelines.”

Mr. Easterbrook added, however, that the proliferation of startups highlights the longer-term trend of baby boomers being replaced by Generation X and Generation Y investors.

“When you look at those Gen X and Y investors, they're not as interested in face-to-face meetings, and they have a lot of negative perceptions about the major financial institutions,” he said. “These people don't trust the big wirehouses.”

According to the Cerulli report, “U.S. Retail Investor Product Use 2013," of the roughly $27 trillion in retail investor assets! , $4.3 trillion now is on discount brokerage platforms — twice as much as in 2008. The advisory channels account for $15.4 trillion of that total, while channels such as non-adviser-sold retirement plans account for $4.5 trillion.

At $5.2 trillion in assets, wirehouses still control the largest slice of the advisory segment, but their influence is slipping. “The four firms that comprise the channel have lost overall market share in the last several years, but remain the most concentrated asset bases in the retail investing world,” Cerulli reported.

As online tools become more popular, however, assets will move away from wirehouses toward independent advisory channels, as well as direct distribution platforms, especially for mass-affluent investors with assets in the $500,000 to $2 million range, the Cerulli report predicted. Among the channels, registered investment advisers have seen “the most appealing growth” in the past four years, the report noted.

“The results, to me, signal the ongoing trend that began nearly 15 years ago — the ongoing rise of discount brokerage platforms [as they] continue to commoditize the core elements of creating and implementing portfolios,” Michael Kitces, partner and director of research at the Pinnacle Advisory Group

Amazon’s Profitless Triumph

Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) shares are trading near an all-time high even though the company hasn't earned big profits since around 2010, lost money in 2012 and finished the latest quarter in the red.

Yet, Wall Street is giving the ecommerce giant a thumbs-up because its latest earnings were better than analysts expected. The company's third quarter loss narrowed to $41 million, or 9 cents per share, versus $274 million, or 60 cents, a year earlier. Revenue surged 24% to $17.1 billion, topping expectations of $18.1 billion.

Amazon's operating expenses soared 24%to $17.12 billon, as CEO Jeff Bezos ratcheted up spending on video content, technology and new warehouses among other things. Investors would ordinarily raise alarm bells about companies where costs were rising at about the same rate as revenue, particularly given Amazon's thin 2.9% North American operating margins. But Amazon, as it's been said many times before, isn't like most companies, which seems to bother some pundits.

"There is no other company in the world that has such an awful history of profitability, but continues to be rewarded for it so handsomely," said Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research, told Bloomberg News.

Traditional valuation metrics don't apply to Amazon. It trades at an eye-popping multiple that tops 1,300 and is priced well ahead of its average 52-week price target of $331.22. Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler, however, raised his price target to $446, which implies a 24% upside potential from current levels. Investors who are willing to tolerate lots of risk should buy the shares. CEO Jeff Bezos has been proving the naysayers wrong for years. There is no reason to think that's going to stop now.

What moves stocks such as Amazon is "momentum", a nebulous concept that basically means that people expect the stock to continue to rise when a company's future appears – at least for now – seems to be limitless. For bulls, there is plenty to l! ike about Amazon.

U.S. e-commerce spending will hit $262 billion this year, an increase of 13.4% from 2012, according to Forrester Research. Web sales are expected to account for 10% of retail sales by 2017 versus 8% in 2012 and 2013. The increases are even bigger overseas, leading to a 20% gain globally. A whopping 1 billion people around the world buy something online every year.

Of course, Amazon has plenty of competitors. As the New York Times recently noted, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) plans to more aggressively take on the company. "For the first time in decades, Wal-Mart, which drove company after company out of business, has a competitor it sounds a little scared of," the newspaper says. eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) also is targeting Amazon as it deemphasizes auctions and tries to encourage fixed-price sales.

Amazon reinvented the book business and created the e-reader market with its Kindle device, which it reportedly sells at cost. The company benefits from Amazon Prime, a $79 per month service that enables customers to get two-day shipping and access to video content. Millions more people have signed up for Amazon Prime in the past 90 days, a positive sign ahead of the holiday season. Amazon also expects big things from its cloud computing and data storage business, which one day may outpace its ecommerce operation.

The Bottom Line

Baring any huge mishaps, there appears to be little that can slow the company down. However, the slightest hint of a problem will cause the shares to crater. People willing to accept that sort of risk should buy the stock.

Disclosure - At the time of writing, the author did not own shares of any company mentioned in this article.

Ten Classic American Brands That are Foreign-Owned

In September, major U.S. pork producer Smithfield Foods was purchased by Chinese holding company Shanghui International Holdings, Ltd for $4.7 billion. The deal represents the largest purchase of a U.S. company by a Chinese entity. Of course, this is certainly not the first time that a major U.S. brand has been acquired by a foreign operation.

Established American brands are extremely valuable to foreign companies. Building a reputation in this country, which is one of the largest consumer markets in the world, can take decades, if it can be done at all. Many of America’s most well-known names have been around since the 19th century. 24/7 Wall St. examined 10 famous brands founded in the U.S. that are no longer owned by American companies.

Many of these brands are not just iconic American names because they were founded and developed in the U.S., but also because they marketed themselves over the years as American. Budweiser beer, introduced by Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis in 1876, is the most widely-known American beer brand. In 2008, Anheuser-Busch was purchased by Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate InBev. The company continued to market Budweiser as American, and even introduced an "American Ale" the same year, although that line has been discontinued.

Nearly all of these brands were purchased by an international conglomerate with large and diversified brand portfolios. Notably, Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever has purchased several of the iconic brands on this list, including Hellmann's and Good Humor.

These are ten great American brands that are foreign-owned.

Five things to know about JPMorgan settlement

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is about to accept a $13 billion mortgage settlement with the Justice Department.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The tentative deal that JPMorgan Chase reached over the weekend with the Justice Department will cost the bank $13 billion, a record penalty.

Details of the proposed settlement have yet to be announced, although they are expected soon.

Here are the answers to five questions about the deal:

What was the wrongdoing that this settles?

In the years ahead of the financial meltdown of 2008, the nation's banks took trillions of dollars in individual home mortgages and created investments for people seeking to capitalize on the hot housing market. Some of the mortgages were of questionable quality, given to potential home buyers with weak credit or without verifying income.

Many of the securities were then sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two private mortgage-backing firms that had the implicit backing of the U.S. government.

The government says units of JPMorgan were among those that deceived Fannie and Freddie about the quality of the home loans packaged in those securities between 2005 and 2007.

When the housing bubble burst and foreclosures started to soar, Fannie and Freddie both ended up with billions in losses they couldn't afford. That prompted one of the largest bailouts of the financial crisis. Eventually, taxpayers poured $187.5 billion into the two firms.

Who was responsible for the wrongdoing?

While some of the risky mortgages were written and packaged into securities by JPMorgan Chase, the bank says that 80% of the losses from problem loans were from Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, two companies it acquired during the height of the financial crisis.

Wall Street firm Bear Stearns was bought by the bank at a bargain price in March 2008, when the firm was on the cusp of bankruptcy. Federal authorities, including Treasury and the Federal Reserve, pushed for the deal in the hopes that by finding a buyer it could prevent a broader meltdown in financial markets -- something that occurred six months later when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.

In the midst of that fall meltdown, JPMorgan stepped in to buy Washington Mutual, the nation's largest savings and loan association at the time and a major mortgage lender. Once again, it was urged to ! make the purchase by federal authorities.

What are the potential criminal charges faced by the bank?

The proposed settlement only covers civil charges. It does not settle the question of whether any of the bankers engaged in criminal wrongdoing. There is an ongoing federal criminal probe based in Sacramento, Calif., the state where Washington Mutual was based.

JPMorgan originally sought to be protected from any criminal charges as part of this deal, but that was rejected by authorities.

Criminal charges against Wall Street firms have been limited. Most of the large fines that have been paid by banks have only settled civil charges. This includes the nearly $1 billion that JPMorgan agreed to pay earlier this year related to so-called London Whale trading losses.

The civil fines are likely to be greater than any criminal penalties. The largest criminal settlement reached with a corporation was the $4 billion that oil company BP (BP) agreed to pay last November when it pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges stemming from the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Who will get the money?

A U.S. official familiar with the details of the tentative settlement tells CNN that $9 billion of the payment will be in fines and penalties and $4 billion in "consumer relief," including home loan modifications.

It's not yet clear which agency will receive what fine money. But any money received by the different agencies will eventually find its way to the Treasury Department's general fund.

What does this mean for JPMorgan and its CEO Jamie Dimon?

While $13 billion is a staggering amount of money, JPMorgan is large enough to pay it easily. It is the largest bank in the nation, with assets of $2.5 trillion. Its 2012 net income was $21.3 billion.

Earlier this month, the bank disclosed it has set aside about $23 billion to handle legal costs. Those legal costs caused the company to report a ! loss in t! he most recent quarter. But shares of JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) were little changed in trading Monday on reports of the settlement, and are up more than 20% so far this year.

Dimon was once thought of as President Obama's favorite banker, and had been discussed as a possible candidate for Treasury secretary. That status has certainly been lost, but it's seen as very unlikely that he will lose his job at the head of JPMorgan due to this settlement.

Speed Traders Meet Nightmare on Elm Street With Nanex

Nanex Chart of Equity Trading after Chicago PMI Data on Feb. 28, 2013.

The nemesis of Wall Street's high-frequency traders operates out of an apartment-sized office above the Bliss Salon -- manicure/pedicure $45 -- on Elm Street in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka.

Staring at four computer monitors,Eric Scott Hunsader, the founder of market-data provider Nanex LLC, looks for hints of illicit trading hidden in psychedelic images of triangles dancing with dots that represent quotes to buy and sell U.S. stocks broken down by the millisecond.

Charts of trading produced by Hunsader's eight-person firm have captivated everyone from regulators to art gallery owners. One stunt involved a computerized piano piece mimicking quotes for an exchange-traded fund. He infuriates some traders, who say Nanex draws unwarranted conclusions and spreads conspiracy theories.

To Hunsader, the images created from market feeds are evidence of high-frequency trading firms exploiting market rules to turn a profit in a lawless environment. Though others in the industry see his reports and charts as propaganda, Nanex's interpretations are helping to drive the public debate about the fundamental fairness of the modern stock market.

"You ever see 'Lord of the Flies' or read that book?" he said, using the William Golding novel about boys stranded on an uninhabited island as a metaphor for the stock market. "When you don't have a parent around, things fall apart."

'Ticker Plant'

As the 51-year-old Hunsader sees it, that's especially true for a market capable of spewing out quotes to buy and sell stocks at rates as fast as 2 million per second, compared with about 1,000 in the 1990s. The options market can produce quotes at a rate of more than 10 million per second, according to Nanex, whose business is to process the data and distribute it to users in what's known as a "ticker plant."

Hunsader's firm detected what it said was suspicious trading before the government's jobs report on Oct. 22. On Oct. 16, Nanex i! dentified a buy order worth more than $400 million shortly before the open of European exchanges. The orders for E-mini S&P 500 futures were canceled "just before selling began in earnest," Nanex said.

Nanex labeled the report "Panthers on the Loose?," arguing the trades resembled a case that caused the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to order Panther Energy Trading LLC to pay $2.8 million in fines and forfeited trading profits. The firm was accused of "spoofing," or using an algorithm to illegally place and quickly cancel bids and offers in futures contracts in order to create the false impression of demand.

David, Goliath

"It shouldn't take the regulator more than an hour to figure out who did it, and a day to find out the intent," Nanex wrote in the Oct. 16 report. "We'll wait."

Hunsader's firm portrays itself as David fighting industry Goliaths, the deep-pocketed HFT firms that dominate U.S. stock trading. That industry has started fighting back -- accusing Hunsader of drawing the wrong conclusions about what his charts show.

Making a joke about Nanex was the first thing Chris Concannon, a partner at proprietary trading firm Virtu Financial LLC in New York and former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, did when he stepped to the microphone at an industry event last month.

"I'm required to announce our sponsor of this segment, which is Nanex," Concannon said to laughter at the Security Traders Association's Market Structure Conference in Washington. Nanex's tag-line, he said, is "making markets better with inaccurate information."

Advance Word

Virtu and Nanex had traded insults since Hunsader published a report on Sept. 20, two days after the Federal Reserve surprised markets by not reducing the $85 billion of monthly bond purchases it makes in its quantitative easing program.

Titled "Einstein and The Great Fed Robbery," the report cited market data that it said showed some trading ! firm or f! irms got advance word about the Fed's decision and then used the milliseconds-long head start to place bets totaling more than $1 billion. A millisecond is one-thousandth of a second, or three places to the right of the decimal point -- one farther out than how Olympic track and swim times are posted. Following the report, the central bank began a review and ultimately tightened the way it releases its statements.

Virtu's report said Nanex's study was "severely flawed" because of the type of data feed it relied on. Hunsader replied that Virtu needs to buy a "new calculator" and that if you read the report closely enough it corroborates his own theory that the information left Washington early.

Concannon didn't respond to five phone calls and e-mails seeking comment on Nanex's statements.

'Disprove Mine'

Hunsader, dressed in jeans, a white short-sleeved shirt and running shoes in the Winnetka office, points at the approximately 3,000 pieces of trading research he's released, claiming he has never stood down from a finding. How do you publish that many reports, he said, "and not ever have to retract them?"

"If you can't prove your point, then disprove mine," he said. "But don't go around saying we think you're making leaps without backing it up."

A high-frequency tweeter with more than 11,000 followers, Hunsader conducts his crusade on the Internet and with interviews with journalists, documentary film-makers and others looking for someone to explain today's computerized market.

Many of his more than 11,500 Twitter posts contain links to his charts highlighting unusual patterns in stock quotes and often blaming computer algorithms being used by HFT firms. "Obscene manipulation in $AAPL stock. Where's @SEC_News on this & 1000's of other examples?" he posted on Oct. 5, referencing the symbol for Apple Inc. and a Twitter feed run by the SEC.

Market Police

Regulation NMS, the set of rules that ope! ned stock! trading to greater competition six years ago, has helped fragment the almost $22 trillion U.S. market to the point where orders to buy and sell bounce between 13 exchanges and more than 40 alternative platforms. Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News, operates an equities venue called Tradebook and is a provider of market data and analytics.

In Hunsader's view, the computerized firms that benefit from the fragmentation by profiting off fleeting price discrepancies between markets are not being policed enough.

The results, according to Hunsader, included higher data-processing fees and unexplained lurches in the prices of individual stocks that cause investors anxiety. There is also the potential for more outright disasters, he said, like the May 2010 "flash crash" when the Dow Jones Industrial Average extended a drop to almost 1,000 points within minutes.

'Truthers'

Nanex regularly misunderstands what it sees in market data and is fueling misconceptions that damage investor confidence, according to Manoj Narang, founder and chief executive officer of HFT firm Tradeworx Inc. in Red Bank, New Jersey. He compared Nanex to the "truthers" who doubt the official explanation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

There are usually benign explanations for what look to Nanex like attempts to manipulate prices through what it calls "quote stuffing," he said. For example, he said, bursts of quotes could be trading algorithms reacting when the difference between the best bid to buy and the best offer to sell grows to more than a penny. The programs automatically cancel the orders after exchanges modify them to avoid markets where bids equal offers, according to Narang, resulting in "inadvertent repetitive behavior" by algorithms.

"The conclusions that they form generally have a paranoid or conspiracist sort of bent to them," said Narang. "Stirring the pot like that and dabbling in all of these conspiracy theories, and having those things get a seriou! s airing,! undermines investor confidence. And for no real reason."

Simplifying a market that is spread across so many trading venues is easier said than done, said Larry Tabb, chief executive officer of market-research firm Tabb Group LLC.

'Too Complex'

"The markets are certainly too complex," Tabb said in an e-mail. "The problem is how do you simplify it? Are there too many exchanges? Too many dark pools? Too many algorithms? To simplify the structure the SEC needs to make some very unpopular decisions that go against 15 years of market structure history, which actually benefits many investors. They are in a difficult spot."

The Nanex founder said one place for the SEC to start is to use its new Market Information Data Analytics System, known as Midas and built by Tradeworx, to explore what he considers one of the top issues with modern markets. Direct data streams from the exchanges, which HFT firms such as Virtu receive, are delivering more timely information than the consolidated feeds that are sent to the rest of the market and were meant to level the playing field, Hunsader said. Hunsader's firm uses the consolidated feeds.

Boutiques, Nanex

SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment on Nanex's assertions. Also declining to comment were Eric Ryan, a New York Stock Exchange spokesman; Rob Madden of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.; and Randy Williams of Bats Global Markets Inc., which is combining with Direct Edge Holdings LLC.

Nanex's office in a village of upscale cafes and boutiques consists of a room dominated by Hunsader's wall of monitors, another filled with stacks of servers, a common area with a mini-fridge stocked with soda -- and not much else.

Answering the front door is Nate Rock, a 34-year-old software engineer with a bushy beard and a penchant for dropping references to Dungeons and Dragons into conversation. He became interested in Hunsader's work after trying to invest some spare money made at a previous job at Infinite Campus! Inc., wh! ich makes software for educators and students.

Barefoot 'Dogbert'

Barefoot, wearing camouflage shorts and a black T-shirt that says "meh," Rock uses the professional title "Dogbert" in reference to the canine sidekick in the "Dilbert" comic strip. He read about Hunsader's work on the blog Zero Hedge and got a job after exchanging e-mails with Nanex programmer Jeff Donovan during a vacation day spent drinking with a buddy and watching Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering in May 2012.

"My original schooling was in sciences and I saw the work that Eric was doing and I was like, he's a scientist," Rock said. "It's very detailed down to the millisecond. And I hadn't seen that anywhere."

Among those who have come here to pick Hunsader's brain is Jim Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown University who studies market-structure issues. He said Hunsader's research is a valuable service even if he doesn't always agree with the conclusions, since there's not enough information available to prove what is happening in the charts.

'Some Blemishes'

"I don't think his analysis is always correct," Angel said. "He doesn't know who's trading, who's putting in the various quotes. But there are imperfections in our market operations. And even though on average our markets are a whole lot better than they were 10 or 20 years ago, the reality is, hey, there's still some blemishes around the edges that can and should be addressed. And he draws attention to them."

Hunsader has delivered his critique of the markets to everyone from officials at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to members of Britain's government at 10 Downing Street in London.

"He's kind of the mosquito in the room that people pay attention to," said Van Hutcherson, trader at JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC in Oak Brook, Illinois. "He shines a light on some pretty important situations that I think go unnoticed because the ma! jority of! folks, unless you're super sophisticated, don't have the technology."

YouTube

To illustrate computerized trading to the general public, Nanex has turned trading data into animated videos, with triangles and dots representing tens of thousands of orders dashing between exchanges. One video he posted on YouTube showed a 50-millisecond period in which quotes for Nokia Oyj dashed around the market at a rate of 22,000 per second. The video, published on Oct. 9, has been viewed more than 6,400 times.

He programmed a computer to play piano notes corresponding to different bids and offers for a popular exchange-traded fund, resulting in a manic staccato composition even when slowed down. It was meant to highlight what Hunsader says is the absurdity of modern computerized trading.

"Everybody who's gone this route has had to be a little bit theatrical and Wall Street doesn't like it," said Haim Bodek, founder of Decimus Capital Markets LLC, which develops computer programs to help institutions better trade with HFT firms and avoid "predatory" behavior.

'Deep Flaws'

"The irony here is that he really is addressing these deep flaws," said Bodek, who previously founded Trading Machines LLC, a high-frequency options firm, and headed electronic volatility trading at UBS AG.

One of Nanex's charts was featured in artist Trevor Paglen's book "The Last Pictures," an archival disc of which was launched into space aboard a satellite a year ago as part of a project to leave "artifacts of human civilization" that will continue to orbit Earth long after humans are gone, according to the project's website.

Hunsader started in the era of floppy disks, spending "my total life savings," he said, to buy a personal computer in 1984, a machine he still keeps under his desk. He stored each day's trading data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and sold the information on a computer bulletin board, the precursor of the Internet.

Cadill! ac, Compa! q

In 1987 he got a job offer from Tom Joseph, founder of Trading Techniques Inc., who developed technical-analysis charts to study movements of asset prices. While most traders were still shouting or making hand signals on exchange floors or hunched over early desktop PCs, Hunsader and Joseph were able to check stock charts as they rode around in Joseph's Cadillac with a Compaq computer hooked up to a car phone.

Trading Techniques was bought by CQG, a trading software maker, and Hunsader went to work for that firm. He read a book on Java code, then wrote an application that allowed users to get streaming intraday stock charts on the newly developing Internet. The founder of the website Quote.com was interested in the application and hired Hunsader.

"We put it up on their site and we went from zero to 10,000 paying subscribers in about 18 months," he recalls. "About $100 a month these guys are paying for this little thing on the net. They had to hire temps in on the weekends to freaking process all the credit cards."

Number Five

The Internet portal Lycos Inc. bought Quote.com in 1999 and Hunsader left. The next year he focused on writing the software for his own venture, into which he poured thousands of hours of development time.

The result was the ticker plant Nanex, which receives quotes from consolidated market feeds and distributes the data to users through software that allows them to analyze, chart it and write their own trading programs to complement its software.

The flash crash inspired Hunsader to look more closely at the data he was distributing. He set out to figure out what was going on with Donovan, a southern California surfer and ticker-plant programmer who also develops three-dimensional graphics software.

"We saw the SEC was kind of dragging," Hunsader recalls, "I said to him, 'you know what, we've got the data. We could do this. Let's see what we could do, let's just have fun.'"

As the pair drille! d through! the quotes, unexpected patterns emerged in charts for stock orders. They called them crop circles, a reference to the mysterious patterns sometimes reported in grain fields, and published them as research on the firm's website.

"That was a blessing and a curse," Hunsader said. "It was a blessing because it caught the eye of Main Street, and it got us into the Atlantic which got us into the New York Times. But the curse was that the Wall Street glitterati, or elites, used that to paint these as conspiracy."

Comparing Annuities and Bond Ladders

Which is better for generating reliable income: an immediate annuity or a bond ladder? I’m asked that frequently these days, and the frequency increases as more Baby Boomers inch closer to their post-career years.

First, let’s define terms. A bond ladder is constructed by purchasing a portfolio of individual bonds with each maturing in different years. The simplest ladder is invested equally in treasury bonds that mature over each of the next 10 years. Each year, one tenth of the original portfolio matures.

You earn interest on the bonds each year, which is used to pay your expenses. When the interest isn’t enough income, you take some principal from the bond that matures during the year. Then you reinvest the rest of the principal in a treasury bond that matures in 10 years.

The bond ladder reduces interest rate risk. You won’t permanently lock in today’s low interest rates. If rates rise, the principal of maturing bonds is reinvested at the new, higher rate. Also, since you hold the bonds to maturity, you don’t worry about having to sell a bond below your purchase price after interest rates rise. With a bond maturing each year, you always have a source of extra cash from the maturing bond.

Bond ladders can be more sophisticated than this. Money managers who specialize in building them will use more than treasury bonds. They’ll match bonds with your income needs and risk tolerance. They’ll also look for what’s selling at relative discounts when it’s time to reinvest principal from maturing bonds. Some money managers use complicated computer algorithms to build a bond ladder portfolio.

Don’t use bond mutual funds to implement a bond ladder. Bond funds don’t mature and often don’t hold bonds until maturity. When interest rates rise, a bond fund loses value. When you need to tap principal to pay expenses, the bond fund shares might be worth less than you paid. If interest rates rise steadily, you’ll have what professional investors call a permanent impairment of capital. You’ll lose principal that you can’t get back. To implement a bond ladder, you buy individual bonds and hold to maturity.

Immediate annuities are simpler. You pay a lump sum to an insurer, and it promises to send you scheduled payments for life. You can buy an inflation-indexed annuity or fixed annuity. You also can cover the joint life of you and your spouse or other beneficiary. I’ve discussed immediate annuities in detail in past issues of Retirement Watch, and the discussions are available in the Annuity Watch section of the Archive on the members’ web site.

So, which is better for you, the annuity or the bond ladder? You should know that bond ladders and immediate annuities aren’t true alternatives to each other. They don’t have the same goals and aren’t interchangeable. In a sense, comparing them is more like comparing apples and oranges than comparing different apples.

An annuity provides a guaranteed lifetime income stream. You give up other benefits (liquidity, potentially higher returns, leaving a legacy) in exchange for the secure lifetime income.

A bond ladder isn’t a lifetime income product. It’s a bond investment strategy. There’s no guarantee you won’t outlive the money or that it will provide adequate, secure income. In fact, you know that income from the bonds will change over time as interest rates change and bonds mature. You can’t outlive an annuity, but you can outlive a bond ladder.

You shouldn’t view immediate annuities and bond ladders as an either/or choice. Instead, you need to evaluate your goals and net worth and determine how best to use the two tools.

Most people should seek an immediate annuity first. The annuity provides a safe, guaranteed floor of lifetime income. After Social Security, any pension, and an immediate annuity establish your guaranteed retirement income, consider alternatives for your other funds.

Some people shouldn’t consider alternatives beyond the immediate annuity. They have enough money to buy annuities that will meet their lifetime spending needs and little or nothing beyond that.

When you’ve achieved adequate income security, consider a bond ladder for part of a diversified investment strategy that allows you to achieve other goals, such as leaving a legacy for loved ones, charity, or both. You have flexibility with a bond ladder that you don’t have with an annuity or many other income investments. A bond ladder comes close to guaranteeing no permanent loss of value from rising rates, and over time it lets you take advantage of rising rates and inflation. 

Analysts disagree whether a bond ladder is cheaper than an annuity or other forms of income investing. It’s hard to tell, because many costs are built into an annuity rather than separately stated. Also, there are many ways to implement a bond ladder. You can do it almost cost-free by purchasing treasury bonds direct from the treasury. Or you could use an advisor to build a custom ladder using different types of bonds. The cost would depend on the advisor’s fee and the efficiency of the bond purchases.

The choice between an annuity and a bond ladder really is a false choice. They’re not true alternatives. When you have enough assets relative to your needs that you feel financially secure, you might not want any amount in immediate annuities. When your priority is having a lifetime of secure income, you might put all or most of your portfolio in annuities. Many people fall between these two situations. They’ll put a portion of their portfolios into immediate annuities and invest the rest. They should consider whether a bond ladder should be used for a portion of that portfolio to supplement the annuity and diversify the portfolio.

Hot or Not? Three (Promoted) Small cap Stocks: CDII, FITX & MSPC

Small cap stocks CD International Enterprises Inc (OTCMKTS: CDII), Creative Edge Nutrition Inc (OTCMKTS: FITX) and Metrospaces Inc (OTCMKTS: MSPC) have all been the subject of recent as well as past paid for stock promotions. Of course, there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed stock promotions or investor awareness campaigns, but they can and do often backfire on unwary investors and traders alike. With that in mind, will investors and traders come out winners with these small caps or should they just be left to the promoters? Here is a quick reality check:

CD International Enterprises Inc (OTCMKTS: CDII) Has Been Busy Announcing New Deals

Small cap CD International Enterprises is a US based company that produces, sources, and distributes industrial commodities in China and the Americas and provides business and financial corporate consulting services. On Friday, CD International Enterprises closed at $0.133 for a market cap of $7.60 million plus CDII is up 29% since the start of the year and down 91.4% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch With CD International Enterprises? According to various disclosures, transactions of $2k, $6k and $12k have or will occur to mention CD International Enterprises in various investment newsletters. Last Wednesday, CD International Enterprises announced that CDII Minerales Peru SAC, a jointly owned subsidiary of CD International and Minera Mapsa S.A., had entered into a three year agreement with Gramce Minerals Resources Sur Peru SAC for the latter to supply a total of up to 1.28 Million Metric tons of iron ore to CDII Peru for ultimate distribution into China. Earlier in the month, CD International Enterprises also announced that its International Magnesium Group subsidiary had entered into a five year distribution agreement with Manali Engineering - India for sales of its magnesium products in India while back in October, CD International Enterprises announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, CDII Minerals, Inc, had successfully completed an initial shipment of Bolivian iron ore to a leading metals trading company in China. A quick look at CD International Enterprise's financials reveals revenues of $18,582k (most recent reported quarter), $16,973k, $16,781k and $32,803k for the past four quarters along with net losses of $653k (most recent reported quarter), $1,912k, $1,939k and $45,506k. At the end of June, CD International Enterprises had 1,025k in cash and $11,321k in receivables to cover $23,620k in payables and $34,585k in current liabilities. That's somewhat of a mixed picture but at least CD International Enterprises has a sizable top line on its income statement.

Creative Edge Nutrition Inc (OTCMKTS: FITX)Announces an Important Distribution Agreements Plus Breaks Ground on a Marijuana Facility

Small cap Creative Edge Nutrition Inc was created to develop a diverse portfolio of health oriented nutrition products. On Friday, Creative Edge Nutrition Inc fell 5.26% to $0.0036 for a market cap of $2.65 million plus FITX is down 18.2% since the start of the year and down 96.4% since October 2010 according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch With Creative Edge Nutrition Inc? According to various disclosures, a transaction or transactions of $2.5k has or will occur to mention Creative Edge Nutrition Inc in various investment newsletters. Just this morning, Creative Edge Nutrition Inc announced that it had entered into a sales and distribution agreement with Phoenix-Distribution, a large distributor in the Australian market with over 500 stores and in the New Zealand market with over 300 stores. In addition and last week, Creative Edge Nutrition Inc announced that's its subsidiary, CEN Biotech, Inc., had already broken ground to start the build-out of a 58,000 sq. ft. building for its medicinal marijuana operation after announcing earlier in the week that it was leasing a six acre site with buildings (a 26,400 square foot steel barn and a 2,000 sq. ft. building already on the property) in the Town of Lakeshore, Ontario, Canada. A quick look on Google Finance reveals that Creative Edge Nutrition Inc has reported revenues of $1.01M (most recent reported quarter), $0.91M, $1.27M and $2.26M for the past four quarters along with net losses of $1.35M (most recent reported quarter), $1.20M and $0.80M and net income of $0.84M. At the end of last June, Creative Edge Nutrition Inc had around $0.04M in cash to cover $2.21M in current liabilities. Given those financials, it will be interesting to see more financials from Creative Edge Nutrition Inc and see how the company intends to pay for its new 58,000 sq. ft. marijuana facility.

Metrospaces Inc (OTCMKTS: MSPC) Gives an Update About Its Projects in Argentina and Venezuela

Small cap Metrospaces Inc is a boutique real estate development company which acquires land, designs, builds, and develops then resells condominiums and Luxury High-End Hotels, principally in urban areas of Latin America. The company's current projects are located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Caracas, Venezuela. On Friday, Metrospaces Inc sank 22.22% to $0.0007 for a market cap $1.63 million plus MSPC is down 99.1% since the start of the year according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch With Metrospaces Inc? According to various disclosures, a transaction of $16k has or will occur to mention Metrospaces Inc in various investment newsletters. Last Thursday, Metrospaces Inc gave an update on its current projects in Argentina and Venezuela along with potential acquisitions and new developments. However, anyone who is an observer of Latin American politics or knows the history of both Argentina and Venezuela (as in leaders like Peron, Hugo Chavez etc) might be a bit nervous about investing in a company involved in real estate in either country. Moreover, a look at both Google Finance and Yahoo! Finance does not reveal much in the way of financials. So its investor beware.

Stocks To Watch For October 18, 2013

Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:

Wall Street expects General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) to report its Q3 earnings at $0.35 per share on revenue of $35.96 billion. General Electric shares fell 0.12% to $24.65 in after-hours trading.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) reported upbeat third-quarter results. Google shares jumped 8.18% to $961.48 in the after-hours trading session.

Analysts are expecting Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to have earned $0.40 per share on revenue of $7.70 billion in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley shares gained 1.14% to $29.26 in after-hours trading.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) posted a 14% drop in its Q3 net income. Its revenue fell 7% year-over-year. Intuitive Surgical shares tumbled 7.77% to $368.13 in the after-hours trading session.

Analysts expect Honeywell International (NYSE: HON) to report its Q3 earnings at $1.24 per share on revenue of $9.92 billion. Honeywell shares rose 1.45% to $88.00 in after-hours trading.

Posted-In: Stocks To WatchEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets Trading Ideas

(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  Around the Web, We're Loving... Learn to Use Trading Platforms Like Hedge Fund Traders do Rumsfeld: Denial of Benefits to Fallen Soldiers' Families 'Inexcusable' Come See How the Pro's Trade in this Exclusive Webinar Facebook, Baidu Lead Big Caps Beating Shutdown What Should You Know About AMZN? Most Popular UPDATE: SolarCity Confirms Pricing of 3.4M Share Offering at $46.54/Share Trouble Brewing Under the Hood For The S&P 500? UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Upgrades AMR Corporation on Likelihood of US Airways Merger Earnings Scheduled For October 17, 2013 iPhone 5C Selling Out From One Carrier (AAPL) Google Up 5% After Topping Estimates (GOOG) Related Articles (GOOG + GE) Stocks To Watch For October 18, 2013 Google Up 5% After Topping Estimates (GOOG) Consumer Reports Shows Droid and Samsung Are Loved More Than New iPhones UPDATE: BGC Partners Raises PT on Google Ahead of September Quarter Results Market Primer: Thursday, October 17: US Debt Deal Kicks The Can Earnings Scheduled For October 17, 2013 View the discussion thread. Partner Network #marketfy-ae-block { display: none; border: 2px solid #0a3f75; overflow: hidden; width: 300px; height: 125px; text-align: center; background-color: #45719E; position: relative; z-index: 1; } #marketfy-ae-block a { display: block; width: 300px; height: 125px; position: relative; z-index: 2; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown-text { color: #f9fc99; padding: 0px 0 0 0; font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown-text-start { font-size: 12px; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown { padding: 5px 0 5px 0; font-size: 26px; } #marketfy-ae-block-signup { padding: 5px 47px; } #marketfy-ae-block-signup:hover { background-color: #457a1a; } #marketfy-ae-block #marketfy-ae-block-logo { display: block; padding: 3px 0 0 0; margin: 0; } #marketfy-ae-block-logo { text-indent: -9999px; } #marketfy-ae-block-free { display: block; position: absolute; top: 7px; right: -23px; width: 80px; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; opacity: 1; -webkit-transform: rotate(45deg); -moz-transform: rotate(45deg); -ms-transform: rotate(45deg); transform: rotate(45deg); font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; background-color: yellow; z-index: 500; text-shadow: 1px 1px #999999; } #marketfy-ae-block-arrow { position: relative; width: 60px; height: 60px; z-index: 10; margin: -80px 0 13px -21px; } #marketfy-ae-block-arrow img { height: 60px; width: auto; } Marketfy's International
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Advance Auto Parts Goes Big, Real Big, Shares Surge 16%

Investors really like Advance Auto Parts (AAP) deal to buy a chain of repair shops–so much so that a stock that finished yesterday in the low 80s is now trading in the mid-90s.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Reuters has the details on the deal:

Advance Auto Parts Inc will buy 1,418 outlets of the Carquest chain to boost its auto repair operations to complement its car parts business, sending its shares up as much as 20 percent to a record high.

Advance Auto, which sells products such as batteries, air fresheners and engine parts, said it would buy General Parts International Inc for just over $2 billion, creating the largest North American retailer of auto parts.

General Parts is the biggest operator of the Carquest chain, which runs auto repair shops and car parts stores. General Parts also owns Worldpac, the No.1 supplier of replacement parts for imported car and truck brands.

Reuters notes that the finished product will be the largest supplier of auto parts by sales, just beating out Autozone (AZN).

Credit Suisse analyst Simeon Gutman and team call the deal a “smart strategic acquisition.” They write:

The acquisition would solve two important issues for AAP. First, it has struggled in the DIFM segment, primarily due to a weaker and less accessible distribution network. General Parts has one of the most established distribution networks in the country (~40 DCs vs. AAP’s 10) and long standing relationships with mechanics nationwide. More importantly, WORLDPAC (estimated $1 billion in sales) is the leader in foreign parts with AAP owning the number three player and we see synergies from AI flooding into WORLDPAC.

A meaningfully positive aspect of the transaction is targeted annual cost savings of roughly $160 million within three years (~6.1% of acquired sales). This seems relatively consistent with previous DIY Auto deals. The deal is expected to be 20%+ accretive to FY 14 cash EPS. Though there are always risks in realizing synergies, the high overlap between these businesses makes these estimates seem reasonable.

Even Standard & Poor’s has blessed the acquisition:

We are affirming all ratings on the company, including the ‘BBB-’ corporate credit rating.

The outlook is stable and incorporates our expectation that the company will use the vast majority of its excess cash flow in the two years subsequent of the acquisition to reduce debt. We also expect moderate profit growth at Advance’s legacy business, no material integration risk associated with the acquisition (given the similar businesses), and cost synergies that lead to material profit growth beginning in the near term.

Advance Auto Parts has gained 16% to $95.61, while Autozone has risen 0.8% to $423.49, O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) has advanced 2% to $131.64 and Pep Boys (PBY) is up 1% at $12.50.

Wal-Mart (WMT) Unveils Ambitious FY2015 Guidance

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wal-Mart  (WMT) executives presented a positive long-term outlook at the company's 20th annual investors conference on Tuesday. Among the details discussed, the retailer said in 2014 it intends to add 33 to 37 million net retail square feet, more than half within the U.S., to its current assets.

The retailer will turn its focus to small format openings and e-commerce fulfillment centers, though Wal-Mart's superstores will be mainstay. The retailer is also investing in technology to make store processes more efficient. For example, by year-end, almost two-thirds of Wal-Mart stores will offer the self-checkout option.

The shifting retail approach is expected to address a downward trend in Wal-Mart same-store sales. In the second quarter ended July 31, comparable sales declined 0.3% while a quarter earlier they dropped 1.4%. Though the rate of decline is slowing, Wal-Mart sales continue to reflect challenges facing the greater retail environment.

"We're in a tough and unpredictable global economy," said President and CEO Mike Duke. "Near-term execution is critical for us." He remained positive, however, telling the audience, "No matter what environment we're in -- today, a year from now, five years from now -- we are driven to win." Wal-Mart shares closed 0.42% lower to $74.37, leading the S&P 500 which was down 0.71%. In after-hours trading, shares have gained 0.93% to $75.06. Wal-Mart will report third-quarter earnings on November 14. TheStreet Ratings team rates Wal-Mart Stores Inc as a Buy with a ratings score of A. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations, growth in earnings per share and increase in net income. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: WMT's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 2.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 2.3%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has improved earnings per share by 5.1% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, Wal-Mart Stores Inc increased its bottom line by earning $5.02 a share vs. $4.55 a share in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($5.20 vs. $5.02). The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. When compared to other companies in the Food & Staples Retailing industry and the overall market, Wal-Mart Stores Inc's return on equity exceeds that of the industry average and significantly exceeds that of the S&P 500. Net operating cash flow has slightly increased to $6,357 million or 3.18% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, Wal-Mart Stores Inc has also modestly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of -5.65%. The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the Food & Staples Retailing industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income increased by 1.3% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $4,016 million to $4,069 million. You can view the full analysis from the report here: WMT Ratings Report Written by Keris Alison Lahiff.

Earnings Scheduled For October 10, 2013

iGATE (NASDAQ: IGTE) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.43 per share on revenue of $289.38 million.

Safeway (NYSE: SWY) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.16 per share on revenue of $8.52 billion.

Lindsay (NYSE: LNN) is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.91 per share on revenue of $155.68 million.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.25 per share on revenue of $2.71 billion.

Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE: VAC) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.39 per share on revenue of $400.32 million.

Material Sciences (NASDAQ: MASC) is projected to report its Q2 earnings at $0.16 per share.

Blackhawk Network Holdings (NASDAQ: HAWK) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.05 per share on revenue of $210.94 million.

E2open (NASDAQ: EOPN) is projected to post a Q2 loss at $0.15 per share on revenue of $17.23 million.

Bank of the Ozarks (NASDAQ: OZRK) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.60 per share on revenue of $69.57 million.

Emmis Communications (NASDAQ: EMMS) is expected to report its Q2 earnings.

AngioDynamics (NASDAQ: ANGO) is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.03 per share on revenue of $82.54 million.

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

(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  Around the Web, We're Loving... Cyber Trading University Presents: The Psychology of a Winning Trader Rumsfeld: Denial of Benefits to Fallen Soldiers' Families 'Inexcusable' Facebook, Baidu Lead Big Caps Beating Shutdown What Should You Know About AMZN? Most Popular These Four Story Stocks Got Beat Up Tuesday (TSLA, LNKD, NFLX, FB) Hewlett Packard's Chromebook 11 Features Innovation Not Found In Apple's MacBook (GOOG, HPQ) UPDATE: J. C. Penney Company, Inc. Provides Update on Progress of Turnaround Yahoo Chose Apple's iPhone, MacBook Pro To Promote Mail Upgrade Apple's iPad 5 Event To Crash Surface Release Party On October 22 Apple Should Have 'Immediately' Apologized For iPhone Blunder Related Articles (ANGO + EMMS) Earnings Scheduled For October 10, 2013 Benzinga Weekly Preview: US Government Shutdown Looks Set To Continue AngioDynamics Announces Debt Refinancing US Stock Futures Edge Higher Ahead Of PMI Manufacturing Index AngioDynamics Extends Licensing Agreement With Interface Biologics AngioDynamics to Launch Tip Location System in Canada View the discussion thread. Partner Network #marketfy-ae-block { display: none; border: 2px solid #0a3f75; overflow: hidden; width: 300px; height: 125px; text-align: center; background-color: #45719E; position: relative; z-index: 1; } #marketfy-ae-block a { display: block; width: 300px; height: 125px; position: relative; z-index: 2; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown-text { color: #f9fc99; padding: 0px 0 0 0; font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown-text-start { font-size: 12px; } #marketfy-ae-block-countdown { padding: 5px 0 5px 0; font-size: 26px; } #marketfy-ae-block-signup { padding: 5px 47px; } #marketfy-ae-block-signup:hover { background-color: #457a1a; } #marketfy-ae-block #marketfy-ae-block-logo { display: block; padding: 3px 0 0 0; margin: 0; } #marketfy-ae-block-logo { text-indent: -9999px; } #marketfy-ae-block-free { display: block; position: absolute; top: 7px; right: -23px; width: 80px; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; opacity: 1; -webkit-transform: rotate(45deg); -moz-transform: rotate(45deg); -ms-transform: rotate(45deg); transform: rotate(45deg); font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; background-color: yellow; z-index: 500; text-shadow: 1px 1px #999999; } #marketfy-ae-block-arrow { position: relative; width: 60px; height: 60px; z-index: 10; margin: -80px 0 13px -21px; } #marketfy-ae-block-arrow img { height: 60px; width: auto; } Marketfy's International
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Chevy recalls Sonics for fire risk

General Motors has announced that it will recall a small number of Chevrolet Sonics for a potential fire risk.

Affected are about 1,558 model-year 2013 and 2014 Chevrolet Sonics in the U.S. and another about 100 in Canada.

The problem is that faulty fuel-tank strap welds could allow the strap bracket to separate, causing the fuel tank to rest on the exhaust pipe or plastic fuel-tank shield. If the fuel-tank shield and fuel-filler neck do not support the fuel tank, it may then separate from the vehicle.

If that happens and the tank is punctured or in the presence of an ignition source, a fire may occur.

GM said motorists experiencing the problem may hear a rattling or scraping noise.

GM said the problem was discovered at the GM Orion plant that makes Sonic for North America. It said there have been no customer complaints, crashes, injuries or fires resulting from the problem and that most of the vehicles still are in dealer stock.

Dealers will inspect the bracket straps and make any necessary repairs.

Owners can call Chevrolet at 866-694-6546 or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle-safety hotline at 888-327-4236, or go to www.safercar.gov.

10 Foods You'll Have to Give Up to Avoid Eating GMOs

Getty Images About 20 years ago, a company now owned by Monsanto (MON) introduced the Flavr Savr tomato -- the first genetically modified organism approved for consumption in the United States. Since then, farmers across the country have been using more and more GMOs every year. It's a practice that has come under increasingly intense scrutiny. Activists who are worried about the potential for human health problems, as well as environmental damage, have started demanding that food containing GMOs be labeled as such. Prop 37, a California ballot measure to mandate GMO labeling, failed at the polls in 2012, and a similar measure lost last month in Washington state. In both campaigns, the largest makers of GMOs -- Monsanto, DuPont (DD), and Dow Chemical (DOW) -- provided the ad funding that helped turn the tide. But what many people don't realize is that they've been consuming products with GMO ingredients for years. The Institute for Responsible Technology has a brochure breaking down GMO presence in many different types of foods. Here are 10 of the most popular foods that likely contain GMOs. Pre-made soups can contain a large number of ingredients containing GMOs. For instance, Campbell's (CPB) popular condensed Tomato Soup lists high fructose corn syrup as its second biggest ingredient. According to the Non-GMO Project, nearly 88 percent of all corn planted in the United States is GMO.

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets on the Rise as Intel Falls

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.29 percent to 16,056.02 while the NASDAQ surged 0.52 percent to 3,989.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.46 percent to 1,804.22.

Top Headline

Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit.

Foot Locker's quarterly profit surged to $0.70 per share, versus $0.69 per share, in the year-ago period. However, its profit declined to $104 million versus $106 million. Excluding one-time items, it earned $0.68 per share.

Its revenue climbed to $1.62 billion from $1.52 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.66 per share on revenue of $1.57 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARIA) shot up 34.05 percent to $3.72 after the company announced positive opinion by EMA on continued availability of Iclusig.

Shares of Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK) got a boost, shooting up 22.70 percent to $73.50 after the company reported upbeat results for the third quarter and issued a strong forecast.

Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN) was also up, gaining 6.63 percent to $18.34 after the company reported upbeat Q1 results. Needham upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Nordic American Tankers (NYSE: NAT) were down 10.08 percent to $7.98 after the company announced the pricing of follow-on offering.

The Fresh Market (NASDAQ: TFM) shares tumbled 18.41 percent to $41.12 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and issued a weak profit outlook. Sterne Agee downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $59.00 to $44.00.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was also down, falling 5.31 percent to $23.90 after Nomura maintained its reduce rating on the company this morning following comments from the company's CFO at its analyst day Thursday that they expect PC sales down in the mid single digits range for 2014.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.58 percent to $94.89, while gold traded down 0.06 percent to $1,242.00.

Silver traded down 0.55 percent Friday to $19.86, while copper rose 0.77 percent to $3.22.

Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.75 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.11 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.20 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 0.58 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.11 percent.

Economics
US job openings climbed to 3.91 million in September, versus 3.84 million in August. However, job openings increased 8.6% y/y in September.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index rose to 7.00 in November, from a prior reading of 6.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 6.00.

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Twitter poised to make IPO filing public

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Twitter IPO may be closer than you think.

The social media giant has hired several banks for the offering and could take the next step – making its financial information available to investors – in coming days, according to two people familiar with the situation.

That would put the company's shares on course to start trading in November, if all goes according to plan. And the government shutdown is unlikely to disrupt the offering, as long as it does not last too long.

Twitter tapped Goldman Sachs to lead the IPO, with Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch also advising on the offering, according to the people. They did not want to be identified because Twitter's plans are still private.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Twitter also added two boutique banks to the deal — Allen & Co. and Code Advisors.

Most of the large banks, including Goldman, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan, are providing Twitter with a credit line, one of the people said. The line may be up to $1 billion, according to reports. Twitter spokesman Jim Prosser did not respond to a request for comment.

Twitter's IPO is the most important technology offering since Facebook's flawed market debut in 2012. Twitter has become a powerful way to share information, used by corporate chieftains, presidents and kids alike. The public filing will reveal for the first time how successful the company has been generating revenue and profit from this.

Twitter said in September that it had filed IPO documents with regulators confidentially under a new law that allows companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to keep such details under wraps. However, companies are required to make the documents public about three weeks before the start of "roadshows" in which they meet with potential investors in the IPO.

If Twitter makes a public filing in early October, that suggests its roadshow will start in late October or early Novembe! r. Roadshows typically last a week or two, so Twitter shares could start trading in mid to late November, if all goes according to plan.

One potential problem is the U.S. government shutdown. This has the Securities and Exchange Commission running on so-called carryover funds which may last a week or two. The SEC is the regulator that approves IPO filings, so if the shutdown lasts for a long time, it could disrupt some offerings.

However, Twitter's deal has already been filed in private with the SEC and the public prospectus is expected in coming days. News website Quartz reported Sunday that Twitter planned to make its IPO filing public this week.

"They have a great deal of the work already done," said Kathleen Smith of IPO fund manager Renaissance Capital.

Wix.com, operator of a website development platform, made its IPO plans public Tuesday. Its offering is underwritten by two of the banks working on the Twitter deal — JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Follow Alistair Barr on Twitter: @alistairmbarr.

Schorsch's RCS Capital signs smart-data lead generation deal with Vestorly

Vestorly co-founders Ralph Pahlmeyer (left) and Justin Wisz.

As it pursues a series of broker-dealer acquisitions, RCS Capital Corp. has signed on with smart-data technology startup Vestorly in a digital-marketing deal designed to connect brokers with client prospects.

Vestorly, which announced the deal on Thursday, also is in discussions with other asset management firms and mutual fund companies that want access to the startup's Internet-based platform, said Vestorly chief executive Justin Wisz.

Through its deal with RCS, Vestorly is working on a number of digital marketing projects, including a web application in beta and under compliance review.

“Vestorly is a company that has really brought about a tool to reach the end user that we are looking to reach,” said Brian Spiewak, marketing director for RCS Capital, a company run by real estate investment trust and indie broker-dealer tycoon Nicholas Schorsch.

The startup provides what Mr. Wisz describes as a “custom content discovery experience” that lets consumers find engaging Internet content shared with them by friends, family and colleagues.

Brokers can pick and choose suitable content from well-known publications and share those articles in an e-mailed newsletter that is sent to clients. Vestorly is a white-label platform when used by asset managers, so what the client sees is the broker's logo.

If a client knows that a longtime friend is dealing with an estate planning issue, for example, and he reads a good article about the topic in his broker's newsletter, he can forward the newsletter to the friend with a one-click sign-on via e-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

LinkedIn works especially well for wholesalers because the website shows adviser profiles as well as the content that is being shared with prospects, Mr. Wisz said.

“We use proprietary content and lead gen technology so asset managers can measure all that user data among all consumers and advisers interacting with their brand anywhere online,” he said.

This “network effect” is the future of the advisory industry, Mr. Wisz said.

“We're allowing a brand such as an asset manager or broker-dealer firm to harness the big data in their network of advisers and consumers to make that data smarter for everyone involved. This means we can identify best practices among advisers in the network and recommend them to other advisers,” Mr. Wisz said.

On Monday, RCS Capital and Mr. Schorsch, its executive chairman, announced yet another broker-dealer acquisition with the purchase of Summit Financial Services Group Inc.

In an interview, he said that he wouldn't r! ule out a fourth acquisition of an independent broker-dealer, though he stressed that organic growth at the businesses that he has bought is as important as growth through mergers and acquisitions.

Sears’ loss widens; sales soften at Kmart, Sears

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Illinois (AP) — Sears' third-quarter loss widened as the ailing department store operator's results were hurt by weaker sales at its Kmart and Sears stores.

The quarterly results underscore the challenges Sears faces as it heads into the critical holiday shopping season. This period is important for retailers because it can comprise up to 40% of their annual revenue.

The retailer is also in the midst of shifting its business, with less emphasis on its brick-and-mortar stores. It has nearly 2,500 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

"We are transitioning from a business that has historically focused on running a store network into a business that provides and delivers value by serving its members in the manner most convenient for them: whether in store, in home or through digital devices," Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert said in a statement.

RETAIL SALES: October retail sales up 0.4%, beating forecasts

Sears is concentrating on its Shop Your Way Loyalty program, with Lampert saying that the company is enhancing membership benefits and developing digital and social relationships with members. The retailer said that 70% of its sales are made to Shop Your Way members, up from 65 percent in the second quarter.

For the three months ended Nov. 2, Sears Holdings lost $534 million, or $5.03 per share. That compares with a loss of $498 million, or $4.70 per share, a year earlier.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill., company said Thursday that revenue fell 7% to $8.27 billion from $8.86 billion mostly because it had fewer Sears and Kmart stores operating.

Revenue at stores open at least a year dropped 3.1%. The figure fell 4% at Sears' locations and declined 2.1% at Kmart stores.

Revenue at stores open at least a year is a key gauge of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

Sears, like other stores catering to low to middle income shoppers, is navigating a difficult economic environment. Its shoppers are g! rappling with old worries like juggling their stagnant wages with daily living costs. On top of that, many low-to-middle income shoppers continue to struggle with a 2 percentage-point increase in the Social Security payroll tax since Jan. 1. They're also facing rising health care costs.

Such a tough environment is putting even more pressure on Lampert as he tries to turn the chain around. The storied retailer hasn't adapted as bigger, nimbler rivals such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot have stolen away customers over the years.

The third-quarter results come as Sears announced late last month that it's considering separating its Lands' End catalog business and Sears Auto Center businesses from the rest of the company. The retailer also plans to continue closing some of its unprofitable stores and is selling some store leases in Canada.

Last year, Sears announced plans to restore profitability by cutting costs, reducing inventory, selling off some assets and spinning off others. Those moves helped it reduce net debt by $400 million and generated $1.8 billion in cash from the asset sales in the latest fiscal year.

Its shares finished at $61.70 on Wednesday. They are up 49% so far this year.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014

Cameco (CCJ) was created in 1988 through the merger of two Canadian crown (government-owned) corporations. It's IPO debuted on the Toronto exchange in 1991 and a NYSE listing occurred in 1996. The McArthur River mine, the highest grade mine in the world (16.36% U3O8, 100 times the global average), began production in November 2000. Cameco's share of the proven and probable resources is 264 mil lbs. The mine has produced 230 mil lbs in the last 13 years. CCJ's current year share is over 13 mil lbs.

Cameco's produces around 14% of the world's uranium, with 2012 production of 21.9 mil lbs. They forecast output in 2018 of 36 mil lbs. Its total proven and probable reserves are about 465 mil lbs with another 531 mil lbs in the inferred/measured and indicated categories. That's one hell of a lot of uranium. CCJ's size and resources make it an attractive investment for the moderately conservative investor who is aware that mining is inherently risky.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Primerica Inc.(PRI)

Primerica, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the distribution of financial products on behalf of third parties to middle income households in the United States and Canada. The company operates in three segments: Term Life Insurance, Investment and Savings Products, and Corporate and Other Distributed Products. The Term Life Insurance segment underwrites term life insurance products. The Investment and Savings Products segment distributes mutual funds, variable annuities, fixed annuities, and segregated funds. The Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment provides mortgage loans, which include debt consolidation or refinance, and purchase money loans; unsecured loans; prepaid legal services that assist subscribers with legal matters, such as drafting wills, living wills and powers of attorney, trial defense, and motor vehicle-related matters; mail-order student life products; short-term disability benefit insurance; and auto and homeowners? insurance products. The company was founded in 1927 and is based in Duluth, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Private equity investor Warburg Pincus has been a shareholder in term life insurance underwriter Primerica� (NYSE: PRI  ) since its IPO in 2010. However, the financial products marketer will be buying back all of the holdings Warburg Pincus owns for $154.7 million. That translates into�almost�2.5 million shares of common stock�and warrants that �are�exercisable for 4.1 million shares.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Encana Corporation(ECA)

Encana Corporation and its subsidiaries engage in the exploration for, development, production, and marketing of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids. The company owns interests in resource plays that primarily include the Greater Sierra, Cutbank Ridge, Bighorn, and Coalbed Methane resource plays located in British Columbia and Alberta, as well as the Deep Panuke natural gas project offshore Nova Scotia in Canada. It also holds interests in resource plays comprising the Jonah in southwest Wyoming, Piceance in northwest Colorado, Haynesville in Louisiana, and Texas resource play, including east Texas and north Texas. The company serves primarily local distribution companies, industrials, energy marketing companies, and other producers. Encana Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Smith]

  Far and wide
  Fox's latest version ranges somewhat more widely than its predecessor. Oh sure, there's plenty of attention to environmental damage attributable to Cabot Oil & Gas' (NYSE: COG  ) fracking operations in Dimock, Pa., the epicenter of the first film. But�the follow-up also spends considerable time in Pavillion, Wyo., where the Environmental Protection Agency has contended that hydraulic fracturing by Encana (NYSE: ECA  ) has sullied the local aquifer. Only lately has the EPA turned over a second investigation into the matter to Wyoming state authorities.

Top Warren Buffett Companies To Invest In 2014: PPL Corporation(PPL)

PPL Corporation, an energy and utility holding company, generates and sells electricity; and delivers natural gas to approximately 5.3 million utility customers primarily in the northeastern and northwestern U.S. The company operates in four segments: Kentucky Regulated, International Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Supply. The Kentucky Regulated segment engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity; and the distribution and sale of natural gas to approximately 1.3 million customers in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The International Regulated segment owns and operates electricity distribution businesses in the United Kingdom that deliver electricity to 7.7 million customers. The Pennsylvania Regulated segment delivers electricity to approximately 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania. The Supply segment owns and operates power plants to generate electricity using coal, uranium, natural gas, oil, and water res ources; markets and trades electricity and other purchased power to wholesale and retail markets; and acquires and develops domestic generation projects. It controls or owns a portfolio of generation assets of approximately 11,000 megawatts in Montana and Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s distribution system included 649 substations with a capacity of 25 million kVA, 28,838 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 24,131 cable miles of underground conductors in the United Kingdom. It also operated 377 substations with a capacity of 31 million kVA, 33,122 circuit miles of overhead lines, and 7,368 cable miles of underground conductors in Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Pennsylvania-based electric utility PPL (NYSE: PPL  ) found itself in the path of one of the most devastating storms in history last year, as Hurricane Sandy barreled into the mid-Atlantic and left billions of dollars in damage in its wake. Although PPL stock didn't suffer a long-term hit from the storm, the utility now faces a much different threat from rising interest rates that could eventually have a major impact on its financing costs. Let's take a look at what's been happening with PPL in the recent past and how it's responding to this new threat.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Transcananda Pipelines Ltd.(TRP)

Transcanada Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. The company operates in three segments: Natural Gas Pipelines, Oil Pipelines, and Energy. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment develops and operates energy infrastructure, including natural gas pipelines and regulated gas storage facilities. Its network of natural gas pipelines extends approximately 60,000 km tapping into gas supply basins in North America. The Oil Pipelines segment operates Keystone crude oil pipeline system, which includes completed 3,467 km Wood River/Patoka and Cushing Extension phases, and the proposed 2,673 km U.S. Gulf Coast Expansion. The Energy segment engages in the acquisition, development, construction, ownership, and operation of electrical power generation plants; the purchase and marketing of electricity; the provision of electricity account services to energy and industrial customers; and the development, construction, ownership, and operation of non-regulat ed natural gas storage in Alberta. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Isac Simon]

  While TransCanada's (NYSE: TRP  ) Keystone XL pipeline has seen its share of controversy, the British Columbia government has formally opposed Enbridge's (NYSE: ENB  ) Northern Gateway pipeline from Kitmat to Edmonton. This 1,177-kilometer pipeline is expected to transport 525,000 barrels of oil per day.

• [By Tyler Crowe and Aimee Duffy]

  The recent Pegasus Pipeline spill in Arkansas has put the energy sector on the edge a little, and so ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) is trying hard to make this story go away by offering compensation to�residents�of the area where the spill took place. With the fate of TransCanada's (NYSE: TRP  ) pipeline still hanging in the balance, the energy industry wants this story to go away, fast.

• [By Benjamin Shepherd]

  TransCanada (TRP) has increased its dividend as reliably as Kimberly Clark, sustaining a yield of about 4% and generating a total return of 58% over the past five years.

• [By Aimee Duffy]

  The Canadian midstream giant,�TransCanada (NYSE: TRP  ) , has had a bulls-eye on its back for some time now, placed there carefully by the vehement opposition to the company's Keystone XL pipeline project. In this video, Fool.com contributor Aimee Duffy discusses the two sides of TransCanada, looking at the company's headlines in the U.S. compared to what makes the papers in its home country. She closes with what American investors need to think about when it comes to evaluating the energy company.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce(CM)

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce provides various financial products, services, and advice to individual, small business, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients in Canada and internationally. The company offers retail markets services comprising personal banking, business banking, and wealth management services, as well as investment management services to retail and institutional clients. It also provides wholesale banking services, including credit, capital markets, investment banking, merchant banking, and research products and services to government, institutional, corporate, and retail clients. The company provides its services through its branch network, automated bank machines, mobile banking, and online banking site. As of June 3, 2011, it operated approximately 1,100 branches and 4,000 automated bank machines in Canada. The company was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Katia Dmitrieva]

  Canadian Imperial (CM) said it�� being shut out in the new agreement. The deal ��ppears to have been intentionally structured in a way that attempts to nullify CIBC�� right of first refusal and any ability to match,��the bank said yesterday in a statement. ��iven the structuring of the document and our contractual rights, we are exploring our options.��

• [By John Reese, Founder and CEO, Validea.com And Validea Capital Management]

  As you might imagine, the portfolio will tread into areas of the market others ignore, because of its contrarian bent. Right now, its holdings include some very unloved firms, including several financials, emerging market stocks, and much-maligned BP. Here's a look at five of the stock in our Dreman portfolio:

  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM)
  
  BP Plc (BP)
  
  Telecom Argentina SA (TEO)
  
  China Mobile Limited (CHL)
  
  Vale SA (VALE)
  
  

  Subscribe to Validea here��/P>

• [By Tony Daltorio]

  One of his companies, Cheung Kong Holdings Limited (CHEUY), recently formed a 50/50 joint venture with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) called CEF Holdings. They want to invest into beaten-down mining stocks and particularly gold equities.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce� (NYSE: CM  ) �announced this morning�its second-quarter dividend of $0.96 per share, a 2% increase over the $0.94-per-share payout it made last quarter.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Stage Stores Inc.(SSI)

Stage Stores, Inc. operates as a specialty department store retailer that offers branded and private label apparel, accessories, cosmetics, and footwear for women, men, and children in the United States. The company also offers sportswear, dresses, intimates, home and gift products, outerwear, swimwear, and other products. It primarily focuses on consumers in small and mid-sized markets. The company operates stores under the names of Bealls, Goody?s, Palais Royal, Peebles, and Stage. Stage Stores, Inc. also sells its products through its Web site. As of March 06, 2012, it operated 819 stores in 40 states. Stage Stores, Inc. is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Friday, Stage Stores (NYSE: SSI  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Agrium Inc.(AGU)

Agrium Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces and markets agricultural nutrients, industrial products, and specialty products worldwide, as well as involves in the retail supply of agricultural products and services in North and South Americas. The company?s Retail segment markets crop nutrient products, including nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphur, and micronutrients; crop protection products, such as herbicides, fungicides, adjuvants, and insecticides; and seeds. This segment also offers agronomic services, as well as product application, soil and leaf tissue testing and analysis, and crop scouting services. This segment operates 1,192 outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. The company?s Wholesale segment produces, markets, and distributes nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphate, and other crop nutrient products for agricultural and industrial customers. This segment also owns and operates facilities that upgrade ammonia t o other nitrogen products, such as urea, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate, as well as provides Rainbow plant food products. Agrium?s Advanced Technologies segment produces and markets controlled-release crop nutrients and micronutrients for the agriculture, specialty agriculture, professional turf, horticulture, and consumer lawn and garden markets. The company was formerly known as Cominco Fertilizers Ltd. and changed its name to Agrium Inc. in 1995. Agrium Inc. was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Neha Chamaria]

  Investors in the fertilizer industry have something serious to think about. One of the leading nutrient producers, Agrium (NYSE: AGU  ) , is hanging up on two expansion projects -- It has suspended development work on a greenfield project in the U.S. Midwest area, while dropping plans�to expand an existing plant in Alberta.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior S.A. (BLX)

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. provides trade financing to commercial banks, middle-market companies, and corporations primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates in three segments: Commercial, Treasury, and Asset Management. The Commercial segment offers deposits and loans for foreign trade transactions. This segment also provides various products, services, and solutions relating to foreign trade, which include co-financing arrangements, underwriting of syndicated credit facilities, structured trade financing, asset-based financing in the form of factoring, vendor financing and leasing, and other fee-based services, such as electronic clearing services. The Treasury segment offers liquidity management and investment securities activities, including management of interest rate, liquidity, price, and currency risks. The Asset Management segment provides asset management services, including investment advisory services for funds and managed accounts. This division is involved in trading foreign exchange, interest rate swaps, and derivative products. The company was formerly known as Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones, S.A. and changed its name to Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. in June 2009. Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Panama City, the Republic of Panama.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Panama-based supranational bank�Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior� (NYSE: BLX  ) announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.30 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters after raising the payout 20% from $0.25 per share.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (NYSE: BLX  ) , better and more conveniently known as Bladex, is maintaining its dividend policy. The lender has declared a payout of $0.30 per share of its stock for its Q1, to be paid on May 7 to shareholders of record as of April 29. This amount matches the company's previous disbursement, which has been paid in both of the preceding two quarters. Before that, Bladex dispensed $0.25 per share.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: Sun Life Financial Inc.(SLF)

Sun Life Financial Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides various life and health insurance, savings, investment management, retirement, and pension products and services to individuals and corporate customers. It offers individual life insurance policies, including individual term life, universal life, critical illness, disability, accident, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance policies; and group life insurance policies. The company also provides individual health insurance, long-term care insurance, group health benefits, dental benefits, and group insurance; and various individual and group annuity, retirement, and investment income products and services, such as mutual and pooled funds, variable and fixed annuities, savings, retirement and pension plans, and education savings. In addition, it offers asset management services for corporate retirement plans, separate accounts, public or government funds, and insurance company assets to institutional clients; and advisory services to individual investors. Further, the company provides run-off reinsurance services. Sun Life Financial Inc. distributes its products through direct sales agents, independent and managing general agents, financial intermediaries, broker-dealers, banks, pension and benefit consultants, and other third-party marketing organizations. The company operates primarily in Bermuda, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, the Philippines, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Sun Life Financial Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Brugger]

  Initially, the deal Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF  ) struck in December to sell its U.S. annuity portfolio and some life insurance products for $1.35 billion to Delaware Life Holdings, a Guggenheim Partners-owned company, was scheduled to be completed by Q2 of 2013.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF) shares gained 2.47% to create a new 52-week high of $34.80 on Q3 results. Sun Life reported its Q3 operating net income from continuing operations of $422 million.

• [By Amanda Alix]

  Insurance companies have created an entire industry based upon risk, and except for AIG (NYSE: AIG  ) during the financial crisis, it has worked out pretty well. So, it's not a stretch to imagine a large life insurer like Canada's Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF  ) assuming the pension liability for the Canadian Wheat Board's defined benefit plan in a recent $147 million deal, the first such accord in Canada's history.

Top 10 Canadian Companies For 2014: KBR Inc. (KBR)

KBR, Inc. operates as an engineering, construction, and services company supporting the energy, hydrocarbon, government services, minerals, civil infrastructure, power, and industrial sectors worldwide. Its Downstream business unit provides front end engineering design; detailed engineering; engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC); EPC management; and program management services to petrochemical, refining, coal gasification, and syngas markets. The company?s Government and Infrastructure business unit provides program and project management, contingency logistics, operations and maintenance, construction management, engineering, and other services to military and civilian branches of governments and private clients. Its Services business unit delivers engineering, construction, construction management, fabrication, maintenance, and turnaround services. It also offers maintenance, construction, and drilling support services for offshore oil and gas producing facili ties using semisubmersible vessels. This segment serves oil, gas, petrochemicals, and hydrocarbon processing industries, as well as power, alternate energy, pulp and paper, industrial and manufacturing, and pharmaceutical industries. The company?s Technology business unit offers various process technologies, including value-added technologies in the coal monetization, petrochemical, refining, and syngas markets. Its Upstream business unit constructs liquefied natural gas, gas-to-liquids, onshore oil and gas production facilities, offshore oil and gas production facilities, and onshore and offshore pipelines. The company?s Ventures business unit invests in and manages projects, where the company provides engineering, construction, construction management or operations, and maintenance services. KBR, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  This umbrella contract authorizes four separate contractors -- privately held CH2M Hill Constructors and Environmental Chemical Corp, and publicly traded KBR (NYSE: KBR  ) and URS (NYSE: URS  ) -- to bid for individual task orders under it. In total, across the contract's one-year "base period" and the up to four subsequent one-year optional extensions, this contract is estimated to have a maximum dollar value of $800 million. It is not to exceed 60 months in duration and so should expire in June 2018.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Raytheon's rockets will be deployed to defend the base, while Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT  ) is managing the overall project. And last week, we found out who will build it, when government contractor KBR (NYSE: KBR  ) was awarded $134 million to turn the 430-acre site into a missile base.

• [By Rich Smith]

  The larger of the two awards, and by a few orders of magnitude, went to government contractor KBR (NYSE: KBR  ) , which won a firm-fixed-price, option-filled contract valued at up to $134.2 million to develop and construct a land-based missile defense system to be built in Deveselu, Romania. According to Time magazine, the missile base will be constructed on 430 acres of property located -- and we quote -- "125 miles southwest of Count Dracula's castle."

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Harsco have gained 4.7% to $26.43 today at 1:16 p.m., outpacing other construction & engineering companies. Dycom (DY) has advanced 0.5% to $30, KBR Inc. (KBR) has ticked up 0.1% to $33.03, Worthington Industries�(WOR) has risen 2.8% to $38.85�and Tutor Perini (TPC) has rallied 3.6% to $22.46.