Qihoo Earnings: An Early Look

Earnings season is winding down, with most companies already having reported their quarterly results. But there are still some companies left to report, and Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU  ) is about to release its quarterly earnings. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarterly reports is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Chinese tech company Qihoo is best known for its anti-virus software. But recently, it has taken on a giant in the Chinese Internet space, going head-to-head with its own new search engine. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Qihoo over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report on Tuesday.

Stats on Qihoo

Analyst EPS Estimate	$0.17
Change From Year-Ago EPS	(15%)
Revenue Estimate	$93.7 million
Change From Year-Ago Revenue	50%
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters	3

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Qihoo find what investors are looking for this quarter?
Analysts haven't budged on their calls for Qihoo's earnings, keeping estimates unchanged both for the just-finished quarter as well as full-year 2013. But the stock has risen sharply, up 16% since early December, in the wake of promising news for the young, fast-growing business.

Until very recently, Qihoo did well in its security niche, with software to protect computers against virus attacks. But when Qihoo added a self-created search engine to be the default search option for its Internet browser last summer, it took on the biggest player in Chinese search, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU  ) . Qihoo saw its search market share vault to between 10% and 15%, a huge gain in such a short time.

But in January, the Chinese government came down hard on Qihoo, alleging acts of unfair competition that included making its security software hard to uninstall, issuing warnings that non-Qihoo browsers are unsafe, and tricking users into downloading its browser while masquerading as an official software update. Given that Qihoo is attacking Baidu, Sohu.com, and other Chinese companies, the government has a vested interest in stopping the infighting. Moreover, Baidu is now considering going after Qihoo on its home turf by buying an online-security company.

In Qihoo's quarterly report, look for signs of what the company's next step will be in its ongoing fight. If the company backs down in the face of government pressure, then the negative impact on sales could be devastating for investors.

Qihoo has helped contribute to Baidu's share-price plunge, but will the search giant bounce back? Find out in our premium report on Baidu, which highlights whether Baidu is a must-buy after its big drop. Just click here to access it now.

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

Intrepid Potash Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI  ) reported earnings on Feb. 13. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Intrepid Potash beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue expanded and GAAP earnings per share contracted significantly.

Margins shrank across the board.

Revenue details
Intrepid Potash booked revenue of $110.9 million. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see sales of $110.0 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.26. The 13 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.23 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.19 for Q4 were 42% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.33 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 37.7%, 720 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 28.6%, 800 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 14.7%, 1,150 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $99.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.28.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $465.6 million. The average EPS estimate is $1.20.

Investor sentiment

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Intrepid Potash is hold, with an average price target of $25.29.

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Ambassadors Group CEO Resigns

On Monday after close of trading, educational "travel experiences" provider Ambassadors Group (NASDAQ: EPAX  ) announced that President and CEO Jeffrey D. Thomas has resigned. Also resigning is Margaret M. Thomas, the company's executive vice president and president and COO of its Ambassador Programs operating subsidiary.

No explanation was given for the abrupt departures -- not even the customary "to spend more time with their family(ies)" or "to pursue other opportunities." Instead, Ambassadors said it has appointed Senior Vice President and CFO Anthony Dombrowik interim CEO while the board of directors conducts a search for a permanent one.

The Fool Looks Ahead

There's never a dull week on Wall Street. Let's go over some of the news that will shape the week to come.

Monday
The market kicks off with Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS  ) reporting its latest quarterly results on Monday morning. Three-dimensional printing was one of last year's hottest sectors, though investors have been steering clear of the few publicly traded companies specializing in additive manufacturing lately. Stratasys will give the niche a shot to get back into the limelight.

Tuesday
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU  ) reports on Tuesday. The company behind China's leading Internet browser and provider of online security solutions turned heads this summer when it rolled out its own search engine. The market was even more surprised when Qihoo 360's engine began to take off at the expense of the market darling.

Qihoo 360 will shed some light on its progress on Tuesday, and that will hopefully include some insight into the recent legal fisticuffs in the world's largest Internet market.

Wednesday
Alon USA Parnters (NYSE: ALDW  ) checks in on Wednesday. The limited partnership has the capacity to crank out 70,000 barrels a day through a crude oil refinery in Texas. Analysts are holding out for a juicy quarterly profit of $1.83 a unit when it reports.

Thursday
Skullcandy (NASDAQ: SKUL  ) is one of the bigger disappointments of the 2011 IPO class. The maker of headphones and other audio accessories went public at $20, and it has since shed more than two thirds of its value. We'll see on Thursday whether it can turn in an amplified performance with its latest report.

Friday
Friday is usually quiet on the earnings front, but that won't stop Arcos Dorados (NYSE: ARCO  ) from reporting. The Argentina-based company is the world's largest Mickey D's franchisee, serving up Big Macs and fries across Latin America and the Caribbean. If there's every any doubt where its burger-flipping allegiance lies, just know that the corporate moniker means "Golden Arches" in Spanish.

Beyond next week
The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

Las Vegas Sands Admits "Likely" Violation of Corruption Act

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS  ) has indicated in a regulatory filing that it might have been responsible for violating an anti-corruption law. In the company's 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it wrote that an internal review "had reached certain preliminary findings, including that there were likely violations of the books and record and internal controls provisions of the FCPA."

The FCPA is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal law that prohibits American companies from bribing public officials in foreign countries.�

Las Vegas Sands did not provide significant detail on its findings. According to The Wall Street Journal, the potential violations relate to a set of business deals in China.

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Fluidigm Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Fluidigm (Nasdaq: FLDM  ) reported earnings on Feb. 12. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Fluidigm beat expectations on revenues and exceeded expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased significantly and GAAP loss per share shrank.

Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
Fluidigm logged revenue of $15.7 million. The six analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected revenue of $14.7 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 20% higher than the prior-year quarter's $13.0 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at -$0.14. The four earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged -$0.15 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.14 for Q4 versus -$0.17 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 72.3%, 310 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -22.3%, 60 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -23.0%, 360 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $14.5 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.19.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $65.4 million. The average EPS estimate is -$0.52.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a one-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with nine members out of 16 rating the stock outperform, and seven members rating it underperform. Among nine CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), three give Fluidigm a green thumbs-up, and six give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Fluidigm is buy, with an average price target of $17.90.

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3 Stocks Set to Soar

There are plenty of strategies for picking stock winners, from finding low P/E stocks to seeking companies selling at a discount to their future cash flows. But what if we could whittle down our list of prospects beforehand, to find those whose engines are just getting warmed up?

Using our investor intelligence database at Motley Fool CAPS, I screened for stocks that were marked up by investors before their share prices rose over the past three months. My screen returned just 103 stocks when I ran it, no doubt reflecting the market's turmoil during that time, and included these recent winners:

Stock	CAPS Rating as of Sept. 3, 2012	CAPS Rating as of Dec. 3, 2012	Trailing 13-week Performance
CommonWealth REIT	**	***	66.9%
Air Transport Services Group	**	***	45.6%
Manpower	**	***	42%

Source: Motley Fool CAPS Screener; trailing performance from Nov. 30 to Feb. 28

While this screen might tell us which stocks we should have looked at three months ago, we'd rather find the stocks that we ought to be looking at today. I went back to the screener and looked for stocks that were just bumped up to three stars or better, sport valuations lower than the market's average, and haven't appreciated by more than 10% in the past month.

Of the 37 stocks the screen returned, here are three that are still attractively priced, but which investors think are ready to run today:

Stock	CAPS Rating as of Dec. 3, 2012	CAPS Rating as of Feb. 28, 2013	Trailing 4-Week Performance	P/E Ratio
Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ  )	**	***	2.2%	12.1
Natural Resource Partners (NYSE: NRP  )	**	***	0.3%	11.1
Select Comfort (NASDAQ: SCSS  )	**	***	(9.4%)	15.0

Source: Motley Fool CAPS Screener; trailing performance from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28.

You can run your own version of this screen over on CAPS; just remember that the data's dynamically updated in real time, so your results may vary. That said, let's examine why investors might think these companies will go on to beat the market.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Jazz Pharmaceuticals has been making a slew of acquisitions to bolster its top and bottom lines, and if fourth-quarter results are any indication, the program is working, at least so far. Growth by acquisition is a risky game to play because the vaunted synergies that are always touted ahead of time seem to unravel at the worst moments. But so far Jazz is enjoying strong growth and revenues jumped 127% while profits more than quadrupled to $200.6 million.

It wasn't just buyouts that brought good tidings, though, but also its narcolepsy therapy Xyrem that helped push results above analyst expectations. It also said it signed an agreement with Concert Pharmaceuticals to develop and market its deuterium-modified sodium oxybate compound, which is a key ingredient in Xyrem and which could offer additional patent protection for the drug.

Shares of the pharmaceutical trade slightly below their 52-week high, but the additional opportunities suggest it could be setting new ones soon.

Natural Resource Partners
Metallurgical-coal producer Natural Resource Partners also surprised analysts with a fourth quarter report that beat expectations, but it wasn't really because of its coal operations that it was able to grow. Instead, it was due to royalties received from things that weren't associated with the black rock. Its "other than coal royalty" surged 36% as it received a $6.5 million influx of minimum royalties as well as selling a right-of-way to West Virginia's highway department. Although coal production increased 41% in the quarter, coal revenues were essentially flat from the year-ago period as the average royalty revenue per ton plunged 29%.

Coal will naturally remain a weak spot for Natural Resources, but its investments in sand proppant resources in Wisconsin and the Marcellus shale oil and gas acreage it bought in December diversifies its assets and revenue streams. In addition to the Marcellus region, NRP also owns unconventional plays in the Mississippi lime and Haynesville shale. Any recovery in natural gas prices should run right to NRP's bottom line.

Select Comfort
Investors in specialty mattress maker Select Comfort haven't been able to rest easily as shares have fallen almost 30% over the past year and are down more than 40% from their 52-week high. With its last earnings report lumpier than an old coil-spring mattress -- same stores sales were up 11% and net sales were 17% higher, but earnings were down and guidance was below expectations -- the overall effect caused the stock to plunge.

But the housing market is slowly (OK, very slowly) on the rebound and that will help inflate sales further. When you buy a new house you often buy a new mattress too. Indeed, Select Comfort is on track to generate more than $1 billion in sales next year and when coupled with plans to broaden its customer base by making its offerings more affordable, it seems they've got the right number. This specialty mattress company is one that could be a real sleeper in your portfolio.

Want to hear about another stock primed to head higher? The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

�

5 FTSE 100 Shares You Should Have Bought In February

LONDON -- After January's dramatic rise, the FTSE 100 settled into a steadier month in February, gaining 105 points to reach 6,381. The index of the U.K.'s biggest companies did pop its head over the 6,400 parapet on Feb. 20, but it has yet to close above that level.

A number of the FTSE 100's constituents have soundly beaten the average during February, and some of them will surely go on to even better things. Here are five that have risen and might still be good values.

Legal & General (LSE: LGEN  )
The insurance sector has been making a bit of a comeback, and Legal & General Group has done well along with the rest of it. The shares gained a relatively modest 5.3% during February to reach 160 pence, but that adds up to a rise of more than 30% over the past 12 months.

Full-year results are due next week, and they look like they should be good. The City is forecasting a 13% rise in earnings per share, and that puts the shares on a relatively modest price-to-earnings ratio of 11. There's also a dividend yield of 4.7% expected, topping two previous years of dividend rises, and it's likely to be about twice covered. There could still be more to come from the shares.

Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR  )
Shares in Rolls-Royce Holdings climbed 8.7% to 1,028 pence, taking them up more than 25% over the past 12 months. Full-year results released on Feb. 14 showed revenue up 8% to 12.2 billion pounds, pre-tax profit up 24% to 1.4 billion pounds, and earnings per share up 22% to 59.3 pence. That resulted in an 11% dividend lift to 19.5 pence per share.

Since then, Rolls-Royce has announced a new $40 million contract to provide "equipment and related services to power the flow of natural gas through the Uzbekistan section of the Turkmenistan-China natural gas pipeline."

Forecasts for 2013 put the shares on a P/E of 15.5, which is not high for a quality company, and there's a further dividend hike expected to yield 2.1%.

Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL  )
ISAs, SIPPs, stockbroking -- it has all added up to a great month for Hargreaves Lansdown, whose share price powered up a whopping 25% to 867 pence in February -- and that's on top of a strong year that has seen the price nearly double.

On Feb. 6, first-half results showed record revenue of 140 million pounds, up 24%, with pre-tax profit up 30% to a record 93.7 million pounds. The firm now has 30.4 billion pounds in assets under administration -- and yes, that's also a new record. Forecasts for the full year suggest a 25% rise in earnings per share, but that does put the shares on a prospective P/E of 28, which is about twice the long-term FTSE average. Many will see that as a bit pricey.

ITV (LSE: ITV  )
ITV shares had a good February, rising 8.2% to 124 pence. In addition, you would have had become eligible for a final dividend of 1.8 pence per share (for a full-year total of 2.6 pence, and a yield of 2%), plus a special dividend of 4 pence per share, after the broadcaster revealed 2012 results on Wednesday.

While some companies dependent on traditional advertising revenues have struggled, ITV's mix of TV with digital, online and interactive media is reaping rewards. Even with the shares having gained 45% over the past 12 months, 2012 earnings per share put them on a P/E of 13, and forecasts for 2013 and 2014 drop that ratio to 12 and 11 respectively.

BAE Systems (LSE: BA  )
Shares in aerospace and defense engineer BAE Systems gained a modest 4.4% to 355 pence during February, so why am I including the company here? Well, in addition to BAE being a constituent of the Fool's Beginners' Portfolio, that rise is still a decent one-month performance. And there is also a final dividend of 11.7 pence per share to be added, announced with full-year results on Feb. 21, making for a full-year payout of 19.5 pence per share for a 5.7% yield.

Although 2012 operating profit fell 6% to 1.9 billion pounds, underlying earnings per share of 38.9 pence puts the shares on a P/E of only 9.1, and that falls to 8.3 based on forecasts for 2013 -- the company told us it anticipates modest growth this year.

All of these companies pay dividends, and that can make a huge difference to the long-term value of a portfolio. Whether you take the income to live on or reinvest it in more shares, there's nothing wrong with good old cash, whatever your strategy. And that's why I recommend the brand-new Fool report "The Motley Fool's Top Income Share For 2013," in which our top analysts identify a share that they believe will provide handsome dividend income for years to come. But it will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your copy today.

link

Fresh from primetime cameo, Sotera Wireless’ remote patient monitoring tech nabs $14.8M - 12:03 PM

(gigaom.com) -- If you watched NBC’s Rock Center a couple of weeks ago, you might have noticed a segment featuring Dr. Eric Topol, a longtime cardiologist, author of “The Creative Destruction of Medicine”and one of the leading voices in digital medicine.

In the segment, he showed off a futuristic flip-phone-sized touchscreen device, worn on the wrist, that helps doctors keep tabs on their patients from afar. The device, called the VisiMobile monitor, tracks a patient’s blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate and other indicators, and lets doctors check in from wherever they might be via PC, tablet or smartphone.

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On Wednesday, Sotera Wireless, the San Diego-based company behind the VisiMobile technology, announced that it had raised an additional $14.8 million. The company, which changed its name from Triage Wireless in 2009, last year won FDA clearance for its VisiMobile technology.  In addition to the wrist monitor, the system includes sensors for the chest and thumb and a blood cuff monitor. It can connect to a hospital’s existing infrastructure via secure Wi-Fi to let doctors and nurses keep closer tabs on more patients within a hospital or it can be used to let doctors monitor recently discharged patients.

As health providers prepare to give care to more patients and as hospitals face more pressure to lower readmission rates, systems like this, as well as other tele-health technology, could become increasingly valuable.

In a statement, Sotera Wireless CEO Tom Watlington, said the new funding would go towards commercialization, clinical development and making the technology available to more than 5,000 hospitals across the country. Safeguard Scientifics, a holding company that provides capital and support to health care and technology companies, said it contributed $1.33 million. Other investors included new funder Delphi Ventures, as well as existing funders Sanderling Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, EDBI, Intel Capital, Cerner Capital and West Health Investment Fund.

You can see a video of Dr. Topol talking about the technology on Rock Center below:

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Is Quora’s quest for growth worth alienating key users? - 03:44 PM

(gigaom.com) -- It’s a scene that often plays out in tech, but still causes a firestorm every time: A tiny, beloved, early-adopter startup gets some traction and funding, and suddenly it has to grow up and add more users to become a real business and please its investors. But when it makes those moves to grow, it pisses off the early adopters, and the startup is stuck in a no-win situation.

The issue came up Wednesday evening when engineer and former professor Scott Hanselman wrote a post titled, “I’d like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora.” The post pointed out that the company has started redirecting mobile users who end up on Quora webpages to download the company’s mobile app before reading answers.

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And indeed, it’s an incredibly annoying tactic. Search for any topic (like, “best Star Wars movie“) and include “Quora” in the query, and try to read the resulting page on your mobile device. You can’t. The page tells you to download the app to read further, and will only let you see the first answer until you do so. On desktop, you’re asked to create an account and log in before reading. Not such a great user experience.

And then Y Combinator founder and startup legend Paul Graham weighed in on Hacker News, writing that Quora co-founder and ex-Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo is trying too hard to gain new users the way he learned at Facebook, not understanding that Quora users are a different breed. He argued against the company’s policy of making users create accounts to read answers and comment on the site:

It may be a mistake to alienate the sort of people Quora has been alienating by doing this, even if they end up numerically ahead in the short term. I’m one of them. Quora has now spent several years training me to be bummed out every time I click on a link to their site.

Quora hasn’t responded with any comment yet as to how long the “download the app” screen has been in place, or why they require users to make accounts. But it’s not too hard to see why they’re doing this: the company has raised a lot of funding ($50 million just this past summer), and it needs to see growth. While it saw early success from its high quality questions and answers on the site, it can’t become a profitable business with just a handful of readers.

A similar thing happened last summer with Twitter and its developers over API restrictions. It happened in December with Instagram and its terms of service debacle after joining up with Facebook. And now, Quora is in the limelight.

“We want to get to be 100 times bigger than we are today,” D’Angelo told Om in a January interview. So how does the company get there?

Quora has tried a lot of different tactics in its quest for growth in the past year: adding a standalone blogging platform, rewarding users who write the best and most plentiful answers, letting people embed quotes across the web, and adding an Android app.

So getting people to download the company’s app and requiring account? Not too surprising. But at some point, Quora needs to make sure that it strikes the best balance possible between demanding investors and loyal users.

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Bank of America Finally Does Something Right

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh with that title, but if you've read previous columns of mine on Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) you'll know I'm no fan of the bank as a general investment: More than four years on from the financial crash, I think it remains too big, too diverse, and too unwieldy for average investors -- like myself -- to get their heads around.

And I'm still not convinced the last crisis-related shoe has dropped for the superbank, let alone LIBOR-related fines and/or suits -- the other financial time bombs out there just ticking away, waiting to go off for many of the world's big banks. But CEO Brian Moynihan and company have just managed to impress me with a savvy move that has the potential to be win-win-win scenario for B of A, the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland.

The investment that shall not be named
Financial Times is reporting that B of A will be moving $50 billion of its derivatives business out of Ireland and into MLIB, the London-based subsidiary that came along with Merrill Lynch, which B of A bought in the darkest days of the financial crash. �

$50 billion is big chunk of change, especially for a country like Ireland. Having all of those exotic investments there in the Dublin office was making the Irish government nervous: fearful for potential fallout for Irish taxpayers. �

After the drubbing the country took from a real-estate crash that rivaled America's, and the years of punishing austerity it's taken to bring the Irish economy back from the dead, the mere mention of the word "derivatives" -- variations of which played a large role in the financial crisis -- is probably enough to send any Irish politician running for the country's lovely green hills.

The U.K. is happy about the move because B of A's base of operations is in London, and regulators wanted that big book of derivatives business physically closer to home, where they could keep a better eye on it.�

Celtic Tiger vs. British Bulldog
So that's the win-win part of the story for Ireland and the U.K. What about the win for Bank of America?

B of A kept that $50 billion in derivatives in Dublin for a simple reason: lower corporate income taxes.�Remember the Celtic Tiger? Part of the go-go 90s, when seemingly every company on the planet wanted to relocate to Ireland because of the tremendous tax breaks the government was offering? Taxes are still low there�, but corporate income taxes have also come down in the U.K., and are scheduled to go lower in April: down to 23%.

In addition, according to Financial Times, there's approximately $8 billion of deferred tax assets waiting for B of A to use in the U.K., which the bank can potentially use to reduce its corporate tax bill further, or possibly even eliminate it.�

Howling masses, happy investors
One slight danger with this ingeniously tax-advantageous move is the current hostile mood of the British people and its politicians to transnational corporations and the taxes they pay.

The self-induced, austerity-beset U.K. is hunting left and right for ways to fill government coffers, and has of late turned to breaking down the doors of companies like Starbucks and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS  ) in order to do it. In Goldman's case, it recently had to renounce plans to defer paying out bonuses to its London-based employees because there was such a governmental uproar over it.

Goldman's plan was to pay the bonuses out after April 6, when rates were scheduled to come down. The bank wasn't doing anything illegal or even, in my opinion, unethical in trying to maximize the take-home pay for its bonused employees, but caught a load of flak for it regardless. B of A's reputation is still recovering enough from its egregious financial-crisis misfires: It really doesn't need to take any more hits in that area.

But that's an admittedly small danger, one which is more than offset by the shifting of this derivatives business from Dublin to London. The other smile-inducing aspect of this move is that it's a sign of B of A continuing to streamline its operations post-crisis. Since the superbank's European headquarters is in London, it makes sense to manage this large book of business from there, and for the same reason, U.K. regulators want it there: It's easier to keep an eye on, along with the people managing it.

Maybe if the London Whale had instead been the New York Whale, and the reportedly $100 billion derivatives bet Bruno Iksil placed in the London office had instead been placed in JPMorgan Chase's (NYSE: JPM  ) New York office, things would have turned out differently for CEO Jamie Dimon and company. Even in this age of digital money and Skype, physical location can still matter.

Way to go, Bank of America, for this smart and savvy move that appears to be a winner for everyone involved. Who knows? I might become a convert to B of A yet.�

But don't let me have the last word when it comes to America's home-team bank. Check out The Motley Fool's brand-new report on B of A. Our analysts give you a thorough detailing of the superbank's prospects, along with three reasons to buy and three reasons to sell. Just�click here�for full access.�

Natus Medical Beats Analyst Estimates on EPS

Natus Medical (Nasdaq: BABY  ) reported earnings on Feb. 28. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Natus Medical missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly. Non-GAAP earnings per share grew significantly. GAAP earnings per share increased.

Margins increased across the board.

Revenue details
Natus Medical chalked up revenue of $90.5 million. The three analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for sales of $93.6 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 41% higher than the prior-year quarter's $64.1 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.29. The three earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated $0.26 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.29 for Q4 were 107% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.14 per share. GAAP EPS were $0.16 for Q4 versus -$0.60 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 56.5%, 110 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 9.3%, 10 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.3%, much better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $83.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.09.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $362.1 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.83.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,236 members out of 1,266 rating the stock outperform, and 30 members rating it underperform. Among 363 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 353 give Natus Medical a green thumbs-up, and 10 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Natus Medical is hold, with an average price target of $16.00.

Is Natus Medical the best health care stock for you? Learn how to maximize your investment income and "Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks," including one above-average health care logistics company. Click here for instant access to this free report.

• Add Natus Medical to My Watchlist.

Why Cablevision Shares Dropped

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

What: Shares of Cablevision (NYSE: CVC  ) were getting kicked off the air today, falling as much as 12% today, after the media company posted a disappointing quarter, in part due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

So what: The Long Island-based cable provider reported a loss on continuing operations of $0.32 a share, way below expectations of $0.09 per-share profit. Management blamed Sandy for part of the losses, saying it disrupted service for 60% of customers in the New York region, and damaged more than 450 miles of cable lines. Revenue dropped 1.6%, to $1.66 billion, slightly below estimates of $1.7 billion.

Now what: Factoring in a gain on a settlement from a lawsuit with Dish Network, Cablevision actually made a profit of $0.45 per share, which helps make up for the otherwise miserable quarter. Considering that revenues were relatively in line with estimates, there doesn't seem to be much concern for long-term problems, as the loss this quarter stemmed from outsized costs from Sandy. While competition also seems to be affecting Cablevision, I expect more normal results to return in its next report.

Don't miss the next update on Cablevision.

• Add Cablevision�Systems to My Watchlist.

Pro-Athlete Advisory Firm OFS Joins Dynasty Financial Partners

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees (not necessarily an Octagon client). (Photo: AP)

If you’re a professional athlete or entertainer (and really, who among us isn’t?), Octagon Financial Services may be the firm for you.

The specialty advisor firm counts Olympic gold medalists, NBA, NHL and MLB All-Stars, and NFL Super Bowl champions as clients. And it's now announced a partnership with Dynasty Financial Partners to increase its open-architecture platform offerings.

Dynasty spokeswoman Sally Cates stressed that Dynasty is not an acquisition or “rollup” firm, in that it does not take an equity position in the firms with which it partners. Rather, it is a network of independent financial advisors that benefit from the firm’s platform.

Octagon claims to be the world’s largest sports and entertainment management and marketing company with 30 years of industry experience. A key component of the agency’s offering is its in-house financial services division, known for its expertise in serving the unique financial needs of the professional athlete and entertainer. In choosing Dynasty’s customized investment platform and reporting tools, OFS looks to “[continue] its leadership position in the industry.”

 “Our clients generate a lifetime of earnings over a short period of time,” Jan Plewes, managing director of OFS, said in a statement. “For 30 years, we have helped them manage their wealth—from first contract signing through retirement and beyond. We feel that Dynasty expands our investment platform and delivers top-level execution in one customized, integrated package.”

More specifically, OFS provides strategic financial planning, investment advice, bill paying and many other concierge-like services to professional athletes and entertainers, helping them manage their daily lives away from the field or studio.

“For our clients, capital preservation and financial planning are the most crucial elements,” said Frank Zecca, one of the agency’s senior vice presidents. “Their peak earning years typically occur at a very young age, and their assets have to provide security far after their careers come to an end. This requires thoughtful management, budgeting and investment expertise. It is our job to make sure that our clients are in a position to support their families and maintain their standard of living throughout their lifetime, and ultimately create a legacy for many generations to come.”

4 Stocks Making Moves

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

Shares of Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN  ) plunge on weak earnings. Shares of Universal Display (NASDAQ: PANL  ) surge on stronger-than-expected revenue. Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD  ) slips on earnings. And shares of Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST  ) rise. In this installment of Investor Beat, our analysts discuss four stocks making big moves.

The stakes are high for Monster Beverage these days. The stock had been nothing short of a rocket, but recent developments have sent shares spiraling downward. Health scares sparked a number of investigations at the state and federal level into the energy drink's role in several fatalities. With the company's value slashed in half, investors are wondering whether Monster Beverage is a value or a bust in the fast-growing energy drink category. Find out now in our brand-new premium research report, which details all the ins and outs you need to know about Monster Beverage, and even comes with a full year of updates to boot. Click here now to claim your copy and start reading today.

The relevant video segment can be found between 2:08 and 4:21.

7 Things You Need to Know About Citigroup

Thinking about putting some of your hard-earned cash into shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) ? Investing in large, multi-faceted corporations -- which can be difficult to get your head around -- can sometimes seem daunting. But it doesn't have to be.

Here are seven easy-to-digest metrics I've compiled that will help you get your head around the country's third-largest bank by assets:

1. Great 2012 share-price performance
For 2012, Citi returned 39.64% to its shareholders. That's rock star performance, and a sign the bank is beginning to pull itself out of the morass it got itself into in the years leading up to and throughout the financial crisis. It's true, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) did return 100.17% to its shareholders in 2012, but 39.64% is nothing to sneeze at.

2. Solid 2013 share-price performance
Citi has already tacked a solid 2.21% onto 2012's 39.64%. While that's not screaming performance, it does beat B of A's performance so far this year, which is a return of -6.07%. Even Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) , that paragon of conservative lending and favorite of Warren Buffett, has only returned 0.23% to shareholders this year.

3. Struggling return-on-equity
Return on equity is a classic metric used to evaluate banks. It measures profitability from an investor's perspective: examining how much�profit a company generates�with the money shareholders have invested.

Citi's ROE is 4.27%. That's low, but not as low as B of A's 1.79%. Both of these banks -- big, unwieldy, and hammered so hard in the financial crash -- are currently trying to sort themselves out. That is, slim down, streamline, and figure out what their optimum business model should be moving forward. As a comparison, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM  ) -- a big but well-disciplined operation -- has an ROE of 10.98%.

4. Suspiciously low valuation
Price-to-book ratio, or P/B, compares a stock's market value to its book value and is another popular method for evaluating a bank stock. As a rule of thumb, look for a P/B right around 1.0 (a little less is even better), the idea being that right around 1, the stock is undervalued and you're getting a deal.

But you don't want P/B to be too low, which I believe Citi's is: 0.68. This is such a low number, rather than telling me Citi is a deal right now, it's telling me something is fundamentally wrong. I believe Citi, like peer B of A, isn't finished excising its financial-crash demons.

5. A great fourth quarter
For the fourth quarter of 2012, Citi grew its revenue by 5% year over year and grew its earnings by 25.1% year over year. For the same time period, B of A's revenue declined 25% year over year and its year-over-year earnings declined by 63.2%. In comparison, Wells Fargo had 8.5% year-over-year revenue growth and 23.9% year-over-year earnings growth for Q4 2012: not too far off from Citi's performance. Nicely done, Citi.

6. Citi has a (relatively) new CEO
Michael Corbat became CEO of Citigroup last October, after Vikram Pandit was forced out by Michael O'Neill, Citi's chairman of the board.�Pandit saw the bank through a terrible time, coming on board just before the financial crash struck, but he and O'Neill reportedly didn't see eye to eye on many issues.

Corbat was handpicked by O'Neill, and though relatively unknown to shareholders, has a good reputation at Citi. Corbat has been with Citi for 30 years and seems off to a good start, if fourth-quarter results are any indication.�

7. Citi is slimming its workforce
Having been through layoffs myself, and having watched my father go through his fair share as I was growing up, first let me say how much I hate job cuts. But let me also say that sometimes an organization has no choice but to let people go, especially if it's in the best interests of the business overall, on which many more jobs rely.

Citi announced this past December it will be cutting 11,000 jobs worldwide, and it's not the only bank putting people on the chopping block in an effort to streamline and stay competitive.�JPMorgan Chase just announced two days ago it will be cutting 17,000 jobs over the next two years.

Job cuts are a hardship for those affected, but so many Wall Street banks became so bloated in the run-up to the financial crisis that even cuts this large come as little surprise.

Final Foolish thought
Citi is a bank that's come a long way since the financial crisis, but still has a long way to go. Strong performance on some metrics is belied by poor performance on others. I wouldn't call Citi a buy yet, but I think the superbank will be in the not-too-distant future.

Don't let this lone Fool have the last word when it comes to Citigroup. In our new premium report, Matt Koppenheffer -- The Motley Fool's Financials bureau chief -- fills you in on both�reasons to buy and reasons to sell Citigroup, and what areas the bank's�investors need to watch going forward.�For instant access to Matt's personal take on Citi, simply�click here now.

�

More Expert Advice from The Motley Fool

Citigroup's stock looks tantalizingly cheap. Yet the bank's balance sheet is still in need of more repair, and there's a considerable amount of uncertainty after a shocking management shakeup. Should investors be treading carefully, or jumping on an opportunity to buy? To help figure out whether Citigroup is a buy today, I invite you to read our premium research report on the bank today. Click here now for instant access to our best expert's take on Citigroup.

BP Breaks Down: 70K Barrels Per Day?

BP’s steady drop turns into a gusher

Shares of BP (BP) have broken down today, after CEO Tony Hayward conceded the firm was caught off guard by the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and President Obama met with cabinet members to consider further action that could be taken to contain the spill.

Hayward told journalists Wednesday night in Houston, Texas, that it was “probably true” that the firm “should have done more to prepare for such an emergency, according to the write-up this morning by Guy Chazan and Jim Carlton of the Wall Street Journal.

The Huffington Post notes the latest containment efforts, trying to move a tube into the leaking riser, to siphon the oil away, come as estimates have crept up for the pace of the spill.

A Purdue University researcher, analyzing underwater footage, tells NPR that he thinks the pace of the spill is 70,000 barrels per day, more than ten times the 5,000 cited by BP. and The New York Times’s Justin Gillisyesterday cited a Florida State Univeristy research tema that says the rate of spill could be at least four or five times the 5,000 figure.

BP shares today are down $1.64, or 3.4%, at $46.46, continuing their prior four days’ march downward. The shares are off 23% since April 20, a loss of $44 billion. Whew.

Transocean (RIG), meantime, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon, is off $1.57, or 2.4%, at $65.12. Halliburton (HAL), which provided contract services in setting up and maintaining the rig, is off 90 cents, or 3%, at $28.11.

And Cameron International (CAM), which made the blowout preventer that may or may not have failed to prevent the blast, is down $1.10, or 3%, at $37, which is significant for a stock that had held up relatively well during most of this.

BroadSoft Beats Up on Analysts Yet Again

BroadSoft (Nasdaq: BSFT  ) reported earnings on Feb. 27. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), BroadSoft met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew. Non-GAAP earnings per share grew significantly. GAAP earnings per share dropped.

Margins dropped across the board.

Revenue details
BroadSoft logged revenue of $45.8 million. The 12 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected sales of $45.8 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 13% higher than the prior-year quarter's $40.6 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.47. The 11 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.41 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.47 for Q4 were 24% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.38 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.17 for Q4 were 11% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.19 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 81.7%, 290 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 18.4%, 250 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 10.7%, 280 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $43.9 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.12.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $197.3 million. The average EPS estimate is $1.30.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a one-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 38 members out of 134 rating the stock outperform, and 96 members rating it underperform. Among 44 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), seven give BroadSoft a green thumbs-up, and 37 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on BroadSoft is outperform, with an average price target of $41.50.

Software and computerized services are being consumed in radically different ways, on new and increasingly mobile devices. Many old leaders will be left behind. Whether or not BroadSoft makes the coming cut, you should check out the company that Motley Fool analysts expect to lead the pack in "The Next Trillion-dollar Revolution." Click here for instant access to this free report.

• Add BroadSoft to My Watchlist.

Joy Global Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Joy Global (NYSE: JOY  ) reported earnings on Feb. 27. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Jan. 25 (Q1), Joy Global beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew slightly. Non-GAAP earnings per share dropped slightly. GAAP earnings per share didn't move.

Gross margins grew, operating margins grew, net margins dropped.

Revenue details
Joy Global chalked up revenue of $1.15 billion. The 14 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ foresaw sales of $1.08 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $1.31. The 21 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated $1.16 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $1.31 for Q1 were 1.5% lower than the prior-year quarter's $1.33 per share. GAAP EPS of $1.33 were the same as the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 32.8%, 80 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 19.2%, 80 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 12.4%, 10 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $1.32 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.67.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $5.07 billion. The average EPS estimate is $6.21.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,632 members out of 1,670 rating the stock outperform, and 38 members rating it underperform. Among 363 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 353 give Joy Global a green thumbs-up, and 10 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Joy Global is outperform, with an average price target of $73.20.

Is Joy Global the right retailer for your portfolio? Learn how to maximize your investment income and ""Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks,"" including one above-average retailing powerhouse. Click here for instant access to this free report.

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3 More FTSE Dividends Lifted This Week

LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE  ) regained 0.55% today to reach 6,361, and the U.K.'s top tier index is now 26 points up on the week despite Tuesday's 85-point slump in response to the deadlocked Italian election.

But many investors don't pay much attention to share prices, instead preferring to look for income to beat the average FTSE dividend of about 3%. Here are three companies that raised their annual payouts this week.

Bovis Homes (LSE: BVS  )
Bovis Homes Group kicked off the week with an 80% boost to its full-year dividend to 9 pence per share. With the shares currently trading at 643.5 pence, that's a yield of only 1.4%, but because dividends were scrapped in the crunch year of 2009, they've been gradually coming back as the whole sector recovers.

If current forecasts prove accurate, we should see the Bovis dividend increase by more than 30% for 2013, with the shares on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of just less than 17 -- though current 2014 forecasts drop that to 13.

Provident Financial (LSE: PFG  )
On Tuesday, consumer credit firm Provident Financial raised its full-year dividend by 12% to 77.2 pence per share, giving a yield of 5.3% on the current 1,467 pence share price. Perhaps surprisingly, after results that also included an earnings-per-share rise of 13.8% to 102 pence, the shares fell on the day by 56 pence to 1,468 pence.

The 2012 dividend was covered 1.32 times by earnings, and analysts are currently forecasting a further 8% rise in Provident's annual payout for 2013, with a 7.6% rise to follow in 2014.

Weir Group (LSE: WEIR  )
Engineering services firm Weir Group lifted its full-year dividend by 15% to 38 pence per share on Wednesday. That's a modest yield of 1.6% based on today's share price of 2,353 pence, but it does represent the latest in a series of year-on-year dividend increases from the company, and it was covered nearly fourfold by earnings. And there should be more to come after chief executive Keith Cochrane told us that "alongside substantially higher cash generation, the Group plans the eighth consecutive year of double digit dividend growth" in 2013.

Dividend rises like these three are always welcome, and companies that manage steady payouts form the cornerstones of many a portfolio. Whether you're investing for income or growth, good old cash is always welcome. And that's why I recommend the brand-new Fool report "The Motley Fool's Top Income Share For 2013," in which our top analysts identify a share they believe will provide handsome dividend income for years to come. But it will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your copy today.

Enbridge Earnings: An Early Look

Earnings season is in full swing, with huge numbers of companies having already given their latest numbers to investors, and Enbridge (NYSE: ENB  ) is about to release its quarterly earnings report. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarter reports is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed, knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Many companies in the energy business have struggled lately, but Enbridge has been setting new all-time highs ever since 2010 and continues to soar. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Enbridge over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report on Friday.

Stats on Enbridge

�	�
Analyst EPS Estimate	$0.44
Change From Year-Ago EPS	19%
Revenue Estimate	$6.22 billion
Change From Year-Ago Revenue	14.4%
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters	1

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Enbridge remain energetic this quarter?
Enbridge has seen analysts stay relatively stable on the company's earnings estimates for the quarter, with a drop of a single penny per share over the past three months. But the stock has shown no sign of letting up in its bull run, rising 14% since mid-November on continued optimism.

Enbridge is a pipeline company that has geography on its side, with its extensive pipeline network in Canada and partnerships extending its reach into the U.S. as well. Its location gives it access to major production areas and major projects that include a 125,000 barrel-per-day pipeline connecting its existing network to producers in the Bakken as well as its ambitious Northern Gateway project to go from Alberta's oil sands region to the western Canadian coast should lead to future growth. The Bakken pipeline could come online early this year, although the Northern Gateway project is mired in controversy that could take years to resolve. Yet given TransCanada's (NYSE: TRP  ) failed plans for the Keystone XL pipeline, it's evident that infrastructure needs to transport energy products across North America are higher than ever.

Enbridge has taken also been taking steps to try to take advantage of higher energy prices elsewhere. By reversing the flow of the Seaway Pipeline that it shares with Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD  ) last year and expanding the pipeline, Enbridge hopes to move cheaper West Texas Intermediate crude to ports on the Gulf of Mexico, where it can be refined and get access to higher prices in the global market for refined products.

At the same time, Enbridge has also turned to unconventional means to move crude from hard-to-reach places, resorting to using a railroad subsidiary to move oil by train. The move is an attack against Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP  ) , Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP  ) , and other railroads, which have jumped at the chance to provide rail transport for crude.

In Enbridge's earnings report, the keys to look for are signs of any headway on future projects. With so much need for new pipelines, Enbridge simply has to break the regulatory logjam and get the go-ahead to take advantage of huge demand for its network.

Will Enterprise outpace Enbridge?
Enterprise Products Partners may be Enbridge's partner on the Seaway Pipeline, but with a superior asset base, Enterprise has plenty of potential in helping eliminate the massive bottlenecks in takeaway capacity. Let me invite you to look at our premium report on Enterprise, in which we examine big projects in its backlog and their potential for huge profit growth. Click here now to access your report instantly.

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

Insider Selling Is Happening, But Don’t Be Alarmed

I’ll preface this post by acknowledging that today�s Inside Scoop is about a cluster sell-off at Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL). Moving along…an article over at sister publication Marketwatch has come to our attention.

In the article, columnist Mark Hulbert (who also writes for us at Barrons.com once a month) says that based on data from the Vickers Weekly Insider Report, which is published by Argus Research, the sell-to-buy ratio last week was 9.20:1, meaning for every one share an insider was buying, nine were being sold at the same time.

When compared to the same ratio in mid-December, which stood at 8.38:1, Hulbert views this recent selling to be happening at �an alarming rate.�

Piqued by this theory, I scooted over to InsiderScore, which noted the following in a report it released, handily enough, today:

Market-wide sentiment is at a slight Sell bias as transactional volume is just beginning to flow heavily in the wake of the first big round of earnings announcement. The Financial sector has emerged as an area of concern, pace by actionable selling at high-profile Banks and Financial Services names.

Slight Sell bias. Alarming? Not enough to get anyone�s back up at InsiderScore.

Although most of what we have covered at Inside Scoop lately has been sales and cluster sales at companies, we note that the occasional actionable buy is still getting airtime from us — we wrote about Molycorp (MCP) on Monday, and noted insider buying at other companies, including Huntingdon Bancshares (HBAN) on this blog yesterday. There are smaller companies where convicted buying is happening.

Lastly, as food for thought, with the market being where it is, as Jonathan Moreland of InsiderInsights often says, �Selling into strength is one of the most common transactions there is.� Indeed, we noted unprecedented selling at some large financials, including Morgan Stanley (MS), recently that were based on just such a phenomenon. Perhaps, with the market’s strong move up recently, it’s less alarming than a case of taking advantage of some of what’s on offer.

5 Fast-Growing Profit Gushers

When you seek out compelling candidates for your stock portfolio, there are lots of numbers you can assess � price-to-earnings ratios, debt-to-equity ratios, free cash flow, and so on. To gather a manageable list of possibilities, you might want to employ a screen that will narrow down the universe of stocks according to whichever criteria you set. I did just that recently and arrived at a handful of interesting companies that are growing rapidly and reaping hefty profits.

At finviz.com, I screened for stocks with:

• a market capitalization of at least $300 million. This includes many small companies, but not tiny ones.
• revenue growth over the past five years of at least 10%. This is a good measure because it's hard to grow your bottom line if your top line isn't growing.
• earnings per share (EPS) growth over the next five years expected to be positive -- because why aim for companies expected to experience shrinking EPS?
• net profit margins of more than 15%. Net margins reflect how much of each dollar of revenue is retained as earnings.

Why fat margins?
It's a big plus for a portfolio candidate to have a hefty net margin for several reasons. For starters, it tends to reflect some competitive advantage, such as brand power or a business model that's not too capital intensive and scales efficiently -- perhaps one with relatively fixed costs. Think of a software company, for example. Once it develops some software, for it to double its sales, it doesn't have to double all the work that went into developing the software. It just has to make it available via a disk or a download or some other inexpensive means of delivery. A big margin also gives a company some wiggle room, permitting it to lower costs when necessary, without a lot of pain.

Profit gushers
Here are a few companies that my screen produced. See if any of them interest you, and perhaps add them to your watch list or portfolio.

Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS  ) : Semiconductor chip designer Cirrus Logic sports a five-year average annual revenue growth rate of nearly 30% and a net profit margin of 22.6%. The company's rapid growth rate is not so surprising once you realize that with its chips in almost every iProduct, it's riding on Apple's�coattails for the lion's share of its revenue. But while Apple stock has been deflated lately, Cirrus is up for the year, recently blowing past earnings estimates and offering robust projections as well. On top of that, with a P/E ratio around 10, it seems fetchingly priced.

QuestCor (NASDAQ: QCOR  ) : Questcor sports a five-year average annual revenue growth rate of 47% and a net profit margin of 39.4%. The biopharmaceutical company has a multiple sclerosis (MS) drug, Acthar, that's selling well, and it's also setting its sights on rheumatology. It has its risks, though, such as an investigation into its marketing practices as well as competition. In its just-reported fourth quarter, revenue more than doubled, though Acthar sales for MS retreated a bit.

InvenSense (NYSE: INVN  ) : InvenSense sports a three-year average annual revenue growth rate of 74% and a net profit margin of 23.6%. It's a leader in the motion-sensor market, supplying millions of smartphones and tablets, among other things. Bulls like its plans to grow in China and find it attractive at recent levels.

Kodiak Oil and Gas (NYSE: KOG  ) : Kodiak sports a five-year average annual revenue growth rate of 109% and a net profit margin of 19.4%. This energy company has been growing rapidly, particularly in the Bakken shale fields, and with its small size, has lots of room to grow. Its efficiency is one of the secrets to its success. It's not a perfect picture, though, as its cash burn and debt load are concerns, and falling oil prices could spell trouble.

8X8 (NASDAQ: EGHT  ) : Oddly named 8x8 sports a five-year average annual revenue growth rate of 10% and a net profit margin of 73.8%. The specialist in high-margin voice-over-IP software took a hit last month, when the company's third-quarter earnings report wasn't quite as stellar as hoped, though it does have many strong and growing numbers, such as revenue per customer. Some wonder whether it will end upacquired. Its recent P/E ratio of 6 is also appealing.

Fat profit margins and heady growth is a nice combination. Just be sure to check out other numbers and factors before investing. Make sure you're keeping your money in your best ideas.

Kodiak Oil & Gas is a dynamic growth story, but with great opportunities come great risks. Before you hitch your horse to this carriage, let us help you with your due diligence. To see if Kodiak is currently a buy or sell, check out our new premium report, which comes with a year of timely updates and analysis.

These Vehicles Are Tons of Fun, and Good for Thwarting Road Rage

PORT LAVACA, Texas�Weapons buffs may stock semiautomatics in the gun safe. But nothing makes a statement like having an Army tank in the garage.

Scattered around the country are members of a small fraternity of guys who own tanks. They are hyper-avid history buffs or hyper-edgy investors or just wealthy men who can now afford hyper-sized versions of the toys they played with when they were boys. Tank brokers�yes, there is such a thing�estimate there are several hundred to 1,000 private tank owners in the U.S.

For History Buffs, These Vehicles Are Tons of Fun

View Slideshow

Jim Knerr

Mr. Rubino sits in a M4A1E8 Sherman tank in Belvidere, N.J

"There's always a little boy in the man," says Barbara Bauer, whose husband, Bill Bauer, owns a pristine, 20-ton, World War II Chaffee tank in Port Lavaca.

Top SEC Attorney Inherited Dirty Madoff Millions, Says Suit

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Irving Picard, trustee for the liquidation of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff’s firm, has filed a suit against top SEC attorney David Becker and his two brothers that said that Becker and his siblings benefited from a Madoff account that was in their mother’s estate. The suit further alleges that the Beckers liquidated the account, some of the funds of which amounted to “$1,544,494 of other people’s money.”

Becker had announced on Feb. 1 that he would be leaving the SEC, just eight days prior to the date on a pre-trial summons that was served to Becker and his brothers William and Daniel. He said he had “no idea” when the case was filed, and that the summons came in the mail “sometime late last week,” according to a Bloomberg report. He denied that his departure from the SEC had anything remotely to do with the Madoff lawsuit, but instead was the natural end of a “two-year deal” with SEC chairman Mary Schapiro.

The Beckers’ mother, Dorothy, passed away in June of 2004, according to an MSNBC report, and all three Becker brothers were appointed co-executors of her estate. The Madoff account among her assets, according to the suit filed in N.Y. federal court, received a bit more than $2 million from Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. The suit, which was filed late last year, says, "The trustee's investigation has revealed that $1,544,494 of this amount was fictitious profit from the Ponzi scheme. Accordingly, defendants have received $1,544,494 of other people's money."

John Nester, an SEC spokesman, said that Becker knew nothing about the Madoff investments. He went on to say in a statement, "He was not involved in his parents' financial affairs, and has no recollections of his parents' investment with Madoff prior to his mother's death and the subsequent liquidation of the account."

The suit filed by Picard seeks to recover the illicit funds for return to Madoff’s’ victims.

The Sequester, and How Not to Solve a Budget Problem

Federal spending is going to be cut by $1.1 trillion over the next decade, starting this weekend. Neither party is happy about it, and almost everyone thinks it's a bad idea.

Want to learn more? Good, let's go.

The "sequestration," as it's called, was originally agreed upon in the summer of 2011 as part of the deal to raise the debt ceiling. Both parties agreed on the spending cuts, but neither actually wanted them to happen. The idea was to threaten indiscriminate spending cuts both sides would hate, hoping it would entice legislatures to work together to find a more amicable solution to lowering the budget deficit. They didn't, and so now here we are. It's as if you and your spouse made a commitment that if you couldn't agree on who cleans the kitchen tonight, you'd both vow to smash your own fingernails with a hammer, hoping it would push you toward an agreement. Now the kitchen is still a mess, the clock is ticking, and the hammer awaits. Only politicians can think of this stuff.

Narrowing the deficit may be an admirable goal, though be careful what you wish for, as Europe is now realizing. What's crazy about the sequester is the composition of the cuts. Nearly all of the cuts hit "discretionary spending," which basically means everything except entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Education, justice, science, road repairs, and air traffic control all get cut. Social Security gets a pass.

Roger Altman of Evercore Partners explained how mindless that logic is in the Financial Times this week:

Cutting discretionary spending is like invading Iraq when the attack came from Afghanistan. Everyone knows that the federal spending problem involves the soaring cost of health care entitlements, which are not covered by the sequestration. The share of US gross domestic product consumed by Medicare alone is projected to rise from 3.7 per cent today to 6.7 per cent in 25 years. Meanwhile, discretionary spending is declining as a share of economic output, and it is already being subjected to a $1.1tn 10-year cut that was initiated in 2011.

Basically, the sequestration leaves everything that is growing alone, while cutting everything that is already declining.

Here's one way to look at it:

Source: Congressional Budget Office.

Social Security spending is set to jump over the next two decades. The sequester leaves it alone. Medicare is set to balloon. The sequester pokes at it, but not enough to make a difference. Medicaid spending is set to explode. The sequester won't touch it. "Other" spending is already set to decline substantially -- and that's where the sequester's biggest cuts will hit.

And the discretionary spending cuts are indiscriminate. Here's Altman again:

Each area of the discretionary budget will be forced to share the cuts equally. How bad is this? Imagine a hospital deciding to cut every department by an equal amount. Oncology and cardiology would be reduced as much as cosmetic surgery. No medical institution would ever do this. Life-or-death areas would be cut last.

Museums and national parks will receive the same percentage cut as education and the FBI. Nuclear regulation is cut by the same percentage as the Library of Congress. It makes no logical sense. And again, that was by design.

Non-defense discretionary spending is already on track to hit its lowest share of GDP in more than half a century. Defense spending, while monstrous compared to the rest of the world, is actually below its historical share of the economy, and already set to decline further as the war in Afghanistan draws down. The only major budget categories growing above historic norms are entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. Yet they are the only areas we seem unwilling to cut.

Worse, they are indeed the hardest government service to cut, as virtually everyone benefits from them directly. Whenever the topic of entitlements and deficits arises, someone points out that entitlements don't add to the deficit because they are paid for separately. This is nonsense. Yes, you paid into the entitlement system. But you are likely set to receive multiple times back what you put in, adjusted for inflation and discounted to present value. Pretending that entitlements don't add to the deficit doesn't help the fact that they do, accounting for virtually all of the long-term deficit projection. It is entirely misinformed to want to stem the long-term budget deficit while asking for entitlements to be left alone.

There is no budget crisis today. Someday, there will be. If the sequester is any indication of how we plan to address it, we're in trouble.�

Giant Interactive Group Beats Up on Analysts Yet Again

Giant Interactive Group (NYSE: GA  ) reported earnings on Feb. 26. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Giant Interactive Group met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly. Non-GAAP earnings per share grew significantly. GAAP earnings per share dropped significantly.

Margins shrank across the board.

Revenue details
Giant Interactive Group notched revenue of $91.7 million. The eight analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ foresaw revenue of $91.0 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 17% higher than the prior-year quarter's $78.5 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.23. The seven earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.21 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.23 for Q4 were 35% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.17 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.05 for Q4 were 71% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.17 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 86.3%, much worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 56.6%, 260 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 14.5%, much worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $94.3 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.22.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $401.4 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.93.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 590 members out of 612 rating the stock outperform, and 22 members rating it underperform. Among 119 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 115 give Giant Interactive Group a green thumbs-up, and four give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Giant Interactive Group is outperform, with an average price target of $6.54.

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Why South Jersey Industries Is Poised to Outperform

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, natural gas utility South Jersey Industries (NYSE: SJI  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at South Jersey and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

South Jersey facts

Headquarters (founded)	Folsom, N.J. (1910)
Market Cap	$1.7 billion
Industry	Gas utilities
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$707.3 million
Management	Chairman/CEO Edward Graham CFO David Kindlick
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)	13.9%
Cash/Debt	$4.2 million / $943.2 million
Dividend Yield	3.2%
Competitors	Consolidated Edison New Jersey Resources

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 88% of the 67 members who have rated South Jersey believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just yesterday, one of those Fools, All-Star TeenStockPicker, succinctly summed up the bull case for our community:

South Jersey Industries acquires, markets, and distributes natural gas and electricity. Analysts see earnings growing a hearty 9% annually over the next three years, and South Jersey's dividend looks solid as ever. Their recent proposition to implement an Accelerated Infrastructure Replacement Program has recently been approved, and with natural gas costs continuing to plummet this cost will be easily offset. South Jersey has other energy-related projects such as thermal facilities and solar projects, but natural gas is their main endeavor.

If you want market-thumping returns, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Of course, despite a strong five-star rating, South Jersey may not be your top choice.

We've found another stock we are incredibly excited about -- excited enough to dub it "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." We have compiled a special free report for investors to uncover this stock today. The report is 100% free, but it won't be here forever, so click here to access it now.

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Meteorite Hits Russia, Causing Panic

A meteorite plunged to earth near Chelyabinsk, over 900 miles east of Moscow. WSJ's Greg White reports that hundreds were injured by the explosion but there was no major destruction. Photo: AP

MOSCOW�A meteorite plunged to earth in Russia's Ural Mountains Friday, exploding into flames in a powerful blast that smashed windows and injured around 1,000 people.

Amateur videos broadcast on state television showed an object streaking across the sky trailing smoke around 9:20 a.m. local time before bursting into a fireball. Residents in the city of Chelyabinsk, the largest in the affected region, described a shock wave that blew in doors, smashed glass and set off car alarms.

"The light was so intense that it completely illuminated the courtyard of our apartment block," said Sergei Zakharov, head of the Russian Geographical Society in Chelyabinsk. "The sound, the shock wave came around six minutes later. No one could understand what had happened. I'd compare it to the explosion of a large flare bomb."

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Reuters

A contrail above an apartment block in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk; Russian officials said a meteorite or a shower of meteorites fell in the area, collapsing one roof and causing more than 100 injuries.

Callaway Golf, in the Spotlight Soon

Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY  ) is expected to report Q4 earnings on Jan. 30. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Callaway Golf's revenues will decrease -19.6% and EPS will remain in the red.

The average estimate for revenue is $123.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.50.

Revenue details
Last quarter, Callaway Golf logged revenue of $147.9 million. GAAP reported sales were 15% lower than the prior-year quarter's $173.2 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Last quarter, non-GAAP EPS came in at -$0.50. GAAP EPS were -$1.33 for Q3 versus -$1.01 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Recent performance
For the preceding quarter, gross margin was 21.1%, 990 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -36.0%, 1,410 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -58.7%, 2,260 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead

The full year's average estimate for revenue is $837.8 million. The average EPS estimate is -$0.78.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 232 members out of 280 rating the stock outperform, and 48 members rating it underperform. Among 76 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 64 give Callaway Golf a green thumbs-up, and 12 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Callaway Golf is outperform, with an average price target of $8.00.

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• Add Callaway Golf to My Watchlist.

Top Stocks For 2/27/2013-3

Orofino Gold Corp. (ORFG.PK) engages in acquisition, exploration, and development of gold properties in Mexico and Colombia. The company has an option to acquire properties in the Sur de Bolivar Department of Colombia South America. Orofino Gold Corp. was formerly known as SNT Cleaning, Inc. and changed its name to Orofino Gold Corp. in December 2009. The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Central, Hong Kong.

Orofino’s corporate objective is to continue to build shareholder value through the exploration and development of existing projects and additional accretive acquisitions, capitalizing on the extensive experience and relationships that management has developed over the past 25 years.

La Azul is one producing artesanal mine in the Senderos de Oro area controlled by Orofino, it is a mixed sequence of predominantly volcanic rocks with the vien systems comprised of high grade chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite with pyrite in quartz viens.

It has been interpreted (by Shaw 1993) that the metallogenic zonation around the La Azul workings evokes a very viable “hidden porphyry” exploration model. This interpretation and the prospectivity of the area have been confirmed by the Orofino “qualified person” as per the 43-101 rules.

Orofino will move ahead aggressively in the last quarter of 2010 to persue the current interpretations, work programs and drilling will begin soon.

PTS, Inc. (OTC.BB:PTSH) is a publicly traded company with one subsidiary, ThinLine Technology Group

ThinLine IT group�s primary objective is to help small-to-midsize companies succeed at what they do best, rather than managing the vital but often distracting aspects of IT services and interactive marketing. Our comprehensive service offerings provide companies a virtual business partner who maintains the technologies that make a difference in the level of professionalism and responsiveness of customers� experiences.

ThinLine Technology Group manages, markets and maintains the IT and VoIP infrastructure for small and medium businesses (SMB market) and provides Private Cable Operators (PCO market) private label billing and call center support. At present, the company services over 21,000 clients on behalf of Private Cable Operators and over 400 apartment properties across the United States.

Each division of ThinLine Group focuses on a specific area of business operational needs.

Web.com Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:WWWW) a leading provider of online marketing for small businesses, announced that Philip J. Facchina has joined its Board of Directors. Facchina is currently a Partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Ramsey Asset Management, Inc. (RAM), a $500 million long/short hedge fund serving institutional investors. Prior to joining RAM in 2008, Facchina spent approximately 10 years with FBR Capital Markets, serving principally as Senior Managing Director and Group Head of Technology, Media & Telecom and Healthcare groups within FBR�s Investment Banking unit, subsequently serving also as Head of Financial Sponsors. While at FBR, he completed over 170 investment banking transactions having aggregate transaction value of approximately $15 billion. Prior to FBR, Facchina served variously as President, Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer of both public and private technology companies. His early involvement in the Internet ultimately led to the sale of one such company, NetChannel, Inc. to AOL.

Web.com Group, Inc. provides Website building tools, online marketing, lead generation, ecommerce, and technology solutions that enable small and medium-sized businesses to build and maintain their online presence.

Descartes Systems Group Inc. (Nasdaq:DSGX) announced that Triumph Express Services Canada selected Descartes Rate Builder, a web-based rate management solution, to help manage its ocean rates. Descartes Rate Builder helps freight forwarders manage their core businesses more effectively by minimizing internal resources needed to update ocean rates. The solution helps manage the many aspects of ocean rates, from complex rate calculations for door-to-door moves, to managing contracts, tariffs and quotes across the organization through a dynamic web interface. Descartes Rate Builder not only helps Triumph manage its ocean rates, but also provides a visibility platform to ensure that the sales force, operations team and overseas partners are able to access up-to-date rates, consistent pricing information across the organization.

The Descartes Systems Group Inc. provides federated network and logistics technology solutions.

InfoSpace Inc. (Nasdaq:INSP) announced on November 29, 2010 that the King County Superior Court has granted approval of the settlement agreement described in, and attached to, the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Company on September 17, 2010, for the stockholder derivative lawsuit brought by Anne D. Manos and James N. Mercer against certain current and former officers and directors of InfoSpace. If there are no appeals of this approval, InfoSpace will receive payment of the settlement proceeds, minus certain attorneys� fees and expense reimbursements, pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement. However, if the Court�s approval is appealed, then funding will not occur during the pendency of the appeal. There can be no assurance that the final settlement will be obtained or that InfoSpace will receive any proceeds from the settlement until after the appeal deadline has expired without an appeal, or until all appeals, if any, are favorably concluded.

InfoSpace, Inc. develops search tools and technologies that assist consumers with finding content and information on the Internet. It offers search services that enable Internet users to locate and view content, information, merchants, individuals, and products online.

Top Stocks For 2/27/2013-1

Majestic Gold Corp. (TSX.V:MJS) (FSE:MJT) is pleased to announce the results of an updated resource estimate on its Song Jiagou Mine.

As part of the ongoing assessment on the Song Jiagou Mine, Wardrop Engineering Inc. (“Wardrop”) has revised their previous resource estimate (NR 23 April, 2010) as a result of the revision to the contract mining costs (NR 30 September 2010) which allowed cut-off grades to be reduced from 0.40 g/t to 0.30 g/t and warranted a revision of the block model.

Subsequent to the initial resource estimate, Wardrop determined that rotating the block model perpendicular to drilling direction was the most favorable orientation to evaluate the deposit and to calculate the revised resource. The new cut-off grade and the re-orientation of the model significantly increased the overall size of the resource and the contained ounces of gold in both the inferred and indicated categories.

The revised resource is:

—————————————————————–
Grade Au
Category Tonnes(i) (g/t)(ii) Contained oz Au
—————————————————————–
Indicated 33,739,586 1.147 1,244,211
—————————————————————–
Inferred 38,812,054 1.467 1,830,576
—————————————————————–
(i)Calculations conducted using 0.30 g/t cut-off
(ii)Gold grades were capped at 40 g/t

The most significant changes from the previous estimate are:

– Increase in Indicated tonnes by 35.34% to 33,739,586 tonnes
– Increase in Indicated contained gold by 24.09% to 1,244,211 ounces
– Increase in Inferred tonnes by 37.96% to 38,812,054 tonnes
– Increase in Inferred contained gold by 7.48% to 1,830,576 ounces

The increase in the size of the resource from 53 to 72.5 million tonnes will very significantly reduce the strip ratios to be used as Majestic continues its engineering studies on the Song Jiagou mine. Wardrop will move forward now to re-evaluate a production pit design.

For More Information On Majestic Gold: www.majesticgold.net

American Video Teleconferencing Corp. (Pink Sheets:AVOT) is pleased to announce that it has signed an option agreement for three gold bearing claim blocks situated in the northern mining district of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Assays taken in 2008 on selected samples returned repeatable high grade gold values of 7gms/ton (.25oz) to 112.9gms/ton (3.99oz/ton).The property owners did random sampling in June 2007 and had an assay of 933gms/ton (32.9oz/ton) of gold from one of the samples and that prompted the writing of a technical report on the project that was prepared in compliance with the National Instrument 43-101 and Form 43-101F1 and was issued on November, 28 2008.

The writer was Duncan Bain P Geo. who resides in London Ontario, Canada. Samples that were taken as part of a work program done on the property were sent to an ISO-certified assay laboratory based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada. The project is 1385 hectares in area and covers several documented nickel-copper and gold showings and land in proximity to lake sediment geochemical and biogeochemical anomalies.

All these are part of the Snowbird Tectonic Zone which is a major tectonic structure and extends for more than 2,000 kilometres. Access to the project is currently by float or ski equipped aircraft or by helicopter to Stony Rapids which is accessible by commercial aircraft from the major cities of Saskatoon or Regina in southern Saskatchewan. The expenditures for the 2010-2011 work program will be paid by the property owners due to an arrangement reached in the option agreement with the issuance of 1.2 million restricted shares (144).

RadiSys Corporation (Nasdaq:RSYS) announced that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) has named RadiSys� Voice Quality Enhancement (VQE) software, available on the RadiSys Convedia media server family, as a recipient of the 2010 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine. Next-generation VoIP conferencing platforms based on IP media servers are increasingly being deployed by conferencing service providers (CSPs) around the globe. However, VoIP calls have not been known to provide the same voice quality as PSTN calls. The economic benefits of VoIP services are compelling, but consumers won�t migrate to VoIP unless they perceive the voice quality to be as good as or better than traditional PSTN voice services. RadiSys VQE software is specifically designed to address the common sources of poor voice quality in VoIP networks, including noise, packet loss and echo, while providing a robust set of quality metrics suitable for service level agreement (SLA) reporting.

RadiSys Corporation develops, produces, and markets computer system products for embedded computer applications in the manufacturing automation, medical, transportation, telecommunications, and test equipment marketplaces.

Entropic Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENTR) a leading provider of silicon and software solutions to enable connected home entertainment, recently participated in and will participate in the following events with the financial community: Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference December 2, 2010. Barclays Capital Global Technology Conference: December 9, 2010. The presentation will occur at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. Interested parties can access the live or archived webcasts by visiting Entropic�s Web site. Entropic also maintains a current listing of its scheduled investor conferences in the Events & Presentations section of its website.

Entropic Communications, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, engages in the design, development, and marketing of systems solutions to enable connected home entertainment.

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (Nasdaq:LMAT) a provider of peripheral vascular devices and implants, recently hosted an Analyst Day to update the investment community on the Company, its growth initiatives and strategic priorities, and to give financial guidance. Analyst Day was held Thursday, December 2nd, at Ruth�s Chris Steakhouse, 148 W 51st Street, New York, NY at 9:30 am EST and concludde at 12:30pm EST.

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices and implants for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease worldwide.