Archives for December 2012

December 2012 - Page 7 of 17 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

These Five High-Tech IPOs Are On Fire

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Who says high-tech stocks have hit the skids?

In a move that bodes well for 2013 stock market, high-tech IPOs have been absolutely on fire in the closing weeks of 2012.  

In fact, judging by their gains, high-tech IPOs have soundly beaten the rest of the market’s new issues over the last three months. At least five soared by more than 40%.

Even the IPOs that many market watchers thought would fizzle have jumped out of the box.

The most recent is SolarCity Corp. (Nasdaq: SCTY) which debuted last week.

Instead of landing with a thud, shares of the solar panel installer soared nearly 50% on its first day of trading from a reduced offering price of $8 a share.

That left SolarCity tied for third place among IPO performers in the quarter that ends Dec. 31.  Even as of late yesterday, SolarCity shares were still up by 55%.

But SolarCity is just the latest big winner.  Here is a look at the other four winning high-tech IPOs based on their closing prices as of last week.

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Don't Miss These Last Special Dividends in 2012

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If you missed out on the rush of special dividends in 2012 or simply want to reap further rewards, there's still time to cash in.

That's because even if a fiscal cliff deal is reached, tax rates on dividends will probably still increase. If you add in the investment surtax included in U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare bill, the top tax rate on dividends could almost triple next year, from 15% to 43.4%.

That is why companies are looking to help out investors in the way of special dividends in 2012.

"Tax rates on dividends are never going to be better," said Steve Joyce, CEO of Choice Hotels International Inc. (NYSE: CHH), on its last earnings call. "I don't know how much worse they are going to get, but they are going to get worse."

Special Dividends in 2012

Special dividends offer investors the chance to cash in on a large dividend payout before it's taxed at a higher rate, plus investors will enjoy higher share prices as special dividend-paying stocks get a bump from the news.

More than 420 special dividends have been announced just in November and December, which will soon exceed the 433 paid in all of 2011, according to S&P Capital IQ.

And it's not just special dividends that are helping investors – regular dividends are being altered as well.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) announced its fourth-quarter dividend payout, originally scheduled for Jan. 2, will be paid on Dec. 27, and Costco Wholesale Corp. (Nasdaq: COST) and Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) also moved up their first 2013 dividend payments.

Costco not only paid out its first dividend of 2013 in December, it also issued a $7 per share special dividend, totaling $3 billion, to be paid on Dec. 18.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (Nasdaq: WYNN) was another company in the past two months to announce a special dividend. Along with Wynn's $750 million dividend, some of the biggest payouts have been Brown-Forman Corp's (NYSE: BF.B) $853 million payout, a $1.1 billion payout by HCA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HCA) and a $1.6 billion dividend by LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE: LYB).

Dozens of other companies have also rewarded shareholders.

"It's like a nice end-of-the-year gift," Jay Wong, a Los Angeles-based portfolio manager for Payden & Rydel, a money manager that manages $75 billion told The Wall Street Journal. "We anticipate that some others will probably issue special dividends before the end of the year, when they get a better sense of what's going to change in the tax structure and they assess their financial health."

So where can investors find the next payout?

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U.S. Debt Ceiling: Forget Fiscal Cliff with the Real Issue Still Ahead

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The nation's attention has been captured by the bitter and so far unfruitful fiscal cliff negotiations between U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, and U.S. President Barack Obama.

But this is a sideshow.

The real issue is Boehner's attempt to tie the U.S. debt ceiling to fiscal cliff deal making.

The United States is getting close to its borrowing limit. The U.S. debt ceiling must be increased if the United States government is to be able to borrow enough money to pay its bills.

As of Monday, Dec. 17, the U.S. government was about $63 billion shy of its borrowing limit, currently set at $16.394 trillion under the 2011 agreement that led to today's fiscal cliff negotiations. The government is likely to hit that limit by the end of this month.

Boehner has offered to extend the debt limit for a year in order to make a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. But he wanted something huge in return.

"Any debt limit increase would require cuts and reforms of a greater amount," said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck.

President Obama counter-offered asking for a deal that would raise the debt limit high enough so it would not be revisited until after the 2014 midterm elections. The GOP has yet to deliver a response.

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Stock Market Today: Biggest Winners and Losers

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The stock market today rallied for a second session on hopes lawmakers in Washington will ink a fiscal cliff deal before year's end.

In afternoon trading Tuesday all three major index were sharply higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared some 90 points by 2:30 p.m., the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 11, and the Nasdaq jumped 33. That followed Monday's gains of 100.38 points, 16.78 points and 39.27 points, respectively.

With few economic releases scheduled for Tuesday, investors' focus was pinned on Washington. House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, and U.S. President Barack Obama continued to haggle over a fiscal cliff deal, with the president making a counter offer late Monday.

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New Baseline Oil Prices A "Hush, Hush" Meeting Between Major Energy Experts And OPEC Reveals The Lowest Price Oil Can Ever Go

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Apparently some people on Wall Street and Washington believe that drilling more and more of our oil here in the United States will magically drive oil prices back down to levels not seen since the 20th century.

Because they think that oil companies will ramp up production and lose billions of dollars a day just by giving oil away.

But we're telling you now…

Drill All You Want… Oil Prices Are Still Headed Higher

What we said at the time – and what we are telling you now – is that these views do not reflect the actual market or the new reality we find ourselves in today.

The problem is these experts don't understand the simple math behind energy production.

They believe that $2 gasoline is possible, $40 oil is inevitable, and that the days of cheap oil are set to return. But something has happened around the world that has completely undermines this myth… and this story has finally been exposed for what it is…

In this special report, we'll break down exactly what we see happening. We'll look at 3 huge and tantalizing forces creating a new surge in oil prices. And we'll show you how you can capitalize on these trends and make enormous sums of money in oil in the very near future.

Fiscal Cliff Deal: The President's Latest Counter Offer

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Equity and commodity prices rallied in Europe and Asia while the U.S. dollar and Treasury bond prices fell as U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner have made progress on a fiscal cliff deal.

On Friday afternoon, Speaker Boehner called the White House with an offer to raise taxes on Americans earnings more than $1 million, altering his position on no tax increases for anyone.

With that concession in hand, the president devised a counteroffer, which was presented to the Republicans late Monday. The president's new proposal reduces tax increases from $1.6 trillion over ten years to $1.2 trillion, offset by $1.2 trillion in spending cuts.

But Republicans are questioning the president's math.

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American States Water Company - Momentum

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American States Water Company (AWR) reached its 52-week high on December 11 and has gained 24.3% over the last six months. Strong third-quarter results sparked upward earnings estimate revisions from all analysts covering the stock, which helped this utility operator become a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) on November 14. Strong Quarter On November 5, […]

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Now Is The Time to Buy These Oil Refiners and Coal Stocks

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Without fail, every year there are January surprises.

They occur when investors receive a pop in selected stocks because of the way fund managers readjust their holdings to dress up their fourth quarter performance.

These improvements don't usually last very long.

In fact, most investors will see the affected stocks decline back to normal levels by mid- to late-January.

But for a few weeks, investors can earn a nice little return as the calendar begins the New Year. This hedge-fund effect will be of special interest to energy investors in 2013.

That's in stark contrast to last year when oil-related stocks were moving in one direction while natural gas stocks were moving in another. What's more, service companies were beginning to come off of their highs at this point in 2011, and King Coal was about to fall off a cliff of its own.

This time around, we have a fiscal cliff soap opera in the U.S., continuing credit concerns in Europe (although with a parallel rise in market optimism emerging on the continent), rising uncertainty again in the Middle East, and a simmering dispute between Japan and China.

In short, even ignoring the Mayans and their approaching December 21 deadline, there is no lack of concern in the market these days.

Still, there will be several beneficiaries in the energy sector as hedge fund managers make their moves over the next few weeks. This is likely to happen across several categories of companies.

In this case, investors would be wise emphasize two segments of the energy market that are currently on the rise: oil refineries and coal stocks.

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What You Probably Don't Know About The Federal Reserve and Why It's So Dangerous

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The Federal Reserve System is a government-sanctioned private enterprise that functions as a socialist tool.

It was conceived in 1910 and constructed for the benefit of the private bankers who control it. Congress blessed the scheme in 1913 with passage of the Federal Reserve Act.

These days the Fed doesn't just backstop America's too-big-to-fail banks. It has expanded its doctrine of socializing banking losses globally.

The Fed helped bail out private businesses, foreign big banks and central banks in Europe and Japan in the credit crisis of 2008 and is the model for the European Central Bank, as well as the ECB's primary backstop.

To understand how the Fed gets taxpayers around the world to pay the losses its member banks routinely incur, let's pull back the curtain on the Fed and explain how it operates.

Here's What the Fed Really Does

Banks lend money and sometimes they don't get paid back. That's not a problem if it doesn't happen too often and if profits from other loans and investments cover the loan losses.

But since banks have gotten really big and have to make big loans (due to economies of scale and return on capital expectations) they need big borrowers. There are no bigger borrowers on the planet than governments, and that's where a lot of banks are lending.

Of course, governments aren't immune to over-borrowing and insolvency.

All the big banks that lent to banks in countries now in financial straits continue to lend to them because if they don't they won't get paid back what they are owed. Banks would fail from a cascade of losses and would either have to be bailed out or shut down.

That's where the Federal Reserve comes in.

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Election in Japan: Will a New Government Revive Growth?

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Following three-and-a-half years of government marked by scandal, incompetence and hesitation in the face of a natural disaster, voters in Sunday's election in Japan voted in a new party.

Japanese voters turned their backs on the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and returned the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to power in a landslide victory.

The LDP, which ruled Japan continuously for more than 50 years, has been chastened by its time in opposition and returns to power with a renewed vigor and strengthened belief in its core values.

Sunday's election, which had been characterized as a referendum on the future of nuclear power in Japan, actually turned out to be a vote in favor of competence and experience in governing.

Voters handed the LDP/Komei coalition a veto-proof majority of 325 seats in the Lower House of the Diet.

Under Japan's parliamentary system, if a bill passed by the Lower House is rejected by the Upper House, it can be resubmitted to the Lower House and become law if approved by a two-thirds majority. That means even the most radical LDP policies can become law over the objections of the opposition.

That's a good thing because LDP president Shinzo Abe, who will be the next prime minister, has some pretty radical ideas for dealing with Japan's economic malaise.

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