Nabors Industries CEO: $95M in pay, stock gains

It's been a big week for big reveals on the CEO pay front.

The latest: Nabors Industries' Anthony Petrello, who received compensation valued at $68.2 million and gained another $27 million from vested shares, the gas and oil drilling contractor said Wednesday in its annual filing.

Nabors Industries had been under pressure to limit pay and severance packages for executives since 2011, when then-CEO Eugene Isenberg stepped away with a $100 million termination fee, but remained as chairman. Isenberg later waived the payment.

Facing renewed shareholder pressure, Nabors' board of directors terminated a potential $50 million severance payment to Petrello and capped his cash bonus last year. But a new, restructured employment contract provided Petrello a one-time payment worth $45 million, Nabors says.

Petrello, 59, also received a stock award valued at $18.7 million, $1.5 million bonus and $1.7 million in salary. Petrello's 2012 compensation was valued at $19.7 million.

News of Petrello's compensation comes on the heels of several mega-paydays disclosed in proxy filings over the past week. Among them:

Cheniere Energy reported that CEO Charif Souki received compensation valued at $142 million and gained another $130 million from vested shares.

LinkedIn said CEO Jeffrey Weiner received compensation valued at about $49 million and gained nearly $180 million from stock options and vested shares.

Time Warner Cable said CEO Glenn Britt received compensation valued at nearly $118 million, including $62 million in stock and options that vested when he retired Dec. 31.

Wal-Mart reported CEO Mike Duke, who retired Jan. 31, received deferred comp valued at $140 million.

Follow Strauss on Twitter @gbstrauss.

Should I buy life insurance for my child?

Most kids don't need life insurance. Investing for their education is a better idea.

NEW YORK (Money Magazine) Does it make sense to buy a whole life insurance policy for a child? -- Michael C., Coatesville, Pa.

Hardly ever. Most kids don't need life insurance, since its chief purpose is to replace income, says Jason Brooks, a financial planner in Berthoud, Colo.

Ultimate Guide to Retirement Getting started401(k)s & company plansInvestingAnnuitiesIRAsSelf-employment plansPensions and benefit plansSocial SecurityInsuranceEstate planningLiving in retirementGetting help

And while whole and variable life policies have a cash value that rises, high fees slow that growth. Breaking even on premiums can take decades.

The only reason to buy is to guarantee insurability later in life, says Cleveland adviser Joe Heider.

You can, he notes, lock in a policy -- helpful if your child later has an illness, such as cancer or diabetes, that makes insurance expensive or unobtainable.

But such misfortune is rare; only one in 400 children has diabetes before age 20, for example. And the size of most kiddie policies ($50,000 or less) is usually too small to be useful for adults.

A better idea is to save for a more likely need: higher education.

FINRA OKs RCAP’s Cetera Deal; Schorsch Group May Buy NorthStar Realty

RCS Capital (RCAP) said early Monday that FINRA has approved its $1.15 billion purchase of Cetera Financial’s broker-dealer operations, which include about 6,600 independent financial advisors.

Meanwhile, RCAP affiliate American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP) reportedly is in talks to buy NorthStar Realty Finance Corp., according to Bloomberg. NorthStar is a loan originator and manager of commercial real estate debt.

ARCP, led by Nicholas Schorsch, bought Cole Real Estate Investments last year. Schorsch also is executive chairman of RCAP. (Schorsch is named in the IA 25 for 2014.)

Realty Capital announced its deal with Cetera in January and says it “expects to close the Cetera acquisition in the coming days in accordance with the merger agreement.”

The company is also buying Investor’s Capital (ICH), J.P. Turner and Summit Brokerage Services—giving it about 9,000 reps and roughly $200 billion in assets. 

“This creates one of the most powerful capital accumulation machines on the globe,” Schorsch said, when the Cetera deal was announced earlier this year. “It will attract the best and brightest financial advisors, and with $3.1 billion in revenue brings us close to LPL Financial (LPLA) and puts us ahead of others in the business.”

Cetera was formed in 2010 following the sale of three ING broker-dealers; it includes four platforms — Cetera Advisors, Cetera Advisor Networks, Cetera Financial Institutions and Cetera Financial — and is led by CEO and President Valerie Brown.

In June 2013, RCAP Holdings shared the news that it was buying First Allied Securities and the Legend Group from Lovell Minnick Partners. (RCAP Holdings owns Realty Capital Securities, which is the wholesale broker-dealer and affiliate of American Realty Capital Properties.) 

A request for a statement on the two deals was declined by RCAP and ARCP. 

No Finance Degree? No Problem! Top 10 Ways To Jumpstart A Career In Finance

A finance or business degree is a prerequisite for most jobs in finance, but what if you don't possess a finance degree and really want to work in this field? While it is obviously more difficult for someone with a non-financial degree to secure a job in finance than it is for a candidate with one, there's still hope for the former.

Every employer wants smart, committed and motivated employees who can do the job and do it well. A finance degree will impart skills such as financial modeling and analysis, but may not do much to provide other skills required for success in almost any job, such as communication, problem-solving and time management.

The following are 10 ways to demonstrate to potential employers that you possess the skills they desire in an employee, as well as the passion necessary for a successful career in finance. We will rate each of these by the degree of difficulty to achieve (for example, signing up for a financial course is easier than obtaining an internship) as well as the positive impact it may have on getting you closer to your objective of embarking on a financial career.

1. Learn the Lingo
Difficulty: Low
Impact: Low

If you are interested in a financial career, there's no excuse for not knowing the lingo of Wall Street. If you don't know the difference between dilution and dividend, or between NPV and DCF, consider learning financial terms and concepts by browsing the extensive dictionary of terms at sites like Investopedia or by reading the Wall Street Journal.

Not knowing the language of finance may make it almost impossible to get past the preliminary interview stage for a non-financial graduate. That's because an interviewer will generally assume that an applicant for a finance position is knowledgeable about finance, regardless of his or her educational background.

2. Round off Your Education
Difficulty: Low to Moderate
Impact: High

So what if you graduated with a degree in a subject other than finance? You can always redress the situation by taking relevant courses with an emphasis on finance or business at the undergraduate or post-graduate level. At the undergraduate level, courses in economics, accounting or financial analysis are a great option. For post-graduates, the favored option for many is an MBA, since the substantial finance component of the curriculum serves to level the playing field quite significantly between finance and non-finance graduates. If the stiff cost of an MBA is a deterrent, other options such as enrolling in the CFA program are certainly worth exploring.

3. Enroll in Financial Boot Camp
Difficulty: Moderate
Impact: Moderate

Intensive courses by firms like Wall Street Prep and Training the Street can teach you valuable skills that are essential for a career in finance, such as advanced spreadsheet techniques and financial modeling. These crash courses are quite expensive, typically running to a few thousand dollars, but have the advantage of not requiring a long-term time commitment, as they are typically conducted over a few days. One drawback is that due to these programs' intensity, you may need to be familiar with basic financial concepts to derive the maximum benefit from them.

4. Expand Your Knowledge Base
Difficulty: Moderate
Impact: High

Relevant knowledge is not obtained only through a college degree. There are plenty of resources available, either through your local library or online, to further your knowledge of finance. These resources may be free or available on a paid basis from course providers such as those mentioned above. Being self-taught in a difficult field like finance demonstrates a number of desirable attributes to an employer such as initiative, passion and drive.

5. Use a Trading Simulator
Difficulty: Moderate
Impact: Low

A number of financial education and online brokerages have trading simulators that can be used to construct "mock" portfolios. Using a trading simulator will force you to track the markets and keep abreast of market developments. This is a great way to impress a potential employer with your trading prowess, or at least your market knowledge, with very little investment on your part, aside from some time commitment.

6. Complete Industry Courses
Difficulty: High
Impact: High

Completing a relevant industry course, such as the Canadian Securities Course™ in Canada, for example, not only demonstrates your commitment to a career in finance, but also gives you an edge on the competition in terms of job readiness. This option may not be available in all jurisdictions; for instance, in order to write the Series 7 exam in the United States, one has to be sponsored by a member firm, a self-regulatory organization or an exchange. In this case, consider the options mentioned in the earlier points.

7. Maintain a Financial Blog
Difficulty: High
Impact: Moderate

Starting and maintaining a financial blog is a great way to communicate your investment ideas to the world. It is an opportunity to convey to a potential employer a favorable impression of your diverse skill set, including financial acumen, communication skills and technological dexterity. This mode of self-marketing is only suitable for those who already possess a measure of these skills.

8. Link up with a Mentor
Difficulty: High
Impact: Moderate

Linking up with a mentor is another way of jumpstarting a financial career. A mentor can be anyone in a position of influence who thinks highly of your capabilities and is willing to help you achieve your goals. Possible mentors include your favorite professor at college, a family friend or relation with a successful career in finance or someone you know in a professional capacity, such as a supervisor during a previous internship. Don't hesitate to approach a contact who you think could help you in your job search.

9. Score a Meaningful Internship
Difficulty: Very High
Impact: Very High

Scoring a summer internship still remains one of the best ways to lock in a prestigious full-time job in finance, as many Wall Street firms pick their new hires from the ranks of their summer interns. At the best business schools, an estimated one-third to half of MBA students work for their summer employer after graduation.

But since obtaining a paid internship in finance is likely to be very difficult for a non-financial graduate, one must consider other options such as an unpaid internship or volunteer work with a broker. The opportunity cost that arises from doing such unpaid internships or volunteer work will be more than offset in due course by the higher earning potential of a finance career.

10. Do Your Best to Get Your Foot in the Door
Difficulty: Very High
Impact: Very High

Knock on doors, expand your job search to other locations, use your network to check for job openings – in short, do everything you can to get your foot in the door of a financial organization. Getting an entry-level position with a financial company, even in a non-finance role, may open doors to other career paths in finance down the line.

The Bottom Line
Some non-finance degrees are certainly in demand on Wall Street for specific tasks, including:
Physics and mathematics for structured products, derivatives and quantitative trading Information technology for algorithmic trading and platform development Engineering, mining and medical for sector-specific research analysis and investment banking But for the vast majority of non-finance degree holders, getting a job in finance is likely to pose a significant challenge. This is more so because thousands of positions were eliminated by banks and financial institutions in the aftermath of the 2008 global recession. However, using a combination of the tips discussed above should enable a non-financial graduate to substantially improve his or her chances of launching a career in finance.

Oldsmobile's gone 10 years, but all's not…

LANSING, Mich. — The car, like the brand, like the plant, is a collective memory.

Ten years ago Tuesday, a dark cherry Alero sedan drove off the line at what was then General Motors Corp.'s Lansing Car Assembly plant. It was the last Oldsmobile, the sendoff to a nameplate founded here more than a century ago by the son of a machinist.

It was a bitter farewell, but one tempered with the promise of new auto jobs here for years to come in the form of new plants making other GM brands. Oldsmobile, a pioneer in the business of making cars, had watched its sales slump and its models become ordinary. They simply weren't distinct enough to stand out from GM's other car lines or draw younger buyers.

Many criticized the Detroit automaker's decision to kill the Oldsmobile division and thought dropping other brands made more sense. But GM had been forging ahead with its decision long before the shutdown.

Lansing had been synonymous with Oldsmobile since 1897, when Ransom Eli Olds founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. after experimenting with horseless carriages in his father's River Street shop. Olds' original company would become GM's second brand, after Buick, in 1908.

2004: Last Oldsmobile rolls off the line
2000: GM to phase out Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile lives these days in Boomers' garages, dated photographs, curated museums and the stories of old-timers who still say, years after they retired and long after the plants came down, that they worked for Oldsmobile — not GM.

"The name is fading. You don't see Oldsmobiles anymore. And in the town that created them, you're getting generations now who have no frame of reference for it," said Diana Tarpoff, an East Lansing, Mich., resident and Olds' great-granddaughter. "You're going to have a whole new generation very soon who has no memory of it."

Diana Tarpoff of East Lansing, Mich., is one of R.E. Olds' great-granddaughters and president of the R.E. Olds Foundation, which is celebrating its 100th year.(Photo: Greg DeRuiter, Lansing (Mich.) State Journal)

On a recent weekday afternoon, Steve Delaney flipped through historical Oldsmobile photos in several three-ring binders at a table in a mostly empty Harry's Place, a neighborhood bar and restaurant across the street from GM's old Fisher Body plant.

Out the window, the grassy remnants of the demolished plant stand empty.

"Growing up here, I never intended to work for Oldsmobile. I didn't want to work at the factory," said Delaney, now an electrician at GM's Lansing Delta Township assembly plant and a United Auto Workers Local 602 leader.

His classmates' parents were dentists or lawyers. His father was a pipefitter but not for an automaker. Delaney assumed he would go to college, study business administration and join the professional ranks. But in 1971 after a year at Central Michigan University, he had used up the money he'd saved for school.

He applied to auto manufacturers and suppliers, figuring he would work for a year to earn enough to return to classes. But Oldsmobile called with a job, and he stayed.

"You could graduate from high school, hire into Oldsmobile and walk into the middle class overnight," said Delaney, who would land an apprenticeship as a skilled tradesman. "I'm probably better off now than if I had gone back to school for three more years and come out as a teacher."

Today, an auto job still is a decent way to earn a living, even at GM's lower entry-level wage, he said. But it doesn't promise the same financial advantages Oldsmobile once did.

It took a lot for people here to get the mindset to get over the loss of Oldsmobile. It was the end of an era.

-

Oldsmobile's demise was solidified during this past decade as GM razed Fisher ! Body and ! several other outdated local plants a few years before the 2009 bankruptcy.

Old-timers thought the end of Oldsmobile spelled death for Lansing as an auto town.

"There are young kids who come into where we're working now and their dad(s) worked for Oldsmobile," said Alex Hernandez, a third-generation GM worker who, along with his father and grandfather, worked at Fisher Body. "It's like working in a coal town or a steel mill town.

"There would be no Lansing without Oldsmobile," Hernandez said. "He had a dream and he did it in this town."

He, of course, is Olds himself, who quit his stake in the company he founded before it joined what was then was a fledgling General Motors. GM adopted the Oldsmobile name and folded the company and its Buick line into what would become a collection of carmaking names with pioneering roots — Cadillac, Chevrolet and Pontiac among them.

Oldsmobile rode high through the 1980s, selling more than 1 million vehicles per year. Some of its cars remain among the most recognizable in the U.S. auto industry — the Curved Dash Olds, Cutlass, Cutlass Supreme and 442, to name a few.

But Olds saw its sales tumble through the 1990s to just a few hundred thousand.

Paul Armbrustmacher polishes the insignia of a finished 1999 Oldsmobile Alero for display at the 1998 Detroit Auto Show.(Photo: Rod Sanford, Lansing (Mich.) State Journal)

By its centennial mark in 1997, some analysts were predicting the brand's image problems could be insurmountable. A late-1980s ad campaign meant to lure younger buyers by pitching the cars as "not your father's Oldsmobile" would backfire. The stodgy image only deepened.

Delaney and Hernandez said the line suffered from design problems: I! ts cars w! ere indistinct compared with GM's other nameplates. Oldsmobile was too "cookie-cutter," Delaney said — essentially a clone of other GM cars but with a different name.

The New York Times, in a review of the Alero nearly two months after Oldsmobile had ended, was more blunt.

"Not a terribly bad car nor an especially good one, the Alero's white-bread mediocrity is typical of the small to midsize cars that Detroit has churned out for years," it wrote. "The Alero is, in fact, a virtual twin of the Pontiac Grand Am. Both are transportation devices, cars for people who don't like cars very much."

By 2000, GM said it was ready to close the door on Oldsmobile. Other divisions — Pontiac and Saturn — would follow. Still others, such as Saab and Hummer, would be sold off.

GM now has four nameplates, all of which have at least one vehicle built here: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.

"Part of it was just simple math," said Mark Phelan, a Detroit Free Press auto critic. "GM had about 50% more brands than it needed.

Oldsmobile owners line up in 1998 at Oldsmobile headquarters in Lansing, Mich., for a car show.(Photo: Rod Sanford, Lansing (Mich.) State Journal)

"They couldn't come up with distinctive visions for them. It became hard to say what was the difference between Oldsmobile and Buick," Phelan said. "Oldsmobile became associated with old stodgy vehicles because GM didn't have the money to invest in really good new product lines, contemporary product lines, for all of the brands it had."

On April 29, 2004, that dark cherry Alero left the line with Lansing Car Assembly's two most senior employees behind the wheel. Workers were allowed to bring their own cameras into the plant and thousands of pe! ople sign! ed their names underneath the hood.

That Alero was on display at the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum here for several years. It now has a permanent residence in GM's Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Mich.

"Their goal was to build the vehicle with the same level of quality that the first one off the line came with — a lot of, 'Let's make this one the best,'" said GM spokeswoman Kim Carpenter, who worked in Lansing's plants at the time and now manages East Coast communications in New York.

"In my opinion, they identified with being world-class automakers," Carpenter said. "For them, the brand was vitally important, but they knew other opportunities would come."

"The post-mortems for this venerable car company may someday reveal that GM tried to fit Oldsmobile's round peg into GM's square hole; and the fit, not the product, was the problem. Or, perhaps, the name and the product line simply could not keep pace with the changing tastes of American drivers. We only know this final chapter, while not wholly unsurprising, is poignant. Oldsmobile's imminent demise is like watching an old friend die slowly. And that hurts."

— Lansing State Journal editorial, Dec. 13, 2000

"It took a lot for people here to get the mindset to get over the loss of Oldsmobile," Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said. "It was the end of an era. The end of Oldsmobile wasn't the end of GM."

Employment never will approach the more than 20,000 people who worked at GM plants in the 1970s, he said, but that shouldn't be the sole indicator of the health of the region's manufacturing sector.

The $4 million R.E. Olds Foundation, which Olds started 100 years ago to give back some of the earnings from his inventions, donates close to $200,000 annually in grants to community organizations that serve children and families, animal welfare and conservation, among other things.

The museum in Lansing that bears his name is full of photos and vehicles, including an original Curved Dash Oldsm! obile on ! loan from Michigan State University. But its director says it became harder to raise funds once the cars disappeared from the road.

Debbie Stephens, one of Olds' great-granddaughters, said she continues to find photos and Olds memorabilia in boxes her mother left after she died two years ago. She plans to visit Lansing this summer to present some of them.

Since Oldsmobile production stopped, "it really hasn't been in the limelight the way I feel it should be and my family feels it should be," said Stephens, 61, who lives in the Columbus, Ohio, suburb of Dublin. "We all have a common purpose: To keep the automotive history alive because it, obviously, it affects every single person everywhere."

Workers are doing their best to preserve it. The mission statement at GM's Lansing Delta Township plant begins with the words: "Building on our heritage."

It was drafted April 28, 2004, the day before the Alero's last day.

"Everyone knows what that heritage is," said Delaney, who works at the plant. "That pride and workmanship that started with Oldsmobile is still here."

The Gory Details on Werner Enterprises's Double Miss

Werner Enterprises (Nasdaq: WERN  ) reported earnings on July 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Werner Enterprises missed estimates on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue dropped slightly. GAAP earnings per share dropped significantly.

Gross margins increased, operating margins contracted, net margins shrank.

Revenue details
Werner Enterprises reported revenue of $506.6 million. The 17 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see a top line of $519.3 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

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

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.35. The 23 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.37 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.35 for Q2 were 17% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.42 per share.

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

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 50.8%, much better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 8.4%, 30 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.1%, 80 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $519.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.38.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.05 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.38.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 52 members out of 76 rating the stock outperform, and 24 members rating it underperform. Among 24 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 16 give Werner Enterprises a green thumbs-up, and eight give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Werner Enterprises is hold, with an average price target of $25.43.

Looking for alternatives to Werner Enterprises? It takes more than great companies to build a fortune for the future. Learn the basic financial habits of millionaires next door and get focused stock ideas in our free report, "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich." Click here for instant access to this free report.

Add Werner Enterprises to My Watchlist.

Dollar up vs. ruble as Ukraine tensions increase

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The dollar rose to a more-than one-week high against the Russian ruble on Friday as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated.

U.S. stocks fell and Treasurys gained.

Click to Play S&P downgrades Russia to BBB-minus

Emma Moody takes a look at the markets, including three stocks to watch today. Photo: Getty.

Officials in Ukraine said Friday they would pursue an operation aimed at isolating a key city held by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region. Ukraine's prime minister accused Russia of wanting to start a third World War. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sent another warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin to step back in Ukraine or face further economic sanctions.

The dollar (USDRUB)  rose to 36.032 rubles from 35.776 rubles late Thursday to trade at its highest level since April 15.

The move came as Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Friday downgraded its rating on Russia, citing the potential for "additional significant outflows" of capital from Russia because of its escalating conflict with Ukraine that could further weaken prospects for growth. Russia's central bank hiked its key lending rate to 7.5% from 7% on Friday, surprising market participants.

"Russia is doing everything it can to preserve investor capital," said Kathy Lien, managing director of foreign-exchange strategy for BK Asset Management, of the rate hike. "It hasn't had much impact. The motivation for the exodus out of Russian assets is based upon a very significant macro theme," she said.

For the year, the dollar has gained 9.4% against the ruble.

Reuters Pro-Russian protesters gather at a barricade near the police headquarters in Slaviansk earlier this month.

The dollar (USDJPY)  fell to ¥102.14 from ¥102.30 late Thursday, in line with lower U.S. yields. Lower yields have been the "primary source of pressure" on the yen this week, said Lien. "Positive U.S. data have been ignored by investors as they realize it is not going to accelerate the Federal Reserve's plans for unwinding quantitative easing," she said.

U.S. consumer sentiment rose in April to a final reading of 84.1 from 80 in March, hitting the highest level since July.

The ICE dollar index (DXY) , which measures the greenback against six rivals,inched down to 79.763 from 79.770 late Thursday. The WSJ Dollar Index (XX:BUXX) , an alternate gauge of dollar strength, was little changed at 73.05 from late Thursday.

"Volatility has been way down and market has been very quiet," said George Dowd, head of Chicago foreign exchange for Newedge.

Moves were also muted in other currency pairs. The British pound (GBPUSD)  was at $1.6804 versus $1.6801 late Thursday. U.K. retail sales in March rose 0.1% from February, beating expectations of a 0.5% decline.

The euro (EURUSD)  was little changed at $1.3836 versus $1.3832 late Thursday. The Australian dollar (AUDUSD)  inched up 92.69 U.S. cents from 92.64 U.S. cents.

Read more on MarketWatch:

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Apple's first affordable product: its stock

Ukraine moves to isolate activist-held Slovyansk

Qualcomm Inc. Shares Stumble After Disappointing Guidance

Image source: Qualcomm.

Shares of Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM  ) fell 3.9% in after-hours trading, following the release of mixed results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014. Guidance for the coming quarter also raised more questions than it answered.

Qualcomm's sales increased 4% year over year to $6.4 billion, driving a 12% increase in non-GAAP earnings per share. Landing at $1.31 per share, the earnings result exceeded Wall Street's $1.22 target by a fair margin, while revenues fell just short of the $6.5 billion consensus.

Semiconductor sales increased by 8% year over year while licensing revenues grew by 1%.

In the third quarter, Qualcomm expects to see adjusted earnings of approximately $1.20 per share on $6.5 billion in sales. Both of these numbers sit below the current analyst view. Nevertheless, management held full-year revenue guidance steady while bumping up the earnings range by $0.05 per share. The $5.15 midpoint of the new 2014 earnings guidance is just a hair richer than current analyst projections.

In a prepared statement, CEO Steve Mollenkopf celebrated "another solid quarter" with strong demand for combined 3G/LTE wireless chipsets. "We continue to see increasing demand for our industry-leading chipsets and strong growth in calendar year 2014 of 3G/4G smartphones around the world," Mollenkopf added.

4 Specialty Retail Stocks to Buy Now

Popular Posts: 7 Biotechnology Stocks to Buy Now10 Best “Strong Buy” Stocks — UA POWR QIHU and more10 Oil and Gas Stocks to Buy Now Recent Posts: 3 Packaged Foods Stocks to Buy Now 6 Semiconductor Stocks to Buy Now 4 Specialty Retail Stocks to Buy Now View All Posts

Four specialty retail stocks are moving up in their overall rating this week, according to the Portfolio Grader database. Every one of these is graded an “A” (“strong buy”) or “B” overall (“buy”).

This week, Gap, Inc. () is showing significant improvement as the company’s rating hops from a C (“hold”) to a B (“buy”). Gap is an international specialty retailer operating retail and outlet stores. In Portfolio Grader’s specific subcategory of Equity, GPS also gets an A. .

Tractor Supply Company’s () ratings are looking better this week, moving up to a B from last week’s C. Tractor Supply operates retail farm and ranch stores in the United States. .

This week, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. () pushes up from a C to a B rating. Williams-Sonoma is a retailer of home products, mainly culinary and serving equipment. .

The rating of Signet Jewelers Limited () moves up this week, rising from a C to a B. Signet Jewelers is engaged in the retailing of jewelry, watches and gifts with branches throughout UK and US. With a price of $99.84, it is above the 50-day moving average of $97.60. .

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.

Top 5 Income Companies To Invest In 2015

For investors looking for capital growth rather than regular current income through dividend pay outs, growth funds would be a good choice. These funds reinvest their return and focus on long term capital appreciation. Investors need to have higher tolerance to risk as their capital remains unavailable to them for a longer period of time. These funds mainly select those securities for investment that have higher growth potential and whose values are estimated to rise over the long term.

Below we will share with you the 5 best performing growth mutual funds year to date. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all growth funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.

Mutual Fund

Zacks Rank

Total Return YTD

Hodges

#3 Hold

28.08%

Vanguard Capital Opportunity

#2 Buy

23.11%

Biondo Focus Investor

#3 Hold

22.02%

PRIMECAP Odyssey Growth

#1 Strong Buy

21.08%

Vanguard PRIMECAP

#1 Strong Buy

19.61%

Top 5 Income Companies To Invest In 2015: Credit Suisse Group(CS)

Credit Suisse Group AG, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial services company. The company operates in three segments: Private Banking, Investment Banking, and Asset Management. The Private Banking segment offers advisory services and a range of wealth management solutions, including pension planning, life insurance products, tax planning, and wealth and inheritance advice for the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. This segment also supplies banking products and services to affluent, high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, and corporates and institutions. The Investment Banking segment provides investment banking and securities products and services to corporations, governments, pension funds, and institutions. Its products and services include debt and equity underwriting, sales and trading, mergers and acquisitions advice, divestitures, corporate sales, restructuring, and investment research. The Asset Management segment offe rs integrated investment solutions and services to institutions, governments, foundations and endowments, corporations, and individuals. It provides access to a range of investment classes across alternative investment, asset allocation, and traditional investment strategies. The company operates in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. Credit Suisse Group AG was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), Kellogg Company (NYSE: K), LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD), Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) Economic Releases Expected: French trade balance, British trade balance, eurozone consumer confidence, German industrial production, Bank of England interest rate decision, European Central Bank interest rate decision, US initial and continuing jobless claims, Chinese trade balance

  Friday

• [By Alex Planes]

  A neutral banking powerhouse
  Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS  ) was founded by Swiss leading light Alfred Escher (no relation to the artist) on July 5, 1856. Credit Suisse offers the following details on its origins:

Top 5 Income Companies To Invest In 2015: Tenaris S.A.(TS)

Tenaris S.A., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of steel pipe products. The company produces and sells both seamless and welded steel tubular products and related services for the oil and gas industry, particularly oil country tubular goods used in drilling operations, and certain other industrial applications with a production process that consists in the transformation of steel into tubular products. It also offers welded steel pipe products primarily used in the construction of major pipeline projects for the transportation of gas and fluids. In addition, the company provides sucker rods, casing and tubing, drill pipes, thermal tubulars, coiled tubing, premium connections, pipe accessories, welded steel pipes for electric conduits, industrial equipment, and raw materials. Further, it involves in the ownership and licensing of steel technology, as well as in the financial sector. The company serves oil and gas companies, car manufacturers, ref ineries, and petrochemical and gas-processing plants, as well as engineering companies engaged in constructing oil and gas gathering, transportation, and processing facilities. It operates in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Far East, and Oceania. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg. Tenaris S.A. is a subsidiary of San Faustin N.V.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GURUFOCUS]

  
  Maverick appeared to be one of the few bargains still available in the oils service and equipment sector in 2005. Shareholders were rewarded a year later when the company was acquired by Tenaris (TS) at a price of 65 dollars a share in June of 2006.

Top Warren Buffett Companies To Invest In Right Now: OncoSec Medical Inc (ONCS)

OncoSec Medical Incorporated, incorporated on February 8, 2008, is an emerging drug-medical device company. The Company focused on designing, developing and commercializing medical approaches for the treatment of solid cancers. In March 2011, the Company acquired from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Inovio) certain assets related to the use of drug-medical device combination products for the treatment of different cancers.

The Company�� acquired assets relate to certain non-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccine technology and property relating to selective tumor ablation technologies, which it refers to as the OncoSec Medical System (OMS), a therapy which uses an electroporation device to facilitate delivery of chemotherapy agents, or nucleic acids encoding cytokines, into tumors and/or surrounding tissue for the treatment and diagnosis of various cancers. As of January 24, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue from operations.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bio-Wire]

  Another company that has benefitted from Inovio�� newfound attention is OncoSec Medical (OTC: ONCS) ��a newer ��ffshoot�� company that uses a similar but distinctly different electroporation device known as the OncoSec Medical System (OMS) that is based on Inovio�� technology. The specific amplitude and frequency of the OMS electroporation is calibrated such that plasmid delivery into solid tumor masses is fully optimized, while CELLECTRA electroporation is less specialized and focus more on the vaccination of skin cells. The cross-license agreement made between Inovio and Oncosec also covers the two devices for their distinctly different applications.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap biotech stocks AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: AVEO), OncoSec Medical Inc (OTCMKTS: ONCS) and MetaStat Inc (OTCBB: MTST) are focused on or are developing treatments or diagnostic technologies for metastatic cancers. In case you aren�� familiar with the term metastasis or metastatic, it�� the�spread of cancer from its primary site to other places in the body as cancer cells break away from a primary tumor, penetrate into lymphatic and blood vessels, circulate through the bloodstream and then grow in a new focus (metastasize) in normal tissues elsewhere in the body. In other words, it�� a dangerous form of cancer, but there are some small cap biotech stocks targeting it for diagnostics or treatment:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  How does the old saying go? Beggars can't be choosers? Two weeks ago, yours truly penned some bullish comments regarding OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCMKTS:ONCS). The long and short of it was, if ONCS could clear a technical ceiling around $0.36, then life would get much easier for the bulls.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  If you're looking for the next big biotech breakout stock, then OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCMKTS:ONCS) deserves a place on your watchlist. This volatile cancer play has been down more than up 2011, but if you look closely at a long-term chart of ONCS, you may find it's already wiggled its way into a new uptrend. And, it may be only a matter of time before the bullish fireworks start to go off.

Top 5 Income Companies To Invest In 2015: Fidelity National Financial Inc. (FNF)

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. provides title insurance, mortgage services, and diversified services in the United States. The company provides title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including collection and trust activities, trustee’s sales guarantees, recordings, and reconveyances, as well as home warranty insurance to various customers in the residential and commercial market sectors of the real estate industry. It is also involved in the design, manufacture, remanufacture, market, and distribution of aftermarket and original equipment electrical components for automobiles, light trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and other vehicles worldwide. In addition, the company owns and operates restaurants comprising the O'Charley's, Ninety Nine Restaurants, Max & Erma's, Village Inn, Bakers Square, and Stoney River Legendary Steaks concepts in the United States. Fidelity National Financial, Inc. is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Adam J. Wiederman]

  Getty Images Bitcoin made headlines last year when the value of all outstanding pieces of the electronic currency reached nearly $10 billion. It's not just speculators drawn to the new currency. Many businesses are also attempting to cash in on this growth: Several public companies, including Zynga (ZNGA) and Overstock.com (OSTK), accept Bitcoins as a form of payment. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen's firm has invested nearly $50 million in Bitcoin-related ventures, and it is looking to invest even more. And the Winklevoss twins -- who notoriously accused Facebook's (FB) Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea -- have been "in dialogue" with the SEC about opening the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, according to Bloomberg. Yet a new survey from TheStreet.com (TST) reveals that 76 percent of consumers are not familiar with Bitcoin -- and 79 percent would never consider owning a currency like it. Does this signal opportunity for savvy investors? Or is this a fad you'd be wise to avoid? The Basics of Bitcoin Bitcoin is a completely unregulated form of currency developed by an anonymous Japanese programmer (according to some apocryphal claims) as a completely digital, peer-to-peer payment system that is independent of national currencies (which, Bitcoin users argue, are all subject to the riskiness of the underlying country). Bitcoins are rewarded throughout the day to a "Bitcoin miner" whose computer solves a series of algorithms quicker than other miners. The puzzles become more difficult over time, so the calculations take longer and the computations require more computing power. There will eventually be a total of 21 million Bitcoins (12.4 million are in circulation today) and we won't reach the point that they are effectively "mined out" until 2040. The value of a Bitcoin is supposed to be market-driven, meaning they're worth whatever the two parties in a transaction value them as. For example, in one of the original Bitcoin transactions, a "mi

Top 5 Income Companies To Invest In 2015: Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc (RH)

Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. (Restoration Hardware Holdings), incorporated on August 18, 2011, is a holding company. The Company is merchants of home furnishings. Restoration Hardware Holdings offers merchandise assortments across a number of categories, including furniture, lighting, textiles, bath ware, decor, outdoor, garden, and baby and child products. The Company�� business is integrated across its multiple channels of distribution, consists of its stores, catalogs and Websites. As of July 28, 2012, the Company�� operated a total of 73 retail stores, consisted of 71 Galleries and two full line Design Galleries, and 10 outlet stores throughout the United States and Canada. RH is a brand in the home furnishings. During the fiscal year ended January 28, 2012 (fiscal 2011), the Company opened five stores and closed 22 stores. In fiscal 2011, the Company distributed approximately 26.1 million catalogs, and its Websites logged over 14.3 million visits.

Restoration Hardware Holdings operates a Website for its Baby & Child brand at www.rhbabyandchild.com. The Company opened its two full line Design Galleries in Los Angeles in, June 2011 and Houston in November 2011. In May 2011, the Company launched catalog applications for Apple�� iPad and iPhone that enable customers to view and purchase its product assortment. Restoration Hardware Holdings operates three store types: the Company's full line Design Gallery format, approximately between 22,000 and 28,000 gross square feet; its Gallery format of approximately 7,000-15,000 gross square feet, and its Baby & Child Gallery format of approximately 2,000-3,000 gross square feet.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sue Chang]

  Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (RH) �late Thursday reported adjusted third-quarter profit of 32 cents a share, above the 28 cents a share forecast by analysts. Separately, the company said Co-Chief Executive Officer Carlos Alberini resigned, effective Jan. 31. Alberini has been named chairman of the board and CEO of Lucky Brand. The company will begin to search for his successor soon. Shares of Restoration Hardware skidded 13% in after-hours trading.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Briefly in the news
  And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) is walking away with Waze. After other tech titans were rumored suitors, Google announced that it closed on the acquisition of the popular real-time traffic app that uses crowdsourcing to get users around jams and police traps. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) revealed that it will introduce individual profiles for family accounts this summer. The move will help the leading video website serve up better recommendations. In other words, having your kid watch Dumbo won't stop Reservoir Dogs from coming up for you. You won't find too many retailers doing as well as Restoration Hardware (NYSE: RH  ) these days. The seller of upscale home furnishings reported a 41% increase in same-store sales in its latest quarter. That's not too shabby for a retailer that went public in November at $24 a share. It's safe to say that the IPO wasn't an exit strategy, since it's doing so well several months later.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Not investors in Restoration Hardware (RH). Its shares have dropped 2% in after-hours trading after it reported a profit of 49 cents a share, above forecasts for 43 cents, but offered mixed guidance. Oxford Industries (OXM) is off 7.3% at $60 after it announced a profit of $1.01, ahead of 98 cents consensus forecasts, but lowered its 2013 guidance. Shares of SunEdison (SUNE) have dropped 5.4% to $7.90 after it announced a secondary offering.

Wall Street bond dealers whipsawed on bearish Treasuries bet

Betting against U.S. government debt this year is turning out to be a fool's errand. Just ask Wall Street's biggest bond dealers.

While the losses that their economists predicted have yet to materialize, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and the 20 other firms that trade with the Federal Reserve began wagering on a Treasuries selloff last month for the first time since 2011. The strategy was upended as Fed Chairman Janet Yellen signaled she wasn't in a rush to lift interest rates, two weeks after suggesting the opposite at the bank's March 19 meeting.

The surprising resilience of Treasuries has investors recalibrating forecasts for higher borrowing costs as lackluster job growth and emerging-market turmoil push yields toward 2014 lows. That's also made the business of trading bonds, once more predictable for dealers when the Fed was buying trillions of dollars of debt to spur the economy, less profitable as new rules limit the risks they can take with their own money.

“You have an uncertain Fed, an uncertain direction of the economy and you've got rates moving,” Mark MacQueen, a partner at Sage Advisory Services Ltd., which oversees $10 billion, said. In the past, “calling the direction of the market and what you should be doing in it was a lot easier than it is today, particularly for the dealers.”

CAUGHT SHORT

After surging to a 29-month high of 3.05% at the start of the year, yields on the 10-year note have since declined and were at 2.7% at 11:55 a.m. in New York Monday.

One reason yields have fallen is the U.S. labor market, which has yet to show consistent improvement.

The world's largest economy added fewer jobs on average in the first three months of the year than in the same period in the prior two years, data compiled by Bloomberg show. At the same time, a slowdown in China and tensions between Russia and Ukraine boosted demand for the safest assets.

Wall Street firms known as primary dealers are getting caught short betting against Treasuries.

They collectively amassed $5.2 billion of wagers in March that would profit if Treasuries fell, the first time they had net short positions on government debt since September 2011, data compiled by the Fed show.

'SOME TIME'

The practice is allowed under the Volcker Rule, which limits the types of trades that banks can make with their own money. The wagers may include market-making, which is the business of using the firm's capital to buy and sell securities with customers while profiting on the spread and movement in prices.

While the bets initially paid off after Ms. Yellen said on March 19 that the Fed may lift its benchmark rate six months after it stops buying bonds, Treasuries have since rallied as her subsequent comments strengthened the view that policymakers will keep borrowing costs low to support growth.

On March 31, Ms. Yellen highlighted inconsistencies in job data and said “considerable slack” in labor markets showed the Fed's accommodative polic! ies will be needed for “some time.”

Then on April 16, in her first major speech on her policy framework as Fed chairman, Ms. Yellen said it will take at least two years for the U.S. economy to meet the Fed's goals, which determine how quickly the central bank raises rates.

After declining as much as 0.6% following Ms. Yellen's March 19 comments, Treasuries have recouped all their losses, index data compiled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch show.

“We had that big selloff and the dealers got short then, and then we turned around and the Fed says, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa: it's lower for longer again,'” Mr. MacQueen said. “The dealers are really worried here. You get really punished if you take a lot of risk.”

Economists and strategists around Wall Street are still anticipating that Treasuries will underperform as yields increase, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

While they've ratcheted down their forecasts this year, they predict 10-year yields will increase to 3.36% by the end of December. That's more than 0.6 percentage point higher than where yields are today.

“My forecast is 4%,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank AG, a primary dealer. “It may seem like it's really aggressive but it's really not.”

Mr. LaVorgna, who has the highest estimate among the 66 responses in a Bloomberg survey, said stronger economic data will likely cause investors to sell Treasuries as they anticipate a rate increase from the Fed.

HISTORY LESSON

The U.S. economy will expand 2.7% this year from 1.9% in 2013, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. Growth will accelerate 3% next year, which would be the fastest in a decade, based on those forecasts.

Dealers used to rely on Treasuries to act as a hedge against their holdings of other types of debt, such as corporate bonds and mortgages. That changed after the credit crisis caused the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008.

They slashed corporate-debt inventories by 76% fro! m the 200! 7 peak through last March as they sought to comply with higher capital requirements from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and stockpiled Treasuries instead.

“Being a dealer has changed over the years, and not least because you also have new balance-sheet constraints that you didn't have before,” said Ira Jersey, an interest-rate strategist at primary dealer Credit Suisse Group AG.

While the Fed's decision to inundate the U.S. economy wit

5 Brand-Name NFL Sponsors With a Lot to Prove This Upcoming Season

With the NBA season now officially over and the Miami Heat capturing their second consecutive championship, all eyes are now set to turn toward the upcoming NFL season (no disrespect to baseball or hockey fans, of course).

Simply put, football is the most-watched sport in the United States. It's therefore one of the strongest venues for big corporations to gain consumer impressions through online, mobile, and televised advertising. Some companies do a marvelous job of attracting views and driving product growth while others fail to hit their mark and waste quite a bit of cash in the process. While it's often difficult to gauge how companies have done with regard to "hitting the mark" with viewers, Turnkey Intelligence, working with SportsBusiness Journal/Daily, conducted its seventh annual NFL sponsorship awareness survey in March and made this comparison as clear as day for investors.

The survey asked the same question across 10 consumer categories: "Which of the following is an official sponsor of NFL?" Aside from revealing some incredibly surprising results, it also shed light on which big brand-name companies have failed to turn those advertising impressions into a recognizable association with the NFL and, therefore, drive sales. Here are five big brands that have a lot to prove this upcoming season -- especially with consumers who described themselves as avid NFL fans. 

General Motors (NYSE: GM  )

Automotive Company

2013

2012

2011

General Motors	21.4%	22.2%	21.7%
Ford	18.4%	16.8%	18.2%
Chrysler	5.5%	5.9%	1.5%
Toyota Motor	5%	11.3%	5.6%
I'm not sure	46.8%	41.9%	52%

Source: Turnkey Intelligence; % of avid viewers identifying primary NFL automotive sponsor.

Source: Sarah Larson, Flickr.

Car maker GM certainly has a lot to prove to investors following its bankruptcy and reorganization just four years ago. Despite being the NFL's automotive sponsor, more than twice as many avid fans had no clue who the automotive sponsor was than correctly selected GM. What's more, its main U.S. rival, Ford, sat only 3 percentage points behind GM, primarily because of its eco-friendly EcoBoost engines, which are rapidly growing in popularity. GM has a shot at gaining market share back from Ford in truck sales with redesigns of the Silverado and Sierra on the way, but it'll really need to push its advertising, fuel-efficiency, and branding this year in order to make that happen.

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  )

Quick-Service Restaurant

2013

2012

2011

Subway	25.4%	16.8%	22.2%
McDonald's	12.9%	11.8%	10.1%
KFC	6%	2%	4%
Taco Bell	2%	3%	5.6%
I'm not sure	46.8%	46.3%	47.5%

Source: Turnkey Intelligence; % of avid viewers identifying primary NFL quick-service restaurant sponsor.

Source: Alexandre Normand, Flickr.

McDonald's may be the progenitor of the snack wrap and healthier foods for quick-service restaurants, but it is lacking in a big way when it comes to connecting with the NFL's most-faithful viewers. In fact, McDonald's was the only current NFL sponsor not to be correctly identified as such by fans, with nearly twice as many assuming Subway was its quick-service restaurant sponsor. It's not hard to understand why, either, because Subway has easily recognizable ambassadors like Washington Redskins QB phenom Robert Griffin III, and has grown its stores at a rate seven times faster than McDonald's over the previous decade. For McDonald's to connect with fans, it's going to need to freshen up its marketing, introduce newer ambassadors, and hit home with its wide menu options.

PepsiCo  (NYSE: PEP  )

Soft Drink Company

2013

2012

2011

Pepsi	36.3%	37.4%	45.5%
Coca-Cola	23.9%	23.7%	19.2%
I'm not sure	28.9%	30.5%	28.3%

Source: Turnkey Intelligence; % of avid viewers identifying primary NFL soft drink sponsor.

Source: Israelavila, Flickr.

Despite clearly being identified by avid NFL fans as the primary sponsor, Pepsi's command is clearly fading, with Coca-Cola closing the gap between 2011 and 2013 to just 12.4 percentage points from 26.3 percentage points. Like Subway, Coke has connected with consumers by aligning itself with popular ambassadors. It's also difficult for Pepsi to compete against Coke -- even on the biggest stage, the NFL -- because of Coke's enormous advertising budget. In order to regain its status among the NFL's avid fans, Pepsi will need to introduce innovative new drinks and brighten up its image among millennials, who have become its core customer.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ  )

Wireless Service Company

2013

2012

2011

Verizon	34.8%	33%	24.8%
AT&T	10.4%	14.3%	7.6%
Sprint Nextel	9%	4.4%	10.6%
I'm not sure	38.8%	40.4%	49.5%

Source: Turnkey Intelligence; % of avid viewers identifying primary NFL wireless service sponsor.

Source: Zac Bowling, Flickr.

I definitely have to give credit to Verizon for vaulting its sponsorship awareness among avid NFL fans to 34.8% from 24.8% in just two years. In fact, relative to AT&T and Sprint Nextel, Verizon was a runaway selection. However, it's incredibly disconcerting, from Verizon's perspective at least, that more people were unsure which wireless service provider was the NFL's sponsor than correctly guessed Verizon. Verizon has more 4G LTE-capable cities in the U.S. than AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile combined, which is a fact it needs to really strike home with NFL crowds if it wants its growth trend to continue. Look for Verizon to really push its marketing toward millennials in the upcoming year.

Marriott International (NYSE: MAR  )

Hotel Company

2013

2012

2011

Marriott International	18.4%	13.3%	9.6%
Holiday Inn	5%	6.9%	7.1%
Hilton	3%	7.4%	5.1%
I'm not sure	67.2%	64.5%	74.2%

Source: Turnkey Intelligence; % of avid viewers identifying primary NFL hotel sponsor.

Source: Prayitno, Fotopedia.

Marriott absolutely deserves credit for doubling its figures since 2011 in terms of being identified as the NFL's primary hotel sponsor. Statistically speaking, Marriott is head and shoulders above its peers based on these figures. However, the astronomical number of "I'm not sure" responses also alludes to a gigantic missed opportunity for Marriott. Understandably, hotels aren't as immediate a need as say a Pepsi or burger, but it also signals that Marriott isn't connecting with consumers. If Marriott hopes to be successful moving forward and expects these impressions to translate into increased business, it's going to need to produce memorable ads that stick with people as well as emphasize its value relative to its peers.

The takeaway
Sometimes getting ad impressions in front of the biggest audience simply isn't enough to translate into bottom-line results. Although these five companies boast impeccable brand names that in some sense help their product sell itself, none looks to be doing all it can to secure more market share and hit its core customer through its NFL sponsorship. While all five certainly have the tools to fix their aforementioned shortcomings, it remains to be seen whether these fixes will ultimately translate into better brand recognition by fans.

Playing on the world stage
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Are Electronic Cigarettes Dangerous Enough to Be Regulated? Plus Other eCig News (RAI, MCIG, ECIG & AHII)

After marijuana, the electronic cigarette sector and e-Cig stocks or industry players like Reynolds American, Inc (NYSE: RAI), mCig Inc (OTCBB: MCIG), Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp (OTCMKTS: ECIG) and American Heritage International Inc (OTCBB: AHII) is looking like the next hot niche sector for investors. However, electronic cigarette stock investors should be aware of the following recent good and bad news from the sector that needs to be digested:

Congress Wants the FDA to Regulate Electronic Cigarettes. Democratic lawmakers are claiming that electronic cigarette companies are preying on young consumers by using candy flavors, social media ads and free samples at rock concerts. Apparently, a survey of nine electronic-cigarette companies found that most were "taking advantage" of the lack of federal regulations to launch aggressive marketing campaigns targeting minors with tactics that would be illegal if used for traditional cigarettes. The final report (see "Gateway to Addiction? A Survey of Popular Electronic Cigarette Manufacturers and Marketing to Youth") was released by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and signed by 10 other Democratic lawmakers, including California Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Beverly Hills.

Are Electronic Cigarettes Dangerous? Between March 2013 and March 2014, more than 50 complaints about e-cigarettes were filed with the FDA. However and as the Tech Times has pointed out, the FDA may believe electronic cigarettes pose some kind of danger to its users, the evidence it has to back up that claim is rather slim. Specifically, the previous five years saw about 10 complaints filed per year – a small amount when one considers the fact that 21% of all adult smokers have tried an e-cigarette. The complaints from the public filed with the FDA cited trouble breathing, headache, cough, dizziness, sore throat, nose bleeds, chest pain or other cardiovascular problems PLUS allergic reactions (such as itchiness and swelling of the lips) – including reactions as a result of second hand smoke.

mCig Inc. A technology company focused on the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes along with the adoption of electronic vaporizing cigarettes or e-Cigs, mCig Inc has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary VitaCig, Inc. has officially launched its flagship product: "VitaCig." The VitaCig is a $2 device that is nicotine-free and smokeless as it emits flavorful vapor comprised of vitamins, natural supplements and organic flavors rather than tobacco smoke or cigarette smell. mCig Inc's VitaCig comes in three flavor combinations: Relax, Refresh, and Energize. The press release also noted that the VitaCig, Inc spin-off, dividend and IPO remains on schedule and that the company will be filing the S1 Prospectus with the SEC by April 20th. mCig Inc is up 263.4% since the start of the year, up 192.6% over the past year and down 34.6% over the past five years.

Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp Jumps the Gun on News. Small cap Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp owns the trademarks VAPESTICK, FIN, Victory, GreenStix among others but early morning on Thursday, the company jumped the gun as it issued a press release saying it had acquired Must Have Limited's VIP®. Then later in the afternoon, Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp retracted the press release (its not available in Google's cache) saying it "was issued in error by the Company, as the acquisition has not yet closed." Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp "will update the market accordingly as news becomes available." Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp is down 11% since the start of the year, up 1,922.7% over the past year and up 345% since February 2013.

American Heritage International Inc. The manufacturer, distributer and seller of the American Heritage™ brand of disposable premium electronic cigarettes, American Heritage International announced that it had secured an agreement with Avalon Group LLC - a vending machine distributor for First Class Vending Machines, a company that has over 25,000 vending machines nationwide. The American Heritage™ brand will be sold in 330 vending machines in Las Vegas to begin with and these vending machines will sell the company's Platinum, Original Red and Menthol varieties of premium disposable electronic cigarettes. The CEO commented:

"This is American Heritage's first vending machine agreement and we look forward to expanding our distribution through Avalon into vending machines nationwide." 

American Heritage International jumped 14.09% on Thursday and its up 1,600% over the past year.

Move Over 'Frozen' - This Could Be Disney's Next $1 Billion Movie

It's not often you see a movie exceeding $1 billion in global box office sales.

Of the nearly 700 films released over the past year, only two were able to do so. Curiously enough, both came from the creative minds at The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS  ) : First with $1.125 billion last summer from Disney Marvel's Iron Man 3, and more recently with $1.11 billion (and counting) from Walt Disney Animation's Frozen.

In fact, Disney accounts for seven of the 18 films that have ever managed to top the $1 billion mark worldwide -- unadjusted for inflation, that is -- with some of its other massive titles including Marvel's The Avengers, Pixar's Toy Story 3, and two films from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

But this begs the question: What will Disney's next $1 billion movie be? 

I think investors and movie fans need look no further than the May 30 debut of Maleficent:

Angelina Jolie stars in Disney's Maleficent, launching May 30. Credit: Disney. 

If the name sounds familiar, it's because Maleficent is the same thorn-manifesting, dragon-morphing, prince-kidnapping antagonist you've known and loathed ever since Disney first released Sleeping Beauty in 1959.

This in mind, nobody can guarantee Maleficent will ultimately be massive enough to reach $1 billion at the box office this year. But I love its chances considering Disney enlisted the exceptional writing talents of Linda Woolverton, whose work includes 1994's The Lion King and 2010's Alice in Wonderland. Even unadjusted for inflation, The Lion King achieved an incredible $987.5 million in worldwide box office sales 20 years ago, while Alice in Wonderland managed to reach $1.025 billion.

Regarding the latter, it appears Disney has identified an intriguing recipe for success: spend buckets of money to create convincing live-action takes on classic animated properties. While Disney hasn't released official production budget numbers for Maleficent, it seems fair to assume it must be in the neighborhood of the $200 million Disney spent bringing Alice in Wonderland to life.

Only this time, Disney has replaced Johnny Depp's supporting role as the Mad Hatter with Angelina Jolie headlining as Maleficent. Just take a look at Maleficent's latest goosebump-inducing trailer:

What's more, there's a notable lack of closely scheduled big-budget competition for Maleficent in its crucial first weekends.

By the time Maleficent is released in the U.S., News Corp's  (NASDAQ: NWS  ) 20th Century Fox will have already enjoyed the spoils of X-Men: Days of Future Past for a full week. Meanwhile, the only other film simultaneously entering wide release will be Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA  ) Universal's A Million Ways to Die in The West. 

Nobody expects Comcast's western comedy to set any records, but X-Men: Days of Future Past could be huge -- and it had better be for the sake of News Corp., which is rumored to have spent upwards of $240 million on the production. But even then, it's not as though the target audiences will overlap to a great degree between News Corp's mutant-powered action flick and Disney's princess-infused fantasy. 

After that, it's not until three weekends following Maleficent's release audiences will be able to enjoy DreamWorks Animation's (NASDAQ: DWA  ) worthy sequel in How to Train Your Dragon 2. By the time DreamWorks tries its hand at grabbing movie-goers' attention, Maleficent will have already secured the lions share of its early sales.

Profiting in stocks doesn't have to seem magical
What do you think? Will Maleficent be able to reach $1 billion in total sales? Even coming close would be a huge win for Disney, which has already rewarded investors handsomely by nearly quadrupling over the past five years alone.

But let's face it, every investor wants to get in on revolutionary ideas before they hit it big. Like buying PC-maker Dell in the late 1980s, before the consumer computing boom. Or purchasing stock in e-commerce pioneer Amazon.com in the late 1990s, when it was nothing more than an upstart online bookstore.

The problem is, most investors don't understand the key to investing in hyper-growth markets. The real trick is to find a small-cap "pure-play" and then watch as it grows in EXPLOSIVE lockstep with its industry. Our expert team of equity analysts has identified one stock that's poised to produce rocket-ship returns with the next $14.4 TRILLION industry. Click here to get the full story in this eye-opening report.

AvWorks Aviation - aka Vapor Group - Is Pumped and Primed (SPLI)

It's admittedly scary to try and catch a falling knife, but sometimes it's worth the risk. Case in point? AvWorks Aviation Corp. (OTCMKTS:SPLI) .... better known as Vapor Group. Without knowing more about the stock, the sheer fact that SPLI has fallen nearly 90% since March 26th - with about a third of that coming today alone - the stock would be best left avoided by nearly any trader. For the small group of savvy traders that know the tell-tale signs and know how the market really works, however, AvWorks Aviation, or Vapor Group, may be in a prime buying situation today.... yes, even in the midst of this bloodbath.

For those only vaguely familiar with it, SPLI is an electronic cigarette maker. For those intimately familiar with the company though, they'll know it better as something of a fringe marijuana play. The company manufactures e-cigarette vaporizers and e-liquids in a wide variety of flavors. It also makes what it calls a "Vapor Box TBH" that can vaporize, among other things, dry herbs. The connection to the marijuana trade isn't an official one for Vapor Group - still officially AvWorks Aviation - but the tie-in is clear.

Of course, anyone who's been following the marijuana industry's stocks also knows they've been all over the map, controlled by traders and emotions more than based on value or prospects. And, SPLI hasn't exactly been immune to that insanity, rallying more than 2000% between early February and late March when the company's TBH product was recognized as a way to inhale a herb-based, well, possibly anything.

That insanity worked the other way too, driving the stock all the way from a peak of $0.45 to the current price of $0.05 per share of AvWorks Aviation... almost a complete erasure of the runup. However, today's drubbing to new multi-week lows also looks like it's the final blow - the move that flushes out the last of the sellers and only leaves the buyers behind, starting a rebound rally that could be just as big as the February/March runup.

How do we know Tuesday is the pivot? One of the clues is the sheer size and speed of the selloff. The other (and perhaps more important) clue that Vapor Group/AvWorks Aviation shares are ready to rebound is the fact that today's volume is wildly high. Most pivots occur on volume spikes at the end of long runs, and that's exactly what we have here with SPLI.

With all of that being said, it's critical to bear in mind that this is still just a short-term call on AvWorks Aviation, or Vapor Group, or whatever you want to call it. There's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the company's long-term potential. For the foreseeable future, however, as of today SPLI is a falling knife worth trying to catch.

By the way, if you're wondering why Vapor Group is still technically called AvWorks Aviation, it was the result of a reverse merger that transpired last quarter. As of the next quarter, the name change should be in effect.

For more trading ideas and insights like these, be sure to sign up for the free SmallCap Network newsletter. You'll get stock picks, market calls, and more, every day. Here's what you've missed recently.

Top 5 Construction Material Companies To Own In Right Now

Jin Lee/Bloomberg Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York. The Standard & Poor�� 500 Index has risen 146 percent since bottoming in 2009. The 53-month gain has surpassed the average length of bull markets since 1946 by about four months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Price gains of stocks in the Standard & Poor�� 500 Index (SPX) are outpacing profits by the fastest rate in 14 years as the bull market extends beyond the average length of rallies since Harry S. Truman was president.

The benchmark gauge for U.S. equities has risen 14 percent relative to income over the past 12 months to 16 times earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Valuations last climbed this fast in the final year of the 1990s technology bubble, just before the index began a 49 percent tumble. The rally that started in March 2009 has now outlasted the average gain since 1946, the data show.

Top 5 Construction Material Companies To Own 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 Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Vulcan have gained 7.6%, and given a lift to other cement makers today, including Martin Marietta Materials (MLM), which has risen 4.9% and reports earnings on Thursday, Cemex (CX), which has advanced 1.5%, and Texas Industries (TXI), which is up 4.9%.

• [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.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Even now, though, it's far from clear whether the recent rebound has staying power. Earlier this month, peer Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC  ) reported 5% lower shipments of aggregates, although rising prices helped offset the impact, and the company noted double-digit-percentage increases in shipments to hot housing areas including Arizona, California, and Florida. Similarly, Cemex (NYSE: CX  ) posted a substantial loss for its March quarter on with 5% lower revenue, but the Mexican company pointed to strength in the U.S. and Asian markets as offsetting weakness in Mexico, Europe, and Latin America.

Top 5 Construction Material Companies To Own 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 Sean Williams]

  Texas Industries (NYSE: TXI  )
  In spite of the steady rebound in the construction industry, certain companies look predisposed to underperform. Take Texas Industries as a perfect example. It provides heavy construction aggregates to the commercial construction industry while also acting a cement supplier to the consumer segment. Although its orders, and even to some remote extent its pricing power for cement, has improved modestly as the housing sector has rebounded, Texas Industries is still turning only marginal profits. In fact, looking toward next year you'd see a forward P/E approaching 500!

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Vulcan have gained 7.6%, and given a lift to other cement makers today, including Martin Marietta Materials (MLM), which has risen 4.9% and reports earnings on Thursday, Cemex (CX), which has advanced 1.5%, and Texas Industries (TXI), which is up 4.9%.

Top 5 Clean Energy 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.

Top 5 Construction Material Companies To Own 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.

Top 5 Construction Material Companies To Own 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.