President Obama Praises Gap Apparel

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Apparel company Gap (GPS) on Wednesday received high praise from a powerful customer.

President Barack Obama released a statement applauding the San Francisco-based company for its decision to raise the minimum wage of all its U.S. employees to $10 an hour in 2015.

"Today, I applaud Gap, Inc. for announcing that they intend to raise wages for their employees beginning this year a decision that will benefit about 65,000 workers in the U.S.," Obama said in a statement. "In my State of the Union Address, I asked more businesses to do what they can to raise their employees' wages."

The White House early last year endorsed a minimum wage increase to $9 an hour, but increased its aspirations in 2014 to push for a $10.10 minimum. The move comes as the president and Democrats attempt to use the discussion as a wedge issue to help defeat Republicans in this year's midterm elections. The Congressional Budget Office delivered a report on Tuesday that said the $10.10 minimum wage policy, on a central estimate, would cut about 500,000 jobs from U.S. employment. The report said the same scenario would boost the income of families living below the poverty line by $5.89 billion. Shares of Gap closed down 0.09% to $42.19, before the president released the statement. -- Written by Joe Deaux in New York. >Contact by Email. Follow @JoeDeaux

Stock quotes in this article: GPS 

First Take: Twitter finds financials aren't…

SAN FRANCISCO – Tweet this: Twitter's first quarterly financial report today justified its lofty stock price, but user growth is quite another thing.

The micro-blogging company's first report since it went public in November can be summed up in 140 characters: "Twitter crushes it" (My own tweet minutes ago.)

Twitter rang up revenue of $242.7 million, compared with projections of $217.8 million. It earned 2 cents per share vs. an expected loss.

But a less-than-sizzling growth rate of users sent the company's stock reeling as much as 15% in after-hours trading before it rallied slightly. (Twitter shares had been up 50%, to about $66 per share, from their first day of trading.)

"Twitter did not match Facebook's phenomenal growth,which is the gold standard," says Brian Blau, an analyst at Gartner. "It did not meet our expectations."

Nearly eight years ago, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet: "just setting up my twttr." Today, Twitter has a steeper challenge: Convince Wall Street and investors it is worth $36 billion despite scant profits.

Until now, the company has followed the lead of its dot-com contemporaries. It built a base of 241 million people, and worried about revenue later. It did so without wallpapering the site in obtrusive ads that would alienate members.

If the Super Bowl is any indication, Twitter is a mainstay on Main Street as well as Wall Street. About half of the ads during the game incorporated Twitter in one way or another.

"I give them high marks, overall," says Steve Beck, managing partner of management consultancy cg42. "Mobile is strong and it's starting to see continued growth of data licensing."

Yet Wall Street can be fickle, as Twitter learned in after-hours trading.

Sometimes, financial results aren't enough.

Netflix tests cheaper subscription as Amazon looms

SAN FRANCISCO -- Netflix is testing a cheaper subscription for new customers as the online video company prepares for what will likely be another competitive onslaught from Amazon.com in 2014.

Netflix, the biggest video streaming service, is offering a $6.99 per month plan that lets people watch on only one screen at a time. The company's basic streaming service currently costs $7.99 a month and lets customers watch on two screens at the same time.

The new offer, which was posted on the company's website, is part of a broader set of subscriptions for new customers based on how many screens they use to access the service. Prices start at $6.99 and go up to $11.99 for viewing Netflix on as many as four screens simultaneously.

Netflix is trying to increase the revenue it gets from subscriptions to help it buy more licenses to stream movies and TV shows and pay for the creation of its own content, such as 2013 shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.

The company is also competing with Amazon.com, which has a video streaming service that is included in its Prime subscription, which offers free two-day shipping for $79 a year in the U.S.

"The new plan likely has at least two goals: 1. Attract the more value conscious consumer. 2. To more effectively compete with Amazon Prime," Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne Agee, wrote in a note to investors Tuesday.

For $79 a year, Amazon Prime subscribers get free access to the Prime Instant Video streaming service for effectively $6.67 a month.

"While the lower price could attract new subscribers, it could also somewhat cannibalize current subscribers given how easy it is to cancel and re-signup for the service," Bhatia said.

The move may also weaken Netflix's ability to raise prices in the future, which is an important part of the long-term bull thesis on the stock and is needed to offset rising content costs, he added.

Netflix shares slipped $1.23 to $365.76 on Tuesday. Amazon shares climbed $3.45 to! $396.82.

Thrills and Chills are a Great Investment (IFLM, CMCSK, SEAS, AMCX)

There's a major shift in the kinds of things Americans do to entertain themselves. Just ask the folks at AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:AMCX), SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:SEAS), Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSK), and pretty soon, the Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS:IFLM). These organizations exist to keep their finger on the pulse of what makes entertainment-seeking consumers want, and it's clear from some of the programming choices and decisions these companies are making - and doing well with - that the companies who deliver the new, edgier product stand to earn the most revenue for doing so.

Simply put, U.S. consumers are looking for edgier thrills and chills, whether on TV, the big screen, or at theme parks. You don't have to look far for proof of this idea either. One of the current television season's most-watched television shows was Breaking Bad - an AMC Networks development that chronicled the transition of a teacher into a drug lord, yet became something of a dark hero in the process.

It's not just TV though. It's movies too. The popular Twilight and Underworld sagas were about vampires, while theme parks like Busch Gardens, owned by SeaWorld Entertainment, and Universal Studios, owned by Comcast Corporation, are taking a deliberate effort to make sure visitors come to their Halloween attractions rather than someone else's. Busch Gardens' in-park Howl-O-Scream commands a ticket price of $48 a pop, while Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights bills out at $42.99 per visitor. As proof of just how much companies want to win the fright-wars, AMC Networks has crossed studio lines, licensing its Walking Dead zombie television show's theme (nd name) to Comcast Corporation this Halloween, as the basis for a temporary attraction at both Universal Studios theme parks.

And well they should focus on scaring the daylights out of visitors. Some experts believe the Halloween 'scare' period can drive up to 15% of a theme park's revenue.

But what if the immersive experience of a haunted house (though the term 'haunted house; doesn't do it justice) wasn't just a temporary attraction, but instead lasted all year long? For that matter, what if the immersive experience wasn't just ghouls and goblins, but all sorts of weird, fascinating, and unexplained phenomenon? Enter Independent Film Development Corporation, aka 'IndyFilm'.

The name may be a tad misleading. Though Independent Film Development Corporation has a hand in the creation of independent films, as well as rights to/ownership of a handful of television shows and films, IndyFilmCorp's crowning jewel is the theme park it's developing in New York. Think Disney (or Universal Studios), only less childish. Rather than a flume ride that directs riders through a cartoon briar patch, look for a ride through the River Styx. Forget the Space Mountain coaster ride through outer space. IndyFilm will be developing its own Area 51 crash site. And, no lovable characters dancing around the streets of this park, though visitors may catch of glimpse of Bigfoot every now and then, lurking around the park's wooded areas.

Though the planned park is yet to be built, the associated resort and hotel already exist, and the land needed to build such a park is located all around the property. Even then though, the company is already whispering plans about several of these slightly-more-intense parks popping up all across the country, with each one focusing on ideas that cater more to that locale's audience. In other words, Independent Film Development Corporation expects an alien-centric theme park to do well in or around Roswell, New Mexico, while the Pacific Northwest may be the best locale for a Bigfoot theme park; the Loch Ness Monster may have to settle for the waters of a coastal region (and yes, and animatronic Nellie is also in the works, at least for the New York locale).

It's a departure from the typical American theme park, but then again, that's the point. Consumer tastes have changed over the last ten years or so, prompted by a combination of technology - on screen as well as off screen - and personal tastes, perhaps with a dash sports-fatigue ... even the NFL isn't creating the same buzz it used to. It's not unusual for TV watchers to flip the channel away from a baseball game and over to Ancient Aliens or Ghost Hunters these days.

Perhaps best of all, investors can still get in on the ground floor of this small, but potent, opportunity. The ticker is IFLM, and the website (with a conceptual drawing of the company's planned first theme park) can be seen here. For more perspective on the stock, visit the SCN research page here.

What's Fueling Alcoa's (AA) 11% Gain?

Updated from 3:31 p.m. EDT to include aluminum price projections in the fourth paragraph. 

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Alcoa (AA) closed 8.8% higher to $9.36 after an 11.6% spike mid-afternoon. Flat in the early portion of the day, the stock hit its stride at midday to reach a new 52-week high.

Fueling the spike is an across-the-board rally for aluminum producers and a series of positive announcements from the company's management.

Alcoa far surpassed the industry in share price growth, followed by Century Aluminum  (CENX) which gained 8.1%, Aluminum Corp of China (ACH) up 3.7%, Australia-based producers BHP Billiton (BHP) and Alumina Limited (AWC) climbing 3.2% and 2.4% respectively, and Noranda Aluminum Holding  (NOR) 4.7% higher. Kaiser Aluminum  (KALU) lagged the group, gaining 0.94%. Bloomberg credits speculation on future aluminum prices as spurring an industry rally, noting aluminum for delivery in three months rose 2.2% on the London Metal Exchange. The publication also said that investors closing out stock short options could have been a trigger to its meteoric rise.  Also influencing Alcoa's gains, the New York-based company announced it has partnered with Russia's VSMPO-AVISMA to provide high-end titanium and aluminum to aircraft manufacturers internationally. "The agreement marks an important step in leveraging Alcoa's and VSMPO-AVISMA's strengths in innovation and manufacturing to capture opportunities in the high-growth aerospace market," said CEO Klaus Kleinfeld in a statement. "This alliance will enhance Alcoa's competitiveness and position our global aerospace business for continued profitable growth." The joint venture, expected to be operational in 2016, will take advantage of the burgeoning aerospace market, an industry Alcoa forecasts will grow 9% to 10% in 2013 alone. The creator of forged aluminum wheels said it has improved upon its invention, developing a product lighter and stronger than the industry standard. The new alloy designed for use in trucks will increase fleet payload and improve fuel efficiency. Alcoa expects to introduce the alloy to market by early 2014. Alcoa's Engineered Products and Solutions division, which developed and will manufacture the product, contributed 25% of the company's $5.8 billion in total third-quarter revenue. TheStreet Ratings team rates Alcoa Inc as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about its recommendation: "We rate Alcoa Inc (AA) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed -- some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, impressive record of earnings per share growth and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Metals & Mining industry. The net income increased by 116.8% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from -$143 million to $24 million. Alcoa Inc reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, Alcoa Inc reported lower earnings of 17 cents a share vs. 52 cents a share in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings (35 cents vs. 17 cents). Net operating cash flow has decreased to $214 million or 18.63% when compared to the same quarter last year. In conjunction, when comparing current results to the industry average, Alcoa Inc has marginally lower results. AA has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 6.43% from its price level of one year ago. Looking ahead, other than the push or pull of the broad market, we do not see anything in the company's numbers that may help reverse the decline experienced over the past 12 months. Despite the past decline, the stock is still selling for more than most others in its industry. You can view the full analysis from the report here: AA Ratings Report

Start ups pitch automated advice at tech confab

At a gathering of geeks, bankers and even some advisers this week in New York, a chorus of developers hawked products, claiming to revitalize — with airtight security, jazzy graphics or habit-forming incentives — the way people pay for investment products, approach personal finance goals such as saving and communicate with their banks.

In timed, seven-minute pitches at the annual FinovateFall (twitter hashtag: #finovate) conference, some executives from startups also pitched software solutions for problems that vex financial advisers.

Finect Inc., for instance, provides a social-networking platform with compliance support, Place2Give uses algorithms to help advisers match their clients to philanthropic groups and Lumesis Inc. offers detailed data and compliance features for municipal bonds.

But a larger and growing cast of developers sidestepped advisers altogether in their pitches Tuesday and Wednesday, touting algorithm-driven online platforms that try to replicate the experience of getting individualized investment advice as a revelation for the vast majority of people, who lack sufficient assets to even get a call back from a wirehouse such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley or Wells Fargo Advisors.

(Don't miss: The buzz at FInovate.)

The impact of these burgeoning adviser-emulating platforms on the business of providing investment advice is ambiguous, with industry watchers and developers engaged in a long debate over whether software will supplant or supplement the role of the average, traditional financial adviser.

“The quality advisers who add value and do the right thing don't have anything to worry about,” said Simon Roy, president of Jemstep Inc., whose platform walks investors through a step-by-step process that suggests an ideal asset allocation and whether to buy, sell or hold existing investments. “It's the advisers who are not serving their clients' interest who are more at risk as this wave breaks.”

In addition to recommending what they say are superior asset allocation and investment recommendations, Mr. Roy's product and its peers, including FutureAdvisor and Financial Guard, draw attention to the cost of investment advice by laying out how management and advisory fees affect their returns.

“The asset management style doesn't really lend itself to transparency — people don't see how much they're paying,” said Grant Easterbrook, an analyst who follows the space at Corporate Insight. “It's going to make it much easier to hold advisers accountable.”

But some advisers said they would relish new competition.

“Bring it on,” said Doug Flynn, co-founder of Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC, which manages $300 million in assets in its advisory and brokerage. Mr. Flynn said his business offers high-q! uality, dispassionate advice and a human touch, especially in times when investors most need it — during a market rout, for example.

“How does a computer hand-hold you?” Mr. Flynn said. “How does it talk you off the ledge?”

The products have a range of features. Many begin with a simple questionnaire asking when a person intends to retire, and links with their brokerage accounts to assess their existing portfolios. The software then advises people on the trades they should make — whether to buy or sell a particular fund, for instance.

A number of startup firms have registered enthusiasm from venture capitalists and other investors. Seven of the online advisory businesses that have appeared in Finovate forums since 2009 have raised $97.5 million since February 2012, according to The Finovate Group Inc.

That funding, as well as the prospect of collaborations with existing businesses, has lifted the online advisory product class, according to Mr. Easterbrook.

He said the products have as much a prospect of expanding wealth management to a new market as challenging existing players. Bo Lu, co-founder and chief executive of FutureAdvisor, agrees.

“We're not going to have much of an impact on human financial advisers … the demand for what we as an industry do far outstrips supply right now,” Mr. Lu said. “We would love to work together with advisers on those clients that they wouldn't be able to take otherwise.” Like what you've read?

Don't Buy JPMorgan's Stock: Societe General

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- This is a good time to buy shares of Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C), but investors should steer clear of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) for the time being, according to Societe General.

Societe General equity analyst Murali Gopal and his research team on Friday initiated their coverage of the "big four" U.S. banks.

Gopal rates Bank of America a "buy," with a $17 price target. "BAC is uniquely placed for sustained outperformance -- in the near term significant cost savings, additional reserve releases and a strong capital markets business will be supportive of earnings growth and improvement in [returns on tangible equity]," the analyst wrote in a note to clients. Gopal added that "Over the medium term, as short-term rates rise, the bank's strong retail branch network and core deposit base should boost top-line growth. Society General estimates Bank of America's operating earnings will grow from 1.01 a share this year to $1.37 in 2014 and $1.72 in 2015.

Society General also rates Citigroup a "buy," with a $59 price target. The improvement in housing prices is a good sign for Citi Holdings, which is the company's subsidiary into which noncore assets have been placed to runoff. The rise in home prices "bodes well" for the release of loan loss reserves, which boosts operating earnings, and $6.4 billion of the reserves within Citi Holdings are tied to North American housing, according to Gopal. "Stronger US taxable earnings will be a larger driver of Deferred Tax Assets (DTA)," recapture, according to the analyst. Citigroup's DTA valuation allowance was roughly $45 billion at the end of the second quarter, and the company's earnings during the first half of 2013 were boosted by $1.3 billion in DTA recapture. Gopal estimates Citi's adjusted EPS will increase from $4.93 in 2013 to $5.64 in 2014 and $6.31 in 2015. For JPMorgan Chase, Society General's initial rating is a "hold." The company's operating performance should be "steady," however, "Rising investigations, litigation and regulatory scrutiny will take time to resolve, and should keep related costs elevated, but more importantly, curb investor sentiment," according to Gopal. Society General estimates JPM's EPS for 2013 will total $5.88, declining slightly to $5.85 in 2014 and increasing to $6.25 in 2015.

JPMorgan was hit early Thursday with $920 million in fines from four regulators over the "London Whale," hedge trading debacle in 2012. Later on Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said JPMorgan had already refunded $309 million to 2.1 customers, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also assessing a $60 million fine, spring from the two regulators' combined investigation of its "illegal credit card practices."

Gopal also rates Wells Fargo a "hold," citing "near-term headwinds," with "little room for improvement." Wells Fargo for years has been the strongest earnings performer among the "big four," as measured by returns on average assets and equity. But with the leading market share among U.S. mortgage lenders, the bank is facing a significant revenue decline as higher long-term interest rates lead to significantly lower mortgage refinance volume.

"Spread revenues along with mortgage banking comprise roughly two-thirds of the top line," for Wells Fargo, according to Gopal. And with the Federal Reserve likely to keep the short-term federal funds rate in a range of zero to 0.25% for an extended period, the bank could be waiting for years for the parallel rise in rates it needs for a significant boost to net interest margins and net interest income.

JPMorgan continues to be the cheapest on a forward price-to-earnings basis among the big four, despite the company's solid earnings performance over the past several years. JPM reported its third record annual profit of The shares closed at $52.75 Thursday and traded for 8.7 times the consensus 2014 EPS estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The next cheapest among the group is Citigroup, with shares closing at $51.95 Thursday and trading for 9.3 times the consensus 2014 EPS estimate of $5.56. Bank of America's shares closed at $14.61 Thursday and traded for 10.7 times the consensus 2014 EPS estimate of $1.36. Wells Fargo has a similar valuation, with the shares closing at $42.96 Thursday and trading for 10.7 times the consensus 2014 EPS estimate of $4.01. RELATED STORIES: Jamie Dimon Unlikely to Face SEC Charges 'Historic' Admission to SEC Won't Help JPMorgan Plaintiffs JPMorgan Skewered for 'Illegal Credit Card Practices' JPMorgan Slapped with $920 Million in 'London Whale' Fines Wells Fargo Continues Mortgage Staff Layoffs as Refinancing Volume Drops -- Written by Philip van Doorn in Jupiter, Fla. >Contact by Email. Follow @PhilipvanDoorn

Philip W. van Doorn is a member of TheStreet's banking and finance team, commenting on industry and regulatory trends. He previously served as the senior analyst for TheStreet.com Ratings, responsible for assigning financial strength ratings to banks and savings and loan institutions. Mr. van Doorn previously served as a loan operations officer at Riverside National Bank in Fort Pierce, Fla., and as a credit analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he monitored banks in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Mr. van Doorn has additional experience in the mutual fund and computer software industries. He holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Long Island University.

World Economic Forum: Chad Listed as Least Competitive Nation

The World Economic Forum just issued the current Global Competitiveness Report (2013-2014). The study is one of the most dense and complex assessments of national economies. It also pretends to rate nations on which very little data is available. That may be why Chad ends up at the bottom of the list of 148 countries, along with several other nations for which no solid data has been available recently, and in some cases has not been for years.

The Global Competitiveness Report continues to use its “12 Pillars of Competitiveness” for rating all nations. The authors write:

We define competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. The level of productivity, in turn, sets the level of prosperity that can be reached by an economy. The productivity level also determines the rates of return obtained by investments in an economy, which in turn are the fundamental drivers of its growth rates. In other words, a more competitive economy is one that is likely to grow faster over time.

The names and the descriptions of the Pillars are so hard to understand that a reading of the methodology of the Global Competitiveness Report will exhaust most readers before they can get to the important parts of the report. They are, in order: Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Environment, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labor Market Efficiency, Financial Market Development, Technical Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication, and Innovation.

Countries with homogenous populations and governments that directly support both business and the economic welfare do well in the Global Competitiveness Report, as they do in much of the research from other agencies like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Switzerland tops the list, followed by Singapore. All of the Scandinavian nations, which are rich and benevolent, are very near the top — Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The countries that have been at the top of the of the economic and financial leadership in the developed world are all there too — Germany, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. Each of the nations at or near the top of the list has a sophisticated ability to gather huge sums of data on its economic activity and details about its population. In other words, these countries are easy to rate because they have tools and budgets to collect the necessary data for evaluation in this study.

Granted, it is not surprising that Chad is at the bottom of the list, or at least near the bottom. However, there is so little solid data on this country, its finances and economy, that Chad, along with several other small, underdeveloped countries, should be exempt from this report since the reader is assured that the results are based on extensive research and analysis. Accurate and extensive information on some of the countries that are just ahead of Chad in this report’s list — Macedonia, Georgia, Ecuador and Vietnam — is also unavailable.

The Central Intelligence Agency is as good as any other organization at collecting facts on other countries. The CIA has an army of people who perform the work that allows them to issue The CIA World Factbook. The spying division of the American government reports:

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

As far as Chad is concerned, the CIA can only estimate gross domestic product (GDP) for the past three years, and reports that it reached about $21 billion in 2012. The same is true of GDP growth rate and gross national savings. As a matter of fact, the CIA can only make a reasoned guess at which sectors make up the national economy. Just above 47% is agriculture, maybe.

The persistent idea that nations for which a great deal of current economic, financial and demographic information exists can be measured against those for which nearly no data is collected or available continues to be a waste of effort. Comparing the competitiveness ranking of Slovenia to Canada does not inform the audience of the Global Competitiveness Report in any meaningful way.

SeaWorld Entertainment Tanks 4% on Whale of an Earnings Miss

Shares of SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS) have dropped 3.6% to $35.02 today after the company missed profit and revenue forecasts.

REUTERS

The operator of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens reported a profit of 41 cents a share, below forecasts of 47 cents. Sales fell 3% to $411.3 million, below estimates for $435.5 million. The company blamed bad weather and the “unfavorable timing of Easter” for the miss.

Maquarie’s Tim Nollen and Sunny Kwak also note that this is SeaWorld, new to the earnings game, isn’t managing its numbers for quarterly reports:

We believe this management team knows its company and industry and doesn't necessarily manage to the quarter, so while Q2 looks disappointing we look to a recovery in H2. Based on the numbers then, SEAS trading down ~11% after-hours looks overdone to us, rendering this a good entry point. SEAS at 10.1x 2014 EV/EBITDA trades below peers like SIX at 10.6x.

Lazard Capital Market’s Barton Crockett also sees the rest a pickup during the second half of 2013:

Weather so far in 3Q13 seems fine, and SeaWorld will have a full quarter of the new Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin exhibit that opened May 24. So there appears to be upside potential in the seasonally small 4Q13, with guidance implying a 21% decline in adj. EBITDA to $51M… SeaWorld is up 36% from the $27 IPO, trading at 10.9x 2013E adj. EBITDA and a free cash flow yield near 7%. The potential for lowered expectations and valuation Wednesday could make the shares more interesting.

JPMorgan’s Alexia Quadrani and team agree that the second half “looks more promising.” They are, however, worried about valuation. They write:

Management indicated that it's willing to push through price increases at the expense of some deterioration in attendance to help drive per cap revenues. The 2H,13 is positioned to benefit from these earlier price lifts and a potential uplift in attendance from Antarctica in Orlando and Aquatica San Diego, which both opened late in Q2, as well as holiday programming…We continue to like SeaWorld's story longer term, with its strong brands and ramping free cash flow. However, valuation keeps us on the sidelines.

Competitor Six Flags Entertainment (SIX) has dropped 0.5% today. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) has fallen 0.4%.

Raymond James, Janney Nab More Wirehouse Reps

St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James (RJF) says it continues to recruit successful advisors from Morgan Stanley (MS), Merrill Lynch (ML) and a number of other firms, building on its momentum in technology and its integration of Morgan Keegan.

“We see continued very-strong interest across the full spectrum of affiliated options, including our employee, RIA and independent options, said Tash Elwyn (left), president of Raymond James & Associates-Private Client Group, in an interview with AdvisorOne.

At the same time, Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott has been adding to its ranks by recruiting a number of wirehouse reps. The firm said Tuesday that ex-Morgan Stanley advisors Alfred DeRenzis and Scott Ford  joined its new branch in Westminster, Md.

DeRenzis and Ford have a total of nearly $160 million in client assets. Prior to Morgan Stanley, the team worked with Citigroup and earlier with Legg Mason.

The ability of these firms to attract these veteran reps, experts say, may stem in part from their non-Wall Street character, which can be especially inviting to reps who were previously with broker-dealers in the Midwest or Southeast. A number of wirehouse reps, meanwhile, have swelled Raymond James' ranks in a few recent big-firm exits.

On Monday, for instance, a team of advisors led by Scott A. Schuster formed Dashboard Wealth Advisors, an independent firm affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services in Oak Brook, Ill. The team came to Raymond James from Morgan Stanley, where they managed more than $240 million in client assets and had annual fees and commissions of $1.9 million.

“We wanted a firm where we could continue to expand and develop our holistic process of financial planning … with a service-first focus that offers cutting-edge technology, so when we discovered that Raymond James provided all of those things … it was a slam-dunk,” said Scott Schuster, who moved to Morgan Stanley from A.G. Edwards in 2007, in a statement.

And on Wednesday, Raymond James said that Claire Friedrichs joined its traditional employee channel in Mandeville, La., from Merrill Lynch, where she managed some $80 million in client assets and produced $850,000 in annual fees and commissions through April, when she switched firms.

Motivation for Movement

As for what’s driving movement out of the wirehouses, “There’s no big trouble or scandal right now, so we’re really in a stalemate here,” ” recruiter Rick Peterson explained, in an interview.

“The [recruiting] deals are the same as they’ve been in the past three or four years,” explained Peterson, who sees today's attrition and recruiting levels at the wirehouses as a "zero-sum game."

Elwyn (right), however, sees things differently. “Despite the extremes of market highs and lows, what’s consistent is that many competitors – at the wirehouse and regional firms – continue to create pain points for their advisors,” he said.

 “Those pain points can vary from macro, firm-oriented issues to micro, branch-level issues like branch manager turnover, the ratio of financial advisors to service associates and the like,” Elwyn noted.

“There’s a pairing of the pain points that exist at competitor firms and Raymond James’ culture, values and other factors that attract advisors to us,” he said, “such as our reputation, industry-leading technology and 101 quarters of profitability.”

Elwyn says Raymond James expects its recruiting of wirehouse and other reps to remain strong, regardless of market conditions.

 

Rosetta Stone to Acquire Lexia Learning for $22.5 Million

Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST  ) plans to expand beyond its foreign language learning niche with its proposed acquisition of Lexia Learning Systems, a producer of interactive software to teach English reading skills to young students, Rosetta Stone announced today.

Rosetta Stone agreed to take over Lexia for $22.5 million in cash. This would be the second acquisition the company has made this year. In April, it paid $8.5 million for Livemocha, a large online language-learning company. Growth through acquisitions is the company's stated goal.

"This acquisition is another step in the transformation of Rosetta Stone," said company CEO Steve Swad in a statement. "We're moving beyond language; we're leveraging technology; we're growing our business in new and meaningful ways. And we're positioning this company to change the face of learning as we know it." The company says the transaction marks Rosetta Stone's first extension beyond language learning and "takes the company deeper into the EdTech industry."

Last month, Lexia was awarded a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract  to provide its cloud-based Lexia Reading Core5 program to thousands of pre-K through grade 5 Kansas students. Rosetta Stone says Lexia's English reading products are used in more than 14,000 schools and by more than 1 million students online.

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Avoid Massive Money Mistakes With a Mid-Year Portfolio Checkup

With all the volatility in the markets lately, the middle of the year is a great time to take a step back and look at how your investments have done. But how should you conduct your own money checkup?

In the following video, Fool contributor Dan Caplinger discusses how you can avoid making big mistakes with your money by doing a mid-year portfolio review. With big gains in the early part of the year having given way to a correction in recent weeks, Dan notes that you have a good sense of where risks are in the market, with bonds in particular having surprised many investors with the magnitude of their declines. Dan talks about how simple, minor adjustments can usually get the job done, while also discussing some situations in which more dramatic action is warranted.

ETFs are a key part of many successful investment strategies. To learn more about a few ETFs that have great promise for delivering profits to shareholders, check out The Motley Fool's special free report "3 ETFs Set to Soar." Just click here to access it now.

Falling in Love With Butane

Fall is always a welcome change of pace for most people after a long, hot summer. It brings relief not only from the temperatures, but at the gasoline pump as well. Pundits frequently notice this phenomenon during election years, and assume that vested interests are trying to manipulate prices to win elections. But there is a more straightforward explanation to what’s going on, and it can benefit consumers, LNG producers, and sometimes refiners.

Everyone knows that gasoline evaporates. What you may not know is that there are numerous recipes for gasoline, and depending on the ingredients the gasoline can evaporate at very different rates. And because gasoline vapors contribute to smog, the EPA seasonally regulates gasoline blends to minimize gasoline vapors.

The way the EPA regulates these vapors is by putting seasonal limits on the Reid vapor pressure (RVP). The RVP specification is based on a test that measures vapor pressure of the gasoline blend at 100 degrees F. Vapor pressure is a measure of the tendency to evaporate; the higher the vapor pressure the faster the evaporation rate. Normal atmospheric pressure is around 14.7 lbs per square inch (psi) at sea level. Substances with a vapor pressure higher than normal atmospheric pressure are gases, and those with a vapor pressure lower than normal atmospheric pressure are liquids.

But vapor pressure is also a function of temperature. Under normal atmospheric temperatures water is a liquid because its vapor pressure is below 14.7 psi. It still evaporates (i.e. it still has a vapor pressure), but very slowly. As water is heated, its vapor pressure increases, and as the boiling point of water is reached the vapor pressure of water reaches that of atmospheric pressure and the water becomes a gas (steam).

The same phenomenon applies to gasoline. As the temperature increases, the vapor pressure rises. Thus, in summer it is important to keep the ! RVP of gasoline at a lower level than in winter. The specific limit varies from state to state (and tends to be more restrictive in congested areas and warmer locations), but 7.8 psi is a common RVP limit in much of the US in the summer months. When a gasoline blender produces gasoline, it must be tested and it must be below the RVP limit for the month it is to be sold in.

In September, the RVP specifications begin to be phased back to cold weather blends which can have an RVP as high as 15 psi in some locations. This has a big effect on the cost of producing gasoline. The reason for this is butane.

Butane has an RVP of 52 psi, which means pure butane is a gas at normal pressures and temperatures. But it can be blended into gasoline, and its fractional contribution to the blend roughly determines its fractional contribution to the overall vapor pressure. As long as the total blend does not exceed normal atmospheric pressure (again, ~14.7 psi) butane can exist as a liquid in a gasoline blend.

But with a vapor pressure of 52 psi, butane can’t make a large contribution to summer blends where the vapor pressure limit is 7.8 psi. For example, if a gasoline blend contained 10 percent butane, its contribution to the vapor pressure limit is already 5.2 psi and you would still have 90 percent of the blend to go. It isn’t feasible to blend much butane into gasoline when the vapor pressure requirement is low. But when the limit increases by 5 or 7 psi, it becomes feasible to blend large quantities of butane.

Why do we care about blending butane? Because it is abundant and cheap. Butane can routinely trade at a $1/gallon discount to crude oil or gasoline. Butane is a component of natural gas liquids (NGLs), which are condensed out during natural gas processing. Given the huge expansion of natural gas production in the US, it should come as no surprise that NGL production is also on the rise. (Butane is also a byproduct of oil refining.)

Thus, butane lowers the cost of producing gasoline in the “winter” blends. Not only is it cheaper, but because butane can be blended at higher levels after Sept. 15, the gasoline supply increases. For example, in the summer a gasoline blend might only contain 2 percent butane. In the fall, that gasoline blend might contain 10 or 12 percent butane, which can reduce the cost of production by a dime a gallon — and further reduce the price because gasoline supplies have increased by 10 percent thanks to the inclusion of butane.

This transition takes place after the high demand summer driving season has passed. Hence, supplies increase and cost less to produce just as demand falls. This perfect storm takes place every fall, and will generally drive down the cost of gasoline for consumers.

Beyond consumers, this seasonal increase in butane demand is a temporary boon for NGL producers who have suffered from low prices in recent years. Refiners may also benefit, but this is a more complex dynamic. Their costs for producing gasoline are lower, but the increase in supplies also increases competition, which may force them to pass on all of the savings to consumers.

Sometimes other factors can trump seasonal trends. In 2005, another perfect storm called Hurricane Katrina caused more than enough problems to trump the normal season effect of falling prices. Occasionally hurricanes or geopolitical events will have a big enough effect on oil prices that the seasonal effect is diminished or eliminated.

But more often than not, falling leaves are accompanied by falling gasoline prices, and now you know why. Enjoy it while you can, though. Spring always brings an end to this perfect storm when the RVP specification steps back down on May 1 — increasing costs and decreasing supplies just in time for the start of the summer driving season.

 

4 Stocks Making Moves

The following video is from Wednesday's Investor Beat, in which host Chris Hill and analysts Jason Moser and Charly Travers dissect the hardest-hitting investing stories of the day.

 In this installment, our analysts discuss four stocks making moves. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC  ) reported a decline in first-quarter profit due in part to a 6% decline in PC revenue. Yahoo's (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) first-quarter revenue was flat but display advertising dropped 11%. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) quadrupled its quarterly profits but still failed to live up to investor expectations. And Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT  ) posted big profits thanks to its American Girl and Monster High dolls.

The relevant video segment can be found between 2:38 and 5:26.

When it comes to dominating markets, it doesn't get much better than Intel's position in the PC microprocessor arena. However, that market is maturing, and Intel finds itself in a precarious situation longer term if it doesn't find new avenues for growth. In this premium research report on Intel, our analyst runs through all of the key topics investors should understand about the chip giant. Click here now to learn more.

Talking About Support? Barrick Gold Has Found It

Related ABX Markets Debut Week On Negative Note; S&P 500 Falls Through Key Level Benzinga's Top Upgrades M&A Activity Boosts U.S. Stock Futures (Fox Business)

Gold stocks have been out of favor for quite some time. As the bullion peaked at the $1950.00 level in August 2011, it has been in a slow and steady decline.

The reason for its ascent from its lows in 2008 at the $750.00 level were all of sudden no longer valid.

Meanwhile, gold producers ramped up their production during this period, anticipating higher and higher prices. Unfortunately for gold miners, their timing could not have been worse. The decline from its highs has continued as gold has breached the $1200 level on a few different occasions over the last 16 months.

The slide in price of the bullion has had a devastating impact on the price of gold and gold-mining stocks. Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE: ABX), for example, has declined from its all-time high made in September 2011 ($55.95) to $13.40 last week.

Related Link: Sometimes You Need To Close Your Eyes And Buy

Gold Rallies, But Not Barrick

Even as the markets panicked on Ebola fears and gold rallied, many of the gold miners barely moved. As gold has rallied from its October 6 low ($1183.30) to north of $1250.00, Barrick Gold has declined from its close on that day ($14.24) to $13.40. Any investor that purchased Barrick Gold in anticipation of a sympathy move must be scratching their head.

While some of the other miners have mounted a rally, Barrick Gold has traded in a well-defined range over the last eight trading sessions. After rising with gold's initial move off its recent lows, Barrick Gold briefly rallied to the $14.50 level. As gold has continued to rally, however, Barrick Gold has been stuck under $14.00.

Chart courtesy of Neovest

Major Consolidation

Over the last eight trading sessions, it has found resistance at the $14.00 level. It has also made lows between $13.40 and $13.50 over the last 10 trading sessions. It has found support just ahead of that level at $13.73, at time of writing. This type of technical trading pattern can be interpreted in two different ways.

The bullish scenario would be that large investors or institutions are loading the boat. Those investors are banking on this area, the same area it bottomed in July 2002, as the bottom. As a result, shorts that are looking for continued downside are throwing in the towel and covering in the same area.

The other scenario is that this is just a pause in another leg down for the issue. On many occasions when an issue has a similar chart pattern to this, it is just a pause in the continuation of a longer-term trend.

For investors looking to find a level of support to lean on, Barrick Gold has provided one. A breach of the $13.40 level could be a strong indication of another leg lower in the downtrodden issue.

Tune in every morning, Monday-Friday, from 8-9:45 AM EST to hear Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick discuss what's moving the markets and why on Benzinga's #PreMarket Prep.

Posted-In: GoldTechnicals Commodities Intraday Update Markets Trading Ideas Best of Benzinga

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

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For Global Dividend Funds: Do the DEW and Henderson Global

We know that even hardcore, self-directed investors sometimes use mutual funds for a portion of their portfolios, so we suggest some top funds that follow our Global Income Edge  theme for high-dividend-paying stocks. That theme is that investors can generate higher dividends with relative safety by investing in firms that tap both developed and developing countries.

Two of the funds that fit the bill are WisdomTree Global Equity Income (symbol: DEW), an exchange-traded fund with a 12-month trailing yield of 4.14%, and Henderson Global Equity Income (HFQAX), with a 12-month yield of 5.83%.

These funds each represent a very different approach to seeking global dividends. The ETF follows an index of WisdomTree's own devising, and it has low fees and no load. The Henderson fund is actively managed, follows a strict value strategy, and has higher expenses and a load—though your brokerage or investment adviser may waive the fee.

WisdomTree is arguably the leading mutual fund company when it comes to dividend investing. In fact, many of its funds are dividend-centric, as the company builds the indexes its funds follow around measures that are based on dividends paid.

The particular index this ETF is based on screens for medium-to-large companies (at least $2 billion in market capitalization) from around the world that sit in the top 30% of dividend-yielding firms.

Yield is key, of course, but expenses, risk and capital appreciation are three other factors that fund investors should consider when selecting long-term, equity-income holdings.

In the risk category, DEW is about as volatile as the average world stock fund, according to Morningstar. You won't have to worry about this fund putting a big slug of money in volatile emerging markets, as its filter effectively holds money invested in that category to less than 20% of assets. About 18% of assets are invested in U.S. companies, and! 80% are in foreign companies.

A little portfolio flavor: The United Kingdom is the country second to the U.S. in DEW's holdings, at 13%—this makes total sense, as the U.K. has the top "country yield" (see our Investing Without Borders article from a couple of weeks ago, "Go Global But Don't Go Crazy"). DEW's largest holding is China Mobile, and its top two sectors are financials and telecom.

On the expense front, the fund is a good deal. It charges 0.58% annually, which is less than half the average charge of actively-managed international funds but slightly more than the average ETF's charge.

Don't expect this fund's price appreciation to blow away the average of worldwide stocks; after all, this ETF is all about yield. But its performance over time isn't bad. Its average annualized yield for five years is 9.8%, which is about a percentage point less than the average yield of world stock funds. That spread is about two percentage points less for three-year and five-year annualized returns.

Value Hunters

The WisdomTree ETF doesn't care about a company's dividend history or its ability to continue to pay dividends, but Henderson Global Equity Income does.

Also, it's an opportunistic fund: It will sell one holding on which it just collected a dividend and switch to another with a dividend due. Given that foreign companies usually pay dividends only once or twice a year, and most of the fund's assets are in foreign companies, that's a good strategy. The Henderson fund pays dividends monthly, and the WisdomTree ETF pays them quarterly.

Financials also lead the Henderson fund's largest holdings, at 19% of assets, followed by industrials (14%) and energy (13%). U.K. companies make up this fund's top holdings, at 42% of assets, with developed European countries at 18% and North America at 14%.

Fund managers Job Curtis and Alex Crooke, who are based in the U.K., look for bargain-priced companies, explaining the fund's relat! ively low! volatility. It is 24% less volatile than the average foreign value fund, its Morningstar category. It has about 85% of assets in foreign companies.

Expense-wise, it charges 1.22% annually, which is about 0.20% less than the average foreign fund. But again, it has a load: 5.75%, which means you'll be giving up the first year of dividends just by buying shares. However, some brokerage firms, such as TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab, waive the load.

You can expect that this fund's price will beat its foreign value benchmark in most years. It has a 10% average annualized yield for the last five years, or 2.2 percentage points better than the benchmark (and about two percentage points better for the last three years). It has lagged by 1.7% in the last year.

S&P Is Still Resting While Leading Stocks Are Breaking Out

"The harder you work, the luckier you get." -- Gary Player

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Markets were pretty flat Tuesday as they continue to consolidate recent strong gains but select stocks continued to do very well.

My trading did escalate very quickly today and I'm now heavy into stocks and even into margin a bit as some really great patterns are breaking out now.

As for markets, they still are resting while leaders lead.

After all, that is why they are leading stocks.  They lead the markets in terms of breaking out and definitely in terms of returns. Let's take a look at the charts.

SPY still has a small head and shoulders pattern here that if it is to work should bring this exchange-traded fund back to 190. That said, a move and daily close above 195 should annul the pattern.The way stocks are behaving we may not see this head and shoulders pattern play out. We are in a very strong market at the moment.

Have a great night.

Warren
This article represents the opinion of a contributor and not necessarily that of TheStreet or its editorial staff. >>Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of Rising Interest Rates

Macy’s, Inc. Beats Q1 Earnings Estimates; Boosts Dividend 25% (M)

Before Wednesday’s opening bell, Macy’s, Inc. (M) reported first quarter earnings that came in above analysts’ estimates. The company also announced a 25% dividend increase. 

Macy’s Earning in Brief

M reported earnings of $224 million, or 60 cents per share, up from $217 million, or 55 cents per share, a year ago. Sales dipped to $6.279 billion from $6.387 billion last year. On average, analysts expected M to report earnings of 59 cents per share and $6.46 billion in revenue. Looking forward, M expects FY2014 earnings to be between $4.40 and $4.50 while analysts expect to see earnings of $4.48 per share.

M Raises Dividend and Increases Buy Back Authorization

M reported that it has raised its dividend by 25% from 25 cents to 31.25 cents quarterly. The next dividend will be payable July 1 to shareholders of record on June 13.

The company also reported that its board has approved a $1.5 billion increase to its buy back authorization.

Stock Performance

Macy’s shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Wednesday. The stock is up 8.31% YTD.

M Dividend Snapshot

As market close on May 13, 2014

Click here to see the complete history of M dividends.

10 Big Estate Planning Mistakes of the Rich & Famous

Estate planning can be tricky, and for celebrities with mega assets the stakes for heirs are enormous.

It seems that mistakes are often made in writing wills and when they are, the tabloids have a field day as after the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

“The biggest problem is they are living so fast and are so busy,” John J. Scroggin, who works on estate planning and other legal issues with many celebrities at Scroggin & Co., a Roswell, Ga., law firm told ThinkAdvisor.

Divorces, the birth of children after a will is drawn and other events can all cause problems if an expert in estate planning is not employed to help, Scroggin said. Not all the tabloid stories of poor estate planning are true, of course. Scroggin noted that reports of actor James Gandolfini’s estate planning were worse than the truth behind it.

Scroggin said a common error by celebrities is that “they assume divorce terminates all rights to retirement accounts and even life insurance.”

While laws differ depending on the state, Scroggin says beneficiaries should be changed, lest someone left behind end up with a piece of the financial pie.

In Hoffman’s case, as in others, children born after a will is drawn up can be left out, a situation Scroggin says should never happen.

“A well-crafted will typically says after-born children will be treated the same way” as those alive at the time it is written, he says.

One might wonder how celebrities with all that money and access to financial and legal experts can end up leaving their heirs to deal with a huge headache.

“What happens with celebrities is they have agent-lawyers,” Scroggin said. “They might not be competent in estate planning and they might be afraid to refer clients to an expert because,” they fear losing the business.

For those who like a glimpse into the messy lives of the rich and famous, we’ve compiled our list of 10 Big Estate Planning Mistakes of the Rich & Famous:

10. Gary Coleman

Estate: Modest

When the diminutive one-time child star of “Diff’rent Strokes” died in 2010 at age 42, he didn’t leave much. He’d had had his troubles over the years after the sitcom left the air and the woes continued after he died. A codicil to his will added in 2009 left everything to Shannon Price, who claimed to be his common-law wife under Utah law. That left his longtime friend and the former chief of his corporation, Anna Gray, in the lurch. After a judge in 2012 ruled that there never was a Price-Coleman wedding and the codicil naming her his heir was invalid, Gray was restored as heir to the modest estate that included a home with a mortgage and TV royalties.

9. Ted Williams

Estate: Not available

The size of the estate of the ballplayer often acknowledged as the greatest hitter of all time was not the main issue when he died in 2002. Williams’ heirs instead fought over what to do with the slugger’s body. One will specified it should be cremated, another that he it should be preserved cryogenically until the day came that it could be reanimated. Amid the court battle were lurid tales of Williams’ head being kept separate from his body.

8. Sonny Bono

Estate: $1 million

When singer and record producer turned congressman Sonny Bono died in a skiing accident in 1998, he failed to have a written will. That led to the expected battle. Was anyone truly surprised that one-time wife and singing partner Cher sued for a share of his estate seeking unpaid alimony? And there was the obligatory love child turning up with his hand out. A DNA test showed the love child was a fraud. Still, the lack of a will meant Bono’s surviving wife, Mary, had to fight in court to be named executor. Years of legal red tape followed.

7. Heath Ledger

Estate: $20 million (estimated)

When the actor died in 2003, it was revealed that the “Dark Knight” star had failed to redo the will he had signed before his daughter was born. That left his entire estate to his parents and his sisters. Despite the mistake, everything apparently turned out as Ledger would have wanted. Five years later, the family announced all the money would go to Matilda, Ledger’s daughter with actress Michelle Williams.

6. Pablo Picasso

Estate: $30 million

The iconic artist died intestate in 1971 leaving an estate that today would be valued at $173 million. Despite the fabulous fortune, Picasso neglected to execute a will. To settle the enormous tax bill owed France, the estate handed over the paintings by Picasso and others that formed the bulk of the collection of the Musee Picasso in Paris. Of course, that only accounted for a small portion of the 45,000 artworks found in three villas owned by Picasso. Wrangling over the estate lasted years and included lawsuits that were filed and dropped. In the end, the artist’s illegitimate son, Claude, helped lead five other siblings, including sister Paloma, to a settlement.

5. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Estate: $35 million (estimated)

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s mistake was not updating his will. Written in 2004, the actor never updated it, despite the fact that his two daughters were born after that time. The will left all of his estate to his partner, Mimi O’Donnell, and gave her the option of turning down the inheritance and placing it in a trust. The catch is that because the will only mentioned Hoffman’s son, his daughters might not share in the estate. The tangled New York laws governing estates will likely lead to a long battle to get the two girls their due. Maybe if the lawyer who had drawn up the will had been an expert in something other than real estate the results might have been different.

4. Stieg Larsson

Estate: At least $40 million (including post-mortem earnings)

The author of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and other international best sellers didn’t live to see his works become popular. Because he died in 2004 before hitting the big time, his girlfriend of three decades, Eva Gabrielsson, and his family were left to fight over the proceeds of his book sales. The family says they made sure Gabrielsson inherited the author’s apartment and offered her $2.6 million even though Swedish law does not recognize common law marriage. Gabrielsson was not appeased and wrote a scathing autobiography in 2011, seven years after Larsson’s death.

3. Joe Robbie

Estate: $45 million

Joe Robbie amassed a fortune during his lifetime and became a celebrity as owner of the Miami Dolphins. The team was fabulously successful, even completing the only undefeated season in NFL history in 1972-73. Still, when he died in 1990, family infighting among his children (he had 11) ensued. And then there was the matter of tax bill of $45 million from the IRS. The only way to satisfy the IRS was to sell the team. With that went a major piece of Robbie’s legacy. His name was even stripped off the stadium he helped build. Better estate planning could have headed off all the trouble.

2. James Brown

Estate: $100 million

Sometimes having a will isn’t enough. When the “Godfather of Soul” died in 2006, his will specified that nearly all of his estate be left to the James Brown “I Feel Good Trust,” which was designed to educate needy children in Georgia and South Carolina. His personal and household effects were to go to his six kids and an education trust was set up to pay the education of his grandchildren. Sounds so orderly, doesn’t it? What ensued was a series of lawsuits followed by a settlement. The settlement was overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court, which ruled that the state’s attorney general had no right to step in to mediate. His rewriting of the state plan to award half the money to Brown’s children was scrapped. The court last year sent the case back to Aiken County.

1. Michael Jackson

Estate: $7 million to $1.13 billion

The Michael Jackson saga never ends. From his wild life chronicled in the tabloids and mainstream press until his bizarre death and the conviction of his doctor for administering a fatal dose of a drug to help him sleep, the details are difficult to believe. And then there’s the matter of his estate. When the “King of Pop” died in 2009, his executors valued his estate at $7 million. Now the IRS says the intellectual and song copyrights make it worth more than a billion dollars. The agency says the estate owes $505 million in back taxes and $197 million in fines and penalties. If the IRS wins, the government could end up owning an interest in songs like the Beatles’ “Yesterday.” Imagine that.

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Check out these related stories on ThinkAdvisor:

Will SEC Spend 5 More Years Mulling Fiduciary Rule?

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that it would “continue to analyze” over the next five years whether to write a rule to put brokers under a fiduciary mandate — but the debate continues among industry officials about whether a rule proposal will surface within that timeframe.

In releasing the agency’s draft five-year strategic plan, which is out for public comment until March 10, the SEC said that it would “continue to analyze whether the different regulatory obligations that apply to broker-dealers and investment advisors providing personalized investment advice should be changed for the protection of investors.”

The Draft Strategic Plan outlines the agency’s strategic goals for fiscal years 2014 to 2018.

The SEC “will get to [releasing a fiduciary rule proposal] in less than five years, but not soon, probably not before the DOL has completed its rulemaking,” says Mercer Bullard, founder of Fund Democracy and associate professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law.

SEC spokesman John Nester says that the agency could indeed release a fiduciary rule proposal within the five-year time frame, despite the fact that the agency uses the words “continue to analyze” in the draft plan.

One industry official, however, doesn’t see the Department of Labor rereleasing as expected in August its plan to amend the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The official, who asked for anonymity, believes the DOL will not repropose its contentious fiduciary rule so close to the November midterm election. “The broker and insurance companies have lobbied Congress hard – and obviously with some success – to get the DOL to back down on this one,” the official said.

Bullard said he saw DOL’s redraft of its fiduciary rule being sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) “well before year-end.” However, he said, “I’m not sure how quickly OMB will move on it.”

Knut Rostad, president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, says that the SEC’s strategic draft plan of analyzing whether the “regulatory obligations” of broker-dealers providing investment advice should be changed “is consistent with prior statements by [SEC] Chair [Mary Jo] White regarding the need to determine whether the commission should proceed with rulemaking.”

Says Rostad: “Likewise, as I have suggested, investment advisors should also re-evaluate whether they believe this rulemaking is in investors’ best interest.”

Neil Simon, vice president of governmental affairs at the Investment Adviser Association in Washington, notes that the SEC frames in its draft the fiduciary topic in terms of “’regulatory structures’ and ‘regulatory obligations’ rather than specifically referring to the question of whether the well-established fiduciary standard should apply.” Such use of language, he said, “could be read to suggest that the agency may be looking at other ‘harmonization’ issues rather than the fiduciary standard question.”

The SEC says that the draft plan surveys the forces shaping its environment and outlines more than 70 initiatives designed to support its primary strategic goals.

Kevin Carroll, managing director and associate general counsel for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said that SIFMA believes that the SEC “should perform all necessary cost/benefit analysis, but also proceed with all dispatch in establishing a uniform fiduciary standard under Dodd-Frank Section 913.”

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Check out SEC to CCOs: Don’t Ignore These Issues on ThinkAdvisor.

Fusion-io Earnings: Can the Data-Storage Company Recover?

Fusion-io (NYSE: FIO  ) will release its quarterly report on Wednesday, and investors are nervous about the expected plunge in revenue that they expect to result in the data-storage specialist's year-ago profit turning into a loss. Yet even in the face of much larger competitors EMC (NYSE: EMC  ) and Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC  ) , many still hold out hope that Fusion-io earnings will eventually recover and help the share price gain back some of its long-term losses.

The revolution in the memory space has been fast and furious in recent years, as the rise of flash-memory products has forced companies like hard-drive specialist Western Digital to adapt to changing demand for more innovative memory solutions. Yet despite having cutting-edge technology, Fusion-io hasn't been able to leverage its product prowess into a reliable competitive advantage, leaving itself vulnerable to EMC, Western Digital's recently purchased Virident Systems, and other competitors. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Fusion-io over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its report.

Source: Fusion-io.

Stats on Fusion-io

Analyst EPS Estimate	($0.10)
Year-Ago EPS	$0.13
Revenue Estimate	$89.31 million
Change From Year-Ago Revenue	(26%)
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters	3

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Can Fusion-io earnings recover?
In recent months, analysts have drastically marked down their views on Fusion-io earnings, widening their loss estimates for the December quarter by $0.08 per share and reversing early expectations for modest profits in fiscal 2014 and 2015 to current calls for losses. The stock has gotten crushed, falling almost 35% since mid-October.

Most of the damage to Fusion-io's stock came after its September-quarter earnings report. The company managed to beat expectations with a narrower loss than investors had thought they'd see. But calls for only slight sequential gains in revenue left shareholders disappointed, as they'd hoped to see massive revenue gains of as much as 30% to 35%. Combined with Fusion-io's guidance toward falling margins and the departure of its CFO and chief sales officer, investors weren't reassured that the company will get back on solid footing in the near future.

Still, company executives haven't given up on Fusion-io's prospects. Immediately after the earnings-related plunge, CEO Shane Robison and Chief Legal Officer Shawn Lindquist made major insider stock purchases, demonstrating their commitment to Fusion-io's recovery.

The challenge that Fusion-io faces is finding more customers for its innovative products. Initially, interest from Apple and Facebook seemed to guarantee Fusion-io's long-term success. Yet between weak margins and drops in spending from those major customers, Fusion-io has had to struggle to keep revenue up. Meanwhile, a rash of new players in the space, including Violin Memory and Nimble Storage, only add to the challenge that Fusion-io faces in differentiating itself from rivals. Meanwhile, hopes that EMC might seek to buy out Fusion-io, or that Seagate (NASDAQ: STX  ) might want to answer Western Digital's purchase of Virident with interest in Fusion-io, simply haven't panned out for shareholders.

In the Fusion-io earnings report, watch for the company to give its latest read on customer demand for its products. With tech devices having been big sellers during the holiday season, Fusion-io needs to demonstrate its continuing ability to get its share of sales to reassure investors that it can bounce back from its recent setbacks.

Get the lowdown on a serious stock
There's a huge difference between a good stock and a stock that can make you rich. The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for 2014, and it's one of those stocks that could make you rich. You can find out which stock it is in the special free report "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2014." Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

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

Reducing Risk With Options

Many people mistakenly believe that options are always riskier investments than stocks. This stems from the fact that most investors do not fully understand the concept of leverage. However, if used properly, options can have less risk than an equivalent position in a stock. Read on to learn how to calculate the potential risk of stock and options positions and discover how options - and the power of leverage - can work in your favor.

What Is Leverage?
Leverage has two basic definitions applicable to option trading. The first defines leverage as the use of the same amount of money to capture a larger position. This is the definition that gets investors into trouble. A dollar amount invested in a stock and the same dollar amount invested in an option do not equate to the same risk.
The second definition characterizes leverage as maintaining the same sized position, but spending less money doing so. This is the definition of leverage that a consistently successful trader incorporates into his or her frame of reference.

Interpreting the Numbers
Consider the following example. If you're going to invest $10,000 in a $50 stock, you might be tempted to think you would be better off investing that $10,000 in $10 options instead. After all, investing $10,000 in a $10 option would allow you to buy 10 contracts (one contract is worth one hundred shares of stock) and control 1,000 shares. Meanwhile, $10,000 in a $50 stock would only get you 200 shares.

In the example above, the option trade has much more risk compared to the stock trade. With the stock trade, your entire investment can be lost, but only with an improbable movement in the stock. In order to lose your entire investment, the $50 stock would have to trade down to $0.

In the option trade, however, you stand to lose your entire investment if the stock simply trades down to the long option's strike price. For example, if the option strike price is $40 (an in-the-money option), the stock will only need to trade below $40 by expiration for your entire investment to be lost. That represents only a 20% downward move.

Clearly, there is a large risk disparity between owning the same dollar amount of stocks to options. This risk disparity exists because the proper definition of leverage was applied incorrectly to the situation. To correct this problem, let's go over two alternative ways to balance risk disparity while keeping the positions equally profitable.

Conventional Risk Calculation
The first method you can use to balance risk disparity is the standard, tried and true way. Let's go back to our stock trade to examine how this works:

If you were going to invest $10,000 in a $50 stock, you would receive 200 shares. Instead of purchasing the 200 shares, you could also buy two call option contracts. By purchasing the options, you can spend less money but still control the same number of shares. The number of options is determined by the number of shares that could have been bought with your investment capital.

For example, let's suppose that you decide to buy 1,000 shares of XYZ at $41.75 per share for a cost of $41,750. However, instead of purchasing the stock at $41.75, you could also buy 10 call option contracts whose strike price is $30 (in-the-money) for $1,630 per contract. The option purchase will provide a total capital outlay of $16,300 for the 10 calls. This represents a total savings of $25,450, or about a 60% of what you could have invested in XYZ stock.

Being Opportunistic
This $25,450 savings can be used in several ways. First, it can be used to take advantage of other opportunities, providing you with greater diversification. Another interesting concept is that this extra savings can simply sit in your trading account and earn money market rates. The collection of the interest from the savings can create what is known as a synthetic dividend. Suppose during the course of the life of the option, the $25,450 savings will gain 3% interest annually in a money market account. That represents $763 in interest for the year, equivalent to about $63 a month or about $190 per quarter.

You are now, in a sense, collecting a dividend on a stock that does not pay one while still seeing a very similar performance from your option position in relation to the stock's movement. Best of all, this can all be accomplished using less than one-third of the funds you would have used had you purchased the stock.

Alternative Risk Calculation
The other alternative for balancing cost and size disparity is based on risk.

As you've learned, buying $10,000 in stock is not the same as buying $10,000 in options in terms of overall risk. In fact, the money invested in the options was at a much greater risk due to the greatly increased potential of loss. In order to level the playing field, therefore, you must equalize the risk and determine how to have a risk-equivalent option position in relation to the stock position.

Positioning your Stock
Let's start with your stock position: buying 1,000 shares of a $41.75 stock for a total investment of $41,750. Being the risk-conscious investor that you are, let's suppose you also enter a stop-loss order, a prudent strategy that is advised by most market experts.

You set your stop order at a price that will limit your loss to 20% of your investment, which is $8,350 of your total investment. Assuming this is the amount that you are willing to lose on the position, this should also be the amount you are willing to spend on an option position. In other words, you should only spend $8,350 buying options. That way, you only have the same dollar amount at risk in the option position as you were willing to lose in your stock position. This strategy equalizes the risk between the two potential investments.

If you own stock, stop orders will not protect you from gap openings. The difference with the option position is that once the stock opens below the strike that you own, you will have already lost all that you could lose of your investment, which is the total amount of money you spent purchasing the calls. However, if you own the stock, you can suffer much greater losses. In this case, if a large decline occurs, the option position becomes less risky than the stock position.

For example, if you purchase a pharmaceutical stock for $60 and it gap-opens down at $20 when the company's drug, which is in Phase III clinical trials, kills four test patients, your stop order will be executed at $20. This will lock in your loss at a hefty $40. Clearly, your stop order doesn't afford much protection in this case.

However, let's say that instead of purchasing the stock, you buy the call options for $11.50 each share. Now your risk scenario changes dramatically - when you buy an option, you are only risking the amount of money that you paid for the option. Therefore, if the stock opens at $20, all of your friends who bought the stock will be out $40, while you will only have lost $11.50. When used in this way, options become less risky than stocks.

The Bottom Line
Determining the appropriate amount of money you should invest in an option will allow you to use the power of leverage. The key is keeping a balance in the total risk of the option position over a corresponding stock position, and identifying which one holds the higher risk in each situation.

5 Rocket Stocks to Buy This Earnings Season

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Bring on the earnings. Maybe they'll be enough to distract investors from the shenanigans taking place on Capitol Hill.

>>5 Stocks Ready to Break Out

Yes, it's earnings season once again, that time each quarter when companies reveal their performance numbers to Wall Street. Earnings are one of only four times each year when fundamental investors get a snapshot of how their companies are doing, so it's not a huge surprise that earnings season comes with the potential to really impact share prices.

With a whole new debt-ceiling debacle threatening to derail the stock rally of 2013, the buying impact from good fundamental growth would be pretty welcome right now.

But to take full advantage of the next round of earnings releases, we're not just jumping in ahead of the next earnings release. Instead, we're turning to a new set of Rocket Stock names.

>>Why I'm Sticking By Dow 55,000

For the uninitiated, "Rocket Stocks" are our list of companies with short-term gain catalysts and longer-term growth potential. To find them, I run a weekly quantitative screen that seeks out stocks with a combination of analyst upgrades and positive earnings surprises to identify rising analyst expectations, a bullish signal for stocks in any market. After all, where analysts' expectations are increasing, institutional cash often follows. In the last 218 weeks, our weekly list of five plays has outperformed the S&P 500 by 89.5%.

Without further ado, here's a look at this week's Rocket Stocks.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is having a stellar year in 2013. Shares of the healthcare giant have rallied more than 27% since the start of the year, around double what the venerable S&P 500 has managed to accomplish over the same time period. Johnson's set to announce its earnings numbers tomorrow.

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Johnson & Johnson is the prototypical blue-chip stock. The $252 billion firm pays out just shy of a 3% dividend yield, and it's got a model that works well in good times and in bad ones. The business includes everything from consumer products such as Band-Aid brand bandages to pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

While pharma makes up a large chunk of the firm's net income, the consumer and medical device segments offer investors diversification that few big pharma names can match -- especially as patent drop-offs plague valuations in the industry.

JNJ is a big beneficiary of changing demographics. As the baby boomer population in the developed world gets older, medical costs are expected to inflate in kind, and that's a good thing for pharma-driven firms such as Johnson & Johnson. Elsewhere, burgeoning younger populations in emerging markets are there to pick up the demand for its consumer products.

Boeing

Aerospace standard-bearer Boeing (BA) is one firm that stands to lose a lot if the government stops paying its bills. Boeing may be best-known to the public for its airliners, but it actually earns around half of its revenues as a defense contractor. Luckily for Boeing -- and the rest of the financial system -- any saber-rattling from Congress is still likely to have only temporary consequences.

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Back on the commercial aviation side, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner hasn't gone off quite without a hitch, but the important thing is that it has gone off. The airliner stands to dramatically improve profitability at carriers who use the strikingly more fuel-efficient model, and that's helping to keep orders flowing in.

Better, recent strong performance in airline stocks means that Boeing's customers have access to cash on even more attractive terms. A re-engined version of the extremely popular 737 airliner should be another key driver of sales for Boeing -- one that comes with lower costs for both BA and the customers who buy the 737s.

One of Boeing's most important assets is the one you won't find on its balance sheet: a $410 billion backlog. That backlog should provide a lot of downside protection for BA's sales in the foreseeable future. Keep an eye on earnings later this month; they're scheduled for Oct. 23.

EOG Resources

EOG Resources (EOG) has been another high-flier in 2013. Shares of the oil and gas exploration and production firm have climbed more than 48% higher since the calendar flipped over to January. A lot of that performance has come more recently, thanks to overall strength in the energy sector, so with relative strength scoring well right now, it makes sense to take a closer look at EOG.

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The E&P business is attractive right now -- attractive enough, anyway, for a few high-profile integrated firms to start shedding their low-margin downstream assets in recent years. EOG doesn't have to do that, though. It's already a pure-play E&P. EOG owns proven reserves of 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent spread across North America, with a smaller presence in Trinidad and Tobago, the UK, Argentina and China. EOG is an expert in unconventional drilling situations, which means that the firm is able to unlock profits that would typically go to specialist oil field servicers -- or be left in the ground. As a result, the firm can buy up cheap projects that are no longer profitable for rivals, and wring cash out of them.

Because of EOG's size, it's able to let less-lucrative sites sit dormant until oil prices pick back up. That production flexibility means that the firm is able to consistently generate net profit margins in the double digits. We'll get our next glimpse at EOG's numbers on Nov. 7.

Kimberly-Clark

Paper maker Kimberly-Clark (KMB) owns a handful of hugely popular health and hygiene brands that include Kleenex, Scott towels, and Huggies. That positioning means that it doesn't get much more defensive than KMB; this stock is the king of consumer staples.

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Kimberly-Clark's brands lead the pack in the segments they compete in -- and four of them generate more than $1 billion in annual sales. While competition from store brands continues to be a challenge in a sluggishly rebounding economy, consumers are far less likely to trade down on products like diapers. For that reason, the firm enjoys an economic moat that most of its rivals lack.

Today, around half of KMB's sales come from outside North America. And as that sales mix continues to move outside the continent, investors should benefit. High birth rates in emerging markets could provide considerable growth for KMB in the years ahead, especially as growing middle class populations have the cash to pay for luxuries like disposable diapers.

Like any good defensive name, KMB currently pays out a dividend of 3.3% right now.

Estee Lauder

Cosmetics and fragrance manufacturer Estee Lauder (EL) is gearing up to report earnings of its own; the firm releases its fiscal first-quarter numbers on Oct. 31. And if those results are anything like investors have become accustomed to, there's more upside in store for this beauty company.

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar

Estee Lauder owns a brand portfolio that includes popular names such as Clinique in addition to mall staples M-A-C and Origins. That's enough makeup power to give EL a 25% share of the world's high-end cosmetics market, a segment that's continuing to hold up quite well in the current retail market.

The growth story for Estee isn't unlike the story at Kimberly-Clark or Johnson & Johnson: It all comes down to pent-up demand among a whole new group of middle class consumers in emerging markets. Right now, the firm gets around half of its revenues from overseas, and developing countries making up a bigger chunk each year.

With rising analyst sentiment in shares of EL this week, we're betting on shares.

To see all of this week's Rocket Stocks in action, check out the Rocket Stocks portfolio at Stockpickr.

-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

RELATED LINKS:

>>5 Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

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>>4 Stocks Under $10 Making Big Moves

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to

TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji

Deere Up on Earnings, Down on Worries

This leading farming equipment company beat estimates and then saw its shares fall in the same day, but MoneyShow's Jim Jubak, also of Jubak's Picks, still thinks it could be a smart play if you're willing to hold out.

It's not frequently that investors hear a company beat earnings estimates by 47 cents a share and then see its shares fall, but that's exactly what we saw yesterday with Deere (DE).

Yesterday, before the open, the company reported earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 of $2.64 (adjusted for one-time items). Wall Street had been expecting earnings of $2.17 a share. Operating margins rose to 15.5% for the quarter. That was a big improvement from the 12.6% operating margin in the fiscal second quarter and about 2 percentage points above what Wall Street expected.

And that may indeed have been the root of the stock's problem yesterday. Although the company crushed earnings estimates, it didn't do nearly as well on revenue. Net sales rose just 4.3% in the quarter, year over year to $9.32, just a tad ahead of the Wall Street estimate at $9.28 billion. For the full 2013 fiscal year, Deere kept to its guidance of a 5% increase in revenue, but for the fourth quarter, the company said it expects a 5% drop in revenue to $8.59 billion. That's below Wall Street projections.

Think about the implications of that. Deere reported surprisingly high earnings this quarter on a huge jump in operating margins on very modest revenue growth. The company is now saying that revenue growth will turn negative in the fourth quarter, and investors have to doubt that Deere can pull anything like another 2 percentage point increase in operating margins out of its hat for the next quarter.

Shares climbed initially yesterday, opening at $84.06, up from the $83.91 close on the good news on earnings. And then preceded to decline as investors absorbed the message of slow revenue growth and the company's forecast of negative revenue growth for the fourth quarter. At the close the stock traded at $82.34, down 1.87% for the day.

With a bumper crop due in this year's harvest, thanks to the end of droughts from Brazil to the US Midwest, crop prices have tumbled. Corn, for example, sells currently for just $4.51 a bushel. That's down from prices above $8 a bushel on this date in 2012. With that, Wall Street is worried that farmers will cut back on purchases of machinery, and such farm supplies as fertilizers, not so much because farm incomes are falling, but because a record or near record harvest will result in a decision to plant fewer acres next year.

Deere noted that even at $4 a bushel for corn, US farmers would still make very good money. But that's not really the issue. The company lowered its estimates for US farm cash receipts by 2.6% to $379.7 billion from $389.8 billion. Deere's equipment sales closely track farm cash receipts, so that reduction in estimates isn't good news for Deere's revenues.

Looking around the company didn't see any big improvement elsewhere that might offset the drop in US farm cash receipts. In the European Union, demand for farm machinery is likely to be lower, as the financial crisis continues to restrict the availability of farm credit, and weak national economies make farmers very conservative about spending. In China, government subsidies continue to support equipment purchases—but don't look to rise enough to increase demand, and in India, the tractor market, according to the company, remains soft.

I like Deere for the long run as one of the best stock plays for growing global demand for food. (That's why the stock is a member of my Jubak Picks 50 long-term portfolio.) But even great long-term picks, backed by long term upward trends, experience cycles of rising and falling demand. The stock's chart shows a negative cross in early July. (That's where the 50-day moving average falls below the 200-day moving average and it's often a sign of a further decline ahead.) At the current price, Deere has dropped just below the 50-day moving average at $83.60.

In other words, by waiting for the lower guidance for the fourth quarter to seep out further into the market consciousness, you might get Deere at a lower price. Deere has repeatedly bounced off $80-$82 over the last year. But if you're willing to hold out for a bargain, the price to watch would be the $73-$75 range the stock hit in late August-early September, 2012.

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 Deere as of the end of June. For a full list of the stocks in the fund as of the end of June see the fund's portfolio at here.