Conspicuous Correlation: Retail Sales April 2011

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest nominal read of retail sales showing an increase of 0.5% since March bringing the total increase since last year to 7.6% on an aggregate of all items including food, fuel and healthcare services.

Nominal discretionary retail sales including home furnishings, home garden and building materials, consumer electronics and department store sales, on the other hand, declined 0.64% from March falling 1.44% below the level seen in April 2010 while, adjusting for inflation, "real" discretionary retail sales actually declined a notable 4.39% over the same period.

(Click to enlarge)

On a "nominal" basis, there had appeared to be "rough correlation" between strong home value appreciation and strong retail spending preceding the housing bust and an even stronger correlation when home values started to decline.

The following chart shows the year-over-year change to nominal discretionary retail sales and the year-over-year change to nominal the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite home price index since 1993 and since 2000.

(Click to enlarge)

As you can see there is, at the very least, a coincidental change to home values and consumer spending during the boom and then the bust, but as home values have continued to decline, retail spending has remained low but has not continued to consistently contract.

Looking at the chart below, adjusted for inflation (CPI for retail sales, CPI "less shelter" for S&P/Case-Shiller Composite) the "rough correlation" between the year-over-year change to the "discretionary" retail sales series and the year-over-year S&P/Case-Shiller Composite series seems now even more significant.

(Click to enlarge)

Oversupply Threatens European Oil Refiners Profit Margins

A potential correction to crude oil prices poses risks to European integrated oil major’s ability to control operating costs and enhance profit margins, especially in their downstream segments, according Fitch Ratings.

Furthermore, a prolonged downturn in oil prices or continued difficulty in the refining sector could delay cash generation needed for companies to meet their strategic goals and thus have a negative impact on ratings, Fitch says in European Oil Majors – Update(Premium)

“A widening gap appears to be developing between upward crude oil price momentum in the futures market and supply and demand fundamentals on the ground,” says Jeffrey Woodruff, Senior Director in Fitch’s Corporate Energy team in London. “If oil prices start to trend lower over an extended period, European oil companies may not be able to generate sufficient operating cash flow to return credit metrics to more normal levels.”

As European oil majors increased borrowings in 2009 to fund capex and dividends during the downturn in the business cycle, their financial profiles have deteriorated alongside slower cash flow generation. Whilst Fitch rates issuers on a “through-the-cycle” basis using its conservative oil price view, for credit ratios to return to mid-cycle levels, companies will need to begin demonstrating in 2010 that business conditions are improving and cash flow generation is materialising.

Within the downstream segment, Fitch anticipates it could take up to three years to rebalance global demand and overcapacity for refined products to a level significant enough for refining profits to fully revert to the long-term average.

Examples of companies redeploying downstream assets includeRoyal Dutch Shell Group’s (RDS.A, ‘AA+’/Stable) announced plans in February to sell 15% of its global refining capacity, andTotal SA’s(FP, ‘AA’/Stable) announcement of specific refining shutdowns over late-2009/early 2010. These announcements reflect the need for the European oil industry to battle both a drop in demand for oil products and 15-year low refining margins.

Recent analyst comments via Alacra Pulse:

‘The underlying story for Royal Dutch Shell from 2012 is compelling,’ said Richard Griffith analyst at Evolution Securities. But he has a ’reduce’ recommendation on the shares since the recovery means Shell needs to complete a number of key projects in order to turn its finances around. (citywire)

Lucy Haskins at Barclays Capital believes Shell is being overly optimistic about the outlook for refining margins and that a mistake here could see the cashflow come in below Shell’s guidance. But even she is lifting her price target to £20.50 to reflect the higher cash generation forecasts.

Alistair Syme at Nomura doesn’t thinks Shell is appropriately priced based on its own profitability outlook.

Citigroup analyst Mark A Fletcher and Michele della Vigna of Goldman Sachs are much more upbeat. Both and have ‘buy’ views on the shares. They see good upside potential of 13.3% and 42% respectively.

“CEO delivered goals and plans during the firm’s 2010 strategy update that were more specific than in past years. While this meeting helped to identify how Shell plans to boost upstream production and retool downstream operations, it did not change our outlook or fair value estimate. “ Catharina Milostan, Morningstar

Total SA is one of the largest companies onAudit Integrity’s Western Europe Investor WatchList of companies that Audit Integrity views as having the greatest short-term equity risk.

These 3 Things Will Keep the Dow at Record Highs

Both the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) and the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) finished March at new all-time record highs. But with the first quarter of 2013 in the record books, the question investors need to ask is what will keep the bull market in stocks alive going forward.

Three key contributors have helped push the Dow to new highs, and they're poised to keep supporting the market. Let's take a closer look.

1. Interest rates will stay low.
Low interest rates have been the lifeblood of the bull market over the past four years. As much as lower rates have hurt savers, they have given corporations a chance to refinance debt and obtain more capital very inexpensively. Highly rated blue-chip stock Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) tapped the bond market last November, finding investors willing to allow it to borrow money for five years at a rate of less than 1%. Less creditworthy companies haven't gotten rates that low, but they've nevertheless been able to refinance existing debt at lower rates than they were paying before.

Low interest rates have already had the effect of cutting interest expense, helping profitability and boosting margins. Although yields have perked up a bit lately, concerns about the global economy should lead the Federal Reserve to keep monetary policy easy for a while yet. That will give companies some chances to extend their cheap borrowing and keep the earnings that have helped push their stock prices up.

2. Dividends will keep increasing.
More than anything these days, investors appreciate income. The consequence of low interest rates is that investors have increasingly looked to stocks to provide the income that bonds, bank CDs, and other traditional income investments haven't delivered lately.

So far this year, a number of Dow stocks have raised their dividends, and if past patterns hold true, then consumer giants Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) should come through with dividend increases of their own in the next month or two. Similar increases have happened with thousands of stocks throughout the market over the past year, and all indications are for those gains to continue. If they do, then it will support the market's moves to new records.

3. Investors will chase performance.
Historically, most ordinary investors have bad timing with their investment decisions. Millions of investors got out of stocks only after the worst of the financial crisis had hit, suffering big losses but missing out on the subsequent rebound. Only now are they starting to come back into the market, seeing record highs as an all-clear sign that it's safe to buy stocks again.

Performance-related buying of stocks has been muted in recent years by strong performance of bond investments, which reaped the benefits of falling rates through capital gains on their value. But those gains came at the price of dramatically lower yields, squeezing income. Now, even the smallest move upward in bond yields has sent prices of bond funds downward, showing investors that even the safety that bonds offer still has potential to cause losses in their portfolios. That realization should only bolster the push that record highs will have on investors to get into the stock market.

Watch for the bull to continue -- for now
These three factors all point to continuing strength for the stock market in the months to come. Eventually, pressures on interest rates will probably be the first of these factors to turn unfavorable, and that could spur a more substantial correction. By following these three factors, you'll have an early warning system that could help you anticipate a market downturn before it happens.

For now, though, investors have jumped aggressively on every minor drop in share prices as a buying opportunity. As long as alternative investments offer such puny returns, they're not likely to look anywhere else.

Will Johnson & Johnson really raise its dividend soon? Find out all about Johnson & Johnson's prospects for decades of dividend growth by reading our premium research report on the health-care conglomerate. inside, we outline the Johnson & Johnson story in terms that any investor can understand. Claim your copy by clicking here now.�

3 Biggest Biotech Crashes This Month

What a month! The Dow set all-time highs. So did the S&P 500. But March wasn't so great for everyone. While the big indexes enjoyed the thrill of victory, these three biotechs experienced the agony of defeat. Here's what happened.

Serious impact
Impax Laboratories� (NASDAQ: IPXL  ) suffered from a comedy of errors. Unfortunately, the impact on its shares wasn't so funny. Shares sank more than 22% during the month.

The culprit for the stock decline was none other than Impax itself. Back in March of last year, the Food and Drug Administration conducted an inspection of the company's manufacturing facility in Hayward, Calif. Impax Labs had plenty of time to correct those problems. However, when the FDA completed its follow-up inspection earlier this month -- one year later, three of the same problems were cited again. To make things worse, the FDA found nine new issues.

In response to the problems, CEO Larry Hsu stated that the company "committed significant resources in [its] efforts to meet FDA requirements." Obviously, those resources and efforts weren't enough. ��

A long fuse
With a long fuse on a stick of dynamite, you know the explosion is still coming, even if it might take a little longer. The same type of situation has applied for Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SPPI  ) . Many observers have expected for quite a while that Fusilev sales would eventually bomb. The explosion finally came in March, resulting in about a 35% drop in Spectrum's shares.

Critics have been saying for months that sales for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma drug Fusilev would fall as providers turned to generic alternatives. Fusilev enjoyed an extended period of high sales volumes resulting largely from shortages of generic leucovorin, driving Spectrum's revenue up tremendously. However, that shortage ultimately ended as Teva (NYSE: TEVA  ) and Sagent Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGNT  ) cranked out more supply.

The anticipated firestorm hit in mid-March after Spectrum announced revenue guidance 40% lower than previously expected.This huge guidance cut stemmed from hospitals that switched to generics. No surprise there. Spectrum insisted that demand for Fusilev in clinics was "stable" and that "solid demand" was anticipated for 2013. Unfortunately for Spectrum, "stable" and "solid" aren't words that can be accurately used to describe its stock these days.

The biggest crash of all
Impax and Spectrum might have had bad months, but at least they still look better than Ziopharm Oncology (NASDAQ: ZIOP  ) . Ziopharm's stock collapsed more than 60% in March following bad news from a late-stage clinical trial this week.

The company had high hopes that palifosfamide would prove to be a potent treatment for metastatic soft tissue sarcoma. However, the drug failed to significantly improve progression-free survival, the primary endpoint of the phase 3 clinical study. Despite the study's independent data monitoring committee's recommendation for continued analysis to follow up on overall survival rates, Ziopharm decided to pull the plug on the program entirely.

What's next for Ziopharm? The company says it will now regroup and focus on its synthetic biology programs. �

Rising from the ashes
Can any of our three biotechs rise from the ashes? I think so. Impax Labs appears to have the easiest path for coming back. The company's self-inflicted woes should be resolvable. Spectrum and Ziopharm could also potentially mount comebacks, but their roads will be much tougher. Looking on the bright side, at least it's unlikely that either will make our list for April.

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Why Pioneer Energy Shares Shot Up

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of oil-and-gas drilling specialist Pioneer Energy Services (NYSE: PES  ) were booming today, jumping as much as 19% after reporting a strong fourth quarter.

So what: The energy services provider topped earnings estimates by $0.10, posting per-share profits of $0.06 on expectations of a $0.04 loss. Pioneer also grew 12% to $227.9 million, beating the Street's projections of $222.6 million. Pioneer added six rigs during the quarter, and CEO William Stacy Locke credited the quarter's success on the company's new-build drilling rig program, saying the rigs have "reduced initial startup costs" and "will generate substantial cash flow."

Now what: Pioneer shares have floundered over the past couple of years despite the general boom in oil and gas drilling, and it's tempting to think it will be better positioned with the new-build drilling program set to be completed at the end of the quarter. Still, Pioneer has more than $500 million in debt, which it is planning to pay off, and analysts are expecting flat growth and almost no profits this year. I'd like to see a few more earnings beats before I'm convinced.

Want more on Pioneer? Add the stock to your Watchlist right here.

Top Stocks For 3/14/2013-19

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. NYSE:GS advanced by 2.65%, closed at $154.37 while the market capitalization is 79.60 billion. Its price to earning ratio stood at 7.79 and its net profit margin was 24.66%. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides investment banking, securities, and investment management services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Its Investment Banking segment offers financial advisory services, including advisory assignments with respect to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and underwriting services, such as equity underwriting and debt underwriting.

Schlumberger Limited. NYSE:SLB advanced by 1.42%, closed at $60.15 while the market capitalization is 71.77 billion. Its price to earning ratio stood at 23.53 and its net profit margin was 3.50%. Schlumberger Limited and its subsidiaries supply technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas industry worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Oilfield Services and WesternGeco. The Oilfield Services segment provides a range of exploration and production services required during the life of an oil and gas reservoir.

ConocoPhillips NYSE:COP advanced by 1.15%, closed at $55.38 while the market capitalization is 84.56 billion. Its price to earning ratio stood at 9.22 and its net profit margin was 5.03%. ConocoPhillips operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. It operates through six segments: Exploration and Production (E&P), Midstream, Refining and Marketing (R&M), LUKOIL Investment, Chemicals, and Emerging Businesses. The E&P segment explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and bitumen. It also mines deposits of oil sands in Canada to extract the bitumen and upgrade it into a synthetic crude oil.

Top Stocks For 3/31/2013-14

Last Price: $22.95 , UP $2.30 (11.11%)

Gold Resource Corporation Executes $55.6 Million Private Placement to Accelerate Production Profile and Exploration

Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) (AMEX: GORO) is pleased to announce the execution of agreements for a $55.6 million private placement of its common stock to increase the development of its Oaxaca Mining Unit’s production profile, accelerate its exploration programs, initiate a formal reserve report and to capitalize on new property acquisition opportunities. Gold Resource Corporation is a low-cost gold producer with operations in southern Mexico.

Gold Resource Corporation’s private placement consists of 3.475 million shares of restricted common stock at $16.00 per share with no warrants. Jefferies & Company, Inc. served as sole placement agent for Gold Resource Corporation in the private placement. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions.

The Company intends to increase mill capacity by potentially 50% in anticipation of expansion of its known mineralization at the La Arista vein system and thereby correspondingly increase the Project’s production profile. The Company will accelerate exploration of the Oaxaca Mining Unit’s portfolio of 5 potential high-grade properties. Having drilled only 1% of the Oaxaca Mining Unit’s concessions to date, and finding three high-grade deposits, an aggressive investment in exploration is warranted and could have a positive, near-term impact on shareholder value. A more formal reserve report of the internally estimated mineralized material will be undertaken. And, the Company will also be in the position to acquire additional property opportunities located in select areas throughout Mexico and worldwide for project diversification and Company growth.

Gold Resource Corporation is positioned for accelerated and aggressive growth during this historic gold bull market. The equity raise provides immediate funding to accelerate the Company’s production profile and to accelerate exploration of its Oaxaca Mining Unit. Management believes the potential 50% mill capacity increase coupled with the ability to accelerate exploration programs on a more comprehensive and immediate basis more than offsets the 7% shareholder dilution. With only 53 million shares outstanding after the raise, the Company is among the tightest capital structures for a producing company in the mining space.

Gold Resource Corporation, an exploration stage company, engages in the exploration for and production of gold, silver, precious metals, and base metals, including copper, lead, and zinc primarily in Mexico. It holds a 100% interest in five properties, including the El Aguila property, the Las Margaritas property, the El Rey property, the Solaga property, and the Alta Gracia property in southern state of Oaxaca. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Denver, Colorado.

http://www.goldresourcecorp.com

Last Trade: $64.45 , UP $1.79 (2.86%)

Park National Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2010 Financial Results and Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

Park National Corporation (Park) (NYSE Amex:PRK) recently announced operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2010 (second quarter and first half of 2010). Park’s Board of Directors also today declared a $0.94 per common share quarterly cash dividend, payable on September 10, 2010 to common shareholders of record as of August 25, 2010.

“We are pleased to report business loan growth in the second quarter of this year. Also, extraordinarily low residential mortgage rates continue to help generate significant consumer lending activity, including $244 million in mortgage loan originations for the first half of 2010,” said Park Chairman C. Daniel DeLawder. “Our lenders are focused on supporting each community we serve through high-quality, reliable lending with consistent underwriting. As economic conditions slowly improve, we hope to further expand our loan balances and reduce problem credits.”

Park’s second quarter net income was $21.2 million, compared to $21.3 million for the same period in 2009. Net income was $41.9 million for first half of 2010, a 1.8 percent decline from the first half of 2009 net income of $42.7 million.

Net income for Park’s Ohio-based operations was $56.2 million for the first half of 2010, a 5.4 percent increase from the $53.3 million reported in the first half of 2009. Net income for Park’s Ohio-based operations was $27.9 million for the second quarter of 2010, the same as the $27.9 million reported in the second quarter of 2009.

Headquartered in Newark, Ohio, Park National Corporation has $7.1 billion in total assets (as of June 30, 2010). Park consists of 13 community bank divisions and two specialty finance companies. Park’s Ohio-based banking operations are conducted through Park subsidiary The Park National Bank and its divisions which include Fairfield National Bank Division, Richland Bank Division, Century National Bank Division, First-Knox National Bank Division, Farmers & Savings Bank Division, United Bank Division, Second National Bank Division, Security National Bank Division, Unity National Bank Division and The Park National Bank of Southwest Ohio & Northern Kentucky Division.

http://www.parknationalcorp.com

Proteonomix, Inc. (OTCBB: PROT.OB)

Last Trade: $1.85 , UP $0.23 (14.20%)

The Science Behind our Cutting-Edge Skin Care Products

How It Works

Proteoderm has used its expertise in protein technology to develop a unique, natural matrix of proteins called Matrix NC-138T for use in anti-aging skin products.

Matrix NC-138

Bioactive proteins have been defined as specific proteins that have a positive impact on body functions or conditions and may ultimately influence health.

The activity of these biofunctional proteins contained in the isolated Matrix NC-138T NC-138 is based on their inherent amino acid composition and sequence. MatrixNC-138T acts on the skin to enhance activities through the stimulation of collagen and glandular production leading to a reduction of wrinkles.

Anti-Aging Technology

This company may be able to reverse the signs of aging without Botox injections.

Proteoderm is another subsidiary of Proteonomix.

Proteoderm�s expertise in biotechnology led to the development of cutting edge anti-aging skin care products. The Proteoderm system works to revitalize and rejuvenate your own cells to help drastically reverse the effects of aging!

Among the many cosmetic actives available, proteins have garnered substantial interest for several years. The main reason is that one of the properties of proteins is the delivery of a chemical message that up or down regulates particular cell functions. An accepted view of protein activity is that their amino-acid constituents have structures which send specific signals to the specific cells, for example to the fibroblasts to increase collagen production.

Particular proteins are therefore ideal cosmetic ingredients that can be used to counteract the formation of wrinkles and loss of skin elasticity. Proteoderm has used its expertise in proteomics and protein technology to develop a unique natural matrix of proteins called MatrixTM NC-138 for use in anti-aging skin products.

About Proteonomix, Inc.

Proteonomix, Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development of stem cell therapies primarily for the treatment of diabetes and cardiac therapy, as well as offers cosmeceutical products.

The stem cell therapy involves the introduction of healthy new stem cells to repair and replace damaged or lost cells. It offers product for the treatment of anti-aging and damaged skin. The company develops cosmetic products using its technologies, Secreted Matrix and Matrix NC-138 that is a stem cell derived proteins technology.

It also involves in the operation of retail Web site, Proteoderm.com to sell its anti-aging line of skin care products; develops therapeutic modalities for the treatment of cardiovascular disease; and engages in the reproductive tissue banking, including sperm, ova, ovarian tissue, and testicular tissue.

In addition, the company develops intellectual properties for patent applications, including a medium and scaffolding for enhancing the growth of stem cells, a growth platform for stem cells, a cord blood banking cryopreservation bag, and a device to eliminate malformed stem cells via filtration.

Further, it is developing pre-clinical-stage therapeutic agents and treatments for cancer, diabetes, heart, lung, and kidney diseases, as well as for stem cell bone marrow and organ transplants. The company was formerly known as National Stem Cell Holding, Inc. and changed its name to Proteonomix, Inc. in August 2008. Proteonomix was founded in 2005 and is based in Mountainside, New Jersey.

http://www.proteonomix.com/

Top Stocks For 3/31/2013-1

Orofino Gold Corp. (ORFG.PK) has several Gold development properties in Colombia, a current hot spot of gold production in the world markets.

The company is please to announce that the Board Of Directors have appointed Mr. Ning Shi Long as Chairman of the Board and Executive Director.

Mr. Ary Fernando Pernett Marque has been appointed as the new President/CEO & Executive Director of Orofino Gold Corp.

Mr. Pernett will be responsible for all affairs of the Company in Colombia. Mr. Pernett has 30 years of experience working in the Colombian Mining sector and will over the near term choose his new development team to assist in the development of the company’s Senderos de Oro gold camp in the Sur de Bolivar Colombia.

The company and Mr. Pernett will continue to work with Contexto Legal of Medellin and Bogota, the company’s legal counsel as well as Discovery Consultants, (The Qualified 43-101 team) Canada, as they have in the past. The new team will now aggressively pursue other known Gold occurrences in the companies Senderos de Oro Gold Camp while the development team works to improve production at La Azul Mine.

The Board of Director’s have accepted resignation of John T. Martin, former Managing Director of the Company. His resignation is effective immediately. The Company wishes him well and success in future endeavors.

HIRU CORPORATION (Other OTC: HIRU.PK) is considering a merger with a Canada-based health products company. This company operates a full-service natural health clinic and distributes its signature brand of health products.

The company’s various products promote brain health, pain management and hormone balance, and help combat high blood pressure and high cholesterol. These products come highly regarded by the Chinese market, and have already received positive online testimonials from consumers who say using the products improved their health.

Services at the natural health clinic include specialty massage, EIS scanning, acupuncture, and computer-guided biofeedback scanning.

HIRU is excited at the prospect of merging with this growing medical company, which has distributors and franchise outlets opening across the country. The name, revenues and all other details will be released by the company shortly, as the discussions progress. The company is of the opinion that this is a material event that warrants a public announcement.

In other corporate news, HIRU intends to rescind the 5-1 forward split previously under consideration, as upon further review the management is of the opinion that this course of action would not be in the best interest of the shareholders.

Rand Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:RAND), a business development company that provides capital and managerial expertise for small to medium-sized private companies, recently announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2010 highlighting a net asset value of $3.25 per share, a decrease of ($0.03) from June 30, 2010.

Rand Capital is a publicly held Business Development Company (BDC), and its wholly owned subsidiary is licensed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a Small Business Investment Company.

Forest Oil Corporation (NYSE:FST) recently announced financial and operational results for the third quarter of 2010. Net sales volumes of 457 MMcfe/d organically increased 16% from the corresponding 2009 period, pro forma for asset divestitures.

Forest Oil Corporation engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural liquids primarily in North America.

VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE:EGY) recently reported net income attributable to VAALCO of $12.5 million or $0.22 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2010 compared to net income attributable to VAALCO of $4.2 million or $0.07 per diluted share for the comparable period in 2009.

VAALCO Energy, Inc. is a Houston based independent energy company principally engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of crude oil.

Top Stocks For 3/31/2013-17

Power3 Medical Products, Inc. (OTCBB:PWRM.OB)

Power3 Medical Products, Inc. (OTC.BB:PWRM), a leading proteomics company focused on the development of innovative diagnostic tests in the fields of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, delivered four poster presentations at the 2010 International Conference on Alzheimer�s Disease (ICAD) in Honolulu, Hawaii. These presentations discussed NuroPro, Power3�s diagnostic test, and focused on Power3�s Alzheimer�s disease blood serum biomarkers, test and clinical validation trials.

Power3 has filed several patent applications for its NuroPro technology that are currently pending. Power3 also has a world-wide exclusive license from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. To date, Power3 has given 9 presentations on NuroPro at international scientific meetings in the United States, Europe and China, and has published 6 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals on the subject. Power3 intends to publish these latest findings as well.

Power3 Medical Products, Inc. is a leading bio-technology company focused on the development of innovative diagnostic tests in the fields of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer�s disease, Parkinson�s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig�s disease). Power3 applies proprietary methodologies to discover and identify protein biomarkers associated with diseases. Through these processes, Power3 has developed a portfolio of products including BC-SeraPro, a proteomic blood serum test for the early detection of breast cancer for which it has completed Phase I clinical trials, and NuroPro, a proteomic blood serum test for the detection of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer�s, Parkinson�s and ALS diseases, for which it is currently engaged in Phase II clinical trials. These tests are designed to analyze an individual�s proteins to detect the presence of disease, a patient�s disease progression, a patient�s response to a particular drug, and the mechanisms of disease present in the patient for optimal targeted therapy.

 

________

Zoltek Companies, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ZOLT)

MARK WEBBER has a lot to thank tiny strands of carbon for. When his Formula 1 car cartwheeled in a spectacular 306kph (190mph) crash at the recent Valencia Grand Prix, what helped him to escape unscathed was the immensely strong carbon-fibre �tub� that racing drivers now sit in. Carbon fibre is an expensive alternative to making things in steel or aluminium, but besides being extremely strong it is also very light. It is found in high-performance parts, like aircraft wings, bits of supercars and the frames of pricey mountain bikes. But if work by Germany�s BMW proves successful, it could also become the material of choice to mass-produce electric cars.

________

The Zweig Fund, Inc. (NYSE:ZF) announced that its third quarterly distribution for 2010 will be $0.086 per share, payable on October 15, 2010, to shareholders of record on October 08, 2010 (ex-date October 06, 2010).

The distribution represents a cash dividend yield of 10% on an annualized basis. Distributions may represent earnings from net investment income, capital gains, excess gains taxable as ordinary income or, if necessary, return of capital. The tax status of the Fund’s distributions is determined at the end of the taxable year.

The Zweig Fund, Inc. is a closed-end fund with an objective of increasing capital primarily through investment in equity securities consistent with the preservation of capital and reduction of risk as determined by the fund’s investment adviser. The Zweig closed-end funds are advised by Zweig Advisers LLC. For more information on the Fund, please contact shareholder services at 800.272.2700 or visit us on the web at www.virtus.com

__________

Zygo Corporation (NASDAQ:ZIGO), a worldwide supplier of optical metrology instruments and high precision optical systems, recently announced that its Metrology Solutions Division has received orders for $3.5 million for large aperture laser interferometer systems from leading Chinese optical research and manufacturing organizations. The large aperture interferometers include systems capable of measuring up to 32 inch (800 millimeter) diameter parts and another capable of 18 inch (450 millimeter) diameter components, along with an upgrade of an existing Zygo 24 inch (600 millimeter) interferometer system. These instruments will be used for the development and manufacture of very large dimensioned optical components and systems, enabling precision surface shape and glass homogeneity measurements.

“These orders are especially gratifying because selection was based on exhaustive technical evaluations focused on achieving the highest level of performance possible. As a world leader of large aperture laser interferometer systems, Zygo’s decades of expertise combined with its unique in-house optical fabrication and metrology portfolio enabled us to package specific solutions required by our customers to help advance their research and manufacturing capabilities,” commented Dan Musinski, Senior Product Manager.

 

 

 

Top Stocks For 3/31/2013-20

Emulex Corporation NYSE: ELX gained by 2.06% to close at $10.40 ELX traded 1.30 million shares for the day. Its earning per share remained 0.29. Emulex Corporation (Emulex) is a provider of a range of network convergence solutions that connect servers, storage, and networks within the data center. The Company�s product portfolio includes host bus adapters (HBAs), converged network adapters (CNAs), network interface cards (NICs), mezzanine cards for blade servers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), embedded storage bridges, routers, and switches, Input/Output Controllers (IOCs). Emulex Corporation (Emulex) has two market focused product lines: host server products (HSP) and embedded storage products (ESP). Emulex�s HSP�s connect servers and storage to networks using a variety of industry standard protocols. Its products support Internet protocol (IP) and storage networking,

EnCana Corporation (USA) NYSE: ECA gained by 0.81% to close at $29.96 ECA traded 4.37 million shares for the day. Its earning per share remained 2.12. EnCana Corporation (EnCana) is a natural gas company. EnCana Corporation (EnCana) operates in two operating divisions: Canadian Division, formerly the Canadian Foothills Division, which includes natural gas development and production assets located in British Columbia and Alberta, and the Deep Panuke natural gas project offshore Nova Scotia and USA Division, which includes the natural gas development and production assets located in the United States. EnCana�s operations are focused on exploiting North American long-life unconventional natural gas formations, including tight gas, shales and Coal Bed Methane (CBM). EnCana�s operations are primarily located in Canada and the United States.

Energy Select Sector SPDR (ETF) NYSE: XLE gained by 2.35% to close at $57.42 XLE traded 21.62 million shares for the day. Its earning per share remained 16.00. Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Energy Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index (the Index). Energy companies in the Index primarily develop and produce crude oil and natural gas, and provide drilling and other energy-related services. The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing investment approach to attempt to approximate the investment performance of the Index. The Fund�s investment advisor is SSgA Funds Management, Inc.

Top Stocks For 2/1/2013-16

American Video Teleconferencing Corp. (Pink Sheets:AVOT) is pleased to announce that it has signed an option agreement to acquire two claim blocks in townships of Mekinac and Lajuene, Province of Quebec. These claim blocks are approximately 3600 acres in total and are located 120 miles east of Montreal P.Q. and 50 miles north of Three Rivers P.Q. They are accessible year round with infrastructure in the immediate vicinity.

The claims adjoin a property that had one of the highest readings of Rare Earths in North America. Sampling in the 1950s gave readings of 48% combined Cerium, Lanthanum, Neoymium and Yttrium. That property has remained dormant for over 50 years but the new owners plan an extensive exploration program this fall.

American Video, after a lengthy search and after careful due diligence, believes this is going to be one of the most active areas for Rare Earths exploration and our holdings are in the same geological setting as the 48% Rare Earths showing. Rare Earths are in huge demand especially in the United States as China is closing off its exports of these strategic metals to less than 5% of its production. American Video will aggressively continue to search world wide for opportunities in Precious, Base and Rare Earths metal projects.

Rare-earth metals include terbium, which finds use in flat-panel TVs and high-efficiency fluorescent lamps, and neodymium, key to the permanent magnets in high-efficiency electric motors. Rare-earth metals are not indeed rare. The series of nonferrous metals is common in the environment. According to Design Chain Associates, most rare-earth metals are as common as copper, and even the rarest is more common than gold.

Part of the market pressure on rare-earth metals comes from new demands that green technologies has prompted. The market, including electric- and hybrid-vehicle motors and wind turbines, requires magnets.

Experts warn that the U.S. depends upon China for almost its entire supply of rare earths, and has let its own rare earth production languish despite having about 15 percent of the world’s reserves. A draft of a Chinese rare earths plan for 2009-2015 states that China’s own industrial demand could soon lead to restrictions or bans on the export of rare earths.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has noted that 91 percent of U.S. consumption of rare earths came from China between 2005 and 2008.

Constraints on Chinese exports are creating opportunities for non-Chinese projects.

Winnebago Industries Inc. (NYSE:WGO) hosted a conference call on Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 9 a.m. Central Time (CT) to discuss the financial results for its first quarter of Fiscal 2011 ended November 27, 2010. The Company released its financial results on December 16, 2010. The event will be archived and available for replay for the next 90 days.

Winnebago Industries, Inc. manufactures motor homes, which are self-contained recreation vehicles used primarily in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. It manufactures conventional motor homes constructed directly on medium-duty and heavy-duty truck chassis, as well as mini motor homes built on van-type chassis with gas and diesel engines.

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) announced the integration of SafeCentral�s Corporate Edition solution with the NetSuite cloud computing platform. SafeCentral software integrates with the user�s browser to provide a layer of security around each Web session. Built using NetSuite�s SuiteCloud development platform, the combined solution helps NetSuite customers safeguard financial transactions, and personally identifiable information (PII) that could be exposed through browser access to applications.

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in expansion financing, growth capital, management buyout, recapitalization, industry consolidation, corporate spinout, and early stage financing transactions. The firm prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the technology and life sciences sectors.

Intermec, Inc. (NYSE:IN) announced on Dec 13, 2010 that it in partnership with MobileFrame, a leading provider of wireless mobile applications, has empowered professional services firm PBS&J to enhance overall business processes and improve data tracking accuracy to 90 percent. Specializing in architecture, construction and engineering, PBS&J was brought on by the Mississippi Alternative Housing Program to help displaced Hurricane Katrina victims obtain new homes and deployed the Intermec CN3 rugged mobile computer and a MobileFrame application to ensure consistency and expedite processes for housing site inspections.

Intermec, Inc. designs, develops, integrates, sells, resells, and repairs wired and wireless automated identification and data collection (AIDC) products and related services worldwide. Its products include mobile computing products, bar code scanners, wired and wireless bar code printers and label media products, and radio frequency identification (RFID) products.

Earnings Push the Dow Higher

Paced by a slew of strong earnings reports this morning, the�Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI  ) jumped nearly 1%, the most it has in a month, gaining 127 points to finish at 13,551. A positive industrial production report also helped lift markets, as well as whispers that Spain was closer to asking for a bailout.

Five Dow stocks reported earnings today -- three before open, two after the bell. Starting with the early reports, health care giant�Johnson & Johnson's� (NYSE: JNJ  ) profits shrunk by 7% from the same quarter a year ago; however, adjusted EPS grew modestly to $1.21 and topped Wall Street expectations by $0.04. Revenue of $17.1 billion slightly beat estimates as well, and the Tylenol maker raised its 2012 forecast. Investors responded by sending shares up 1.4%.

On the other side of the ledger, UnitedHealth Group� (NYSE: UNH  ) , the nation's largest health insurer and newest entry into the Dow, dropped 1.1% despite a 23% increase in quarterly profits. Earnings per share of $1.50 came in well ahead of estimates of $1.34, and the company raised its guidance. However, management cautioned that 2013 growth may not meet expectations because of the sluggish economy and the effects of the Affordable Care Act.�

Beverage giant�Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) , meanwhile, followed UnitedHealth downward, falling 0.6% after posting just a 1% gain in revenue. Actual unit volume grew by 4%, but currency exchange rates were responsible for the slower sales increase. EPS of $0.51 matched the Street's consenus.

Finally, the two companies to report after-hours fell sharply in trading after the bell.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC  ) had been the biggest gainer on the day, rising 2.9% during the trading session, but lost all those gains and more, falling 3.5% after the bell. Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering Hewlett-Packard's recent warning, the top chipmaker's profits fell 14% on slower PC demand. The Pentium maker also took a $500 million charge for excess production capacity, as fourth-quarter demand is expected to fall short of previous expectations. EPS topped estimates, but the weak outlook was enough to spook investors.

Fellow tech titan�IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) also slipped 3.5% after-hours, following a gain of 1% during the day. Revenue in all of Big Blue's segments declined, and North American sales were especially weak, though sales in the BRIC countries rose 4%, or 11% excluding currency effects. EPS was in line with predictions.

Look for these disappointing reports to lead to an early morning hangover for the Dow tomorrow, though an earnings beat by Bank of America� (NYSE: BAC  ) , which reports before market open, could help reverse that trend.

After Intel's slide, its shares look cheaper than ever. Investors aren't sure if now's the time to run for cover or double down. You can get the insight you need in our new�premium report�all about the chip-maker, which features an exclusive look at Intel's opportunities and threats, and gives valuable updates on the stock for the next year so you won't to have parse every earnings report and look out for other announcements. To get access to this analysis, all you have to do is click�right here.

How to Take Your Retirement for a Test Drive

You know what they say about practice -- it makes perfect.

So it's not surprising that, in an era that offers so many ways to screw up your golden years, "practicing retirement" is becoming a more common strategy.

"Many people haven't saved enough to retire, so they are anxious because they realize they will have to keep working in their 60s when they had hoped that they would be having fun," explains Christine Fahlund, a senior financial planner with T. Rowe Price. Don't panic, she says: Instead, practice.

Simply put, practicing retirement is a way to dip your toe in the retirement waters and see if they're too hot, too cold, too "just not you yet," or just right. Are you really ready financially -- and emotionally? Where are the gaps in your plan?

"The best thing about practicing retirement, it's not the Super Bowl. If you drop the ball, you pick it up and try again," says Fahlund. The goal is to figure it out in your 60s, so you're set when you fully retire by 70.

Giving Yourself More Time to Prepare

So what does a retirement tryout look like? Much of that answer will depend on your needs and goals. However, first, it's likely you'll need to come to grips with the notion of delayed -- but not denied -- retirement.Now Hiring

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Generally, assume that you are going to keep working through your 60s -- though perhaps part-time. If you do have to keep up the full 9-to-5 routine, then take comfort from the fact that, in practice retirement, "your attitude about work will be different if you're also doing fun things," says Fahlund. Because full retirement is delayed, she explains, you can take your foot off the savings gas pedal a little bit, and use that money to explore some of the things you have in mind for later.

"Maybe you envision spending your days sailing -- buy the boat now while you're working," says Fahlund. "You want to pay off big ticket items before retirement. Take some trips and see if it's indeed what you want to do." You'll have more discretionary income during these transition years to start seriously pursuing your retirement aspirations well before you might have expected, she adds.

Working longer is the real key to the practice retirement formula. Those extra years of salary -- even if only part-time -- are critical. And working longer pays off emotionally as well: "You stay sharp, lively," she adds.

The Benefits of Delayed Gratification

The hallmark of practice retirement is balance: between working and playing, spending and saving. Beyond that, there are a few tenets at the heart of the strategy:

• Keep working, full or part-time;
• Don't touch your nest egg;
• Delay taking Social Security benefits;
• Keep invested in a diverse portfolio (you can stop contributing to your retirement plan, though you may want to continue to do so, at least up to the amount that qualifies you for the employer's match).

It's not hard to see the sense in this. By continuing to work and postponing the day you start receiving Social Security benefits, you position yourself for higher payments for the rest of your life, points out Fahlund. Every year you wait to take Social Security benefits, they increase about 8% (in today's dollars) -- almost doubling in purchasing power by age 70. And because the increases are based on government formulas and not investment returns, they are not impacted by market conditions. For a better idea of how practice retirement scenarios can play out, check out this chart and other information from T. Rowe Price..

On the Road Again ... And Again

Doreen Orion and her husband literally did a test drive of retirement. "My husband came home one day and out of the blue announced he wanted to 'chuck it all' and travel the country in a converted bus for a year. Neither of us had ever stepped foot in one, or in an RV." They are both physicians, specializing in psychiatry. "I demanded to know, 'Why can't you be like a normal husband in a midlife crisis and have an affair or buy a Corvette?' " recalled Orion.She told him she'd never do it, but she relented, and she's glad she did. They traveled from the summer of 2004 to the summer of 2005. She worked part-time during that year, doing insurance review work -- all she needed was Internet access and a telephone. Since then, they've spent a couple of winters away on the bus. Every time they came home to Boulder, Colo., "we were seriously bummed," says Orion, who like her husband is in her early 50s.

They tasted retirement, loved it, and have put their house on the market, so they won't have the expense of a mortgage.

"It's far cheaper to live in an RV," says Orion. "There is a huge shortage in our specialty all over the country. We can each just go somewhere for a month or so, work in a hospital or clinic and leave. I don't know how long we'll plan to be on the road. I have no idea where we'll go, but we'll stay in a place for a few weeks. If we like it, we stay longer. If we don't, we just pull up stakes."

At this point, the couple has no target date for full retirement. Once their house is sold, they will work very little, perhaps 10 hours a week each while on the road -- just enough to meet their minimal expenses and to avoid having to tap the proceeds from the sale of the house.

"One of the things we loved most about life on the road was, unlike our regular lives, nothing had to be planned," she said. "We had so many wonderful adventures, but even the misadventures -- fire, flood, armed robbery and finding ourselves in a nudist RV park, just to name a few -- enriched our lives. We never knew what the next day would bring."

It also taught her new priorities: She put aside her passion for fashion. "I realized I no longer wanted to support a lifestyle. I'd much rather support living a stimulating life and getting to spend time with the person I love on a constant adventure. I no longer go to the mall," says Orion. Her new love is writing: She wrote about their adventures in her book, Queen of the Road.

'I Felt My Mind Turning to Gelatin'

Willi Rudowsky, 63, says she didn't know she was "practicing retirement" when she quit her job at Williams-Sonoma (WSM) in San Francisco 11 years ago and moved to St. Petersburg, Fla. "But that's exactly what I did," says Rudowsky, "And, I didn't like it. The yoga, bike-riding and volunteering just didn't work for me. I felt my mind turning to gelatin." Though she loved being able to schedule trips without having to ask her boss for time off, the lack of structure bothered her.

Three years into her "new life" she went back to school, started taking courses, liked it so much that she kept going until she got a master's degree in journalism. She now works part-time, handling customer service issues for Poynter's News University. That leaves plenty of time for Rudowsky and her husband to support local theaters, music venues, museums and serve on their condo board, among other things.

"I'm in no hurry to stop working," she says. "I don't do it for the money; I do it for the intellectual experience. When I fully retire in three years, I will exercise more, travel more, maybe travel to Calcutta. I don't believe I will run out of money before I run out of life. I will gradually replace my job with more of what I am doing outside of work now. I worked out all the kinks in my practice retirement, so I will -- I hope -- just slip into it."

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Banks Favor Unloading Short Sales

Short sales are when a seller sells a home for less than what is owed with the permission of the lender, and the lender subsequently forgives the difference between the sale amount and the loan. Banks are in a hurry to eliminate these short sales and foreclosures from their books by selling them off, and a new report from RealtyTrac reveals banks prefer selling short-sale homes (pre-foreclosures) over foreclosures. The former has outsold the latter in many pacesetting markets including Miami, Los Angeles and Phoenix due in part because getting the property out of inventory before it enters the foreclosure process is better for banks in the long run for many properties, and also because a short sale typically commands a higher price than a foreclosure. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet.

Banks continue to show a preference for short sales over foreclosures as a way of disposing off their non-performing loans.

According to the latest report from RealtyTrac, sales of properties in pre-foreclosure- those that have received a notice of default or scheduled for auction- rose 15% in the fourth quarter of 2011 over the year-ago period.

In contrast, the sales volume of bank-owned properties (REO) was down 12%.

Pre-foreclosure sales, which is usually executed via short sales, accounted for 10% of all residential property sales in the fourth quarter.

"We continued to see a shift toward pre-foreclosure sales, or short sales, and away from REO sales in the fourth quarter," Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac said in a statement. "Pre-foreclosure sales outnumbered REO sales in several bellwether markets, including Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix, where REO sales had outnumbered pre-foreclosure sales a year ago. That trend will likely show up in more local markets in 2012 as lenders recognize short sales as a better option for many of their non-performing loans."

In the simplest form of a short sale, borrowers with underwater mortgages sell their homes to a buyer at a price that is approved by the lender. The lender normally forgives the difference between the loan and the sale proceeds- in essence the bank is being shorted for the loan amount.

In cases where loans are sold, investors also need to approve the short sale. However, given the delays in the foreclosure process, investors seem more inclined to accept other alternatives to foreclosure.

As TheStreet reported last August, banks including JPMorgan Chase(JPM), Wells Fargo(WFC) and Citigroup(C) have paid out incentives to borrowers to encourage them to consider short sales rather than hold out for a loan modification that may not be possible and risk losing their homes ultimately to foreclosure.

A JPMorgan spokeswoman told TheStreet at the time that the bank said it saw short sales as an option that was good for both the homeowner and for the bank. It said incentives vary and are available for only certain types of borrowers. Wells Fargo also said it had stepped out its outreach efforts.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, banks have continued to pay out heavy incentives, as high as $40,000 in some cases. Citigroup offers $3,000 to most borrowers and more in some circumstances, the report said, citing a bank spokesperson.

Bank of America offered 20,000 Florida homeowners as much as $20,000 as part of a pilot program that expired in December, according to the report.

The average sale price in a short-sale transaction also appears to be substantially higher than that of a bank-owned property, one more reason why banks may be more inclined to do short sales. According to RealtyTrac, pre-foreclosure home sold for an average of $184,221 in the fourth quarter, down 3% from the previous quarter and down 11% from the fourth quarter of 2010. But that is higher than the average sale price of a bank-owned home or REO at $149,686.

Of course, the sale price of any home in the foreclosure process, be it one that has received a notice of default or one that is already bank-owned, still suffers an average discount of about 30% in the market, compared to a home that is not in foreclosure, the report showed.

Pre-foreclosure sales increased more than 20 percent on a year-over-year basis in several states, including Michigan (up 103%), Georgia (up 59%), Arizona (up 48%), Washington (up 36%), Nevada (up 29%), Oregon (up 27%), Illinois (up 26%), Ohio (up 25%), California (up 23%) and Texas (up 22%).

Why Social Security Cuts Are Inevitable

For decades, people have predicted that Social Security won't be able to meet the demands of an aging population without cuts in benefits. But now that those pessimistic calls have become the majority view, it has paradoxically become easier for lawmakers and other government officials to consider making those cuts, thereby turning dire predictions into self-fulfilling prophecies.

Confidence in Social Security is falling
The recent Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefits Research Institute examined a number of the financial aspects involved with retirement issues. One area of the survey focused on attitudes that workers and retirees have about Social Security and Medicare.

The results of the survey show that opinions of the health of entitlement programs are at their most pessimistic levels in 15 years. Asked how confident they are that Social Security will provide them with equally valuable benefits as it provides them today, 41% said they were not at all confident, with another 28% claiming they were not too confident. Only 5% said they were very confident that Social Security could continue at current levels.

Even more alarming, more than one in five respondents said that they didn't expect Social Security to be a source of income at all when they reached retirement. On the other hand, a rise in those expecting Social Security to be their major source of income isn't necessarily good news either, as it reflects trends that have left workers increasingly reliant on government programs to replace the substantial reduction in employer-provided pension benefits that's been occurring gradually for decades. Decisions in the past year from General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) to outsource their pension liabilities to insurance giant Prudential (NYSE: PRU  ) mark just the latest in a long series of moves that employers have made to reduce their exposure to the risks involved with providing employee pensions, and newer employees at most companies don't have any access to a traditional pension plan at all.

Medicare is equally endangered
Survey respondents weren't any more confident about Medicare, with 32% feeling not too confident in its prospects for maintaining current benefit levels for their retirement, and 37% being not at all confident of Medicare's prospects. The latter figure is the worst showing since 1996, with only 6% feeling very confident about Medicare sustaining current benefits.

Even current retirees aren't very confident about Medicare's chances of surviving in its current form. A majority, 56%, of retirees are not at all confident or not too confident of Medicare's ability to keep current levels of benefits. Recent threats of cuts to Medicare Advantage plan reimbursements have greatly affected health-insurance companies UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH  ) and Humana (NYSE: HUM  ) , and with the ongoing need for federal-budget cost-control measures, similar cuts could pop up at any time.

When cuts become politically expedient
Clearly, the EBRI survey reflects the informed views of people who stand to gain or lose a great deal depending on the fate of Social Security and Medicare. But the attitudes that the survey reveals also point to a growing acceptance of the future need for entitlement-program cuts, and that acceptance in itself will make it politically easier for policymakers to make those cuts.

Hoping for outright support among voters for entitlement changes that will hurt them may be unrealistic, but these survey results suggest that voters might well end up resigned to the necessity of cuts after only a token fight. Recent proposals that call for cuts to take effect not on current retirees or near-retirees but rather on those a decade or further away from retirement show the beginning of a movement toward breaking the general public into groups of haves and have-nots, effectively taking advantage of attitudes that generally become even more pessimistic for younger demographic groups.

Be ready for anything
Workers used to be able to rely on three financial support mechanisms in retirement: personal savings, employer pensions, and government entitlement programs. With employer pensions becoming a thing of the past and Social Security and Medicare under siege, you're more on your own than ever in securing your retirement future.

Getting financially ready for your own retirement requires smart investments, and the best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of.�Click here now�to keep reading.

Vringo: the Good, the Bad, and the Lawsuit

Mobile-technology company Vringo (NYSEMKT: VRNG  ) announced its 2012 earnings last week, and as Charles Dickens would say: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Vringo, which specializes in mobile entertainment applications and application patents, aggressively set out to make its name known last year and pulled off a number of impressive feats as a result. Sadly, its final numbers didn't do much to reflect this hard work. Here's a closer look at the state of Vringo, and whether it deserves your investing dollars.

The good
As you'd expect from any corporate conference call, Vringo CEO Andrew Perlman was quick to announce the company's high points of the year. The company's Facetone product, which creates a photo slideshow on a phone screen whenever a friend calls, became available on both Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, snagging a huge new audience.

Vringo also joined forces with company Innovate/Protect, a company that aims to get the most bang out of a company's intellectual-property buck. The resulting subsidiary won a fierce patent lawsuit against tech heavyweights Google and AOL, to the tune of $30 million. As if that wasn't enough of an accomplishment, Vringo also snagged 500 copyright patents from Nokia. These all seemed like events worth celebrating, but in this case, there's a darker side to success.

The bad
This company made some great strides in terms of working with high-profile companies, but you'd never know it by taking a look at Vringo's financial statement. In 2012, Vringo's overall revenue tallied up to $369,000, a 48% drop from last year's total. The value of Vringo's EPS dropped, too, from $1.17 to $0.53, because of an increase in the amount of shares.

Vringo investors may not approve of the company's move to multiply its shares, since the fewer there are, the more they're worth. By increasing the amount, however, Vringo is extending an invite for even more shareholders to hop on board.

The verdict
It's never a good time for a company's revenue to slice in half, but it's an even bigger problem when that company is still a relative newbie to the market. Vringo has been on the scene for barely two and a half years, and for the moment its financials are in a huge slump.

The gears are fiercely moving behind this struggling company, however, and by expanding its scope to include patents, the company could be more valuable than it appears. Even though its stock is ridiculously cheap, it might be best to wait and see how Vringo's latest strategies pan out before you think about buying.

Nokia, for its part, has been struggling in a world of Apple and Android smartphone dominance. However, the company has banked its future on its next generation of Windows smartphones. Motley Fool analyst Charly Travers has created a new premium report that digs into both the opportunities and risks facing Nokia to help investors decide if the company is a buy or sell. To get started, simply click here now.

These 3 Stocks Are Off to a Terrible Start in 2013

The markets are doing well in 2013, as the two most important indices set all-time records in March. But not every ticker was invited to the party.

Here's a look at five of the year's worst performers so far. I'll tell you what went wrong, and where I think these stocks are going next.

Is it time to bail out of these plunging stocks?
Image source: pixabay.com.

Rare earth, common problems
Shares of rare-earth miner Molycorp (NYSE: MCP  ) fell 45% in the first quarter. The astronomic gains of 2009 and early 2010 are long forgotten, and shareholders have lost a stunning 93% of their investment in less than two years.

The company is losing money hand over fist and depends on loans and secondary stock offerings to keep its operations running. Plunging prices for Molycorp's materials, paired with an ill-timed $1.3 billion acquisition, seem to have doomed the stock.

Molycorp may return to hypergrowth one day, assuming that the global market for rare earth-powered electronics rebounds. But it has to happen before the company runs out of increasingly desperate cash-raising options. The potential returns could be astronomical, but the risk of going to zero also looms large.

These dynamics make Molycorp more of a lottery ticket than an investment. Proceed with caution, dear Fool.

Pigs can fly in Cincinnati
Regional telecom Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB  ) took a 40.5% steel bath in the first three months, driven by poor earnings and a lack of telecom-like dividend checks.

Unlike many sector peers, Cincinnati Bell doesn't pay a regular dividend. The company has dropped hints that a dividend policy may be in the cards, but investors have yet to see a solid announcement. That's a huge drag on stocks in this income-friendly industry.

But the company has a few potential tricks up its sleeves. CinBell owns 69% of data-center operator CyrusOne (NASDAQ: CONE  ) , which it spun out during the first quarter. The wireless division could be sold or spun out for a quick $300 million return. Finally, management is paying down much of its interest-bearing debt these days.

All things considered, fellow Fool Jim Royal sees a strong value in Cincinnati Bell. The risks are outweighed by the potential for a triple in Jim's eyes, assuming that you can wait two years for all the simmering catalysts to kick in.

This stock may not bounce much in 2013, but long-term investors should be richly rewarded for their patience.

The patent mirage is fading fast
Wireless-security researcher VirnetX (NYSEMKT: VHC  ) is another big loser in early 2013, its shares having fallen 35% in three months.

More to the point, VirnetX plunged 38% in two days when a Texas jury found networking titan Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO  ) not guilty of infringing on the company's patents.

That loss was a major reversal of VirnetX's legal fortunes. The company has won or settled two major cases in the past two years, pocketing $200 million in the process and awaiting another check for at least $368 million. The Cisco case was supposed to cement VirnetX's position as an essential patent holder in all things related to network security, but the not-guilty verdict throws cold water over the entire strategy.

Investors are still sitting on a massive 1,600% gain over the past four years, despite the recent drop. The company doesn't collect any significant license royalties today, covering its daily costs from past courtroom victories. Take that income source away and you don't have much of a company. The Cisco decision could very well be a sign that this rickety strategy is about to fall apart.

I'd be very nervous owning this stock at valuations like 2,400 times sales and nonexistent earnings. If you rode VirnetX to massive gains in recent years, this would be a good time to take your profits and leave the blackjack table. I have a bearish CAPScall to back this conclusion up.

If you're looking for some solid long-term investing ideas, you're invited to check out The Motley Fool's brand-new special report, "The 3 Dow Stocks Dividend Investors Need." It's absolutely free, so simply click here now and get your copy today.

Opinion: Strassel: Jumping the Sequester

The phrase "jumping the shark" describes that gimmicky moment when something once considered significant is exposed as ludicrous. This is the week the White House jumped the sequester.

The precise moment came Tuesday, when the administration announced that it was canceling public tours of the White House, blaming budget cuts. The Sequesterer in Chief has insisted that cutting even $44 billion from this fiscal year will cause agonizing pain�airport security snarls, uninspected meat, uneducated children. Since none of those things has come to pass, the White House decided it needed an immediate and high-profile way of making its point. Ergo, it would deny the nation's school kids a chance to view a symbol of America.

The act was designed to spark outrage against Republicans, yet the sheer pettiness of it instead provided a moment of clarity. Americans might not understand the technicalities of sequester, but this was something else entirely. Was the president actually claiming there was not a single other government item�not one�that could be cut instead of the White House tours? Really?

Enlarge Image

Close St. Paul's Lutheran School

Sixth-graders at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Waverly, Iowa.

The cancellations were an open invitation for the nation to dive into the gory depths of the federal budget�and re-emerge with a debate over waste and priorities. Over the past week, an entire cottage industry has sprung up of journalists, watchdog groups and average citizens reporting on the absurdities of federal spending. Republicans have lit up Twitter with examples of indefensible projects (#SequesterThis).

We've learned that the White House employs three calligraphers, who cumulatively earn $277,000 a year. The Environmental Protection Agency gave $141,000 to fund a Chinese study on swine manure. Part of a $325,000 National Science Foundation outlay went to building a robotic squirrel.

The government gave a $3,700 grant to build a miniature street in West Virginia�out of Legos. It shelled out $500,000 to support specialty shampoo products for cats and dogs. A San Diego outfit got $10,000 for trolley dancing. The feds last year held 894 conferences that each cost more than $100,000�$340 million altogether. But Mr. Obama is too broke to let American kids look around the White House.

Golf Clap for RTI Biologics

RTI Biologics (Nasdaq: RTIX  ) reported earnings on Feb. 7. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), RTI Biologics met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased and GAAP earnings per share was unchanged.

Gross margins expanded, operating margins shrank, net margins dropped.

Revenue details
RTI Biologics recorded revenue of $44.6 million. The eight analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected sales of $45.1 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.04. The eight earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.04 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.04 were the same as the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 48.8%, 260 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 8.0%, 40 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.1%, 40 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $46.0 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.05.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $188.5 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.22.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 209 members out of 219 rating the stock outperform, and 10 members rating it underperform. Among 48 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 47 give RTI Biologics a green thumbs-up, and one give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on RTI Biologics is outperform, with an average price target of $4.96.

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Have We Evolved to Be Nasty or Nice?

A new study by Dirk Helbing at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and colleagues has modeled the emergence of "nice" behavior in idealized human beings. It's done by computer, using the famous "prisoner's dilemma" game, in which a prisoner has to decide between cooperating with a comrade to get a mutual reward or avoiding a punishment by being the first of the two to defect to the other side. The Zurich team found that so long as players in the game stay near their (modeled) parents, the birth of a nice guy predisposed to cooperate can trigger "a cascade" of generous acts.

In other words, more togetherness and physical proximity across the generations allows the development of more prosocial behavior. "The clustering of friendly agents, which promotes other-regarding preferences, is not supported when offspring move away." They also argue that networking via social media can promote niceness, which might surprise regular users of Twitter.

John S. Dykes

It is futile to ask whether people are naturally cooperative or selfish. They can be either, in different circumstances.

This is not the first work to find mathematical evidence that there are conditions under which cooperative behavior drives out selfish behavior. The key insight of the Zurich team is that both nice "Homo socialis" and nasty "Homo economicus" (the selfish boogeyman who supposedly reigns in classical economics) can be promoted by evolution under particular circumstances. So long as there is little geographic mobility, clusters of networked kin and friends develop, putting an advantage on being nice.

Most evolutionists now accept that kindness might be just as ancient and innate as selfishness. But it's also clearly conditional: People tend to cooperate with relatives and frequently encountered acquaintances, not indiscriminately.

But does commerce promote or hinder cooperative behavior? Most people assume it hinders, but economists have been arguing since before Adam Smith that markets promote good behavior as people discover the mutual advantage in exchange. "Sweet commerce," Montesquieu called it. A virtuous circle of voluntary cooperation allows both the producers and consumers of, say, bread or electricity to be better off.

As Joe Henrich of the University of British Columbia and colleagues found in a study a few years ago, the more people in small-scale societies are exposed to modern commerce, the more generous they prove to be when faced with a test called the "ultimatum game," in which participants must offer to share part of a windfall but lose it all if the recipient rejects the offer.

So the notion of "Homo economicus," schooled by capitalism to be shortsightedly selfish, is these days something of a straw man ("Homo stramineus"?). It is found more often being beaten up in the literature of social science than being celebrated in economics.

It is futile to ask whether people are naturally cooperative or selfish. They can be either, depending on the circumstances. Dr. Helbing cites "tragedies of the commons" where open access to a common-pool resource such as a fishery tends to result in overfishing that harms everybody�a sort of extended real-world version of the prisoner's dilemma.

Yet various economists, including the late Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom, have shown that in some cases communities can and do come together to solve such tragedies, often finding a middle way between nationalizing and privatizing the threatened resource.

Likewise, the bubbles and crashes that have afflicted asset markets ever since Holland's tulipmania in the 17th century and right up to the subprime-mortgage bubble are also cousins of the prisoner's dilemma. If people would only cooperate not to bid asset prices above their fundamental values, then there would not be winners and losers when prices spike and crash.

As the Nobel-winning economist Vernon Smith (now of Chapman University) and colleagues found in laboratory experiments, markets in goods for consumption promote cooperation, but markets in assets for speculation and resale produce bubbles and crashes. Once again, the difference lies in the conditions, not in the people themselves.

Top Stocks For 2/21/2013-18

Majestic Gold Corp. (TSX.V:MJS) (FSE:MJT) is pleased to announce the results of an updated resource estimate on its Song Jiagou Mine.

As part of the ongoing assessment on the Song Jiagou Mine, Wardrop Engineering Inc. (“Wardrop”) has revised their previous resource estimate (NR 23 April, 2010) as a result of the revision to the contract mining costs (NR 30 September 2010) which allowed cut-off grades to be reduced from 0.40 g/t to 0.30 g/t and warranted a revision of the block model.

Subsequent to the initial resource estimate, Wardrop determined that rotating the block model perpendicular to drilling direction was the most favorable orientation to evaluate the deposit and to calculate the revised resource. The new cut-off grade and the re-orientation of the model significantly increased the overall size of the resource and the contained ounces of gold in both the inferred and indicated categories.

The revised resource is:

—————————————————————–
Grade Au
Category Tonnes(i) (g/t)(ii) Contained oz Au
—————————————————————–
Indicated 33,739,586 1.147 1,244,211
—————————————————————–
Inferred 38,812,054 1.467 1,830,576
—————————————————————–
(i)Calculations conducted using 0.30 g/t cut-off
(ii)Gold grades were capped at 40 g/t

The most significant changes from the previous estimate are:

– Increase in Indicated tonnes by 35.34% to 33,739,586 tonnes
– Increase in Indicated contained gold by 24.09% to 1,244,211 ounces
– Increase in Inferred tonnes by 37.96% to 38,812,054 tonnes
– Increase in Inferred contained gold by 7.48% to 1,830,576 ounces

The increase in the size of the resource from 53 to 72.5 million tonnes will very significantly reduce the strip ratios to be used as Majestic continues its engineering studies on the Song Jiagou mine. Wardrop will move forward now to re-evaluate a production pit design.

For More Information On Majestic Gold: www.majesticgold.net

HIRU CORPORATION (Other OTC: HIRU.PK) subsidiary Shuangshi AHP Co. dispatched company representatives to evaluate the agricultural developments and increase company sales in the regions of Ganzhou, Yichun and Jian.

Shuangshi’s assistant general manager and sales manager met with several potential customers in the aforementioned regions to discuss the potential of Shuangshi products on the local markets, as the company works on gaining more exposure with Chinese farmers for their vaccination needs.

The representatives also negotiated with two new agricultural clients, each client reporting annual sales of approximately $30 million USD. Following these negotiations, Shuangshi AHP representatives supplied the customers with new HIRU products for testing and evaluation by the clients. Shuangshi AHP anticipates to gain more new clients as the company’s top quality animal vaccination products gain exposure in the market.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq:JASO) one of the world�s largest manufacturers of high-performance solar cells and solar power products, announced that it has entered into a long-term supplemental wafer and polysilicon supply agreement with GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries. Under the adjusted terms of this supplemental agreement, GCL-Poly will supply JA Solar with an aggregate of approximately 10GW of high quality polycrystalline wafers and polysilicon products for a five year period, from January 2011 to December 2015, at pre-determined shipment volume. The agreement also contains a clause for a price adjustment mechanism.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., through its subsidiaries, engages in the development, production, and marketing of photovoltaic solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity in the People�s Republic of China.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq:FMBI) the holding company of First Midwest Bank, announced the appointment to its Board of Directors of Lawrence E. Washow, the President and Chief Executive Officer of AMCOL International, a leading international producer and marketer of value-added specialty minerals and related products. �We are extremely fortunate to have Larry Washow join an already outstanding Board of Directors,� said Michael L. Scudder, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Midwest. �Larry brings extensive managerial experience and business judgment to our Board and we expect his contributions to be significant.�

First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for First Midwest Bank, which provides various commercial and retail banking, and financial services. It primarily engages in generating deposits and originating loans.

Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (Nasdaq:CBLI) announced that CBLB502, a drug under development to treat exposure to radiation, has been granted Orphan Drug status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for prevention of death following a potentially lethal dose of total body irradiation during or after a radiation disaster. The Orphan Drug Designation program provides orphan status to drugs and biologics which are defined as those intended for the safe and effective treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of rare diseases/disorders that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S., or that affect more than 200,000 people but are not expected to recover the costs of developing and marketing the treatment.

Cleveland Biolabs, Inc. engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of products for cancer treatment and protection of normal tissues from radiation and other acute stresses.

Checking an Important, Overlooked Metric at SCANA

It takes money to make money. Most investors know that, but with business media so focused on the "how much," very few investors bother to ask, "How fast?"

When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to SCANA (NYSE: SCG  ) .

Let's break this down
In this series, we measure how swiftly a company turns cash into goods or services and back into cash. We'll use a quick, relatively foolproof tool known as the cash conversion cycle, or CCC for short.

Why does the CCC matter? The less time it takes a firm to convert outgoing cash into incoming cash, the more powerful and flexible its profit engine is. The less money tied up in inventory and accounts receivable, the more available to grow the company, pay investors, or both.

To calculate the cash conversion cycle, add days inventory outstanding to days sales outstanding, then subtract days payable outstanding. Like golf, the lower your score here, the better. The CCC figure for SCANA for the trailing 12 months is 72.8.

For younger, fast-growth companies, the CCC can give you valuable insight into the sustainability of that growth. A company that's taking longer to make cash may need to tap financing to keep its momentum. For older, mature companies, the CCC can tell you how well the company is managed. Firms that begin to lose control of the CCC may be losing their clout with their suppliers (who might be demanding stricter payment terms) and customers (who might be demanding more generous terms). This can sometimes be an important signal of future distress -- one most investors are likely to miss.

In this series, I'm most interested in comparing a company's CCC to its prior performance. Here's where I believe all investors need to become trend-watchers. Sure, there may be legitimate reasons for an increase in the CCC, but all things being equal, I want to see this number stay steady or move downward over time.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Because of the seasonality in some businesses, the CCC for the TTM period may not be strictly comparable to the fiscal-year periods shown in the chart. Even the steadiest-looking businesses on an annual basis will experience some quarterly fluctuations in the CCC. To get an understanding of the usual ebb and flow at SCANA, consult the quarterly-period chart below.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

On a 12-month basis, the trend at SCANA looks less than great. At 72.8 days, it is 11.3 days worse than the five-year average of 61.5 days. The biggest contributor to that degradation was DIO, which worsened 9.1 days when compared to the five-year average.

Considering the numbers on a quarterly basis, the CCC trend at SCANA looks good. At 69.8 days, it is little changed from the average of the past eight quarters. With quarterly CCC doing better than average and the latest 12-month CCC coming in worse, SCANA gets a mixed review in this cash-conversion checkup.

Though the CCC can take a little work to calculate, it's definitely worth watching every quarter. You'll be better informed about potential problems, and you'll improve your odds of finding underappreciated home run stocks.

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• Add SCANA to My Watchlist.

Want to Invest in a Young Warren Buffett? Now You Can

Many investors, particularly retail investors, do not feel comfortable investing in the behemoth Wall Street banks; however, investors who severe all ties with the financial sector may miss out on enormous�opportunities.

While insurance can seem like a dull industry to study, Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B  ) has redefined what can make an insurance company a great investment. Following the teachings of Buffett, Markel (NYSE: MKL  ) , a specialty insurer, has positioned itself to grow book value and�shareholder�value for decades to come.�In this video, Fool financial analysts David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer discuss why Markel could be the next big thing.�

Thanks to the savvy of investing legend Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's book value per share has grown a mind-blowing 586,817% over the past 48 years. But with Buffett aging and Berkshire rapidly evolving, is this insurance conglomerate still a buy today? In The Motley Fool's premium report on the company, Berkshire expert Joe Magyer provides investors with key reasons to buy as well as important risks to watch out for. Click here now for instant access to Joe's take on Berkshire!

Opinion: Laffer and Moore: The Red-State Path to Prosperity926 comments

You can tell a lot about prosperity in America by observing the places people are moving to and where they are packing up and moving from. New Census Bureau data on metropolitan areas indicate that the South and the Sunbelt regions continue to grow, while the Northeast and Midwest continue to shrink.

Among the 10 fastest-growing metro areas last year were Raleigh, Austin, Las Vegas, Orlando, Charlotte, Phoenix, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. All of these are in low-tax, business-friendly red states. Blue-state areas such as Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Providence and Rochester were among the biggest population losers.

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1 Big Reason Why Icahn, Others Might Be Overpaying for Dell

Carl Icahn can't seem to stay out of the headlines. The one-time Netflix agitator and mortal enemy of fund manager Bill Ackman is now knee-deep in what has become a low-grade bidding war for Dell (NASDAQ: DELL  ) .

I'm mystified, though, as to why Icahn or anyone else would want a piece of the PC maker.�Dell is missing out on the greatest growth opportunity we've seen in more than a decade.

Tablet troubles
Some won't agree with that take, especially those who say that tablets are, in effect, PCs. They're the just the new "form factor" -- what the computer has morphed to be, these cheerleaders say, arguing that an uptick in tablet sales favors Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) at least as much as Apple and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) .

Nonsense.

If the categories really were so indistinct, then Dell would have no reason to sell itself to the highest bidder. Just sit back and roll in the giant piles of cash built from sales of the XPS 10 tablet and the relatively new XPS 12 convertible, which earns good reviews from the likes of CNET and Engadget. These are the sorts of Windows 8 devices that will �boost the whole PC sector, right?

Source: CNET.

PC fumbles
Wrong. Manufacturers haven't seen a boost of any kind. Intel's first-quarter guidance came in below consensus due to weak PC demand. Microsoft reported good Q4 results in its Windows division, but on a comparative basis, Windows 8's launch quarter brought in about $1 billion less than Windows 7 did at the time of its introduction. Taiwanese manufacturer Acer recently said Chromebook sales are on the rise while characterizing Windows 8 as "still not successful."

Dell, too, is showing battle scars. The one-time PC king suffered an 11% decline in revenue and a 22% drop in adjusted earnings per share in Q4. Both figures nudged ahead of estimates, revealing just how pessimistic Wall Street's view is of this business.

Analysts have good reason to be wary. Q4's results continue a downward pattern that's been in place for years and that shows no signs of abating:

Source:�DELL Revenue Quarterly YoY Growth data by YCharts.

Tabbed out
In its 10-K annual report, Dell cites the "mobility" business as one of its weakest. Sector revenue declined 20% on an 18% drop in units sold. Average selling prices also fell 2%.

"During Fiscal 2013, we experienced a difficult pricing environment for our client products. In particular, demand for our client products in emerging countries was affected as we saw a migration to lower-value offerings, where we are less competitive. Our results were also affected as customers shifted some of their demand to alternative computing devices, particularly in our Consumer segment," the report confesses. [Emphasis added.]

Translation: We aren't good at selling smartphones and tablets, which is a problem when you consider how important these devices have become:

Interestingly, this chart tells only part of the story. IDC also says tablet sales more than doubled last yearin emerging markets, where Dell is weak. Smartphone sales rose 69% while overall device sales jumped 41.3% in these up-and-coming regions. Unlike Apple, Acer, Samsung, and many others, Dell isn't cashing in on any of the growth opportunity.

For Dell, time to hit "delete"
Valuation math notwithstanding -- and, yes, there is a decent case to make that Dell is worth more than it trades for today -- this isn't a turnaround story in the making, and it may never be. Dell's historic strengths may prevent it.

Meanwhile, tablets are becoming the computing form of choice, especially in the emerging markets. Private or public, from here on Dell's relevance is inextricably linked to its ability to compete for and win non-PC customers.

I'd love to see it happen. I just don't believe it will.

When it comes to dominating markets, it doesn't get much better than Intel's position in the PC microprocessor arena. However, that market is maturing, and Intel finds itself in a precarious situation longer term if it doesn't find new avenues for growth. In this�premium research report on Intel, our analyst runs through all of the key topics investors�should understand�about�the chip giant. Click here now to learn more.

Cyprus and Pending Home Sales Plague the Dow

You can tell that investors and the financial media had grown accustomed to the run-up in stocks earlier this month, as any down day now triggers speculation of impending doom. Today, we have the ongoing situation in Cyprus and disappointing pending home sales here in the U.S. to thank for the worry. With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) is down 32 points, or 0.22%.

In order to meet its obligations under an ECB- and IMF-funded bailout, the tiny island nation of Cyprus has agreed to close its second-largest lender and confiscate a purported 40% of all deposits in excess of 100,000 euros. The country has also imposed capital controls meant to stem the outflow of money once its banks reopen for business on Thursday: They've been closed for the last week and a half, pursuant to a government-mandated bank holiday. Suffice it to say that the decision on deposits has rattled the markets over the last few weeks, as it has called into question the sanctity of funds once presumed safe.

Adding to pessimism today was data showing that pending home sales -- a measure based on contract signings -- slipped last month. The National Association of Realtors' pending-home-sales index fell 0.4% in February to 104.8. While this was lower than the previous month's reading of 105.2, it was nevertheless 8.2% higher on a year-over-year basis.

The problem, according to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, is that a limited inventory is holding back sales in many areas. "Only new home construction can genuinely help relieve the inventory shortage, and housing starts need to rise at least 50% from current levels," Yun said in a prepared statement. "Most local homebuilders are small businesses and simply don't have access to capital on Wall Street. Clearer regulatory rules, applied to construction loans for smaller community banks and credit unions, could bring many small-sized builders back into the market."

Despite the marginal step backward, it has become increasing clear that housing is truly improving. According to a New York-based fund-manager quoted by Bloomberg, "There's absolutely no question about that if you look at all the data, not just one month. Investment is starting to come back and one of those legs is housing."

In terms of individual stocks, shares of Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) are lower today after aviation experts and government officials predicted that the Federal Aviation Administration would limit the flying times of its beleaguered 787 Dreamliners. The planes were grounded two months ago after battery problems sparked fires on two separate aircraft.

According to an industry analyst quoted by Reuters, "Depending on how long that restriction remains in place, it would completely undermine the business case for the airplane, which was to be able to do these long, thin intercontinental routes."

And shares of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) , the nation's largest bank by assets, are also suffering following a revelation that prosecutors are looking into its role in the Bernie Madoff scandal. As my colleague Dan Carroll discussed earlier today, the issue concerns whether the bank violated laws by failing to alert authorities to Madoff's fraudulent scheme, which was revealed in 2008 once his sons purportedly learned of the deception.

Want to learn more about JPMorgan?
With big finance firms still trading at deep discounts to their historical norms, investors everywhere are wondering if this is the new normal or if finance stocks are a screaming buy today. The answer depends on the company, so to help you figure out whether JPMorgan is a buy today, I invite you to read our premium research report on the company today. Click here now for instant access!