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Michael Kudrna submits: On a day of mostly sideways action with the bulls and bears struggling to gain control, Bernanke happened. Ben Bernanke gave his hawkish viewpoint on the economy, which was met with a solid hour of selling Wednesday before a very small late afternoon bounce into the close. His viewpoint consisted of an “unusually uncertain” economic outlook and that the economic recovery will be slow. However, he did say he does not believe we will have a double dip recession. All in all, this testimony was very bearish and only adds more fuel to the sell-the-news reactions we have seen so far this earnings season. While earnings have been quite strong, expectations were also low to begin with. The main problem is we have not seen significant revenue growth therefore just meeting expectations has typically been met with selling.Complete Story »

Michael Kudrna submits: On a day of mostly sideways action with the bulls and bears struggling to gain control, Bernanke happened. Ben Bernanke gave his hawkish viewpoint on the economy, which was met with a solid hour of selling Wednesday before a very small late afternoon bounce into the close. His viewpoint consisted of an “unusually uncertain” economic outlook and that the economic recovery will be slow. However, he did say he does not believe we will have a double dip recession. All in all, this testimony was very bearish and only adds more fuel to the sell-the-news reactions we have seen so far this earnings season. While earnings have been quite strong, expectations were also low to begin with. The main problem is we have not seen significant revenue growth therefore just meeting expectations has typically been met with selling.Complete Story »

Trader Mark submits:With the S&P 500 grasping at 1070, and yet another "90% day" as the student body has run back to the left ("risk off" stampede), let's take a look ahead at the key reports next week; both for the greater market and what we have our eyes on. The next three weeks are the heart of the earnings season, and some of our holdings begin to pop up next week.Names the market will focus on:Complete Story »

Ben Strubel submits:InterDigital is a company that designs and develops digital wireless technologies for use in cellular and wireless IEEE 802 related products and networks. The company also develops solutions for improving bandwidth availability and network capacity, wireless security, and seamless connectivity and mobility across networks and devices. Its primary source of revenue is from licensing its patents to equipment producers. IDCC currently holds approximately 7,000 worldwide patents and has a further 10,000 patent applications in progress. Its customers include mobile device manufacturers, semiconductor companies, and other equipment producers. Products in which InterDigital's patented technology can be found include mobile devices such as cellular phones, wireless personal digital assistants, notebook computers, datacards, base stations and other wireless equipment, and components and modules for wireless devices. InterDigital’s strategy is to develop technology that it believes will be essential for current and next generation mobile communications and to license that technology to manufacturers and network operators. The market currently values IDCC at approximately $1,080M. IDCC currently has Cash and Short-Term investments worth $214M and $268M respectively. IDCC is also party to certain licensing agreements that pay the company a fixed sum over a set amount of time. The unpaid portion of these contracts is placed on the balance sheet in accounts receivable. IDCC currently has approximately $148M in revenue from licensing agreements that it has yet to receive. The majority of the payments are owed by Samsung (SSNLF.PK), and there is no reason to believe Samsung will not make the final payments as promised. Complete Story »

Luckless Hero submits: Happy Fourth of July weekend! The Fourth of July is a time where we reflect on one of the most important moments in history, a moment and a revolution that created the longest running democracy in the history of the world. Now, let’s put all negative feelings aside, all politics should be put to rest for a day, all spears and spite lowered because this weekend is a weekend of history, family, fireworks and BBQ. I figured that I would put together an A-Z list of companies to invest in that will invest in America.

1. American Tower (AMT) – American Tower – Massachusetts based company builds cell phone towers. Look for movement in the company with the expansion of 4G networks to urbanized and suburban areas and the expansion of 3G coverage to more rural areas.
2. Berkshire Hathaway – (BRK.A) – If there is anyone who believes in America and buys American it is Warren Buffet. He believes in rail cars, brick and mortar companies, insurance and good advice.
3. Caterpillar (CAT) – Somber moment, the infrastructure of America is in disrepair. Highways, bridges, dams and toll roads are all in need of a major overhaul and CAT will be part of that government and private spending boon.
4. Disney (DIS) – It has become a small world after all. Theme park turned entertainment and advertising super star. Disney has great brand recognition and brand control. The company has been able to effectively lobby to have copyright law changed numerous times. It is a force to be reckoned with.
5. EMC (EMC) – Is the parent company of VMWare. The company will make computers more efficient, protect data and maintain data integrity. EMC is a major IT solution provider and as computers expand even further in use and become more prevalent in all aspects of life the company will be well positioned to profit.
6. FORD - (F) – Ford is a company that did not take any bailout money from the government. It is a company that seems to be listening to consumers and adapting its products with a forward looking view. The recent problems at Toyota have opened a window of opportunity even wider for this American auto giant to forge a return to prevalence and continued automotive relevance.
7. Google – (GOOG) – Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Infrastructure. Not roads to drive on but certainly information high ways and a commuter cloud! Talk about the best and the brightest, move over NASA. Google continues to innovate and enter new product markets. They are a currently unparalleled search engine that has managed to stay disentangled from more moneyed interests. Finally, Google continues to invest in new VC and PC ideas fostering more American growth and innovation.
8. Hewlett Packard – (HPQ) – With Dell’s recent woes and looming legal problems, HP, like Ford, has a great opportunity to completely dominate and revolutionize the computing market. HP has moved from a printer company to a PC company to a flat screen TV maker to a maker of high quality digital devices across many spectrums. As well HP, is like our next candidate, Intel, and the engineers at HP have been pushing the limit on computer chip design.
9. Intel – (INTC) – Intel has and will be a driving tech force. The corporate culture is the value.
10. Johnson and Johnson – (JNJ) – that’s right folks the people that make your baby shampoo, they love America. But really this behemoth of a company is a medical device maker. With the passage of the new health care reform bill JNJ stands to profit and prosper as more people will have access to surgeries and procedures that will be able to take advantage of the products that JNJ puts out for medical device purposes.
11. Coca-Cola (KO) -- So I cheated a little on this one by listing Coca-Cola by their ticker KO. But this is a company that has been getting beaten up a little bit in the market lately. Make no mistake Coca-Cola is still king. There is still a strong grown potential in the global scheme.
12. Lowes (LOW) – Much like their Home Depot counter part, Lowes is in a tricky position of being in a place where the recession and housing slow down will defiantly affect the company short term. But as the infrastructure projects pick up to rebuild and revive America I think that Lowes will be well positioned to be in a highly profitable area of the market.
13. McDonald’s – (MCD) - McDonald’s… need I say more? They pay dividends, they grow domestically and globally, they have almost unparalleled brand recognition. McDonald’s has started serving good coffee at a low price and is rumored to be testing out low fat breakfast options with even an oatmeal offering, showing that they are still looking to innovate their product offering. If the price is right I can see customers leaving Starbucks and other higher end stores for the lower cost McDonalds option.
14. Northrop Grumman Corporation – (NOC) – If you are a news junkie like me then you saw that Israel is still blockading Palestine. Iran has threatened to try to bust the blockade by force and is sending ships to aid in the effort. The US is sending cruisers up the Suez now for the potential show down. The Koreas have tensions running high. The United States has armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Until the world returns to a more sane mind frame I am a strong believer that weapon makers are a good buy now.
15. Oracle – (ORCL) – Essentially the database king, ORCL stands alone atop a computing mountain. With software that runs most corporate enterprises and even mom and pop shops Oracle is a stock to own. More and more Oracle is trying to offer the complete business solution and be the hardware and software provider. The growth potential for this company is every expansive because it has a corporate culture to be acquisitive and pick up good ideas and bring them into the Oracle fold.
16. Pfizer – (PFE) – With the pick up of Wyeth, Pfizer has breathed new life into its company. Wyeth had a good pipeline and also has some strong brands with good market recognition. PFE is still hunting out its next block buster drug. But with Merck (MRK) flagging recently PFE looks like the stronger of the pharma giants.
17. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated – (DGX) – Just like (JNJ), I believe that Quest stands to profit from the new health care overhaul. As medicine shits to a preventative focus Quest will be well positioned as more of the tests are done for people as medicine attempts to catch and treat illness before it becomes catastrophic.
18. Raytheon – (RTN) – Push to far and you see a strong backlash. I support and believe in the current administration, but when cuts on spending or defense are pushed to far I believe that there is an inevitable backlash. I also like this pick now because as spending has been cut the stock may be able to be picked up on the cheap. I see tensions in the geopolitical sphere also creating additional demand for RTN’s products.
19. Starbucks – (SBUX) – Good corporate culture, great corporate governance, creates a fantastic product. Starbucks is still the number one premium beverage provider. The company pays well, has a good health insurance plan, offers tuition reimbursement for barristas, these programs create good will and put investors mind at ease. If other companies acted like Starbucks acted then I do not even think many of the government programs that we have would be necessary. Want a smaller government? Get better corporations.
20. ATT - (T) – has a killer iPhone, has moved away from unlimited data plans and has better customer service. Verizon (VZ) is terrible for customer service. VZ representatives are horrible to work with in the stores, brutal. T – gets my vote for a long term investing prospect as they have had the iPhone for longer and have had to deal with a much higher volume of data being transmitted over their system.
21. United Technologies Corporation - (UTX) – This is a conglomerate company that has some great bread and butter brands that will continue to churn out profits along with a little more high flying division that deals with aerospace engineering and getting humans from point A Earth to point B outer space. While NASA is on the ropes the destiny of human space flight seems to be solidly set as a long term goal and vision. The private sector will have to take the reigns on this project and make the magic and the money happen as we reach for the stars.
22. Visa – (V) – It’s everywhere you want to be! Visa and the other big card companies are potentially in for a hit as the new FinReg law looms large. I would wait till the dust settles on the new rule and see if the market looks attractive. As the recession begins to end consumer and corporate spending will increase and V will be a good long term selection.
23. WTR – Aqua America - (WTR) – Spending on America will require that the utilities update their lines. WTR is a specialist at finding distressed water utility companies and making them into turn around stars. As the infrastructure of the USA ages I believe that this company will be a strong selection in the consolidated water delivery market.
24. Exxon Mobil - (XOM) – Big oil just got bigger. With the pick up of XTO XOM is well positioned for the near future. I worry about the lack of spending on alternative forms of energy that I am seeing from this decided oil company. I want XOM to look forward a little more and become an energy company. One cannot argue with their results, the dividend and the fact that they are relatively cheap now due to the oil prices lagging across the globe due to the current recession.
25. Yahoo – (YHOO) – the company may symbolize America. We do not always get it right, we try hard. We are willing to make deals. We want to give access and choice and deep down we think that we are making the right and good decision. Here is a company that is trying to transform itself into a media portal. Why do I think this company has upside? The baby boomers. Yahoo makes the internet easy. It is a good portal for games, news, email and search. iGoogle is 1 step to complicated and Bing might not have enough on their splash page besides a nice picture. Yahoo is the happy medium and has room for regrowth.
26. Zoll - (ZOLL) – Medical device maker and soft way maker!

Now set off the fireworks! Again Happy Fourth! If I goofed up on a company actually being an American Company mea culpa. My disclaimer is that I was going quick before the holiday weekend as I too can’t wait for some good ole fashioned Americana.Complete Story »

Hao Jin submits:The fact about momentum is there are price reversals at very short horizons and then positive momentum for 6 to 12 months, according to Owen Lamont, a hedge fund manager and a former professor at the Yale School of Management. The following are the top 10 stocks owned by an overwhelming majority of hedge funds. Data is compiled by MarketFolly from the most recent SEC 13F filings:Complete Story »

Market Folly submits:(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund filings.)Next up is Chris Shumway's hedge fund Shumway Capital Partners. Prior to founding his firm, Shumway was previously one of Julian Robertson's right-hand men at legendary hedge fund Tiger Management. As such, he joins the other successful Tiger Cubs and is included in the Tiger Cub portfolio created with Alphaclone for hedge fund replication. Shumway Capital Partners focuses on intensive fundamental research to drive their long/short equity strategy. Back in 2009, Shumway was listed in Barron's top 100 hedge funds for 2009 with a rolling 3-year annualized return of 28%. However, 2010 has proven difficult for the firm as its Sakkonet Fund was down 10% in May after it had gained 4.3% through April. Shumway received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.Complete Story »

Market Folly submits:Each quarter, Goldman Sachs (GS) updates a list of stocks owned by an overwhelming majority of hedge funds. The aptly named VIP list details 'very important positions' to hedge funds that employ fundamental strategies (rather than trading oriented firms) and we like to cover it due to the obvious tie-ins with our hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Last quarter, we posted up the previous iteration of Goldman Sachs' VIP list and this time around there are a few notable changes to the basket of fifty stocks.Goldman updates the list each quarter to reflect the most recent hedge fund holdings using the same 13F forms filed with the SEC that we use for our tracking here on Market Folly. Twelve new stocks appeared on the list, representing stocks hedge funds as a whole were buying in the first quarter 2010, including: CIT Group (CIT), Alcon (ACL), CF Industries (CF), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), Kraft Foods (KFT), Xerox (XRX), Assured Guaranty (AGO), Baidu (BIDU), Equinix (EQIX), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Liberty Global (LBTYA), and News Corp (NWSA).Complete Story »

Chris Versace submits: Recently, Verizon (VZ) CEO Lowell McAdam shared via The Wall Street Journal that Verizon is working with Google (GOOG) to create a tabled device to compete against both Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T). In our view, this comes as little surprise as it replicates the competitive response to Apple’s iPhone, which paved the way for touch enabled smartphones and app stores.We expect this response to continue and would expect similar actions to be taken by Sprint (S), and T-Mobile USA (DT) on the service side as well as hardware/device companies, such as Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Samsung, LG and the like. In our view, this simply underscores one of the key themes we believe to be driving the mobile ecosystem – cellular moving beyond mobile phones.Complete Story »

Marco Anthony submits:In this post I will give some advice on why I believe investors should become friends with fear, and explain how it can be done using stock options. I'm certain many of you already know how the markets gauge fear, but for those of you who don't, a simple way to see how fearful the markets are is an indicator called the Volatility Index ((VIX)). The entry symbol to track the VIX is different in almost every brokerage I use, so a sure and easy way to track it is with the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term ETN (VXX). Historically, anything above 30 on the Volatility Index is high and signals increased levels of fear in the markets, but for those tracking market volatility using the VXX it looks to be the 24-25 level. So why should investors make friends with fear? First it is very important to note that fear is friendly only to an investor who is well educated in stock options. Why? A major factor in pricing an option premium (or contract price) is volatility. Keeping all other things constant, higher volatility = higher premium. This means investors can sell premiums to cost average down a position, or what I like doing in times of market correction, selling "naked puts" to get into shares I don't mind owning.Complete Story »