A cheap stock is the basis for every future return. Beside cheap fundamentals and pricing ratios of a company, the expected growth is an additional important item for investors. After the moderate increase of major stock market indices since the beginning of the year (Dow Jones +5.9% and S&P 500 +8.0%), there are still cheap stocks with attractive dividends.

I screened the market by the cheapest large capitalized dividend stocks; stocks with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion, positive dividends and an expected earnings growth of at least 25 percent for the next year. The valuation of the companies is cheap in terms of growth because they have a price to earnings ratio of less than 20 and a price to sales ratio of less than 2. Only ten stocks fulfilled these criteria. Here are the detailed results:

1. Telefonica (TEF) has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion.

Now that Apple (AAPL) has experienced a huge run-up over the last couple of months, and a huge intra-day reversal on Feb. 15, it could be an ideal time for an iron condor trade. Why? Because there are many reasons to believe that Apple, like every stock, needs time to digest its 25% move to the upside and has settled into a trading range between 450 and 530. If you share that belief, it will be difficult to earn short-term profits via a traditional directional trade. And it's that exact environment where an iron condor trade shines.

Most simply (and you can skip this part if you already trade iron condors), an iron condor combines a bull put spread and a bear call spread. Both spreads provide a net credit that defines your maximum gain. Your maximum loss is equal to the spread between the two put strikes (or two

Looking for an easy way to trace the progress of the housing bubble? Look no further than the 26 years of financial data provided on the website of luxury home-builder Toll Brothers (TOL). See how revenue grew from $125 million in 1986 (802 homes completed) by relatively steady progress to $2.3 billion in 2002 (4430 homes).

Then something odd happens: 2003 suddenly balloons to $2.7 billion, and from there it's a heady ride to a peak of $6.1 billion in 2006 (8601 homes). Revenues and completions have been on a downward slide every year since then, culminating in 2011's $1.5 billion (2611 homes). But Toll Brothers has survived to tell the tale, and 2011 saw a return to profitability for the first time in four years. (Toll Brothers Financial Summary 1986 - 2011 (pdf))

Toll Brothers doesn't build basic, first home buyer dwellings. Instead the company operates in the luxury

Over the past month, we have witnessed an attempt by GeoInvesting, through a series of blog posts (which occurred 3 days prior, 2 days prior, and 1 day prior to L&L Energy (LLEN) options expiration in January, and two days prior to options expiration in February - see here) to place uncertainty in the minds of investors of LLEN regarding LLEN's well documented ownership via SEC filings of Ping Yi. GeoInvesting and their affiliates and friends (a colleague of GeoInvesting did call T Squared to let them know they sell research to investors prior to releasing such reports to public consumption) have disclosed they have a short position in the stock and will benefit if the stock drops as a result of their actions.

The crux of their argument has relied primarily on:

1. Conversations with an anonymous and unverified individual named Mr Wu that were not independently validated and questionable

DaVita, which is Italian for "giving life" is precisely what DaVita, Inc. (DVA), the company, does for its patients. This company has produced a superb record of consistent earnings growth that held through the recessions of 2001 and 2008 as if they never happened.

Demographics indicate a huge opportunity for this quality healthcare company that provides life-saving products and services to its patients. Consequently, we believe that the growth potential of this company is well defined, and significantly above average. Therefore, investors seeking above-average growth of principal should examine this company more carefully.

Growth stocks are defined as companies with high rates of change of earnings growth of 15% to 20%, or more. Growth stocks offer the potential for share prices to rise in lockstep with their profit growth in the long run. Therefore, the PEG ratio formula (price equals growth rate) tends to be the most appropriate formula used

While consumers and governments across the world are strapped for cash, corporations have plenty. Rather than signal long-term trust and pay more generous long-term oriented dividends, many of them have adopted share repurchases to buy back their own stock.

Investors welcome these announcements as they boost earnings per share and provide a lot of support for the share price during the repurchase periods.

FMC (FMC) announced an additional $250 million repurchase program, representing 3.7% of outstanding shares. During the last couple of years, it already repurchased some 6% of its outstanding shares at very favorable levels. In comparison, the diversified chemical company pays about $40 million in dividends per year.

Nordstrom (JWN) announced an additional $800 million share repurchase program, which represents 7.5% of outstanding shares. The fashion retailer still had $270 million left under its current repurchase program. The addition to the program is roughly four times its annual

Do you remember HAL 9000 from "2001 A Space Odyssey"? It was a mega computer on a spaceship that was prepared to do anything to conclude its mission. Arthur C. Clarke, the author of the book, was 10 years too early, however. Since 2010, his vision has taken shape under another name: HFT.

On Feb. 13, the New York Stock Exchange experienced its lowest volume for non-holiday trade in over a decade. If we consider that High-Frequency Trading platforms (HFT) now account for 60%-75% of daily volume, we can easily conclude that HFT is the only game in town. The volume of transactions today is 40%-50% lower than it was three years ago.

Investopedia describes HFT as:

A program-trading platform that uses powerful computers to transact a large number of orders at very fast speeds. High-frequency trading uses complex algorithms to analyze multiple markets and execute orders based on market

The big news this week is that Greece received another bailout and that private debt placements will be forced to take a 54% haircut (above the 50% haircut from a deal back in October). So that should signal better days are ahead and that this whole mess is behind us, right? There is an article in the Wall Street Journal that outlines the deal. So even when this deal is expected to save Greece an additional 107 billion euros, on top of the savings from the other bailouts, debt as a percentage of gross domestic product is only expected to improve to 120.5% by 2020 (from more than 164% now). So the answer to the question that this is behind us is clearly an emphatic no.

I equated the recent announcement for Greece to a poker game. Greece right now is definitely the short stack at the table, and just

Everyone who thinks that the Chinese economy is in a big bubble that is about to burst, better think again, especially after the country's central bank cut reserve ratios for the second time last Saturday. China's big red bubble is ahead of us!

China's central bank action replicate those of Japan's central bank in the aftermath of the Plaza Accord in 1985, which added fuel to the country's ongoing asset bubble at that time, helping it blow for another five years. This policy shift presents a good opportunity for investors to make hefty returns, provided that they invest in the right assets.

Here are four trades investors may want to consider:

First, buy state-owned enterprises like China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP), China Mobile (CHL), and CNOOC Ltd (CEO) that trade on U.S. Exchanges.

Second, buy private Chinese enterprises like Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) Sina Corp (SINA) Youku (YOKU) Sohu.com Inc.

How would you like to invest in a oil and gas company that has a 10% chance of increasing their reserves by approximately 50 fold in 4 months with very low downside risk if the well doesn't pan out? Currently FX Energy (FXEN) is trading approximately at its net asset value using its P50 (proved + probable) reserves. Their large, exciting drilling inventory is free. In particular, their biggest prospect, Kutno, is being drilled right now and results are due in May or June.

As of YE2011, FX Energy has the following characteristics that offer downside protection:

• 94.5 Bcfe of P50 reserves with a PV10% value of $289 million
• Net cash of $11 million
• 53.5 million fully diluted shares outstanding

How can such an exciting opportunity exist? The North Sea has been (and is) explored by dozens of companies. The geology of the North Sea extends across Europe and into

Fisher Investments is a Woodside, CA-based investment advisory firm founded by billionaire Kenneth Fisher. Fisher Investments manages $ 33 billion worth of equity assets primarily adhering to a value-oriented approach, managing U.S., international and global portfolios. The firm employs an active approach, applying proprietary capital markets technology developed through finance theory, history, and momentum. Fisher Investments uses a combination of top-down macroeconomic research and bottom-up, fundamental stock selection process. For the domestic portfolio, the firm typically applies bottom-up, fundamental and quantitative analyses.

A four-factor valuation model that uses P/E, P/B, PSR and dividend yield is used to determine whether a stock is undervalued. Debt and liquidity screens are also employed. For the global and international investments, Fisher Investments generally utilizes a top-down process that places emphasis on the determinants of portfolio returns. The firm looks into portfolio drivers based on economic and political factors, as well as sentiment to identify

Gabriel Resources Ltd. (GBRRF.PK), Allied Nevada Gold Corp. (ANV) and NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG) are three gold miners with big upside potential and a catalyst to unlock value. All three companies have a catalyst that will unlock value, and at the same time all three are potential takeover targets.

Gabriel Resources Ltd.

Catalyst: Gabriel Resources is probably a year from receiving the constructing permits and starting work on developing one of the largest undeveloped gold and silver deposits in Europe. To date, the company is still considered risky and that is why it is under the radar of the public. Significant value will be created by this gold producer through its reserves and low cash-costs per ounce expected production.

Shareholders: Paulson & Co 16%. Electrum Strategic Holdings LLC 16% (There is rumour that it's a Rothschild's company). BSG Capital 16%. Baupost Group 13%. Newmont 13%. Few value investors plus one

Warren Buffett is considered one of the best long-term investors out there. His company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), is a holding company that maintains several large positions in well-known American companies. Additionally, most of his publicly-traded investments have above-average dividends and a history of growing them over time.

Here is a recent performance chart of Berkshire Hathaway's B-class shares.

Click on any image below to enlarge:
Many investors like to keep track of What Warren Buffett buys, believing there is much to learn by following the moves made by such an acclaimed investor. Every quarter, Warren Buffett and other large investors such as hedge funds must file reports indicating thier holdings, allowing investors to identify any changes made, and the largest holdings of the company or fund.

Below are Warren Buffett's five largest equity investments according Berkshire Hathaway's last 13F quarterly filing: Coca-Cola (KO), International Business Machines (IBM), Wells Fargo (WFC),

There are two corporate giants operating in the world today: General Electric Co. (GE) and Siemens AG (SI). Both are global conglomerates with businesses in a wide range of industrial, technological and financial industries. Since they both operate in very similar industries, and compete in the same markets, it can be difficult at times to decide which stock is a better investment. To compare the two companies I will use a variety of profitability and valuation techniques.

About the Companies

General Electric Co. is a diversified technology and financial services corporation based in the United States. Some of General Electric's key business segments consist of aviation, power generation, household appliances, GE Capital and a 49% stake in NBC Universal. Siemens AG is a German based integrated technology company predominately engaged in electronics and electrical engineering. Siemens' key business segments consist of industry, energy, healthcare, equity investments, and Siemens Financial Services.

I say to hell with diversification. The only reason to diversify a portfolio is because the stock picker doesn't know the companies well enough (because he's lazy and spends his time scouting Maseratis or just lacks the discipline) and so he thinks that by choosing "the best" group of stocks, he stands a better chance of beating the market. Why would anyone want to do business with someone like that? Well, over three-quarters of Americans trust him with their entire savings and retirement accounts.

In the end, it's all just a gamble. No one has the opportunity to foresee the future of a stock with 100% certainty. There is always some value of risk involved. In reality, there is not a huge difference in the stock market and a casino, as I've come to realize. In a casino, however, the house always has the advantage, meaning that the odds are

This chart shows the Japanese Yen/US Dollar exchange rate since the beginning of last year. What stands out this past month is the sharp depreciation of the yen, which has dropped 5.1% against the dollar in the past three weeks. It's the result of the Bank of Japan undertaking serious intervention steps to weaken the yen, which reached an all-time high of 75.8 against the dollar last October.

Typically, forex intervention is not very effective at changing a currency's value, since most intervention is "sterilized" by monetary authorities. For example, one arm of the government sells its currency for dollars in order to weaken it, thus increasing the supply of its currency, but then another arm sells bonds in order to mop up the extra supply of the currency. With no net change in the supply of its currency, the intervention leads to only a temporary change in the currency's

Contrary to the thoughts of Valuentum, Dell's (DELL) fourth quarter earnings report is indicative of a longer term trend that has been forming for a handful of quarters now. This trend will cause Dell to struggle as PC sales continue to depreciate. It is not a surprise that PC shipments are declining because Europe's economy is slowing down and tablets are moving in on the PC market. Also, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) is indicating the PC market is stalling. And, since a quarter of Dell's revenue comes from desktop PC's, if the market continues to contract, Dell's share price will struggle.

It is important to begin with some of Dell's basic financial trends. In fact, I will begin with two positives. The first is a breakthrough in revenue. Prior to the firm's fourth quarter, revenue was unable to increase over $15.6 billion anytime in the past year and half. Secondly, servers

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Survey of Business Inflation Expectations released yesterday showed a continuation of rather modest expectations for unit cost pressures over the coming 12 months. In February, our panel of firms reported a 1.9 percent average expected rise in unit costs over the coming year, still within the very narrow 1.8 percent to 2 percent range the group has been reporting over the past five months.

That's the good news. Now for some (potentially) bad news. In a special question this month, we asked the panel to weigh in on their expectations for annual unit cost increases over the longer term—specifically, the next 5 to 10 years. The group's expectation was a percentage point higher, at 2.9 percent.

The reason for the higher expectation for unit costs over the longer term can be seen in the following chart, which compares how the group assigns probabilities to

By Ramsey Su

There is apparently no shortage of answers to that question, one that has been asked repeatedly for a few years now.

Some offered their shoe shine boy opinion, others may ask what exactly is a real estate bottom? Are we talking about national sales prices? The Case Shiller Index? The number of new homes sold? The number of existing homes sold? Condos in Florida or McMansions in Vegas? Housing starts?

I need to throw in my two cents. My conclusion: we are nowhere near the bottom. By that I mean there are a great many parts of the real estate engine that need to be fixed or replaced before we can even say we have a functioning real estate market. In fact, the engine may need to be completely rebuilt. Until then, it is pointless to analyze what are ultimately meaningless numbers.

Allow me to state my

As I've observed previously, silver prices tend to lead the precious metals, and by inference, precious metals stocks. Therefore, to understand the near future of the precious metal prices and the prospects of precious metals miners, it may be instructive to examine the recent charts for silver to see if we may be able to discern a path forward for this year.

Silver Chart History

The chart for the silver price in the last twelve months follows:

(click on charts to enlarge)

From examination of the above chart, the first thing that jumps out is the (1) "Death Cross" exhibited by the silver price at the end of October in 2012. The Death Cross is a

Eaton Vance Corp. (EV) is one of the oldest investment management firms in the United States. It manages ~$ 175 billion in assets and offers wealth management services to both individuals and institutions.

I discussed Eaton Vance's Top Buys and Top Sells in my previous articles. In addition, for investors seeking yield it is also interesting to have a look at Eaton Vance's top dividend holdings. The following is a list of Eaton Vance's top holdings with good dividend yields, as released in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC.

I would recommend going long on American Electric Power, Vodafone & Philip Morris. However, I would avoid AT&T and

There has been a lot of negative press on Research in Motion (RIMM) and negative reports from most of the analysts on Wall Street. Some of this criticism and negativity is justifiable, but most of the critics are missing the crucial points regarding this company. I would go as far as saying that many of these articles and reports are misleading. Furthermore, the same negative stories are repeated time and again no matter how insignificant these stories are.

There is no doubt that the company's senior management team made some serious mistakes by not responding in a timely and effective manner to the challenges from Apple (AAPL) and Android a few years ago. I attribute this to their arrogance and complacency. Further, this management team had a sub-optimal marketing/PR and developer relations strategies. They also mismanaged expectations given to Wall Street. I believe the management has realized its mistakes and

Huntsman (HUN) and LyondellBasell (LYB) may be risky picks given their volatility, but they also are significantly trading below intrinsic value. According to T1 Banker, the Street rates shares of the former a "hold" versus a "strong buy" for the latter. Based on my review of the fundamentals and multiples analysis, I find stellar upside for both firms.

From a multiples perspective, both firms are cheap. Lyondell trades at a respective 11.5x and 7.6x past and forward earnings, with a dividend yield of 2.3%. Huntsman trades at a respective 13.5x and 5.7x past and forward earnings, with a dividend yield of 3%.

At the fourth-quarter earnings call, Huntsman's management noted a challenging environment:

"Adjusted EBITDA for our Polyurethanes division for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $79 million. Sales volume for our MDI products increased 6% in 2011 compared to the prior year, supporting our assumption that MDI will continue

The S&P 500 is closing in on its highest printing in four years on improved risk sentiment based on the belief that the economy is improving. This belief is supported by the economic data, as consumer confidence continues to improve while the national unemployment rate continues to drop. In addition to this, corporate earnings reports have consistently beaten market estimates and are now seen at their highest levels ever. The main question for equity markets going forward is whether or not this earnings boom has run its course and is ready to drift backward toward the long term historical averages.

One argument for why this might be the case can be seen in profit margins (the ratio of income to total sales figures). For the last 50 years, corporate earnings have been equal to roughly 6 percent of the annual GDP in the US. Today, it is closer to 10

Vectren Corporation (VVC) is a utility company that has failed to deliver adequate investment returns for share holders. In this article I will highlight the negative total annualized rate of return versus its peers. Vectren has provided share holders an annual rate of return of 4.7% for the past 5 years. My focus will highlight the mediocre returns and alternative energy companies to invest in.

Overview
Vectren is an energy holding company with subsidiaries focused on utility and non-utility businesses. Its utility businesses focus on gas and electricity sales to over 1.1 million customers in Indiana and west central Ohio, and accounted for 87% of its net income in 2011 (split equally between gas and electricity). Its non-utility businesses are involved in pipeline infrastructure services, energy services, coal mining and sales, and gas and energy marketing.

Business Strategy
Vectren's goal is to grow utility earnings at a stable and not

The E-Mini S&P 500 backed off the highs of Tuesday ($1369.50) possibly on second thoughts of the Euro debt crisis and how it may affect the US recovery. US Existing Home Sales report showed an increase of 4.3 % to 4.57 million units last month, the highest it has been since May of 2010. It may be attributed to warmer weather this winter or a signal that the bottom is in. Another possibility, although perhaps not widely done or publicized may be the bulldozing of foreclosed homes to keep the neighborhood values up and reduce the inventories of homes in the marketplace.

The inventory of unsold homes was reduced by 0.4% to 2.31 million last month. The median home sales price was reduced by 2% to $154,700 from a year ago. The distressed properties such as short sales and foreclosures accounted for 35% of the sales last month. The Federal

Investors have become very familiar with the fact that when consumers spend more at the pump, it takes away from other forms of discretionary spending as household budgets are forced to adjust. Gasoline prices are already at a national average of $3.50 per gallon. This has been the highest level ever to start the year. Also, analysts say the average price could again flirt with $4 per gallon by the spring. Well, spring is not officially here yet, but while exiting off the interstate today I saw signs of $3.70 for regular unleaded at all four corners of the intersection.

The rising costs is said to be due to concerns over shipments in the Persian Gulf. Since then mitigating risk within my investment portfolio has become an unrelenting mission of mine to the extent where I have started identifying stocks that can and likely will be impacted by consumer spending.

The Williston Basin has had an interesting fourth quarter. There has been some bad news from the price of Bakken crude slipping to $71/barrel due to the glut at Cushing. Companies like EOG Resources (EOG) and Continental (CLR) have done a good job of keeping prices up by using different transport methods for sale. Low prices haven't slowed production as North Dakota produced over 152 million barrels of oil in 2011. This compares to 112.5 million barrels in 2010. IP rates have improved significantly year over year, with longer laterals, increased stages and directional drilling improvements being just a few reasons.

After Newfield's (NFX) poor third quarter, many investors saw value. This was a mistake as Newfield continues to have trouble controlling costs. More worrisome is Newfield's natural gas exposure. It has done a fantastic job of increasing liquids production from 30% of total production in 2010, to approximately 40%