Best Black Friday TV Deals: Where to Go Depends on What You Want

Top Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now

AFP/Getty Images TVs stand out as one of the premiere, big-ticket items of Black Friday. Even Kohl's (KSS), a store known for its clothing (not electronics), will have a few in stock that day, in an attempt to lure in a few extra bargain hunters. With so many different stores running specials, and all the different models on sale, there are literally dozens of different Black Friday TVs to choose from. While there are plenty of great deals available, a few stand out as being particularly noteworthy. Head to Walmart for the All-Around Cheapest Flat-Screen TV Walmart (WMT) will be selling a 32-inch LED Funai for just $98, making it one of the very cheapest TVs on sale this year. Discriminating buyers, however, should likely stay away -- Funai isn't in the same league as Sony (SNE) or Panasonic (PCRFY) when it comes to picture quality, and this particular set is just 720p (in contrast to full-HD 1080p). If you've never heard of Funai, the company generally sells its TVs under the Sylvania and Magnavox brands, two budget names not exactly known for their quality. Nevertheless, $98 for a 32-inch LED is hard (perhaps impossible) to beat. Shoppers looking for the cheapest flat-screen they can get their hands on should plan to be at Walmart Thanksgiving night. For a Great Deal on a Quality Samsung, Hit h.h. gregg At h.h. gregg (HGG), they'll also be offering a 32-inch LED, but unlike Walmart's Funai deal, this is on a model known for its quality. The set, Samsung's UN32EH5300, was declared one of the best 32-inch LCD TVs you can buy by LCD TV Buying Guide for 2012. It sports full-HD 1080p, and comes equipped with Samsung's smart TV suite -- owners can access digital content from sites like Netflix (NFLX) and Youtube. h.h. gregg will sell the TV for $299.99, what it claims is a 33 percent discount. Right now, Amazon (AMZN) is charging about $330 for the TV as part of its "Countdown to Black Friday" sale, making the h.h. gregg discount closer to 10 percent. (Oops. Just checked back on Amazon and now the TV is selling at $297.99 at Amazon. Lesson learned: Up until the moment you hand over your credit card, keep comparison shopping.) This Set Comes with a Sound Bar In terms of discounts, BJ's Wholesale has one of the best: It will sell an LG 47-inch LED for $580, about 30 percent off its regular price. Even Amazon can't come close -- it charges nearly $70 more. LG is considered a respectable TV brand, but the set in question (the 47LN5790) is a budget model that hasn't been reviewed by the big websites. Still, it offers 1080p and smart TV functionality. Most interesting, it comes packaged with a separate sound bar, an accessory that's practically become a necessity in the age of paper-thin TVs with low-quality speakers. Even entry-level sound bars retail for about $100. So factor that into your buying decision. The Best Deal on the Biggest Screen? In addition to selling the cheapest TV overall, Walmart will also offer the cheapest large TV -- a massive 70-inch, 1080p Vizio for $998. Like the Samsung and LG sets, it also includes smart TV functionality, giving owners access to Netflix and Hulu without having to attach an external media player. Walmart claims buyers will be saving $700 on the set; indeed, Amazon charges about $1,700 for the TV. In terms of reviews, the reception has only been lukewarm -- PC Mag gave it just 3.5 stars out of 5, lamenting its modest black levels. Nevertheless, shoppers looking for an enormous TV at a rock-bottom price will be hard pressed to find a better deal. Shopping for a Screen, From Your Screen Those looking to stay home on Friday, but who still want to buy a TV on the cheap, should browse over to Dell's website. In addition to its own PCs, Dell will be selling a 50-inch, 1080p Sharp for just $498. Normally, that TV retails for closer to $700. Unfortunately, it's just a mid-range set, with a 60Hz refresh rate, making it less than ideal for watching sports or playing video games. But of the deals that have been announced, it's one of the best ones among online retailers. Online shoppers, however, should keep their eyes on Amazon. Though it doesn't preannounce its specials, come Friday, it's likely to have a competitive slate of products -- including TVs -- on sale. Buying a TV on Black Friday Of course, these are just a small sampling of the deals available; other retailers, including Sears (SHLD), Best Buy (BBY), and Target (TGT), have an extensive lineup of TVs on sale. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference -- are you aiming for the largest TV possible? The cheapest price? Are you willing to pay a little more for a set that's higher quality? Perhaps most important, with retailers' limited inventory, will you be lucky enough to get one?

Starbucks Corporation Beats Analysts’ Earnings Views; Posts 37% EPS Increase; Raises Dividend (SBUX)

After the bell on Wednesday, Starbucks (SBUX) announced its fourth quarter earnings, beating analysts’ EPS estimates, and raised its quarterly dividend 24%.

SBUX Earnings in Brief

-Starbucks reported revenues of $3.8 billion, which were up 13%.
-Operating income for the quarter came in at $668.9 million, a 29% increase from last year’s Q4 figure of $519.6 million.
-EPS was reported at 63 cents, up 37% from last year’s Q4 EPS of 46 cents.
-The company beat analysts’ EPS estimates of 60 cents per share, but came slightly under the revenue estimate of $3.81 billion.
-Starbucks announced earnings guidance for 2014 of $2.55-$2.65 per share, which is slightly below analysts’ views of $2.67.

CEO Commentary

Chairman, president and CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, had the following to say about the company’s impressive earnings: "The fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 capped off by far the best year in Starbucks 42-year-history. Our results were driven by disciplined, ongoing efforts to elevate the value and relevance of the Starbucks brand, continued innovation and the success of our efforts to deepen our connection to customers and communities around the world."

Dividend Raise

Starbucks announced a quarterly cash dividend of 26 cents per share, which is a 24% increase from its previous quarterly payout of 21 cents. The dividend is payable on November 29 to all shareholders on record as of November 14.

Stock Performance

Though Starbucks stock was up $1.21, or 1.52%, on the day, it was dropping lower in after hours trading. YTD, the stock is up nearly 45%.

Five finalists for Green Car of the Year named

Two clean diesels, two clean conventionals and one everything.

That's probably the best way to sum up the five finalists for the Green Car of of the Year, what has become one of the major prizes in the automotive world.

In the past, hybrids and electric cars seemd to have the edge. But in the last few years, the award has increasingly gone to a wider variety of cars.

This year, the two clean diesels are the Audi A6 TDI and BMW 328d. The two conventionals, meaning cleaner, more efficient versions of cars with standard internal-combustion engines, are the Mazda3 and the Toyota Corolla. And the everything is the new Honda Accord, which comes in a variety of "green" configuations.

Jurors include Jay Leno; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures Society; Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club; and Matt Petersen, board member of Global Green USA.

Here's a little detail about the contenders:

The Finalists:

Audi A6 TDI. The 2014 A6 has a 240-horsepower, 3-liter, 6-cylinder TDI clean diesel engine and all-wheel drive, good for zero to 60 miles per hour in just 5.5 seconds. It has a start-stop system, which shuts off the engine at intersections. It gets an EPA estimated 38 highway miles per gallon, and has more than 700 miles of highway driving range.

BMW 328d. BMW's first four-cylinder diesel engine in the U.S. is rated at 45 mpg on the highway. It has a 180-horsepower, 2-liter engine with rear- or all-wheel drive.

Honda Accord. The midsize Accord now comes in a four-cylinder, V-6, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid version. Even the V-6 engine gets 36 mpg on the highway. At the high end, the plug-in gets an EPA rating of 115 MPGe, the government's way of rating electric vehicles.

Mazda3. With the brand's Skyactiv technology with its conventional 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine, the new Mazda3 achieves 41 mpg on the highway.

Toyota Corolla. The popular compact's su! bcompact gets 42 mpg with its conventional 140-horsepower 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine. It uses Toyota's Valvematic technology .

At Work: Sidestep these landmines at the start

When Caroline Kennedy solemnly swore to do her duty in her new job as U.S. ambassador to Japan at her recent swearing-in ceremony, I got to thinking about mistakes people make when they start new jobs.

Kennedy is not apt to make such errors and even less likely to read my column. But for the rest of us who do not have folks to guide us through the snags of that first year on a job, here are three things you don't want to do starting day one.

COLUMN: Chris Hadfield's lessons on loving your job

COLUMN: What a 9-year-old can teach about innovation

Here's what NOT to do:

1. Don't open your mouth more often than not.

Of course you're brimming with ideas on how to do things better. Your notions might be spot-on. Still, be eager but smart by keeping your trap shut for a while.

As the newcomer on the scene, be all ears. Get to know people, the issues and way business is conducted. Observe how things get done -- or not -- and how people interact. Lay low or people will resent you.

Acting like a know-it-all will get them thinking: Who do you think you are? They'll feel you have no appreciation for their efforts. Ask questions and learn.

2. Don't let your greatest moment pass you by.

After you've been there a while, you can start making things happen.

It could take six months or a year before you do something spectacular. But mark my words, once you're up to your ears solving problems, everything becomes a blur. And when it's performance evaluation time, you'll be scratching around to remember what all you've accomplished. So start tracking.

Plus, you never know when you may have to look for a new job again. Things can change on a dime. If you monitor and record your accomplishments, you've got the information handy when you need it.

Get a notebook or create an electronic version where you write things like: "November 22, four months on job: Gave two-hour presentation to senior management and entire division that set new global strategy. ! Everyone loved it."

Six months later, hopefully, you can describe the results the strategy achieved.

3. Don't leave prematurely or in a huff.

What if it's clear early on the job isn't working out? You might be bored to tears or the company and manager are intolerable. Fine. But these are not good reasons to mope around mad, walk out too soon and without warning, or worse, in a huff.

Before you make your disillusioned exit, ask yourself if there's even a dim hope things could change. Depending on circumstances, a conversation with your manager could be in order to see if the situation is fixable. Let the record show, you tried to work it out.

If you can't right the situation, exit in a way that doesn't put your co-workers and manager in a tight spot. Waving ta-ta at the end of the day, then emailing your resignation with no plan to return is not the way.

For one, you put your reputation on the line. Word will get out. If someone was suddenly not there at your company, wouldn't you be gabbing about it? You also scorch your relationship with your boss. And former managers and potential employers talk. Researchers now say the average number of acquaintances separating any two people in the world is 4.74.

All of this behavior brings up doubts about your maturity, critical thinking skills, integrity and ability to communicate and work well with others. So if it's time to leave, do it in a way that protects your reputation.

The first year on a job is replete with landmines. So heap on the common sense day one to pave the way for a bright future.

Career consultant Andrea Kay is the author of This Is How To Get Your Next Job: An Inside Look at What Employers Really Want. Reach her at andrea@andreakay.com. Twitter: @AndreaKayCareer.

COLUMN: What a 9-year-old can teach about innovation

Most Boomers Clueless on How Obamacare Affects Them: Nationwide

More than three-quarters of boomers are unaware of how the Affordable Care Act will affect them, according to a survey released Wednesday by Nationwide Financial. Almost the same percentage aren’t aware that the ACA does not cover long-term care expenses.

Harris Interactive surveyed more than 800 pre-retirees with at least $150,000 in annual household income for the report.

“So much is coming back on not understanding the Affordable Care Act, and making some false assumptions that could derail some of the planning, particularly when you look at some of the health care and long-term care costs in retirement,” John Carter, president and COO of retirement plans for Nationwide, said of responses to the survey.

Although 37% of respondents said they don’t know what exchanges are, Carter told ThinkAdvisor on Friday that for many, that may not be a problem, as boomers who are over 65 and eligible for Medicare don’t need to worry about the exchanges, anyway.

“Anyone who is over 65 is not going to use the exchanges at all. They’re going to be on Medicare. Even something as simple as that can help advisors understand, ‘OK, if I’m getting a call from a client who’s 65 or older, they’re on Medicare. We don’t even have to talk about the Affordable Care Act. If I have a client that’s younger than 65 that for whatever reason can’t have insurance, they’re going to have a benefit that will take them to 65, then they go on Medicare.’”

Under the Affordable Care Act, Carter stressed, those who are under 65 can’t be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. “That’s kind of the good news for pre-retirees. Historically, many pre-retirees couldn’t get coverage because of those conditions.”

“Advisors need to understand that [retirees’ access to] employer-sponsored health care insurance is declining, and having strategies around or an understanding is something that they’re going to need to build a competency on.”

More than half of respondents said the ACA would increase health care costs. That’s especially troubling to the 74% of pre-retirees who are already afraid health care costs will be “out of control” when they retire. Another troubling statistic, Carter said, is that only 24% of respondents have discussed health care costs with their advisor.

“Even though it’s in the media, it’s confusing. There’s a lot of stagnation and inactivity happening. We really need these advisors to push the discussion around health care costs.”

“America’s workers really need to start taking more responsibility for their own health care costs in retirement,” Carter said. “We find that they need advice from financial advisors to understand the impact of those costs.”

He said the implementation of the Act provides a great opportunity for advisors to begin a discussion with their clients about how they will fund those costs. “A 65-year-old couple will need to save to meet their projected out-of-pocket expenses, if they have a 25-year retirement, is $238,000,” he said citing research from EBRI. “Advisors have the opportunity to play a really major role in not only educating but guiding pre-retirees to achieve their retirement goal, live better and have healthier lifestyles.”

It’s a discussion that benefits advisors, too. A 2012 survey by Nationwide found 80% of advisors agree talking about health care in retirement can help them keep their clients.

---

Check out Obamacare, Medicare Maze: What Advisors Need to Know on ThinkAdvisor.

4 Stocks in Breakout Territory With Big Volume

DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- Professional traders running mutual funds and hedge funds don't just look at a stock's price moves; they also track big changes in volume activity. Often when above-average volume moves into an equity, it precedes a large spike in volatility.

>>5 Stocks Poised for Breakouts

Major moves in volume can signal unusual activity, such as insider buying or selling -- or buying or selling by "superinvestors."

Unusual volume can also be a major signal that hedge funds and momentum traders are piling into a stock ahead of a catalyst. These types of traders like to get in well before a large spike, so it's always a smart move to monitor unusual volume. That said, remember to combine trend and price action with unusual volume. Put them all together to help you decipher the next big trend for any stock.

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar

With that in mind, let's take a look at several stocks rising on unusual volume today.

Ducommun

Ducommun (DCO) provides engineering and manufacturing services mainly to the aerospace and defense industry through a wide spectrum of electronic and structural applications. This stock closed up 3.9% at $28.68 in Monday's trading session.

Monday's Volume: 229,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 86,853

Volume % Change: 174%

>>5 Stocks With Big Insider Buying

From a technical perspective, DCO jumped higher here right above its 50-day moving average of $26.30 with above-average volume. This stock has been trending sideways inside of a consolidation pattern for the last two months, with shares moving between $25.91 on the downside and $29.37 on the upside. Shares of DCO are now quickly moving within range of triggering a big breakout trade above the upper-end of its recent sideways trading chart pattern. That breakout will hit if DCO manages to take out Monday's high of $29.31 and then once it clears its 52-week high at $29.37 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in DCO as long as it's trending above Monday's low of $27.50 or above its 50-day at $26.30 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that this near or above 86,853 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then DCO will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $33 to $35.

KapStone Paper and Packaging

KapStone Paper and Packaging (KS) produces and sells a variety of unbleached kraft paper, linerboard, folding carton board, saturating kraft, inflatable dunnage bags and dimensional lumber. This stock closed up 1.3% at $42.80 in Monday's trading session.

Monday's Volume: 812,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 349,045

Volume % Change: 136%

>>5 Bargain Bin Stocks to Buy This Fall

From a technical perspective, KS spiked modestly higher here right above some near-term support at $40 with above-average volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of KS within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if KS manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at its 50-day moving average of $43.73 to more resistance at $44.16 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in KS as long as it's trending above some near-term support at $40 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 349,045 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then KS will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $46 to its 52-week high at $50.10.

Graco

Graco (GGG) designs, manufactures and sells equipment that pumps, meters, mixes, dispenses and sprays a wide variety of fluids and semi-solids. This stock closed up 0.9% at $74.06 in Monday's trading session.

Monday's Volume: 281,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 180,217

Volume % Change: 75%

>>5 Big Trades to Take Right Now

From a technical perspective, GGG rose modestly higher here right above its 50-day moving average of $71.66 with above-average volume. This move is quickly pushing shares of GGG within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if GGG manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $74.57 to its 52-week high at $74.70 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in GGG as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $71.66 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 180,217 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then GGG will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $80 to $83.

Ceco Environment

Ceco Environment (CECE) provides an array of solutions for industrial ventilation and air quality problems through dust, mist and fume control systems and particle and chemical technologies to industrial and commercial customers. This stock closed up 6.8% to $14.08 in Monday's trading session.

Monday's Volume: 297,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 107,248

Volume % Change: 165%

From a technical perspective, CECE skyrocketed higher here right off its 50-day moving average of $13.03 with strong upside volume. This move pushed shares of CECE into breakout territory, since it took out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $13.45 to $13.73. Shares of CECE are now moving within range of triggering another big breakout trade. That trade will hit if CECE manages to clear some key resistance levels at $14.21 to its 52-week high at $14.32 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in CECE as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $13.03 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 107,248 shares. If we get that breakout soon, then CECE will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $17 to $20.

To see more stocks rising on unusual volume, check out the Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis.

RELATED LINKS:

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Moving Higher

>>5 Toxic Stocks You Should Sell

>>How to Win With the Twitter IPO

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Roberto Pedone, based out of Delafield, Wis., is an independent trader who focuses on technical analysis for small- and large-cap stocks, options, futures, commodities and currencies. Roberto studied international business at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and he spent a year overseas studying business in Lubeck, Germany. His work has appeared on financial outlets including

CNBC.com and Forbes.com. You can follow Pedone on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zerosum24 or @zerosum24.

7 Semiconductor Stocks to Sell Now

Popular Posts: 7 Biotechnology Stocks to Buy Now17 Oil and Gas Stocks to Sell Now3 Oil and Gas Stocks to Buy Now Recent Posts: 8 Biotechnology Stocks to Sell Now 7 Semiconductor Stocks to Sell Now 10 Best “Strong Buy” Stocks — LNKD TYL PCYC and more View All Posts

This week, the ratings of seven semiconductor stocks on Portfolio Grader are down. Each of these rates a “D” (“sell”) or “F” overall (“strong sell”).

Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. () is on the decline this week, earning a D (“sell”) after receiving a C (“hold”) last week. Kulicke & Soffa designs, manufactures, and markets capital equipment, related spare parts, and packaging materials used to assemble semiconductor devices. For Portfolio Grader’s specific subcategory of Earnings Revisions, KLIC also gets an F. .

This week, NeoPhotonics Corporation’s () rating worsens to a D from the company’s C rating a week ago. NeoPhotonics designs, manufacturers, and markets standard and semi custom planar light wave circuits for metro access and other advanced optical communications platforms. The stock gets F’s in Earnings Revisions, Equity, Cash Flow, and Margin Growth. The stock price has fallen 30.6% over the past month, worse than the 1.7% decrease the S&P 500 has seen over the same period of time. Shares of the stock have been exchanging at an usually rapid pace, twice the rate of the week prior. .

The rating of ASM International NV NY Registered Shs () slips from a C to a D. ASM is a semiconductor capital equipment supplier engaged in the design, manufacture, and sale of production systems and services for the production of semiconductor devices or integrated circuits. The stock receives F’s in Earnings Growth, Earnings Momentum, and Earnings Revisions. Earnings Surprise and Margin Growth also get F’s. The stock price stands at $32.89, on the rise for the past 16 days. .

This is a rough week for Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (). The company’s rating falls to D from the previous week’s C. Skyworks Solutions is an innovator of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. .

RF Micro Devices, Inc. () experiences a ratings drop this week, going from last week’s C to a D. RF Micro Devices designs, develops, and markets proprietary radio frequency integrated circuits. The stock gets F’s in Equity and Margin Growth. For the past three days, the stock price has pushed higher, arriving at $4.92. .

Silicon Laboratorie () earns a D this week, moving down from last week’s grade of C. Silicon Laboratories designs and develops proprietary, analog-intensive and mixed-signal integrated circuits that can be used in a range of applications. The stock also rates an F in Earnings Momentum. The stock price has been on the rise for the past six days, reaching $37.85. Shares of the stock are changing hands at twice the rate they were a week ago. The stock has a trailing PE Ratio of 29.10. .

The rating of MaxLinear, Inc. Class A () declines this week from a C to a D. MaxLinear provides integrated, radio-frequency analog and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for broadband communications applications. The stock also gets an F in Equity. .

Louis Navellier’s proprietary Portfolio Grader stock ranking system assesses roughly 5,000 companies every week based on a number of fundamental and quantitative measures. Stocks are given a letter grade based on their results — with A being “strong buy,” and F being “strong sell.” Explore the tool here.

Morningstar: City Pensions in Good Shape, Sort Of

Morningstar states the obvious in its latest report on the pension liabilities of largest U.S. cities, but seeing the numbers behind it brings the municipal burden into stark relief, and in the largest of the large (New York City and Chicago), it ain’t pretty.

“Overall, 22 of the largest 25 cities have the majority of their pension liabilities tied to single employer, agent multiple-employer, or cost-sharing multi-employer (CSME) plans in which the city is the majority participant,” says the report, “The State of City Pension Plans 2013: A Deep Dive Into Shortfalls and Surpluses.”

The report means that the pension liability will have to be funded either solely or mainly by the city. Large cities also tend to have greater autonomy in terms of pension benefits and, in many cases, funding decisions, Morningstar notes.

“Funding these plans can be a substantial burden to these governments, often accounting for a larger portion of annual spending than debt service. In rare cases, this has even led to municipalities filing for bankruptcy.”

The report finds that while some cities are adequately managing their aggregate pension liabilities, many municipal pension systems “are coming under duress.” The fiscal solvency and management of these plans vary greatly, according to two key drivers of Morningstar’s pension analysis: the funded ratio and the unfunded actuarial accrued liability (UAAL, or unfunded liability) per capita.

“In aggregate, the cities’ pensions are 66.4% funded, with an unfunded liability of $3,776 per capita,” it says. “However, the median ratios are markedly better, at 76% and $1,556 unfunded liability per capita. Some of the largest cities, most notably New York City and Chicago, are poorly funded, with large unfunded liabilities, skewing the overall data.”

For comparison, Morningstar recently found that state pension plans currently have an aggregate funded level of 72.6%, with a UAAL per capita of roughly $2,600.

While New York City and Chicago fared poorly, Washington is the strongest among the selected cities, with its pension plans funded at over 100%, leading to a negative unfunded liability. Seven cities have funded ratios of at least 80%, which is considered to be strong by Morningstar and recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association.

In the table below, ordered by population, note that Funded ratio percentage column. Seven cities fall below Morningstar’s fiscally sound threshold of a 70% funded ratio.

Three (Promoted) Small Caps Set to Keep Rising? SAEE, QFOR & PGCX

Small cap stocks 7 Star Entertainment Inc (OTCMKTS: SAEE), Quadrant 4 Systems Corp (OTCMKTS: QFOR) and Virtual Sourcing, Inc (OTCMKTS: PGCX) surged or rose 35%, 18.9% and 11.27%, respectively, on Friday. Moreover, all three small cap stocks have been the subject of paid promotions albeit they have not been as heavily promoted as a number of other stocks were last week. So will these three small caps keep rising this week or head in the other direction? Here is a closer look to help you decide:

7 Star Entertainment Inc (OTCMKTS: SAEE) Has a Letter of Intent to Make an Acquisition

Small cap 7 Star Entertainment owns and operates a portfolio of online dating web properties along with complementary online bidding, video and affiliate traffic websites, supported by a range of mobile e-commerce applications such as location based services, mobile checkout and credit card processing. On Friday, 7 Star Entertainment surged 35% to $0.0135 plus SAEE is down 93.2% since last February and down 94.6% since September 2012 according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch with 7 Star Entertainment Inc? According to various disclosures, a transaction or transactions of $3k has or will occur to mention 7 Star Entertainment in various investment newsletters. Last Thursday, 7 Star Entertainment announced a letter of intent to acquire California based Orbital Laboratories, Inc, a consumer electronics company involved in the development of new products - including wireless, cellular, and new media technologies. 7 Star Entertainment is still completing the Due Diligence stage and hopes to enter into a final agreement within the next few weeks. The acquisition is part of 7 Star Entertainment's strategy outlined in an October press release to diversify into new sources of revenue by making acquisitions of unique technology and patent portfolios. A quick look at 7 Star Entertainment's financials reveals revenues of zero (June 30, 2013), zero (Dec 31, 2012) and $3k (Sept 30, 2012) for the past three reported quarters and net losses of $13k (June 30, 2013), $19k (Dec 31, 2012) and $9k (Sept 30, 2012). At the beginning of June, 7 Star Entertainment had no cash to cover $246k in current liabilities. So investors might want to wait for the company to complete an acquisition AND report financials that reflect any acquisition.

Quadrant 4 Systems Corp (OTCMKTS: QFOR) Reports Financials

Small cap Quadrant 4 Systems Corp is an IT software company that develops and implements mission-critical cloud-based enterprise systems for both Fortune 500 companies and smaller enterprises. On Friday, Quadrant 4 Systems Corp surged 18.9% to $0.44 for a market cap of $29.4 million plus QFOR is up 252% since the start of the year and up 109,900% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch with Quadrant 4 Systems Corp? According to various disclosures, one promoter has or will receive 500,000 shares of common stock under Rule 144, 250,000 stock options valued at $0.25 and a monthly cash fee for six months of investor awareness services. Last Wednesday, Quadrant 4 Systems Corp reported a 40% revenue increase to $9,142,740 primarily due to the acquisition of SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud) related assets in the first quarter of 2013 and the expansion of the core businesses to include its newly-launched HealthCare Exchange (QHIX). Quadrant 4 Systems Corp also reported a GAPP net loss of $836,309 verses a net loss of $914,788 for the same period in 2012 with the loss primarily due to debt related interest expenses and non-cash charges such as amortization of goodwill. Nevertheless, investors might want to keep in mind that Quadrant 4 Systems Corp has reported $26,562k (2012), $29,141k (2011) and $15,234k (2010) along with net losses of $5,677k (2012), $149k (2011) and $2,278k (2010). At the end of June, Yahoo! Finance showed that Quadrant 4 Systems Corp had $68k in cash to cover $6,290k in Short/Current Long Term Debt, $10,486k in Long Term Debt and $2,900k in other liabilities. So perhaps investors will want to look more closely at Quadrant 4 Systems Corp's balance sheet before getting to excited about its income statement.

Virtual Sourcing, Inc (OTCMKTS: PGCX) Intends to Become Fully Reporting

Small cap Virtual Sourcing is actively pursuing the acquisition of thriving businesses with a five-year or more operating history, year over year sales growth and an increasing net cash flow already in excess of 10% of sales. Target companies include recyclers, manufacturers of recycled products, plastics extrusion companies and suppliers of recycled materials for manufacturing. On Friday, Virtual Sourcing rose 11.27% to $0.122 for a market cap of $614,700 plus PGCX is up 74.9% since the start of the year and up 1,124% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch With Virtual Sourcing, Inc? According to various disclosures, a transaction or transactions of $15k has or will occur to mention Virtual Sourcing in various investment newsletters. In early October, Virtual Sourcing issued a press release to report that it has hired an accounting firm to complete the audits of its acquisitions and for the company for the last two fiscal years and the stub period through September 30, 2013 in preparation of becoming fully reporting and eventually a listed company as either a Nasdaq Small Cap or NYSE Amex issuer. The goal is to have the audit process completed in the first quarter of 2014. In addition and back in September, Virtual Sourcing announced its subsidiary Allied Recycling Corp had signed a letter of intent to purchase the assets of a holding company that includes a concrete products manufacturer with more than 20 years of operations and historical sales exceeding $17 million annually in four of the last five years plus discretionary earnings in excess of $3 million in its latest fiscal year ended in April 2013. However and since Virtual Sourcing only completed the acquisition of Allied Recycling Corp last June, investors might want to wait for more financials that actually show something at least at the top line as well as some cash as the company had no revenues and no cash to cover $465k in current liabilities.

Will Sony Be Able to Regain Its Gaming Crown?

With shares of Sony (NYSE:SNE) trading around $18, is SNE an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Sony is involved in the electronics, games, entertainment, and financial businesses. The company operates in several different segments: Consumer Products Services, Professional Device Solutions, Movie, Music, Finance, Mobile, and Other. Through its segments, Sony is able to provide a wide range of products and services. These products include televisions, cameras, personal computers, game consoles, navigation systems, audio and video equipment, software, phones, and media platforms. The company bring new technologies to the hands of your average player as well as professional users. Look for Sony to continue to be a top choice for avid technology adopters worldwide.

Top 5 Medical Companies For 2014

Sony's much-anticipated PlayStation 4 video game console was released Friday morning. Reviews of the device have been mostly positive, with the console's graphics, social media incorporation, and new controller cited as being the device's best new features, USA Today reports. Sony is looking to take back its video game lead from Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox and Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) Wii. With a powerful device that at $399 costs $100 less than Microsoft's Xbox One — which will be launched in a week's time — Sony could be on its way to regaining its gaming crown.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Weak

Sony stock has seen its fair share of struggles over the last few years. The stock is currently trading sideways and looks set to continue. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Sony is trading below its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bearish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

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

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Sony Options	32.83%	33%	30%

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

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

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

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

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

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

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	22.71%	82.50%	125.35%	93.93%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	10.64%	-8.96%	-5.41%	-4.07%
Earnings Reaction	-11.17%	4.37%	0.78%	-4.36%

Sony has seen improving earnings and decreasing revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been pleased with Sony’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Sony stock done relative to its peers, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Canon (NYSE:CAJ), Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB), and sector?

	Sony	Microsoft	Canon	Dolby Laboratories	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	65.89%	41.60%	-17.40%	21.00%	28.77%

Sony has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Sony is a provider of innovative technology products to consumers and companies worldwide. The company’s PlayStation 4 video game console was released Friday morning. The stock has struggled in recent years and is now trading sideways. Over the last four quarters, earnings have improved while revenues have declined, however, investors have been pleased with the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Sony has been a year-to-date performance leader. WAIT AND SEE what Sony does this quarter.

Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS  ) is still making money hand over fist,�albeit at a slightly slower pace. The giant investment bank's first quarter revenue was only up slightly compared to the same period of the previous year as economic uncertainty weighed on businesses. Is the lack of growth at Goldman a sign that the firm is beginning to lose its magical touch?

In this video, Motley Fool banking analyst David Hanson reminds investors to take the long-term view and put faith in the Goldman Sachs management team and global brand.�

During the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs did so well pivoting to avoid the worst of the fallout that it had to downplay its success to duck public ire and conspiracy theories. Today, Goldman is still arguably the powerhouse global financial name, and yet its stock trades at a valuation of less than half what it fetched prior to the crisis. Does this make Goldman one of the best opportunities in the market today? To answer that question, I invite you to check out The Motley Fool's special report on the bank. In it, Fool banking expert Matt Koppenheffer uncovers the key issues facing Goldman, including three specific areas Goldman investors must watch. To get access to this report, just click here.

Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: CorVel Corp.(CRVL)

CorVel Corporation provides medical cost containment and managed care services to manage the medical costs of worker?s compensation and auto claims in the United States. It offers network solutions, including bill review, PPO management, professional review, reimbursement, pharmacy, directed care, and clearinghouse services, as well as medicare solutions. The company also provides patient management services comprising claims management, case management, nurse triage, utilization management, vocational rehabilitation, life care planning, disability management, liability claims management, and auto claims management. It provides its services to insurance companies, third-party administrators, employers, and government agencies. The company was founded in 1987 and is based in Irvine, California.

Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: PacWest Bancorp(PACW)

PacWest Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Western Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to small to medium size businesses, the owners and employees of those businesses, and households primarily in Southern California. It accepts time, money market, and demand deposits; originates loans, including commercial, real estate construction, SBA guaranteed, and consumer loans; and provides other business-oriented products. The company also provides asset-based lending and factoring of accounts receivable to small businesses located in Arizona, California, and the Pacific Northwest. In addition, it offers international banking, multi-state deposit, and investment services; telephone and online banking services; and foreign exchange services, as well as issues automated teller machine and debit cards. Further, the company, through its subsidiary, BFI Business Finance, and its division First Community Financial, provides working capital f inancing to growing companies primarily located in the states of Arizona, California, and Texas. As of July 18, 2011, it operated through 77 full-service community banking branches in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, and Ventura Counties in California; and Maricopa County in Arizona. The company was formerly known as First Community Bancorp and changed its name to PacWest Bancorp in April 2008. PacWest Bancorp was founded in 1999 and is based in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE  ) and PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW  ) are soon to be one and the same. The two companies have agreed to merge, both announced in a joint press release. CapitalSource investors will receive a cash payout of $2.47 and 0.2837 shares of PacWest common stock for each CapitalSource share they hold. This values the latter's stock at $11.68 per share, a nearly 19% premium to its most recent closing price. The total transaction value is estimated at roughly $2.3 billion.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  The recently announced PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) and CapitalSource Inc. (NYSE: CSE) merger was called a beacon in an otherwise dim bank M&A landscape so far in 2013 as it was only a $2.3 billion deal total. So far, 2013 looks to register lower in banking M&A activity than the lean years of 2011 and 2012 at only about $9.1 billion in total so far, versus almost $17 billion for each of the past two years. There are only 13 pending transactions that exceed $100 million, and two of these are expected to close imminently.

Hot Penny Companies To Watch In Right Now: Egi Financial Hold Com Npv (EFH.TO)

EGI Financial Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the property and casualty insurance business in Canada, the United States, and Denmark. The company underwrites non-standard automobile insurance, as well as insurance for motorcycles, antique and classic vehicles, trailers, motor homes, and recreational vehicles. It also designs and underwrites specialized insurance programs, such as property, primary and excess liability, legal expense, and accident and health insurance for various businesses and consumers; extended warranty coverage for homes, consumer products, and heavy equipment; and specialized coverage products, such as business interruption and independent truckers insurance. The company sells its products primarily through brokers and agents, benefit consultants, managing general agents, third party administrators, and warranty product distributors. EGI Financial Holdings Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.

Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: First Community Bancshares Inc.(FCBC)

First Community Bancshares, Inc. operates as a financial holding company of First Community Bank, N.A. that provides various commercial and consumer banking products and services. The company offers demand deposit accounts, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement arrangements; commercial, consumer, and real estate mortgage loans, as well as lines of credit; various debit card and automated teller machine card services; and corporate and personal trust services. It also provides trust management and estate administration services; and investment advisory and management services. In addition, the company operates an insurance agency that offers life, health, and property and casualty insurance products. It serves individual consumers and various industries, including manufacturing, mining, services, construction, retail, healthcare, military, and transportation. As of June 28, 2011, the company operated through 56 banking offices in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. First Community Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in Bluefield, Virginia.

Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Br.land(BLND.L)

The British Land Company PLC engages in managing, financing, and developing commercial property in the United Kingdom. Its property portfolio comprises retail warehouses, super stores, town shopping centers, department stores, high street shops, retail parks, and supermarkets. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust (REIT) for federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, it generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The British Land Company was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Walker Crips Weddle Beck(WCW.L)

Walker Crips Group plc, an integrated financial services company, offers investment management services in the United Kingdom. Its services include stock broking, fund management, administrating individual savings accounts, and managing clients? deposits in the course of conducting investment business. The company?s services also comprise corporate finance, pension management and advice, corporate trustee services, structured investments design, and personal financial services; and securities trading, ISA/CTF, custody, deposit, and nominee services. In addition, it provides financial advice to individuals, partnerships, and companies; unit trust fund management to private and corporate clients; and corporate broking, as well as pension administration services. Walker Crips Group plc was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Deflation Is Coming (and It's Not What You Think)

Be careful out there.

The stock market rally that started in March 2009... The one that's taken us out of the Great Recession and to new highs... The rally that's driving sentiment indicators of people who benefit from rising financial assets directly, peripherally, or because they hope all boats rise with the market...

The rally has never been loved.

The thing is, equity markets don't need love to go twice as high from here, or three times as high in the next 20 years. If they get what else they need, they'll keep going higher.

We could be on the verge of a generational bull market. That's if deficit-plagued, interconnected global sovereigns deleverage and, at the same time, re-capitalize middle and rising classes by making "recourse-sound" capital available and simultaneously reconstituting entirely the notion of taxation.

Too bad the likelihood of that happening is somewhere between slim and none.

That's one reason why I'm an increasingly reluctant bull.

But there's another reason too.

And it has to do with deflation...

The other reason I'm increasingly reluctant is because governments have been running their printing presses nonstop.

The Most Unloved Bull in History Is Unloved for a Good Reason

Your high school science teacher always told you, "Correlation does not imply causation!"

But, as you can see, there is an extremely high (95%) correlation between the expansion of the Fed's balance sheet, and the  S&P 500's gains over the past for years and more. This can't be a coincidence.

[Click to enlarge]

What will happen if they don't stop? What will happen if they do stop?

Besides printing on account of deflationary fears, printing money globally to keep up with the Federal Reserve's massive quantitative easing (QE) experiment has been necessary to offset the Fed's intended consequences to depress the U.S. dollar.

Everyone wants to export their way out of slow growth. The U.S. is no exception.

But printing money - in an articulated policy - to pump up asset prices that benefit from low interest rates, a depressed dollar that benefits exports, and positive overseas revenue translations has been fueling asset price inflation for five years. It's also been leading a beggar-thy-neighbor campaign. Neither of those are sustainable.

When stimulus slows - or if it stops being effective - we'll see whether there's sufficient global growth and fiat trust to avoid deflation.

That's what central banks worry about, a lot more than asset bubbles.

So, is deflation coming? Yes and no.

It's not coming in the way most people think about it... at least, not at first.

Here's What Keeps Me Up at Night

The deflation that's coming first is coming to financial assets.

That's what I worry about. I worry about asset bubble deflation.

I worry that we're now 10% above where stocks, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrials, were at their 2007 peak. That just means we've made back all those credit crisis and Great Recession losses - theoretically - and may have started a new bull market.

And a 10% up-leg doesn't impress me when it's built on leveraging a zero interest rate policy.

So we just had a better than expected jobs report where 204,000 people landed jobs instead of the 120,000 analysts expected? So what if the previous two months saw slight upward revisions?

The unemployment rate still went up, not down.

The labor participation rate fell by 0.04% (to 62.8%) in October. That's the lowest rate since March 1978. It means fewer people are looking for work. More people are disaffected.

Speaking of analysts' revisions, so what if 70% of half the companies in the S&P who've reported earnings for the third quarter beat analysts' expectations? They all lowered them after last quarter to make them easier to beat. And they're lowering them again now because CEOs are guiding future expectations down again.

These days, revenues are rising a lot more slowly than earnings - if they're rising at all.

This begs the question: If the rate of change of revenue growth slows and earnings growth from buybacks (which by some measures could have added 40% to rising prices), productivity gains, and cheap debt financing slows down, aren't stocks fully priced? What's left for them to feed on?

So what that consumer sentiment is rising with stock prices? It's been rising because of rising home prices, too. How many stocks and how many homes do most people own? Oh, that would be a lot fewer than before the housing bubble broke and stocks crashed.

So what if volatility is at historic lows and seemingly resting comfortably there? That goes hand in hand with margin debt being at record levels.

This Party Won't Last Forever

It's all just one big party - as long as there's punch in the bowl and revenue to feed profits.

And that's where we are. We're at the intersection where asset price inflation (driven by stimulus) meets the real economy's ability to produce goods and services to sell to people who can afford them, as opposed to being redistributed to them.

Tapering, when it comes, will be scary.

Not that it's coming soon. But it is coming.

That's good news. Because there's going to be plenty of time, maybe a few more quarters if we're lucky, to get sufficiently defensive and put on strategic short positions. Do that now, just in case global growth isn't there to augment the soon-to-be-diminishing returns of quackitative easing.

The market has upward momentum. We're going into the holiday season where spending picks up. There's a better than even chance if the market moves higher a lot of institutional managers will buy up the winners to window-dress their fourth-quarter and full-year returns.

It's unlikely that Helicopter Ben will slow down QE right before he leaves office next year. He'll let his successor make her own policy decisions. Why would Ben risk wrecking the rally that he engineered when he's on his way out the door?

Over in my patch, we're adding selectively to positions that pay nice dividends, and we'll be happy to add more to those positions if the market falters. We're playing in the hot technology patch, and we're starting to put on some defensive positions in the Capital Wave Forecast portfolio too.

You don't have to love this market, but you do have to be in it. And you have to understand that, love it or hate it, the market can't go up in a straight line forever.

Asian Stocks Fall, Snapping 11-Day Rally, Ahead of Fed

Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index snapping an 11-day rally, as the U.S. and Russia hold talks on Syria and investors await the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting next week.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the biggest mining company, slipped 1 percent in Sydney as metal futures headed for a weekly decline. Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., which has the world's largest merchant shipping fleet, fell 3.5 percent after a gauge of freight rates halted an eight-day rally. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., the world's No. 2 developer by market value, dropped 1.4 percent in Hong Kong after setting a lower sales target this year.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6 percent to 136.90 as of 5:17 p.m. in Tokyo, halting its longest stretch of gains this year, as three shares fell for every two that rose. The gauge is poised for a 2.3 percent gain this week. The measure's 14-day relative strength index, an indicator of trading momentum, climbed to 67 yesterday, near a threshold of 70 that signals to some analysts shares may have risen too far.

"Investors paused for thought in the wake of the market's recent strong run," Matthew Sherwood, who helps oversee about $25 billion as head of markets research in Sydney at Perpetual Investments, said in an e-mail. "The global economic rebound still remains fragile and below trend, and earnings growth forecasts are extremely optimistic for this environment."

Euro-area industrial output fell more than analysts estimated in July as the region struggled with high unemployment. Australia's jobless rate last month reached a four-year high, while claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. last week fell. Japan's industrial output increased 1.8 percent in July from a year earlier, faster than a preliminary estimate of 1.6 percent, the government reported today.

Regional Gauges

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) of mainland companies traded in Hong Kong declined 0.9 percent. The so-called H-share index climbed 20 percent from a June 25 low earlier this week, entering what some investors consider a bull market, amid signs China's economy is improving. China's Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slipped 0.9 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.2 percent today.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.4 percent and South Korea's Kospi index both dropped 0.5 percent. Taiwan's Taiex index slid 0.7 percent and Singapore's Straits Times Index was little changed. Japan's Topix index added 0.1 percent, erasing losses of as much as 0.8 percent. New Zealand's NZX 50 Index rose 0.2 percent.

Best Performer

The Topix (TPX) has advanced 7.2 percent this month amid optimism about Tokyo hosting the 2020 Summer Games, taking its gains for the year to 38 percent, the best among developed markets tracked by Bloomberg.

Japan is considering a reduction in corporate-income taxes as part of a stimulus package to cushion the economy from the planned increase in the sales levy, according to three people briefed on the matter.

Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 0.1 percent. The gauge fell 0.3 percent yesterday in New York, snapping the longest streak of gains since July.

U.S. jobless claims declined last week to 292,000, the fewest since April 2006, as upgrades to computer systems in two states caused employment agencies to report fewer applications. An agency spokesman said the upgrades played a major role in the drop in claims. Economists were expecting an increase to 330,000 from 323,000 in the previous week.

Fed Stimulus

The U.S. central bank has said any reduction in stimulus will be tied to a sustained recovery in employment. The Federal Reserve will decide to cut its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases when it meets Sept. 17-18, according to 65 percent of economists surveyed by Bloomberg last month.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Geneva to meet with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov over a deal for the removal of Syria's chemical weapons. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said any deal to surrender the nation's chemical arsenal must be a "two-way street" in which the administration of President Barack Obama drops its military threats and stops arming Syrian rebels.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 6.4 percent this year through yesterday. Shares on the Asia-Pacific gauge traded at 13.4 times estimated earnings, compared with 15.2 times for the S&P 500 and 14.2 for Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

All but one of the 10 industries in the Asia-Pacific gauge declined, led by raw-material producers, as copper, gold and oil futures headed for weekly losses of more than 1 percent.

BHP, Newcrest

BHP Billiton fell 1 percent to A$36.20. Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM), Australia's biggest gold producer, dropped 1.7 percent to A$12.02. Jiangxi Copper Co., China's largest producer of the metal, sank 4.2 percent to HK$16 in Hong Kong. Inpex Corp., Japan's top energy explorer, slipped 1.4 percent to 455,000 yen.

Shipping companies retreated after the Baltic Dry Index (BDIY), which measures the cost of transporting commodities from copper to corn, fell for the first time in nine days yesterday in London.

Mitsui OSK dropped 3.5 percent to 445 yen in Tokyo. China Shipping Development Co., which transports oil and coal, slumped 6.5 percent to HK$4.45 in Hong Kong. Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd. (2343), Hong Kong's biggest bulk carrier, dropped 3.5 percent to HK$5.17.

Sun Hung Kai Properties decreased 1.4 percent to HK$101.70. The builder plans to sell HK$28 billion ($3.6 billion) of homes in Hong Kong and mainland China in the year through June 2014, Deputy Managing Director Victor Lui said at a briefing in the city yesterday. That compares with home sales of HK$32.9 billion a year earlier.

Share Sale

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (981) slid 3.5 percent to 55 Hong Kong cents. Investors are seeking to raise as much as $40 million, selling the chipmaker's shares at 53 to 55 Hong Hong cents each, according to a term sheet obtained by Bloomberg.

Manila Water Co., the Philippine utility company partly owned by Ayala Corp., tumbled 15 percent to 26.50 pesos after the government rejected petitions to increase rates and ordered a cut in tariffs. Metro Pacific Investments Corp., owner Maynilad Water Services Inc., slid 6.4 percent to 4.40 pesos. Ayala Corp. lost 0.9 percent to 558 pesos.

Feeling Sick: “Growth Challenged” Hologic Plunges on Disappointing Results

Shares of Hologic (HOLX) have plunged today after the maker of medical devices for women reported results that left investors searching for a diagnosis.

The Associated Press has the details:

Hologic said late Monday that it expects lower sales of ThinPrep pap tests, NovaSure endometrial ablations systems, and blood screening tests. Hologic also said sales of its older 2-dimensional Selenia digital mammography system will decline as it begins selling its newer Dimensions systems. The company expects to report adjusted net income of $1.32 to $1.38 per share in its new fiscal year, which started Sept. 29. It forecast $2.43 billion to $2.48 billion in total revenue, down from $2.49 billion in fiscal 2013.

Analysts had predicted much higher net income of $1.63 per share and $2.59 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Citigroup’s Amit Bhalla summarizes the good and the bad:

While HOLX beat the Street by $0.02 on the bottom-line, revenues came in light and F2014 guidance was below Street expectations. 3D mammo remains a positive (+50% Y/Y) and GPRO was up +11%, but ThinPrep (-13% Y/Y) and NovaSure weakness remain a headwind. Initial F14 guidance includes revs down -1-3% (Street expected +3%) and during this “transition” year, HOLX expects to complete more asset reviews/sales, further streamline the business, and begin a new $250M share buyback. While we believe these efforts are a positive, a $1.1B write-down on diagnostics (GPRO & ThirdWave) indicates that some businesses may need more time to recover – we remain Neutral-rated.

Top 10 Undervalued Companies To Watch For 2014

Canaccord Genuity’s Jason Mills and team are not pleased. They write:

HOLX's commentary at fall brokerage meetings portended a flattish outlook for FY14, but actual '14 guidance on the Q4 call painted an even worse picture of current fundamentals, in our view. While we recognize management is likely attempting to mitigate quarterly misses and suggested FY15 should stabilize, we think growth will remain challenged, thus we downgrade to HOLD and lower our price target to $19, based on our five-year DCF, which uses a generous 14x terminal multiple (notwithstanding low/mid-single-digit FCF CAGR) and 7% discount rate. We would not be constructive buyers unless weakness is significant.

Does this count? Shares of Hologic have dropped 12% to $20.07.

Chicken Little is Back! The Sky is Falling (umm, not really)

5 Best Undervalued Stocks To Buy For 2014

What are we hearing out there these days?  Market is way overdone, overvalued and due for a decline.  After all, it's been more than two years since there was a 10% correction in the SPX 500 or Dow Jones Industrials (according to the Stock Traders Almanac).  Hedge fund managers tossing out warnings, analysts preparing for the worst and the bearish crowd still barking about the impending crash that is yet to occur.  Meanwhile, the indices are at all time highs, or close to it.  If you've been on the sidelines listening to these fables, you've missed out.  Even worse, if you pulled up some bearish plays (on the indices) then you've probably been beaten to a pulp repeatedly.  But what has the market been telling us?

I have been saying for years that following the noise outside the markets will get you in trouble.   The true signs will be seen from the markets, not from some analyst/fund manager who comes on CNBC or Bloomberg who is likely talking their book.  We don't need to be twisted around by such flawed logic.  Do we really need to hear that the 'sky is falling'?  These predictions are often loud and frequent, but like a broken clock are only right twice a day.  If/when they are right, the market will tell us and leave plenty of clues. 

As far as I can tell, the trend is still up, and until that changes (heavy distribution lasting for several days) then the trade is still on.

We just came off one of the best Octobers in history, up over 3% for the indices in what was supposed to be the 'scariest' month of them all.  Did the markets tell us the market would rise?  Naturally, if we looked at the finish of September and assessed where things were at the answer is yes.  I know hindsight is 20/20 but frankly the sentiment a month ago was sour, bearish and defensive.  While September was also higher it seemed the move was hated and fought all the way up.  A wall of worry!  I just love it. 

Today we have a similar picture but some of the key sentiment indicators are flashing a caution sign, only if to be on the lookout for a sharp but short-lived correction.  Volatility is still low (under 15%) which is not a problem until it is, investment/trading surveys are becoming more bullish with emboldened buyers (which is a great contrarian indicator). 

According to my good friend Ryan Detrick (@ryandetrick) of Schaeffer's, the last two months of the year have been extremely powerful after a good September/October.  The stats are here, he put them up on CNBC Friday.  Ryan is as good as they get and rarely gets it wrong.  He's been spot on all year long - so why fight the market?

The following article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

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4 Huge Stocks on Traders' Radars

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.

>>5 Rocket Stocks to Buy This Week

From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.

Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.

While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.

>>5 Stocks Ready to Break Out

These "most active" names are the most heavily-traded names on the market -- and often, uber-active names have some sort of a technical or fundamental catalyst driving investors' attention on shares. That's especially true now that earnings season is officially underway. And when there's a big catalyst, there's often a trading opportunity.

Without further ado, here's a look at today's stocks.

Microsoft

Nearest Resistance: $36

Nearest Support: $31

Catalyst: Ballmer Retiring

>>5 New Trades Fro Renaissance Technologies

Shares of tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) were up more than 7% in Friday's trading after CEO Steve Ballmer announced that he'd be retiring in the next year. Apparently, investors think that getting rid of Ballmer adds $20 billion to Microsoft's value -- a sentiment that probably stings in spite of the extra $840 million that Ballmer is worth as a result of the news. While the folks in Redmond, Wash., start searching for a successor to Ballmer, shares of Microsoft look well-positioned to continue to climb.

From a technical standpoint, Microsoft made a short-term double bottom that triggered on the huge gap-up. That puts MSFT within grabbing range of the $36 resistance level that swatted shares down earlier this summer. If shares crack $36, I'd be a buyer.

Facebook

Nearest Resistance: N/A

Nearest Support: $38

Catalyst: Analyst Note, Technical Setup

>>5 Stocks Warren Buffett Is Buying in 2013

Another tech name that gained big to end last week was Facebook (FB). The social network pushed to new highs after news hit on a bullish market note from ITG Research that pointed to third-quarter North American revenue hitting $920 million. The technical setup in shares didn't hurt either -- FB broke out above former resistance at $39, pushing up to new all-time highs.

Making new highs is significant from an investor psychology standpoint because it means that everyone who has bought shares in the last year is sitting on gains. As a result, the "back to even" mentality is less of a concern than it would be for a name with a higher proportion of shareholders sitting on losses. Investors who aren't risk-averse may want to consider jumping in here; just keep a tight stop in place.

Halliburton

Nearest Resistance: N/A

Nearest Support: $46

Catalyst: Oversubscribed Tender Offer

>>5 Big Trades You Can't Miss

Halliburton (HAL) is another name that broke out to new highs late last week, in this case thanks to an oversubscribed tender offer for shares that had investors unloading HAL en masse. Normally, dumping shares isn't a good thing for stock prices, but because HAL was simultaneously buying them, the market for shares wasn't affected. Instead, the firm ended up buying more of its outstanding stock than expected, a move that effectively increases each remaining investor's stake in the company.

Buying HAL here makes sense as a trade for all of the same reasons as Facebook. The sellers are out of this stock for the time being.

Marvell Technology Group

Nearest Resistance: $13.50

Nearest Support: $11

Catalyst: Earnings, Guidance

>>5 Stocks Triggering Breakouts on Big Volume

Last up is Marvell Technology Group (MRVL). The $6 billion fabless semiconductor firm got hit after posting earnings and guidance, dropping more than 6.5% on Friday despite earning 23 cents per share for the quarter -- a number that beat Wall Street estimates by 4 cents. MRVL's numbers may have beaten those expectations, but Friday's price action shows that they didn't beat everyone's.

From a technical standpoint, MRVL is right at support right now. In other words, it's make-or-break time for this stock. If MRVL can hold above the 50-day moving average this week, then it makes sense to be a buyer. Otherwise, now's the time to take gains before MRVL gives them all back.

To see these stocks in action, check out the at Most-Active Stocks portfolio on Stockpickr.



-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

RELATED LINKS:

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar

>>5 High-Yield Tech Stocks Poised to Boost Dividends

>>4 Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to

TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji

Agriculture ETFs to Feed the World

Best Oil Companies To Own In Right Now

The next big geopolitical struggle could be over food. Many experts predict that there won't be enough food to feed growing populations, and agricultural commodities will double in price over the next 20 years, suggests Richard Stavros, editor of Inflation Survival Letter.

For the sixth time in 11 years, the world last year consumed more food than it produced, largely because of extreme weather in the US and other major food-exporting countries.

Poverty fighting organizations, such as Oxfam, predict that the price of key staples, including wheat and rice, could double over the next two decades, threatening disastrous consequences for human populations.

These statistics suggest that a combination of agricultural commodities investments in the US, Africa, and Asia would be in order, with a focus on wheat, rice, maize, and soybeans.

Various agricultural supply forecasts paint a dystopian future, reminiscent of the 1973 movie, Soylent Green. Let's hope the world's leaders find sustainable solutions to these pressing problems.

But for now, let's put aside science fiction and return to science fact. Here are the best plays on the coming era of food scarcity.

The benchmark agricultural commodity ETF is PowerShares DB Agriculture (DBA). It is a pure food products commodity play. It holds futures contracts on corn, wheat, soybeans, and sugar. These contracts are rolled over before expiration to maintain exposure.

Another futures-based ETF is PowerShares Deutsche Bank Commodity Index (DBC). It is more diversified than DBA. It holds futures contracts in corn and wheat. But it also holds significant positions in gold, heating oil, and crude.

A comparison of DBA with DBC finds that agricultural commodities have been on the rise as a whole over the last ten years.

The broader DBC ETF increased almost 13%, whereas its more focused cousin, DBA ETF increased by less, by 3%. DBA and DBC are both buys up to $30.

Given the world's current and future demand for corn, wheat, soybeans, and sugar, we are adding DBA to our portfolio. For those seeking a more diversified exposure, DBC is also an option.

Subscribe to Inflation Survival Letter here…

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Europe's Stocks to Watch: Alstom, ING, EasyJet

Alstom is in focus Wednesday after the French engineering firm announced plans to raise between €1 billion ($1.35 billion) and €2 billion from the sale of assets, including a stake in the unit that makes the high-speed TGV and Eurostar trains.

It also said it will speed up a cost-cutting plan after booking fewer orders in the first half of the year than in the same period a year ago.

During the third quarter, Alstom booked orders worth €9.43 billion, down from €12.13 billion in the same period a year ago as demand in emerging markets weakened for Alstom’s turbines and other equipment for power plants, the company said.

The company said net profit fell 2.8% in the first half to €375 million from €386 million in the same period a year ago. Sales fell to €9.73 billion from €9.75 billion.

Still, the announcement of a new cost saving program and an asset sale plan “should ease some market concerns around the company, following a somewhat weak free cash flow performance” in the first half, said Citigroup.

And investors seem to agree. The company’s shares have climbed over 5% in early trade Wednesday.

In a week of European banking news, Dutch bank ING announced Wednesday it had agreed with European Union competition authorities to speed up its restructuring plan after experiencing problems finding a buyer for its Japanese business.

The unit will now be integrated into ING’s European insurance business, which is being readied for an initial public offering in 2014. As a result, the restructuring now will be completed by the end of 2016, two years earlier than previously planned, ING said.

ING was ordered by the EU to sell its global insurance arm to get approval for a government bailout received in 2008.

At the same time the Dutch lender posted a sharp drop in net profit for the third quarter to  €101 million ($136 million), compared with €659 million a year earlier, as the bottom line was hit by a €950 million loss on the sale of the bank’s South Korean insurance business.

However, underlying profit, which excludes the impact from divestments and other special items, rose 8.3% to €1.22 billion, ING said.

Shares in the bank have climbed over 4% Wednesday. The plan to put the Japanese insurance business into the European IPO is a smart move, according to Rabobank analyst Cor Kluis. The unit might have fetched only €400 million in a forced sale but will warrant a higher valuation through the IPO , he added.

Shares in easyJet climb over 2% Wednesday after the budget airline reported a solid 5.4% rise in the number of passengers carried in October compared with the same month last year.

In addition, the load factor, the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers, came in at 89.1%, a rise of 0.7 percentage points compared with October 2012.

These numbers will likely come as a relief to investors, as rival Ryanair on Monday cut its full-year net profit guidance, blaming continued lower average fares.

On Oct. 3, easyJet raised its pretax profit guidance for fiscal 2013 to between £470 million ($753.56 million) and £480 million, from previous expectations of £450 million to £480 million.

However, the news wasn’t universally good for easyJet Wednesday. U.K.-based banking giant HSBC downgraded its investment recommendation for the airline to underweight from neutral, citing near term deteriorating revenue momentum.

“Long term, we think competitor moves to adopt similar product and marketing to easyJet are unlikely to match the U.K. business's execution, but will reduce differentiation between the companies in the eyes of consumers,” said HSBC, in a note to clients.

The bank also pointed out that easyJet’s shares are up more than 90% over the past 12 months, so some consolidation may be in order in the near future.

Informed Investor demystifies global market wisdom

So that is going to be the focal point of this conversation just demystifying the global jargon and more importantly making that defining line between what impacts our market and what may not.

Mark Matthews, Equity Research at Macquarie Capital Securities and Shane Oliver, Head Investment Strategy & Chief Economist at AMP Capital Investors will demystify the global jargon and more importantly make that defining line between what impacts our market and what may not.

Here is a verbatim transcript of their comments. Also watch the accompanying videos.

Q: The two crucial terms that we hear very often, EMs and DMs, what kind of universe do both these terms straddle and why is it important for someone who is investing in the Indian market to understand what an EM or DM is?

Matthews: Both of them are indices that have about anywhere from 25 to 35 countries in them and they are indices that are managed by several different companies. So I am sure these names are familiar to our viewers, S&P, Dow Jones, FTSE but the biggest one is MSCI. MSCI was the first company to create a global index over 40 years ago and then they created various sub-global indices including emerging and developed markets and very simply the difference between emerging and developed is one of maturity and both income, developed markets.

One prerequisite is that they should have high incomes per capita and also in terms of the maturity of the market itself. So the foreign exchange market should be open, short selling should be allowed, minority shareholders rights should be enforced and protected in developed markets. In emerging markets ' it is not to say that some emerging markets don't possess this attribute ofcourse some do but a lot of countries do end up in emerging markets because short selling is not permitted or the foreign exchange market is not open or fully convertible. But the general rule for an emerging market should be that it is a high growth low income economy. In other words, it is a polite term for third world and infact less developed country. It was a term that was more popular until around the 1980s and then that was seen as maybe a little bit politically incorrect.

So emerging markets was termed by a World Bank economist named Antoine van Agtmael.

Q: India would fall under that category you would say, India is an emerging market?

Matthews: Yes, in all four of the indices, as I said, there is S&P, FTSE, Dow Jones but the big one for the most institutional fund managers is MSCI than four of those India is represented.

Q: There is a sub-representation then within the emerging market region which is called the BRIC universe, what countries does that involve and why was this bracket made of just the BRIC universe within the EM context?

Matthews: That was invented by one individual named Jim O'Neill, economist at Goldman Sachs and I think it was ten years ago in 2001 he wrote a report where he created this acronym. So it stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and it is curiously not an acronym that has developed into a full asset class of itself in terms of fund management. There are a few BRIC funds but it never took off as much as emerging markets did but what is interesting is politically, there seems to be an evolution on this concept.

Q: Aside from the technical qualifications between these markets, are there other ballpark generalisations that people tend to make? For example, the opinion is or the observation is that emerging markets tend to be more volatile, more high beta than a developed market, can those assumptions also be drawn when you are looking at the two clusters?

Matthews: Yes, generally speaking they are. Why is that? One very simple reason is because they are less developed countries therefore they have ' their middle class as a percentage of a total population is smaller and therefore the amount of domestic individuals investing in the stock market is lower in percentage terms than it is in developed marekts because there isn't as much of a middle class yet. So in the absence of a large domestic investor base or atleast I should say a fairly sophisticated one, there are big domestic investor basis obviously in places like China and India but they tend not to be very sophisticated, they tend to be momentum followers and speculative as opposed to investing in stocks for the long-term.

What I wanted to say is in the absence of that, foreign institutional investors assume a much greater directional influence on the market and India would be probably the best example I think in the emerging market space.

Q: We have talked about emerging markets, developed markets, the BRIC universe but the one which has suddenly become on top of mind is the MENA region, what region of the world does that capture and why has it become so important especially when we are talking about crude oil and the implications on the equity market?

Oliver: The MENA region is essentially the Middle East (ME) and North Africa so it is countries like Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia, that part of North Africa and ofcourse the Middle East, which includes Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Obviously that part of the world has always been very important because it is a key supplier of global oil but in recent months, it has hit the headlines because several countries in that region have seen political unrest starting in Tunisia, which has been led to problems in Egypt and then ofcourse more recently in Libya and although Tunisia and Egypt aren't that significant in terms of world oil supply, Libya certainly is and Libya has broken at a civil war which has affected supply world oil that ofcourse has pushed up oil prices.

There has also been tensions in some other gulf states into a less degree in Saudi Arabia so as a consequence, investment markets have been looking at that part of the world recently as to gauge to how far oil prices might rise and whether that in turn might adversely impact global economic growth.

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