Top Stocks For 2011-12-4-11

Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE:MAIN) announced the expansion of total commitments under its three-year credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) from $155 million to $210 million . The $55 million increase in total commitments included commitment increases by lenders currently participating in the Credit Facility, as well as the addition of one new lender relationship which further diversifies the Main Street lending group to a total of seven participants.

Main Street Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in equity, equity related, and debt investments in small and lower middle market companies.

Laclede Group Inc. (NYSE:LG) announced that Douglas H. Yaeger , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Laclede Group, has decided to retire from the board of directors simultaneously with his previously announced retirement as CEO of Laclede .

The Laclede Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the retail distribution, sale, and marketing of natural gas. It serves approximately 630,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in St. Louis and surrounding counties in eastern Missouri.

Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO)
Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO) is pleased to announce it has met its funding requirement to secure the Company’s ability to earn in 25% of the 500KW Merced Project.

The Company is in the final stages of closing its initial interest in the Merced Project and is currently working on completing the necessary documentation and expects closing the transaction soon. As previously announced Cleantech has the option to earn up to 40% of the Merced Project and the Company plans to continue to work towards increasing its interest in the Merced Project as they move ahead.

ADVANTAGES OF BIOMASS
o Biomass can be used for fuels, power production and products that would otherwise be made from fossil fuels.
o It does not add CO2 to the atmosphere as it absorbs the same amount of carbon in growing as it releases when consumed with fuel.
o It can be used to generate electricity with the same equipment or power plants that are now burning fossil fuels.
o It is sensible to use waste products where we can.
o Biomass fuel generally tends to be cheap.
o Using biomass sources places less demand on the Earth’s resources.
o The use of biomass energy has the potential to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
o The use of biomass can reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Cleantech Transit Inc. was founded to capitalize on technology advances and manufacturing opportunities in the growing clean energy public transportation sector. The Company has expanded its focus to invest directly in specific green projects that can maximize shareholder value. Recognizing the many economic and operational advances of converting wood waste into renewable sources of energy, Cleantech has selected to invest in Phoenix Energy (www.phoenixenergy.net).

For more information please visit official website of CLNO: www.cleantechtransit.com

Westar Energy, Inc. (NYSE:WR) Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of 32 cents per share payable Jan. 3, 2012, on the company’s common stock.

Westar Energy, Inc., an electric utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It produces electricity through various sources, including coal, wind, nuclear, natural gas, oil, and diesel.

Will Lumia 900 Provide The Boost Nokia Needs?

Nokia (NOK) and AT&T (T) are gearing up for the release of the Lumia 900, and despite all the hype by both companies about this smartphone, I suspect it still may not outshine other products on the market.

The Lumia 900 is due to be released on April 8th, and will retail for $99.99. It's being touted as one of the first 4G LTE Windows Phones in the world by AT&T. While both Nokia and AT&T stand to improve their bottom lines with this latest smartphone, Nokia stands to lose the most. That's because it has lagged other major players in the mobile phone manufacturing market, such as Apple (AAPL), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Samsung.

Nokia has seen its revenues decline consistently since July 2008, when they were $24.1 billion. Now revenues have fallen to below $15 billion. The same is true for the company's earnings per share. In March 2011, they were $0.09, and now they are less than one cent.

Margins have also weakened since last year. Its gross margin was 30.67% in March 2011, and now they are around 29%. Nokia's profit margin was 8.39% and has now fallen to less than 1%. This reflects the lackluster response its phones have had as it fights for market share.

I believe these fundamentals can only be improved by a major improvement in the company's sales. I think the Lumia 900 is a significant step in the right direction. I'm curious about how much more appealing the Microsoft (MSFT) powered platform will be for the phone. Microsoft's Windows 8 software will also be on Nokia's tablet it plans to unveil by the end of the year.

In addition to the Lumina 900, Nokia announced that it had teamed with China Telecom to unveil the Nokia 800C, which is the first CDMA Windows Phone in China. Also planned for China is the Lumia 610, which should also be available this year.

In the meantime, the Lumia 900 will have to compete in a mobile phone market dominated by smartphones powered by Google's (GOOG) Android platform and Apple's iPhone.

Nokia is not the only phone manufacturer facing hurdles in beefing up its efforts to stay competitive. So is Research in Motion. The company released its fourth quarter earnings for 2012 in March and reported that shipments of its famed BlackBerry smartphones decreased 21% to 11.1 million. Revenue during that quarter was down 19% to $4.2 billion from $5.2 billion in the previous quarter. It was down 25% from $5.6 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2011.

Rim faces the same problems as Nokia - a lack of products that attract customers from Androids and iPhones. In Nokia's favor is the backing it has from AT&T to throw its weight behind the Lumia 900 and promote it. RIM's loyal BlackBerry following is good for it. Also, it plans to unveil the BlackBerry 10 platform this year and refocus on offerings, like BlackBerry Mobile Fusion.

I've repeatedly mentioned the dominance of iPhones and Android phones in this article. To give you a better idea of the grip these two have on the market, check out a study released in April and conducted by comScore. It found that of the more than 104 million smartphone users in the U.S., about 50% used Android. It found that 30% used Apple's platform and 13% used with Research In Motion.

The study, which surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers over a thee-month period, also found Samsung "to be the top handset manufacturer," taking up 25.6% of the market share.

Google's Android made even more strides in the smartphone market, "crossing the 50% threshold in February to capture a majority share for the first time in its history," according to comScore.

When you factor in Motorola (MMI), LG (LG) and HTC (HTCXF.PK), it is easy to see that Nokia will have to be quite impressionable to capture the attention of consumers who have so many options.

Now, with that study being mentioned, I still won't throw in the towel on companies that aren't directly linked to iPhones and Androids. I believe that many consumers have just been stuck between choosing between these two; we haven't had many viable choices. If options like Nokia's Windows powered phone are presented, the market could be loosened up a bit.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Presidential Profits for Your Portfolio

A sea of change is headed our way politically and economically come November. As the 2008 political primaries begin to wind down, Americans are getting one step closer to finding out who will move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

On the democratic side, the platform is still up for grabs. Whoever wins the democratic nomination will be headlining a ticket that looks to increase domestic spending and decrease defense spending. In fact, President Bush’s $3.1 trillion budget may be the last trip to the well for top stocks like Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NOC). And watch out oil companies: If a Democrat wins the Oval Office, your generous tax breaks will likely dry up!

Moving across the aisle, John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination. Even President Bush–his one time adversary—has given him his official presidential nod. A renegade in a mostly conforming party of the right, John McCain, too, represents change.

Under a McCain administration, the defense industry will surely benefit when a war hero takes the oath. According to McCain, we may be in Iraq for the next 100 years or so to get this right. If so, it’s gravy train time for defense industry stocks! Also under McCain, domestic programs for baby boomers should be secure as the septuagenarian will be sympathetic to retirees. And there’s definitely no doubt about it: Building that 1,920 mile-long wall on our border with Mexico will certainly help with infrastructure stocks!

The point is: Change is coming. Here’s how to profit no matter who wins the White House.

Political Change Is Coming. Is Your Portfolio Ready?

Let’s face it. There’s a lot on voters minds this election year. Home prices are falling, bank losses are rising, and oil and gas prices are hitting new record levels. In this type of economic “Darwinism,” only the strongest stocks shall survive. Those are stocks that prosper in this changing political environment.

See, despite the subprime sell-off, the credit crunch and skyrocketing high oil prices, the stocks in my Blue Chip Growth Letter continued to deliver outstanding profits for readers in 2007.

In fact, our entire portfolio finished the year up 29.8%. And we expect stocks like Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), and America Movil (AMOVF) to continue to pile on the profits for our readers this election year. They’ve been stellar for us with triple-digit gains, respectively, since we added them to the Blue Chip Growth Buy List—thanks to our 8-point proprietary stock rating system we developed more than two decades ago. Get the details on how to access a free trial of my stock rating system right here!

See, the millions of dollars we spent developing it have continually proven themselves out, not only delivering 5,163% cumulative returns in 23 years but also beating the S&P 500 by over $3-to-$1 for the past 10 years. Talk about great stock advice!

Frankly, no other investment newsletter advisory in the country spends as much money on stock research as we do. And thanks to our 8-point stock rating system we developed more than two decades ago, we’re able to separate the winners from the losers, year after year. This selectivity has become the vortex of our success–proving beyond doubt that you can eliminate much of the risk of the market and profit handsomely despite what is going on in the overall economy.

So, no matter who backs up the moving van in Washington this fall, here at Blue Chip Growth, we’re entering 2008 with even greater expectations, despite the risks most investors will face in the months ahead!

At Blue Chip Growth, we stake our reputation on every investment we make and will return your money if we fail to meet your expectations. Our goal is to hand our readers 35% to 50% gains every 12 months. It’s a vow I’ve kept for more than two decades. When the numbers say to sell, we’ll do it quickly-profit or loss. We never fall in love with stocks nor do we stick with losers. This is how we’ve beaten the S&P 500 $3-to-$1 over the past 10 years. With nearly 80% of our current holdings winners, and our average gain 46%, we’re clearly well on our way to meet our 2008 annual goal, proving again that our investment in research continues to pay off for our readers!

The Magic Formula for Airlines

If you're a busy investor with more than just stock picking on your plate, you might want to consider a mechanical investing strategy. And if you're interested in stocks, one of the most intriguing of these strategies is Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula.

Greenblatt details this approach in his enriching, funny The Little Book That Beats the Market. His strategy revolves around two factors:

• How cheap is the stock?
• How profitable is the company?

This simplified approach really boils down value investing to its essence. When you find a company whose price fails to reflect its high profits, you might have a winner.

A cheap business and a profitable company
To find cheap companies, the Magic Formula looks for a high earnings yield -- basically, a company's EBIT divided by its enterprise value. EBIT is earnings before interest and taxes, otherwise known as operating earnings. Enterprise value includes the company's market capitalization, then adds its net debt. In general, the higher the earnings yield, the better. The Magic Formula looks for a yield higher than 10%.

To find profitable companies, Greenblatt's Magic Formula seeks businesses that generate pre-tax returns on assets greater than 25%. In other words, for every $100 in assets it holds, the company would produce at least $25 in net profit. In general, the higher the ROA, the better the business. Greenblatt looks for companies with an ROA higher than 25%.

So how do some of the biggest companies in airlines fare?

Company	Enterprise Value	EBIT	Earnings Yield	ROA
China Southern Airlines (NYSE: ZNH  )	$13,165	$984	7.5%	5.0%
LAN Airlines	$11,359	$586	5.2%	8.3%
Ryanair Holdings	$7,850	$835	10.6%	7.4%
China Eastern Airlines (NYSE: CEA  )	$10,718	$904	8.4%	5.1%
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL  )	$18,278	$1,805	9.9%	4.2%
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV  )	$6,988	$858	12.3%	4.8%
United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL  )	$11,321	$2,445	21.6%	6.3%
TAM	$6,872	$495	7.2%	5.9%
Copa Holdings (NYSE: CPA  )	$3,452	$394	11.4%	13.7%
Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK  )	$2,538	$493	19.4%	9.4%

Source: S&P Capital IQ.

Going by the Magic Formula criteria, none of these companies meets both standards, but six of them exceed our desired 10% earnings yield, and one more company comes close to meeting it. Such high earnings yields suggest the sector is out of favor.

While Delta has improved its situation since the worst part of the recession, it still has a long way to go to become attractive. Like many airlines, Delta suffered from a decrease in sales as customers cut expenses on leisure and business travel. The skyrocketing fuel prices also made it difficult for airline companies to make it through this period.

Delta and United Continental responded to these challenges by adding fees for baggage and food, as well as adding surcharges for fuel. Even after the economy began to improve, these airlines have continued to increase both fees and airfares.

Southwest Airlines has refrained from adding on these fees, but it has not seen Delta's improvements in financial performance. In fact, its latest quarterly earnings have fallen by nearly half from last year. While Southwest gained an increase in revenue from its acquisition of AirTran, it will now have to find a way to effectively integrate its new employees and assets into the rest of the business.

Foolish bottom line
The key advantage of the Magic Formula is speedy decision-making. You can run a screen and mechanically buy the stocks, then spend your free time doing the activities you love. However, such an approach means that you need to pick a lot of stocks (say, 25 or 30), since you haven't performed any strategic analysis of your investments. According to the formula, you should hold the stocks for one year in order to receive favorable tax treatment, sell all of them, and then run the screen again to find your new picks.

While this approach sounds easy, Greenblatt cautions that it can be tough to stick with during hard times. In some years, this mechanical strategy simply won't work. However, Greenblatt's extensive backtesting suggests that over the long haul, his Magic Formula can significantly outperform the market.

Interested in adding any of these companies to our watchlist? Click on the links below:

• Add China�Southern�Airlines to My Watchlist.
• Add United�Continental�Holdings to My Watchlist.
• Add TAM to My Watchlist.
• Add Ryanair�Holdings to My Watchlist.
• Add Southwest�Airlines to My Watchlist.
• Add LAN�Airlines to My Watchlist.
• Add Delta�Air�Lines to My Watchlist.
• Add Copa�Holdings to My Watchlist.
• Add China�Eastern�Airlines�Corp to My Watchlist.
• Add Alaska�Air�Group to My Watchlist.

Expect Massive Move in Ag Stock AGCO

AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) — This manufacturer and distributer of agricultural equipment operates in more than 140 countries and could benefit from higher agricultural prices and increased worldwide demand for grain and food products.

Q1 earnings of 81 cents beat analysts� estimates by a wide margin, as AGCO more than doubled its earnings from the prior year-ago quarter. S&P has a �four-star buy� on AGCO with a recently revised 12-month target of $80, up from $66, and Zacks has the stock rated as �outperform.�

AGCO broke from a bear market in March 2009, and has since quadrupled in price. Technically, the stock has a broad depth of support from $50 to $56 having recently pulled back from a high at $60. It currently rests on its 50-day moving average.

Our trading target for AGCO is $80. And long-term buyers may reap a much greater reward.

If you have questions or comments for Sam Collins, please e-mail him at samailc@cox.net.

Glu Mobile Can Make It On Its Own

A couple of weeks ago, I took a position in handheld gaming developer Glu Mobile (GLUU) at $4/share. Two items of note caused it to heat up in a hurry, and it closed at $4.85 today. The first item that contributed to the liftoff is a recent initiation of coverage by Needham & Company with an $8 price target. The second catalyst is the speculation that Glu Mobile may be an acquisition candidate by a larger organization. Both Bloomberg and Seeking Alpha contributor Chris Katje posted articles the last few days on this subject that got the stock off the launchpad.

My take is that this small cap company can make it on its own, and, in the long run, I'll be better off if it doesn't get absorbed by one of the more established players in the gaming sector like Electronic Arts (EA), or, Activision Blizzard (ATVI). I believe I may have hit pay dirt by purchasing the stock at a reduced level, and, it has the potential to make me significant money. Hear me out and see if you agree.

If you aren't familiar with Glu Mobile, they are one of the few pure-plays in the nascent mobile video game industry. They specialize in psychotronic titles such as Contract Killer Zombies, Blood & Gore, Frontline Commander and Big Time Gangsta. All of these games are made specifically for smartphones and tablets. Although they've been an established organization for ten years developing games for the PC and platforms like the XBOX (MSFT), they've recently changed their business model to concentrate primarily on mobile devices. In fact, 75% of revenues were derived from the handheld universe in their latest quarter.

One thing I like about Glu Mobile is that they are an international organization with development studios on four continents, according to the latest 10-K. These studios, based in San Francisco, California; Kirkland, Washington; Toronto, Canada; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Moscow, Russia; and Beijing, China, have the ability to design games to suit the needs of each region. In addition, with acquisition of rival Griptonite last year, they will now be positioned in India in the second quarter of 2012 without paying material additional consideration.

With a total of 1.75 billion smartphones projected to be activated worldwide by 2016, Glu's international exposure gives them home-court advantage in the major population centers. Another thing I really like about the company is that not only do their applications run on all of the major handheld operating systems like Android (GOOG), iOS (AAPL), Microsoft's Windows Phone and Research in Motion's (RIMM) Blackberry, but they have the potential to be utilized on large screen HDTV's in the home in the next few years.

CEO Niccolo de Masi discusses this in the Q4 conference call: " The good news for Glu is that we already invest in big canvas sizes and high resolution art for all of our Q4 2011 titles onwards. So games like Blood & Glory and Frontline Commando, it would also not only hypothetically work well if Apple introduced something for a living room, but it would work well if taken in places like the Mac store which has even bigger screens than tablets. So, we are thinking of course about long-term futures...".

Glu's new business model is a freemium one. If you aren't familiar with this concept, you probably aren't alone because it's fairly new. The 10-K says: Freemium games are, "downloadable without an initial charge, but which enable a variety of additional content features to be accessed for a fee or otherwise monetized through various advertising and offer techniques.".

"A recent survey by Park Associates found that while only 5 to 10 percent of the player base of social and free-to-play games regularly pays out of pocket, those who do pay are generous. The average Facebook gamer who spends money on games spends about $29 per month, according to the report. And those who pay for virtual goods and upgrades in free-to-play games average about $21 per month. And that adds up quickly when your player base is in the millions.", reports Chris Morris in USA Today.

In December 2011, Glu had approximately 2.9 million daily active users and 31.4 million monthly active users of their games on Apple's App Store, the Google Play Store and other platforms such as Facebook, Amazon's Appstore and Google Chrome. As of December 31, 2011, they had 176.1 million cumulative installs of their games on these platforms, including 44.7 million installs during the fourth quarter of 2011. Although it's a small universe, it will only get bigger.

Before we crunch the numbers, let's quickly take a look at recent research by Superdata:

• Mobile gaming will represent a $7.5 billion worldwide market by 2015E, tripling from $2.7 billion today.
• Asia currently the largest market for mobile gaming, with revenues forecasted to total $3.2 billion by 2015E.
• Freemium accounts for 55% of all mobile game revenues, compared to 6% ad revenue.

Financial facts that stood out to me from the last conference call are that they finished 2011 debt free with a net cash balance of $32 million, and, they expect to break even on an adjusted EBITIDA basis once their new product cycle from their acquisitions is fully active in Q4 2012. Glu Mobile is also the number one seller of gaming apps on the Android platform. Android was the top smartphone operating system in 2011 with 48% market share, compared to Apple's iOS with 19%.

When we examine the econometrics supplied by Yahoo Finance, we see that Glu is slated to lose money this fiscal year which ends in December. However, for 2013, they are projected to earn $.18/share according to average analysts consensus. This would give us a forward P/E Ratio of 27. Sales look even better. Glu is slated to take in $87 million this year, and, $123 million in 2013. A growth of 43%. If they create a blockbuster title like Rovio's Angry Birds, then these figures will be much higher. When you take into consideration they are expected to grow earnings at 30% on a compound annual growth basis for the next 5 years, the stock doesn't look too pricey, especially if estimates prove to be conservative.

Although Glu shares could fetch a premium if they are absorbed by a larger rival, I believe it would be short sighted by the board of directors to approve such a move. I am very impressed by CEO Niccolo de Masi and think he has done a great job with the turn around strategy. My money is on him and his team. I didn't invest in Glu for a quick 50% gain (which I will probably get if they are bought out), I invested in the company because I think they can generate a healthy profit for not only my portfolio, but for the company in the next five years.

Disclosure: I am long GLUU.

Apple (AAPL) News — Facebook Settles Over Ping

Here is your daily Apple stock (NASDAQ: AAPL) news and rumors report for Oct. 1, 2010. Apparently Facebook has had enough of fighting the new social networking feature of iTunes, aka Ping. Also a new survey shows the Android OS from Google is eating the iPhone�s lunch. Lastly, could a touch-screen Mac be in the works post-iPad?

Facebook to Settle With Apple Over Ping Integration: One of Facebook’s chief technologists says that the world’s premiere social network will integrate with Apple’s Ping. Since Apple launched the music-centric social network called Ping alongside iTunes 10 at the beginning of September, the company has had trouble clarifying its service’s relationship with Facebook. The first version of iTunes 10 available to users across the country actually had Facebook Connect features integrated with Ping, though they were removed via a software update within 24 hours. Apple did not have official rights to incorporate Facebook features to Ping at iTunes 10′s launch, and the available tools were made available “by accident.” On Sept. 22, the Silicon Alley Insider published a report detailing the prolonged negotiations between Apple and Facebook. The two companies failed to come to an agreement after 18 �months of talks, with Ping’s Facebook integration disintegrating over what Apple �CEO Steve Jobs called Facebook’s, “onerous terms that we could not agree to.” According to a follow up story published yesterday at the Silicon Alley Insider, �Facebook and Apple are ready to bury the hatchet. Facebook’s chief technology officer Bret Taylor told media in New York City that he is “very confident” his company will be working with Apple on Ping soon. Apple shareholders should be thrilled at the news as Facebook integration should only strengthen iTunes dominance of the digital music sales space.

Consumer Interest in Google Andorid Smart Phones Equals iPhone: Apple sold 3 million iPhone 4s between June 24 and the end of July. While the company’s flagship smart phone was plagued by bad press following its early summer launch, it also had no problem moving units and keeping consume interest at a high. The honeymoon isn’t over by any means, but the iPhone 4 is no longer dominating mind space in the smart phone market. According to a new survey conducted by ChangeWave Research, consumer interest in Apple’s latest iPhone is almost tied with interest in phones using Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system, particularly Motorola’s (NYSE: MOT) Droid phones. ��When �4,000 individuals were polled on Sept. 23, �38% of respondents answered that they prefer the iPhone, while 37% said that they would prefer to purchase an Android phone. Prior to the iPhone 4′s launch in June, 50% of respondents preferred Apple while just 30% preferred phones using Google’s software. ChangeWave also reported a slight increase in BlackBerry interest, which should please Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) shareholders. (In June, just 5% of individuals polled were interested in RIM’s smart phones. Now they’re at 6%. �Go BlackBerry Torch.) Apple’s PR woes over Antennagate have most likely had some influence in these new consumer trends, but it’s more likely that the iPhone’s exclusivity with carrier AT&T is damaging Apple more as general consumer interest in smart phones increase. These numbers will look very different if and when Apple announces its Verizon (NYSE: VZ) iPhone in early 2011.�

iMac Touch-screen Panel Display Currently in Testing: Rumors of a new adjustable touch-panel iMac computers have been popping up since January. Now, DigiTimes is reporting that Sintek Photronics has sent test versions of the new touch-screen to Apple for approval. The new screens will be available as small as 20 inches alongside larger models, and will be easily adjustable for vertical and horizontal usage. Apple patent filings uncovered earlier this year outlined designs for the device. The iPad is expected to overtake Mac computers as Apple’s chief revenue stream over the next two years, but a touch-panel desktop computer at the right price might bring the two products back to equal footing.

As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.

12 Little-Known Stocks That Will Lead the Mobile Internet Revolution.�All my research and proprietary stock picking tools are ringing loud and true right now — mobile Internet is one of the biggest money-making opportunities out there. And these stocks are about to take the Street by storm. Get their names here.

5 More Small Companies Hiring Right Now

President Barack Obama's jobs plan has renewed discussion on what it takes for small businesses to get hiring, but some businesses are already looking -- and finding it hard to get the talent they need.

In March, we looked at 10 small firms that were hiring. The group ranged from online advertising firms to construction companies to medical device producers.

See if (AMZN) is in our portfolio

Six months later, companies looking for employees tip primarily to the online, software and social media space. "The world is changing. Companies are using social media to a much larger extent," says John Challenger of executive search firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Some of the money in the marketing budget devoted to other ways of reaching their customers is now being devoted to social media. That area is growing [because] it's making new impact on how companies reach their customers." Another area is app development, Challenger points out. "There are a lot of small companies that are developing apps for different markets as technology changes. [It's] all kinds of different of platforms. There's real hiring going on there, and it's often small businesses that are doing it," he says. Yet it's hard to find resources, especially in the tech space, due to the competition for talent with larger, more established companies, some say.Nationally, the unemployment rate may be over 9%, but within the tech space the percentage falls to about 3.3%, says Kathy Harris, managing director of Harris Allied, an executive recruiting firm specializing in placement services for the financial services and tech industries, citing Bureau of Labor statistics. "That's very low," Harris says. "There is a huge demand."Here are five small companies looking to hire:

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1. Outright Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif.Current employees: 15Seeking: NineOutright is the maker of software that streamlines small business' taxes and financial transactions into an online database.

Outright recently added two employees to its marketing team and is looking for additional engineers and marketers."We're hiring because our business is growing," CEO Steven Aldrich says. "We serve other small businesses. We're being asked by our customers to deliver more to them."Aldrich himself is new to the team. He was hired in June after working with co-founders Ben Curran and Kevin Reeth, the former CEO, at Intuit(INTU), when Reeth decided he wanted to stick to building product for Outright as opposed to daily management of the company. "The environment is good for small businesses in the e-commerce space," Aldrich says, but there is competition for talent -- which means most candidates are not from the unemployment pool. "Folks like Amazon(AMZN) and eBay(EBAY) are seeing growth and they have to deliver new features and capabilities," Aldrich says. "The people that we're trying to recruit at Outright are definitely in demand. They're receiving multiple offers, [and] the bigger companies are offering big salaries."Outright is offering potential employees a chance to make a difference in a smaller, growth-oriented culture. "When you come here the salary is competitive, but ultimately you're coming here because you like the people, you like the mission, you want to make a difference -- that's why people join small companies," he says. If Obama's jobs plan reduces the cost it requires to bring on additional employees, Aldrich says, "that would allow us to hire more people and put it into benefits for them. It's not going to change my current hiring plan, but allow me to put more money to a salary vs. keeping it to pay for employees."

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2. Headsets.comHeadquarters: San FranciscoCurrent employees: 35Seeking: Three, possibly more by year-endHeadsets.com is not a new company -- it's been around for 14 years -- but is seeing enough pickup in business that CEO Mike Faith says it needs additional customer service reps.

"We're getting an increase in calls and inquiries about headsets," he says. Headsets.com is an online-only retailer for, you guessed it, headsets for businesses and offices. Faith expects the company to end the year at $19 million in sales, with a 26% rise in sales next year. "There is a certainly an increase year-over-year in business activity, so I think businesses are starting to be a little more comfortable with spending. And maybe because other companies are hiring, new hiring means new headsets, so that might have an impact as well," he says. Like Aldrich, Faith sees applicants coming from the ranks of the already employed."I can only wonder if they've been unemployed for a while if they become disenchanted or are waiting for economy to get better," Faith says.

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3. SwagBucks Headquarters: Los AngelesCurrent employees: 45 Seeking: SixSwagBucks, an online rewards provider, is filling positions in various departments, including advertising and development, and looking for workers to help the company expand internationally.

"We are indeed hiring," COO Scott Dudelson says. "There are about five or six different positions we're looking to fill by virtue of the growth of our company. Every few months we're introducing new products; we're generating more revenue; we just need to keep growing the team."The 3-year-old company, owned by parent company Prodege, says it's on track to generate $20 million in revenue this year. "The overall goal of the company is to provide the most trusted rewards program on the Web," Dudelson says. "Every hire that we make is really toward the goal of this trusted reward community."But finding good developers is challenging, Dudelson says. "We're in L.A. and a lot of the really good talent is up in the [San Francisco] Bay Area. A great, young developer gets recruited very quickly from the Googles(GOOG) and Facebooks, but we're growing.""Right now there is a lot of venture capital money being thrown to online startups. [The industry] hasn't seen this kind of money in years," he says. As a result, "there is an immediate need for a lot of these companies to be hiring and just doing extensive recruiting. It's a great time to be an Internet entrepreneur."

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4. FiddleFlyHeadquarters: Columbia, Md. Current employees: EightSeeking: EightFiddleFly's software platform enables customers -- typically graphic designers or sales affiliates -- to create mobile websites for their customers almost instantly. The product was launched in April.

FiddleFly was launched out of another company, an online marketing and advertising agency called Web2Mobile. "The idea came from there to open up a brand-new company," says FiddleFly's CEO, Alex Kutsishin. The company is taking on customers quickly in the U.S. and internationally. FiddleFly needs sales consultants, graphic designers, Web developers, software engineers and social media experts, among other positions, Kutsishin says. "In my mind, this is the second dot-com boom, meaning it's less expensive to do business over the Internet, you can cover a larger span geographically, there is a lot of creativeness in the online space right now and we've only see the tip of the iceberg," he says. "Our product is opening up jobs all over the place. All the affiliates that we have that are re-selling our product are bringing on people strictly to sell this product. It's great that were creating jobs secondhand via this platform," he says.

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5. GogobotHeadquarters: Menlo Park, Calif. Current employees: 11Seeking: 11 over the next yearSocial media travel site Gogobot, which allows users to tap into their personal networks on Facebook or Twitter to get and share travel advice, is hiring.

"Essentially it's a next-generation [travel] planning site -- a new way of thinking about how you get recommendations" from friends and family as opposed to anonymous sources, CEO Travis Katz says. "It's a much more personalized experience." The company has the blessing of a number of high-profile investors and venture capital backers, such as Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt.The travel industry is a massive $260 billion market, with online travel planning continuing to grow particularly as former offline sources migrate online, says Katz, the former general manager of MySpace's international efforts until launching Gogobot in November. "Online travel is a very hot space. When you combine that with social media -- it's putting together two of the hottest sectors together online," Katz says. Gogobot is looking for software engineers and designers to fill out its offering. The company has brought in several developers from outside the U.S. as competition remains intense for the highest-skilled workers. "For a small company like ours, we can't compete with a Google in terms of the salary we can pay. The big part of the interest is the ability to create something new and different," he says. "If you're looking for just a paycheck you won't go to a startup."Personality plays a factor in employee hires, Katz adds. "The people who are looking for a comfortable lifestyle and like things that are slow-paced won't work in our company," he says. "One of the biggest things we screen for right is the personality for a startup." To follow Laurie Kulikowski on Twitter, go to: http://twitter.com/#!/LKulikowskiTo submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.Follow TheStreet.com on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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Health Management Associates Shares Jumped: What You Need to Know

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

What: Shares of Health Management Associates (NYSE: HMA  ) jumped 11% today as analysts told clients last week's sell-off was overdone.

So what: Both Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs told their clients today that they thought more stringent prepayment reviews in several states wouldn't have the major impact the market was pricing in. Hospitals have become more stringent about patients meeting coverage criteria, and that will only continue as Medicare and Medicaid look at approvals of cardiac care, spinal fusion, and joint replacements.

Now what: Analysts have their eyes on volumes and denial rates in the short term, which will likely not be greatly affected. But long term, I still think everyone in the health-care industry will be squeezed by a need for Medicare to cut costs. I'm not buying in today because I just don't see this as a rally built on stronger fundamentals for health-care providers.

Interested in more info on Health Management Associates? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

Euro Worries Hurt Asia Markets

Asian stock markets ended mostly lower Thursday, with Chinese banks struggling in Hong Kong, as European sovereign debt concerns resurfaced after a dismal result from Spanish bond auctions Wednesday.

Hong Kong investors returning from a one-day holiday pushed the Hang Seng Index down 1% to 20593.00.

The Shanghai Composite Index, trading for the first time this week, was a sharp contrast, moving off early losses to finish with a gain of 1.7% at 2302.24; some reports pointed to the more-than-doubling of the quota for foreign investment to $80 billion.

More

U.S. Stocks Follow Global Selloff

Markets Fear End of Stimulus

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average lost another 0.5% to 9767.61, following up on Wednesday's fall, which was the biggest of the year and took the index back below the key 10000 level for the first time in almost a month. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.3% to 4319.8.

South Korea's Kospi joined Shanghai on the positive side, rising 0.5% to 2028.77.

U.S. and European shares closed with steep losses Wednesday after a weak bond auction in Spain renewed concerns about Europe's debt problems. Markets were still reeling from minutes of the U.S. Fed's latest interest-rate meeting, out earlier in the week. They showed only two of the central bank's members suggesting more bond-buying could become necessary if the economy loses momentum, damping hopes for more such easing.

"Risk markets look to be grieving the fact that the 'Bernanke put' may be less supportive than the past," said strategists at BNP Paribas. The "Bernanke put" refers to the notion that Fed-induced liquidity would support the stock market.

Banks were notably weak in Hong Kong, with Bank of Communications down 3.2%, Bank of China off 1.6%, Agricultural Bank of China 2.6% lower and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) down 1.6%.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had said Tuesday that it was too easy for China's state-run banks to make profits, and that the government needs to break their "monopoly."

Analysts at Bernstein Research called it "a warning for the large banks that reforms are coming (after a three-year hiatus) that will alter the competitive landscape."

They added, though, that they expect the pace of reform to be moderate, "allowing the better-run large banks ... to adapt," citing ICBC and China Construction Bank as likely outperformers. China Construction Bank's Hong Kong shares traded down 2% Thursday.

But commodity stocks moved off lows in Hong Kong and gained in Shanghai, with Aluminum Corp. of China up 3.7% in Shanghai but down 0.3% in Hong Kong. Jiangxi Copper was up 2.7% in Shanghai, but down 1.2% in Hong Kong.

Other gainers in Shanghai included Citic Securities, up 5.8%, and real-estate major Gemdale, up 1%. Airlines did well, benefiting from a drop in crude-oil prices since the last Shanghai equities session: Air China climbed 1.9% and China Eastern Airlines rose 1.7%.

Air China's Hong Kong shares lost 1.5%, but China Eastern's were up 2%.

A drop in commodity prices overnight hit other Asia resource companies, with Tokyo-listed JFE Holdings down 2%, and Sumitomo Metal Metal Mining lower by 1.2%.

Miners were notable decliners in Australia, where BHP Billiton fell 0.9% and Rio Tinto retreated 1.7%.

While the U.S. dollar gained against most currencies, it declined against the safe-haven yen; the dollar was a at ¥81.92 Thursday afternoon, down from ¥82.49 late Wednesday in New York. The stronger yen and European concerns combined to send most major Japanese exporters lower.

Honda Motor lost 1.1% and Fuji Heavy Industries fell 0.8%, while Nikon surrendered 1.9% after a downgrade to hold from buy at BNP Paribas.

Japanese shipping shares also sank, with Mitsui O.S.K . Lines down 2.3%, and Nippon Yusen K.K . off 1.2%.

In Hong Kong, ports operator China Merchants Holdings International fell 3.6%, while rival Cosco Pacific fell 1.4%.

In Seoul, STX Pan Ocean dropped 3.8% and Hyundai Heavy Industries lost 1.3%.

Write to John Phillips at John.phillips@dowjones.com

Avoid Market Chaos with Annuities

Can I be honest with you?

There’s no telling exactly how long our current “unsettled times” will last. I’m hoping they’ll pass quickly.

In the midst of this chaos I realize that security looms every bit as important to your financial future as growth does.

In order to ensure that you’re investments are well-protected, I encourage you to take a second look at an old investment tool that, after falling out of favor in the past few years, may be on the verge of a comeback.

I’m talking about annuities.

Whether you invest in fixed annuities or variable annuities, these investment tools can save on taxes, a key benefit if tax rates go up under a new presidency, while providing certain valuable guarantees.

They’re an investment tool that I recommend to my Profitable Investing subscribers, which have helped to keep their portfolios thriving time and time again.

How Do Annuities Work?

On my Profitable Investingwebsite I like to provide a glossary which helps to explain various financing terms that I often use.

It should come as no surprise that annuities are at the top of the list (it does start with an ‘A’ after all).

So what is an annuity?

Well, to quote myself, annuities are, “Financial products sold by insurance companies that are designed to accept and grow funds from an individual and then, upon annuitization, give back a stream of payments to the investor.” These investments can be both fixed and variable annuities depending on what works best for your investments.

Sounds good right?

My favorite part about investing in an annuity comes when…

…interest, dividends and capital gains accumulate tax-free in the account until you begin withdrawals. Because a 10% penalty tax normally applies on withdrawals before age 59-1/2, I recommend that you leave money in a deferred annuity until they reach at least that age.

When you start taking money out, the IRS assumes that the tax-deferred earnings come out first, to be taxed at “ordinary” (wage and salary) income rates. As an added bonus, the original principal you kicked in isn’t taxed.

Two Ways to Profit

There are two basic ways to pull cash out of a deferred annuity.

Regardless of which route you choose you’ll walk away with a pocket full of gains. At the end of the day, you just can’t lose.

1) Most annuities allow you to make withdrawals pretty much whenever, and in whatever amounts, you want, after the surrender charge (imposed by the insurance company) has lapsed. Assuming you’re past the age of 59-1/2, you won’t incur any tax penalty, either.

2) At any age, you can “annuitize,” converting a deferred policy into a stream of monthly payments for life or a period of years.

Bear in mind, though: Once you’ve elected to annuitize, you generally can’t reverse the decision. If the owner should pass away before annuitization has begun, his or her beneficiary receives the proceeds of the count. Your money will never be tied up in limbo, unless so desired. (For example, you may choose to have payments spread out over a number of years.)

An Annuity Pick to Get You Started

I’d like to share with you one of my top two fix-annuities picks: Hartford Life’s CRC Select, which behaves very much like a bank CD. But with no current tax on the interest, you can lock in your return for a stretch of five, six, seven, eight, nine or 10 years.

With Hartford, surrender charges for early redemption start at a stiff 6% the first year, but step down to 2% by the sixth year. In addition, if you bail out before the agreed term is up, Hartford will adjust your principal up or down, depending on whether interest rates have fallen or risen.

That’s a very good deal, if I do say so myself.

Anxious to learn more about other good annuity investment deals? Then why keep yourself in the dark? As a Profitable Investing subscriber, the range from variable to fixed annuities will be just one type of investment that can not only revive your dying portfolio, but help it to thrive! Learn more about investment strategies that are making a comeback, as well as various other annuities that will help you turn your portfolio around, with a RISK-FREE trial to Profitable Investing. Click here for more details on this special offer.

Who Do Apple Directors Work For?

There is always an inherent conflict of interest for boards of directors. Their ethics say they work for the shareholders. The reality is they work for management.

Those interests are not the same. What managers want is what Samuel Gompers wanted in the heyday of the labor movement. More. What shareholders want is, roughly, the same. They want the value of their holdings to increase. They want cash dividends. They want the company to prosper.

After Steve Jobs died, Apple (AAPL) PR publicly bragged about the quality of its board, about its independence from top management. I criticized the companyfor letting the board take command like this, but for now let's take them at their word.

Jobs was the company's co-founder, and a very large shareholder. (He never had the stake in Apple Bill Gates had in Microsoft (MSFT) because Apple was VC-funded from its birth, and he sold many Apple shares after leaving in 1985.) Everyone in the company was beholden to Jobs. What Jobs wanted, Jobs got.

But with Tim Cook as CEO, and the board under an outsider, circumstances have changed. The board now claims to work for the shareholders. What the shareholders want is a return. That's not what Apple is giving them right now.

The answer, as noted by many commenters here and elsewhere, is obvious. Institute a dividend. Stop hoarding cash in banks where it's only going to depreciate. Give some to shareholders and let them put it to work elsewhere.

A dividend would bring in yield investors. It would raise the company's PE from its current 13.72 to as much as 15-16 or more, which would more than pay for said dividend. By constantly increasing its cash holdings and not making a major acquisition, Apple is telling investors it has no better ideas than they do about using their money.

So why not give some back? Even the ideas offered by TheStreet – buying Wolfram Alpha, buying more patents, buying MySpace, even buying Fusion I-O (FIO) – would barely make a dent in it.

So c'mon Apple board. You say you work for us now. You've got a ton of money just sitting there. How about giving us a taste?

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Earnings Review for 3 Leading Stocks under $5

Vertro Inc. (NASDAQ: VTRO) announced that it earned $9.6 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of the year compared to $9.8 million in third quarter of the same year. Vertro�s full-year revenue stood at $35.9 million, up from $27.6 million it had earned in revenue for fiscal year 2009. Gross margin for the fourth quarter stood at 94%. In response to the results, shares gained about 2.5% on the day, closing at $3.74.� The company stock has traded in the range of $1.65 and $7.25 during the past 52 weeks. The company�s market cap is $25.59 million and its P/E ratio is 9.97.

FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) reported first-quarter revenue at $28.1 million, up from $14.6 million it earned during the first quarter of the last year. The company also reported improved margins, which grew by $2.9 million. Research and development contract revenue for the quarter stood at $2.3 million. Net loss for the first quarter of 2011 improved to $(11.7 million), or $(0.10) per basic and diluted share, compared to $(15.4 million) or $(0.18) per basic and diluted share in the first quarter of 2010, attributable to higher product margins. Shares gained nearly 4% to trade at $1.81 near market close. The company stock has traded in the range of $0.98 and $3.4 during the past 52 weeks. The company�s market cap is $241.32 million.

Evergreen Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLR) reported its net loss at $(411 million), or $(11.99) per share, compared with a net loss of $(98.4 million), or $(2.88) per share, in the same period a year ago.� The dismal figures were due to charges and write-downs for shutting down its manufacturing plant at Devens, which the company says will allow it to become a supplier of low-cost silicon wafers. Evergreen reported 20% increase in its revenue to $89.3 million. Shares tumbled more than 7% in today’s trading,at $1.88. The company stock has traded in the range of $1.85 and $7.68 during the past 52 weeks. The company�s market cap is $64.74 million.

Kulicke & Soffa Sees FY Q2, Q3 Revenues Above Street Ests

Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC) late Tuesday said it expects to report revenue for its fiscal second quarter ended April 3 of about $153 million; the company also said it expects June quarter revenue of about $205 million. The Street had been expecting $146.4 million for the March quarter – and $143.1 million for the June quarter.

CEO Scott Kulicke said in a statement that it is seeing “unprecedented demand for both ball bonders and wedge bonders,” tools used by the chip industry.

In late trading, KLIC jumped $1.36, or 17.3%, to $9.22.

Five Stocks That Will Thrive After the Solar Energy Industry Shakeout

With as much as two-thirds of the struggling solar energy industry expected to either fail or be acquired over the next three years, the table will be set for the survivors to capitalize on a market with enormous growth potential.

The process has already begun, with three solar companies - Evergreen Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), Spectra Watt Inc. and the notorious Solyndra LLC - having declared bankruptcy this year.

Solar companies have struggled to keep their heads above water as the price for solar panels has fallen as much as 40%. The average operating margin in the solar energy industry plummeted to 0.1% in the third quarter from 13.7% a year earlier.

The stocks have been pummeled, as a result. The Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index (NYSEARCA: TAN) exchange-traded fund (ETF) is down 58% this year and the Market Vectors Solar Energy (NYSEARCA: KWT) ETF is down more than 60%. Several individual solar stocks have lost more than 70%.

"It's just a really difficult time," Morningstar Inc. (NYSE: MORN) alternative energy analyst Stephen Simko told The Globe and Mail. "The profitability of the industry has collapsed... Unless more bankruptcies happen and more production is shut down, this is a problem that is going to persist."

Few Will Be Left StandingThe tremendous pressure on margins has most people both outside and inside the solar energy industry predicting massive consolidation.

"This is the decade of mergers and acquisitions," Jifan Gao, chief executive officer of Changzhou, China-based Trina Solar Limited (NYSE ADR: TSL), told Bloomberg News. "From now until 2015 is the first phase, when about two-thirds of the players will be shaken out."

The Macquarie Group Limited (PINK ADR: MQBKY) agrees. In a recent report the Australia-based research firm said consolidation would claim 66% of the world's solar companies. Macquarie predicts that only four out of 35 solar companies in China will survive the next three years.

But in the aftermath of the carnage, the surviving solar companies will emerge stronger and in prime position to make the most of an exploding market.

In fact, the solar market has grown in 2011, but because capacity has exceeded demand, prices have continued to fall.

A Growing MarketAccording to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar is the fastest-growing energy sector in the United States. The group says solar panel installations in June were up 69% over the previous year.

That pace of growth is expected to continue for an industry that supplies just 1% of the electricity in the United States. The U.S. Energy Information Agency projects installed solar energy capacity to increase 20 to 40 times 2010 levels over the next decade.

The primary reason for such optimism is the same reason the industry is suffering - falling prices that make solar competitive with traditional sources of energy like coal, oil, and gas.

First Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), for example, says the solar panels it makes now can produce electricity for 14 cents to 16 cents per kilowatt - still significantly above the average cost of electricity in the United States of 11.6 cents per kilowatt.

But the solar energy industry has steadily improved panel efficiency, and expects the advances to continue. First Solar says that by 2014 its panels will produce electricity for 10 cents to 12 cents per kilowatt.

"At that point, there's a tremendous amount of interest," First Solar spokesman Alan Bernheimer told USA Today.

But which companies will survive to reap the benefits of the golden days of solar?

Five Solar SurvivorsThe survivors in the solar energy industry will be those companies that can ramp up economies of scale and that have the strongest balance sheets. Even so, the volatility within the industry means elevated risk for just about every stock. On the other hand, the severely depressed stock prices now mean dizzying upsides for the winners.

Here are the five best prospects:

• Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd (NYSE: ADR STP): Suntech is the world's largest maker of solar panels and, as a Chinese company, will continue to enjoy government subsidies for the foreseeable future. As more solar companies get into trouble, an increasing portion of the business has gravitated to the largest like Suntech. The company expects its gross margins to rise from 11% to 13% this quarter. Because the stock is down 67% for the year, its price/earnings (P/E) ratio is just 2.95. The one risk for Suntech is its $2.47 billion in combined short- and long-term debt.

• First Solar: This Arizona-based company has one of the highest gross margins in the solar energy industry - 42.6%. First Solar also has a promising thin-film technology that should make it a leader in efficiency. It also has one of the strongest balance sheets, with more cash than debt. The stock is down 65.5% year-to-date, dropping its P/E to 7.37.

• Trina Solar Limited (NYSE ADR: TSL): Trina is the world's fifth-largest solar panel maker, and also benefits from being based in China. The company has 17% margins and nearly as much cash as debt, though it can count on government subsidies in a pinch. Its stock is down 71% this year, giving it a P/E of only 1.80.

• Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE ADR: YGE): Yet another Chinese company, Yingli has the size and scale to survive as well as a better-than-average balance sheet with $1.1 billion in cash. Yingli is down 67% for the year, which has put its P/E at 2.09.

• SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA): California-based SunPower recently announced a new technology, C7 Tracker, that it says will allow its panels to produce electricity 20% cheaper than those of rivals. In addition, SunPower has a utility plant division, which means it can sell panels to itself. But its biggest advantage is a $1 billion line of credit from energy giant Total SA (NYSE ADR: TOT), which also owns 66% of the company. It does have shaky financials, however - it's carrying $820 million in debt, $20 million more than its market capitalization. The stock is down 43.41% this year, and its P/E is 3.0.

News and Related Story Links:

• Money Morning: The Start of an Energy Storage Breakthrough
• Money Morning:
  Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE ADR: STP) Outshines Other Solar Cell Makers
• Money Morning: Looming Loss of Federal Incentives Darkens Future of Solar Power Stocks
• Money Morning: Why the Government Should Have Seen the Solyndra Collapse Coming
• Moneyshow.com: 5 Stocks for the Solar Surge
• Seeking Alpha:
  Storm Clouds Clearing For Solar's Survivors
• CNBC.com: Solar Industry Falls Into Shadow In 2011
• Daily Finance.com: Solar's Impending Failures

Are Brazilian ETFs a Sound Investment Heading Into 2011?

Most ETF investors hold emerging market exposure, and Brazil may be the least risky, emerging market investment destinations out there. Here’s why.

Brazil’s economy grew 7.5% year-over-year ending September 31, and GDP expanded 8.4% year-to-date, writes Martin D. Weiss for Money and Markets. Conservative estimates put likely growth over 7% for 2011.

Additionally, Brazil’s budget deficit is 3% of GDP, foreign debt is almost zero and government debt will likely drop to about 30% of GDP in a few years.

As the Brazilian economy continues to grow, along with inflation rates, market observers now expect higher borrowing costs come January, report Matthew Bristow and Iuri Dantas for BusinessWeek.

Third quarter GDP increased 0.5% from the previous quarter and 6.7% year-over-year. Economists project that the economy will grow by 7.6% for 2010 and slow to 4.5% next year. Consumer prices jumped 5.63% in November year-over-year. The Central Bank has a target of 4.5%, plus or minus 2%. Central Bank rates currently sit at 10.75%.

Brazil has set up partnerships with South Africa and India through the IBSA dialogue forum, set foot in Africa and the Middle East and formed strategic partnerships with China and the E.U., according to Nima Khorrami Assi for Guardian. The Brazilian government is seeking to expand its own economic interests at the global level by offering raw material and commodities exports to its partners.

• iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (NYSEArca: EWZ)
• Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: BRF)
• iShares MSCI Brazil Small Cap Index Fund (NYSEArca: EWZS)

Max Chen contributed to this article.

Disclosure: None

No Coup, No Grace

The economic data failed to give an excuse to administer the coup de grace to the commodity bulls, the equity bulls, and the bond bears. Initial Claims was as-expected; PPI a tiny bit higher than expected but nothing alarming. Retail Sales was also about as-expected but with upward revisions. Without the tailwind from a weaker data print, markets couldn’t push through the relevant technical levels…at least for a day.

So stocks and commodities were able to recover a little, and 10y notes dropped back to 3.23%. This is at this point nothing more than a failure to commit, rather than a failure. The economic outlook is certainly less than completely rosy. 434k Initial Claims is not exactly soothing, except when compared to last week’s spike (see Chart, click to enlarge). And, I suppose, when compared to a year ago when 470k was fairly routine. But it is still one of the worst levels of the year.

Good or bad Claims? Depends on what your frame of reference is.

Debit Spreads vs. Credit Spreads

�

This article originally appeared on The Options Insider Web site.

In this article, we will examine a specific case of a debit and a credit spread in order to point out that there is very little difference between the two. To explain the concept, I’ll utilize actual trades that I made at the end of 2008.

My normal criteria for trading optionable stocks is the liquidity, which is evident in the volume of the underlying, as well as the high open interest and volume on individual strike prices. At the time of these trades, Chevron Corp. (CVX) passed those minimum requirements.

After knowing WHAT to trade, the issue becomes WHEN to trade it. The chart below shows that on Dec. 4, 2008, CVX was trading slightly above $70, which in the past had acted as a short-term diagonal support.

See full-sized chart.

Strategy Selection

After completing my technical analysis, and determining my market posture as well as my directional bias on the stock, I am faced with the strategy selection. According to my rules, I go long at the support. The CVX was not exactly at the support, but it was very close to it.

Timing the entries perfectly is nearly impossible; it is the timing of the exits that is of more essence to me.

While Chevron was at or near its support, I had numerous choices for going long:

1. Buy the underlying
2. Buy a call
3. Buy a debit spread, namely a bull call
4. Sell a credit spread, explicitly a bull put

I worked out the numbers of risk to reward, and they came out very much identical for both the credit and debit spread. My bull put had a return on investment (ROI) of 37%, while my bull call was 36%. Not even once did I consider going long with a straight directional call.

The Bull Call Explanation

By choosing a bull call instead of a directional (non-spread) straight call, I have reduced two things: my exposure and my financial outlay.

However, let us get to the particulars. Had I just purchased a call, I would have paid $9.52 for a CVX Dec 65 Call, which would have been $952 for one contract plus the commission.

Instead, I simultaneously bought Dec 65 Calls at $9.52 and sold the Dec 70 Calls for $5.82, which, in turn, reduced my entry price to $3.70 or $370 per contract plus the two entry commissions.

See full-sized chart.

As the figure above shows, I did this transaction twice and got an even better fill of $3.65 on the second transaction.

Let us combine these two bull calls:

Bull Call Example

I bought to open (BTO) two contracts of Dec 65 Calls at $9.45 (average fill) and sold to open (STO) two contracts of Dec 70 Calls at $5.775 (average fill). My maximum loss was the difference between the premium, which is a debit of $3.675 or $367.50 times two contracts. My maximum profit is the width of spread (strike price 70 minus 65 strike) subtracted from the debit.

Specifically, $5 – $3.675 = $1.325. Therefore, the most I could have made on this trade would have been $132.50 times two contracts. From this amount the two exiting commissions need to be subtracted. To calculate the ROI, we need to divide our max profit of $1.325 with our debit of $3.675, which gives us 36% as our ROI for the bull call spread.

The Bull Put Explanation

Having explained the debit part of the trade, we could turn our attention to the credit part of it. The figure below shows an additional trade, which is in red because it was a sold for the credit.

See full-sized chart.

On the bull put, I had BTO Dec 65 Puts at $1.52 and simultaneously STO Dec 70 Puts at $2.87, receiving the credit in the difference of those two premiums ($2.87 – $1.52 = $1.35), which is $135 for one contract. Once again, the spread’s width of $5 – $1.35 (our max profit) would give us $3.65 as our max loss. The ROI is $1.35 (max profit) divided by $3.65 (max loss), which comes to 37%. In short, the ROI on the bull put is only 1% better than bull call’s ROI of 36%.

A brief note: The max profit of $1.325 per contract on the first vertical (bull call) and the max profit of $1.35 on the second vertical (bull put) are just that — the max profit. The max profits are occasionally achieved if the trader holds the position until the expiry. In my case, the chart determined my exit.

See full-sized chart.

The figure above shows that on Dec. 8, 2008, CVX had approached the $80 area, which in the past has acted as a support. On that day, the old support had acted as a new resistance.

Observe on the chart that CVX traveled almost 10 points within four trading sessions. Both of my vertical trades were bullish trades, and the chart was telling me that it was unable to break the resistance. So, on Dec. 9, 2008, I closed both of my verticals.

See full-sized chart.

The figure above shows that I closed both of the debit spreads for $4.30 each. To recap, I got in at $3.65 and sold it for $4.30, making the difference on the two, which was 62.5 cents per contract. I had two contracts, thus the profit was $125; whereas I sold the bull put at the high price of $1.35 and bought it back at 65 cents, making a 70-cent profit or $70 for the contract.

In both cases I made about half of the maximum profit I may have made if I held it until Dec. 19, 2008, which was the day of expiry.

Just ask yourself: Does it make more sense to close the position that has achieved half of its initial goal in four trading sessions or hold it, risking what is already made?

In my case, the answer was obvious.

In conclusion, in this article I have compared apples with apples. Both the credit and debit spread had four commissions — two for entry and two for exits. In some cases, the credit spread might not have the exiting commissions, yet in this case I have selected the trades of the same number of commission on the very same underlying.

In short, when zooming in on the specifics there is very little difference between the credit and debit spreads. In both cases I was the seller of the premium, which very much goes along with my belief that one should be trading options with the well-defined risk rather than trading them directionally without any spread strategy.

A Great Day Above the Surface — Tuesday’s IP Market Recap

As the heat and humidity started to build into the Eastern Seaboard today, so too did investor enthusiasm for stocks, as earnings and product announcements overshadowed fears of a eurozone meltdown and jitters over the start of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting, which ends Wednesday.

Stocks were propelled higher by the tech and financial sectors, and all three majors indices showed solid gains for the day.

In the end, the Nasdaq gained 1.2% to close at 2,929, the S&P 500 rose 1% to 1,358, and the Dow ended higher by 0.75% at 12,837, with 24 of the Dow 30 stocks higher on the day.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) kicked off a good Tuesday for tech with Monday night’s announcement of a tablet computer to rival Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad drove the stock up 2.88% on the day. Microsoft’s Surface tablet will incorporate chip technology from ARM Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC); the former headed more than 3% higher Tuesday while the latter made slight gains.

On the earnings side, Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) surprised Wall Street by announcing results in advance of Thursday’s planned report. Regardless, results were better than expected, with the company also laying the groundwork for continued strength ahead and maintaining its 6-cent dividend. Oracle shares closed up 3.1%.

The financial sector saw some of the biggest gains on the day, as shares of JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) were all up more than 2% in anticipation of good news from the Fed — possibly in the form of more monetary easing.

Not so lucky was retailer J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP), which couldn’t withstand another shot across the bow, dropping more than 8% on the day after announcing the departure of not-for-long president Michael Francis, who was lured to JCP from Target (NYSE:TGT).

Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) announced plans to buy 45% of Swiss-based Alliance Boots, the company’s first overseas investment. Investors were not overly pleased, as shares dropped almost 6% on the news, despite a 5-cent boost in the dividend to 27 cents per quarter, good for a nearly 3.6% yield on Tuesday’s closing price of $30.09. Walgreen’s lower revenues put the hurt on Rite-Aid (NYSE:RAD), which dropped 1.65%.

Three Up

• US Steel (NYSE:X): Up 9.5% ($1.75) to $20.16.
• Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE:LPX): Up 7.2% (72 cents) to $10.73.
• Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA): Up 6.8% (84 cents) to $13.24.

Three Down

• Western Gas (NYSE:WES): Down 4.9% ($2.24) to $43.16.
• Archer-Daniels (NYSE:ADM): Down 3.7% ($1.16) to $30.13.
• Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS): Down 3.7% (56 cents) to $14.68. (Read more here)

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he was long MSFT, AAPL and INTC.

4 Highly Profitable Consumer Goods Stocks With High Sales Growth

Do you believe in the power of the US consumer? For a closer look at stocks affected by consumer spending, we ran a screen.

We began by screening the consumer goods sector for stocks with high sales growth, with over 15% growth in sales over the last 5 years. We then screened these names for those with strong profitability as indicated by DuPont analysis.

DuPont breaks down return on equity (ROE) profitability into three sources:

ROE

= (Net Profit/Equity)

= (Net profit/Sales)*(Sales/Assets)*(Assets/Equity)

= (Net Profit margin)*(Asset turnover)*(Leverage ratio)

Because increases in net margin and asset turnover are considered positive things, DuPont focuses on companies with these characteristics: Increasing ROE along with,

• Decreasing leverage, (i.e. decreasing Asset/Equity ratio)
• Improving asset use efficiency (i.e. increasing Sales/Assets ratio) and improving net profit margin (i.e. increasing Net Income/Sales ratio)

Those companies that pass DuPont are seeing positive trends in the sources of their increasing profitability, which adds further weight to the idea that the names are profitable.

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in market cap over the last two years for the stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.

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Do you think these names will continue to see growing profits and sales? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.

List sorted by sales growth over the last 5 years.

1. Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. (PVH): Designs and markets branded dress shirts, neckwear, sportswear, footwear, and other related products worldwide. Market cap at $6.18B. Price at $89.25. Sales growth over the last 5 years at 23.02%. MRQ net profit margin at 5.3% vs. 3.73% y/y. MRQ sales/assets at 0.227 vs. 0.206 y/y. MRQ assets/equity at 2.487 vs. 2.778 y/y.

2. Vera Bradley Designs, Inc. (VRA): Engages in the design, production, marketing, and retail of functional accessories for women under the Vera Bradley brand. Market cap at $1.10B. Price at $26.50. Sales growth over the last 5 years at 19.50%. MRQ net profit margin at 14.94% vs. 13.01% y/y. MRQ sales/assets at 0.613 vs. 0.531 y/y. MRQ assets/equity at 1.77 vs. 3.203 y/y.

3. Corn Products International Inc. (CPO): Manufactures and sells various ingredients to food and industrial customers in North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Market cap at $4.34B. Price at $56.70. Sales growth over the last 5 years at 18.86%. MRQ net profit margin at 6.14% vs. 3.68% y/y. MRQ sales/assets at 0.291 vs. 0.279 y/y. MRQ assets/equity at 2.527 vs. 2.552 y/y.

4. Treehouse Foods, Inc. (THS): Operates as a food manufacturing company servicing primarily the retail grocery and foodservice distribution channels in the United States and Canada. Market cap at $2.10B. Price at $57.62. Sales growth over the last 5 years at 16.89%. MRQ net profit margin at 5.57% vs. 5.51% y/y. MRQ sales/assets at 0.223 vs. 0.213 y/y. MRQ assets/equity at 2.24 vs. 2.445 y/y.

*Accounting data sourced from Google Finance, all other data sourced from Finviz.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

How Does Big Pharma Boost Its Returns?

As investors, we need to understand how our companies truly make their money. A neat trick developed for just that purpose -- the DuPont Formula -- can help us do so.

So in this series we let the DuPont Formula do the work. Let's see what the formula can tell us about Novartis (NYSE: NVS  ) and a few of its peers.

The DuPont Formula can give you a better grasp on exactly where your company is producing its profit, and where it might have a competitive advantage. Named after the company where it was pioneered, the formula breaks down return on equity into three components:

Return on equity = net margin x asset turnover x leverage ratio

What makes each of these components important?

• High net margins show that a company can get customers to pay more for its products. Luxury-goods companies provide a great example here.
• High asset turnover indicates that a company needs to invest less of its capital, since it uses its assets more efficiently to generate sales. Service industries, for instance, often lack big capital investments.
• Finally, the leverage ratio shows how much the company is relying on liabilities to create its profits.

Generally, the higher these numbers, the better. That said, too much debt can sink a company, so beware of companies with very high leverage ratios.

So what does the DuPont Formula say about these four companies?

Company	Return on Equity	Net Margin	Asset Turnover	Leverage Ratio
Novartis	13.6%	15.3%	0.49	1.77
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE  )	9.8%	14.8%	0.69	1.09
GlaxoSmithKline (Nasdaq: GSK  )	58.8%	19.2%	0.66	4.49
Merck (NYSE: MRK  )	11.2%	13.1%	0.91	0.92

Source: S&P Capital IQ.

GlaxoSmithKline offers very high returns on equity that are more than 4 times higher than that of the other companies. Its net margins are the highest, and its leverage ratio dwarfs that of the other companies, so no surprise that it leads in ROE. Novartis has the second highest returns on equity, with the second highest net margins and the second highest leverage ratio. Merck has returns on equity not far behind Novartis'. While its net margins and leverage ratio are the lowest of these companies, it makes it up on asset turnover. Pfizer has the lowest returns on equity, hurt by its low leverage ratio.

Novartis gains some diversity in the pharmaceutical sector through its involvement in both the development of new drugs and the production and sale of generic drugs. The company recently developed a treatment for patients with obstructive pulmonary disease. Called Onbrez Breezhaler, the treatment gained European approval in mid-2010 and FDA approval in March of 2011. Novartis' involvement in generics brings in lower margins but offers a cushion against the potential downsides of its involvement in the riskier name-brand-drug market. Even the development of successful drugs has the downside of facing huge declines in sales once patents expire.

Using the DuPont Formula can often give you some insight into how a company is competing against peers and what type of strategy it's using to juice return on equity. To find more successful investments, dig deeper than the earnings headlines.

Add these companies to your watchlist:

• Add Pfizer to My Watchlist.
• Add Novartis to My Watchlist.
• Add Merck to My Watchlist.
• Add GlaxoSmithKline to My Watchlist.

Has Dow Chemical Become the Perfect Stock?

Every investor would love to stumble upon the perfect stock. But will you ever really find a stock that provides everything you could possibly want?

One thing's for sure: You'll never discover truly great investments unless you actively look for them. Let's discuss the ideal qualities of a perfect stock, then decide if Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW  ) fits the bill.

The quest for perfection
Stocks that look great based on one factor may prove horrible elsewhere, making due diligence a crucial part of your investing research. The best stocks excel in many different areas, including these important factors:

• Growth. Expanding businesses show healthy revenue growth. While past growth is no guarantee that revenue will keep rising, it's certainly a better sign than a stagnant top line.
• Margins. Higher sales mean nothing if a company can't produce profits from them. Strong margins ensure that company can turn revenue into profit.
• Balance sheet. At debt-laden companies, banks and bondholders compete with shareholders for management's attention. Companies with strong balance sheets don't have to worry about the distraction of debt.
• Money-making opportunities. Return on equity helps measure how well a company is finding opportunities to turn its resources into profitable business endeavors.
• Valuation. You can't afford to pay too much for even the best companies. By using normalized figures, you can see how a stock's simple earnings multiple fits into a longer-term context.
• Dividends. For tangible proof of profits, a check to shareholders every three months can't be beat. Companies with solid dividends and strong commitments to increasing payouts treat shareholders well.

With those factors in mind, let's take a closer look at Dow Chemical.

Factor	What We Want to See	Actual	Pass or Fail?
Growth	5-year annual revenue growth > 15%	4.1%	Fail
�	1-year revenue growth > 12%	13.9%	Pass
Margins	Gross margin > 35%	15.8%	Fail
�	Net margin > 15%	5.3%	Fail
Balance sheet	Debt to equity < 50%	78%	Fail
�	Current ratio > 1.3	1.69	Pass
Opportunities	Return on equity > 15%	13.5%	Fail
Valuation	Normalized P/E < 20	11.36	Pass
Dividends	Current yield > 2%	3.6%	Pass
�	5-year dividend growth > 10%	(11.3%)	Fail
�	�	�	�
�	Total score	�	4 out of 10

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Total score = number of passes.

Since we looked at Dow Chemical last year, the chemical giant has managed to double its score. A big boost in its dividend, combined with earnings growth and a weaker stock price that brought its earnings multiple way down, gave Dow a couple extra points this year.

Throughout the industry, chemical companies are seeing a similar phenomenon: Volume growth has been virtually nonexistent, but higher prices are boosting revenues in dollar terms. From Dow and fellow leader DuPont (NYSE: DD  ) to smaller companies like Eastman Chemical (NYSE: EMN  ) and Huntsman (NYSE: HUN  ) , changes in sales volume have paled in comparison to revenue growth.

Still, Dow's recent results have been solid. In its most recent quarter, the company saw net income rise by more than 50%, with a surprise profit from its agricultural division. As fellow Fool David Lee Smith discussed late last month, five of the company's six segments had promising results, with only the plastics division falling short -- and even it remains the most profitable part of the company.

Being a big company, though, hasn't stopped Dow from making big moves. It recently announced plans to build a major bioplastics operation in Brazil, far outpacing much smaller plans from Metabolix (Nasdaq: MBLX  ) and Cereplast. Dow has also set up a partnership with homebuilder D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI  ) to introduce solar roofing shingles, as well as a big joint venture with a Saudi oil company to build one of the world's largest chemical facilities.

With all its irons in the fire, Dow is clearly betting on renewed economic growth throughout the world. If it gets its wish, Dow could easily get even closer to perfection in the years ahead.

Keep searching
No stock is a sure thing, but some stocks are a lot closer to perfect than others. By looking for the perfect stock, you'll go a long way toward improving your investing prowess and learning how to separate out the best investments from the rest.

Click here to add Dow Chemical to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

Finding the perfect stock is only one piece of a successful investment strategy. Get the big picture by taking a look at our "13 Steps to Investing Foolishly."

Historical Monthly S&P 500 Volatility Chart

In a recent article I wrote that the average stock holding period in the NYSE fell to around 7 months in 2007. In addition to this very low holding period, investors today must endure tremendous volatility in the markets. The chart below shows the S&P 500 volatility has changed over the past 33+ years:

Click to Enlarge

Source: Volatility - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Rob Brown, PhD, CFA, Benchmark Plus Management, LLC.

Since the Black Monday of 1987, the volatility measure has exceeded the value of 100 seven times.

S&P downgrades anticipated, but still stir turmoil

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) � The decision by ratings firm Standard & Poor�s to downgrade several euro-zone nations came as no surprise, but still leaves major unresolved issues for policy makers as they struggle to contain the region�s long-running debt crisis.

In the end, nine euro-zone countries saw their ratings cut on Friday, with France and Austria both losing their triple-A ratings. Germany, Europe�s biggest economy, saw its triple-A remain intact.

If that weren�t enough, fears of a messy default by Greece were also on the rise after talks between private creditors and the government over proposed voluntary writedowns on Greek government bonds appeared near collapse.

Click to Play Greece edges closer to a default

Greece appears to be close to default on its sovereign debt once again, eclipsing last Friday's news that France and other euro-zone members lost their triple-A credit ratings.

�At the start of this year, [we] took the view that things in the euro zone had to get worse before they got better. With the S&P downgrade of nine euro-zone countries and worries about the progress of Greek debt restructuring talks, things just did get worse,� wrote economists at HSBC.

European equity markets swung between small gains and losses Monday, while the euro mounted a modest rebound after posting 16-month lows Friday as news of the imminent downgrades leaked.

Politicians sought to control the damage, but the moves by S&P don�t mark the last word. Here�s a look at some of the outstanding issues.

EFSF

The European Financial Stability Facility, or EFSF, is the euro zone�s temporary rescue fund. It�s triple-A rating rests on guarantees from euro-zone countries. And with France, the region�s second-largest economy no longer rated triple-A, the EFSF is seen as likely to lose its triple-A as well unless euro-zone governments boost their contributions.

With the European Central Bank unwilling to go whole hog in snapping up troubled European government bonds, the EFSF is still seen as an important-but-undersized safety net for banks and troubled sovereigns.

This comes as efforts to boost the firepower of the fund have failed to gain traction, with Berlin and the ECB resisting calls to provide leverage through the central bank and China and other foreign investors balking at making large-scale investments in the fund.

Euro-zone countries have provided guarantees of 780 billion euros ($986 billion) to the EFSF, which gave it triple-A lending power of �440 billion.

With France and Austria losing their triple-A ratings, the fund�s triple-A funding power drops to �271 billion, said fixed-income strategists at Commerzbank.

While finance ministers from the 17 euro nations issued a statement saying they would explore the options for maintaining the EFSF�s triple-A rating, comments from German officials indicate Europe�s biggest financial power would prefer to settle for a double-A-plus rating.

�I was never of the opinion that the EFSF necessarily has to be triple-A,� Merkel said in a radio interview, according to Bloomberg. �Double-A-plus is also not a bad rating.�

The EFSF is set to be replaced by a permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism in July.

But in the meantime, investors could be put off owning euro-zone assets �if the financial safety net looks like it is threatened at this critical stage in the debt saga,� said Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com.