Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015

U.S. stocks had an excellent 2013

Results for U.S. stock markets were exceptionally strong during 2013. Stock markets continued their more than four year advance from the financial panic lows reached in March 2009. The backdrop for this advance was an improving economy, less than median stock prices based on historic valuations and, inexpensive credit increasingly available through a healed banking system. We believe U.S. stock markets were helped meaningfully by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's LSAP, large scale asset purchase program, more commonly called "quantitative easing." The stated purpose of the bank's strategy is to encourage businesses to invest to grow and create jobs. By keeping interest rates low and creating inflation, the Fed's LSAP is also intended to help our businesses and citizens continue to deleverage. During 2013, stocks advanced on average about 30% from the prior year. Stocks of smaller and mid cap companies often increased in price more than 40%! Further, U.S. stocks' closing prices at year end 2013 exceeded peak prices they achieved in October 2007 by about 35%, as measured by the S&P 500.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: Boise Cascade Co (BCC)

Boise Cascade Company, formerly Boise Cascade, L.L.C., incorporated on July 26, 2004, is a vertically-integrated wood products manufacturer and building materials distributor with operations throughout the United States and Canada. The Company operates in two segments: wood products segment and our building materials distribution segment. The Company manufactures engineered wood products, plywood, lumber, and particleboard and distributes a line of building materials, including wood products manufactured by the Company�� wood products division. The Company�� products are used primarily in new residential construction, residential repair and remodeling projects, light commercial construction and industrial applications. In September 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of Wood Resources LLC's Southeast Operations, which include Chester Wood Products LLC and Moncure Plywood LLC.

Wood Products

The Company�� wood products segment is a manufacturer of engineered wood products (EWP) and plywood in North America. It manufactures LVL, I-joists and laminated beams and also produces plywood, studs, particleboard and ponderosa pine lumber, a lumber grade sold primarily to manufacturers of specialty wood windows, moldings and doors. Most of its wood products are sold to wholesalers, including its building materials distribution segment, home improvement centers, retail lumberyards and industrial converters.

Building Materials Distribution

The Company is a wholesale distributor of building materials in the United States. Its nationwide network of 31 strategically-located distribution facilities sells a line of building materials, including EWP, oriented strand board OSB), plywood, lumber and general line items, such as framing accessories, composite decking, roofing, siding and insulation. It also operates a truss manufacturing plant located in Maine. Its products are used in the construction of new residential housing,! including single-family, multi-family and manufactured homes, repair and remodeling projects and the construction of light industrial and commercial buildings.

The Company markets its products primarily to retail lumberyards and home improvement centers that then sell the products to end customers, who are typically professional builders, independent contractors and homeowners engaged in residential construction projects. It also markets its products to industrial converters, which use its products to assemble windows, doors, agricultural bins and other products used in industrial and repair and remodel applications. The Company has more than 4,500 customers, which includes a diverse mix of wholesalers, home improvement centers, retail lumberyards and industrial converters. The Company supplies its customers through 49 located facilities (consisting of 18 manufacturing facilities and 31 distribution facilities).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Rayonier have plunged 15% to $46.97 at 12.36 p.m., but its fall doesn’t seem to have damaged other timber companies. Weyerhaeuser (WY) has gained 3.7% to $31.43 after it reported a profit of 27 cents today, beating estimates of 21 cents. Plum Creek Timber (PCL) is little changed at $49.47 and Boise Cascade (BCC) has risen 1.1% to $27.83.

• [By Blake Bos]

  Investors searching for a lucrative investment to capitalize on a continued rebound in housing may have found the process to be quite precarious, as many companies have experienced significant run-ups in stock price. While most company valuations appear frothy,�Boise Cascade (NYSE: BCC  ) �stands out as a possible cheaper alternative. In the video below, analyst Blake Bos shows you how to ask the right questions when deciding to invest and draws some valuable comparisons to competitor�Weyerhaeuser� (NYSE: WY  ) .�

• [By Matt Jarzemsky]

  Installed Building Products��debut follows mixed performance from shares of some newly public building-products companies. Through Tuesday, siding manufacturer Ply Gem Holdings Inc.(PGEM)�� shares were down 39% from the offer price in its $381 May debut. Wood-products maker Boise Cascade Co.(BCC) was up 46% from its $284 million February IPO.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Before you consider this just to be a bit of IPO pondering, take a step back and understand that some of this list membership already has�filed to come public or actually has�made it public recently. Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC), CDW Corp. (NASDAQ: CDW), Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY), Global Brass and Copper Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BRSS), Noodles & Company (NASDAQ: NDLS), Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RH), Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (NASDAQ: SFM) and many others are on the list and have made it to the post-IPO stage in the stock market.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: Ocado Group PLC (OCDO)

Ocado Group plc is a United Kingdom-based holding company. The Company�� principal activities are the retailing, logistics and distribution of grocery and consumer goods and the development and monetisation of intellectual property and technology for the online retailing, logistics and distribution of these goods. The Company is an online grocery retailer. The Company�� subsidiaries include Ocado Holdings Limited, Ocado Limited, Ocado Information Technology Limited, Last Mile Developments Limited and Last Mile Developments Limited. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sarah Jones]

  Rio Tinto Group and Anglo American Plc (AAL) retreated more than 2.5 percent as copper and lead declined. Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) sank 6.8 percent as analysts downgraded the shares. Standard Life Plc slipped 1.2 percent as Chief Financial Officer Jackie Hunt resigned to move to a rival insurer. Ocado Group Plc (OCDO) fell for the first day this week as the online grocer ruled out a takeover by William Morrison Supermarkets Plc.

5 Best Regional Bank Stocks To Watch Right Now: CoreSite Realty Corporation(COR)

CoreSite Realty Corporation operates as real investment trust in the United States. The company engages in the ownership, acquisition, construction, and management of data centers. It provides data centers that optimize, secure, and interconnect the mission-critical IT assets of the organizations. The company offers private data centers and suites, cage-to-cabinet colocation, and interconnection services, such as Any2, CoreSite's Internet exchange. Its data centers are located in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay and Northern Virginia areas, Chicago, and New York City. The company provides its data centre services to enterprises, cloud providers, financial firms, and Government agencies. As of March 31, 2011, its property portfolio included 11 operating data center facilities, 1 data center under construction, and 1 development site. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  CoreSite Realty Corp (COR)

  During the second quarter, Columbia Wanger increased their holdings in CoreSite Realty by 256.43%. The fund purchased a total of 1,176,650 shares of the company�� stock. They purchased these shares at an average price of $34.19 and since then the price per share has increased an additional 4.1%.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: Financial Institutions Inc.(FISI)

Financial Institutions, Inc. operates as the holding company for Five Star Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking, and financial services to individuals, municipalities, and businesses in central and western New York. Its deposit accounts consist of noninterest-bearing demand, interest-bearing demand, savings, money market, club, individual retirement, and other qualified plan accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. The company?s loan portfolio comprises commercial loans, commercial real estate loans, one-to-four family residential mortgages, consumer automobile loans, recreational vehicle loans, boat loans, home improvement loans, closed-end home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, collateralized and uncollateralized personal loans, deposit account collateralized loans, commercial and agricultural working capital and revolving lines of credit, commercial and agricultural mortgages, equipment loans, and crop and livestock loans. It operates throug h a network of approximately 51 offices and 70 ATMs in 14 contiguous counties of western and central New York. The company, through its other subsidiary, Five Star Investment Services, Inc., provides brokerage services. Financial Institutions, Inc. was founded in 1931 and is based in Warsaw, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  Financial Institutions Inc. (FISI) operates as the holding company for Five Star Bank that provides various banking and financial services to individuals, municipalities, and businesses. Aug. 21, the company increased its quarterly dividend 6% to $0.19 per share. The dividend is payable payable Oct. 2, 2013 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 12, 2013. The yield based on the new payout is 3.9%.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Financial Institutions Inc. (NASDAQ: FISI) was started as Buy with a $24 price target by Sterne Agee.

  Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) was reiterated as Buy and added to the prized Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: Evercore Partners Inc(EVR)

Evercore Partners Inc. operates as an independent investment banking advisory firm. The company operates through two segments, Investment Banking and Investment Management. The Investment Banking segment offers advisory services on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other strategic corporate transactions primarily for multinational corporations and private equity firms; and restructuring advice to companies in financial transition, as well as to creditors, shareholders, and potential acquirers. This segment also provides capital markets advice; underwrites securities offerings; raises funds for financial sponsors; and offers equity research and agency-only equity securities trading for institutional investors. The Investment Management segment manages financial assets for institutional investors; provides independent fiduciary services to corporate employee benefit plans; provides wealth management services for high net-worth individuals; manages private equity funds ; and offers specialized investment management and trustee services. The company operates primarily in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Evercore Partners Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Evraz (EVR) plunged 11 percent to 185.8 pence, the most since Russia�� biggest steelmaker began trading in London in November 2011. The company�� board of directors refrained from announcing a final dividend, citing deteriorating market environment and a weaker second-half performance.

• [By Jonathan Levin]

  The company began operations in 2006 and its fleet includes Airbus SAS single-aisle A319 and A320 jets. Owners include Indigo Partners LLC, Evercore Partners Inc. (EVR) and Evercore Co-Chairman Pedro Aspe, a former Mexico finance minister, according to the pre-IPO filing.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Independent investment advisory firm Evercore Partners (EVR) raised its quarterly dividend 13.6% to 25 cents per share, payable on Dec. 13 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 29.
  EVR Dividend Yield:�1.9%

• [By David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer]

  In this segment from Thursday's episode of The Motley Fool's everything-financials show,�Where the Money Is, banking analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson go through a rapid-fire round of three top headlines. The newsmakers included�KKR (NYSE: KKR  ) ,�Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) ,�Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS  ) ,�Lazard (NYSE: LAZ  ) , and�Evercore (NYSE: EVR  ) .

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: PowerShares S&P SmallCap Information Technology Portfolio (PSCT)

PowerShares S&P SmallCap Information Technology Portfolio (the Fund) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of an index called the S&P SmallCap 600 Capped Information Technology Index (the Index). The Index consists of common stocks of the United States information technology companies. These are companies that are principally engaged in the business of providing information technology-related products and services, including computer hardware and software, Internet, electronics and semiconductors, and communication technologies. The Index is compiled, maintained and calculated by Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC. The Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its total assets in common stocks of small-capitalization information technology companies. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in common stocks that comprise the Index. The Fund�� investment adviser is Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Stephen Leeb]

  The PowerShares S&P 500 Small-Cap Technology (PSCT) is geared towards smaller, more agile, but also less-established firms, while iShares S&P North American Technology ETF (IGM) offers broad, blue-chip technology industry exposure.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: Rambus Inc.(RMBS)

Rambus Inc. engages in the creation, design, development, and licensing of patented innovations, technologies, and architectures to digital electronics products and systems. Its patented innovations include Dual Edge Clocking, which is designed to allow data to be sent on the clock pulse; Variable Burst Length that improves data transfer efficiency by allowing varying amounts of data to be sent per a memory read or write request in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and flash memory; and FlexPhase technology, which synchronizes data output and compensates for circuit timing errors. The company also offers Channel Equalization to improve signal integrity and system margins in high speed parallel and serial link channels; Module Threading, which improves the power efficiency of a memory module by applying parallelism to module data accesses; and MicroLens optical design technology, which provides optimum utilization of high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LED) in edge-lit lighting applications. In addition, it licenses its architectures and industry-standard solutions for use in digital electronics products and systems, including XDR Memory Architecture enabling the production of DRAM; XDR2 Memory Architecture that incorporates DRAM micro-threading for graphics intensive applications, such as gaming and digital video; Mobile XDR Memory Architecture, which enables applications, such as HD video recording and 3D gaming on battery powered mobile devices; RDRAM Memory used in play stations, Intel-based personal computers, televisions, and routers; and FlexIO Processor Bus, a high speed chip-to-chip interface. Further, the company offers industry-standard chip interface solutions, including DDRx; digital logic controllers for peripheral component interconnect express and other industry standard interfaces; and custom solutions for displays, LED backlights, and general lighting. Rambus Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Ca lifornia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Micron Technology Inc.(MU) and Rambus Inc.(RMBS) said they have ended a series of court battles that stretched for 13 years, with Micron agreeing to pay up to $280 million to Rambus over seven years. The deal announced late Monday gives Micron, one of the biggest makers of memory chips, rights to use Rambus patents in certain products. Rambus shares surged 9.7% to $9.36 premarket, while Micron was inactive.

• [By ICRAOnline]

  Technology licensing company Rambus (RMBS) displayed good momentum in its fourth-quarter results. However, uncertainty looms as the company forecasted a growth rate of just 6.5% ��significantly lower than last year�� 14.0%. This could reflect uncertainty in the company�� LED business and the semiconductor industry as a whole. Let�� take a brief look at the highlights for the quarter.

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: RealPage Inc.(RP)

RealPage, Inc. provides on demand software solutions for the rental housing industry in North America. It offers property management systems, including OneSite to manage leasing and rents, facilities, purchasing, accounting, budgeting, and living of multi-family, housing and urban development (HUD), tax credit, privatized military housing, and student housing; and Propertyware for accounting, maintenance and work order management, marketing spend management, and portal services, as well as screening, renter?s insurance, and payment solutions. The company also provides on premise property management systems that include RentRoll for small conventional apartment communities; HUD Manager for small HUD, rural housing services, and tax credit subsidized apartment communities; Tenant Pro for small conventional properties; Spectra, an apartment and commercial modular property management system; and i-CAM and Management Plus property management software that automates and streaml ines rental activities. In addition, it offers software-enabled value-added services, such as LeaseStar, a system that manage marketing and leasing operations and enable owners and managers to originate, capture, track, manage, and close leads; YieldStar, a scientific yield management system, which enables owners and managers to optimize rents; LeasingDesk, a risk mitigation system to reduce delinquency, liability, and property damage risk; and Velocity that offers billing and utility management services; OpsTechnology that offers spend management systems that enable owners and managers to control costs; shared cloud services, which are integrated with property management systems and software-enabled valued added services; and RealPage Senior Living, an integrated care management, community management, and marketing management platform. The company sells its software and services directly through its sales force. RealPage, Inc. is headquartered in Carrollton, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap construction software stock Textura Corp (NYSE: TXTR) has been all over the place lately, meaning it might be time to take a look at it along with other small cap or mid cap construction, design or real estate software stocks like RealPage, Inc (NASDAQ: RP) and more well known Autodesk, Inc (NASDAQ: ADSK). After all, enterprise software stocks like these would offer a more indirect way to bet on a housing or construction ��ecovery,���ust like building materials stocks; plus earlier this summer,�a benchmark global study (sponsored by Textura Corp) called Global Construction 2025 predicted that the global construction market will grow by more than 70% to reach $15 trillion by 2025.�

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

• [By Seth Jayson]

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

Top Mid Cap Companies To Own For 2015: Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (ETE)

Energy Transfer Equity, L.P., through its direct and indirect investments in the limited partner and general partner interests in Energy Transfer Partners, L.P., engages in midstream, intrastate, and interstate transportation of natural gas, as well as in storage of natural gas in the United States. The company?s Intrastate Transportation and Storage segment engages in the ownership and operation of natural gas transportation pipelines and natural gas storage facilities. As of December 31, 2009, it owned and operated approximately 7,800 miles of natural gas transportation pipelines and 3 natural gas storage facilities. This segment sells natural gas to electric utilities, independent power plants, local distribution companies, industrial end-users, and other marketing companies on the Houston pipeline system. Its Interstate Transportation segment involves owns and operates interstate natural gas pipeline. It owned and operates approximately 2,700 miles of interstate natura l gas pipeline with an additional 180 miles under construction. The company?s Midstream segment engages in the ownership and operation of in service natural gas gathering pipelines, natural gas processing plants, natural gas treating facilities, and natural gas conditioning facilities. This segment owned and operated approximately 7,000 miles of in service natural gas gathering pipelines, 3 natural gas processing plants, 11 natural gas treating facilities, and 11 natural gas conditioning facilities. Its Retail Propane segment operates a retail distribution network consisting of approximately 440 customer service locations in approximately 40 states. The company was formerly known as La Grange Energy, L.P. Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. was founded in 2002 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) owns and operates natural gas gathering systems, natural gas intrastate pipeline systems and gas processing plants. This stock closed up 1.8% at $66.21 in Wednesday's trading session.

  Wednesday's Volume: 4.58 million
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 1.28 million
  
  Volume % Change: 321%

  From a technical perspective, ETE spiked higher here right off some near-term support at $63.90 with heavy upside volume. This move pushed shares of ETE into new 52-week high territory, since the stock took out some resistance at $66.97. At last check, ETE hit an intraday high of $67.90 with volume that was substantially above its three-month average action of 1.28 million shares.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ETE as long as it's trending above support at $63.90 or above more support at $62 and then once it sustains a move or close above its new 52-week high at $67.90 with volume that's near or above 1.28 million shares. If we get that move soon, then ETE will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $70 to $75.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Many of the MLPs also have a publicly traded general partner. Because the general partner typically owns incentive distribution rights that can skyrocket after the limited partnership distributions are paid, these companies tend to show higher growth rates than the MLPs themselves. For example, Energy Transfer Equity LP (NYSE: ETE), the general partner for Enterprise Products, has a market cap of $24.23 billion on its own. ETE�� yield is 3.4% compared with EPD�� yield of 4.2%, but the general partner�� ability to grow is potentially much higher. The downside is that these stocks are expensive compared with an MLP�� common unit price.

• [By Dividend Monk]

  Much like Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) and Energy Transfer Equity (ETE), Oneok Inc. is a publicly traded general partner of another publicly traded partnership (Oneok Partners LP), and the overall benefits are similar.

Berkshire Hathaway: Time To Buy?

Buying Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) always has seemed like a leap of faith–you either believed in Warren Buffett’s omnipotence or you didn’t–that having an analyst cover the company always seemed beside the point. But analysts do cover Berkshire Hathaway, and one of them even had something to say about the company today.

AFP

That would Barclays’ Jay Gelb, who released a big report on Berkshire Hathaway today. And wouldn’t you know it, not only does he like Warren Buffett’s baby, he thinks now would be a good time to buy. Gelb explains why:

Berkshire's insurance businesses generates substantial no-cost float ($77bn at YE13) available for investing and will benefit from the Heinz acquisition. Importantly, Berkshire has significant cash available for additional acquisitions (we estimate ~$25bn) to supplement organic growth…

Berkshire Hathaway has substantial leverage to an improving economy including the housing market with its non-insurance business accounting for two-thirds of operating earnings. Overall, Berkshire should benefit from consistent earnings growth in the Burlington Northern railroad business (including oil-by-rail), as well as the Manufacturing, Service, and Retail, and the Utilities and Energy units…

[Berkshire Hathaway] shares are attractively valued currently at 1.41x book value, which is near the level (1.2x book value) at which the company will repurchase stock. The buyback plan provides a support level and signals how strongly Mr. Buffett believes Berkshire's intrinsic value exceeds its book value.

Berkshire Hathaway’s B shares have dropped 0.7% to$126.33 at 1:37 p.m., while Berkshire Hathaway’s A shares (BRK.A) has fallen 0.7% to $189,400. It will report earnings on May 2.

Amazon and Overstock's Crazy Price War's a Win for Book Lovers

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Getty Images Usually when companies fight each other, it's consumers who get the worst of it. But right now, we're witnessing a business battle that's actually benefiting consumers in a big way. In this corner: Amazon (AMZN). In that corner: Overstock.com. At stake: Which site gets to claim it has the lowest prices on books. For years, Amazon has had sole possession of those bragging rights. But Overstock, a discounter not as widely known for its book offerings, is trying to make a splash in the book game by beating Amazon on price. Starting July 22, the site began offering to match Amazon's prices on hundreds of thousands of books, and then lower the price by another 10 percent. Overstock is applying the program to 360,000 of its titles. Not to be outdone, Amazon is going through its list and discounting its books to beat those prices -- which is causing Overstock's computers to respond by lowering their own prices again. The result is a race to the bottom, with the book-buying public realizing huge discounts on even the most popular books. Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl," for instance, is a bestseller that came out in June and has a list price of $25. It's currently $12.84 at Amazon, but Overstock has it for just $10.63. The Amazon price history of the book shows that the price started dipping shortly after Overstock's price-match program went into effect. The price war is largely being fought by the two e-tailers' computers, which are programmed to periodically check the competition's prices and beat them. While algorithms of this sort have gone a little screwy in the past -- consider the case of the biology textbook that wound up priced at $23 million -- we're guessing there a fail-safes in place here to make sure the prices don't go too low. That's probably why we aren't seeing books selling for pennies on either site right now, and likely won't. Still, Overstock pledged Thursday that it would keep up the promotion for at least another week. So if there's a book you're looking to buy, now is the time to do it. Check the prices on both sites, see where you're getting the better shipping deal, and then click "buy" before the two companies declare a cease-fire.

LED light bulbs try to light up consumers

The humble Edison light bulb has enjoyed a long lifespan, seeing only modest changes while technologies like television and radio have been drastically revised over time. But the familiar bulb's long, uninterrupted reign could finally be under threat as light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, appear poised to become the new standard.

The reason is simple: Traditional incandescent light bulbs lack the efficiency that one would expect of nearly any other piece of modern technology. In fact, about 90% of the energy they use is wasted as heat, with only the remaining 10% actually producing light.

The federal government finally took a stand against such wastefulness in 2012, banning 100-watt incandescent bulbs. Similar bans on 40- and 60-watt bulbs are also in the works. Initially, it appeared that compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs, would assume the throne, but that hasn't worked out as expected.

"CFLs have been a disaster," says Margery Conner, engineer and creator of Designing With LEDs. Caught between new efficiency standards and a market unwilling to pay a premium for a simple light bulb, manufacturers responded with a flood of poorly built and ill-conceived fluorescents.

RELATED: Take a look at how LEDs actually work

RELATED: Looking at other smart light bulbs that talk to your phone

Conner says the biggest problem is the "cold light" the bulbs produce, referring to their bluish color temperature. And manufacturers didn't explain that CFLs can't be dimmed using traditional dimmer switches, she says. These complaints have been partially addressed in recent product revisions, and CFLs are actually quite competitive with LEDs when it comes to energy efficiency. But the technology's credibility has still taken a hit in the court of public opinion.

Both bulb makers and regulators are taking steps to ensure that LEDs don't suffer the same fate. So far, most of their efforts seem centered around a strong message of long-term affordability combined with a reduced up-front cost! .

CREE, a company based in Raleigh, N.C., was the first to hit the $10 price point in many markets. Its products have since risen to become the No. 1 and No. 3-selling light bulbs at Home Depot. Of course, $10 is still a lot to ask for a light bulb, but the government is happy to step in and help out. LEDs that earn an Energy Star badge for their performance and efficiency also qualify for a rebate, usually from regional utility companies.

In addition to its growing affordability, part of LED's appeal is its extraordinarily long life expectancy. CREE offers a 10-year guarantee on its bulbs, and suggests life spans as long as 22 years are possible under certain conditions.

But regardless of the bulbs' technical merits, the toughest challenge for manufacturers is managing consumer perceptions. "You have to make something that looks as close to an incandescent light bulb as possible," says Conner. The short, twisted CFL bulbs were considered undesirable by a population accustomed to a very specific bulb shape. LEDs can conform to that familiar shape, she says, while still doing "things you've never done before."

Dutch giant Philips, for instance, has been experimenting with more novel applications. In addition to its selection of garden-variety LED bulbs, Philips has released a line of "hue" connected light bulbs.

Essentially a stage lighting kit for your home, hue bulbs contain multiple LEDs whose output can be controlled from your smartphone, allowing for millions of possible colors. It's a neat trick that gives the system enough flash to land it a spot in Apple's retail stores. Philips has also opened up the product to outside developers, and there are now about 40 apps that can interact with the bulbs.

"We've viewed light as a function, but rarely as creating an experience," says Todd Manegold, director of LED lamps at Philips. LED lights, he says, have opened up ways of "doing things you couldn't do with traditional form factors."

Most LED manufacturers are v! iewing th! e growth as evolution rather than revolution. As technologically sophisticated as the guts of these light bulbs are, they're still just light bulbs to most people.

Best Safest Stocks To Watch Right Now

Convincing consumers to change ingrained habits requires a multifaceted strategy, including attractive pricing, clarification of long-term benefits, and good old fashioned gee-whiz gadgetry. As Mike Watson, CREE's VP of Corporate Marketing, posits the challenge: "The tech has to be better than what it's replacing."

For more product reviews and news, visit Reviewed.com, a division of USA TODAY, and follow @ReviewedDotCom on Twitter.

Best Rising Stocks To Invest In 2014

Best Rising Stocks To Invest In 2014: Swift Energy Company(SFY)

Swift Energy Company engages in acquiring, exploring, developing, and operating oil and natural gas properties. It focuses on inland waters and onshore oil and natural gas reserves in Louisiana and Texas. As of December 31, 2010, the company had estimated proved reserves of 132.8 million barrels of oil equivalent. Swift Energy Company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Thursday morning, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Swift Energy Co (NYSE: SFY) and Halcon Resources (NYSE: HK). Healthcare sector was the leading decliner in the US market today.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  Thursday morning, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Swift Energy Co (NYSE: SFY) and Halcon Resources (NYSE: HK). Healthcare sector was the leading decliner in the US market today.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/best-rising-stocks-to-invest-in-2014-2.html

Ford CFO Robert Shanks to Take Your Questions: StockTwits

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Once again, leaders in investor transparency Ford Motor Company  (F) (@Ford) will be answering questions from the StockTwits community after releasing their latest earnings report on Friday morning (April 25th). If you have questions for Ford CFO Robert Shanks, please submit them on StockTwits.com, addressed to @Ford with the ticker $F in your message. Example:

@Ford Loving the latest Ford Explorers. How are Explorers sales trending in 2014 compared to 2013? $F - Sean McLaughlin (@chicagosean) Apr. 23 at 01:31 PM

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Have your questions submitted by 3pm ET on Friday, April 25th. Mr. Shanks will then begin answering the best questions beginning at approximately 4pm ET. Should be lots to talk about this quarter!

Stock quotes in this article: F 

GM accused of hiding ignition flaws in 2009 bankruptcy

Plaintiff attorneys are arguing that GM should lose the shield from liability that it gained in bankruptcy court five years ago.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Lawyers pressing cases against General Motors say the automaker concealed the controversial ignition defect when it "took billions of dollars in taxpayer money" during its government-sponsored bankruptcy in 2009.

The claim, made by plaintiffs attorneys seeking court approval to bring class action suits against GM, came in court documents filed in federal bankruptcy court late Monday.

Also on Monday, GM (GM, Fortune 500) filed papers seeking to protect itself from suits related to the ignition switch recall, which the company has tied to at least 13 deaths.

The plaintiffs' lawyers argue that GM should not be able to use its bankruptcy reorganization as a shield against liability in cases stemming from the faulty ignition switch.

The lawyers represent consumers who had problems with their cars shutting down while driving on the highway, but who did not have accidents. They say they were financially harmed by being forced to trade in their cars because of concerns about their safety.

Together, the court documents frame one of the most important legal issues arising from the botched ignition switch recall, which GM only ordered earlier this year. The company faces government investigations, a criminal probe and dozens of lawsuits into why the recall took so long.

  GM CEO on recall: 'It took too long'

General Motors was teetering on the brink of insolvency in early 2009 when it filed for pr! otection from its creditors. About $50 billion in financing from the federal government propped up the company during its reorganization.

At the time, GM created a new company that purchased the valuable assets of the automaker. It left behind a shell company, known as Motors Liquidation, that had unwanted liabilities and assets.

The liabilities of "Old GM" included about 2,500 pending lawsuits. Suits ran the gamut from personal injury and wrongful death cases to contract and property disputes. Most of the plaintiffs in those cases have since settled for pennies on the dollar.

GM argues that its bankruptcy reorganization would have failed, and the company would have collapsed, if it had not been protected from those legal claims.

"It was an absolute condition of New GM's purchase offer that New GM not take on all of Old GM's liabilities," GM states in its new court filing. "That was the bargain struck by New GM and Old GM, and approved by the court as being in the best interests of Old GM's bankruptcy estate and the public interest."

GM's said in its filing Monday that it's seeking protection from suits alleging economic damages, not from those brought over accident deaths or injuries.

"General Motors has taken responsibility for its actions and will keep doing so," the company said in a statement Tuesday. "GM has also acknowledged that it has civic and legal obligations relating to injuries that may relate to recalled vehicles."

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GM has hired lawyer Kenneth Feinberg to advise the company on "options" for addressing injury lawsuits.

Without the liability shield, GM could face substantial legal exposure from the recall beyond the cost of paying those injured or killed in accidents. Toyota Motor (TM) reached a $1.1 billion class action settlement in late 2012 related to recal! l problem! s with unintended acceleration in its cars. That settlement did not cover injury or wrongful death cases.

General Electric: A Lot to Like, Citigroup Says

Last week, General Electric (GE) gained 3.8%–and drew near-universal kudos from the analyst community–after beating earnings forecasts. Today, Citigroup joined the chorus of praise for General Electric.

Associated Press

Citigroup’s Deane Dray and team explain what they liked about General Electric’s financial results:

There was much to like in Buy-rated GE's 1Q14, nicely distancing itself from the disappointments last quarter and boosting confidence in its 2014 operating framework. Among the feel-goods were a sector-best (so far) 8% organic growth, 50 bps margin expansion, and nice progress in the cost-out Simplification initiative. Looking ahead, mgmt signaled two new capital allocation catalysts: (1) more divestitures are in the works and (2) it is now pursuing acquisitions bigger than the self-imposed $1-$4 bil bolt-on range that it has been operating under for the past two years. We expect this means GE will consider $7-$9 bil deals, but we don't see this flexing up in deal-size impinging on the ongoing investor-friendly capital deployment to dividends and buybacks. We consider GE to be well-positioned as a "Control Your Own Destiny" industrial and as a mostly unloved value story. The record $245 bil backlog gives it nice earnings visibility, and the ongoing mix shift to 70/30 industrial/finance should drive multiple expansion.

General Electric’s earnings could also be a good sign for Actuant (ATU), United Technologies (UTX) and Honeywell International (HON), Dray says.

Shares of General Electric have gained 0.2% to $26.63 at 2:03 p.m., while Actuant has fallen 0.6% to $34.68, United Technologies has dipped 0.2% to $118.33 and Honeywell International is unchanged at $93.10.

Why These Popular Dividend-Payers Slashed Their Payouts

Dividend stocks have gotten increasingly popular in recent years, as alternatives have stopped producing as much income as they once did. Some of the most popular dividend payers in the market were real estate investment trusts specializing in mortgage-backed securities, which produced double-digit dividend yields thanks to their highly leveraged business models. But recently, some popular mortgage REITs have cut their dividends.

In the following video, Fool contributor Dan Caplinger goes through some of the recent dividend cuts among the most popular mortgage REITs, discussing the reasons the dividend favorites are feeling pressure on profits and whether the trend is likely to continue. Dan also points out that some mortgage REITs have managed not to cut dividends, and concludes with a closer look at some of the factors that will affect mortgage REITs in the future.

If you're an investor who prefers returns to rhetoric, you'll want to read The Motley Fool's new free report "5 Dividend Myths ... Busted!" In it, you'll learn which stocks provide premium growth and whether bigger dividends are better. Click here to keep reading.

The 10 fastest rising food prices

Food prices at the grocery store are up, following an increase in production costs and wholesale prices. In March, retail food prices rose 0.4% from the preceding month, matching February's increase. These marked the largest monthly gains in food prices since September 2011, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Food prices are often volatile and are affected by a number of factors. While certain factors reflect human decision — such as the changing tastes of consumers and farmers' planting choices — others are forces over which farmers have very little control. Issues such as weather conditions and diseases can cause severe supply shortages that cause the price of products to rise.

In recent years, drought in the western U.S. has driven up the prices of meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables. Parts of California, the Southwest, and the Great Plains have suffered from three consecutive years of drought, according to Brad Rippey, meteorologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). More than two-thirds of California is currently covered by extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Of course, drought directly impacts crops. "Agriculture uses about 80% of California's water," Rippey told 24/7 Wall St., and, because of cutbacks in water delivery, "a lot of fields may have to lay fallow."

Drought has also driven up meat prices because it caused feed prices to spike in recent years, Rippey added. The higher feed prices increase the cost of raising cattle for slaughter and, in the end, the meat prices for consumers. Bacon prices have gained more than nearly any other food tracked by the BLS since the start of the decade, rising 35% to $4.13 per pound.

The price of the only food product that has risen more than beef is bacon, which soared 53% since January 2010. This is due in large part to the spread of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) in hogs. Although the disease has no effect on humans or food, it can be fatal for young pigs and ! is therefore expected to cut into hog production considerably. Ham and pork chop prices have also increased since 2010, up 32% and 24%, respectively.

Diseases are hardly limited to livestock. Citrus fruit, too, has suffered from a disease. Production of both oranges and grapefruits has dropped as citrus greening disease has damaged Florida crops — which account for the majority of grapefruits and oranges produced in the U.S. Trade publications, national media, and even the USDA have portrayed the disease as a threat to the survival of the citrus industry.

Demand is another key factor that drives food prices. According to Steve Freed, vice president of research at ADM Investor Services, the agricultural world pays attention to a number of trends that can drive prices. These include the state of major economies, such as the U.S. and China, as well as consumer tastes. "We'll be watching any change in U.S. and world diet," he added.

To identify the food prices that have risen the most, 24/7 Wall St. examined average retail price data published by the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the period January 2010 through March 2014. Similar kinds of products, including certain beef and pork products, were grouped together to avoid duplication. We also reviewed data on commodity futures from CME Group and the IntercontinentalExchange Group for a range of products. A number of reports produced by the USDA were also considered.

These are the 10 fastest rising food prices.

1. Bacon

> 4-yr. change: +53%

> 1-yr. change: +13%

> Current price: $5.55 per lb.

Sliced bacon cost an average of $5.55 per pound as of March, up from $3.63 per pound in January 2010. In the last year alone, the price of bacon increased 13%. One factor that may contribute to this recent increase may be the spread of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv) in hogs. While PEDv poses no risk to humans or food safety, the disease is expected to cut into hog supplies. Sam Hines, executive ! vice pres! ident of the Michigan Pork Producers Association, told CBS Radio that "U.S. production is going to decline this year about seven percent and that will probably translate into 10 to 20 percent higher prices for pork." Currently, lean hog futures — settling in May — are up over 20% on the year, and consumer prices of products such as pork and ham may increase further. Ham prices are up 32% since January 2010, and 6% since last March. Similarly, pork chop prices are up 24% and 8% during those periods.

MORE: America's fastest shrinking cities

2. Ground Beef

> 4-yr. change: +35%

> 1-yr. change: +8%

> Current price: $4.13 per lb.

Drought in the Western U.S. and declining numbers of cattle being sent to slaughter are both major causes of higher beef prices, according to the USDA. Futures for live cattle — which are cattle ready for slaughter — reached an all-time high earlier this year. These higher futures prices appear to be showing up at the register. The price of a pound of uncooked ground beef has risen 35% since 2010. And for some types of beef, the price increases have been even greater. For example, lean and extra lean ground beef now costs $5.27 per pound, a 55% increase from January 2010 as well as an all-time record.

3. Oranges

> 4-yr. change: +35%

> 1-yr. change: +23%

> Current price: $1.21 per lb.

Florida citrus growers have had to contend with citrus greening, a disease spread by a small invasive insect called the Asian citrus psyllid. The disease has hit citrus growers hard, cutting significantly into crop production. The lower supply, in turn, has led to increased prices, both in the futures market for frozen orange juice concentrate, as well as for consumers. Since the start of 2010, the price for navel oranges has risen 35%. However, much of this increase was just in the last year, as consumer prices for oranges rose 23% between March 2013 and March 2014 — more than any other food product. And prices! may cont! inue to rise. According to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. national orange production is forecast to decline 18% from the previous year to a total of 166 million

MORE: America's most (and least) healthy cities

4. Coffee

> 4-yr. change: +31%

> 1-yr. change: -17%

> Current price: $5.00 per lb.

Brazil, the world's largest supplier of arabica beans, has suffered from a severe drought this year. But because many producers have amassed stockpiles, and top coffee retailers such as Starbucks have locked-in short-term prices, consumers have yet to feel the pinch from the poor crop year. Coffee futures, however, have risen considerably — up nearly 70% year-to-date. For consumers, coffee prices have actually declined in the last year — although coffee prices in general have risen 31% since the start of 2010. Higher prices may eventually reach consumers. A USDA study found that retailers were less likely to considerably raise prices in response to short-term increases in commodity prices. However, where higher costs lasted for longer periods, costs would be shifted to customers.

5. Peanut Butter

> 4-yr. change: +30%

> 1-yr. change: -2%

> Current price: $2.71 per lb.

Like several food products with rising prices, the poor growing conditions for peanuts in recent years are behind the increase in peanut butter prices. While prices are down slightly from a year ago, peanut butter still costs an estimated 30% more than it did in 2010. Much of the price increase followed the abysmal 2011 growing season in the Southern U.S. — nearly half of the nation's peanuts are produced in Georgia. Output in 2012 was considerably better, but in 2013 production fell again, down 38% from 2012. A significant uptick in Chinese demand in 2012 may have also increased prices, although exports to China have since leveled off.

MORE: See the rest of the fastest rising food prices

24/7 Wall St. is a USA TODAY content pa! rtner off! ering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently ofUSA TODAY.

Does the Fed Have Street Cred?

The biggest challenge for the Federal Reserve over the next two years is “to manage market expectations for interest rates,” according to a report issued by Merrill Lynch on Thursday. “It is safe to say that many bond investors are confused and frustrated by the Fed communication,” it noted.

What’s behind the confusion and what exactly is needed to guide the markets in a rising-rate environment after last summer’s tapering drama? The Merrill experts lay out exactly what happened and what needs to change.    

They also draw a clear conclusion on the level of clarity the Fed has been sharing of late, which should be good news for investors and advisors seeking less volatility in both the fixed-income and equity markets.

“The Fed has had a tough time communicating its policy intentions,” Ethan Harris and several other economists explained. “At the start of last summer, tapering talk caused a sharp sell-off in the bond market. A few months later, the Fed surprised the markets by not tapering.”

In recent months, there’s been confusion around how to interpret the “dot plot,” which shows forecasts by various members of the Fed Open Market Committee of how high the federal funds rate will be at different times in the future, and whether there is a “six-month rule” for interest-rate hikes, the economists say.

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The confusion, the Merrill experts say, stems from the “uncharted territory” of both a weak recovery and the use of “unconventional policy.”

The Fed also suffers from a “very awkward communication structure.”

In contrast, Norway’s central bank, which has used forward guidance for a decade, employs a simple and transparent process. “With just seven members, the committee is small enough to be efficient and big enough to get a diversity of views,” the report explained.

“These published forecasts, including the interest-rate projection, are derived from a consistent set of underlying assumptions,” it added. “By contrast, the Fed has a very awkward structure.”

Indeed. The FOMC has 19 members and 11 regional presidents, including four voting positions that rotate each year. It also has 13 different research groups.

“The official forecasts are not derived from a careful discussion with consistent assumptions, but are delivered by spreadsheet without a systematic discussion,” the economists explained.

The group relied on different and inconsistent means of communication.

“In our view, all of this means lots of head fakes for the markets and headaches for investors,” the Merrill analysts said.

What makes for good guidance?  

Olystein Olsen, governor of the Norges Bank, says first and foremost, economic agents must indeed understand the “announced reaction pattern.”

Second, the conditionality of the guidance must be very clear and easily understood.

Third, the Fed’s guidance must affect agent “expectations.”

Fed Report Card

Merrill Lynch economists using these standards conclude the Fed, in fact, has done a good job at guiding agents’ expectations.

Over the last three business cycles, the market consistently mispriced the Fed, expecting rate hikes much too early. But then, in 2011, the Fed announced “calendar guidance.”

In general, the markets looked for rate hikes around the corner, sometimes three years too early.

However, recent expectations have moved out beyond a year. The market is now pricing in about 100 basis points of rate hikes in the first year of tightening and less in the second year, the report states. “And yet in the past two cycles, a year and a half before the first rate hike, the markets were pricing in 140-150 bp in rate hikes in the first year of the tightening.

“Clearly, the Fed has been quite effective, at least so far, in convincing the markets that the tightening cycle will be much slower and later than normal."

As for the conditional nature of the Fed’s promises, the Fed seems to be succeeding on this measure as well. “In particular, the markets seem to have correctly interpreted the Fed’s unemployment rate thresholds,” the economists say. 

As for the Fed's impact on agent expectations, while there will be some short-term deviations, Yellen and her supporters should “continue to jawbone the markets back in line,” the Merrill team concludes. The Fed is expected “to likely lean on low inflation to justify a slow exit.”

Its overall conclusion is even clearer: “While there have been plenty of bumps along the road, the Fed’s forward guidance has worked quite well in anchoring expectations. We expect the Fed to defend their exit strategy rigorously and effectively against likely challenges in the years ahead.”

Pandora Media Inc's Growth Moderates as Apple Still Looms Large

As tech giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) continues to threaten it and its key growth metrics remain tepid, I'm back to my Pandora Media (NYSE: P  ) stalking ways.

Assuming most of you aren't familiar with my admittedly odd infatuation with Pandora Media, I've been following the company's soaring share price and still-unfolding economics for some time now, especially as new competition from the likes of Apple's iTunes Radio poses a new kind of threat to upend Pandora Media's early lead in online streaming radio.

A March to remember for Pandora Media?
One of the most helpful ways to monitor Pandora Media's business progress are the monthly user metrics updates it regularly provides for investors.

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Source: Pandora.

And in the case of Pandora's March user metrics, there were arguably equal parts good and bad. Broadly speaking, Pandora users are utilizing the service more, which increases the number of total hours to which Pandora can serve ads. However, the pace at which it's acquiring new users is slowing, bringing Pandora Media alternatives like iTunes Radio into the discussion once again.

So just how big a deal is slowing user growth for Pandora Media and its investors? In the video below, tech and telecom specialist Andrew Tonner breaks down his thoughts on Pandora Media's current state of affairs plus some of the threats that now-rival Apple poses in the months ahead.

Investing in more incredible growth stocks like Pandora
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Yahoo Earnings Lifted by Alibaba, Modest Ad Progress

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

Coca-cola reports lower Q1 earnings, revenue

Coca-Cola Monday reported lower first-quarter earnings and revenue but said soft-drink volumes for the global beverage giant gained slightly.

Coke reported a $1.62 billion profit, or 36 cents a share, for the January-March period. That's down from $1.75 billion or 39 cents a share for the same period last year.

Revenue slipped to $10.58 billion for the quarter. Not including special items, earnings per share came in at 44 cents.

The results met or bettered Wall Street expectations. Financial analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 44 cents per share and $10.55 billion in revenue.

Coke reported its global unit case volume rose 2%, but said North American volume was unchanged

The company's stock was up more than 1.2% at $38.73 in pre-market trading.

"Our growth momentum is steadily improving in line with our expectations," Coke CEO Muhtar Kent said in a statement issued with the earnings results.

But it's hardly been a sparkling time for Coca-Cola as the company competes for slipping soda sales.

The company's stock is down roughly 10% from it 52-week high. During the first quarter alone, the per-share price fell from a high of $40.34 to $36.81 on Feb. 19 before recovering to $38.73 at Monday's market close.

Moreover, volume for it's carbonated soft-drinks fell 2.2% in 2013, trade magazine Beverage Digest reported last week.

But the Atlanta-based company remains a global beverage industry force, with an advertising blitz for its latest sponsorship of international soccer's much-watched World Cup tournament this summer.

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"Coca-Cola remains magical, but we need to work even harder to enhance the romance of the brand in every market around the world, Kent told financial analysts during a February conference call.

Part of that effort relies on the success of Coca-Cola's new Freestyle ! machines that dispense 146 different flavors. The company hopes Freestyle will entice Millennials and generate buzz.

Additionally, Coca-Cola in February announced it had spent $1.25 billion for a 10% minority stake in Green Mountain Coffee. The deal is aimed at providing consumers with single servings of Coke via Green Mountain's Keurig Cold beverage system by 2015.

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now

It's usually a sign of underlying buying interest in a stock, when it gains in price on a day when the overall market is negative, suggests John Dobosz, editor of Forbes Dividend Investor.

That's what happened recently with Switzerland-based Transocean (RIG), the world's largest offshore contract driller for oil and gas wells.

There's a lot to like about Transocean these days. Last month, it struck a deal with Carl Icahn, who owns nearly 6% of the company, and was agitating for a number of changes.

He got another one of his people on the board of directors, and Transocean also cut the number of board seats from 14 to 11, giving existing members greater weight. Icahn also extracted a pledge that Transocean will boost profits by $800 million, through cost cutting, and increased efficiency.

Most significant for dividend investors is that Icahn succeeded in getting the company to agree to pay a $3 per share dividend next year, up 33.4% from the current $2.24 annual rate. Transocean will also explore spinning off some of its assets into a master limited partnership structure.

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now: Eagle Materials Inc (EXP)

Eagle Materials Inc., incorporated on January 27, 1994, manufactures and distributes gypsum wallboard and also manufactures and sells cement. Gypsum wallboard is distributed throughout the United States with particular emphasis in the geographic markets nearest to its production facilities. The Company sells cement in six regional markets, including northern Nevada and California, the greater Chicago area, the Rocky Mountain region, the Central Plains region and Texas. Its gypsum wallboard business is supported by its recycled paperboard business, while its cement business is supported by its concrete and aggregates business. The Company operates in Cement and Concrete and Aggregates, and Gypsum Wallboard and Recycled Paperboard segments. As of March 31, 2013, the Company operated six cement plants (one of which belongs to its joint venture company), five gypsum wallboard plants, one recycled paperboard plant, seventeen concrete batching plants and four aggregates facilities. The Company�� products are used in the construction and renovation of houses, roads, bridges, commercial and industrial buildings and other, newer generation structures like wind farms.

Cement, Concrete and Aggregates Operations

The Company�� cement production facilities are located in or near Buda, Texas; LaSalle, Illinois; Laramie, Wyoming; Sugar Creek, Missouri; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Fernley, Nevada. The Company�� cement subsidiaries are wholly-owned except the Buda, Texas plant, which is owned by Texas Lehigh Cement Company LP, a limited partnership joint venture owned 50% by the Company and 50% by Lehigh Cement Company LLC, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Cement AG. Its LaSalle, Illinois plant operates under the name of Illinois Cement Company; the Laramie, Wyoming plant operates under the name of Mountain Cement Company; the Fernley, Nevada plant operates under the name of Nevada Cement Company and its Sugar Creek, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma plants operate under the name Central Plains Cement Com! pany. The Company produces and distributes ready-mix concrete from Company-owned sites north of Sacramento, California; Austin, Texas and the greater Kansas City area. The Company�� activities in its frac sand business are in the Utica, Illinois area and in south Texas. The Company sells aggregates to building contractors and other customers engaged in a variety of construction activities.

Gypsum Wallboard and Recycled Paperboard Operations

The Company owns five gypsum wallboard manufacturing facilities. As of March 31, 2013, the Company�� gypsum wallboard production totaled 1,950 million square feet. Total gypsum wallboard sales were 1,909 million square feet during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013). The Company also manufactures alternative products, including containerboard grades (such as linerboard and medium) and lightweight packaging grades (such as bag liner). In addition, recycled industrial paperboard grades (tube/core stock and protective angle board stock) are produced to maximize manufacturing efficiencies. The Company�� manufactured recycled paperboard products are sold to gypsum wallboard manufacturers and other industrial users.

The Company competes with USG Corporation, National Gypsum Company and Koch Industries.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Cement and building materials maker�Eagle Materials� (NYSE: EXP  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.10 per share, the same rate it's paid since 2008.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

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

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now: Boral Ltd (BLD)

Boral Limited (Boral), is engaged in the manufacture and supply of building and construction materials in Australia, the United States and Asia. The Company�� operating segments include Construction Materials & Cement, Building Products, Boral Gypsum, and Boral USA. The Construction Materials & Cement is engaged in quarries, concrete, asphalt, transport, landfill, property, cement and concrete placing. The Building Products segment is engaged in Australian bricks, roof tiles, masonry, timber products and windows. The Boral Gypsum involves Australian and Asian plasterboard. The Boral USA is engaged in Bricks, cultured stone, roof tiles, fly ash, concrete and quarries. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Lam]

  Ballard Power (BLD), which designs and manufactures hydrogen fuel cells, slumped 15 percent to C$1.42, the biggest decline since March. The company yesterday said it will sell about 9 million units at $1.40 a unit for proceeds of about $12.6 million. The cash generated will be used to fund working capital, support growth and general corporate purposes, the company said.

Top Information Technology Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Holcim Ltd (HOLN)

Holcim Ltd (Holcim) is a Switzerland-based holding company that specializes in the manufacture, distribution and marketing of building materials. The Company operates four business segments, including Cement, Aggregates, Other construction materials and services, and Corporate. The Cement segment is engaged in the development of cement and comprises clinker and other cementitious materials, among others. The Aggregates business segment includes crushed stone, gravel and sand. The Other construction materials and services business segment comprises ready-mix concrete, concrete products, asphalt, construction and paving, and trading, among others. Additionally, other construction materials and services segment provides environmental services, including waste management, among others. The Corporate segment is engaged in holding activities and general management. It operates through subsidiaries in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America, Africa and Middle East regions. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Holcim Ltd. (HOLN) lost 0.9 percent to 68.15 francs in Zurich. Bank of America Corp.�� Merrill Lynch unit cut its rating on the world�� largest cement maker to underperform, similar to a sell recommendation, from neutral. Merrill Lynch cited the company�� exposure to emerging markets.

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now: Amcol International Corp (ACO)

AMCOL International Corporation (AMCOL), incorporated on December 3, 1959, is focused on the development and application of minerals and technology products and services to various industrial and consumer markets. It operates in five segments: performance materials, construction technologies, energy services, transportation and corporate. Its performance materials segment previously referred to as its minerals and materials segment is a supplier of bentonite related products. Its construction technologies segment previously referred to as its environmental segment provides products for non-residential construction, environmental and infrastructure projects worldwide. Its energy services segment previously referred to as its oilfield services segment offers a range of patented technologies, products and services for both upstream and downstream oil and gas production. Its transportation segment serves domestic subsidiaries, as well as third parties, is a dry van and flatbed carrier and freight brokerage service provider.

Performance Materials Segment

The Company supplies chromite and leonardite, and operates more than 25 mining or production facilities worldwide. It mines chromite, an iron chromium oxide, from open cast mines in South Africa and transport it to our nearby processing facility. Its primary uses include metalcasting, drilling fluid additive, and agricultural applications. Its performance materials segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and investments in affiliates and joint ventures throughout the world. It consists of four product lines: metalcasting; specialty materials; basic minerals, and pet products. Its principal products are marketed under various registered trade names, including VOLCLAY, PANTHER CREEK, PREMIUM GEL, ADDITROL, ENERSOL, and Hevi-Sand.

The Company�� metalcasting products include blended mineral binders containing sodium and calcium bentonite and organic additives sold under the trade name ADDITROL. I! n the ferrous casting market, the Company specializes in blending bentonite of various grades by themselves or with mineral binders containing sodium bentonite, calcium bentonite, seacoal and other ingredients. It also has a line of formulated additives that introduce silicon and carbon in the melt phase of the casting process. In the steel alloy casting market, it sells a chromite product with a particle size distribution specific to a customer�� needs.

The Company�� specialty materials products contain bentonite and synthetic additives offering solutions for consumer and industrial applications. It also offers products for bio-agricultural applications. The markets and applications of its specialty materials products include fabric care, personal care, basic materials and pet products. It supply high-grade, agglomerated bentonite and other mineral additives used in fabric care products. It manufactures adsorbent polymers and purified grades of bentonite for sale to manufacturers of personal skin care products. The adsorbent polymers are used to deliver high-value actives in skin-care products. Microsponge and Poly-Pore are the principal trade names under which these products are sold. Its basic minerals product line supplies minerals to a variety of markets and industrial applications, including drilling fluid additives, ferro alloys and other industrial.

The Company�� pet products include sodium bentonite-based scoopable (clumping), traditional and alternative cat litters, as well as specialty pet products sold to grocery and drug stores, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs and pet specialty stores throughout the United States. It is primarily a private-label producer of cat litter, and its products are marketed under various trade names. These products are sold solely in the United States from three principal sites from which it package and distribute finished goods. Its transportation segment provides logistics services and is a component of its capability in supplyi! ng custom! ers on a national basis.

Construction Technologies Segment

The Company�� construction technologies segment serves customers engaged in a range of construction projects, including site remediation, concrete waterproofing for underground structures, liquid containment on projects ranging from landfills to flood control, and drilling applications including foundation, slurry wall, tunneling, water well and horizontal drilling. Its construction technologies segment conducts its business through wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures throughout the world. This segment consists of four product lines: building materials; contracting services; drilling products, and lining technologies.

The Company sells lining and other products for a variety of applications, most of which are directed to preserving or remediating environmental issues. It helps customers protect ground water and soil through the sale of geosynthetic clay liner products containing bentonite. It market these products under the BENTOMAT and CLAYMAX trade names principally for lining and capping landfills, mine waste disposal sites, water and wastewater lagoons, secondary containments in tank farms, and other contaminated sites. It also provides associated geosynthetic materials for these applications, including geotextiles and drainage geocomposites.

The Company�� lining technologies product line also includes specialized technologies to mitigate vapor intrusion in new building construction. It also provides reactive capping technologies and solutions to contain residual contamination, reduce costs associated with ex-situ remedies, and aid in environmental protection. Products offered include Liquid Boot, a liquid applied vapor barrier system; REACTIVE CORE-MAT, an in-situ sediment capping material; ORGANOCLAY, which absorbs organic containments, and QUIK-SOLID, a super absorbent media.

The Company offer a variety of active and passive waterproofing and greenroof technolog! ies for u! se in protecting the building envelope of non-residential constructions, including buildings, subways, and parkway systems. Its products include VOLTEX, a waterproofing composite comprised of two polypropylene geotextiles filled with sodium bentonite; ULTRASEAL, an advanced membrane using a active polymer core, and COREFLEX, featuring heat-welded seams for protection of critical infrastructure. In addition to these membrane materials, it also provides roofing products and a variety of sealants and other accessories required to create a functional waterproofing system.

The Company drilling products are used in environmental and geotechnical drilling applications, horizontal directional drilling, mineral exploration and foundation construction. The products are used to install monitoring wells, facilitate horizontal and water well drilling, and seal abandoned exploration drill holes. VOLCLAY GROUT, HYDRAUL-EZ, BENTOGROUT and VOLCLAY TABLETS are among the trade names for products used in these applications. It also offer a range of drilling products used in the excavation of foundations for large buildings, bridges and dams; these products include SHORE PAC and PREMIUM GEL. Contracting services, which involve installation of products, are occasionally offered to customers for select projects.

Energy Services Segment

The Company�� energy services segment provides services to improve the production, costs, compliance, and environmental impact of activities performed in the oil and gas industry. Operating as CETCO Energy Services, it offer a range of patented technologies, products and services for all phases of oil and gas production, transportation, refining, and storage throughout the world. It provide both land-based and offshore water treatment, well testing, pipeline separation, nitrogen, coil tubing and other services to the oil and gas industry. The Company provides its services through subsidiaries located in Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria, the United Ki! ngdom, an! d the United States, principally in the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding on-shore area. Its principal services include water treatment, coil tubing, well testing, nitrogen services and pipeline. The Company helps customers comply with regulatory requirements by providing equipment, technologies, personnel and filtration media to treat waste water generated during oil production.

The Company's coil tubing services utilize metal piping, which comes spooled on a large reel. It provide both equipment and operating personnel to perform services ranging from acid stimulation, reverse circulation, cementing, pressure control, nitrogen injection, and other operations that involve pumping fluids into a well. Horizontal wells and shale completions are a large component of its operations. It provide equipment and personnel to help customers control well production, as well as to clean up, unload, separate, measure component flow, and dispose of fluids from oil and gas wells. Nitrogen services are provided in jetting wells that are loaded with fluid; stimulating wells, including fracturizing and acidizing; displacing completion fluids prior to perforating; inflating flotation devices for offshore installations, and pressure testing and other maintenance activities.

Transportation Segment

The Company operates a long-haul trucking business through Ameri-Co Carriers, Inc., and a freight brokerage business through Ameri-Co Logistics, Inc. primarily for delivery of finished products throughout the continental United States. These services are provided to its subsidiaries, as well as third-party customers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings on July 26. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict AMCOL International's revenues will grow 1.6% and EPS will wither -16.9%.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Leading and Lagging Sectors
  In trading on Friday, Basic Materials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by 0.78 percent. Top gainer in the sector was AMCOL International (NYSE: ACO), up 9 percent.

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now: Texas Industries Inc (TXI)

Texas Industries, Inc., incorporated on April 19, 1951, is a supplier of construction materials in the southwestern United States. The Company operates in three segments: cement, aggregates and consumer products. Its cement segment produces gray portland cement and specialty cements. The Company�� cement production and distribution facilities are concentrated primarily in Texas and California. Its aggregates segment produces natural aggregates, including sand, gravel and crushed limestone. The Company�� consumer products segment produces ready-mix concrete. It is also a supplier of natural aggregates and ready-mix concrete in Texas and northern Louisiana and in Oklahoma and Arkansas. As of May 31, 2013, the Company had 123 manufacturing facilities in five states.

Cement Segment

The Company produces specialty cements, such as masonry and oil well cements. Its cement production facilities are located at Midlothian, Texas, south of Dallas/Fort Worth, Hunter, Texas, between Austin and San Antonio, and Oro Grande, California, near Los Angeles. It also operates a cement terminal and packaging facility at its Crestmore plant near Riverside, California, and the Company operates its gray portland cement grinding facility on an as needed basis. During the fiscal year ended May 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013), it produced approximately 4.3 million tons of finished cement. The Company shipped approximately 4.4 million tons during fiscal 2013, of which 3.8 million tons were shipped to outside trade customers.

Aggregates Segment

The Company�� operations are conducted from facilities primarily serving the Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin areas in Texas; the southern Oklahoma area, and the Alexandria and Monroe areas in Louisiana. The Company produced approximately 14.2 million tons of natural aggregates during fiscal 2013. It shipped approximately 14.8 million tons of natural aggregates during fiscal 2013, of which 11.3 million tons were shipped to outside trade customers! . The Company shipped approximately 1.0 million cubic yards of lightweight aggregates during fiscal 2013, of which approximately 0.9 million cubic yards were shipped to outside trade customers.

Consumer Products Segment

The Company�� ready-mix concrete operations are situated in three areas in Texas (the Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton area of north Texas, the Austin area of central Texas and from Beaumont to Texarkana in east Texas), in north and central Louisiana, and in southwestern Arkansas. It is also a 40% partner in a joint venture that has ready mix concrete operations in the northern part of central Texas area centered around Waco, Texas. It shipped approximately 2.8 million cubic yards of ready-mix concrete during fiscal 2013. The Company manufacture and supply a substantial amount of the cement and aggregates raw materials used by our ready-mix plants. The Company also marketed its Maximizer packaged concrete mixes in southern California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Fox Rubin]

  Building materials company Texas Industries Inc.(TXI) is considering a sale, Bloomberg News reported, citing three people familiar with knowledge of the matter. Shares of the company jumped 12% premarket to $65.50.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Competitively advantaged holdings continued to demonstrate the value of moats at FedEx (FDX), Melco, and Texas Industries (TXI). These holdings were among our largest contributors to performance, and they exemplify activity prevalent across most of our holdings throughout the year.

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now: Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL (CBN)

Societe Libanaise des Ciments Blancs SAL is a Lebanon-based joint stock company that operates in the construction materials industry sector. The Company is engaged in the production and sale of white cement. The Company is a 65.99% owned by Holcim (Liban) SAL. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CanadianValue]

  Nigeria�� reformed banking system has provided many foreigners with an attractive means to invest in the fast-growing domestic economy. The banking industry is important, not only because of the rise of microfinance, but because of the move by banks into consumer banking. Until recently, banks were mainly financing large businesses or the government through bond purchases. Following a banking crisis in 2008, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted an audit of the commercial banking sector. All banks that failed the audit had their CEOs replaced. The state-owned Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) was created to purchase non-performing loans and recapitalize the unhealthy banks. A recent review of the country�� banks by the IMF showed a dramatic increase in profits for the industry in 2012, while the capital adequacy ratio was above the minimum requirement of 10% and non-performing loans were below the mandated threshold of 5%5.

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now: Ply Gem Holdings Inc (PGEM)

Ply Gem Holdings, Inc. (Ply Gem Holdings), incorporated on January 23, 2004, is a manufacturer of residential exterior building products in North America. The Company operates in two segments: Siding, Fencing, and Stone and Windows and Doors. These two segments produce a product line of vinyl siding, designer accents, cellular polyvinyl chloride (PVC) trim, vinyl fencing, vinyl and composite railing, stone veneer and vinyl windows and doors used in both new construction and home repair and remodeling in the United States and Western Canada. It also manufactures vinyl and aluminum soffit and siding accessories, aluminum trim coil, wood windows, aluminum windows, vinyl and aluminum-clad windows and steel and fiberglass doors, enabling it to bundle complementary and color-matched products and accessories with its core products. The Company�� subsidiaries includes including Ply Gem Industries, MWM Holding, AWC Holding Company, MHE, and Pacific Windows. On July 30, 2012, Ply Gem acquired substantially all of the assets of Greendeck Products, LLC.

Siding, Fencing, and Stone Segment

In the Siding, Fencing, and Stone segment, its principal products include vinyl siding and skirting, vinyl and aluminum soffit, aluminum trim coil, J-channels, wide crown molding, window and door trim, F-channels, H-molds, fascia, undersill trims, outside/inside corner posts, rain removal systems, injection molded designer accents, such as shakes, shingles, scallops, shutters, vents and mounts, vinyl fence, vinyl and composite railing, and stone veneer. It sells its siding and accessories under its Variform, Napco, Mastic Home Exteriors, and Cellwood brand names and under the Georgia-Pacific brand name through a private label program. It also sells its Providence line of vinyl siding and accessories to Lowe�� under its Durabuilt private label brand name. Its vinyl and vinyl-composite fencing and railing products are sold under its Kroy and Kroy Express brand names. Ply Gem Holdings stone veneer produ! cts are sold under its United Stone Veneer brand name.

The Company sells the siding and accessories to specialty distributors (one-step distribution) and to wholesale distributors (two-step distribution). Its specialty distributors sell directly to remodeling contractors and builders. Its wholesale distributors sell to retail home centers and lumberyards who, in turn, sell to remodeling contractors, builders and consumers. In the specialty channel, it has developed a network of approximately 800 independent distributors, serving over 22,000 contractors and builders nationwide.

Windows and Doors Segment

In the Windows and Doors segment, its principal products include vinyl, aluminum, wood and clad-wood windows and patio doors, and steel, wood, and fiberglass entry doors that serve both the new home construction and the repair and remodeling sectors in the United States and Western Canada. Its products in its Windows and Doors segment are sold under the Ply Gem Windows, Great Lakes Mastic by Ply Gem, and Ply Gem Canada brands.

The Company competes with Alsco, Gentek, U.S. Fence, Homeland, Westech, Bufftech, Royal, Azek., Eldorado Stone, Coronado Stone, Jeld-Wen, Simonton, Pella and Andersen, MI Home Products, Atrium, Weathershield, Milgard, Jeld-Wen, Gienow, All Weather and Loewen.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Traders Reserve]

  There hasn�� been a January effect rally in shares of Ply Gem (PGEM). In fact, it has been quite the opposite. Shares are down a whopping 25% during the month. For a stock I rated as on of the Top 10 Sizzling Stocks, such a move is painful, but not disastrous. Sizzling Stocks are meant to be held for the duration of the year and we have 11 months to go. Small-cap stocks like Ply Gem can move sharply one direction or the other.

• [By Matt Jarzemsky]

  Installed Building Products��debut follows mixed performance from shares of some newly public building-products companies. Through Tuesday, siding manufacturer Ply Gem Holdings Inc.(PGEM)�� shares were down 39% from the offer price in its $381 May debut. Wood-products maker Boise Cascade Co.(BCC) was up 46% from its $284 million February IPO.

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Ply Gem Holdings (NYSE: PGEM) shares reached a new 52-week low of $11.48 after the company reported wider-than-expected Q4 loss and issued a weak Q1 revenue forecast.

Best Construction Material Companies To Watch In Right Now: CEMEX SAB de CV (CX)

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (CEMEX), incorporated on January 20, 1931, is a global cement manufacturer with operations in North America, Europe, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The Company is a holding company engaged through the operating subsidiaries in the production, distribution, marketing and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and clinker. As of December 31, 2009, the Company�� cement production facilities were located in Mexico, the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Egypt, the Philippines and Thailand.

The Company manufactures cement through a closely controlled chemical process, which begins with the mining and crushing of limestone and clay, and, in some instances, other raw materials. The clay and limestone are then pre-homogenized, a process which consists of combining different types of clay and limestone. The mix is typically dried, then fed into a grinder, which grinds the various materials in preparation for the kiln. The raw materials are calcined, or processed, at a very high temperature in a kiln, to produce clinker. Clinker is the intermediate product used in the manufacture of cement.

Ready-mix concrete is a combination of cement, fine and coarse aggregates, admixtures (which control properties of the concrete including plasticity, pumpability, freeze-thaw resistance, strength and setting time), and water. The Company is a supplier of aggregates primarily the crushed stone, sand and gravel, used in virtually all forms of construction.

Mexican Operations

During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Mexican operations represented approximately 21% of the Company�� net sales. CEMEX Mexico is a direct subsidiary of CEMEX and is both a holding company for some of the operating companies in Mexico and an operating company involved in the manufacturing and ma! rketing of cement, plaster, gypsum, groundstone and other construction materials and cement by-products in Mexico. CEMEX Mexico, indirectly, is also the holding company for the international operations. The Company owns Tolteca, Monterrey, Maya, Anahuac, Campana, Gallo, and Centenario brands in Mexico. As of December 31, 2009, the Company owned 100% of CEMEX Mexico.

The Company competes with Holcim Ltd., Sociedad Cooperativa Cruz Azul, Cementos Moctezuma, Grupo Cementos Chihuahua and Lafarge Cementos in Mexico.

U.S. Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company�� operations in the United States represented approximately 19% of the Company�� net sales. As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX, Inc. As of December 31, 2009, CEMEX had a cement manufacturing capacity of approximately 17.9 million tons per year in the United States operations. As of December 31, 2009, the Company operated 14 cement plants located in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. As of December 31, 2009, it also had 48 rails or water served active cement distribution terminals in the United States. As of December 31, 2009, the Company had 336 ready-mix concrete plants located in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington and aggregates facilities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Spanish Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the operations in Spain represented approximately 5% of the Company�� net sales. As of December 31, 2009, the Company held approximately 99.8% of CEMEX Espana, the main operating subsidiary in Spain. The cement activities in Spain are conducted by CEMEX Espana. The ready-mix concrete activities in Spain are conducted by Hormicemex, S.A., a subsidiary of CEMEX Espana, and the aggregates activities in Spain ar! e conduct! ed by Aricemex S.A., also a subsidiary of CEMEX Espana.

U.K. Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company�� operations in the United Kingdom represented approximately 8% of the Company�� net sales. As of December 31, 2009, it held 100% of CEMEX Investments Limited, the holding subsidiary in the United Kingdom. The Company is a provider of building materials in the United Kingdom with vertically integrated cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and asphalt operations. It is also a provider of concrete and precast materials solutions, such as concrete blocks, concrete block paving, roof tiles, flooring systems and sleepers for rail infrastructure.

The Company competes with Lafarge, Heidelberg, Tarmac, and Aggregate Industries in the United Kingdom.

German Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the operations in the Rest of Europe consisted of the operations in Germany, France, Ireland, Poland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Austria and Hungary, as well as the other European assets. The Company is a provider of building materials in Germany, with vertically integrated cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and concrete products operations (consisting mainly of prefabricated concrete ceilings and walls). It maintains a network for ready-mix concrete and aggregates in Germany. As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX Deutschland AG, the holding subsidiary in Germany.

The Company competes with Heidelberg, Dyckerhoff, Lafarge, Holcim and Schwenk in Germany.

French Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX France Gestion (S.A.S.), the holding subsidiary in France. It is a ready-mix concrete producer and aggregate producer in France. As of December 31, 2009, the Company operated 239 ready-mix concrete plants in France, one maritime cement terminal located in LeHavre, on the northern coast of France, 20 land distribution centers and 42 aggregates quarries.

The Company competes with Lafarge, Holcim, Italcementi, Vicat, Lafarge, Italcementi, Colas (Bouygues) and Eurovia (Vinci) in France.

Irish Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held approximately 61.2% of Readymix Plc, the operating subsidiary in the Republic of Ireland. The operations in Ireland produce and supply sand, stone and gravel, as well as ready-mix concrete, mortar and concrete blocks. As of December 31, 2009, we operated 43 ready-mix concrete plants, 27 aggregates quarries and 15 block plants located in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The Company imports and distributes cement in the Isle of Man.

The Company competes with CRH, the Lagan Group and Kilsaran in the Republic of Ireland.

Polish Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX Polska Sp. z.o.o. (CEMEX Polska), the holding subsidiary in Poland. It is a provider of building materials in Poland serving the cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates markets. As of December 31, 2009, CEMEX operated two cement plants and one grinding mill in Poland, with a total installed cement capacity of three million tons per year. As of December 31, 2009, the Company also operated 39 ready-mix concrete plants and nine aggregates quarries in Poland. As of December 31, 2009, the Company also operated 10 land distribution centers and two maritime terminals in Poland.

The Company competes with Heidelberg, Lafarge, CRH and Dyckerhoff in Poland.

Southeast European Operations

As of December 31, 2009, the Company held 100% of CEMEX Hrvatska d.d. (Hrvatska), the operating subsidiary in Croatia. As of December 31, 2009, it operated three cement plants in Croatia, with an installed capacity of 2.4 million tons per year. As of December 31, 2009, the Company also operated ten land distribution centers, three maritime cement terminals, eight ready-mix concrete facilities and one aggregates quarry! in Croat! ia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Wolfe]

  Cemex SAB de CV (CX)

  As of the close of the third quarter there were nine guru owners of Cemex. These gurus held a combined weighting of 5.30%. During the third quarter, there were three gurus making buys and nine making sells of their stake in CX.