Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now

Yesterday, Tesoro Corp. (TSO) sold a bunch of assets to Tesoro Logistics (TLLP) for $650 million, the second “drop-down,” or sale of assets by a parent company to a partnership.

Reuters

The Wall Street Journal has the details:

Tesoro Logistics LP, a company spun off in 2011 by oil refiner Tesoro Corp., agreed to pay its former parent $650 million to acquire Los Angeles assets that include two marine terminals and a pipeline system.

The company, which expects to close on the deal in the current quarter, said it will fund the deal using mostly cash, as well as about $65 million in equity. In a separate statement Monday, Tesoro Logistics said it was offering at least 6.3 million common units, with proceeds to be used to fund the deal.

Cowen’s�Sam Margolin assesses where Tesoro Corp. is now and its other drop-down opportunists:

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Clifton Savings Bancorp Inc.(CSBK)

Clifton Savings Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Clifton Savings Bank that provides various financial services to consumers and businesses in northeast New Jersey. It offers liquid and term deposit instruments, such as free checking accounts, business checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, high yield checking accounts, money market accounts, passbook and statement savings accounts, and club and certificates of deposit. The company?s loan portfolio includes one to four-family residential loans; multi-family and commercial real estate loans; residential construction loans; and consumer loans, including second mortgage loans, loans secured by passbook or certificate accounts, and home equity lines of credit. It operates 12 full-service banking offices. The company was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Clifton, New Jersey. Clifton Savings Bancorp, Inc. is a subsidiary of Clifton MHC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  Price appears to share my enthusiasm for smaller bank stocks, as he currently own 19 small regional and community banks. He has been buying them consistently over the past few years, and I think he sees the same consolidation wave and shareholder value increase in the future that I do. He added to one position this quarter, buying more shares of Clifton Savings Bank (CSBK), the mutual holding company for the 11-branch bank in northern New Jersey. It looks like the bank trades for 1.9 times book value, but after the second-step conversion process is completed, the shares will trade at a slight discount to book. The bank is in excellent condition with an equity-to-assets ratio of almost 18 and nonperforming assets at just 0.53% of total assets.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Olam International Limited (O32.SI)

Olam International Limited engages in sourcing, processing, packaging, merchandising, and exporting agricultural products. The company operates in five segments: Edible Nuts, Spices and Beans; Confectionery and Beverage Ingredients; Industrial Raw Materials; Food Staples and Packaged Foods; and Commodity Financial Services. The Edible Nuts, Spices and Beans segment offers cashews, peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, spices and vegetable ingredients, sesame, dehydrated vegetables, tomatoes, and specialty vegetables, as well as beans comprising pulses, lentils, and peas. The Confectionery and Beverage Ingredients segment provides cocoa, coffee, and shea nuts. The Industrial Raw Materials segment offers cotton, wool, wood products, and rubber products, as well as agri inputs, such as fertilizers. This segment is also involved in the development of a special economic zone project. The Food Staples and Packaged Foods segment provides rice, sugar and natural sweeteners, palm and dairy products, and packaged foods, as well as grains, including wheat, barley, and corn. The Commodity Financial Services segment offers market making and volatility trading, risk management solutions, and commodity funds management services. The company serves various customers worldwide. Olam International Limited was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Singapore.

Hot Growth Companies To Invest In 2015: Banco Santander Brasil SA (BSBR)

Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. (Santander Brasil), incorporated on August 9, 1985, is a full-service bank in Brazil. The Bank operates its business along three segments: Commercial Banking, Global Wholesale Banking and Asset Management and Insurance. Through its Commercial Banking segment, the Bank offers traditional banking services, including checking and savings accounts, home and automobile financing, unsecured consumer financing, checking account overdraft loans, credit cards and payroll loans to mid- and high-income individuals and corporations (other than to its Global Banking and Markets clients). Its Global Wholesale Banking segment provides financial services and solutions to a group of approximately 700 local and multinational conglomerates, offering such products as global transaction banking, syndicated lending, corporate finance, equity and treasury. Through its Asset Management and Insurance segment, the Company manages fixed income, money market, equity and multi-market funds and offers insurance products complementary to its core banking business to its retail and small- and medium-sized corporate customers.

Lending Activities

As of December 31, 2010, the Bank�� total loans and advances to customers equaled R$160.6 billion (42.9% of its total assets). Net of allowances for credit losses, loans and advances to customers equaled R$151.4 billion as of December 31, 2010 (40.4% of its total assets). In addition to loans, it had outstanding R$93.5 billion as of December 31, 2010.

Substantially all of its loans are to borrowers domiciled in Brazil and are denominated in reais. Its commercial, financial and industrial loans include primarily loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in its Commercial Banking segment, and to Global Banking and Markets corporate and business enterprise customers in its Wholesale Global Banking segment. The principal products offered to SMEs in this category include revolving loans, overdraft facilities, installme! nt loans, working capital and equipment finance loans. Credit approval for SMEs is based on customer income, business activity, collateral coverage and internal and external credit scoring tools. Collateral on commercial, financial and industrial lending to SMEs generally includes receivables, liens, pledges, guarantees and mortgages, with coverage generally ranging from 100% to 150% of the loan value depending on the risk profile of the loan. Its Wholesale Global Banking customers are offered a range of loan products ranging from typical corporate banking products (installment loans, working capital and equipment finance loans) to more sophisticated products (derivative and capital markets transactions).

The Bank�� Real estate-construction loans include construction loans made principally to real estate developers that are SMEs and corporate customers in its Wholesale Global Banking Segment. Loans in this category are generally secured by mortgages and receivables, though guarantees may also be provided as additional security. Real estate-mortgage loans include loans on residential real estate to individuals. All loans granted under this category are secured by the financed real estate. Installment loans to individuals consist primarily of unsecured personal installment loans (including loans whose payments are automatically deducted from a customer�� payroll), revolving loans, overdraft facilities, consumer finance facilities and credit cards. Lease financing includes primarily automobile leases and loans to individuals. The vehicle financed acts as collateral for the particular loan granted.

Investment Activities

The Bank�� investments include Government securities-Brazil, Government securities-other countries and other debt securities. As of December 31, 2010, the book value of the investment securities was R$84.7 billion (representing 22.6% of its total assets). Brazilian government securities totaled R$55.8 billion, or 65.9% of the Bank�� investment! securiti! es as of December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, the Bank held no securities of single issuers or related group of companies whose aggregate book or market value exceed 10% of stockholders��equity, other than Brazilian government securities, which represented 76.9% of its stockholders��equity.

Sources of Funds

The Bank offers its customers a variety of deposit products, such as current accounts (also referred to as demand deposits), which do not bear interest; traditional savings accounts, which earn the Brazilian reference rate for savings accounts (taxa referencial) plus 0.5% per month, as set by the federal government, and time deposits, which are represented by certificates of bank deposits (CDBs), which normally have a maturity of less than 36 months and earn interest at a fixed or floating rate. In addition, it accepts deposits from financial institutions as part of its treasury operations, which are represented by certificates of interbank deposit CDIs, and which earn the interbank deposit rate.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rudy Martin]

  We are buying Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. (BSBR) to gain broad additional exposure to the Brazilian.

  BSBR offers a full-service range of financial services, including individual and corporate banking. We also hope to benefit from the stock's 7.2% current indicated dividend yield.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: TomTom NV (OEM)

TomTom NV is a Netherlands-based supplier of location and navigation products and services. The Company�� structure consists of four customer facing business units, namely Consumer, Automotive, Business Solutions and Licensing. The first three business units provide targeted solutions for the Company�� customers, including private consumers, car manufacturers and fleet owners. Licensing sells its content and services to multiple customer groups including portable navigation devices (PNDs) and wireless companies, governments and enterprises. The Company�� business units embed 11 product units, such as digital maps, traffic intelligence, navigation software, PNDs, automotive systems, fleet management services (FMS), smart phone applications, sports watches, points of interest, location based services (LBS) and speedcam intelligence. As of December 31, 2011, the Company was active in 35 countries. In July 2013, it acquired Coordina (Gestion Electronica Logistica, S.L.). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By victorselva]

  In a macro view, revenues in the electronic equipment and instrument sub-industry will remain strong due to the rise in equipment and instrument manufacturers. Distributors, electronic manufacturing service (EMS) companies and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are going to increase orders as the economy improves in the future. With this promising outlook, let's take a look at Gabelli麓s last trade and try to explain to investors the reasons of this appealing investment opportunity.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Alliant Energy Corporation (LNT)

Alliant Energy Corporation operates in electric and gas utility businesses in the United States. The company, through its subsidiary, Interstate Power and Light Company, engages in the generation and distribution of electric energy; and the distribution and transportation of natural gas in Iowa and southern Minnesota. As of December 31, 2009, it supplied electric and gas service to approximately 525,334 and 233,841 retail customers. Alliant Energy Corporation also provides steam services, and various other energy-related products and services to customers in Iowa. The company, through its other subsidiary, Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL), involves in the generation and distribution of electric energy; and the distribution and transportation of natural gas primarily in south and central Wisconsin markets. As of December 31, 2009, WPL supplied electric and gas service to 453,573 and 177,968 retail customers. In addition, Alliant Energy Corporation has investments in environmental consulting, and engineering and renewable energy services businesses. It also engages in transportation business, which includes a short-line railway for the provision of freight services between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City in Iowa; barge terminal and hauling services on the Mississippi River; and other transfer and storage services. The company was founded in 1917 and is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  The lights of Alliant Energy (NYSE: LNT  ) are continuing to burn brightly, at least as far as the utility operator's shareholder payouts are concerned. The company has declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.47 per share, to be paid on Aug. 15 to holders of record as of July 31. That amount matches both of the firm's previous two disbursements, the most recent of which was paid in May. Before that, Alliant Energy handed out 2 cents less at $0.45 per share.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Alliant Energy (NYSE: LNT  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 3. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Alliant Energy's revenues will contract 0.0% and EPS will grow 24.0%.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Halberd Corp (HALB.PK)

Halberd Corporation, incorporated on January 26, 2009, is a development-stage company whose operations are conducted under the name Sellmybusiness.com. Sellmybusiness.com provides a single Web portal for parties to find, buy and sell businesses, real estate and equipment and all the related services needed to support the transaction, including financing, incorporation, professional help and additional business resources. Sellmybusiness.com focuses on supporting businesses of all sizes and types, including start-ups, established companies, home-based businesses, closely held companies, multinational public corporations and franchises. Sellmybusiness.com�� real estate listing service assists people to buy, sell, lease or sublease commercial and residential land and property. Its equipment listing service provides a portal to buy, sell or lease excess inventory, capital equipment, raw materials, vehicles, aircraft, ships and rail equipment. On January 28, 2009, it acquir ed SellMyBusinessNow.Com, Inc. (SellMyBusiness).

The initial target market for SellMyBusiness.com is the 1.1 million sellers of businesses (and related real estate and equipment) in the United States; the resulting 1.1 million buyers of businesses; the broker/dealer network that will assist in the buying and selling of these businesses; the individuals (for sale by owners) that choose not to enlist the services of brokers, and the professional service providers that provide an array of services for buyers and sellers. The SellMyBusiness.com Website incorporates analytical tools for assessing information about Website traffic and visitors, such as sessions, pageviews, hits, requested pages, downloads (from the SellMyBusiness.com Website), page drilldowns, entrance pages, exit pages, bounce rates, click paths, length of pageview, depth of session, length of session, referrals, domains, user Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser details and reasons for de-list ing.

The Company competes with BizBuySells.co! m,! BizQuest.com, BusinessBroker.net, BusinessDistrict.com, BusinessesFor Sale.com, BusinessMart.com, BusinessNation.com and DaltonBusiness.com.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Seven Arts Pictures PLC(SAPX)

Seven Arts Entertainment Inc. operates as an independent motion picture production and distribution company. It engages in the development, acquisition, financing, production, and licensing of theatrical motion pictures for exhibition in theatrical markets worldwide. The company also provides its motion pictures in other forms of media, including DVD, home video, pay-per-view, and free television. Seven Arts Entertainment Inc. was founded in 2002 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Perficient Inc.(PRFT)

Perficient, Inc. provides information technology consulting services to various enterprise companies primarily in the United States. The company designs, builds, and delivers business-driven technology solutions using third party software products. Its solutions include business integration and service oriented architectures, enterprise portals and collaboration, custom applications, and technology platform implementations, as well as customer relationship management, enterprise performance management, enterprise content management, and business intelligence solutions. The company?s solutions enable its clients to operate a real-time enterprise that adapts business processes and the systems that support them to meet the changing demands of marketplace. Perficient, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap tech consulting firm Perficient, Inc (NASDAQ: PRFT) is getting deeper into the cloud computing space ��meaning it might be worth taking a closer look at it along with the performance of First Trust ISE Cloud Computing Index Fund (NASDAQ: SKYY). We have just added Perficient, Inc to our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio because we believe the company is trading at a discount to that of its small cap peers in the cloud computing space plus the stock�� fundamentals and technical chart looks attractive.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Eurasian Minerals Inc. (EMX.V)

Eurasian Minerals Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition and exploration of precious and base metals properties primarily in Turkey, Haiti, the Kyrgyz Republic, Sweden, North America, Australia, and the Asia-Pacific region. The company principally explores for gold, copper, silver, porphyry, lead, zinc, arsenic, and molybdenum. It has a strategic alliance with Antofagasta Minerals S.A. for copper exploration in Sweden. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Argent Mining Corp (AMG.V)

AM Gold Inc., an exploration stage company, engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties. It explores primarily for gold and copper ores. The company holds a 100% interest in the Pinaya gold-copper project comprising 35 mineral concessions covering approximately 19,200 hectares located in the southeast of the city of Lima, Peru; and an 80% interest in the Red Mountain gold project consisting of 52 mineral property claims covering approximately 3,600 hectares located in the central Yukon Territory, Canada. It also holds a 100% interest in 2 grassroots gold projects, the La Mamita property, which consists of a single concession and covering an area of approximately 1,000 hectares; and Minas Lucho property that comprises 4 mineral concessions covering an area of approximately 2,400 hectares, both located in Peru. The company was formerly known as Acero-Martin Exploration Inc. and changed its name to AM Gold Inc. in June 2010. AM Gold Inc. is based in Vanco uver, Canada.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Heartland Payment Systems Inc. (HPY)

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. provides bankcard payment processing services in the United States and Canada. It facilitates the exchange of information and funds between merchants and cardholder�s financial institutions; and offers end-to-end electronic payment processing services, including merchant set-up and training, transaction authorization and electronic draft capture, clearing and settlement, merchant accounting, merchant assistance and support, and risk management to merchants. The company also provides other merchant services comprising payroll processing, gift and loyalty programs, and prepaid and stored-value solutions; paper check processing; payroll and related tax filing services; and secure point-of-sale solutions, as well as sells and rents point-of-sale devices and supplies. In addition, it develops, manufactures, sells, services, and maintains computer software to facilitate accounting and management functions of food service operations of K to 12 sch ools. The company markets its bankcard payment processing services directly to small and mid-sized merchants, and national and mid-tier merchants. Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY  ) is set to be an enthusiastic buyer of its own shares. The company's board has authorized a fresh stock repurchase program to the tune of $75 million. The move is effective immediately, and its term is open-ended.

Top Industrial Disributor Stocks To Own Right Now: Macatawa Bank Corporation(MCBC)

Macatawa Bank Corporation operates as the holding company for Macatawa Bank that provides various commercial and personal banking services. It offers various deposit products, which comprise checking accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, transaction accounts, savings and time certificates, non-interest bearing and interest bearing demand deposits, and money market accounts. The company?s loan portfolio comprises commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans, construction and development loans, and multi-family and other non-residential real estate loans; residential mortgage loans; and consumer loans, including automobile loans, home equity lines of credit, installment loans, home improvement loans, deposit account loans, and other loans for household and personal purposes. It also provides cash management services, safe deposit boxes, travelers checks, money orders, and trust services; ATMs, Internet banking, telephone banking, and debit cards; and b rokerage services, including discount brokerage, personal financial planning, and consultation regarding mutual funds. In addition, the company offers personal trust services, such as financial planning, investment management services, trust and estate administration, and custodial services; and retirement plan services, including provision of various qualified retirement plans, such as profit sharing, 401(k)s, and pension plans. It operated a network of 26 branches and a lending and operation service facility in Kent, Ottawa, and northern Allegan counties of Michigan. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Holland, Michigan.

This Web Search Company is Quickly, Quietly Becoming a Mohctp (YNDX, BIDU, GOOG)

Ever wish you could go back in time about ten years and invest in Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)? If you could, your GOOG stock position would be up about 1000% right now... a handsome reward indeed. Trouble is, you can't invest in the Google of the past. To capitalize on currently-available search-based investments, you have to find a company that's in a situation now like the one GOOG was in a decade ago.

This is where many savvy investors would expect to hear the name Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU)... China's web-search giant, which owns about 63% of that nation's search market in addition to a good-sized piece of its growing mobile search market. BIDU isn't the stock you're going to hear touted as the next Google today, however. No, the next Google - or as close to it - as you're going to get anyway - worth some speculative investment dollars is a company called Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX).

Don't sweat it if you haven't heard of YNDX; most people haven't. That's because this particular web search giant is growing its roots in Russia.... an internet-using market that's far more developed than many outsiders might believe. More than 70 million Russian Federation citizens access the web every month, doing everything from work-related stuff to the same time-killing socializing and movie-watching that most Americans do on the internet. That's (for better or worse) when the revenue really starts to roll. And, Yandex acts as the intermediary for 60% of the nation's internet searches.

The million dollar question is, can Yandex NV hold onto that commanding market share? One only has to look at Baidu to see how easily is can be to lose ground. Rival Qihoo didn't exist at all (as a search engine anyway) in early 2012, and in less than two years garnered about 20% of China's web search market.... some of it away from Baidu.com. Couldn't another search engine do the same in Russia (like Google, which is operating there) to swipe business from Yandex NV? Theoretically, yes. In all likelihood, no.

It's not the kind of thing that most web-users see, so it's not the kind of thing that most investors think about when judging the strength of a search engine company. But, Russians don't use the same alphabet - not even the same alphabetic characters - that most Western cultures do. The United States and most of Europe use a Roman alphabet, while the Russian Federation and most of eastern Europe use a Cyrrilic alphabet... Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus are the key Cyrillic countries.

It wouldn't seem like a difference that, say Google couldn't overcome - characters are characters on a keyboard. It's a nuance that's significant enough, however, that the Google algorithms don't work all that well for Russian web users. That's why Google only owns about 26% of the Russian search market (well, that and the fact that the government there keeps a tight grasp on who does what on the web in Russia).

Top 10 Cheap Companies To Invest In Right Now

The disparity between Yandex NV and Google could even widen now that smartphones are becoming prolific in Russia. A couple of days ago it was announced that Yandex was going to become the go-to OS on a couple of popular Android smartphones there [the risk of an open source program] that will make using the Yandex search tool much more likely.

Bottom line? Although the language barrier that prevents Google from making headway in Russia also prevents Yandex from making headway in non-Cyrillic markets, that's a trade-off the company can live with. It means any real competition to the company's search dominance would most likely come from within Russia or from eastern Europe, and there's just not any other company in a financial or political position to mount a serious attack on Yandex NV. That's the kind of monopoly-like dominance worth a shot. The fact that Russia's web market is just now hitting a mature stage means the next few years could be high-growth ones, kind of like Google being in the right place at the right time in the U.S. when broadband become the norm beginning in the early 2000's.

By the way, 'mohctp' is Russian for 'monster'.

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Raymond James taps client associates for next generation

Tash Elwyn, president of Raymond James & Associates, the firm's traditional employee channel.

Client associates are the unsung heroes of financial services, and now Raymond James is hoping that they can play another role: saving the industry from the oncoming retirement wave.

“I have long viewed the role of a service associate as being perhaps arguably one of the most underutilized and underinvested-in positions in the financial services industry,” said Tash Elwyn, president of Raymond James & Associates, the firm's traditional employee channel. “I've long had a desire and a passion to see our firm really turn that challenge into an opportunity to create a career path for service associates.”

Top Communications Equipment Stocks To Buy Right Now

The firm launched a pilot program at the end of last year that is designed to bridge the gap between working as an associate and as a financial adviser.

(Related: Firms work to make the most of their young advisers)

Known

Delamaide: CEO pay shows need for board change

WASHINGTON — Wall Street often seems to be on another planet and at no time more so than when a chief executive gets a 74% raise to $20 million in a year that his bank agrees to pay $23 billion in fines to settle charges of fraud and mismanagement.

When the board of directors at JP Morgan Chase decided last month to boost the pay of Jamie Dimon from the measly $11.5 million he had received in the previous year, the rest of us could just shake our heads and say, "Crazy."

But the directors, who represent the shareholders and bear ultimate legal responsibility for the company, argued in a regulatory filing that Dimon deserved the raise because of the bank's "sustained long-term performance; gains in market share and customer satisfaction; and the regulatory issues the company has faced and the steps the company has taken to resolve those issues."

Let's keep in mind that the chairman of the board of directors is none other than Jamie Dimon himself, though compensation is decided upon by the "independent" directors — those who don't work for the company or have any substantive ownership stake.

Also, even though $20 million may seem like a lot of money to the rest of us, it's a far cry from the $49.9 million Dimon received for 2007.

As is typical in most companies, board members at JP Morgan are mostly good friends of the chairman. Lee Raymond, former CEO of ExxonMobil who was made "lead independent director" at JP Morgan last fall, was described by The Wall Street Journal as a "mentor" to Dimon.

A new "independent" director who was named at the same time was Linda Bammann, who worked for Dimon at Bank One before it merged into JP Morgan, and then worked in the merged bank until 2005. Under Wall Street's generous rules, you can be "independent" even as a former employee after three years away from the company.

It is in this context that Simon Johnson, an MIT professor and a prominent bank critic, posted an open letter to JP Morgan shareholders last week after forme! r FDIC chairman Sheila Bair suggested in an interview that Johnson would be a great addition to the bank's board.

While the letter was tongue-in-cheek, Johnson's advice for shareholders was quite serious. First and foremost, he wrote, "we need a more independent board with a greater ability to receive and assess timely information about what is actually happening within the company."

Johnson cited the remark last fall by another independent director at the bank, Laban Jackson, who told a group of investors in Chicago, "We've got these things that we actually are guilty of and we've got to fix them." And Jackson added: "It's embarrassing for the board."

Top 10 Value Stocks For 2015

Johnson also suggested, not surprisingly, that the board needs to change the way it decides on compensation for its executives, starting with CEO Dimon.

His main recommendation, however, and the reason he knows he will never be elected to the board at JP Morgan or any other bank, is to break the bank up into smaller pieces.

Johnson noted that smaller financial institutions currently attract substantially higher valuations in the stock market than do the megabanks.

Money columnist Darrell Delamaide.(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USATODAY)

"My interpretation is that this is largely because the biggest banks are not run in the full interests of shareholders," this economist says. "The operations of these companies are so complex that no one is fully in control."

Bair's suggestion to put Johnson on the JP Morgan board came in an interview with ProPublica's Jesse Eisinger regarding her own decision to join the board of Banco Santander, a Spanish bank with substantial ! foreign o! perations that many consider to be one of the best banks in the world.

Bair's decision drew some flack because of her outspoken criticism of the revolving door in Washington, which lands former regulators in cushy banking jobs if they have behaved well in their government posts.

Of course there is a world of difference between drawing a director's remuneration of tens of thousands of dollars and the tens of millions that former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, for example, received as "senior counselor" at Citigroup after his Washington tenure.

Bair, who was critical of government policy toward banks both while in office and afterwards as senior adviser at the Pew Charitable Trusts, believes reformers like herself can be useful on bank boards because they "understand banking and markets but have a different perspective on the role of regulation and financial stability."

In addition to suggesting Johnson for the JP Morgan board, Bair also recommended the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gary Gensler, for the Goldman Sachs board and Stanford professor Anat Admati, another prominent bank critic, for the board of Deutsche Bank.

Everyone knows this will never happen. But perhaps shareholders and directors at these banks will take note of the critics. As Johnson observes in his letter to JP Morgan shareholders, "further change at the top of JP Morgan Chase would be helpful to you, to the financial system and to the broader economy."

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015

LPL Financial (LPLA) said Thursday that it has beefed up its retirement planning platform with tools for financial advisors and plan participants from Morningstar Associates, Financial Finesse and Wealth Management Systems.

With these new tools, the Worksite Financial Solutions platform, which LPL launched in early March, can serve as a more effective “end-to-end solution” for retirement plan sponsors and advisors, according to LPL, while better meeting the needs of plan participants with tools for financial education, personalized advice and account-transition services. 

“Through our launch of Worksite Financial Solutions, we are seeking to completely reinvent the world of retirement plan financial advice, in order to counteract the current inadequate and fragmented system of retirement planning prevalent at so many workplaces in America today,” said Bill Chetney (left), executive vice president of LPL Financial Retirement Partners, in a press release.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Aka Ventures Inc. (AKA.V)

Phoenix Copper Corporation engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties primarily in North America. It focuses on exploration for gold, silver, and copper. The company holds interests in the Long Valley Gold property located in the southern region of Mineral County, Nevada; and the Copper Joe, a porphyry copper-molybdenum prospect, situated in Mohave County, Arizona. It also holds an option to acquire a 60% interest in the Kabba Project located in Arizona; and an option to acquire a 75% interest in the Mine Canyon Project that covers 340 acres and is located in southern Arizona. The company was formerly known as AKA Ventures Inc. and changed its name to Phoenix Copper Corporation in September 2012. Phoenix Copper Corporation was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Gemini Corporation (GKX.V)

Gemini Corporation, a professional services company, engages in designing, building, and maintaining energy and industrial facilities in western Canada and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Field Solutions and Engineered Solutions. The Field Solutions segment offers engineering, construction, fabrication, and maintenance services. The Engineered Solutions segment provides engineering, procurement, and construction management services. Gemini Corporation principally serves conventional/unconventional oil and gas, in-situ heavy oil, and heavy industrial facilities markets. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

5 Best China Stocks For 2015: priceline.com Incorporated(PCLN)

priceline.com Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an online travel company. The company provides price-disclosed hotel reservation services on a worldwide basis primarily under the Booking.com, priceline.com, and Agoda brand names; and price-disclosed rental car reservation services in approximately 80 countries through TravelJigsaw brand name. It also offers its customers the ability to purchase other travel services, including retail airline tickets; rental car days; vacations packages consisting of airfare, hotel, and rental car components; cruise trips; and destination services, including parking, event tickets, ground transfers, and tours through its ?Name Your Own Price? demand-collection system in the United States. In addition, the company offers an optional travel insurance package that provides coverage for trip cancellation, trip interruption, medical expenses, and emergency evacuation, as well as for loss of baggage, property, and travel d ocuments for air, hotel, and vacation package customers; and collision damage waiver insurance for rental car customers in the United States. The company?s other brands include Lowestfare.com, rentalcars.com, Breezenet.com, MyTravelGuide.com, Travelweb, hotelroom.com, and Car Hire 3000. priceline.com Incorporated was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Del Vecchio]

  One year ago last week, I wrote a comparative analysis of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) , Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) , and priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN  ) . I considered them to be "highfliers" because of their lofty stock prices, and I believe it timely and appropriate to revisit their performance over the past 12 months. After all, these companies provide a lot of cannon fodder for analysts and financial journalists alike, and lots of investors continue to revere them.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN), Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: UBNT), Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: BRS), Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), Scotts Miracle Gro Company (NYSE: SMG) Economic Releases Expected: US GDP, US Consumer Credit

  Friday

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Intl Road Dynamics Com Npv(IRD.TO)

International Road Dynamics Inc., a highway traffic management technology company, supplies products and integrated systems to the intelligent transportation systems industry worldwide. The company provides automated systems for commercial vehicle operations, management, and safety at truck weigh stations, border crossings, and bus depots; and highway traffic data collection, traffic safety, open and closed highway toll collection, and driver and vehicle management systems. Its automated truck weigh station systems assist highway and transportation agencies for targeting suspected overweight offenders and reduce heavy truck damage to roadways, as well as virtual weigh stations to monitor trucks remotely through short range wireless or other communications technologies; traffic monitoring systems to determine traffic volumes and vehicle weights; and transportation safety-related products to warn truckers of unsafe dynamics of their vehicles. The company also offers vehicle detection and classifying technologies, including audit and control systems to toll road operators; driver and fleet management systems, which support transportation businesses in the implementation and the monitoring of driver safety programs through providing real time feedback of compliance with corporate driving programs and policies; and preventative, scheduled, and emergency maintenance through its network of service offices. In addition, it provides weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales for applications in truck weigh stations, border crossings, virtual weigh stations, portable WIM, traffic data collection, toll road monitoring, downgrade and rollover warning systems, and bridge protection applications. The company serves corporations, transportation agencies, transportation authorities, and highway concessionaires. International Road Dynamics Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Helmerich & Payne Inc (HP)

Helmerich & Payne, Inc., incorporated on February 29, 1944, is engaged in contract drilling of oil and gases wells for others and this business. The Company's contract drilling business is composed of three reportable business segments: U.S. Land, Offshore and International Land. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company's U.S. Land operations drilled in Oklahoma, California, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Utah, Arkansas, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia. Offshore operations were conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore of California, Trinidad and Equatorial Guinea. During fiscal 2012, the Company's International Land segment operated in six international locations: Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Tunisia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates. The Company is also engaged in the ownership, development and operation of commercial real estate and the research and development of rotary steerable technology. Each of the businesses operates independently of the others through wholly owned subsidiaries. The Company's real estate investments located exclusively within Tulsa, Oklahoma, include a shopping center containing approximately 441,000 leasable square feet, multi-tenant industrial warehouse properties containing approximately one million leasable square feet and approximately 210 acres of undeveloped real estate. The Company's subsidiary, TerraVici Drilling Solutions, Inc. (TerraVici), is developing rotary steerable technology. As of September 30, 2012, it had 176 rigs under fixed-term contracts. During fiscal 2012, the Company leased a 150,000 square foot industrial facility near Tulsa, Oklahoma for the purpose of overhauling/repairing rig equipment and associated component parts.

U.S. Land Drilling

As of September 30, 2012, the Company had 282 of its land rigs available for work in the United States. During fiscal 2012, the Company's U.S. Land operations contributed approximately 85% of the Compan! y's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, rig utilization was approximately 89%. During fiscal 2012, the Company's fleet of FlexRigs had an average utilization of approximately 97%, while the Company's conventional and mobile rigs had an average utilization of approximately 11%. As of September 31, 2012, 231 out of an available 282 land rigs were working.

Off Shore Drilling

During fiscal 2012, the Company's Offshore operations contributed approximately 6% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, rig utilization was approximately 79%. During fiscal 2012, the Company had eight of its nine offshore platform rigs under contract and continued to work under management contracts for four customer-owned rigs. During fiscal 2012, revenues from drilling services performed for the Company's offshore drilling customer totaled approximately 56% of offshore revenues.

International Land Drilling

During fiscal 2012, the Company's International Land operations contributed approximately 9% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, rig utilization was 77%. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had nine rigs in Argentina. During fiscal 2012, the Company's utilization rate was approximately 52%. During fiscal 2012, revenues generated by Argentine drilling operations contributed approximately 2% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. The Argentine drilling contracts are with international or national oil companies. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had seven rigs in Colombia. During fiscal 2012, the Company's utilization rate was approximately 79%. During fiscal 2012, revenues generated by Colombian drilling operations contributed approximately 3% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, revenues from drilling services performed for the Company's customer in Colombia totaled approximately 1% of consolidated operating revenues and approximately 16% of inter! national ! operating revenues. The Colombian drilling contracts are with international or national oil companies. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had five rigs in Ecuador. During fiscal 2012, the utilization rate in Ecuador was 97%. During fiscal 2012, revenues generated by Ecuadorian drilling operations contributed approximately 2% of consolidated operating revenues. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had two rigs in Tunisia, four rigs in Bahrain and two rigs in United Arab Emirates.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Richard Moroney, Editor, Dow Theory Forecasts]

  Helmerich & Payne (HP) has paid a dividend without interruption since 1959 and raised the distribution in 40 straight years.

  Following a pair of hikes in less than 12 months, Helmerich's quarterly dividend stands at $0.50 per share, compared to $0.07 per share a year ago.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP  ) is expected to report Q3 earnings on July 26. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Helmerich & Payne's revenues will expand 3.1% and EPS will compress -2.2%.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Lean Hogs (HE)

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in electric utility and banking businesses primarily in Hawaii. The company is involved in the production, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, photovoltaic, geothermal, wave, hydroelectric, sugarcane waste, municipal waste, and other biofuels, as well as from fuel oil. It distributes and sells electricity on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai; and serves suburban communities, resorts, the United States armed forces installations, and agricultural operations. As of December 31, 2011, the company had net generating and firm purchased capability of 2,326.9 megawatts. It also engages in providing banking and other financial services, such as accepting savings accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and providing loans comprising residential and commercial real es tate, residential mortgage, construction and development, multifamily residential and commercial real estate, consumer, and commercial loans to consumers and business. The company operated 57 branches and 119 automated teller machines. Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  路 Within 5 or 6 hours��(he) found 20 stocks selling at 2 or 3 (times) earnings with strong balance sheets.

  路 Korea rebuilt itself in a big way post 1998. Companies overbuilt their balance sheets.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Exelon Corp (EXC)

Exelon Corporation (Exelon) is an energy provider and holding company for several energy businesses. Exelon is engaged in the energy generation business through its Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Generation) subsidiary; wholesale and retail energy sales through its Constellation business unit, and the energy delivery business through its Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) and PECO Energy Company (PECO) subsidiaries. It operates in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Exelon Generation has approximately 35,000 megawatts of owned capacity. Constellation provides energy products and services to approximately 100,000 business and public sector customers and approximately 1 million residential customers. Exelon's utilities deliver electricity and natural gas to more than 6.6 million customers in central Maryland, northern Illinois and southeastern Pennsylvania. On March 12, 2012, Constellation Energy Group, Inc. merged into Exelon. In December 2012, the Company sold its three Maryland coal-fired power plants to Raven Power Holdings LLC (Raven Power).

In August 2012, the Company sold its interest in five California power plants to IHI Corp. It includes two coal-powered and three biomass-based plants-with a total generation capacity of 70 megawatts. IHI acquired Exelon's 50% interest in four power plants and 45% interest in one plant. On September 30, 2011, Generation acquired Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One. On August 24, 2011, Generation acquired Wolf Hollow, LLC.

Exelon Generation Company, LLC

Generation is an electric generation company. Generation�� business consists of its owned and contracted electric generating facilities, its wholesale energy marketing operations and its retail supply operations. Generation has three reportable segments, which consists of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and South and West regions. As of December 31, 2011, Generation owned generation resources with an aggregate net capacity of 25,544! megawatt, including 17,115 megawatt of nuclear capacity. Generation controlled another 5,025 megawatt of capacity through long-term contracts. Generation�� retail business provides retail electric and gas services as an unregulated retail energy supplier in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.

Mid-Atlantic represents Generation�� operations primarily in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland (approximately 35% of capacity); Midwest includes the operations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota (approximately 45% of capacity); and the South and West includes operations primarily in Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Idaho and Oregon (approximately 20% of capacity). As of December 31, 2011, Generation had ownership interests in 11 nuclear generating stations in service, consists of 19 units with an aggregate of 17,115 megawatt of capacity. Generation wholly owns all of its nuclear generating stations, except for Quad Cities Generating Station (75% ownership), Peach Bottom Generating Station (50% ownership) and Salem Generating Station (Salem) (42.59% ownership).

Commonwealth Edison Company

Commonwealth Edison Company is engaged principally in the purchase and regulated retail sale of electricity and the provision of distribution and transmission services to a diverse base of residential, commercial and industrial customers in northern Illinois. ComEd�� retail service has an area of approximately 11,400 square miles and an estimated population of nine million. The service territory includes the City of Chicago, an area of about 225 square miles with an estimated population of three million. As of December 31, 2011, ComEd had approximately 3.8 million customers.

PECO Energy Company

PECO is engaged principally in the purchase and regulated retail sale of electricity and the provision of transmission and distribution services to retail customers in southeastern Pennsylvania, including the City of Philadelphia, as wel! l as the ! purchase and regulated retail sale of natural gas and the provision of distribution services to retail customers in the Pennsylvania counties surrounding the City of Philadelphia. PECO�� combined electric and natural gas retail service territory has an area of approximately 2,100 square miles and an estimated population of four million. PECO provides electric distribution service in an area of approximately 1,900 square miles, with a population of approximately 3.9 million, including approximately 1.5 million in the City of Philadelphia. PECO provides natural gas distribution service in an area of approximately 1,900 square miles in southeastern Pennsylvania adjacent to the City of Philadelphia, with a population of approximately 2.4 million. PECO delivers electricity to approximately 1.6 million customers and natural gas to approximately 4,94,000 customers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Dividend stocks such as Exelon (NYSE: EXC  ) and Southern (NYSE: SO  ) offer stable income sources with major investments up their sleeves. The utilities rely on steady nuclear generation for 55% and 16% of their capacity, respectively, but are also expanding into other energy opportunities. Exelon operates 44 wind projects with nearly 1,300 MW of capacity and plans to invest $80 million in smart grid upgrades over the next two years. Southern has recently been on a renewables rampage, adding on 139 MW of solar, 250 MW of wind, and 53 MW of biomass in the past few months.

• [By gurujx]

  Exelon Corp (EXC) Reached the 3-year Low of $27.96

  The prices of Exelon Corp (EXC) shares have declined to close to the 3-year low of $27.96, which is 39.3% off the 3-year high of $45.45.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Shares of EnerNoc (NASDAQ: ENOC  ) and Exelon (NYSE: EXC  ) lose energy in the wake of analyst downgrades. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) falls after releasing the fourth season of Arrested Development. And Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH  ) benefits from rising home prices. In this installment of Investor Beat, our analysts discuss four stocks making moves.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Solitaro Exploration & Royalty (SLR.TO)

Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp., a development stage company, engages in the exploration and acquisition of precious and base metals in Peru, Brazil, Mexico, and Bolivia. The company primarily explores for gold, silver, platinum, palladium, copper, lead, and zinc metals. As of December 31, 2011, it had interests in 12 exploration properties in Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, and Brazil; 2 royalty properties in Peru; and 1 royalty property in Brazil. The company was formerly known as Solitario Resources Corporation and changed its name to Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp. in June 2008. Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp. was founded in 1984 and is based in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Aruba Networks Inc.(ARUN)

Aruba Networks, Inc. provides next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprises worldwide. Its products include ArubaOS, an operating system software for wired, wireless, and remote access products for integrating user-based security, application-aware radio-frequency services, and wireless LAN access to deliver mobile networking solutions; software modules for ArubaOS; mobility controllers for managing wired and wireless access; access points, which serve as on-ramps that aggregate user traffic onto the enterprise network and direct this traffic to mobility controllers; and mobility access switches that provide secure network access for wired users and devices. The company also offers remote networking products comprising remote access points for securing always-on network access to corporate enterprise networks from remote locations; Aruba Instant; and Virtual Intranet Access client software that provides secure network connectivity for Windows laptops and MacBooks. In addition, it offers outdoor wireless mesh routers to secure Wi-Fi access and backhaul links for transporting voice, video, and data traffic wirelessly. Further, the company provides management and security software products, such as AirWave network management for managing mobile and wired users on multisite networks; and Amigopod access management, which manages secure wireless LAN access for visitors, contractors, employees, and their mobile devices, as well as offers cloud-based content security services for branch offices and teleworkers. It markets its products to construction, general enterprise, education, finance, government, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, media, retail, technology, telecom, transportation, and utility industries through its sales force, value-added resellers, value-added distributors, and original equipment manufacturers. The company was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Freelance Individual Investor]

  Recently, there have been a spate of articles depicting Aruba Networks (ARUN) as just another player in the Wi-Fi space. Many of these detractors focused on GAAP losses, high executive compensation costs due to higher than normal stock option grants, and increasing competition from lower cost providers in some segments of their business. There is definitely some merit to these criticisms. And ARUN is attempting to address these concerns.

• [By Renu Singh]

  Aruba Networks (ARUN) is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for mobile enterprise. The company's Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless network infrastructures into one seamless access solution for corporate headquarters, mobile business professionals, remote workers and guests. This unified approach to access networks enables IT organizations and users to securely address the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon, dramatically improving productivity and lowering capital and operational costs.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One network equipment player that's quickly moving within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Aruba Networks (ARUN), which provides enterprise mobility solutions. This stock is off to a weak start in 2013, with shares off by 11%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Aruba Networks, you'll notice that this stock just formed a major bottom chart pattern, after buyers stepped in to support the price over the last month and change from $17 to $16.25 a share. Following that bottom, shares of ARUN have now started to rebound higher and move back above its 50-day moving average of $17.73 a share. That move is quickly pushing shares of ARUN within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ARUN if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $19.16 a share to its 200-day moving average at $19.63 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 2.12 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ARUN will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone from May that started near $22 a share. Any high-volume move above $22 will then give ARUN a chance to hit $24 to $25 a share.

  Traders can look to buy ARUN off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below support at $17 a share or below $16.25 a share if you want to give it more room. One can also buy ARUN off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Hot Forestry Stocks To Own For 2015: Landdrill Intl Inc(LDI.V)

Landdrill International Inc. provides contract drilling services for mining and mineral exploration companies primarily in Canada, Mexico, and Asia. Its drilling services include deep hole diamond drilling, directional drilling, reverse circulation drilling, underground drilling, packer testing, setting of instrumentation, and grouting. The company also offers logistics support services, such as setting up camps for housing and drill crews; providing tractor-trailer vehicles for mobilization and demobilization; tractor rentals for drill pads and road construction; and water trucks for drilling programs, as well as camp cooks, cleaners, and service vehicles. Landdrill International Inc. is headquartered in Moncton, Canada.

Prepare Now for When the New MyRA Becomes "TheirRA"

In his recent State of the Union Address, President Obama unveiled something new: a retirement savings account to "help" Americans build a nest egg, coining it the "MyRA."

Something immediately felt wrong about the proposal... but I couldn't put my finger on it.

So I researched the new MyRA and found details to help you understand just how it works.

But I also saw some potential dangers there that you need to prepare for now...

What MyRA Really Means

Like most government programs, getting to their essence can take some sifting. So I've distilled here what I think are the principal components of MyRA.

Individuals earning up to $129,000 and couples earning up to $191,000 are eligible if their employers offer the account; The minimum initial contribution is $25, then at least $5 through payroll deductions; The maximum contribution is $5,500 per year ($6,500 if over 50 years of age); Once the balance reaches $15,000 or has existed 30 years, it must be rolled into a Roth IRA; Total contributions to a person's IRAs cannot exceed $5,500 annually; Like a Roth IRA, withdrawals will grow and be redeemable tax-free; Principal can be redeemed any time, but earnings withdrawn before age 59 ½ are taxable and subject to 10% penalty; and Only one investment available: Treasury bonds paying variable interest-rate return MyRA Is Set to Lose the Inflation Battle

Essentially, the MyRA is like a Roth IRA that your employer opens for you, allowing for low individual contribution requirements.

But if that's what you want, you can already set up your own Roth IRA with a no-fee, no-minimum account requirement at discount brokers like TD Ameritrade or E*Trade. And then your investment options are practically limitless.

In his speech, Obama said that "MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in." So let's look at the underlying investment a little more closely.

Your MyRA contributions would go into a variable interest rate bond investment, comparable to the Government Securities Fund in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for federal employees.

That fund's recently been paying 2.5%, which admittedly is way better than the 1% you can get from the highest yielding savings accounts. And that looks OK, until you consider... inflation.

Right now official U.S. inflation has been 1.5% through the 12 months ended December 2013. If instead we look at a truer inflation rate, like the more realistic one calculated by ShadowStats, the emerging picture is altogether different.

Shadowstats finds inflation running at 5%, rather than the more benign "official" 1.5%. At 5% inflation, MyRA investors will be losing 2.5% annually.

With interest rates near all-time historic lows, odds are rates will go higher, not lower. And as interest rates rise, the MyRA could find it increasingly challenging to offer an attractive return to investors.

You've Just Become the Government's New Lender

It's no secret that the United States is running out of buyers for its bonds.

China, the largest foreign owner, has been reducing its purchases and has repeatedly said it has enough. Nations worldwide engaged in their own quantitative easing are busy buying their own bonds. Now, the Fed itself has begun the tapering process.

As the U.S. debt and deficits continue to balloon, the government is desperate for a new source of funding. Obama's proposed MyRA looks to Americans to buy up its "junk bonds."

In fact, new demand for bonds is so badly needed, it's easy to see how the MyRA could eventually move from voluntary to mandatory.

Account holders would automatically contribute through payroll deductions, funding the government's IOUs. And those won't pay out for decades until retirement.

This sounds a lot like another government scheme from which Americans can't opt out: Social Security.

Eventually, the need to fund a mushrooming debt could lead to compulsory government bond buying in retirement accounts. At first, it might be 10% to 20% of all new contributions, then perhaps 10% to 20% of existing balances. With over $5 trillion in U.S. retirement accounts, it's easy to see how a mandate for 20% (or more) directed into Treasuries will help extend and pretend.

Consider that Japan's debt to GDP ratio is 140%, already way above the 100% level considered problematic. This is possible in large part because so much of the national debt is held by its own citizens rather than foreigners.

So it's not a huge stretch to imagine America heading down the same path.

Eventually, retirement accounts could even be at risk of partial or even outright confiscation as debt levels become increasingly unsustainable. A desperate government will look to take desperate actions.

If you think I'm exaggerating, consider what's happened elsewhere.

In just the last five years, there have been government confiscations of retirement assets in no fewer than six countries, including Argentina and Poland, as I alluded to in a November article.

In that piece, I said:

Back in January 2010, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported, "The Obama administration is weighing how the government can encourage workers to turn their savings into guaranteed income streams following a collapse in retiree accounts when the stock market plunged."

Then in February this year, the Washington Times reported: "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray recently mentioned these [401(k)] accounts in a recent interview, stating 'That's one of the things we've been exploring and are interested in, in terms of whether and what authority we have.'"

As follow-up, I mentioned that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was considering the potential of a "'capital levy' - a one-off tax on private wealth - as an exceptional measure to restore debt sustainability."

And if you think this could never happen in the good ol' U.S. of A., consider that back in 1933, President Roosevelt seized privately held gold by signing into law Executive Order 6102.

FDR's official motive was to "provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes." Desperate times, desperate measures.

The Best Way to Keep Your Retirement Yours

What can you possibly do to protect yourself? Here's where thinking "outside the box" is vital.

The alternatives are simple, but they do require some effort and planning.

There are updates to some key points I've alluded to in the past: there are three basic things to do, and they apply equally to both good and bad times.

Own and invest in hard assets like gold, silver, energy, and real estate. You can buy physical precious metals; you can buy physically backed ETFs; you can own quality resource equities, including your own home; and you can own income-producing properties and land. Assets in non-retirement accounts are more difficult to expropriate. Hold plenty of cash. Cash is king, despite the risks of inflation. Hold it as a bank balance, but watch FDIC deposit insurance limits, and consider diversifying into other currencies. Be sure, however, to hold some physical cash as well, as this could be crucial during a "bank holiday." Hold assets internationally. This is largely the same as in owning hard assets, as above, but in another country. Consider opening a foreign bank account. It's not easy for Americans - thanks to FATCA - but holding something outside your country of residence makes it tougher for a desperate government to grab.

Remember, as government debt grows to even more unmanageable levels, and interest rates cause most government income to service the debt, they will become increasingly desperate.

Sidestep the trap.

Don't let your MyRA become Uncle Sam's.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) Q4 Earnings Preview: February Usually Rings Up High Scores

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) intends to release its fourth quarter 2013 results after the close of the market on Thursday, February 6, 2014. In conjunction with this release, Activision Blizzard will host a conference call that will be broadcast over the Internet.

Wall Street anticipates that the video game maker will earn $0.73 per share for the quarter, which is $0.05 less than last year's $0.78 per share. iStock expects ATVI  to beat Wall Street's consensus number. The iEstimate is $0.79; a nickel and a penny above the street's outlook.

ActivisionBlizzard is the world's largest and most profitable independent interactive entertainment publishing company. It develops and publishes some of the most successful and beloved entertainment franchises in any medium, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Skylanders, and Diablo.

[Related -Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) Q3 Earnings Preview: What To Watch?]

Top Bank Stocks To Own Right Now

For the most part, the video game maker has played games with Wall Street's consensus estimate. The NASDAQ 100 member topped EPS expectations 14 of the last 16 quarterly, and usually it ain't even close. The average bullish surprise has been 158.13% more than forecasted. The range extends from 4.08% to 600% better than analysts projected. Meanwhile, management delivered an on-target result and a bearish miss of -42.86%.

Despite the fantastic record of smashing EPS expectations, ATVI's stock performance in the three-days surround the quarterly checkups has been disappointing. Shares backpedalled nine of the last 16 quarters by an average of -4.97with a max loss of -7.9% to a minimum of -2.2%.

[Related -Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) Q3 Earnings Preview: Seeing Ghosts]

Performance was a little better the seven times shares turned green; gaining an average of 5.33% with a range of 1.30% to 16.50%. Take out the top-performance and the average gain slips to 3.47%.

Typically, the Q4 announcement is strongest of the three quarters in terms of performance.  EPS topped expectation three of the last four fourth quarter announcements and the stock price followed the side of the surprise each time.

The lone February miss was $0.02, and the stock dropped -6.7% in the three days bookending the profit report. On the A-side of that 45, the February announcement produced bullish surprises of $0.04, $0.06 and $0.07 with gains of 1.3%, 16.5%, and 8.8% respectively.

Overall: There are reasons to believe that Q4 2013 will add to the bullish column.  CEO, Eric Hirshberg reports, "Call of Duty: Ghosts is the #1 best-selling next gen launch title on both Xbox One and PS4, and for the second year in a row Skylanders was the #1 top-selling kids video game franchise." Clearly, Call of Duty is the franchise and Google Trends are up roughly 10% year-over-year (YoY). However, YoY queries for World of Warcraft, Skylanders, and Diablo. Lower expectations for the trio of games could be why Wall Street sees lower EPS this year than last. Nonetheless, the iEstimate and Activision Blizzard, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ATVI) February history suggest Thursday afternoon should be enjoyable for the company and its shareholders. 

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015

U.S. - the world�� largest consumer of energy- faced an unlikely situation quite recently. It was in April last year that the natural gas prices hit an all time low at under $2 per million British thermal credits. Many believed this to be an immutable and uncomfortable reality. Though this was only a partial reality, Shares of natural gas engine designer- Westport Innovation (WPRT) nearly doubled in four months as did clean energy fuels (CLNE), a company that builds refueling stations. The NAT GAS Act, passed by the congress, was aimed at promoting the usage of cleaner fuels. It provided subsidies to vehicles which used alternative fuels rather than going the conventional way.

The Obama administration laid stress on the fact that it would always be beneficial to use the clean fuels produced within the nation�� boundaries. To further the initiative he announced an investment of $1 billion in the gas infrastructure. All this was way back in April 2012. Now, coming to the present scenario, the gas pieces have doubled than what they originally were which now puts them at $4/mmBtu price tag. The congress is nowhere in the scene now amending bills that would encourage the use of natural gas vehicles. This had ramifications in the stock market as the stocks, as those of Westport and Clean Energy, that were peaking have now fallen down to almost half their value.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Passport Metals Inc (PPI.V)

Passport Potash Inc., an early stage natural resource company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in the United States. The company focuses on the exploration of potash. It primarily holds 100% interest in the Holbrook basin property that covers an area of 81,000 acres in the Holbrook basin located in Navajo county, Arizona. The company was formerly known as Passport Metals Inc. and changed its name to Passport Potash Inc. in November 2009. Passport Potash Inc was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Thundelarra Explrn Ltd(Canada CUFS)

Thundelarra Exploration Limited engages in the exploration and development of mineral resource properties in Australia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, uranium, and nickel deposits in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The company is based in West Perth, Australia.

Top 10 Penny Stocks To Watch For 2015: Globex Mining Ente Com Npv (GMX.TO)

Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. engages in the exploration and development of mineral resource properties in North America. It primarily explores for base metals, including copper, nickel, zinc, and lead; precious metals comprising gold, silver, platinum, palladium, osmium, and iridium; specialty metals and minerals, such as manganese, iron, molybdenum, uranium, and lithium, as well as rare earths and associated elements; and industrial minerals, which comprise mica and apatite, as well as talc and magnesium. The company was formerly known as Lyndhurst Mining Co. Ltd. and changed its name to Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. in 1974. Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Rouyn-Noranda, Canada.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: PDF Solutions Inc.(PDFS)

PDF Solutions, Inc. provides infrastructure technologies and services for the design and manufacture of integrated circuits (IC) in Asia, the United States, and Europe. It offers manufacturing process solutions that include process research and development, and process integration and yield ramp; volume manufacturing solutions; and design-for-manufacturability (DFM) solutions, such as logic DFM, circuit level DFM, memory DFM, and pdBRIX Physical IP solutions. The company also offers characterization vehicle (CV) infrastructure, which includes CV test chips, pdCV analysis software, and pdFasTest electrical wafer test system; Yield Ramp Simulator software that analyzes an IC design to compute its systematic and random yield loss; and Circuit Surfer software, which estimates the parametric performance yield and manufacturability of analog/mixed-signal/RF blocks. In addition, it provides pdBRIX platform, which includes software for identifying and developing a set of physical IP building blocks that are tailored to a given manufacturing process and target product application; dataPOWER YMS platform that collects yield data, loads, and stores it in an integrated database and allows product engineers to identify and analyze production yield issues; FDC software, which provides fault detection and classification capabilities to identify sources of process variations and manufacturing excursions by monitoring equipment parameters; and YA-FDC service and software platform that allows online modeling to create real-time virtual measurements of final product attributes during processing. PDF Solutions sells its technologies and services through direct sales force, sales representatives, and strategic alliances to integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor design companies, and foundries in the microprocessors, memory, graphics, image sensor solutions, and communications segments. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in San Jo se, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  PDF Solutions (PDFS) provides infrastructure technologies and services to improve yield and optimize performance of integrated circuits. This stock closed up 2.6% at $21.51 in Friday's trading session.

  Friday's Volume: 543,000
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 112,159
  
  Volume % Change: 393%

  From a technical perspective, PDFS trended up here right above some near-term support at $20.50 and into new 52-week-high territory with above-average volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last three months, with shares moving higher from its low of $14.95 to its intraday high on Friday of $21.64. During that move, shares of PDFS have been consistently making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has also been accompanies by heavy upside volume flows since mid-July.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in PDFS as long as it's trending above some near-term support at $20.50 or above its 50-day at $19.06 and then once it sustains a move or close above Friday's high of $21.64 with volume that's near or above 112,159 shares. If we get that move soon, then PDFS will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $25 to $28.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Southern National Bancorp of Virginia Inc.(SONA)

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Sonabank, which provides commercial banking products and services primarily to small and medium-sized businesses, and retail clients in the United States. It offers deposit products, including non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, and certificates of deposit. The company also provides commercial mortgage and non-mortgage loans, including commercial real estate loans, construction to permanent loans, development and builder loans, accounts receivable financing, lines of credit, equipment and vehicle loans, leasing, and commercial overdraft protection; small business administration loans and stand-by letters of credit; single family residential construction loans; home equity lines of credit; and secured and unsecured consumer loans primarily for personal, family, or household purpose s. In addition, it offers cash management services, including investment/sweep, zero balance, and controlled disbursement accounts; and wire transfer, employer/payroll processing, night depository, lockbox, depository transfers, merchant, ACH originations, check 21 processing, and asset based lending services. The company?s other consumer/retail products and services include debit and credit cards, ATM services, travelers? checks, savings bonds, notary services, telephone banking, and online banking with bill payment services. As of June 29, 2011, it operated through 13 banking offices in McLean, Front Royal, Fairfax, New Market, Reston, Leesburg, Warrenton, South Riding, Charlottesville, Middleburg, and Clifton Forge County in Virginia, as well as 1 banking office in Rockville, Maryland; and loan production offices in Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Warrenton, and Richmond in Virginia. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Pound/Canadian(PW)

Power REIT is an independent equity infrastructure real estate investment trust. It invests in the real estate markets of the United States. The firm develops, manages, and invests in embedded real-estate in transportation and energy infrastructure. Power REIT was formed in 1916 and is based in West Babylon, New York.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Canadian Solar Inc.(CSIQ)

Canadian Solar Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of solar power products in Canada and internationally. The company offers solar cell and solar module products that convert sunlight into electricity for various uses. Its products include a range of standard solar modules for use in a range of residential, commercial, and industrial solar power generation systems. The company also designs and produces specialty solar modules and products consisting of customized modules that its customers incorporate into their products, such as solar-powered bus stop lighting; and specialty products, such as portable solar home systems and solar-powered car battery chargers. In addition, it sells solar system kits, a package consisting of solar modules produced by it and third party supplied components, such as inverters, racking system, and other accessories, as well as implements solar power development projects. The company sells its products under the Canad ian Solar brand name. Canadian Solar Inc. offers its standard solar modules through a direct sales force and sales agents primarily to distributors, system integrators, and original equipment manufacturer customers, as well as to solar projects; and specialty solar modules and products to the automotive, telecommunications, and light-emitting diode lighting sectors. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Kitchener, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) jumped as much as 16% today after announcing a major project development.

  So what: The company has been hired by Samsung Renewable Energy to design and build a 130 MW utility-scale project called Grand Renewable Solar. The project will generate $301.1 million in revenue for Canadian Solar and will begin construction in the third quarter of this year. �

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) made a big splash this week by announcing a partnership with Samsung Renewable Energy to build manufacturing capacity in Canada. The venture will supply modules to at least 200 MW worth of projects Samsung is building and will probably grow that base in the future. �

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Solar power shop Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) has landed the biggest engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract in its history, for a 130-megawatt utility-scale solar power plant being built�in conjunction with�Grand Renewable Solar, a project�developed by�Samsung Renewable Energy, the company announced today.

• [By Wall Street Strategies]

  Naturally the news is a big positive for the industry, with Chinese solar names like Yingli (YGE), Trina (TSL), Canadian Solar (CSIQ) -- which is actually Chinese despite its name -- JinkoSolar (JKS), JA Solar (JASO), and LDK Solar (LDK) each up more than 10% at midday. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN), which tracks several global solar companies, was up 8%, breaking to a new 52-week high.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: AMERISAFE Inc.(AMSF)

AMERISAFE, Inc., an insurance holding company, provides workers? compensation insurance focusing on small to mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, primarily construction, trucking, agriculture, logging, oil and gas, maritime, and sawmills in the southeast United States. It also offers general liability insurance policies for its workers? compensation policyholders in the logging industry. The company?s workers? compensation insurance policies provide benefits to injured employees for temporary or permanent disability, death, and medical and hospital expenses. AMERISAFE, Inc. sells its products and services through independent agencies, as well as through its insurance agency subsidiary, Amerisafe General Agency, Inc. The company was incorporated in 1985 and is based in DeRidder, Louisiana.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: STAAR Surgical Company(STAA)

STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of implantable lenses for the cataracts and refractive surgery. It offers intraocular lenses (IOL) that include silicone Toric IOL, which is used in cataract surgery to treat preexisting astigmatism; Preloaded Injector, a three-piece silicone or acrylic IOL preloaded into a single-use disposable injector; Aspheric IOLs that provide a clearer image than traditional spherical IOLs; and nanoFLEX IOL, a single-piece collamer aspheric IOL. The company also provides implantable collamer lenses (ICL) comprising VISIAN ICL and VISIAN Toric ICL to treat refractive disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. In addition, it sells surgical products and other related instruments, as well as manufactures AquaFlow device for the treatment of glaucoma. The company markets its products to health care providers, including surgical centers, hospitals, managed care pro viders, health maintenance organizations, group purchasing organizations, and government facilities primarily under the STAAR, Visian, Collamer, nanoFLEX, nanoPOINT, CentraFLOW, AquaPORT, Epiphany, and AquaFlow names. It distributes its products through directly employed representatives, independent sales representatives, and local distributors in the United States and internationally. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Monrovia, California.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Wilshire Bancorp Inc.(WIBC)

Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Wilshire State Bank that offers a range of financial products and services. It accepts various deposit products that include certificates of deposit, regular savings accounts, money market accounts, checking and negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, installment savings accounts, and individual retirement accounts. The company?s loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate and home mortgage loans, commercial business lending and trade finance, and small business administration lending, as well as consumer loans, including personal loans, auto loans, and other loans. It also provides trade finance services that include issuance and negotiation of letters of credit, handling of documentary collections, advising and negotiation of commercial letters of credit, transfer and issuance of back-to-back letters of credit, and trade finance lines of credit. In addition, the company offers Internet banking services, auto matic teller machines, and armored carrier services. It has 24 full-service branch offices in Southern California, Texas, New Jersey, and the greater New York City metropolitan area; and 6 loan production offices in Colorado, Georgia, Texas, New Jersey, and Virginia. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Los Angeles-based Wilshire Bancorp (NASDAQ: WIBC  ) is acquiring some Korean banking customers... in New Jersey.

  On Monday, Wilshire announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire�New Jersey's BankAsiana, a commercial bank�with three branches serving the Korean-American community in the New York/New Jersey market, boasting total assets of $207.3 million, total net loans of $161.2 million, and total deposits of $164.6 million.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Clean Wind Energy Tower Inc (CWET.PK)

Clean Wind Energy Tower, Inc. (Clean Wind), incorporated on January 22, 1962, focuses on becoming a provider of green energy. As of December 31, 2011, Clean Wind had designed and was preparing to develop, and construct Downdraft Towers that use non-toxic elements to generate electricity and clean water by integrating and synthesizing a range of proven, as well as emerging technologies.

The Downdraft Tower is a hollow cylinder with a water spray system at the top. Pumps deliver water to the top of the Downdraft Tower to spray a fine mist across the entire opening. The water evaporates and cools the hot dry air at the top. The cooled air is denser and heavier than the outside warmer air and falls through the cylinder at speeds up to and in excess of 50 miles per hour (mph), driving the turbines located at the base of the structure. The turbines power generators to produce electricity.

The Company competes with Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Arizona Public Service Company, Florida Power & Light Company, enXco, Inc., PPM Energy, Inc. and UNS.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Key Tronic Corporation(KTCC)

Key Tronic Corporation, doing business as KeyTronicEMS Co., together with its subsidiaries, provides electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to original equipment manufacturers primarily in the United States, Mexico, and China. Its EMS services include product design, surface mount technologies for printed circuit board assembly, tool making, precision plastic molding, liquid injection molding, automated tape winding, prototype design, and full product builds. The company also manufactures keyboards and other input devices for personal computers. Key Tronic markets its products and services primarily through its direct sales department aided by field sales people and distributors. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Spokane Valley, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Computer Peripherals: This industry rose 2.21% by 10:15 am ET. The top performer in this industry was Key Tronic (NASDAQ: KTCC), which gained 0.3%. Key Tronic's trailing-twelve-month ROE is 14.57%.

10 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Watch For 2015: Enstar Group Limited (ESGR)

Enstar Group Limited, through its subsidiaries, acquires and manages insurance and reinsurance companies in run-off. The company settles insurance and reinsurance claims. It also offers management and consultancy, claims inspection, and reinsurance collection services to its affiliates and third-party clients. The company operates in the United States, Bermuda, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia. Enstar Group Limited was formerly known as Castlewood Holdings Limited and changed its name to Enstar Group Limited. Enstar Group Limited was founded in 2001 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Web giants weigh in on Ohio defamation suit

CINCINNATI (AP) — From Twitter and Facebook to Amazon and Google, the biggest names of the Internet are blasting a federal judge's decision allowing an Arizona-based gossip website to be sued for defamation by a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader convicted of having sex with a teenager.

In court briefs recently filed in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, the Internet giants warn that if upheld, the northern Kentucky judge's ruling to let the former cheerleader's lawsuit proceed has the potential to "significantly chill online speech" and undermine a law passed by Congress in 1996 that provides broad immunity to websites.

"If websites are subject to liability for failing to remove third-party content whenever someone objects, they will be subject to the 'heckler's veto,' giving anyone who complains unfettered power to censor speech," according to briefs filed Nov. 19 by lawyers for Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Amazon, Gawker and BuzzFeed, among others.

Those heavy hitters "really tell you how major of an issue this is," said David Gingras, attorney for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based thedirty.com and its owner, Nik Richie, 34, who lives in Orange County, Calif.

A message left for Jones' attorney, Eric Deters, seeking comment wasn't immediately returned.

The case centers on the federal Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996 to help foster growth and free speech on the Internet by providing immunity from liability to websites for content posted by their users. The law also was designed to encourage websites to self-police offensive material.

Judges and appeals courts across the country have upheld the law in hundreds of cases.

But not Richie's.

His website, thedirty.com, allows users to submit posts — anonymously if they want — about anyone from the girl next door to professional athletes and politicians, often accusing them of promiscuity, cheating on their spouses or getting plastic surgery or picking apart their looks. Richie! screens each post, decides what goes up and often adds his own commentary.

Most recently, Richie broke the news of Anthony Weiner's latest round of marital indiscretions.

In December 2012, former Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones, 28, also a former high school teacher in northern Kentucky, sued Richie over posts concerning the sexual history of her and her ex-husband. Jones said the posts were untrue and caused her severe mental anguish and embarrassment.

Richie said that the posts were submitted to him anonymously and that it was not up to him to judge their accuracy. He simply posted them and added a comment about high school teachers and sex.

In July, after federal Judge William Bertelsman allowed the lawsuit to proceed, jurors found that the posts about Jones were substantially false and Richie had acted with malice or reckless disregard by publishing them, and they awarded Jones $338,000.

Richie is asking the 6th Circuit to find that Bertelsman should never have allowed the case to proceed, which would nullify the jury's verdict.

Oral arguments in the case will be held in Cincinnati, likely in the beginning of 2014, with a decision expected in the summer.

Gingras, other attorneys specializing in Internet law and civil rights groups criticize Bertelsman's ruling as based on his own personal distaste of thedirty.com and not on legal precedent.

Bertelsman ruled four separate times in the case against arguments over the Communications Decency Act, finding that the very name of Richie's website, the way he manages it and the personal comments that he adds all encourage offensive content.

Richie's own commentary about the Jones posts effectively validated all the anonymous accusations against her, Bertelsman said.

The posts about Jones were unrelated to a criminal case that emerged against her in March 2012 in which she was accused of having sex with her former student, a teenager. Jones later pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and custodial int! erference! as part of a plea deal that allowed her to avoid jail time but prohibited her from teaching again.

Jones and the student, then 17, are still together and say they're in love and engaged to be married.

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now

Want to see what happens to an airplane manufacturing company after yet another one of its aircraft bursts into flames on the tarmac?

That's an intraday chart of Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) . The cliff you see around noon corresponds to news that yet another of its flagship 787 Dreamliners caught fire on an airport tarmac -- to be clear, the plane was empty at the time of the fire. For those of you that are counting, this is now the third such incident since the 787 began its commercial life.

According to The New York Times, "An internal fire broke out on Friday on a Boeing 787 that Ethiopian Airlines had parked between flights at London's Heathrow Airport." While it remains to be seen what caused the fire, this isn't good.

It was only seven weeks ago that the innovative aircraft was allowed back in the skies by global regulators following two similar occurrences earlier this year. In the first, a lithium-ion battery caught fire on a 787 parked at the Boston airport in the beginning of January. One week later, the same thing happened mid-flight, causing a 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan.

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Asia Bio-Chem Group Corp(ABC.TO)

Asia Bio-Chem Group Corp., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, packaging, and sale of cornstarch, germ, fiber, and gluten in People?s Republic of China. The company?s cornstarch is used in manufacturing food products, including MSG, fructose, maltose, glucose, dextrin, citric acid, and lysine. Its cornstarch is also used to produce sugar alcohols, such as sorbitol and mannitol, as well as to produce various modified starch products for the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries. The company?s corn germ is used for producing margarine or corn oil for cooking; and gluten and fiber products are used by livestock farmers as animal feed. Asia Bio-Chem Group Corp. is headquartered in Shenyang, the People?s Republic of China.

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC)

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA (FCC) is a Spain-based company, which is primarily engaged, together with its subsidiaries in the construction and environmental services sector. The Company�� activities include the collection, treatment and elimination of solid urban waste, street cleaning, sewer system maintenance, green areas and buildings maintenance, urban transport, treatment and elimination of industrial waste, full-service water supply management and cement manufacture. The Company is also active in the real estate development, as well as in the renewable energy industry. In addition, the Company is a parent of Grupo FCC, a group which comprises a number of controlled entities.

Top 5 Telecom Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Shore Gold Inc Com Npv (SGF.TO)

Shore Gold Inc., an explorations stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties. It principally explores for diamond. The company primarily focuses on the exploration of the Star � Orion South diamond project located in the Fort � la Corne Provincial Forest, Saskatchewan, Canada. It also holds a 33% interest in the Buffalo Hills property located in northern Alberta, Canada. The company was formerly known as Shore Gold Fund Inc. and changed its name to Shore Gold Inc. in August 1994. Shore Gold Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada.

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Bodaclick SA (BDK.MC)

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Solarvest Bioenergy Inc (SVS.V)

Solarvest BioEnergy Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development of alternate energy. The company focuses on the development of sustainable and renewable energy sources. Its technology provides a controlled method for turning on and off genes in algae resulting in the continuous production of hydrogen gas. Solarvest BioEnergy Inc. is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Motricity Inc.(MOTR)

Motricity, Inc. enables mobile operators, brands, and advertising agencies to maximize the reach and economic potential of the mobile ecosystem through the delivery of relevance-driven merchandising, marketing, and advertising solutions. It leverages predictive analytics capabilities to deliver the right content, to the right person at the right time. Motricity, Inc. provides their entire suite of mobile data service solutions through a managed service platform. The company was formerly known as Power By Hand, Inc. and changed its name to Motricity, Inc. in October 2004. Motricity, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Sahara Energy Ltd (SAH.V)

Sahara Energy Ltd., a junior resource exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of petroleum and natural gas reserves in western Canada. It focuses on the exploration and evaluation of various oil and gas properties in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. On March 23, 2010, Sahara Energy, Ltd. filed for bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada).

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Quest Diagnostics Inc (DGX)

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (Quest Diagnostics), incorporated in 1990, is a provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, providing insights that enable patients and physicians to make healthcare decisions. Quest Diagnostics offers United States patients and physicians the access to diagnostic testing services through its nationwide network of laboratories and Company-owned patient service centers. The Company provides interpretive consultation through the medical and scientific staff. The Company is a provider of clinical testing, including gene-based and esoteric testing and anatomic pathology services, and the provider of risk assessment services for the life insurance industry. The Company also is a provider of testing for clinical trials and testing for drugs of abuse. Its diagnostics products business manufactures and markets diagnostic test kits and specialized point-of-care testing. On April 4, 2011, the Company acquired Athena Diagnostics (Athena). On May 17, 2011, the Company acquired Celera Corporation (Celera). In January 2012, the Company acquired S.E.D. Medical Laboratories. In December 2012, the Company sold all of the assets of OralDNA Labs salivary-diagnostics business to Access Genetics. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (Quest Diagnostics) is a provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, providing insights that enable patients and physicians to make healthcare decisions. Quest Diagnostics offers United States patients and physicians the access to diagnostic testing services through its nationwide network of laboratories and Company-owned patient service centers. The Company provides interpretive consultation through the medical and scientific staff. The Company is a provider of clinical testing and the provider of risk assessment services for the life insurance industry. The Company also is a provider of testing for clinical trials and testing for drugs of abuse. In January 2012, it acquired S.E.D. Medical Laboratories. In December 2012, it sold all of the ! assets of OralDNA Labs salivary-diagnostics business to Access Genetics. In January 2013, the Company acquired the Worcester -based clinical outreach laboratory business of UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Clinical Testing

The Company is a commercial clinical testing company. Physicians use clinical tests to assist in the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring and treatment of diseases and other medical conditions. Clinical testing is generally categorized as clinical laboratory testing and anatomic pathology services. The Company offers customers the access to the test menu of clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology tests in the United States. Clinical laboratory testing generally is performed on whole blood, serum, plasma and other body fluids, such as urine, and specimens such as microbiology samples.

The Company is a provider of routine clinical testing, including testing for drugs of abuse. The Company performs routine testing through its network of laboratories and rapid response laboratories. The Company also performs routine testing at hospital laboratories that the Company manages. The Company operates laboratories round the clock. The majority of test results are delivered electronically. Routine tests measure various bodily health parameters, such as the functions of the kidney, heart, liver, thyroid and other organs. Commonly ordered tests include blood chemistries, including cholesterol levels; complete blood cell counts; urinalysis; pregnancy and other prenatal tests, and routine microbiology testing.

The Company is a provider of anatomic pathology services in the United States, through its AmeriPath, Dermpath Diagnostics and Quest Diagnostics brands. Anatomic pathology involves the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases and medical conditions through examination of tissue and cell samples taken from patients. The Company provides inpatient anatomic pathology and medical director services at hospitals throughout the country, and through ! its labor! atories. The Company provides a range of services to all anatomic pathology subspecialties. The Company provides integrated, reports that include both anatomic pathology and clinical pathology tests, enabling its pathologists to offer patients and physicians a complete analysis. The Company introduced the Leumeta family of tests for leukemia and lymphoma.

The Company is a provider in the United States of gene-based and esoteric testing. Esoteric tests include procedures in the areas of molecular diagnostics, protein chemistry, cellular immunology and advanced microbiology. Commonly ordered esoteric tests include viral and bacterial detection tests, drug therapy monitoring tests, genetic tests, autoimmune panels and complex cancer evaluations. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it acquired Athena Diagnostics, a provider of neurology testing. Its esoteric laboratories provide reference testing services to physicians, academic medical centers, hospitals and other commercial laboratories. The Company also offers gene-based tests for the predisposition, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of cancers. The Company develops tests at its laboratories, such as Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute. It also develops techniques and services in anatomic pathology.

In 2011, the Company introduced its melanoma treatment selection mutation panel, which is designed to assist in the personalized selection of patient therapies. The Company introduced its thyroid cancer mutation panel, which assists in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer and aids physicians and surgeons as they plan surgery and other therapies to treat and attempt to cure thyroid cancer. During 2011, it enhanced its SureSwab Vaginosis/Vaginitis Plus test. The Company introduced Accutype IL28b, a test designed to aid in the prediction of patient response to peginterferon alpha-based therapy for treating hepatitis C virus infection. In 2011, it introduced testing for very long chain fatty acids, to assist in diagnosis and monitori! ng of inh! erited disorders of fatty acid metabolism. It also introduced high resolution chromosomal analysis testing with oligonucleotide microarrays to enhance its testing services in the pre-natal and post-natal genetics areas. During 2011, the Company released a test for therapeutic drug monitoring of dabigatran, an oral anti-coagulant. The Company also released genetic testing for SLC01B1, which helps identify patients at risk for myopathy from Simvastatin therapy for cholesterol reduction. Through Athena Diagnostics, it launched several molecular genetic tests for stroke, neuromuscular diseases and mitochondrial disorders.

Healthcare Information Technology

The Company provides interoperable technologies that help healthcare organizations and physicians enter, share and access clinical information without costly information technology (IT) implementation or workflow disruption, including through its Care360 suite of products and its ChartMaxx electronic document management system for hospitals. These solutions offer access to a national healthcare provider network, including approximately 200,000 networked physicians and clinicians using Quest Diagnostics��Care360 connectivity products. The Care360 products, including its Care360 Labs and Meds, enable physicians electronically to order diagnostic tests and review test results from Quest Diagnostics and electronically to prescribe medication. As of December 31, 2011, prescriptions were written through Care360 ePrescribing at an annualized rate of 32 million medications. Using its Care360 connectivity products, physicians can securely provide diagnostic and other data to a patient�� account. It offers Gazelle, a secure mobile health platform that allows users to receive their Quest Diagnostics laboratory results, manage their personal health information, find a Quest Diagnostics location and schedule appointments directly from their smartphone.

Clinical Trials Testing

The Company is a provider of central l! aboratory! testing performed in connection with clinical research trials on new drugs, vaccines and certain medical devices. It has clinical trials testing centers in the United States and the United Kingdom, and it provides clinical trials testing in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the People�� Republic of China and Singapore through affiliated laboratories. The Company has biomarker capabilities. In 2011, it acquired Celera, enhancing its ability to provide biomarker discovery and develop IVD test kits.

Life Insurer Services

The Company is a provider of risk assessment services to the life insurance industry in North America. It also provides risk assessment services for insurance companies doing business in many countries outside the United States. Its risk assessment services comprise underwriting support services to the life insurance industry, including laboratory testing, electronic data collection, specimen collection and paramedical examinations, medical record retrieval, case management, motor vehicle reports, telephone inspections, prescription histories and credit checks. The laboratory tests that it performs and data it gathers are designed to assist insurance companies to objectively evaluate the mortality risks of policy applicants. The majority of the testing is performed on specimens of life insurance applicants, but also includes specimens of applicants for other types of insurance. Most of its specimen collections and paramedical examinations are performed by its network of approximately 5,000 contracted paramedical examiners at the applicant�� home or workplace. The Company also offers paramedical examinations through approximately 500 of its patient service centers, and operate approximately 80 locations other than patient service centers in the United States and Canada where the Company provides paramedical examinations, bringing to approximately 580 the total number of sites where it can provide these examinations. The Company also contracts with third parties at over! an addit! ional 200 locations globally to coordinate providing these exams.

Employer Services

The Company is a provider of testing to employers for the detection of employee use of drugs of abuse. Its Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, which is an annual report of its aggregate drug testing results, is used by employers, the federal government and the media to help identify and quantify drug abuse among the nation�� workforce. It provides a range of solutions for drugs of abuse, including urine, hair, blood and oral fluid tests. In 2011, it introduced Oral-Eze, its own oral fluid collection system that simplifies the collection of oral samples for routine drug testing. The Oral-Eze Oral Fluid Collector provides all the advantages of previous collection systems, with the added benefit of its indicator window technology. The Company provides wellness testing and analytic services to employers.

Diagnostic Products

Diagnostic Products include point-of-care, or near-patient and testing. The Company develops and manufactures products that enable healthcare professionals to make healthcare diagnoses, including products for point-of-care, or near-patient, testing for the professional market. The Company has several companies, including Focus Diagnostics, HemoCue and Celera. Focus Diagnostics is a provider of infectious disease testing. Focus Diagnostics develops, manufactures and markets diagnostic products, such as HerpeSelect ELISA tests that detect patient antibodies to specific types of herpes simplex virus, which can be performed on a variety of instrument platforms. Focus Diagnostics sells its diagnostic products to academic medical centers, hospitals and commercial laboratories globally. Focus Diagnostics has an agreement with 3M Corporation for global human diagnostic rights to a compact integrated bench-top instrument for use with real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. These tests are sold under the Simplexa brand name. In 2011, Focus Diagnostic! s receive! d the CE mark to offer Simplexa tests in Europe, including tests for Cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus, BK virus and clostridium difficile. Focus Diagnostics offers molecular transplant-testing menus in Europe.

HemoCue manufactures and distributes point-of-care testing products globally. HemoCue is a global provider in point-of-care testing for hemoglobin, with a growing market share for glucose, microalbumin and white blood cell testing. HemoCue offers its White Blood Cell Differential System in Europe. Celera offers complexity molecular diagnostic products in segments, such as HIV-1 drug resistance testing, reproductive genetics, transplantation and cardiovascular genetics. It also manufactures and offers the InSure fecal immunochemical test (FIT) for screening for colorectal cancer.

The Company competes with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) is projected to report its Q3 earnings at $1.17 per share on revenue of $1.82 billion.

  Valmont Industries (NYSE: VMI) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $2.43 per share on revenue of $800.97 million.

• [By Ben Fox Rubin]

  Medical-testing services provider Quest Diagnostics Inc.(DGX) raised the low end of its 2013 profit estimate, a rosier view that comes two days after rival Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings issued a disappointing 2014 outlook.

Top 10 Integrated Utility Companies To Watch In Right Now: Hartco Income Fd(HCI.TO)

Hartco Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides information technology products, services, and solutions to private and public organizations in Canada. It operates in two segments, Franchising and Distribution, and Commercial. The Franchising and Distribution segment offers logistics, marketing, and other services to its franchise network partners in Canada. It is also involved in distribution activities; and the franchising of businesses that sell a range of IT infrastructure solutions. This segment?s franchises operate under the banners of Metafore and MicroAge. The Commercial segment, through its subsidiary, Metafore Technologies Inc., designs, supplies, installs, and supports IT infrastructure solutions. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.