Madison Square Garden Stock Jumps As Los Angeles Clippers Fetch $2 Billion

The Dolan family, the controlling owners of publicly traded Madison Square Garden, are big winners in the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers for an NBA record price of $2 billion.

Yes, the New York Rangers are in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 20 years, and the $2 million plus the hockey team nets on average from each  home playoff game will boost MSG's bottom line. But the main reason for MSG's surging stock is the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers by Donald and Rochelle Sterling to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for MSG's surging stock.

As this chart shows, shares of MSG, the company that owns the hockey team, the NBA's New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden, underperformed the overall stock market as the Rangers advanced through the first three rounds of the playoffs. But the stock price for MSG is up 3% in the two days since I wrote that the Clippers would fetch close to $2 billion.

This is a sign that at least for now investors believe the $2 billion price tag for the Clippers will rub off on the rest of sports. Or at least other big market basketball teams.

 

Top 10 Consumer Service Stocks To Own Right Now

Top 10 Consumer Service Stocks To Own Right Now: BB&T Corp (BBT)

BB&T Corporation (BB&T) is a financial holding company. BB&T conducts its business operations primarily through its commercial bank subsidiary, Branch Banking and Trust Company (Branch Bank), which has offices in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Washington D.C and Indiana. In addition, BB&Ts operations consist of a federally chartered thrift institution, BB&T Financial, FSB (BB&T FSB), and a number of nonbank subsidiaries, which offer financial services products. BB&Ts operations are divided into six business segments: Community Banking, Residential Mortgage Banking, Dealer Financial Services, Specialized Lending, Insurance Services, and Financial Services. Branch Bank provides a range of banking and trust services for retail and commercial clients in its geographic markets, including small and mid-size businesses, public agencies, local Governments and individuals, through 1,779 offices as of December 31, 2011. During the year ended December 31, 2011, BB&T announced the acquisitions of Liberty Benefit Insurance Services, Atlantic Risk Management Corporation and the Precept Group. In April 2012, it acquired the life and property and casualty insurance operating divisions of Roseland, New Jersey - based Crump Group Inc. On July 31, 2012, it acquired BankAtlantic.

As of December 31, 2011, the principal operating subsidiaries of BB&T included Branch Banking and Trust Company, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; BB&T Financial, FSB, Columbus, Georgia; Scott & Stringfellow, LLC, Richmond, Virginia; Clearview Correspondent Services, LLC, Richmond, Virginia; Regional Acceptance Corporation, Greenville, North Carolina; American Coastal Insurance Company, Davie, Florida, and Sterling Capital Management, LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina. Branch Banks principal operating subsidiaries include BB&T Equipment Finance Corporation, BB&T Investment ! Services , Inc., BB&T Insurance Services, Inc., Stanley, Hunt, DuPree! & Rhine (a division of Branch Bank), Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, Inc., Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, LLC, Lendmark Financial Services, Inc., CRC Insurance Services, Inc. and McGriff, Seibels & Williams, Inc.

Community Banking

BB&Ts Community Banking serves individual and business clients by offering a range of loan and deposit products and other financial services. As of December 31, 2011, Community Banking had a network of 1,779 banking.

Residential Mortgage Banking

Residential Mortgage Banking segment retains and services mortgage loans originated by Community Banking, as well as those purchased from various correspondent originators. Mortgage loan products include fixed and adjustable rate Government and conventional loans for the purpose of constructing, purchasing or refinancing residential properties. Substantially all of the properties are owner occupied. BB&T retains the servicing rights to all loans sold. Residential Mortgage Banking earns interest on loans held in the warehouse and portfolio, fee income from the origination and servicing of mortgage loans and recognizes gains or losses from the sale of mortgage loans. BB&Ts mortgage originations totaled $23.7 billion in 2011. BB&Ts residential mortgage servicing portfolio, which includes both retained loans and loans serviced for third parties, totaled $91.6 billion in 2011.

Dealer Financial Services

Dealer Financial Services originates loans to consumers on a prime and nonprime basis for the purchase of automobiles. Such loans are originated on an indirect basis through approved franchised and independent automobile dealers throughout the BB&T market area and nationally through Regional Acceptance Corporation. This segment also originates loans for the purchase of boats and recreational vehicles originated through dealers in BB&Ts market area. In addition, financing and se! rvi cing! to dealers for their inventories is provided through a ! joint rel! ationship between Dealer Financial Services and Community Banking.

Specialized Lending

BB&Ts Specialized Lending consists of eight business units that provide specialty finance products to consumers and businesses. The internal business units include Commercial Finance that contains commercial finance and mortgage warehouse lending; and, Governmental Finance that is responsible for tax-exempt Government finance. Operating subsidiaries include BB&T Equipment Finance which provides equipment leasing within BB&Ts banking footprint; Sheffield Financial, a division of FSB Financial, a dealer-based financer of equipment for both small businesses and consumers; Lendmark Financial Services, a direct consumer finance lending company; Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, which includes AFCO and CAFO, insurance premium finance business units that provide funding to businesses in the United States and Canada and to consumers in certain markets within BB&Ts banking footprint, and Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, a commercial mortgage banking lender providing loans on a national basis.

Insurance Services

BB&T Insurance Services provides property and casualty, life and health insurance to businesses and individuals. It also provides small business and corporate products, such as workers compensation and professional liability, as well as surety coverage and title insurance. In addition, Insurance Services also underwrites a limited amount of property and casualty coverage.

Financial Services

Financial Services provides personal trust administration, estate planning, investment counseling, wealth management, asset management, employee benefits services, corporate banking and corporate trust services to individuals, corporations, institutions, foundations and Government entities. Financial Services also offers clients investment alternatives, including discount br! oker age! services, equities, fixed-rate and variable-rate annuiti! es, mutua! l funds and governmental and municipal bonds through BB&T Investment Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Branch Bank. Financial Services includes Scott & Stringfellow, LLC, a brokerage and investment banking firm. Scott & Stringfellow provides services in retail brokerage, equity and debt underwriting, investment advice, corporate finance and equity research and facilitates the origination, trading and distribution of fixed-income securities and equity products in both the public and private capital markets. Scott & Stringfellow also has a public finance department that provides investment banking services, financial advisory services and municipal bond financing. Scott & Stringfellows investment banking and corporate and public finance areas conduct business as BB&T Capital Markets. This segment includes BB&T Capital Partners that is a group of BB&T-sponsored private equity and mezzanine investment funds that invest in privately owned middle-market operating companies. Finan cial Services also includes the Corporate Banking Division that originates and services corporate relationships, syndicated lending relationships and client derivatives.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Amanda Alix]

  It's not hard to understand why banks such as BB&T (NYSE: BBT  ) , PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC  ) , and Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS  ) might fear Walmart's entry into full-blown banking. As it turns out, this trepidation is long-lived, and the industry has worked tirelessly over the years to keep the giant retailer out of its neck of the woods.

• [By Abbie Redmon]

  The banks
  The banks with heavy market share in this district include Regions Financial (NYSE: RF  ) -- which has at least 4% deposit market share in each state -- Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) , Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) , SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI  ) , andBB! &T (! NYSE: BBT  ) :

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-10-consumer-service-stocks-to-own-right-now.html

Kroger Reports Higher Earnings, Matching Estimates; Maintains Outlook (KR)

Food retailer Kroger (KR) posted higher second quarter earnings on Thursday, which matched analysts’ estimates. The company also maintained its outlook for FY2013.

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The Cincinnati, OH-based company posted second quarter earnings of $317 million, or 60 cents per share, up from $279 million, or 51 cents per share, a year ago. On average, analysts expected to see earnings of 60 cents per share.

Total revenue for the quarter was $22.7 billion, up from $21.7 billion a year ago. Analysts expected to see earnings of $22.7 billion.

Looking ahead, the company reaffirmed its FY2013 outlook of earnings between $2.73 and $2.80 per share. KR expects to see sales growth between 8% and 11%. Analysts expect to see earnings of $2.80 per share.

The Kroger shares were up 96 cents, or 2.55%, during Thursday morning trading. The stock is up 46% YTD.

Stock buybacks surge: Is that a good thing?

According to Wall Street legend, a speculator named Daniel Drew got his start by driving cattle into Manhattan, back when there really were cattle drives there. Just before they got to the market, he'd let his skinny, rangy cattle drink as much water as they wanted after the long, hot drive, giving them a nice, plump appearance — and plenty of water weight, too.

The next day, they'd be skinny, rangy cattle again, and the buyer would exclaim, "I've been sold watered stock!" Over the years, "watering the stock" has come to refer to the practice of companies issuing additional stock, and thereby, diluting its value.

It stands to reason that if watering stock is bad, then decreasing shares outstanding is good. After all, if there are fewer shares, they should be worth more, all other things being equal. But corporate buybacks are rarely the good things that companies promote them as — and they can be a warning sign that management simply has no idea what to do with its money.

Companies in the Standard and Poor's 500 stock index bought back about $160 billion in stock in the first quarter — the number is an estimate because the first-quarter tallies aren't complete, says Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst for S&P Dow Jones Indices. If that number's accurate, it would be the second-highest amount of stock repurchases in history, trailing only the $172 billion in the third quarter of 2007.

Students of history will recall that the largest bear market since the Great Depression began in October 2007, which is one reason to view stock buybacks skeptically. Companies rarely buy their own stocks because they think the stock is undervalued, as superstar Warren Buffett pointed out in a 1999 investment letter: "Repurchases are all the rage, but are all too often made for an unstated and, in our view, an ignoble reason: to pump or support the stock price."

Reducing the share count is one way that buybacks pump a stock price. But there's a somewhat more subtle way that repurc! hases kick up a stock's value. Analysts look at a company's earnings per share. If a company's earnings are the same and the number of its shares fall, the stock magically looks a bit less expensive than it really is.

It may not be a shock that the people who benefit most from higher stock prices are executives, because much of their compensation comes in the form of stock grants and options. And yes, those executives have a big say in when a company repurchases its stock. "The people who make those decisions have a big incentive to keep stock prices high," says William Lazonick, professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Thus, big surges in share repurchases often happen when stock prices are high, not when they're a bargain. That may have happened in the first quarter of 2014, when earnings were widely expected to slow. "Companies may have decided to spend extra money getting a tailwind going into the first quarter," Silverblatt says.

That's not unusual, Lazonick argues. Looking over four decades of data, Lazonick found that buybacks peak at market peaks, and tail off in bear markets. But he makes other, powerful arguments against corporate stock buybacks:

• Even companies that buy back shares because they think the stock is a bargain don't sell it to lock in a profit. Doing so would be a signal that management thinks the stock is overvalued.

• Companies that depend on research and development for future earnings squander their money by buying back stocks. Pfizer, for example, depends on developing new drugs. Yet, from 2003-2012, the equivalent of 71% of Pfizer's profits went to buybacks, Lazonick says. Similarly, Hewlett-Packard spent $11 billion on buybacks in 2010, $10.1 billion in 2011, then took a $12.7 billion loss in 2012.

• Buybacks are probably the least productive use of a company's money. Companies have any number of things they can do with their cash, borrowings and profits. They can invest in people, plants and equipment. Or they can ! buy other! companies. "It shows a lack of imagination," Lazonick says.

"We use it as an explanation of why earnings are holding up," says Sam Stovall, managing director of U.S. equity strategy at S&P Capital IQ. "Companies buy back stocks because management doesn't feel it has a better use for its funds."

The past five years, the PowerShares Buyback Achievers fund (ticker: PKW), has beaten the SPDR S&P 500 ETF trust by 3.91 percentage points a year, according to Morningstar, the Chicago investment trackers. So far this year, however, the fund has lagged behind the index by 2.28 percentage points — a sign that Wall Street may be getting less impressed by buybacks.

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What should investors look for instead of repurchases? Stovall suggests investments in plant and equipment. Factory capacity utilization is at 80% now, about the point where companies start replacing old equipment, Stovall says. Investment in equipment grew 3.1% last year and is expected to grow 5.2% this year. Next year? a sizzling 10.4%.

Buying back stock is more of a sugar high than anything else. But wouldn't you prefer to own a company that has better ideas for using its cash?

Top 5 Trucking Companies To Watch For 2015

Top 5 Trucking Companies To Watch For 2015: Safran SA (SAF)

Safran SA is a France-based high-technology company which produces aircraft and rocket engines and propulsion systems. It divides its work into three segments: Aerospace, Aircraft, Defense and Security. The Aerospace Propulsion division provides engines, turbines and parts for aircraft, and rocket boosters for civil, military and spatial markets through several subsidiaries, including Snecma, among others. The Aircraft Equipment division produces landing gear, wheels and carbon brakes, aircraft engine nacelles and airborne power electronics through its subsidiaries, including Aircelle, among others. The Defense division includes the subsidiary, Sagem, and makes systems and equipment for inertial navigation and other defense applications to be used on military transport and combat aircraft, helicopters, warships, armored vehicles and artillery systems. In October 2013, the Company completed the sale of its United States-based subsidiary, Global Motors Inc to Allied Motion Inc. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

  Vivendi SA climbed 2.7 percent after posting better-than-estimated third-quarter profit and saying it plans to spin off its French phone carrier SFR by July 2014. Serco Group Plc (SRP) increased 1.7 percent as UBS AG upgraded the stock. Safran SA (SAF) lost 3.2 percent as its largest shareholder sold a stake.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/top-5-trucking-companies-to-watch-for-2015.html

This Metric Says Kinder Morgan Energy Partners Is Cheap Right Now

Master limited partnerships are not like other stocks, and the metrics we use to compare an MLP to its peers differ from the metrics we use to compare regular companies. For example, instead of the traditional P/E ratio, we emphasize MLP-specific metrics like distribution coverage ratio and today's focus: price to distributable cash flow (P/DCF). I'll use Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD  ) , Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP  ) , and Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL  ) to illustrate the concept.

Why this metric?
Price to distributable cash flow is the MLP metric that comes closest to the P/E ratio most investors know and love. Like any good ratio, it allows you to compare MLPs on a relative basis, regardless of size.

Distributable cash flow per unit replaces earnings per unit in these relative valuations because MLPs pass almost all of their cash to unit holders. Distributable cash flow drives distribution growth, which in turn drives unit prices. That's really what investors care about the most with MLPs, and that's why analysts and management never discuss earnings per share for their MLPs; it's all about distributable cash flow.

How the metric works
To calculate P/DCF, you take the market cap of your MLP and divide it by a full year of distributable cash flow.

Let's use Enterprise Products Partners as our first example. We'll use distributable cash flow numbers from the four most recent quarters. The numbers shake out like this:

Q1 2014

Q4 2013

Q3 2013

Q2 2013

Total

$1,069	$1,021	$908	$925	$3,922

Source: MLPData.com, Yahoo! Finance. Dollar figures are in millions.

Now we'll divide the partnership's market cap by its distributable cash flow total of $3.9 billion to derive our P/DCF multiple:

Market Cap

DCF

P/DCF

$68.1	$3.9	17.4x

Source: MLPData.com, Yahoo! Finance. Dollar figures are in billions

A multiple of 17.4 is a tad high, but we'll get to that in a minute. The whole point of this exercise is relative valuation, so let's see how Enterprise's multiple compares to that of some of its peers.

The DCF numbers for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Buckeye Partners come from the same four quarters that we used for Enterprise.

MLP

Market Cap

DCF

P/DCF

EPD	$68.10	$3.9	17.4x
KMP	$34.45	$2.4	14.4x
BPL	$9.04	5 Best Telecom Stocks To Buy Right Now $0.5	20.0x

 Source: Company releases, Google Finance. Dollar figures are in billions.

Enterprise falls right in the middle here. Given its recent trading history, it's not that big of a surprise to see Kinder Morgan posting the best multiple of the group. Its shares have vastly underperformed its two peers over the past year. Kinder Morgan is down more than 13%, while Enterprise and Buckeye Partners are up 19% and 16%, respectively.

But what is the benchmark for this cash flow multiple anyway? Most investors have heard that a P/E ratio greater than 15 is high, and the further it floats above that magic number the more overvalued the stock is. According to analysts at Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, the average multiple for large cap MLPs like today's group has been between 15 and 16 times price to distributable cash flow.

By this standard, Kinder Morgan is the only MLP here that is "cheap." But again, the P/DCF ratio is useful for relative valuations, but by no means would you want to base your entire investing thesis on this one metric -- or any one metric -- alone. Rather, it serves as a starting point for further research.

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PIMCO Brings Back McCulley

PIMCO said Monday that it has rehired Paul McCulley to serve as a managing director and take on a new role as the group’s chief economist. McCulley, who worked for the firm from 1990 to 1992 and 1999 to 2010, also will be a member of PIMCO’s Investment Committee and will report directly to founder and Chief Investment Officer Bill Gross.

“Paul is an experienced and respected thought leader on macroeconomic issues and central banks, and he will be an important contributor to our investment process,” Gross said in a press release.

PIMCO — which lost its then-CEO and co-CIO Mohamed El-Erian earlier this year — could benefit from both new leadership and new investor interest. The bond shop had net outflows of $5.5 billion last month, according to Morningstar, bringing its year-to-date outflows to some $21 billion and its 12-month outflows to $80 billion.

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(Since El-Erian's departure in January, PIMCO has tapped Doug Hodge as its CEO and appointed six deputy chief investment officers.)

McCulley will not manage client portfolios or serve as a portfolio manager, but he will spend up to 100 days per year working in PIMCO offices around the world. The economist also plans to dedicate some time to non-PIMCO activities, namely leading the Morgan le Fay Dreams Foundation.

McCulley first joined PIMCO in 1990 as an account manager. He left two years later to become chief economist for the Americas for UBS. In 1999, he returned to PIMCO to work as a portfolio manager; he later became the head of the firm’s short-term desk and a member of the Investment Committee.

Over the past three years, the economist, 57, has been chair of the Global Society of Fellows at the Global Interdependence Center, and has published two papers on monetary and central bank policy.

McCulley is known for coining the term “shadow banking system” as a reference for nonbank financial intermediaries that provide similar services and had a role in the global financial crisis. He also drew attention to the concept of the “Minsky Moment,” a sudden major collapse of asset values.

"I look forward to working side by side with Bill as economic counselor and interacting with the deputy CIOs,” McCulley said in a statement. “I anticipate writing frequent scholarly essays, as well maintaining a robust calendar of speaking engagements. PIMCO will always be Camelot to me."

 

Businesses see opportunity in Chiquita's return

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A hundred years ago, New Orleans was the largest importer of bananas in the United States. The presence of Chiquita's predecessor, United Brands, allowed several local institutions — such as Ochsner Health System, Louisiana State University and Tulane University — to extend their international reach to Central and South America.

United Brands operated in New Orleans for nearly seven decades before leaving for Gulfport, Miss., in the 1970s. Its departure coincided with rapid growth in competing markets, such as Houston and Miami, and the erosion of New Orleans' relationships with Latin America.

Business leaders predict that Chiquita's return, which company representatives and Louisiana officials announced recently, could help rebuild many of those ties.

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Pan-American Life Insurance Group's origins are directly tied to the growth of the banana industry. New Orleans native Crawford Ellis founded the company in 1911 to provide personal and business insurance to people and businesses in Central and South America. Chiquita is still one of its regional accounts, so its return to New Orleans is good news for the company, Pan-American President, CEO and Chairman José Suquet said.

"I believe (Chiquita's announcement) is as good an opportunity as we have seen in the last 40 years to help re-establish our presence in Central America," Suquet said. "Both Houston and Miami are more expensive and busier markets. We can provide an attractive alternative compared to them."

Business leaders and economic developers say New Orleans faces several challenges before it can compete with those markets. The lack of direct flights to Central America tops the list.

Before Hurricane Katrina, Taca Airlines operated direct flights from New Orleans to Honduras among other Central American countries. Efforts to bring the airline back failed t! wo years ago. Since then, Greater New Orleans Inc. and the New Orleans Aviation Board have continued efforts to lure Taca as well as convince Copa Airlines of Panama to offer a direct flight to Panama City.

The lack of direct air service is a major impediment to Ochsner Health System's ability to increase its prominence in Central America. Every year it serves approximately 3,000 to 4,000 patients from Central and South America who visit Ochsner for their health care needs.

That market could continue to grow, said Ana Hands, vice president of International and Transplant Services for Ochsner. Since the 1960s, the health system has made significant efforts to attract medical students and offer health services in Central and South America. Honduras continues to be its largest international market, but Miami and Houston are big competitors for those patients.

"We have many loyal patients who don't want to go anywhere else and have been coming to us for the past three or four generations," Hands said. "Younger people are more likely to go to Miami where they can get a direct flight than coming back here. It's a big challenge for us."

Greater New Orleans Community Data Center research shows that in 1970, New Orleans had about the same number of jobs as Houston. Over the next 40 years, Houston added about 260,000 jobs, a 200% increase. The increase in New Orleans was 20% over the same time span. The local stagnation was the result of oil and gas companies moving to Houston.

At the same time, many international businesses relocated to Miami. The city should have taken better advantage of its location at the mouth of the Mississippi River, connecting it to "north-south trade routes" that link the U.S. heartland to South America, GNO Inc. President and CEO Michael Hecht said.

"We lost these companies and industries through neglecting our ideal geography," he said.

Suquet added that further expansion at the Port of New Orleans should coincide with the ongoing expansion of! the Pana! ma Canal in order for New Orleans to compete with Miami and Houston. Doing so will allow the city to forge and renew business links with Latin America.

"Chiquita could help the viability of building those relationships." Hecht said. "I don't think this is going to be an isolated event. We could build a critical mass of companies that have ties and growing business to the south.

"This stagnation didn't happen by accident and it wasn't predestined. But now for the first time in decades, we have strong business and political leadership."

HP to eliminate another 11,000 to 16,000 jobs

SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett Packard is bracing to slash an additional 11,000 to 16,000 jobs after it announced a dip in revenue for its second quarter.

The computing giant, which is in the midst of a long restructuring program by CEO Meg Whitman, on Thursday said revenue was down 1%, to $27.3 billion, from the same quarter a year ago.

HP had previously announced plans to cut 34,000 jobs.

The company employs about 317,500 worldwide.

HP posted earnings of 88 cents per share, excluding items. Analysts had expected the earnings of 88 cents a share on $27.41 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

The total layoffs are roughly twice what HP CEO Meg Whitman initially anticipated when she undertook a 5-year turnaround plan at HP in late 2011.

"We don't anticipate an additional (layoff) program," Whitman told USA TODAY. "This company has been through a lot… This is part of the program of integrating (major acquisitions), streamlining, and automating processes."

"We feel good at the midpoint of our (5-year) turnaround plan," Whitman said. "Stabilization of revenue, cash flow, network security, big data, innovation, R&D spending — I feel good about where we are."

Shares of HP were flat in after-hours trading, at $31.78. The company's shares touched a 52-week high of $33.90 in early April.

HP made its name and fortune as a pioneer in business computing. But it has struggled the past few years to finesse the transition to mobile devices and the growing demand for cloud computing systems.

While corporate rivals such as IBM have retreated from the low-margin hardware market, H-P has bolstered its computing hardware business. Yet on Thursday, HP said revenue for its enterprise group, which sells computer servers and other hardware, slipped 2% to $6.66 billion in the second quarter. In the previous two quarters, that group grew.

"The layoffs make a lot of sense given they aren't currently able to drive their servi! ces business like they would prefer," says Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

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Hot Solar Stocks To Buy Right Now: Hanwha SolarOne Co. Ltd.(HSOL)

Hanwha Solarone Co., Ltd., an investment holding company, engages in the manufacture and sale of silicon ingots, silicon wafers, and PV cells and modules. The company also offers mono crystalline and multi crystalline silicon cells; and provides PV module processing services. It sells its products to solar power system integrators and distributors primarily in Germany, Italy, Australia, the United States, the Czech Republic, Spain, and China. The company was formerly known as Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Hanwha SolarOne Co., Ltd. in December 2010. Hanwha Solarone Co., Ltd. was founded in 2004 and is based in Qidong, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  News and notes
  Hanwha SolarOne (NASDAQ: HSOL  ) announced another $100 million in financing this week, this time a term loan from the Export-Import Bank of Korea.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Big Earnings Movers: Hanwha SolarOne Co. (NASDAQ: HSOL) is down 13.9% at $4.36. D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) is up 4.7% at $18.91 on good earnings boosted by land sales.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Stocks on the move: Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is up 31.5% at $5.13 on the announcement that Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will acquire the Finnish firms mobile phone business for $7.2 billion. Chinese solar energy stocks are getting a boost again today, with Hanwha SolarOne Co. (NASDAQ: HSOL) up more than 15.9% and ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) up 14.9%.

source from Top Penny Stocks:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/hot-solar-stocks-to-buy-right-now.html

Amazon escalates standoff with Hachette

NEW YORK (AP) — If you're hoping to pre-order books by J.K. Rowling, Michael Connelly and other Hachette Book Group authors, you'll have to go somewhere besides Amazon.com.

An ongoing standoff between Amazon and one of the leading New York publishers has intensified. The online retailer, which already had been slowing delivery on a wide range of Hachette titles, has removed pre-order buttons for such books as Connelly's "The Burning Room" and Rowling's "The Silkworm," a detective story she wrote under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Previous changes had been more subtle. The listing for the paperback of J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories" says delivery will take three to five weeks and offers "Similar items at a lower price," including a collection of Ernest Hemingway stories published by Scribner.

"We are doing everything in our power to find a solution to this difficult situation, one that best serves our authors and their work, and that preserves our ability to survive and thrive as a strong and author-centric publishing company," Hachette said in a statement Friday issued through spokeswoman Sophie Cottrell.

Amazon declined to comment. Numerous Hachette authors have criticized Amazon in recent weeks, including Sherman Alexie and James Patterson, who on his Facebook page noted that the purchase of books written by him, Malcolm Gladwell, Nicholas Sparks and others had been made more difficult.

"What I don't understand about this particular battle tactic is how it is in the best interest of Amazon customers," Patterson wrote. "It certainly doesn't appear to be in the best interest of authors."

Amazon and Hachette are reportedly at odds over terms for e-book prices, at a time when Amazon is in a position of strength and vulnerability. The Seattle-based company is the most powerful force in the book market, believed to have a share of more than 60 percent of e-book sales and at least a third of book sales overall. Rivals have struggled to compete with Amazon's discounts and! customer service.

But recent earnings reports have been disappointing and Amazon's stock prices, which surged for years despite narrow profits, have dropped sharply in 2014.

Amazon has a history of aggressive actions with publishers, most dramatically in 2010 when it removed the buy buttons for releases by Macmillan, where authors include Jonathan Franzen, Bill O'Reilly and Augusten Burroughs. The issue was also e-books. Apple was about to launch its iBookstore and Macmillan, Hachette and other publishers, worried over Amazon's $9.99 offerings for popular e-books, wanted Amazon to accept a new system — the agency model — that would allow publishers to set the prices.

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Amazon relented, but the system unraveled after the U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple and five publishers in 2012 for alleged price fixing. The publishers, including Macmillan and Hachette, settled and a federal judge in New York last year ruled against Apple.

Other books currently being delayed or otherwise disrupted include Tina Fey's "Bossypants," Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" and Brad Stone's "The Everything Store," a critical portrait of Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos.

Muni Bond Manager's Journal: Pay Attention To Bond Submarkets

The municipal bond universe is $3.7 trillion in size, and while it's often referred to as "a market"–as though it were singular and uniform–it's actually comprised of a variety of submarkets; each of these has its own characteristics, advantages and pitfalls that investors need to understand before they invest.

Investors tend to focus on a bond's coupon and maturity when investing and pay little attention to the bond's submarket. Yet the submarket influences many other key characteristics of the bond that should influence an investment decision, including credit risk, market risk, liquidity and valuation.

One of the largest submarkets is the 'specialty state' bond.  These bonds are issued by states with high income tax rates, such as California and New York. For state residents who own these bonds the interest income is exempt from state income taxes; this gives residents a strong incentive to choose these bonds over out-of-state bonds, which are subject to income tax. 

To reflect the greater after-tax value in the yield of the in-state municipal bond, valuations on these bonds tend to be greater than general market bonds. Bottom line: if you don't live in one of the states where you gain the after-tax benefit, generally steer clear of buying these bonds. 

The municipal bond market also contains several 'maturity markets.' Historically, individual investors and their advisors tend to favor bonds maturing between 2 years and 10 years, while institutions tend to favor bonds maturing in 20 to 30 years. However, given the paltry yields at the low end of the curve, more individuals are being tempted to stretch into the longer-date maturity submarkets to pick up additional yield. After all, if the professionals are investing out there, why not put money to work where the professionals are?

But these maturity submarkets create perils for individuals. For starters, individuals don't have the same motivations or advantages as institutions. An insurance company may buy bonds to offset liabilities or capitalize on tax advantages that do not apply to individuals. 

Mutual funds may buy for a short-term trade or portfolio balancing. And because they can buy millions of dollars of bonds at a time, institutional investors command both liquidity and price advantages that the individual investor cannot. Moreover, price volatility is more acute at the long end of the yield curve since an identical change in interest rates will affect prices more for long-term bonds than short-term bonds. 

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High yield bonds represent another submarket that individuals must approach with care. While the higher income is enticing, there is the obvious credit risk. Institutional investors with experienced and trained analytic staffs and large diversified portfolios can take on this risk. However, the vast majority of individual investors do not have these advantages.  And that's not the only concern. Investors also expose themselves to considerable liquidity constraints as well as the concurrent price volatility.

Most high yield bonds are smaller-sized borrowings (under $100 million), may be limited to 'sophisticated investors,' are issued by one-time or infrequent borrowers for specific purposes, and are viewed as buy-and-hold investments. Since the bonds don't have an active secondary market for trading valuations can be volatile and an investor may have trouble selling a position. Investors venturing into the high-yield market just for the higher coupon may quickly realize this submarket is inconsistent with either their risk parameters or investment goals—or both.

There are also institutional submarkets that individual investors may see from time to time, including 'bank qualified' bonds (BQ) and 'community reinvestment act' (CRA) bonds.  BQ bonds offer specific tax benefits for the banks that invest in them. They tend to be high quality but small bond issues ($30 million or under) from municipal entities, such as towns, cities or school districts that issue bonds infrequently. Their liquidity is often very limited and their yields should be compared to other general market bonds.  Investors may be able to purchase non-BQ bonds at more attractive rates. 

CRA-bonds fund affordable housing and banks are big buyers of these bonds in order to meet regulatory requirements. However, the liquidity of these bonds varies depending on credit, debt structure and maturity. Just because there is general demand from banks for CRA bonds, individual investors must not assume there will be consistent demand for the specific CRA bonds they own. Institutional buyers usually buy in multimillion dollar sizes and in specific maturities.

As you consider which bonds best meet your investment needs and goals, also factor in what market or submarket the bonds are in. It will affect the value of the bonds and your ability to sell them.   
—
Barnet Sherman is a director and the portfolio manager of the TIAA-CREF Tax-Exempt Bond Fund at TIAA-CREF, a national financial services organization.

 

 

 

China's long history of spying on business

Allegations of Chinese espionage will not come as a surprise to some American companies.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) China has angrily denied new U.S. claims that it steals secrets from American companies but experts say espionage has long been part of the country's economic strategy.

The United States indicted five members of China's People's Liberation Army Monday, accusing them of hacking into American companies and pilfering closely-guarded trade secrets.

The charges -- rejected by Beijing as "purely ungrounded and with ulterior purpose" -- are a dramatic escalation in a squabble between the two countries over spying. But they will surprise few Americans working in sensitive industries.

While many countries engage in industrial espionage, China has long been among the most aggressive collectors of economic secrets -- both online and off, experts say.

"I can tell you they [China] are the most pervasive," Kevin Mandia, founder of cybersecurity firm Mandiant, told CNN. "The indictment is about taking intellectual property ... it's the theft of trade secrets, it's economic espionage."

Related story: What were China's hacker spies after?

China's use of economic espionage can be attributed in part to its drive to modernize the country in recent decades, a transformation spearheaded by leaders including Deng Xiaoping.

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The illicit acquisition of technology has helped China accelerate the process, bypassing problems that would otherwise require years of research and development to resolve, analysts say.

The campaign has targeted industries from agriculture to aviation and computing. Monday's indictment indicated that recent targets included a solar panel manufacturer, aluminum and steel producers and a company that designs nuclear power plants.

In its quest for new technologies, China has been equally enthusiastic in securing trade secrets for use in both military and civilian applications. And the country's intelligence services don't always use highly trained spies to steal; some recruits are just sympathetic students and engineers.

The U.S. has brought spying charges against a handful of individuals accused of helping China since Congress approved the Economic Espionage Act in 2006.

In one of the most notable actions, Don! gfan "Greg" Chung, a naturalized American citizen who worked on NASA's space shuttle program, was convicted in 2009 after investigators found hundreds of thousands of sensitive papers under his California home. Prosecutors said he gave some of the documents to Chinese officials, revealing details of military and space-related technology.

Chung, a former Boeing employee, was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison.

"Giving China advanced rocket technology is not in the United States' national interest," Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Staples said at the time. "There is a voracious appetite for U.S. technology in China."

An acquaintance of Chung's, Chi Mak, was sentenced to 24 years in prison for providing China with sensitive information on U.S. ships and submarines.

In another case that highlights the breadth of China's activities, six Chinese nationals were accused last year of trying to steal drought and pest-resistant corn seeds from fields across Iowa.

The seeds cost companies such as Dupont Pioneer, Monsanto (MON, Fortune 500) and LG Seeds years and tens of millions of dollars to develop.

Related story: Snowden documents show NSA hacked Chinese telecom

The Obama administration is now seeking to draw a red line between military espionage and economic theft. Officials insist that U.S. spies do not share information with American companies.

"We do not do what those Chinese nationals were indicted for earlier today," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. "Period."

The issue has gained traction in the 15 months since Mandiant publicly identified a prolific group of computer hackers as members of the Chinese military.

  See how FBI made global hacker bust

Mandiant traced the group to Shangh! ai -- wit! h some operations taking place at the headquarters of Unit 61398, a secret division of China's military that was also named Monday by the Justice Department.

President Obama has raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. But his arguments have carried less weight following revelations by Edward Snowden that U.S. agencies were attempting to monitor Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.

Chinese officials were quick to levy charges of hypocrisy against the U.S.

"It is widely known that the U.S. has for a long time been using its advanced technology and infrastructure to perpetrate large-scale theft of secrets and eavesdropping against foreign political leaders, enterprises and individuals," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Tuesday.

Joel Bruckenstein and David Drucker, Tech’s Dynamic Duo: The 2014 IA 25

From their first book in 2002, “Virtual Office Tools for a High Margin Practice,” to their conference, Technology Tools for Today (T3), Joel Bruckenstein and David Drucker have made a name for themselves as the authority on technology for advisors.

That book “put us on the map as people who were following technology in the industry,” said Drucker, who had his own advisory practice for 20 years, and led to a series of monthly newsletters they’ve been producing since 2003. The conference followed in 2005 because, as Bruckenstein put it, “there was nothing really in our industry, which I thought was ridiculous because I was struggling with technology in my own practice.”

“Early on, advisors knew very little about technology and specifically about technology for this industry,” Bruckenstein added. Advisors have responded and have even caught up. “As advisors have gotten more sophisticated about technology, we’ve had to up our game,” he said.

At the 2014 conference, which wrapped up in mid-February, there was a big emphasis on emerging technologies, Bruckenstein said, with “a record number of new companies with interesting products. It seems there’s a lot more interest among people who are interested in building technology for the financial services industry, and more and more of them are targeting the RIA space.”

The goal isn’t to host a huge event every year—and really, “there are only so many people in a given year who are willing to come to a pure technology conference,” Bruckenstein said—but to “bring technology to the masses,” according to Drucker.

From about 150 advisors to 600, the conference has grown as a way to educate advisor tech users, but has also served the tech makers. “The sponsors at our conferences probably get as much out of visiting with each other as visiting with the advisor attendees,” Drucker said. “Many product integrations have grown out of the relationships that were formed at our conference.”

Bruckenstein and Drucker have even added an enterprise edition of the T3 conference to bring tech education to executives at broker-dealer firms. The second annual enterprise conference will take place in November.

The tech trends of the future should come as no surprise to advisors; they’ve already taken shape. Indeed, although Bruckenstein and Drucker spoke in separate interviews, they were of one mind on the subject. “Trends that are in existence now are going to continue,” Drucker said.

Bruckenstein elaborated, “The big trends in the industry over the last few years still continue, but they’re evolving.” Integration and mobile will remain major trends for advisors, they agreed.

Of integration, “It’s much better than it used to be, but it’s still not where advisors would like it to be, which is totally seamless,” Bruckenstein said. For example, “A lot of advisors don’t want to use all-in-one software packages,” according to Drucker. “They want to use best-of-breed software packages. For example, they might have a MoneyGuidePro for financial planning and a Redtail for CRM and something else for outside portfolio management, and they want everything to talk to each other.”

Mobile is another big trend, but advisors are still getting comfortable with it. “Advisors were quick—relatively quick for advisors, anyway—to adopt the iPad and smartphones, but are they really using them to their full potential yet? Probably not,” said Bruckenstein.

Another trend that will benefit advisors is what Drucker calls “workflow.” He said, “It may sound very elementary, but advisors with growing firms are learning that they can’t keep the procedures manual in the head of one or two people in the firm. Not only does it have to be written down, but it has to be embedded in the software, so to speak. You have to have CRM systems that tell all employees what the status of any given task is at any given time.”

For advisors who have watched the proliferation of online financial service providers with some concern, Bruckenstein and Drucker agreed that they aren’t much competition. If an advisor isn’t providing much more than asset allocation services, “yeah, I think you’re in trouble,” Bruckenstein said, “because robo-advisors are offering those kinds of services, if not for free, for next to nothing.” However, “most good advisors provide many, many services that go beyond just asset allocation.”

Drucker added that there’s room for everyone in this industry. “There’s room in the industry for all different sizes of players and all different types of players. We were told about 10 or 15 years ago that by now the industry would be all large shops, and smaller practitioners wouldn’t be able to survive. I think that’s been disproved. In the same way, I think there’s probably room for robo-advisors too, without upsetting the landscape too much.”

One thing advisors can learn from online services is reporting. “If your client can go to [a robo-advisor] and get these graphically pleasing, easy to understand, dynamic web-based reports for free or almost free, and you’re charging a lot more than that and providing crappy reports, I don’t think that’s sustainable,” Bruckenstein said. “Advisors are waking up to the fact that they can’t use the software, no matter how good the calculation engine is, if the reports are something that they wouldn’t be proud to share with their clients.”

(Check out Investment Advisor's full IA 25 for 2014 list on ThinkAdvisor.)

Mercedes-Benz S-Class lives up to high price

The S-Class is Mercedes-Benz's top sedan, the big dog, the car that gives lesser models — such as the entry CLA — their cachet.

It is hugely powerful, massively expensive and one of the biggest cars on the road.

It is a car that begs for sarcasm, ribbing, dismissive remarks because of its excesses.

M-B redesigned the supersize sedan for the 2014 model year, which began last fall for the car company. The result is a machine that's worth a sly covet.

You can reasonably argue that any car with a starting price of about $94,000 should pluck the strings of desire. Still, Test Drive has wheeled around in some pretty pricey machines that did not deliver the gratification that their window-stickers implied.

The S550 does.

The S-Class lineup has dropped the gas-electric hybrid and diesel versions, which had been the lowest-price models.

But the S550, now the base model, starts $3,005 less than its 2013 price, and the S63 AMG go-fast version is $1,405 less.

The new car is lighter due to aluminum body panels, which weigh less than steel, and it has generally better mileage ratings and higher engine-power ratings.

But here's our favorite attribute: Despite its size, complexity, opulence and muscle-car-plus power, it makes a sweet daily driver. After a short learning curve, you can operate most features quickly (if not always logically) and ramble about as if you were driving a normal car.

Many big cars and trucks are daunting behind the wheel, mainly because their size makes them hard to park, unpleasant to maneuver in thick traffic and because they often come with an array of gadgets that can be tricky to master.

The S550 seems to skip that, as does its high-performance AMG version, the S63.

No cheating the laws of physics, of course. No matter how agile it feels, it's nevertheless 17-plus feet long, which is 2 feet more than the midsize family sedans that make up the biggest slice of car sales.

But it's more than a foot shorter than ! a full-size crew-cab pickup, so if that's your normal ride you'd think the S550 is a tidy size.

M-B says the S-Class buyer averages 62 years old, is almost certainly a man (83% of buyers), married (87%), has a college degree (81%) and enjoys a median income of $324,000.

Buyers of the AMG, M-B likes to say — with only slight exaggeration — are half as old and twice as rich: 40s and $500,000 to $600,000 yearly income.

The test cars were a $122,895 S550 4Matic (M-B's term for all-wheel drive), and a $161,935 S63 AMG 4Matic.

Both had the latest thing — optional Night View Assist Plus ($2,260). Developed by Autoliv, it uses two infrared cameras up front to spot and alert you to pesky deer, weaving pedestrians and the like. One camera sees down the road and the other is a high-resolution unit for crisp images when you get closer.

The system displays a red rectangle around the person or animal of concern, and if you get very close and the critter's not scampering away, a bright light comes on to shock the person or animal into attentive escape.

You can keep night vision turned off if you find it unsettling or distracting.

On our first night it spied and highlighted a dog walker in an alley we assumed was deserted.

But the black-and-white display is between the speedometer and tachometer on the dashboard, so the driver has to look down to watch the picture. Seems like a natural system for head-up display in the windshield, but M-B believes the image quality wouldn't be sufficient.

Cameras on many of today's cars look behind and, sometimes, to the side, to help you park. A system that looks forward is slightly disorienting, and acclimating to it takes some time. Just don't drive around staring at the night-vision screen, or you'll miss more obvious obstacles and wish you'd have had your eyes up.

Also of note ...

The S550 was easier to like than the more-powerful S63 AMG, which had a coarser feel and was more intrusive when it went through th! e automat! ic stop/start cycle that automakers use to save fuel.

Seats are max comfortable — once you find the control that lets you disable the silliness, such as side bolsters that press in on your thorax to keep you in place during those daredevil, 8-mph turns in parking lots.

The rear seat has so much leg and knee space that it's hard to imagine backbenchers feeling crowded, even with NBA players sitting ahead of them. The outboard seats also power recline and slide (part of the $2,600 Warmth and Comfort package).

There are three safety belts back there, but the middle slot is too skinny for humans.

Heating elements in the armrests and console lid (more of that Warmth and Comfort package) can be activated to complement the configurable seat heaters, if you so set the system.

So-comfy headrests, thanks to detachable pillows from that Comfort package.

The easy-going driving feel can be made more taut via separate "sport settings," one for the chassis, another for the transmission.

Climate control can pump in a scent you choose from among several bottles. We oppose any artificial smells not related to petroleum or leather (and would sign a petition demanding that department store perfume counters be closed as clean-air threats).

Stubby electronic gearshift on the steering column, used across M-B models, continues to feel unnatural, non-intuitive.

Except for the optional night vision, and perhaps the heated armrests, it's hard to find shout-worthy features on the S-Class. But that's proper. A car as well-executed as the 2014 S-Class also should be so remarkably well-integrated.

Bravo, Mercedes-Benz.

WHAT STANDS OUT:

Size: XL

Price: As big as the car

Interior: As nice as they come

ABOUT THE S-CLASS S550:

What? Full re-do of top-end, extra-large, four-door Mercedes-Benz sedan line with generally better mileage, more power, lower prices than previous versions. Redesign includes high-performance A! MG versio! n and Autoliv night-vision option for spotting animals, pedestrians in the dark.

When? V-8 S550 on sale since October; S63 AMG version since November.

Where? Made at Sindelfingen, Germany, (close to Stuttgart) at the company's main R&D/design complex.

How much? S550 starts at $93,825, including $925 shipping. S550 4Matic all-wheel drive, $96,825. Both are $3,005 less than 2013 models. S63 AMG (4Matic is standard), $140,425, down $1,405 from 2013.

What makes it go? S550: 4.7-liter gasoline V-8 with two turbochargers, rated 455 horsepower at 5,250 rpm, 516 pounds-feet of torque at 1,800 rpm. S63: 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 rated 577 hp at 5,500, 664 lbs.-ft. at 2,250. Both use seven-speed automatic.

How big? Similar to long-wheelbase versions of Audi A8, BMW 7 Series. S550 weighs 4,442 to 4,806 lbs. Turning circle diameter, 40 feet.

How thirsty? S550 rear-wheel drive rated 18 miles per gallon in the city, 25 highway, 20 combined. S550 4Matic: 16/26/19.

Test car registered 14.2 mpg (7.04 gallons per 100 miles) in easy-going suburban driving, 22.6 mpg (4.42 gallons/100 miles) on the highway. S63 is rated 15/23/18. Test car registered 12.8 mpg (7.81 gallons per 100 miles) in ordinary suburban driving.

Burns premium; 21.1-gallon tank.

Overall: Extraordinary, from chassis to interior to tech — as it should be for the price.

'My boss doesn't rule my destiny'

Chad Tall, Taco Bell, earns $8 an hour: "I support a sister, brother and my mom. We all live together in an apartment in the Bronx."

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Fast-food workers went on strike across the country on Thursday hitting pizza, burger and taco chains in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities.

Organizers say workers in about 150 cities walked off work to demand a minimum wage of $15 an hour, and the right to join unions without retaliation from employers.

The big chains of the $200 billion fast food industry were well represented, with workers from McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500), Taco Bell (YUM, Fortune 500), Chipotle (CMG), KFC, Wendy's (WEN), Burger King (BKW) and Domino's Pizza.

In New York City, workers paraded up Broadway beating drums and blowing vuvuzelas. CNNMoney talked to several of them. Here they are, in their own voices.

Sheila Brown, KFC, earns $8 an hour: "I am here for respect, equal rights for workers, and to be treated fairly."

Anthony Roman, McDonald's, earns $8 an hour: "Everybody else in the store was afraid to strike. My boss does not rule my destiny."

Prospero Sanchez, Domino's Pizza, earns $11.50 an hour: "I've worked 14 years at Domino's and I can't support a family. I h! ave a 2-year-old daughter and a 3-month-old son."

Sabrina Storey, KFC, earns $8 an hour: "I live in a homeless shelter, and I go to school. They want us to work hard but they don't want to pay for it."

Alex Ortiz, Wendy's, earns $8 an hour: "I'm 24 and I live with my parents. They get food stamps and government assistance for rent. I want to go to college someday for computer science."

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Luis Vasquez, Chipotle Mexican Grill, earns $9 an hour: "I'd like to go back to college, but I can't afford it."

The May 15 protests also went global with rallies reported from Tokyo, Seoul and London.

5 Stocks With Bad Earnings Growth — BBRY TCI ZQK RBCN MGPI

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This week, these five stocks have the worst ratings in Earnings Growth, one of the eight Fundamental Categories on Portfolio Grader.

BlackBerry Limited () engages in the design, manufacture and marketing of wireless solutions worldwide. BBRY also gets F’s in Earnings Momentum, Analyst Earnings Revisions, Equity, Cash Flow and Sales Growth. .

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Transcontinental Realty Investors, Inc. () is a real estate company that owns a variety of properties located across the United States. TCI also gets F’s in Earnings Momentum, Equity and Cash Flow. .

Quiksilver, Inc. () is an outdoor sports lifestyle company that designs, produces and distributes a diversified mix of branded apparel, footwear, accessories, snowboards and related products. ZQK also gets F’s in Earnings Momentum, Analyst Earnings Revisions, Equity and Sales Growth. Since January 1, ZQK has fallen 25.6%. This is worse than the S&P 500, which has remained flat. .

Rubicon Technology, Inc. () is an electronic materials provider that develops, manufactures and sells monocrystalline sapphire and other innovative crystalline products for LEDs, RFICs, blue laser diodes, optoelectronics and other optical applications. RBCN gets F’s in Earnings Momentum, Analyst Earnings Revisions, Equity and Sales Growth as well. The price of RBCN is down 23.1% since the first of the year. .

MGP Ingredients, Inc. () produces and markets ingredients and distillery products. MGPI also gets an F in Equity. .

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

3 Stocks Spiking on Unusual Volume

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

>>5 Big Charts Ready to Break Out in May

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

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

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

Matrix Service

Matrix Service (MTRX) provides engineering, fabrication, infrastructure, construction and maintenance services primarily to the oil, gas, power, petrochemical, industrial and mining and minerals markets principally in the U.S. and Canada. This stock closed up 18.4% at $33.57 in Friday's trading session.

Friday's Volume: 699,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 228,040

Volume % Change: 321%

From a technical perspective, MTRX gapped up sharply higher here back above its 50-day moving average of $32.70 with heavy upside volume. This move is starting to push shares of MTRX within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if MTRX manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $34.05 to its 52-week high at $35.34 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in MTRX as long as it's trending above Friday's low of $30.76 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that this near or above 228,040 shares. If that breakout materializes soon, then MTRX will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $40 to $45.

William Lyon Homes

William Lyon Homes (WLH), together with its subsidiaries, designs, constructs and sells single family detached and attached homes in California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. This stock closed up 4.9% at $28.47 in Friday's trading session.

Friday's Volume: 332,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 235,154

Volume % Change: 56%

From a technical perspective, WLH ripped higher here right above some near-term support at $26.10 with above-average volume. This move pushed shares of WLH into breakout territory, since shares took out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $27.86 to its 50-day moving average of $27.99. Market players should now look for a continuation move higher in the short-term if WLH manages to take out Friday's high of $28.48 to some more near-term overhead resistance levels at $29.74 to $30.25 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in WLH as long as it's trending above Friday's low $26.29 or above more support at $26.10 and then once it sustains a move or close above those resistance levels with volume that hits near or above 235,154 shares. If that move kicks off soon, then WLH will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $31.77 to its all-time high of $34.98.

Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage (MNST), through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, sells and distributes alternative beverage category beverages in the U.S. and internationally. This stock closed up 1.3% at $66.99 in Friday's trading session.

Friday's Volume: 3.32 million

Three-Month Average Volume: 1.45 million

Volume % Change: 144%

From a technical perspective, MNST jumped modestly higher here right off its 200-day moving average of $63.30 with above-average volume. This spike higher on Friday is starting to push shares of MNST within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if MNST manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $68.14 to its 50-day moving average of $68.55 and then once it clears more near-term resistance at $69.08 with strong volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in MNST as long as it's trending above Friday's low of $63 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 1.45 million shares. If that breakout gets underway soon, then MNST will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $71.51 to $74. Any high-volume move above $74 will then give MNST a chance to re-test or possibly take out its 52-week high at $75.63.

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

-- Written by Roberto Pedone in Delafield, Wis.

RELATED LINKS:

>>4 Big Stocks on Traders' Radars

>>Sell These 5 Toxic Stocks Now

>>Must-See Charts: Fight the Selling With These 5 Trades

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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

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

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

Competition from Google Will Crush Yelp

The growth story of Yelp (YELP), an online urban city guide which helps people locate restaurants, has been impressive. The stock has appreciated nearly 310% in the last 12 months and is still the leading listing service for restaurant reviews. Yelp has grown its revenue consistently, but earnings have come to a standstill. The company posted a wider than expected loss (yet again) in the latest reported quarter, but investors have neglected that and have continued to bid up the stock due to its impressive revenue growth. However, I think Yelp's bull run is about to come to an end, which is why I think investors should short the stock. Let's take a look at the reasons why I think Yelp will plummet in the future.

Google Will Dethrone Yelp

Yelp has been spending lavishly in order to lure advertisers. Surging marketing expense has resulted in consistent double-digit revenue growth, but it is the primary reason why the company has never posted a profit. This strategy may backfire as the market is becoming increasingly crowded and Yelp will quite probably surrender market share to big name players like Google (GOOG).

There are numerous reasons why I think Google+ Reviews can easily push Yelp aside and become the market leader. Let's go over the reasons one by one.

The first reason is promotion by integration. Google is trying to make its search service a one-stop shop for users and has integrated Google+ Reviews across local Google searches and Google Maps, giving it a competitive edge over Yelp. Eighty-three percent of searches were embedded with Google+ Reviews, which ultimately promoted the app in front of millions of users.

The second reason why Google+ Reviews will cruise ahead of Yelp is customer satisfaction. New reports suggest that one out of every five review on Yelp is fake, which makes it difficult for the users to trust the assessment. Surpassing Yelp's review filter is pretty easy. Basically, if you set up multiple accounts and use them regularly, Yelp's review filter will not be able to know that the accounts are phony. Google, on the other hand, can do a much better job in tracking fake accounts. Google can track activities on other apps like Google Maps, Gmail, etc., which the majority of the people use, to differentiate real accounts from the ones which are counterfeit.

In addition, Google has made it possible for users to get the menu of their preferred restaurants with a quick search. Users will be able to get the menu, price and availability by typing or speaking "show me the menu at [restaurant]" from any of Google's search products. This spells trouble for Yelp, as users would find it easier to type in a search query than launching an app. As of now, this feature is only being rolled out in the U.S., and if Google is able to provide suitable answers to common restaurant queries, it will make visiting Yelp less necessary, if not unnecessary. All these factors together will result in a migration of users from Yelp to Google+ Reviews, thus hurting the former's future revenue and earnings.

Conclusion

A short interest of over 21% indicates that a considerable proportion of investors have realized the fact that Yelp will struggle in the future. Yelp will not be returning to profitability in fiscal year 2014, and the company's stock price is too high to validate its present value. In addition, the company's growth is slowing down, and to make matters worse, it risks losing market share to Google at some point. With all these challenges ahead, Yelp is still hovering near its all-time high. Thus, it's highly likely that Yelp's shares will drop once it falls prey to Google, making it a good short candidate.

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YELP STOCK PRICE CHART 54.22 (1y: +75%) $(function(){var seriesOptions=[],yAxisOptions=[],name='YELP',display='';Highcharts.setOptions({global:{useUTC:true}});var d=new Date();$current_day=d.getDay();if($current_day==5||$current_day==0||$current_day==6){day=4;}else{day=7;} seriesOptions[0]={id:name,animation:false,color:'#4572A7',lineWidth:1,name:name.toUpperCase()+' stock price',threshold:null,data:[[1368421200000,30.92],[1368507600000,30.97],[1368594000000,30.01],[1368680400000,30.43],[1368766800000,30.79],[1369026000000,30.97],[1369112400000,31.58],[1369198800000,29.4],[1369285200000,29.46],[1369371600000,29.34],[1369717200000,29.95],[1369803600000,30.09],[1369890000000,29.99],[1369976400000,29.81],[1370235600000,28.15],[1370322000000,27.46],[1370408400000,28.2],[1370494800000,29.09],[1370581200000,30.11],[1370840400000,29.92],[1370926800000,29.52],[1371013200000,29.39],[1371099600000,29.48],[1371186000000,30.84],[1371445200000,31.75],[1371531600000,31.55],[1371618000000,32.93],[1371704400000,31],[1371790800000,31.24],[1372050000000,30.94],[1372136400000,31.11],[1372222800000,34.87],[1372309200000,34.33],[1372395600000,34.77],[1372654800000,34.02],[1372741200000,34.51],[1372827600000,34.45],[1373000400000,34.99],[1373259600000,34.91],[1373346000000,37.24],[1373432400000,36.9],[1373518800000,37.45],[1373605200000,39.4],[1373864400000,38.67],[1373950800000,38.97],[1374037200000,39.97],[1374123600000,39.75],[1374210000000,42.13],[1374469200000,40.99],[1374555600000,39.94],[1374642000000,39.91],[1374728400000,41.52],[1374814800000,42.1],[1375074000000,42.12],[1375160400000,41.79],[1375246800000,41.8],[1375333200000,51.5],[1375419600000,57.02],[1375678800000,54.01],[1375765200000,51.99],[1375851600000,52.08],[1375938000000,51.26],[1376024400000,51.85],[1376283600000,50.75],[1376370000000,51.29],[1376456400000,50.82],[1376542800000,47.75],[1376629200000,50.13],[1376888400000,49.23],[1376974800000,49.64],[1377061200000,51.45],[1377147600000,52.1],[1377234000000,51.83],[1377493200000,51.26],[1377579600000,51.47],[1377666000000,51.67],[1377752400000,53.8],[1377838800000,51.98],[1378184400000,52.37],[1378270800000,55.95],[1378357200000,58.91],[1378443600000,62.4],[1378702800000,61.91],[1378789200000,63.2],[1378875600000,64.58],[1378962000000,63.77],[1379048400000,62.91],[13793076! 00000,62..76],[1379394000000,65.92],[1379480400000,69.09],[1379566800000,70.59],[1379653200000,70.02],[1379912400000,65.8],[1379998800000,67.36],[1380085200000,68.93],[1380171600000,68.45],[1380258000000,68.05],[1380517200000,66.18],[1380603600000,71.12],[1380690000000,70.69],[1380776400000,71.02],[1380862800000,73.22],[1381122000000,69.93],[1381208400000,64.6],[1381294800000,63.47],[1381381200000,66.25],[1381467600000,67.33],[1381726800000,68.33],[1381813200000,67.82],[1381899600000,70.15],[1381986000000,68.9],[1382072400000,74.89],[1382331600000,71.06],[1382418000000,69.41],[1382504400000,66.01],[1382590800000,68.52],[1382677200000,68],[1382936400000,67.59],[1383022800000,68.83],[1383109200000,67.05],[1383195600000,67.75],[1383282000000,67.15],[1383544800000,69.23],[1383631200000,71.13],[1383717600000,66.61],[1383804000000,61.83],[1383890400000,63.38],[1384149600000,62.77],[1384236000000,65.13],[1384322400000,66.81],[1384408800000,67.25],[1384495200000,70.77],[1384754400000,64.43],[1384840800000,63.06],[1384927200000,62.33],[1385013600000,63.93],[1385100000000,62.39],[1385359200000,58.2],[1385445600000,61.92],[1385532000000,61.54],[1385704800000,60.69],[1385964000000,59.96],[1386050400000,60.27],[1386136800000,63.07],[1386223200000,62.62],[1386309600000,62.86],[1386568800000,63.79],[1386655200000,65.53],[1386741600000,63.1],[1386828000000,64.38],[1386914400000,64.05],[1387173600000,64.14],[1387260000000,66.8],[1387346400000,65.79],[1387432800000,65.49],[1387519200000,68.01],[1387778400000,68.3],[1387864800000,67.83],[1388037600000,68.16],[1388124000000,65.92],[1388383200000,66.01],[1388469600000,68.95],[1388642400000,67.92],[1388728800000,67.66],[1388988000000,71.72],[1389074400000,72.66],[1389160800000,78.42],[1389247200000,78.42],[1389333600000,82.21],[1389592800000,75.84],[1389679200000,81.4],[1389765600000,80.93],[1389852000000,81.15],[1389938400000,82.36],[1390284000000,82.21],[1390370400000,81.28],[1390456800000,79.45],[1390543200000,75.99],[1390802400000,72.44],[1390888800000,76.09],[1390975200! 000,71.95]! ,[1391061600000,75.47],[1391148000000,75.95],[1391407200000,74.49],[1391493600000,77.79],[1391580000000,75.23],[1391666400000,

Kabe Exploration Announced Loan Agreement with Phoenix Group Capital Markets (OTCMKTS:KABX, OTCMKTS:CLNO)

Kabe Exploration, Inc (KABX)

Today, KABX surged (+25.00%) up +0.0020 at $.0100 with 309,514 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 12:06PM EDT July 9, 2013).

Kabe Exploration, Inc. previously reported it has secured a bridge loan with Phoenix Group Capital Markets, a UK holding company, through its wholly owned micro-cap investment fund. The bridge loan was secured with restricted stock for operating capital purposes. The company had previously entered into a $5,000,000 Reserve Equity Financing Agreement with Phoenix Group in a term sheet announced in May. "This bridge loan affirms the level of investment confidence we are seeing from the professional investment community," said Erik Ulsteen, the company's CE

Kabe Exploration, Inc (KABX) 5 day chart:

Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO)

Today, CLNO has surged (+0.04%) 0.000 at $.259 with 229,233 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 3:24PM EDT July 9, 2013).

Cleantech Transit, Inc. (OTCMKTS:CLNO) (www.cleantechtransit.net ) through its Discovery Carbon subsidiary, develops emissions offset strategies for companies, municipalities, and countries. Today, CLNO has surged (+0.04%) 0.000 at $.259 with 229,233 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 3:24PM EDT July 9, 2013). Earlier this morning (July 8), this company hit as low as $.222 and as high as $.265.

Could it be because of CLNO previously announced it plans to change its name to EQCO2, Inc. and also the plan for a 1 for 5 forward stock split for its common stock? (July 5) Cleantech announced that the process for both is underway and is expected to occur before the end of July.

FYI – (July 5) Cleantech Transit, Inc. Files SEC form 8-K http://www.otcmarkets.com/edgar/GetFilingHtml?FilingID=9389837

FYI – (July 3) Cleantech Transit, Inc. Files DEF 14C http://www.otcmarkets.com/edgar/GetFilingHtml?FilingID=9386382

Cleantech Transit, Inc. (CLNO ) 5 day chart:

Brent Steady On Rare Positive Chinese Data

Related BNO Brent Steady Above $107 With Ukrainian Civil War Looking Likely Brent Steady Despite US Inventory Expectations Related DBE Russia Threatens To Cut Gas Supplies Brent Poised To Post Largest Weekly Loss In Four

Brent crude oil was steady at $108.00 at 6:08 GMT on Thursday morning after better than expected trade data from China, but dissipating geopolitical tension in Ukraine.

Customs data from the world's second largest oil consumer showed that imports were up 22.4 percent from March to April. Exports were also modestly higher and beat expectations of a decline.

Crude oil imports were promising; after falling below 6 million barrels per day in March, China's oil imports rose to 6.78 million bpd in April. The nation's trade surplus came in at $18.5 billion for March, much higher than the forecast surplus of $13.9 billion.

See also: The Futility Of Attempting To Predict The Markets

Also positive for Brent was data from the Energy Information Administration, which confirmed that US stocks dropped last week despite expectations for a 1.4 million barrel rise.

CNBC reported that the EIA's report on Wednesday showed that US crude inventories were down 1.8 million barrels last week, which lifted both Brent and WTI.

Brent prices were under some pressure after Russian President Vladimir Putin took his first major step towards diffusing the tension in Ukraine by asking pro-Russian separatists to hold off on a secession vote less than a week before it was schedule to take place.

Many believe that Putin's appeal may have brought the eastern European nation back from the brink of a civil war. Moving forward, Brent could be under more pressure if Putin proves to be committed to ending the conflict peacefully.

However Brent did have some geopolitical support from problems in Libya, where rebel groups were unwilling to return control of two export terminals to the government.

Despite an earlier agreement, the rebels announced on Wednesday that they would keep the ports closed in boycott of Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq.

Posted-In: Ahmed Maiteeq Vladimir PutinNews Commodities Forex Global Pre-Market Outlook Markets Best of Benzinga

© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Why Chevron Corporation's Disappointing Earnings Are No Cause to Panic

Chevron's (NYSE: CVX  ) earnings declined by 27% year on year in the past quarter. Time to panic? Wall Street certainly doesn't think so: Shares actually ticked higher on Monday.

Courtesy of Investor Relations 

This quarter on its own, frankly, was pretty bad. The harsh decline in earnings was led by upstream, which represents oil and gas production, but was mitigated by downstream, which represents refining and distribution. As an aside, this is exactly why the biggest oil companies integrate operations: Oftentimes upstream will counteract declines in downstream, and vice versa. 

In any case, upstream earnings led the decline this quarter. This was caused partially by extreme weather in Kazakhstan, but more so by unmitigated base decline in legacy assets. Chevron's answer to this decline is several large, multi-year projects, most of them international. The most important of these projects are yet to come online, and hence base decline was very pronounced in this quarter.

Courtesy of investor relations

The chart above adds color to the oil and gas production declines. "Major capital projects," which added to production this quarter, include Angola LNG and the Papa Terra offshore project in Brazil. Both of these had only a minor impact. Interestingly, shale projects in the Permian Basin in Texas and Vaca Muerta in Argentina added comparatively more to production than did the major capital projects, despite Chevron's obvious emphasis on the latter. 

Things will improve
Chevron's real answer to base decline will come over the next couple years. The company's biggest capital megaprojects, two offshore Gulf of Mexico rigs and two giant LNG plants in Australia, will deliver an impact much greater than that of the comparatively smaller Angola LNG and Papa Terra projects. 

One of the Gulf Of Mexico projects, Jack/St. Malo, will be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. The other Gulf project, Tubular Bells, is already 90% complete. Both of these will produce mostly oil. In Australia, the Gorgon LNG project is 80% complete. Management's target for first gas is 2015. The second Australian LNG project, Wheatstone, is only 33% complete. It will be awhile before Chevron sees any cash flow from Wheatstone. These four megaprojects represent the future of Chevron, and production declines will likely continue until the these projects come online.

Industry-leading profitability
Meanwhile Chevron's greatest competitive strength continues to be its profitability. Chevron finished 2013 with the highest return on capital employed at 17.2%, edging out its nearest competitor, ExxonMobil. Margins were even more impressive. Cash margin per barrel equivalent came in at an incredible $37, far higher than its next closest peer at only $27. 

Bottom line

Source: Google Finance

Unfortunately for those looking to add shares to their position, Chevron has run up quite a bit since its early February low. This chart shows a fairly clear pattern of jagged ups-and-downs, and so I believe we will see a better entry point for Chevron some other time.

Of all the integrated oil companies, Chevron continues to be the best 'low-risk' choice because of its high margins, leading return on capital and fortress balance sheet. The company also just recently raised its dividend payout by 7%. The stock now offers a yield of 3.4%. For all these reasons, Chevron is worth adding on a pullback.

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Middle-Class Retirement ‘Under Siege’: IMCA 2014

The middle class is “under siege” from unemployment, mounting debt and home values that have yet to recover, Marcia Wagner, managing director of the Wagner Law Group, said Monday at the IMCA conference.

The Obama administration has recognized its need to “buttress” the middle class to protect their retirement and is making efforts to incentivize savings and improve returns, she said.

“Given the power of inertia, policymakers are betting big,” she said. Some strategies like automatic enrollment are already in place, but while utilization is growing, deferral rates are holding tight around 3%. Furthermore, those policies are usually used for new hires. Sponsors should examine adopting re-enrollment and reallocation strategies to include older employees who have old election rates, she said.

There’s also a “heavy emphasis on automatic IRAs,” Wagner said. These would rely on “R-bonds,” which Wagner described as “a new type of government debt just for automatic IRAs.” These types of plans typically have a 3% default contribution rate and use a Roth structure, and default investments are designated by the government.

Republicans and Democrats alike are unhappy with some aspects of automatic IRAs, Wagner said. Broadly speaking, many Republicans find the mandate unconstitutional, while Democrats dislike how much money would be funneled to Wall Street, Wagner said.

Whatever plans end up looking like, Wagner said “automation is the nomenclature of the day.”

Both the Bush and Obama administrations have put an emphasis on returns by focusing on transparency and fees, Wagner said. Fiduciary “means philosophically to make participants educated consumers,” she said. Recent disclosure rules like 408(b)2 and 404(a)5 do just that. Wagner joked that most advisors might think disclosures go straight to the “circular file,” but she said that “there is a minority of participants and sponsors who read disclosures.” Competitors are reading them too, and even if that results in only minor changes to fees, they can have a big impact on participants later on.

Wagner added that fiduciary proposals are “evolving and harmonizing between and amongst the DOL, SEC and FINRA.”

One example of the ways government is trying to “buttress” retirement outcomes is in focusing on decumulation as much as accumulation. “The government is trying to get people to think in terms of annuities,” Wagner said. “They’re eliminating the regulatory underbrush inhibiting getting annuities on the lineup” of ways to take distributions.

A proposal from the IRS calls for use of a longevity annuity, which is really just a deferred annuity, Wagner said. It begins paying after the expiration of the owner’s mortality table, so it provides income for later in life. It would provide an exception to required minimum distribution rules for longevity annuity investment.

Wagner noted that target-date funds didn’t take off until they became the preferred qualified default investment alternative. If annuities became the default of choice, though, she said it would “kill the QDIA market.” Doing so would require a change to the Department of Labor’s Interpretive Bulletin 96-1, which lays out the difference between education and guidance. “People aren’t going to want to become fiduciaries to talk about annuities,” Wagner said. Wagner also talked about the DOL’s proposal for lifetime income disclosures. The proposal requires a quarterly statement of projected monthly income assuming a 7% return and 3% annual contribution increase, and using a 3% discount rate to convert future dollars into current dollars.

Under those assumptions, a 50-year-old plan participant with $125,000 in 2014 would end up with $500,000 in 2029, but that would fall to $321,000 after the discount rate. That leaves the participant with an estimated $1,800 per month.

It could be the “beginning of massive lawsuits if this becomes law,” Wagner said.

The “real crux of change” is what we want for retirement and what we can afford, she said. There are two kinds of debate to that end: tax reform and pension system reform.

Wagner reminded attendees that plan limitations can increase or decrease based on societal need, and have done so in the past as with the Tax Reform Act of 1986. That act increased revenue, but Wagner said it “took a solid decade for the 401(k) industry to recover.”

E. Thomas Foster, national retirement spokesperson for MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division, spoke as well. “To be successful, you have to be a student of the game,” he told attendees, encouraging them to “take advantage of what the law allows now” in retirement planning.

He said he encourages advisors to “be more holistic in growing your practice and look at accumulation and decumulation as a whole.” He said the common differentiators — being good at plan design, well-versed on fiduciary requirements or fee disclosure — are no longer good enough. They’re all part of the “sea of sameness” and advisors have to redefine their value proposition.

To do that, advisors need to be able to describe what they do and how they do it, but also why they do it, he said.

The single biggest risk for advisors, Wagner said in response to an attendee’s question, is that “plan documentation is old and cold. Make sure you have a plan document.” 

Another attendee asked about the probability of Social Security moving to a means-tested formula. Foster said such a move would be a “bait and switch.” Wagner agreed, adding, “Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that’s a function of desperate we are.” Social Security benefits may not be enough to live on by themselves, but Wagner said “some people actually do rely on” those benefits. If they were means-tested, it could “drag back to middle-class people who have clawed their way into the lower wealthy.”