Yahoo! Builds Its Own YouTube

This sounds like a suicide mission: struggling portal site takes on 600-pound video gorilla. Mayhem ensues. Or maybe not.

Tech website re/code reported on Friday that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is working on a plan to build a competitor to the ubiquitous YouTube franchise that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) paid $1.65 billion for in late 2006. Just a guess, but Yahoo is likely to spend a lot more than that to get a competitive product out the door.

Still, the company and its CEO Marissa Meyer seem to be attacking in the right way. According to the reports, Yahoo is using the promise of more cash to lure the star talent and the popular YouTube channels away from Google and into the Yahoo fold. The interloper is trying to take advantage of the complaints by content providers that they don't make enough money on YouTube.

That may be true, but the only way Yahoo can fix that is by paying more — probably a whole lot more. Yahoo is apparently telling video makers that it can offer better deals than YouTube either through better advertising revenue or guaranteed ad rates for the makers' programming. Yahoo is also offering other inducements, including promotional space on the site's heavily trafficked home page.

Yahoo has another problem. YouTube is not only the world's leading streaming video site, but it is also the world's leading music streaming site. Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P), Spotify, Rdio, and the rest pale in comparison. How will Yahoo steal that business? Only at great cost.

10 Best Gold Stocks For 2014

At the very least, to dislodge the YouTube giant will require a massive investment in popular talent. Katie Couric's addition to Yahoo's stable was a start, but the company is going to need to do a deal with someone like Howard Stern at an enormous contract rate. Stern got $500 million from Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) in his original five-year deal and a similar deal for the next five years through the end of 2015.  Stern will be available relatively soon, but he won't come cheap. Just sayin'.

When China's Alibaba finally comes public, Yahoo stands to gain a warchest of $37 billion if it sells its entire stake. It will have the cash to spend on going up against YouTube, but YouTube is not without resources of its own. Google is sitting on cash and short-term investments of around $50 billion.

Today's 3 Best Stocks

A day after one of the worst losses for the broad-based S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC  ) all year, we're seeing a small rebound, albeit on the heels of economic news that otherwise would not have merited any upside.

The big story of the day was the 7.8% rise in jobless claims to a seasonally adjusted rate of 385,000. Economists had actually been forecasting a drop of 2% in jobless claims, so this was a most unwelcome shift. However, it shouldn't be completely unexpected given the shortfall that we witnessed in the ADP employment report earlier this week. As long as this seesaw battle continues to move five steps forward and four steps back, I believe investors will take their occasional lumps and be satisfied.

For the day, the S&P 500 advanced 6.29 points (0.40%), to finish at 1,559.98. Although the move higher was relatively tame, three companies really turned on their afterburners in today's trading.

Big-box retailer Best Buy (NYSE: BBY  ) was one such company, soaring 16.1%, after announcing an alliance with Samsung. The collaboration will allow 900 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile locations to open mini Samsung shops within its stores by May that will host a full suite of Samsung products. That figure will expand to 1,400 by the summer. Given the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy series in the smartphone market, this appears to be another strong move by turnaround specialist CEO Hubert Joly. Best Buy's aggressive price-matching tactics, coupled with its cost-cutting efforts, earned it my vote as the only S&P 500 top performer in the first-quarter that I expect will continue to see gains in the second-quarter.

Struggling department store J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) garnered the second spot, tacking on 4.5%, after hitting a new 52-week low earlier in the trading day. The catalyst appears to be an announcement that Penney's will be partnering with seven jewelry designers who are usually reserved for higher-end jewelry and department stores, including Kara Ross and Kenneth J. Lane. The company plans to focus on these brand-name jewelry designers, who will create a line of lower-price-point jewelry for its customer base, in the hope of providing the differentiation from other retailers that it's so sorely missing. I'd call this another good initiative on paper, but color me skeptical, as always.

Finally, energy-drink maker Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST  ) tacked on 4.1% after being named to investment firm UBS' (NYSE: UBS  ) top picks list for the second-quarter. According to Wall St. 24/7, UBS has selected 14 top picks which are expected to return 25% from their current levels, of which Monster is one. There's little denying that Monster has exceeded the growth rate of nearly all of its peers, thanks to the strength in its energy-drink sales. However, an FDA probe into the safety of its drinks, and the potential for increased governmental regulation, is enough of a gray cloud to keep me firmly away from Monster Beverage.

Can the Best Buy rebound continue?
The brick-and-mortar versus e-commerce battle wages on, with Best Buy caught in the middle. After what might have been its most tumultuous year in history, there are now even more unanswered questions about the future for the big-box electronics retailer. How will new leadership perform? Will old leadership take the company private? Will a smaller store format work out for both the company and its brave investors? Should you be one such brave investor? To help answer all these questions, The Motley Fool has released a new premium research report detailing the opportunities -- and the risks -- in store for Best Buy. Simply click here now to claim your comprehensive report today.

Top 10 Companies To Watch In Right Now

Top 10 Companies To Watch In Right Now: inContact Inc.(SAAS)

inContact, Inc. provides cloud-based contact center software services and network connectivity in the United States. Its solutions include inContact ACD, an automatic call distributor; inContact CTI, a computer telephony integration that integrates with customer data servers to provide agents pre-populated customer data; inContact IVR, an interactive voice response solution to create specialized call flows; and inContact Integrations for integration of various hardware and software solutions already in place at customer sites. The company also offers inContact ECHO that gathers the opinion of the customer and presents the analysis of the feedback directly to supervisors and agents; inContact Workforce Management, which forecasts demand, schedules workforce, analyzes and optimizes staffing, and reports real-time adherence in contact centers; inContact Quality Monitoring that provides insights into agent performance and customer satisfaction; and InContact Screen Recording, which provides compliance level screen recording functionality for voice channel interactions. In addition, it provides inContact eLearning that offers targeted, prioritized training, communications, and testing to the agent?s desktop during dips in call volumes; and inContact Network Connectivity, which includes time division multiplexing and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) connectivity, and toll-free and local-number services. Further, inContact, Inc. offers professional services, as well as operates as a domestic and international long distance reseller and aggregator. The company was formerly known as UCN, Inc. and changed its name to inContact, Inc. in January 2009. inContact, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By James Oberweis]

  While revenues grew 34% in 2013, the transition f! rom license to Systems-as-a-Service (SaaS) masked a faster underlying growth rate.

  As the SaaS business continues to grow, the firm will have better revenue visibility in the years to come and fairly attractive margin expansion possibilities as the business matures.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-companies-to-watch-in-right-now.html

4 Energy Services Stocks to Sell Now

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

This week, Tenaris S.A. Sponsored ADR () falls to a D (“sell”), worse than last week’s grade of C (“hold”). Tenaris manufactures and supplies steel pipe products and related services for the world’s energy industry. In Portfolio Grader’s specific subcategory of Sales Growth, TS also gets an F. .

Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. () earns an F (“strong sell”) this week, moving down from last week’s grade of D (“sell”). Helix Energy Solutions is a marine contractor and operator of offshore oil and gas properties and production facilities. The stock gets F’s in Cash Flow and Margin Growth. The stock price has dropped 5.2% over the past month, worse than the 1.7% decrease the S&P 500 has seen over the same period of time. .

The rating of Dril-Quip, Inc. () slips from a C to a D. Dril-Quip designs, manufactures, sells, and services offshore drilling and production equipment to be used in deepwater, harsh environment, and severe service applications. The trailing PE Ratio for the stock is 26.00. .

Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. () earns an F this week, moving down from last week’s grade of D. Hornbeck Offshore Services provides marine transportation services to the offshore oil and gas industry. The stock gets F’s in Earnings Revisions and Cash Flow. At $39.97, the stock is under the 50-day moving average of $42.20. Shares of the stock have been trading at an exceptionally rapid pace, up twofold from the week prior. .

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.

Who Comes First? The Shareholders or the Shareholders?

Having admitted wrongdoings, this leading car maker has been hit with a huge penalty and the company knows that appeasing shareholders is top priority, says MoneyShow's Jim Jubak.

This is an update to What Else Must this Company Do? posted on November 8, 2013.

Getting slapped with a $1.2 billion penalty to settle charges of sudden unintended acceleration that led to the recall of ten million vehicles is never a small thing, even for a company as big and profitable as Toyota Motor (TM). And the settlement with the US Justice Department left the company with both a black eye-the company admitted to wrongdoing as part of the penalty deal-and a black cloud hanging overhead-the company was charged with wire fraud, with the prosecution on that charge deferred for three years, as long as the company continues to cooperate with authorities.

But Toyota does seem to understand that the largest penalty ever imposed on a car company in the United States has left it facing a huge repair job with its shareholders. Today, as part of that effort, Toyota announced that it will spend 360 billion yen ($3.5 billion) buying back as many as 60 million shares, or about 1.9% of shares outstanding. The buyback is the company's first since February 2009. Toyota will buyback and retire about half of those shares by the end of June. On the news, the New York traded ADRs closed up 2.09% today. (Toyota is a member of my Jubak's Picks portfolio.)

I don't think this is the last move the company will take to use its huge cash flow to make shareholders happier.

The next move is likely to be a dividend increase. The ADRs now yield 2.3%. With Toyota forecasting a record 1.9 trillion yen profit for the fiscal year that ends on March 31, and saying that it intends to pay out 30% of net income in dividends, I think shareholders could be looking at an increase in the dividend yield this year to somewhere around 3.3%. All in all, Toyota has said it will return 6 trillion yen to shareholders.

I think it's likely that this promised cash return to shareholders will actually increase in fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016. Dividend yields-based on the current ADR price of $110.53, as of the March 26 close in New York-could rise to 3.6% in the fiscal year that ends in March 2015, and 4.4% for the fiscal year that ends in March 2016, Credit Suisse projects.

Not an absolute guarantee, of course. But in a financial market where good dividend yields are rare, and prospects of solid growth in dividend yields are even rarer, I think Toyota, at a price to earnings ratio of just 9.1 on estimated earnings for the fiscal year that ends next Monday, is a good bet.

As of March 26, I'm keeping my target price at $120 for September 2014 on the ADRs.

Full disclosure: I don't own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this post in my personal portfolio. When in 2010 I started the mutual fund I manage, Jubak Global Equity Fund, I liquidated all my individual stock holdings and put the money into the fund. The fund may or may not now own positions in any stock mentioned in this post. The fund did not own shares of Toyota Motor as of the end of December. For a full list of the stocks in the fund see the fund's portfolio here.

Horizon Kinetics March 2014 Commentary - Corporate Risk Reduction

Best Gold Companies To Buy For 2014

Clients frequently ask what we expect the S&P 500 Index ("S&P 500") to return in a given year. Our answer is nothing if not consistent: we do not know (and are wary of those who claim they do). However, we have been building an analysis set for some time now that indicates that institutional biases increasingly emphasize liquidity needs for their enormous pools of capital over investment merit, all in the name of reducing volatility.

At the index level, this trend is reflected in the prevalence of the float‐adjusted market capitalization weighted index construction methodology, the results of which include increasingly top‐heavy indexes and the exclusion or under‐representation of smaller or more closely‐held companies, even of entire industry sectors. Unfortunately for index investors, the same large companies that dominate index returns also face the greatest challenge with respect to future growth. How can a company with a $100 billion sales base generate enough incremental sales each year to move the needle when it has already saturated its market? Complicating matters further, since investors wish to experience low volatility, the company with a $100 billion sales base is expected not only to increase its revenues and earnings materially, but to do so in a manner that does not result in a variable earnings stream or stock price.

In the face of these two seemingly antagonistic goals, the largest corporations appear to be favoring risk reduction over long‐term value creation. One way of measuring this trend is to use the basic corporate liquidity measure, which is cash as a percentage of assets. The following table shows this measure for the 12 largest nonfinancial companies in the S&P 500; this discussion considers only nonfinancial companies because cash as a percentage of assets for Bank of America, for example, is not a meaningful figure. Note, too, that the top 12 nonfinancial companies in the S&P 500 happen to comprise 19.83% of the market value of the entire index, which is not a small number.

Continue reading here.

About the author:Grass Hopper

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Subscribe via Email Subscribe RSS Comments AlbertaSunwapta - 1 hour ago

Interesting insights. My experience has been that the cash rich companies can tumble quite far despite their cash. Just look at Apple in 2009. It's the buyers and sellers that determine volatility and a large cash horde might put a floor under the price but inefficiently so. Moreover I now believe that the expectation that cash on the balance sheet and the hoped for optionality value it possesses is over rated. In 2009, '10 and on that optionality wasn't utilized because managements mirror the fears of the market place and may freeze up just as investors do. Buffett was one of the few that acted and deployed cash in that crisis. A look to Japan over the past 20 years might confirm or dismiss my view since their decline was slow and much different than the 2009 credit crisis and I believe in Japan there were a large number of cash rich firms, net-nets, etc. I would guess that they too also failed to deploy cash opportunistically.

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3 Chinese Stocks Set to Gain On China’s Economic Rebound

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There have been some concerns on Wall Street the past few weeks about the Chinese economy. The latest sign was a decline in the Purchasing Managers Index, which came in below the consensus expectation and made the markets nervous Chinese stocks.

However the weakness just makes it that much more likely that the Chinese government will add stimulus programs to get the economy back in gear. The Chinese government is targeting a 7.5% growth rate this year and earlier this month said they will increase spending on things like construction spending and other programs designed to get growth back on track.

This will be great news for our Chinese stocks. We hold several high quality China-related stocks that are still exhibiting best of the best fundamentals. I am willing to add to these positions on any weakness as they still have very strong sales and earnings growth and the analysts are increasing their estimates for these powerful companies.

Let’s take a look at these winners:

SouFun Holdings Limited (SFUN) is a great example of a best in class Chinese stocks that I am excited about right now. The company operates a real estate internet portal that serves real estate developers in the marketing phase of new property developments, as well as to real estate agencies. They also allow companies that make housing related products like home furnishing and improvement products as well as companies selling consumer products like furniture and electronics.

Best Energy Stocks To Own Right Now

Earnings are up over 80% this year and sales on fire rising by about 50%. SFUN has posted four consecutive earnings surprises and analysts recently raised their estimates for 2014 and 2015 profits. Portfolio Grader raised the company to a strong buy back in July and this stock is still a strong buy at the current price.

Education is a top priority in China and competition for the best schools are intense. TAL  Education Group (XRS) benefits form the focus on education by offering tutoring services for kids in grades k-12. They operate a network of 270 learning centers and 247 service centers in China and also have 5 call centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

XRS also operates eduu.com, an online education platform that serves as a gateway to its online courses on topic such as college entrance examinations, high school entrance examinations, mathematics,  English and Chinese composition. The high level of interest in education is powering strong earnings growth with profits up over 38% this year and in the most recent quarter the bottom line was up 66% year over year.

The company has posted a positive earning surprise the past four quarters in a row and Portfolio Grader has ranked the stock an A since last August. XRS shares remain a strong buy today as the fundamentals just keep getting better.

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd (QIHU)  is a stock I have mentioned a few times in the past few weeks. The company provides Internet and mobile security products in the People’s Republic of China and is growing a very high rate. In the most recent quarter this company had sales growth of over 100% and earnings surged by more than 200% year over year. They are now the undisputed leader in smart phone security in China with over 70% market share.

Analysts have recently raised their r2014 and 2015 profit estimates after three consecutive big positive earning surprises in a row. Portfolio Grader upgraded this stock to an A back in June and the stock remains a strong buy today.

Even though there may be a few fists and starts along the way China will be one of the fastest growing companies in the world for the foreseeable future. Furthermore the government is committed to growing the economy at a high rate as it expands its role in the world and develops a thriving middle class. This is great news for those Chinese companies that have the very best fundamentals as identified by Portfolio Grader.

Facebook Sticking It to Brands – Great News for FB Stock

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During the past year, Facebook's (FB) Mark Zuckerberg has gone to zombie-esque language. But rather than moaning “Brainsssss,” the Facebook CEO can only be heard repeating “monetizaaaaaaation, mooooooobile.”

Quite the change. And it’s something that’s about to affect Facebook’s ad world in a big way.

How Will FB Make Bank Next?

When FB stock hit the markets in 2012, Mark Zuckerberg had a pretty lackadaisical view of monetization, and even mobile to a lesser extent. He truly seemed to care about the product and nothing else, to the detriment of his newly public status.

However, a plunge in FB stock was followed by a change in attitude, and like all things, Mark Zuckerberg met with success. Facebook stock is up a sizzling 160% in the past year, growing the company to more than $170 billion.

There’s been plenty of speculation about where Zuckerberg’s monetization focus will hit next, with many laying odds on Instagram. But according to sources familiar with the company, it looks like Facebook is putting its crosshairs on once-free services, according to Valleywag:

“A source professionally familiar with Facebook’s marketing strategy, who requested to remain anonymous, tells Valleywag that the social network is ‘in the process of’ slashing ‘organic page reach’ down to 1 or 2 percent. This would affect ‘all brands’—meaning an advertising giant like Nike, which has spent a great deal of internet effort collecting over 16 million Facebook likes, would only be able to affect of around a 160,000 of them when it pushes out a post.”

The potential boost this could give FB stock is considerable. In theory, brands will have their prospective audience slashed into mere slivers — and the only way to really recoup that is by paying up.

And it’s a little salt in the wound of businesses that have spent years building a Facebook presence, as those efforts now could amount to very little. (But, this is always a risk when working with an online platform.)

The upside for consumers is that it shouldn’t harm the user experience. In fact, the fee could actually reduce the number of commercial posts you see — at least if you follow a lot of brands.

For the companies with money to spend, their agencies and experts will develop ads that can get results — not just spam. And yes, plenty of companies will stick around. You don’t just walk away from the ability to leverage a database of 1.2 billion users with relevant ads.

But FB stock holders really walk away winners in all this. According to eMarketer, the mobile ad market is expected to soar 75% in 2014 to $31.5 billion, and Facebook was already lined up to get a sizable chunk of that.

Now, they’ve likely punched that number up quite a bit more.

Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook. He is also the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Ukraine, China and Veronica Mars: Flashbacks Fears Sink Stocks

Nearly every review of the Veronica Mars movie, which hits theaters this week, has mentioned how fans of the TV show are just going to love it. I’m just not sure about the rest of us.

Warner Bros/Everett Collection

Rolling Stone calls it a “mixed bag” but says “fans will have a blast.” The Philadelphia Inquirer calls it “fine as fan fodder.” The New York Daily News says, “So congratulations, loyalists. Veronica's return is everything you've hoped it would be.” The rest of us, however, don’t seem to matter much, which the film’s producers appear to acknowledge by releasing Veronica Mars in 291 theaters; Need for Speed will open in more than 3,000. If all goes well,Veronica Mars will earn $2 million in the theaters–its also being released in video-on-demand–and it will make its fans very, very happy.

Here’s another flashback we didn’t need, this one to the Cold War. See, there’s a little referendum happening in the Crimea, where the region will decide whether to officially join the U.S.S.R, I mean Russia. Nor did it help that China’s economic data once again raised the possibility of a hard landing. The upshot: No one wanted to be long heading into the weekend. The S&P 500 fell 2% to 1,841.13 this week after dropping 0.3% today, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.4% to 16,065.67 after falling 0.3% today.

The Dow’s biggest losers this week included Goldman Sachs (GS), which fell 5.1% to $165.35, United Technologies (UTX), which dropped 4.8% to $112.60 after offering lower-than-forecast guidance, and Boeing (BA), which declined 4.2% to $123.11 after UBS cut its price target. The S&P was led lower by General Motors (GM), which plunged 9.6% to $34.09 as the Justice Department started investigating its recall, and Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO), which fell 8.8% to $44.20.

Deutsche Bank’s Taimur Baig and team ponder what happens next in Ukraine:

The political crisis in Ukraine remains at a dangerous stage. The territorial integrity of Ukraine is in doubt. The implications of the referendum in Crimea this weekend are far from clear. Sanctions are probable. Military conflict is possible. The relationship between Ukraine and its eastern and western neighbors will change depending on how these and other issues play out. But there is also an economic element to the crisis. Ukraine has been heading down an unsustainable economic path for a number of years and was in desperate need of external funding.

The turmoil overseas also overshadowed good news here in the U.S., namely a drop in US jobless claims and a pickup in retail sales. But it also doesn’t help that the Fed will meet next week–and its forward guidance is likely to change to what economists have dubbed “qualitative guidance.” Societe Generale’s Aneta Marowska explains the likely impact:

In thinking about the elasticity of the FOMC's rate forecasts to the underlying economic outlook, it may be helpful to imagine two extremes: a perfectly inelastic forward guidance would be calendar-based, and a perfectly elastic forward guidance would be fully data-dependent. Threshold-based guidance is somewhere in the middle, since the whole point is to reduce the sensitivity of rate forecasts to the data. In our view, moving toward qualitative guidance does not mean that the elasticity will increase. On the contrary, we expect "the dots" to remain incredibly sticky, acting much like calendar guidance. After all, by abandoning the thresholds once they have been reached, the Fed is signaling that it does not want to be tied to the data.

Citigroup’s Tobias Levkovich expects small caps to begin underperforming large:

 Arguably, a more domestic focus would suggest that smaller caps with less international presence would be preferred to larger multinationals if the US economy is indeed strengthening any concerns about emerging economies eat into overseas growth prospects, not to mention geopolitical anxiety over places like Ukraine, but we are less convinced by this widely circulated contention.

The most obvious reason for thinking big is based on multiples…[The] difference between large and small cap P/E ratios…[is] near its previous highs. But, the more crucial statistic is the probability of large caps outperforming when valuation gets this disparate. Currently, there is a 70% chance that large caps outperform versus the more random 45% during the observed period and such numbers are hard to ignore…As such, one can assume that small caps might get a far better bid late this year, but the next six months could be quite challenging on a relative basis.

Let’s just get through the weekend.

Tax Breaks for Child-Care Expenses

We set aside $5,000 last year in a dependent-care flexible spending account through work to pay for my son's child-care expenses. However, we ended up with out-of-pocket expenses in excess of $5,000. Can we also take the child-care credit when we file our tax return?

SEE ALSO: Tax-Friendly Ways to Pay for After-School Care

No. Because you are paying for care for only one child younger than age 13, you can't take the child-care credit for the excess expenses. If, however, you were paying for two or more kids, you would be able to claim the credit on up to $1,000 of child-care expenses beyond the $5,000 covered by your flex plan.

The child-care credit applies to up to $3,000 of child-care expenses for one child or up to $6,000 for two or more. The most you can run through a flex plan, regardless of the number of children involved, is $5,000. So for a family with two or more qualifying children who max out on the flex plan, up to $1,000 of additional expenses could qualify for the credit. Because the credit ranges from 20% to 35% (depending on income), that could knock $200 to $350 off the family's tax bill.

The cost of a nanny, day care or preschool counts for the child-care credit or a dependent-care FSA, as does the cost of before-school and after-school care and summer day camp for kids younger than 13 if the expense is incurred so that you and your spouse can work. You can also qualify if one spouse is a full-time student and the other is working. For more information about the child-care credit, see Tax Break for Summer Camp.

To calculate the child-care credit you can claim -- whether or not you receive dependent-care benefits from your employer -- see IRS Form 2441. Also see Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, especially the "reduced dollar limit" section on page 11 about coordinating the dependent-care FSA and the child-care credit.

Got a question? Ask Kim at askkim@kiplinger.com.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014

On Wednesday, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise.�

Sprint was once dismissed as an also-ran in the telecom industry, but lately, it's become the subject of a bidding war between two potential suitors. Which one will Sprint take to the altar, and will this quarter's results have an impact on its merger plans? Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Sprint over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its report.

Stats on Sprint

Analyst EPS Estimate

($0.32)

Year-Ago EPS

($0.29)

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: Cellcom Israel Ltd.(CEL)

Cellcom Israel Ltd. provides cellular communications services in Israel. It offers basic and advanced cellular telephone services, text and multimedia messaging services, and advanced cellular content and data services. The company?s basic cellular telephony services include voice mail, cellular fax, call waiting, call forwarding, caller identification, collect call, conference calling, ?Talk 2?, additional number services, and collect call services; and outbound and inbound roaming services. It also provides value-added services comprising Cellcom volume that includes downloadable content, such as music, games, on-net-reality programs, drama series, and video games; SMS and MMS services to send and receive text, photos, multimedia, and animation messages; access to third party application providers for notification of roadway speed detectors, mange vehicle fleets, and enable subscribers to manage and operate time clocks and various controllers for industrial, agricultural , and commercial purposes; video calls to communicate with each other through video applications; zone services for calls initiated from a specific location; location-based services; voice-based information services; text-based information services and interactive information services, including news headlines, sports results, and traffic and weather reports; and data services to access handsets, cellular modems, laptops, tablets, and cellular routers, as well as Internet based payment services. In addition, the company sells handsets, modems, routers, tablets, and laptops, as well as provides repair and replacement services; and offers landline telephony, transmission, and data services through its approximately 1,500 kilometers of inland fiber-optic infrastructure and complementary microwave links to selected business customers. As of March 31, 2011, it provided its services to approximately 3.395 million subscribers. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Netanya, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL  ) is getting a new CFO.

  Following the company's successful merger with Netvision, current Chief Financial Officer Yaacov Heen is declaring his mission accomplished, and says he intends to resign his post on Sept. 17 after 16 years with the company. At that time, Cellcom says it will bring on Shlomi Fruhling, the former VP for strategy and finance at Netvision, to become the merged company's new CFO on Sept. 18.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: Rewards Nexus Inc (ERNI)

Rewards Nexus Inc., formerly NIS Holdings Corp., incorporated on June 21, 2004, through its subsidiaries, operates in the loyalty/rewards industry. The Company has launched the Earn IQ rewards program, a consumer loyalty platform-coupled with marketing and advertising services for various industries.

The Company provides consumers with opportunities to interact and engage with online and mobile products. It primarily focuses on various business sectors, including the customer loyalty management market, the gift card industry, the online food ordering industry, and the marketing consulting industry

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Rewards Nexus Inc (OTCMKTS: ERNI), MyEcheck Inc (OTCMKTS: MYEC) and ITonis Inc (OTCMKTS: ITNS) fell 29.6%, 18.92% and 9.09%, respectively, last Friday. Moreover, some of these small cap stocks are already making big moves again this morning - perhaps in part because they have all been the subject of recent paid promotions. So where are these small cap heading this week and for the long term? Here is a quick reality check:

10 Best Energy Stocks To Watch For 2014: IDT Corp (IDT)

IDT Corporation (IDT), incorporated on March 15, 1996, is a multinational holding company with operations primarily in the telecommunications industry. The Company operates in two segments: Telecom Platform Services and Consumer phones Services, which comprise its IDT Telecom division. Telecom Platform Services provides telecommunications services, including prepaid and rechargeable calling products and international long distance traffic termination, as well as various payment services. Consumer Phone Services provides consumer local and long distance services in the United States. All other segments include Zedge Holdings, Inc. (Zedge), which owns and operates an on-line platform, including Android app, that allows users to share and obtain content to personalize mobile phones and tablets; Fabrix T.V., Ltd. (Fabrix), a software development company specializing in cloud-based video processing, storage and delivery; IDT Spectrum, which holds, leases and sells fixed wireless spectrum; Innovative Communications Technologies, Inc. (ICTI), which holds intellectual property primarily related to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), technology and the licensing and other businesses related to this intellectual property; the Company's real estate holdings, and other smaller businesses. On October 28, 2011, the Company completed the Genie Energy spin-off. In July 2013, Straight Path Communications Inc announced its spin-off from IDT Corporation.

Telecom Platform Services

IDT markets and distributes multiple communications and payment services across four business categories, including retail communications, wholesale termination services, payment services and hosted platform solutions. Retail Communications provides international long-distance calling products primarily to immigrant communities worldwide, with markets in the United States and Europe. These products include the Company's Boss Revolution Pinless product (an international calling service sold through the Boss Revolution ! payment platform), as well as many of its disposable calling card brands, including Boss, La Leyenda and Feliz, and mobile apps, including PennyTalk. Wholesale Termination Services is a global telecom carrier, terminating international long distance calls around the world for Tier 1 fixed line and mobile network operators, as well as other aggregators through the Company's network of 800-plus carrier interconnects. Payment Services provides payment offerings, such as international mobile top-up, or IMTU, as well as gift cards in both the United States and Europe. IMTU enables customers to purchase minutes for a prepaid mobile telephone in another country. IMTU is available in both traditional cards, as well as on the Company's Boss Revolution payment platform. Payment Services also includes reloadable prepaid debit cards and bank identification number (BIN) sponsorship services offered in Europe by IDT Financial Services through the Company's Gibraltar-based bank. Hosted Platform Solutions provides customized communications services that leverage the Company's networks, platforms and/or technology to cable companies and other operators.

The Company�� Boss Revolution payment platform is an online portal that can be accessed via a regular Web browser and utilized to sell a range of the Company's products and services. During the fiscal year ended July 31, 2012, the Company added domestic mobile top-up (DMTU) offerings. The Company sells its traditional calling cards under the La Leyenda, Boss, Playball, GOOOL, RED, Feliz, PT-1 and PennyTalk brand names, among others, providing telephone access to more than 230 countries and territories. As of July 31, 2012, IDT sold more than 1,000 different calling cards in the United States and more than 800 different cards abroad, with specific cards featuring favorable rates to specific international destinations. The Company's calling cards are marketed primarily to the ethnic and immigrant communities in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America! and Afri! ca.

Consumer Phone Services

The Company provides its bundled local/long distance phone service in 11 states, marketed under the brand name IDT America. The Company's bundled local/long distance service, offered predominantly to residential customers, includes unlimited local, regional toll and domestic long distance calling and popular calling features. A second plan is available, providing unlimited local service with the Company's long distance included for as low as 3.9 cents per minute. IDT also offers stand-alone long distance service throughout the United States. As of July 31, 2012, the Company had approximately 10,500 active customers for its bundled local/long distance plans and approximately 45,200 customers for its long distance-only plans.

The Company competes with AT&T,Verizon, InComm, Blackhawk Network and Coinstar.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  IDT (NYSE: IDT  ) reported earnings on June 6. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended April 30 (Q3), IDT met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  IDT (NYSE: IDT) is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $397.40 million.

  Xyratex (NASDAQ: XRTX) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.05 per share on revenue of $209.31 million.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: Sprint Corp (S&LS)

Sprint Corporation, incorporated on May 10, 2012, offers a range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumers, businesses and government users. On July 10, 2013, the Company, SoftBank Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint Nextel) completed the merger. In the Merger, Sprint Corporation was merged into Sprint Nextel, New Sprint became the parent company of Sprint Nextel, with Sprint Nextel becoming its direct wholly owned subsidiary, and Sprint Nextel changed its name to Sprint Communications, Inc.

The Company develops, engineers and deploys technologies, including the first wireless fourth generation (4G) service from a national carrier in the United States; offering mobile data services, prepaid brands, including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities, and a global Tier 1 Internet Service. The Company also offers unlimited data services.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Since Wilmers & Co. took over M&T Bank in 1983 the bank has acquired 23 banks and Savings and Loans (S&Ls) ��expanding from a single state to seven ��and assets have grown from $2 billion to $110 billion. M&T's branch count has grown from 60 to over 870. The bank currently boasts a customer base of over 2 million retail household customers and nearly 220,000 commercial customers.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: NII Holdings Inc.(NIHD)

NII Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides wireless communication services under the Nextel brand name to businesses and individuals in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Its services include mobile telephone service; Nextel Direct Connect service, which allows subscribers to talk to each other on a push-to-talk basis for private one-to-one calls or on group calls. The company also provides value-added services, including text messaging services; mobile Internet services; e-mail services; location-based services, such as the use of global positioning system technologies; digital media services; and a set of applications available via its content management system and the Android open application market. In addition, it offers business solutions, such as security, work force management, logistics support, and other applications to improve productivity; and international roaming services. NII Holdings, Inc. sells its products and services through direct sales representatives, indirect sales agents, retail stores, kiosks, and Website. The company was formerly known as Nextel International, Inc. and changed its name to NII Holdings, Inc. in December 2001. NII Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is based in Reston, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) shares dropped 2.19% to reach a new 52-week low of $2.91. NII Holdings' trailing-twelve-month ROE is -72.60%.

  Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ: FMI) shares tumbled 7.58% to reach a new 52-week low of $21.23. Foundation Medicine's trailing-twelve-month profit margin is -147.08%.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  The search for bullish trading ideas isn't exactly a simple task today, given the bearish environment. That makes the solid bullishness from NII Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD) just that much sweeter. In fact, the chart looks so good and so healthy - in spite of Monday's marketwide drubbing - NIHD may be worth a shot.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Shares of NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) was up as well, gaining 11.48 percent to $3.35 after its advanced push to talk app was launched for the iPhone.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: Verizon Communications Inc.(VZ)

Verizon Communications Inc. provides communication services. The company operates through two segments, Domestic Wireless and Wireline. The Domestic Wireless segment offers wireless voice and data services; and sells equipment in the United States. The Wireline segment provides voice, Internet access, broadband video and data, Internet protocol network, network access, long distance, and other services in the United States and internationally. The company serves consumer, business, and government customers, as well as carriers. As of December 31, 2010, its network covered a population of approximately 292 million and provided service to a customer base of approximately 94.1 million. The company was formerly known as Bell Atlantic Corporation and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. in June 2000. Verizon Communications Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Radovsky]

  Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) reported double-digit earnings growth in both operating income and earnings per share for the second quarter, compared to the same period last year, the company announced today.

• [By Sean Williams]

  No. 3: Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) , $2.52 billion
  Are we noticing a pattern here in the first three companies? Telecom and Internet service providers are widely disliked and competition is incredibly fierce, meaning these companies have to literally browbeat consumers with their strengths over and over in order to drive home their point. As I stated previously, Verizon's turnover rate tends to be higher than AT&T's, but it also has a considerably more advanced LTE network that could give it the upper hand in the coming years. Targeting the younger generation will definitely help move the needle in Verizon's favor.

• [By Rich Smith]

  Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So, Comcast (CMCSA), consider yourself flattered, because Time Warner Cable (TWC) is copying off your homework. A couple of weeks ago, we told you about Comcast's "Great New Secret Cable Plan" to try to halt the exodus of subscribers from its services. The Comcast plan allows subscribers to sign up for: A menu of 45 or so of the most-watched, most useful cable channels The premium pay-TV channel HBO -- plus included HBO GO service for mobile devices High-speed Internet access at speeds up to 25 Mbps A subscription to XFINITY Streampix, Comcast's service for streaming video of complete seasons of popular television shows from recent years past... ... all for the low, low price of just $40 or $50 a month (depending on location). The plan was "secret" because Comcast didn't make much of an effort -- or really effort -- to publicize it. There's hardly even a mention of the plan on the company's website. In other words, it seems like Comcast would prefer to keep the new plan hush-hush so you continue paying for one of their more expensive bundles. However, word of Comcast's under-the-radar new plan get out -- nearly 5,500 DailyFinance readers printed, emailed, commented on, Tweeted, or Facebooked our story on Comcast's "Internet Plus" bundle last month. So Comcast competitor Time Warner did what any good competitor does: It copied the model and, this week, began offering a similar plan of its own: Dubbed "Starter TV with HBO," Time Warner's plan is an even more slimmed-down version of Comcast's idea. It features: "20+" cable channels, including the five biggies -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS HBO and HBO GO and... well, actually, that's about it. At $30 a month, Time Warner handily undercuts Comcast's Internet Plus offer on price. And yet, it's hard not to wonder if customers aren't still overpaying. For one thing, Time Warner's Starter TV with HBO offer

• [By Tom Taulli]

  Big competitors for BCE include Rogers Communications (RCI) and Telus (TU), though it also faces niche players such as Public Mobile, Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. Until recently, there was buzz that Verizon (VZ) might enter the market by buying up the latter two, though VZ apparently scrapped plans for Canadian expansion until 2014.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: KDDI Corp (KDDIF)

KDDI CORPORATION is a telecommunications company. The Mobile Telecommunication segment is engaged in the provision of mobile communications services, including voice and data services, and mobile WIMAX services, as well as the sale of mobile communication terminals and the provision of contents. The Fixed-line Telecommunication segment provides broadband services, including fiber to the home (FTTH) and cable television (TV) services, as well as domestic and overseas communication services, data center services and information and communication technology (ICT) solution services. The Others segment is involved in the operation of call centers and the development of research and advanced technology. On December 2, 2013, it transferred all shares of a wholly owned subsidiary, JAPAN CABLE NET LIMITED to another subsidiary. In December 2013, the Company acquired the entire share capital in Yugen Kaisha Cosmos. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Inman]

  In Tokyo, telecoms firm KDDI Corp. (JP:9433) � (KDDIF) �rose 2% after a Nikkei report said that the firm will likely report a record first-half group operating profit, with a 50% on-year increase. TDK Corp. (JP:6762) � (TTDKF) , however, dropped 0.2% after a separate Nikkei report said that the electronics-component producer will report an 8% increase in operating profit over the same period.

• [By Daniel Inman]

  In Tokyo, KDDI (JP:9433) � (KDDIF) �gained 0.6% after the telecommunications company reported a record-high and consensus-beating operating profit for the first half of the fiscal year, due to a stronger-than-expected increase in subscription and a rise in usage revenue.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: Telephone and Data Systems Inc.(TDS)

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., a diversified telecommunications service company, provides wireless and wireline telecommunications services in the United States. The company?s wireless services comprise postpaid and prepaid service plans, which consist of voice minutes, messaging, and data services; national consumer plans; business rate plans; smartphone messaging, data, and Internet services to access the Web, e-mail, social network sites, text, picture and video messages, and turn-by-turn GPS navigation, as well as to browse and download various applications; and data services, including news, weather, sports information, games, ring tones, and other services. It provides wireless devices, such as handsets, modems, and tablets; and a range of accessories comprising carrying cases, hands-free devices, batteries, battery chargers, and memory cards, as well as wireless device repair services. The company also offers voice services, including local and long-distance tel ephone service, voice over Internet protocol, voice mail, caller ID, and call forwarding services; broadband services comprising digital subscriber lines and other high-speed Internet data services; network access services; hosted and managed services consisting of co-location, hosting, hosted application management, and cloud computing services; and satellite and terrestrial video services to commercial and residential customers and carriers. In addition, it provides printing and distribution services. As of December 31, 2011, the company served approximately 5.9 million wireless customers and 1.1 million wireline equivalent access lines. It sells its products through retail sales and service centers, direct sales, and independent agents, as well as through Website and telesales. Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Telephone and Data Systems (NYSE: TDS  ) is phoning home another shareholder payout. The company has declared a dividend for its Q2, which will be $0.1275 per share of its common stock, paid on June 28 to shareholders of record as of June 14. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution that was disbursed at the end of March. Prior to that, the firm paid $0.1225 per share.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: Deltathree Inc (DDDC)

deltathree, Inc. (deltathree), incorporated January 27, 1998, is a provider of integrated video and voices over Internet Protocol (VoIP), telephony services, products, hosted solutions and infrastructure. deltathree offers a range of private label VoIP products and services, as well as back-office platforms. The Company's operations management tools include account provisioning; e-commerce-based payment processing systems; billing and account management; operations management; Web development; network management; and customer care. The Company's direct-to-consumer channel includes its joip Mobile application, iConnectHere offering (which provides VoIP products and services directly to consumers and small businesses online using the same primary platform) and its joip offering (which serves as the exclusive VoIP service provider embedded in the Globarange cordless phones of Panasonic Communications).

Products

Deltathree�� products include joip Mobile Application, Digital Video and Voice-over-IP Services, Broadband Phone and personal computer (PC)-to-Phone. The Company's joip Mobile application is a cellular phone application providing low cost mobile calls over third-generation (3G) cellular networks, as well as wireless fidelity (WiFi) networks. Cellular operating systems supported by joip Mobile include the iPhone, Google Android. Nokia Symbian and Blackberry. Through the use of the Company's network it offers a white-label solution in which its customers have the ability to customize, implement and rapidly launch digital next generation communications offerings with minimal risk and investment. For the Company's potential partners, the Company offers a range of service provider back-end support services, including network management, billing, provisioning, e-commerce, as well as custom Web and application development.

The Company's Broadband Phone product is a phone replacement solution available to business and retail customers over the last mile through br! oadband connections through cable modem, digital subscriber line (DSL) or fixed wireless. Broadband Phone enables a user to conveniently operate features and retrieve voice mail through e-mail, Web or a phone interface. The Company's PC-to-Phone offering enables a user to conveniently and inexpensively place a call to a standard telephone anywhere in the world directly from a personal computer while remaining on-line.

Services

deltathree operations management tools include video mail, account provisioning, payment processing systems, billing and account management, customer care and network operations care. The Company provides a video mail feature for its video phones applications. The Company provides its service provider and reseller customers with a Web page through which it can order additional services or accounts, generate and activate PINs and perform other customary implementation functions. It provides the customers with a fraud detection and prevention system to permits secure credit card transactions over the Web.

The Company provides the customers with real-time, Web-based access to billing records to check billing and usage information or to increases prepaid accounts. It has moved and consolidated traditional first tiers customer care functions onto the Web for ease and flexibility and support this with second tier customer care. The Company provides a Network Operations Center (NOC), automated troubles ticket system, which enables its customers to submit, manage, and follow-up with technical questions and issues online. The provision of VoIP products and services through the Company's service provider and reseller sales channel and its direct-to-consumer channel accounted for 75.4% and 23.3% of its total revenues during 2011, respectively.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Bardin, who previously ran online-video startup Intercast Networks and co-founded online-calling service Deltathree Inc. (DDDC), has increased his presence in the Israeli startup scene in recent years, speaking at conferences and appearing at technology-industry events.

10 Best Telecom Stocks For 2014: j2 Global Inc (JCOM)

j2 Global, Inc., incorporated on December 14, 1995, is a provider of services delivered through the Internet. The Company provides cloud services to businesses of all sizes, from individuals to enterprises. The Company operates in two segments: Business Cloud Services and Digital Media. The Company's Digital Media business segment consists of the Web properties and business operations of Ziff Davis, Inc. (Ziff Davis). The Company�� cloud services and solutions include fax, voice and unified communications, email and customer relationship management, online backup, global network and operations, and customer support services. In February 2013, it acquired IGN Entertainment, Inc. On November 9, 2012, the Company acquired Ziff Davis. Effective March 18, 2013, it acquired MetroFax Inc. In April 2013, the Company acquired Backup Connect BV.

Business Cloud Services

The Company's eFax and MyFax online fax services enable users to receive faxes into their email inboxes and to send faxes via the Internet. eVoice and Onebox provides the Company's customers a virtual phone system with various available enhancements. The Company's FuseMail service provides the Company's customers email, archival and perimeter protection solutions, while Campaigner provides its customers email marketing solutions. KeepItSafe enables the Company's customers to securely backup their data and dispose of tape or other physical systems. The Company's CampaignerCRM business provides customer relationship management solutions designed to increase the Company's customers' sales and increase efficiency. The Company also generates Business Cloud Services revenues from patent licensing and sales and advertising. The Company�� Business Cloud Services and solutions are of two types: direct inward-dial number (DID) -based, which are services provided in whole or in part through a telephone number and non-DID-based, which are its other cloud services for business. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had DIDs issued! to approximately 2.1 million paying subscribers.

The Company's services allow individuals to receive and send faxes as email attachments. In addition to eFax , the Company offers online fax services under a variety of alternative brands, including MyFax , eFax Plus , eFax Pro, eFax Corporate and eFax Developer . eVoice is a virtual phone system that provides small and medium-sized businesses on-demand voice communications services, featuring a toll-free or local company DID, auto-attendant and menu tree. With these services, a subscriber can assign departmental and individual extensions that can connect to multiple United States or Canadian DIDs, including land-line and mobile phones and Internet protocol (IP) networks. These services also include advanced integrated voicemail for each extension, unifying mobile, office and other separate voicemail services and improving efficiency by delivering voicemails in both native audio format and as transcribed text. Onebox is a unified communications suite. It combines the features of many of the Company's other branded services, plus added functionality, to provide a virtual office. Onebox includes a virtual phone system, hosted email, online fax, audio conferencing and Web conferencing.

FuseMail offers hosted email, email encryption and email archival services to businesses. These solutions are hosted offsite and seamlessly integrated into a customer's existing email system. The services include hosted email, VirusSMART virus scanning, CypherSMART encryption services, SpamSMART SPAM filtering and VaultSMART / PolicySMART archiving, which delivers a secure, scalable email archiving and customizable compliance tool to correspond with a company's retention policy. Campaigner is an email marketing service that enables businesses to easily create and send personalized one-to-one email communications to subscribers and customers to build better relationships. Campaigner also helps businesses increase the size of their mailing lists, compl! y with em! ail regulations like CAN-SPAM and get more emails to more inboxes. CampaignerCRM is a cloud-based CRM solution specifically designed to help small/medium-sized businesses close more deals, reduce the sales cycle and sell larger deals. CampaignerCRM has a sales checklist capability that gives sales representatives a step-by-step plan to closing a deal. With CampaignerCRM's Social CRM capabilities, companies can seamlessly integrate a customer's latest information from Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook directly into their Contact profile. KeepItSafe provides managed and monitored online backup solutions for businesses, using its ISO-certified platform.

The Company's Business Cloud Services business operates multiple physical Points of Presence (POPs) worldwide, a central data center in Los Angeles and several remote disaster recovery facilities. The Company connects its POPs to its central data centers through redundant, and often times diverse, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) using the Internet. The Company's network is designed to deliver value-added user applications, customer support and billing services for the Company's customers anywhere in the world and a local presence for its DID-based service customers from thousands of cities in 49 countries on six continents. The Company offers DIDs covering all major metropolitan areas in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, and such other major cities as Berlin, Hong Kong, Madrid, Manila, Mexico City, Milan, Paris, Rome, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo and Zurich. The Company has customers located throughout the world.

The Company's Business Cloud Services customer service organization supports the Company's cloud services customers through a combination of online self-help, email communications, interactive chat sessions and telephone calls. The Company's Internet-based online self-help tools enable customers to resolve simple issues on their own, eliminating the need to speak or write to the Company's customer service re! presentat! ives. The Company's Business Cloud Services segment customer service organization provides email support seven days per week, 24 hours per day to all subscribers. Paying subscribers have access to live-operator telephone support seven days per week, 24 hours per day. Dedicated telephone support is provided for corporate customers 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Live sales and customer support services are available in nine languages, including English, Spanish, Dutch, German, French and Cantonese.

Digital Media

The Ziff Davis portfolio of Web properties, including PCMag.com, ExtremeTech.com, Geek.com, ComputerShopper.com, LogicBuy.com and Toolbox.com features reviews of technology products, technology-oriented news and commentary, professional networking tools for IT professionals and online deals and discounts for consumers. The Company generates Digital Media revenues from the sale of display advertising targeted to in-market technology buyers and from the sale of customer leads to online merchants and business-to-business leads to IT vendors. During the year ended December 31, 2012, Digital Media Web properties attracted 345 million visits and 1.1 billion page views.

PCMag is a trusted online resource for laboratory-based product reviews, technology news and buying guides. Toolbox.com is a network of online communities that allows experienced technology professionals to share collective knowledge and collaborate to resolve problems more efficiently. Toolbox.com includes professional networking tools, blogs, collaboration tools and reference guides. Geek.com is an online technology resource and community for technology enthusiasts and professionals. Its gaming site includes IGN.com and men's lifestyle site includes AskMen.com.

The Company competes with Google AdSense, DoubleClick Ad Exchange, AOL's Ad.com and Microsoft Media Network.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  j2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM  ) just keeps on growing -- by acquisition.

  In its third corporate purchase in the past three months, j2 announced this morning that it has acquired Netherlands-based Backup Connect BV, a provider of online data backup services.

• [By Dave and Donald Moenning]

  Internet Software & Services has been the place to be in 2013. In addition to Shutterstock (SSTK), just take a look at these constituents of this red-hot sub-industry: Pandora Media (P), Facebook (FB), j2 Global (JCOM), Yelp (YELP), CoStar Group (CSGP),LinkedIn (LNKD), etc. The list of superb stocks in the Internet Software & Services space goes on and on. Focusing on stocks in the top-performing sub-industries usually helps bullish trades, so today, let's take a closer look at Shutterstock Inc for a short-term long trade.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Finally, we have j2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM  ) keeping a welcome streak alive. The provider of Internet services declared a quarterly distribution of $0.24 a share. This may be a mere 3% uptick, but j2 has come through with rate hikes in each of the past seven quarters. The total increase over the course of that run is a solid 20% advance.

Top 5 Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014

Top 5 Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Jive Software Inc (JIVE)

Jive Software, Inc. (Jive), incorporated in February 2, 2001, provides a social business software platform. The Company is focused on unlocking the power of the enterprise social graph, which is the extended social network of an enterprise, encompassing relationships among its employees, customers and partners, as well as their interactions with people, content, and business information. The Company's customers use the Company's platform across broad business use cases, such as strategic alignment, that involve all employees, as well as functional use cases that improve the results of specific business activities such as sales execution or customer service. The Company sells its platform primarily through a direct sales force both domestically and internationally. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 800 enterprise Jive Platform customers. In May 2013, Jive Software Inc acquired StreamOnce Inc.

The Company delivers a social business platform that f eatures the innovation, creativity and ease of uses found in consumer applications combined with the security, flexibility and scalability necessary for enterprise deployment. The Company offers an enterprise-class social platform, purpose-built to enable its customers to manage workplace communication and collaboration. The Company's solution can be deployed across all employees, functional departments and business units. The Company's solution enables the Company's customers to operate both internal and external communities by offering a platform that allows communication and collaboration between and among employees, customers and partners. The Company's platform includes a recommendation engine that helps users connect to and easily locate relevant information and experts on an enterprise-wide basis across departmental and geographic boundaries, as well! as across externally-facing customer and partner communities.

The Company's platform is capable of suppor ting deployments, including those with complex environments ! with tens of thousands of employees internally and millions of users externally. The Company provides tools to help its customers manage the critical elements of application security, including authentication, authorization and regulatory compliance. The Company enables customers to identify the impact of its platform on a particular business outcome. This includes identifying relevant user metrics, success rates and positive trends across the business. The Company's platform integrates with legacy IT infrastructure and a broad range of existing enterprise applications, including email, content management, customer relationship management, marketing automation, product development, eCommerce and instant messaging and enables access from mobile devices, browsers, desktop applications, collaboration applications and consumer social platforms.

The Company enables customers and third parties to develops applications that leverage its platform through its Jive Apps M arket, built on the industry standard OpenSocial specifications. Users can easily find, purchase and install applications tailored to meet specific business needs in a variety of industries and business functions, enabling further innovation and functionality on the Company's platform. Developers can leverage the enterprise social graph to make applications more social and broaden their reach. The Company's platform has been developed to facilitate easy deployment with familiar interfaces. The Company offers its customers the ability to configure its solutions to deliver the specific functionality and user experience they want for their end-users, and the ability to modify the look and feel of its solutions to conform to their branding or other requirements. The Company's customers can use the Company's platform on demand through the public cloud, or! via a pr! ivate cloud. This flexible delivery model allows the Company to meet a variety of security and cost requirements and b etter address the needs of each customer, and enables the Co! mpany to ! target a wider range of potential customers.

The Company's flagship product, the Jive Platform, offers social business capabilities that enable employee, customer and partner engagement on a unified platform. The core platform can be expanded by adding optional modules, including Jive Present, Gamification, Ideation, Mobile, Video, and connectors into existing enterprise systems and applications. The Company's platform can also be extended to include cloud and customer-built applications through the Jive Apps Market. All of this activity and content is aggregated and presented to users via the Jive What Matters layer.

The Jive Platform serves two types of communities: Employees and Customers and partners. The Company's platform connects users across the enterprise and its functional departments, leveraging social intelligence, such as business relationships and areas of interest, to proactively provide relevant documents, discussions and other conte nt to users. The Company's platform enables the Company's customers to build and manage external communities to build their brand, increase interaction and feedback, and reduce their support costs through enhanced online communication with their own customers and business partners.

The Jive Platform enables rich social profiles, visual enterprise directories, connections and identification. Users can easily find, follow and access both people and data through structured spaces, including public and private social groups and projects. This provides users with up to the minute access to relevant and critical information. The Company's platform enables blogging, microblogging, discussions, real time chat and video conversations and direct messaging and aggregates these familiar methods of social communications into a social inbox ! to allow ! users to find relevant information quickly and easily.

The Company's platform includes wikis, document sharing, an easy-to -use rich text editor, and full-fidelity rendering of Micros! oft Offic! e documents and PDFs with inline commenting, allowing users to collaborate real-time. The Company's platform enhances collaboration by allowing users to control access to content at the individual, group or document level. The Company's platform includes advanced search capabilities to locate relevant people, content and groups using information captured in the enterprise social graph, such as users' skills or profile information. The Company's platform can integrate with numerous enterprise systems such as customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, software configuration management, or product lifecycle management systems, via the Company's application programming interfaces, or APIs.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  SAP AG (SAP) added 2.1 percent to 59.89 euros. The world's largest maker of business-management software has ended discussions to acquire Jive Software Inc. (JIVE), which has a market value of more than $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  Another stock that looks poised to trigger a near-term breakout trade is Jive Software (JIVE), which provides a social business software platform. It provides the Jive Engage platform for its customers for business. This stock has been under selling pressure over the last six months, with shares off by 14%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Jive Software, you'll notice that this stock recently gapped down sharply from over $17 a share to under $13.50 a share with heavy downside volume. Following that move, shares of JIVE went on to tag its recent low of $12.74 a share. That move has now pushed shares of JIVE into oversold territory, since its current relative strength index reading is 19.23. Oversold can always get more over! sold, but! it's also an area from which a stock can experience a powerful bounce higher. Shares of JIVE are now starting to trend back up and move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in JIVE if it manages to break out above Friday's intraday high of $13.87 a share and then once it clears its gap down day high of $14.13 a share high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 812,638 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then JIVE will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap down zone that started just above $17 a share.

  Traders can look to buy JIVE off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below its recent low of $12.74 a share. One could also buy JIVE off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

  The short-sellers love this stock, since the current short interest as a percentage of the float for JIVE is very high at 17.6%. This stock could easily experience a sharp short-covering rally if it gets into that gap

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-5-clean-energy-companies-to-invest-in-2014.html

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2014

10 Best Dividend Stocks To Invest In 2014: Public Storage(PSA)

Public Storage operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT). It engages in the acquisition, development, ownership, and operation of self-storage facilities in the United States and Europe. The company?s self-storage facilities offer storage spaces for lease on a month-to-month basis for personal and business use. Public Storage also has interests in commercial properties containing commercial and industrial rental space; facilities that lease storage containers; and ancillary operations, which include reinsurance of policies against losses to goods stored by its self-storage tenants, retail operations comprising merchandise sales and truck rental operations. As of December 31, 2008, the company had interests in 2,012 self-storage facilities with approximately 127 million net rentable square feet in 38 states; and 181 self-storage facilities with approximately 10 million net rentable square feet in 7 western European nations. It also had direct and indirect equity int erests in approximately 21 million net rentable square feet of commercial space located in 11 states in the U.S. As a REIT, the company would not be subject to federal income tax to the extent that it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. Public Storage was founded in 1971 and is based in Glendale, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  I also like both Public Storage (PSA) and its Series T preferred stock.

  As a result of the financial crisis, many people lost their homes. What happens when people get evicted from a house? They downsize. That's one reason we've seen apartment REIT stock prices appreciate, but that's also why Public Storage has done so well. You can't fit a household's worth of stuff into an apartment, so you rent storage for all those extra-large sofas. Housing! remains troubled, and with people increasingly being moved into part-time jobs or leaving the workforce, this overall secular trend is continuing.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Public Storage's(PSA) third-quarter profit rose 7.7% on the strength of higher occupancy and rents. Meanwhile, the real estate investment trust’s funds from operations, an important metric in the sector, grew during the period.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/10-best-dividend-stocks-to-invest-in-2014.html

Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Watch For 2014

Hot Blue Chip Stocks To Watch For 2014: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

McDonald?s Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a worldwide foodservice retailer. It franchises and operates McDonald?s restaurants that offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries, of which 26,216 were operated by franchisees; and 6,262 were operated by the company. McDonald?s Corporation was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Steven Russolillo]

  Gap Inc.(GPS), McDonald's Corp.(MCD) and General Motors Co.(GM) were among other companies that cited the weather as a factor in their results and projections. Companies in the energy, consumer-discretionary and industrial sectors mentioned the weather the most on their calls, FactSet data show.

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description: 1. Avg. High Yield Price 2. 20-Year DCF Price 3. Avg. P/E Price 4. Graham Number CINF is trading at a discount to only 3.) above. The stock is trading at a 36.8% premium to its calculated fair value of $34.96. CINF did not earn any Stars in this section. Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description: 1. Free Cash Flow Payout 2. Debt To Total Capital 3. Key Metrics 4. Dividend Growth Rate 5. Years of Div. Growth 6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15% CINF earned two Stars in this section for 1.) and 2.) above. A Star was earned since the Free Cash Flow payout ratio was less than 60% and there were no negative Free Cash Flows over the last 10 years. The stock earned a Star as a r! esult of its most recent Debt to Total Capital being less than 45%. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1954 and has increased its dividend payments for 54 consecutive years. Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description: 1. NPV MMA Diff. 2. Years to > MMA The NPV MMA Diff. of the $62 is below the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as CINF has. If CINF grows its dividend at 1.2% per year, it will take 5 years to equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.68%. Memberships and Peers: CINF is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index and a Divid

• [By Jim Jubak]

  Energy stocks, well, I don't see oil moving up a whole lot. It doesn't look like it is going to be necessarily a bad time for energy stocks because oil is going to be dropping, but I don't see a whole lot of energy in the sector. But the real problem, I think, is consumer stocks. These are kind of like the safe stocks that people go to when they want to be in the market but they're a little worried about the market. You know the stocks I mean, McDonald's (MCD), Coca-Cola (KO), Pepsi (PEP), the companies that have theoretically steadily growing earnings. The problem is we've had a lot of bad news from those stocks in the fourth quarter and in, sort of, month-to-month figures from companies like McDonald's for January and February that we're not seeing much in the way of growth. Two problems there, one of which is sort of general, which is that we're not seeing a whole lot of increases in growth, sort of acceleration in the growth rate in emerging! mark et! s. In fact, we have seen a deceleration, and that has had an effect on companies like McDonald's. The other is that we're battling some individual, or sector trends, so that McDonald's, for example, is fighting against a lot more competition, in the sense that, for some percentage of the market, they are really not very exciting anymore as destination restaurants. For Coke and Pepsi, we're dealing with the fact that cola drinks and sweetened fizzy drinks, in general, are sort of losing market share, again, losing some pizzazz. If you look at all of these sectors and say, "Okay, so what's going to drive the market higher from here," a lot of the sectors that were doing the job in January, and the first half of February, seem to have run out of gas, and that may leave us with very little, other than technology, and it's hard to see technology being sufficient in and of itself to drive the market from here and that is what I 'd look for in the week ahead, what's our leaders

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/hot-blue-chip-stocks-to-watch-for-2014.html