GOOG splits stock but keeps hands on the reins

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced first-quarter earnings after the bell Thursday — but the real news was focused on much smaller numbers. Namely, “2″ and “1.”
Profits basically were in line with Wall Street expectations. Adjusted earnings came to $10.08 per share, which was above the consensus estimate of $9.65. However, the top line was a bit light at $8.14 billion, vs. estimates for $8.15 billion.

Google’s real news was the announcement of a stock split — of sorts. The company said Thursday that it will create a new class of nonvoting stock. For current shareholders, a new share will be issued for every existing one, “effectively” resulting in a 2-for-1 stock split.
So why go through this convoluted process rather than an outright 2-for-1? It comes down to the founders keeping voting control of the company. They believe a “founder-led” management structure is best for long-term results.
The conference call also should be interesting. Investors definitely will want to get more color on the acquisition of Motorola, trends with cost per clicks (the revenue for the ad business) and progress on the G+ social network.
GOOG stock was slightly up in after-market trading.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog�IPO Playbook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He also is the author of��The Complete M&A Handbook”,��All About Short Selling��and��All About Commodities.��Follow him on Twitter at�@ttaulli�or reach him via�email. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Great Stocks To Hold 2013

Amid a welcome patch of near-term weakness for gold mining and exploration stocks, this Fool recently became an active buyer in an array of gold stocks that I believe offer top-quality exposure to an anticipated resumption of the metal's multiyear bull-market blitz.

As an update to my initial top picks for gold and silver in 2013, this two-part series highlights those elite gold stocks that I currently consider the most opportune vehicles for new gold investment. Accordingly, these stocks also figure prominently within my own investment allocation into precious metals, and I personally own shares of all. My selections are:

Great Stocks To Hold 2013:OM Group Inc. (OMG)

 OM Group, Inc. develops, produces, and markets specialty chemicals, advanced materials, and electrochemical energy storage products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Advanced Materials, Specialty Chemicals, and Battery Technologies. The Advanced Materials segment manufactures inorganic products using unrefined cobalt and other metals and serves the battery materials, powder metallurgy, ceramics, and chemical end markets. It offers cobalt powders, precursors, chemicals, pigments and ceramics, and various raw materials. These products enhance the electrical conduction of rechargeable batteries, as well as strengthen and add durability to diamond and machine cutting tools and drilling equipment. The Specialty Chemicals segment offers electronic chemicals for the printed circuit board, memory disk, general metal finishing, electronic packaging and finishing, and photovoltaic markets. This segment also provides advanced organics comprising additives and driers for paints, and printing inks; rubber adhesion promoters for tires; composite and other catalysts for chemicals; and fuel oil additives, lubricants, and grease additives. In addition, it offers ultra pure chemicals used in the manufacture of electronic and computer components, such as semiconductors, wafers, and liquid crystal displays; and photo-imaging masks, including high-purity quartz or glass plates containing precision, microscopic images of integrated circuits; and reticles for the semiconductor, optoelectronics, and microelectronics industries under the Compugraphics brand name. The Battery Technologies segment provides battery products, primary and secondary batteries, battery management systems, battery chargers, and energetic devices for defense applications; primary and secondary batteries for satellites, aircraft, and the packaging of cells; and miniature batteries to power implantable medical devices. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

Great Stocks To Hold 2013:Tempur-pedic International Inc (TPX)

 Tempur-Pedic International Inc. manufactures, markets, and distributes bedding products in North America and internationally. Its products include pillows, mattresses, and adjustable beds, as well as various cushions and other comfort products. The company sells its mattresses and pillows under the TEMPUR and Tempur-Pedic brand names through furniture and bedding, specialty, and department stores; direct response, Internet, and own stores; chiropractors, medical retailers, hospitals, and other healthcare markets; and third party distributors. Tempur-Pedic International Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in Lexington, Kentucky.

Great Stocks To Hold 2013:American Campus Communities Inc (ACC)

 American Campus Communities, Inc. (ACC), a real estate investment trust (REIT), engages in the acquisition, design, finance, development, lease, and management of student housing properties in the United States. As of July 12, 2005, the company owned and managed 25 student housing properties, containing approximately 16,300 beds, as well as managed 44 student housing properties, representing 27,600 beds. ACC also provides construction management and development services for student housing properties owned by colleges and universities, charitable foundations, and others. In addition, it also provides third party property management and leasing services. The company has elected to be taxed as a REIT under sections 856 to 860 of the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, it would not be subject to federal income tax purposes, provided it distributes at least 90% of taxable income to its shareholders. ACC was founded in 1993 and is based in Austin, Texas.

New Gold Inc. (USA) made New 52 Week High Price - AMEX:NGD

New Gold Inc. (USA) (AMEX:NGD) achieved its new 52 week high price of $13.00 where it was opened at $12.58 up +0.12 points or +0.97% by closing at $12.47. NGD transacted shares during the day were over 4.45 million shares however it has an average volume of 3.61 million shares.
NGD has a market capitalization $5.61 billion and an enterprise value at $5.31 billion. Trailing twelve months price to sales ratio of the stock was 8.43 while price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 2.60. In profitability ratios, net profit margin in past twelve months appeared at 45.98% whereas operating profit margin for the same period at 36.03%.
The company made a return on asset of 5.28% in past twelve months and return on equity of 12.79% for similar period. In the period of trailing 12 months it generated revenue amounted to $659.32 million gaining $1.65 revenue per share. Its year over year, quarterly growth of revenue was 52.80%.
According to preceding quarter balance sheet results, the company had $490.45 million cash in hand making cash per share at 1.09. The total of $246.69 million debt was there putting a total debt to equity ratio 11.57. Moreover its current ratio according to same quarter results was 4.09 and book value per share was 4.75.
Looking at the trading information, the stock price history displayed that its S&P500 52 Week Change illustrated 4.84% where the stock current price exhibited up beat from its 50 day moving average price $11.00 and remained above from its 200 Day Moving Average price $10.26.
NGD holds 449.89 million outstanding shares with 435.92 million floating shares where insider possessed 3.35% and institutions kept 58.30%.

DuPont Beats Analyst Estimates on EPS

DuPont (NYSE: DD  ) reported earnings on April 19. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeawayFor the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), DuPont met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.
Compared to the prior-year quarter, both revenue and GAAP earnings per share expanded.
Gross margin grew, while both operating margin and net margin contracted.
Revenue detailsDuPont recorded revenue of $11.23 billion. The 13 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ foresaw revenue of $11.18 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 11% higher than the prior-year quarter's $10.11 billion.

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

EPS detailsNon-GAAP EPS came in at $1.61. The 16 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $1.55 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $1.57 for Q1 were 3.3% higher than the prior-year quarter's $1.52 per share.

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

Margin detailsFor the quarter, gross margin was 33.1%, 60 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 18.3%, 10 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 13.2%, 100 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.
Looking aheadNext quarter's average estimate for revenue is $11.23 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.47.
Next year's! average estimate for revenue is $41.27 billion. The average EPS estimate is $4.24.
Investor sentimentThe stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,671 members rating the stock outperform and 108 members rating it underperform. Among 443 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 432 give DuPont a green thumbs-up, and 11 give it a red thumbs-down.
Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on DuPont is outperform, with an average price target of $56.
Can your portfolio provide you with enough income to last through retirement? You'll need more than DuPont. Learn how to maximize your investment income and "Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks." Click here for instant access to this free report.

Krawcheck Seeks to Open Gold to the Masses at GBI

Sallie Krawcheck, speaking at SIFMA conference last fall. (Photo: AP) Sallie Krawcheck, speaking at SIFMA conference last fall. (Photo: AP) Sallie Krawcheck, one of the financial industry’s most well-known executives, joined the advisory board of Gold Bullion International on Wednesday largely due to her belief in asset and portfolio diversification, according to the company. Plus, the former head of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch’s (BAC) wealth-management unit thinks that investors of all levels should have the opportunity to invest directly in precious metals. “She is by no means making a call on gold but sees it as part of the diversification of investor portfolios, and this is a great way to do it," said GBI CEO Savneet Singh, in an interview with AdvisorOne. “She became aware of us and saw the value of the product and how it is democratizing [the ownership of] real assets.” GBI provides broker-dealers, RIAs and investors with access to a platform for purchasing, vaulting and owning physical precious metals. Its main customers, according to Singh, are several of the major wirehouse broker-dealers—though he declined to state which “No. 1 and No. 2” firm GBI works with. (Industry experts generally consider Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley (MS) to be the largest wirehouses based on assets under management.) “She knows both [the advisor and investor] end markets very well and that interplay,” said Singh (right), “and we needed to learn and get further exposure to these markets.” Having Krawcheck on the GBI board, he adds, “is a good way to help us meet more people in the industry as we seek to expand our broker-dealer clients.” “I don’t know of anyone with more experience in the [wealth-management] field,” Singh said. “How could we get anyone who knows the end-customer better?”

How solar panels produce electricity

Solar panels make life less complicated for everyone with their advanced technology to convert the sunshine into electricity. Solar panels may not have received the due attention during the last couple of decades, they have still come up a great distance. The solar panels make it easy to utilise green power without getting into the problems with non-renewable and fossil fuel resources for our daily energy use.
With PV cells, you only need to buy the kit, pay for installation and spend some ignorable quantity of maintenance. With this done, you won't have any more Problems. You'll be getting free electricity in your office or home, whatever is the place of installation.
The solar panels are used for solar energy as well as solar heating. If you look into the details of solar panels, you will understand that both these cells work on the same beliefs of solar energy. They intake the power from the sunlight and change it to another kind of power, electrical or heat energy, as the case may be.
When light falls on the surface of the solar panels, the photons from the light fill in the holes in the surface. These holes and P type holes. Remember, this occurs on atomic level so you won't be well placed to see anything going on there on the surface of the solar panels.
The solar panels will work great when daylight has high-intensity. On the other hand, the potency of solar panels will lower when the daylight magnitude decreases. Generally, the weather makes an important impact on the potency of solar cells. Therefore , you've got to make sure that you are asking a solar installer company to survey the place before installing any solar panels. This way you will know whether you want a high potency PV cell or a regular one for your home or office.
Greg Dickson is the head of marketing for the Solar Powered Folk. The Solar Powered people are professionals in providing detailed info about solar panels, PV cells and solar energy and how ! this wil l help peoples lives. If you are looking to use the feed in price list then make sure you visit our Solar Installers directory.

These stocks hit the ground running with tremendous gains

It doesn’t seem that long ago — but really, it’s been a full three months — since InvestorPlace analyst Daniel Putnam gave us his thoughts about the Best Breakout Bets for Q1 2012. He looked at a number of stocks that were near 52-week highs and had potential to break to the upside if the market strengthened.
And boy, did it get strong. Take a look at the performance of the three prominent benchmarks during the first quarter of 2012:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +8.1%
• S&P 500: +12%
• Nasdaq: +18.7%

Needless to say, more than a few stocks headed north. So now, let’s take a look at the top five performances from Putnam’s list of stocks poised to break out:

No. 1: Priceline

William Shatner made the right decision to become a spokesman for online travel and leisure giant Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN), who led the way with a whopping 53% first-quarter gain. Revenue growth is fueling the PCLN shares, and analysts expect a bang-up first quarter on the heels of last year’s Q4 results, which showed a 36% year-over-year increase. PCLN is well-positioned for a continuation in the trend, as their investments in Booking.com and Agora.com are paying dividends in the respective growing European and Asian online travel markets.

No. 2: Rackspace

Not only is Rackspace (NASDAQ:RAX) playing in the cloud, but its stock price is way up in the air too, finishing Q1 up 34%. RAX operates in the hosting and cloud computing industry, offering its products under the Fanatical Support brand. The company’s Open Stack platform model draws rave reviews from analysts and customers, and analysts believe the company is gaining in the all-important enterprise market space, according to Investors.com. With the cloud computing model al! l the ra ge and most decidedly the future, the Houston-based company has the potential to keep rising.

No. 3: Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), the leading global developer of destination properties and resorts, doubled down on its bets and came out with a 33% first-quarter gain. Chairman and Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson is not just spending his time helping out with the Newt Gingrich campaign — the company is busy opening the new Sands Cotai Central in Macau, too. Meanwhile, the entertainment empire is forecast to grow earnings per share to $2.57 in 2012 — up from 2011�s $2.06, and 98 cents in 2010. The stock price has more than doubled over the past 12 months. Like Las Vegas itself, LVS keeps getting bigger and better.

No. 4: Foot Locker

March Madness descended on the nation in March, and Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) was one of the prime beneficiaries, riding the wave to a 30% Q1 gain. The company operates in two segments — stores and direct-to-customer sales — and sells footwear and apparel through its 3,402 stores worldwide. It has all added up to a whopping $5.62 billion in merchandise in 2012, and year-over-year increases in earnings and revenues over the past three years. A mild spring in the Northeast helped out retailers selling sports gear and equipment, and with spring in gear and summer on the way, FL should continue to benefit from consumers getting out and playing.

No. 5: Chipotle

The ever-expanding chain of Mexican burrito restaurants is the “laggard” of our group, but when your stock is up 24% in three months, you have nothing to complain about. In fact, Chipotle (NYSE:CMG) has climbed almost tenfold during the past three years, and claims a market value of just north of $13 billion. CMG expects to open another 160 restaurants during the course of 2012, so it appears growth will continue onward, with last year̵! 7;s $2.3 billion in sales left in the dust. CMG isn’t without some detractors, but for now it is one of the big breakout stories of 2012.
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor of InvestorPlace. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.