5 Worst Sectors to Avoid This Week

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According to the Portfolio Grader database this week, the reit, metals and mining, water utilities, independent power and renewable electricity producers and energy services sectors are at the bottom.

The reit sector is dragging, with 80% of its stocks (124 out of 155) rated a “sell”. Hatteras Financial (), DDR Corp. () and Health Care REIT, Inc. () are pushing the sector down with F grades. The worst performer in this sector is Hatteras Financial, which saw its price sink 26.9% in the last 12 months.

The metals and mining sector is trailing behind others this week, with 67% of its stocks (61 out of 91) rated a “sell”. Newmont Mining Corporation (), Gold Fields Limited Sponsored ADR () and Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. Class A () are dragging down the sector overall, each earning a low grade of F. Over the last 12 months, Gold Fields Limited Sponsored ADR is the worst performer in this sector, with a 71.3% decline.

The water utilities sector looks weak, with 67% of its stocks (4 out of 6) rated a “sell”. With an overall grade of D, Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP Sponsored ADR (), SJW Corp. () and Aqua America, Inc. () are weighing down the sector. Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP Sponsored ADR is performing worst overall in the sector, with an 81.9% decline over the last 12 months.

Top Warren Buffett Companies For 2015

The independent power and renewable electricity producers sector is lagging this week with 67% of its stocks (6 out of 9) rated a “sell”. Among independent power and renewable electricity producers stocks, TransAlta Corporation (), Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. Sponsored ADR () and Calpine Corporation () are lingering near the bottom with grades of F. The worst performer in this sector is TransAlta Corporation, which saw its price sink 39.4% in the last 12 months.

With 60% of its stocks (38 out of 63) rated “sell,” the energy services sector is struggling this week. Out of the energy services stocks, McDermott International, Inc. (), ION Geophysical Corporation () and Tidewater () are near the bottom with F’s. McDermott International, Inc. is the worst stock in its sector, with the company’s share price falling 29.1% in the last 12 months.

Louis Navellier’s proprietary Portfolio Grader stock ranking system assesses roughly 5,000 companies every week based on a number of fundamental and quantitative measures. Stocks are given a letter grade based on their results — with A being “strong buy,” and F being “strong sell.” Explore the tool here.

Raytheon Wins Missile Defense Agency Contracts

When the Department of Defense announced its contract awards for Aug. 6, the total funds handed out added up to $518.8 million -- but one single company walked away with more than half the funds on offer: Raytheon (NYSE: RTN  ) .

Raytheon claimed its loot in the form of two contracts to perform work for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, namely:

$218.5 million: exercising an option under a sole-source, cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to fund the purchase of materials, and integrate same into the manufacture of "up to" 29 All Up Rounds SM-3 Block IB missiles. SM-3IB is a new version of Raytheon's venerable Standard surface-to-air missile, which aims to enhance the original's effectiveness with enhanced, two-color infrared target seeking, and the use of short bursts of precision propulsion to steer the missile toward incoming targets. Raytheon's SM-3IBs are scheduled to begin deployment in 2015. The current contract, now worth $398 million in total, is expected to run through Sept. 30, 2016. $49.9 million: exercising an option under a different sole-source cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to manufacture four All Up Rounds SM-3 Block IB missiles. These missiles are deliverable on or before Sept. 30, 2015.

Mortgage Rates Are Cooling Down

Freddie Mac released its weekly update on national mortgage rates this morning, showing continued moderation in rates across the board.

Thirty-year fixed rate mortgages (FRM) dropped six basis points over the past week to end at 4.31%. The rate reached a two-year high of 4.51% two weeks ago, and clocked in a year ago at 3.49%.

Fifteen-year FRMs shed two basis points over the past week, falling to 3.39%. Each of the most popular flavors of variable-rate mortgages dropped a basis point apiece, with 5/1 ARMs falling to 3.16%, and one-year adjustables to 2.65%.

Freddie Mac Vice President and Chief Economist Frank Nothaft expressed hope that falling rates will "help to alleviate market concerns of a slowdown in the housing market," noting that "low inventories of homes for purchase are putting upward pressure on house prices." Even if price tags are getting bigger, the belief is that lower interest payments on mortgages to buy them may help to even out the total cost.

While rates remain low by historical standards, they have risen in recent weeks after the Federal Reserve indicated it might slow its bond purchases later this year. The bond purchases have kept long-term interest rates low, encouraging more borrowing and spending.

-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Amazon, Pandora plunge, pulling down tech stocks

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Big losses from Amazon.com Inc. and Pandora Media Inc. stole the tech-sector spotlight Friday as negative reactions to those companies' business outlooks led a broad slate of losses on Friday.

Amazon (AMZN)  fell nearly 10% to close at $308.83 a share after the online retailer and video-streaming company reported strong first-quarter results late Thursday, but forecast a second-quarter operating loss as it invests more money into projects like delivery services and its new Amazon Fire TV set-top box.

Pandora (P)  plunged more than 16% to end the week at $23.51 a share. On Thursday, Pandora reported better-than-expected sales and narrowed its first-quarter loss from a year ago. But investors focused on a second-quarter forecast that it would break even or earn up to 3 cents a share on revenue between $213 million and $218 million. Analysts had been forecasting earnings of 5 cents a share on $218 million in sales.

Nearly every other notable tech stock lost ground Friday, with Facebook Inc.   (FB) falling more than 5%, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO)  giving up 2% and Netflix Inc. (NFLX)  shedding more than 6% by the time the market closed.

Best Restaurant Companies To Buy Right Now

The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) , which includes many leading tech stocks, fell almost 73 points, or 1.8%, to finish at 4,075 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX)  giving up more than 3%.

Part of the broader market's decline was blamed on growing concerns about the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

One of the few tech stocks to rise Friday was Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) , and it only gained 5 cents a share to close at $39.91 following what was seen as a set of solid fiscal third-quarter results.

Late Thursday, Microsoft reported a quarterly profit of 68 cents a share on $20.4 billion in revenue, while analysts had forecast the company to earn 63 cents a share on sales of $20.39 billion. Daniel Ives, an analyst with FBR & Co., said the first results under Chief Executive Satya Nadella suggest Microsoft is trying to make the right moves to keep itself and its Windows franchise relevant.

"A stronger cloud [computing] contribution and a slightly improving Windows franchise is giving Mr. Nadella and Microsoft some healthy momentum for the coming quarters," Ives said. "So far, the Nadella era is off to a golden start, and now it comes down to execution on the cloud-mobile vision and trying to successfully integrate the Nokia acquisition," which closed Friday.

More tech news from MarketWatch:

Amazon stung by price target cuts

Apple's retail expansion about company emerging from its own shadow

Microsoft CEO sees "gold rush" in the cloud

The Washington Post Acquires Forney Corporation

The Washington Post (NYSE: WPO  ) has announced plans to acquire power plant and industrial systems provider, Forney Corporation. Both parties plan for the deal to close in early August.

David E. Graham, chief executive officer and chairman for the Washington Post Company, is confident that this new acquisition will help the Washington Post diversify and expand itself even further. In a statement to the press, Graham said the Forney acquisition is part of the Post's "ongoing strategy of investing in companies with demonstrated earnings potential and strong management teams attracted to our long-term investment horizon."

Top Consumer Service Stocks To Watch Right Now

Forney, a global leader in electric utility and industrial applications, is currently a part of the UTC Climate, Controls and Security branch of United Technologies Corporation. After the deal closes, Forney's general manager, Tom Demrick, and the company's original management team, will stay on board to operate the business. Neither party disclosed the price of the transaction.

GNC: A Dose of Profits

Right now, there seem to be two schools of thought on General Nutrition Centers, the health and wellness retailer. CNBC's Jim "Mad Money" Cramer came out this week with a strong "buy" signal on GNC (NYSE: GNC). "The stock is down big and I think business is about to turn," said Cramer. "I’m a buyer."

But last Monday, Credit Suisse stepped in and slashed its call on GNC from "outperform" to "neutral." Retail analyst Gary Balter cited "low visibility" on the company's same-store sales for the reminder of 2014. Calling the stock "sluggish", he downgraded GNC's target price to $51 per share.

I'm with Cramer, but more on that in a minute. According to the company's web site, GNC Holdings, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of health and wellness products. The firm operates through three segments: retail, franchise, and manufacturing/wholesale. Its products include vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements, sports nutrition products, diet products, and other wellness products, and offers its own line of health and nutrition products, including Mega Men, Ultra Mega, Total Lean, Pro Performance, Pro Performance AMP, and Beyond Raw. GNC has 8,500 locations operating in the United States and internationally.

GNC's stock currently trades at $45 per share, but its share price has declined by $7 in the past two months, mostly on profit concerns. So why do I see GNC as a buy? I just don't see profits as a problem with GNC. Revenues are strong, earnings per share is healthy, net income is rising, and franchise owners are clamoring to get their name on another GNC store.

Revenues were up 8.6% in the last quarter (at $613 million), on a year-to-year comparison basis, and that figure clocks in well ahead of the industry average of 7.3%. Earnings per share is also well up on a year-to-year basis, with earnings at $2.72 prior to $2.29. The company estimates e! arnings to rise to $3.23 in 2014.

In the fourth quarter, same store sales rose 5.0% in U.S.-based company-owned stores (including website sales.) That's GNC's 34th consecutive quarter of positive same store sales growth.  Touching on what Credit Suisse views as a weak point, domestic franchise locations, same-store sales increased 3.3%.

Overseas, GNC has solidified its presence in the potentially lucrative Russian market, with a new deal with Rusvit, whose chief executive officer, Alex Kovaler, also engineered the entry of big brands like Wendy's, Nathan's, and RC Cola into the country. Those are all good reasons why GNC's own CEO, Joe Fortunato, sees clear skies ahead for his company.

"Despite the challenging retail environment, our business performed well, generating solid top and bottom line growth in the quarter," Fortunato said after the Q4 earnings were released. "This culminated in a strong year where we delivered a 22.3% increase in adjusted earnings per share and returned more than $350 million to shareholders, all the while making significant investments in the business which allows us to maintain growth momentum and to capitalize on our industry growth, optimize our customer base, and position the company for new growth opportunities.”

Looking ahead, GNC sees consolidated earnings per diluted share of about $3.18-$3.24 for the full year 2014, a 12-14% increase over 2013 adjusted EPS of $2.85. The firm also calls for a high single digit increase in consolidated revenue for 2014, with a flat January and February (which has been acknowledged by Wall Street with a declining stock price,) before picking up steam, revenue-wise, in the spring months, with rising revenues for the remainder of 2014.

The company is also bullish on opening new store locations – 200, in all, will be newly opened in the U.S. this year, with 225 more opening overseas.

There's also some good news on the marketing front for GNC. Franchise Direct just named ! GNC as th! e top health and beauty franchise in the world, and it's ranked 7th overall on the top 100 global franchises list. I don't tend to go overboard on public relations pitches, or "best of" lists, but anytime you're mentioned by franchising experts in the same breath as McDonalds, Wyndham Hotels and Dunkin Donuts, you're doing something right.

My takeaway on GNC? I view the "February slide" on GNC's stock as an aberration – a sign of weak store sales growth in a harsh winter across most of the U.S., when most people didn't want to leave their couches and fireplaces, let alone go out and buy wellness products.

This is a undervalued stock, and could easily shoot to $55 per share. So don't be a dumbbell and get physical with GNC's stock – it could be just the medicine your portfolio is looking for in 2014.

Top 5 Undervalued Companies To Invest In Right Now

Brian O'Connell is an investment analyst at Investing Daily. He has appeared as an expert financial commentator on CNN, NPR, Fox News, Bloomberg, CNBC, C-Span, CBS Radio, and many other media broadcast outlets.

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Comcast Earnings Get a Boost from Sochi Olympics

5 Best Sliver Stocks To Own Right Now

Gene J. Puskar/AP PHILADELPHIA -- Comcast said Tuesday that its first-quarter net income rose by 30 percent as ad revenue surged at broadcast network NBC, helped by the Winter Olympics in Sochi and Jimmy Fallon's elevation as host of "The Tonight Show." The results beat Wall Street estimates and its shares edged up in morning trading. Comcast (CMCSA) is the largest cable company in the country with 22 million video customers and 21.1 Internet customers. It is in the midst of an expected yearlong review of its $45 billion acquisition of No. 2 rival Time Warner Cable (TWC). Regulators are examining whether the combination would give it undue pricing power over customers and too much leverage with programmers. Its net income in the quarter through March rose to $1.87 billion, or 71 cents a share, from $1.44 billion, or 54 cents a share a year ago. Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings came to 68 cents a share, beating the 64 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue grew 14 percent to $17.41 billion from $15.31 billion. That's also higher than the $16.99 billion expected by analysts. NBCUniversal revenue grew 29 percent to $6.88 billion while cable services revenue grew 5 percent to $10.76 billion. Olympics broadcast rights boosted NBCU revenue by $1.1 billion. Even excluding the games, broadcast revenue rose 17 percent, helped by Fallon's selection for NBC's late night slot, replacing longtime host Jay Leno. The network was also boosted by more hours of "The Voice" and the popularity of new shows like "The Blacklist." On the cable connections side, Comcast added 24,000 video customers during the quarter, the second quarterly gain in a row following a six-and-a-half year losing streak. However, those gains are likely to come to an end in the current quarter as college students disconnect service at the end of the semester. Comcast added 383,000 high-speed data customers and 142,000 voice customers. The company says the roll-out of its newest X1 set-top box is starting to contribute to better video results. It is now setting up 15,000 to 20,000 boxes a day, up from 10,000 at the end of the year. An improved user interface is helping reduce customer disconnects while boosting video-on-demand spending and increasing uptake of digital video recorder service. Within three years, Comcast hopes the majority of its customers will have X1. Comcast shares rose $1.03, or 2.1 percent, to $50.91 in morning trading. Its shares have fallen 4 percent in regular trading so far this year.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2015

Wall Street seemed happy to get the second quarter -- especially the month of June -- behind it on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) was up more than 150 points for much of the day after manufacturing data from the U.S. and Japan indicated that global industry is rebounding. Bullish data alone often drives equities higher, but investors anxiously awaiting the beginning of earnings season next week may also contribute to some speculative gains this week. By day's end, the Dow had risen 65 points, or 0.4%, ending at 14,974.

The biggest blue chip beneficiary of Monday's manufacturing rally was United Technologies (NYSE: UTX  ) , which added nearly 2%. Sentiment from Japan's biggest industrials shifted from largely negative to mildly optimistic in June, and that important swing was mirrored in the U.S., where manufacturing activity swung from contraction to expansion.

Property and casualty insurance giant Travelers (NYSE: TRV  ) ended as the second-biggest Dow gainer, tacking on 1.5%. There wasn't any major catalyst behind today's gains, but shares sure don't look too bad at these levels. The stock seems cheap: It trades at just over 10 times forward earnings, and pays a 2.5% dividend -- the same yield as 10-year Treasury notes.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2015: Visa Inc.(V)

Visa Inc., a payments technology company, engages in the operation of retail electronic payments network worldwide. It facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company owns and operates VisaNet, a global processing platform that provides transaction processing services. It also offers a range of payments platforms, which enable credit, charge, deferred debit, debit, and prepaid payments, as well as cash access for consumers, businesses, and government entities. The company provides its payment platforms under the Visa, Visa Electron, PLUS, and Interlink brand names. In addition, it offers value-added services, including risk management, issuer processing, loyalty, dispute management, value-added information, and CyberSource-branded services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jay Jenkins]

  For the technology to really go mainstream, it needs consumer-side products to support it (cue�Square and PayPal�(subsidiary of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) ), it needs infrastructure to transmit the data (looking at you,�MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) and Visa (NYSE: V  ) ), and it needs vendor-side hardware to close the loop (uh, hmm...�VeriFone (NYSE: PAY  ) ).

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  The S&P 500 dropped 0.5% to 1,781.56 as Xerox (XRX) and E*Trade Financial (ETFC) fell. The�Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed for once: Blue chips fell 0.3% to 15,837.88 as Caterpillar’s (CAT) big gain helped mitigate the big drops in Visa (V) and Goldman Sachs (GS). Still, the Dow fell for a fifth consecutive day, its longest slide since Dec. 5, 2013.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2015: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  IBM's (NYSE: IBM  ) 1.5% move higher is having a large impact on the Dow's move because it's the highest price stock in a price-weighted index. CEO Virginia Rometty sent out a company-wide memo saying that the company needs to move faster and respond more quickly to customers. IBM issued a disappointing earnings report last week, and Rometty is trying to get the company's financial fortunes back on track. It'll take a few quarters to find out if she's successful.

Top Transportation Stocks To Watch Right Now: Apple Inc.(AAPL)

Apple Inc., together with subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, as well as sells related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications worldwide. The company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, retail stores, direct sales force, third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, it sells third-party Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores; and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The company sells its products to consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise, government, and creative markets. As of September 25, 2010, it had 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. The company, formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc., was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Neiger]

  What's scary for tech companies is that they rarely see a fall like this coming. For BlackBerry, Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iPhone helped push the all-consuming Crackberries into irrelevance. If history is any predictor of the future, then one of our current beloved technologies could be on the chopping block in the coming years.

• [By Tim Beyers]

  Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) stock has been rallying ever since rumors of a closer relationship with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) first surfaced last Tuesday in a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2015: McDonald's Corporation(MCD)

McDonald?s Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a worldwide foodservice retailer. It franchises and operates McDonald?s restaurants that offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries, of which 26,216 were operated by franchisees; and 6,262 were operated by the company. McDonald?s Corporation was founded in 1948 and is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lu Wang]

  McDonald�� (MCD) declined 2.6 percent to $100.20 for the worst retreat in the Dow. The world�� biggest restaurant chain said sales at stores open at least 13 months fell 0.6 percent in April as growth slowed in its Asia-Pacific region. Analysts estimated a 0.5 percent drop, the average of estimates from Consensus Metrix.

• [By Daniela Pylypczak]

  Wells Fargo announced on Monday that it has lowered its price target on McDonald’s (MCD) from $105-$110 to $102-$106. Wells Fargo also maintained its outperform rating on the fast food company.

  The lower price target comes after McDonald’s reported its third quarter earnings results; EPS came in at $1.52 per share – above analyst expectations, while revenues came in slightly below expectations at $7.32 billion.

  Wells Fargo also lowered its 2013 EPS estimate for McDonald’s from $5.58 to $5.55. For its 2014 estimates, EPS is now expected to come in at $5.97, down from the previous estimate of $6.15.

  Wells Fargo analyst Jeff Farmer noted “While we’re disappointed with MCD�� Q4 SSS and margin outlook, we’re maintaining our Outperform rating based on our expectation for MCD to reaccelerate market share gains in 2014 as the company continues to refine its strategic focus on both new product introductions and affordability.”

  McDonald’s shares slipped 0.64% during Monday’s session. Year-to-date, the stock is up 5.64%.

• [By Dividend Growth Investor]

  After all, a company like McDonald�� (MCD) would keep being in the restaurant business for as long as possible. Its business model of delivering a consistent customer experience on a global scale should not change much. Its expansion might come not just by opening new stores internationally however, but by renovating existing locations, innovations in its menu and attracting new customers from a young age. These megatrends do not happen overnight, and would likely take years to develop. Another example includes Wal-Mart (WMT), which is the world�� largest retailer. While the company has largely saturated US market, it could grow substantially abroad. In addition, it could also grow organically by making stores more appealing to consumers. At the same time, if investors use the company�� product or service in their everyday lives, they might gain an insider�� look at things, even before the annual reports are out.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2015: Philip Morris International Inc(PM)

Philip Morris International Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside of the United States. Its international product brand line comprises Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, Chesterfield, Bond Street, Lark, Muratti, Next, Philip Morris, and Red & White. The company also offers its products under the A Mild, Dji Sam Soe, and A Hijau in Indonesia; Diana in Italy; Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in the Russian Federation; Morven Gold in Pakistan; Boston in Colombia; Belmont, Canadian Classics, and Number 7 in Canada; Best and Classic in Serbia; f6 in Germany; Delicados in Mexico; Assos in Greece; and Petra in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It operates primarily in the European Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. The company is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GuruFocus]

  Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) Reached the 52-Week Low of $80.78

  The prices of Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) shares have declined to close to the 52-week low of $80.78, which is 16.5% off the 52-week high of $96.73. Philip Morris International Inc. is owned by 33 Gurus we are tracking. Among them, 17 have added to their positions during the past quarter. Seven reduced their positions. Philip Morris International Inc. is a Virginia holding company first incorporated in 1987. Philip Morris International Inc. has a market cap of $129.42 billion; its shares were traded at around $80.78 with a P/E ratio of 15.20 and P/S ratio of 1.70. The dividend yield of Philip Morris International Inc. stocks is 4.40%. Philip Morris International Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 14.50% over the past five years.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Thursday

  Earnings Expected From: United Health Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH), Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Philip Morris Inc (NYSE: PM), Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG), American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Economic Releases Expected: �German PPI, Canadian CPI, Chinese house price data

  Friday

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Phillip Morris (PM) gained 2.8% to $86.56 after boosting its dividend by 10.6%.

  Restoration Hardware (RH) dropped 12% to $68.04 despite what many considered to be a solid earnings�report. Not Barron’s.

Best Blue Chip Stocks To Own For 2015: Chevron Corporation(CVX)

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. It operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment involves in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as holds interest in a gas-to-liquids project. The Downstream segment engages in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products primarily under the Chevron, Texaco, and Caltex brand names; transportation of crude oil and refined products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car; and manufacture and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives. It a lso produces and markets coal and molybdenum; and holds interests in 13 power assets with a total operating capacity of approximately 3,100 megawatts, as well as involves in cash management and debt financing activities, insurance operations, real estate activities, energy services, and alternative fuels and technology business. Chevron Corporation has a joint venture agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation. The company was formerly known as ChevronTexaco Corp. and changed its name to Chevron Corporation in May 2005. Chevron Corporation was founded in 1879 and is based in San Ramon, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Charley Blaine]

  Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reports fiscal-fourth-quarter results after Monday's close. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) reports after Wednesday's close. Oil giants Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) report on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Third Tesla Model S catches fire after crash

Tesla says it's not aware of any more Model S fires beyond the three crash-related ones that have been reported.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Another Tesla Model S has caught fire after a crash. It's the third widely-reported fire involving one of the all-electric plug-in luxury cars in just two months.

All three fires involved some sort of accident. None of the fires occurred in undamaged vehicles, Tesla Motors pointed out.

The latest fire happened in Tennessee on Wednesday. The first fire happened in Washington State in October and the second was reported to have occurred in Mexico later that same month. A Tesla spokeswoman said the automaker is unaware of any other fires in Tesla cars. There are currently 19,000 Model S cars in use globally, according to Tesla.

"We have been in contact with the driver, who was not injured and believes the car saved his life," Tesla said in a statement. "Our team is on its way to Tennessee to learn more about what happened in the accident. We will provide more information when we're able to do so."

The name of the driver and details of incident were not immediately available.

Tesla (TSLA)'s stock has fallen about 7% Thursday. The company also recently reported disappointing third quarter financial results.

In the first U.S. incident, the car's battery was punctured by a piece of metal lying on the road. The Model S' battery pack lies in the floor of the car. When the battery was punctured it caused a fire that consumed the front portion of the vehicle. The fire did not enter the passenger compartment which is protected by internal firewalls, according to Tesla.

The federal government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decided not to investigate the Model S for fire safety concerns after that incident. The agency said Thursday that it has not yet determined whether it will investigate following this latest fire.

According to data from the National Fire Protection Association, each year there are about 6,000 passenger vehicle fires resulting from crashes.

What Does Samsung's Patent Win Mean for Apple?

The dispute between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  )  and Samsung is reaching into the highest office of the land. The decision will enter a 60-day review process that includes President Obama. Bloomberg reports that the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled early this week that Apple would be banned from importing the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 3G because the devices infringe a Samsung patent. While rarely used, part of the review process that accompanies this type of decision includes the power of the president to overturn the ruling on public policy grounds. The ruling is the first big loss for Apple in its ongoing patent war with Samsung and could cost the company significantly, depending how various other issues unfold.

The nature of the case
There are several elements to understanding the nature of the case, including the patent itself, the general legal framework, and the review process. The patent deals with a protocol for detecting phone numbers in the body of text and allowing them to be dialed directly or stored into the phone's contact list. Where the issue gets more complicated is that the patent covers a feature generally held to be part of industry standard communications. There are special legal implications of this last feature.

Under the federal standard, the holder of a patent that is part of an industry standard must license the underlying technology on "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" terms to anyone that asks. Central to the dispute between Apple and Samsung is that Samsung claims it offered such terms to Apple. The terms offered, according to Apple, were for 2.4% of the average sale price of every iPhone and offending iPad that used the technology. Apple contends that this offer doesn't meet the standard of "fair" or "reasonable."

The ITC's ruling would place an import ban of the offending products -- both of which are manufactured primarily in China -- and will take effect after a 60-day review process. During that period, the commission can consider the evidence to alter its ruling, and the White House has the power to intervene. Historically, there has been very little interference from any president on these matters, but Obama is known to be generally opposed to import bans. On Tuesday, the White House issued a recommendation that Congress limited the ability of the ITC to impose such bans in cases of this kind. Presidential interference could have a long-term impact on the administration of patent protection, and I would be disappointed if this case becomes a test balloon.

Who is affected?

While Apple and Samsung are obviously the most directly affected by the decision, AT&T (NYSE: T  ) and T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS  ) will also feel the impact. While other carriers sell versions of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G, only the models specific to these two carriers were subjects of the case. The ban, therefore, will limit each of these carriers ability to sell these devices and could limit choices, specifically of lower-priced options, for each. The offending devices carried on other networks were not specifically addressed, although Samsung reserved the right to seek action against these in the future.

The impact on the smartphone side is more severe, but if Apple releases a cheaper version of the iPhone this fall, it would probably become a preferred choice of consumers seeking a less costly option. If so, it will go a long way to mitigating any damages that Apple might have felt. The iPhone 4 continues to be a strong seller for Apple, so developments in the case could have an impact of both the company and the stock over the next two months. While it's too soon to been deeply concerned, shareholders should keep track of the situation moving forward.

Apple has a history of cranking out revolutionary products ... and then creatively destroying them with something better. Read about the future of Apple in the free report "Apple Will Destroy Its Greatest Product." Can Apple really disrupt its own iPhones and iPads? Find out by clicking here.

Surprise! Garmin Isn't Dead After All (AAPL, GRMN, BBRY)

In 2008, the world was relatively certain that Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) - yes, the GPS maker - wasn't going to survive the advent of the smartphone. As this Slate article by Chadwick Matlin explained that year, "Every new iPhone sold means one fewer person needs a GPS unit in his car. Considering that the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) 3G iPhone starts at $200 and integrates music, phone, gaming, the Web, and GPS into one unit, the thing is going to siphon serious business away from the old-line GPS manufacturers. Garmin's entry-level portable GPS models hover north of $100. Almost all of the rest retail for more than $200, which isn't looking like a great deal right about now." And, that was the consensus opinion about how disruptive Apple could be to the core business of Garmin.

And to be fair, Apple and a handful of other GPS-functional smartphone makers made trouble for the map-following-technology company. GRMN shares fall from a peak of $114 in October of 2007 to a low of $16 by December of 2008, right before Garmin Ltd. started to post a decline in trailing-twelve-month earnings, and right before the top line began what would be a two-year slide fro, 2008's peak of $3.5 billion.

Between waning sales and far more interesting consumer technologies coming out in the meantime, Garmin was shelved as a stock worth following, widely relegated (mentally) to the annals of history as a name that was once hot but structurally incapable of being relevant. Think "BlackBerrry (NASDAQ:BBRY)", but without all the denial.

Well, as it turns out, Garmin isn't ready to be put in a box quite yet.

Oh, challenges still abound. Technically speaking, 2013 was the company's worst year since before GPS devices became all the rage, sales wise anyway. It appears the company has finally sloughed off any expensive dead weight to become a lean and relevant company again. Perhaps most encouraging is the fact that last earnings of $3.13 per share of GRMN stock was the most profitable year for the company since 2009's $3.51, when sales and revenue were retreating.

What happened to turn things around? In simplest terms, Garmin Ltd. quietly got really, really good at GPS. To be fair, the GPS-like technology the Apple and other smartphone makers put on their handsets is adequate for most users, who simply need basic driving directions. For the hardcore user of GPC equipment technology though (extreme hikers, bikers, pilots, boaters), GRMN has managed to stay far enough ahead of Apple and others that it's defended its sliver of the global-positioning system market. Now it may even be in a position to take some more market share back.

It would be premature to declare outright victory for the company at this point for GRMN. But, with revenue projected to grow just a bit this year and roughly 2% next year against a backdrop of projected per-share profit growth of 8.3% in 2015 (following 2014's troubling expected per-share earnings dip of 16.8%), you could make a strong turnaround case for the once-great company.

But what about 2014's scary projection? Garmin Ltd. managed to top last year's estimates by about 6%. It'll need to do a little better than that to satisfy investors this year, but it's got a good chance of doing that. And, the way the stock's been acting, it looks like the market's more than giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Crazier things have happened.

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Market Wrap For April 15: Who Doesn't Love A Turnaround?

Related BZSUM Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Trade in Highly Volatile Session as Talk of a Pull-Back is Widespread Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Red; Pep Boys Shares Drop After Q4 Results

U.S. stock futures were pointing towards a modestly higher open as investors found enough optimism from Dow components Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson who both reported better than expected quarterly results.

Investors were further spooked by reports of pro-Russian separatists taking control of an airfield in Eastern Ukraine which created a very volatile trading session.

The Dow Jones average rose 99 points and falling 110 points while the Nasdaq index showed one of the best turnarounds in years as the index traded as low as 3,946.03 during the trading session.

The Dow gained 0.55 percent, closing at 16,262.56. The S&P 500 gained 0.68 percent, closing at 1,842.98. The Nasdaq gained 0.29 percent, closing at 4,034.16. Gold lost 1.82 percent, trading at $1,303.30 an ounce. Oil lost 0.46 percent, trading at $103.57 a barrel. Silver lost 2.06 percent, trading at $19.63 an ounce.

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News of Note

ICSC Retail Store Sales declined 0.3 percent week over week compared to a gain of 1.5 percent last week.

April Empire State Survey fell to 1.29 from 5.6 in March and missed expectations of 7.5.

March Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent, ahead of the 0.1 percent consensus and a prior reading of 0.1 percent.

Core CPI rose 0.2 percent, ahead of the 0.1 percent expected and prior reading of 0.1 percent.

Redbook Chain Store Sales rose 2.6 percent year over year compared to a rise of 2.9 percent last week.

NAHB Housing Market Index rose to 47.0 from a previous reading of 46.0 but still fell short of expectations of 49.0.

The Peoples Bank of China withdrew 172 billion yuan ($28 billion) through a repurchase agreement.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades of Note

Analysts at JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating on BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) with a price target raised to $359 from a previous $355. Shares gained 0.72 percent, closing at $300.61.

Analysts at Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating on Citigroup (NYSE: C) with a price target lowered to $65 from a previous $66. Meanwhile, analysts at Bernstein upgraded Citigroup to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target raised to $57 from a previous $52. Shares gained 1.28 percent, closing at $48.28.

Analysts at Howard Weil downgraded EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform with a $105 price target. Shares gained 1.19 percent, closing at $101.15.

Analysts at JPMorgan upgraded Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) to Neutral from Underweight with a price target raised to $78 from a previous $60. Shares lost 0.36 percent, closing at $80.71.

Analysts at Jefferies maintained a Buy rating on Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) with a price target raised to $700 from a previous $650. Shares gained 0.74 percent, closing at $536.44.

Analysts at Citigroup downgraded IBM (NYSE: IBM) to Neutral from Buy. Shares lost 0.36 percent, closing at $197.05.

Analysts at Janney Capital upgraded MasterCard (NYSE: MA) to Buy from Hold with a price target raised to $81 from a previous $79. Shares gained 1.35 percent, closing at $72.14.

Analysts at JPMorgan downgraded Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target lowered to $64 from a previous $69. Shares lost 0.03 percent, closing at $58.06.

Analysts at Bank of America upgraded Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to Buy from Neutral with a $35 price target. Shares gained 1.72 percent, closing at $29.56.

Analysts at JG Capital downgraded Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) to Underweight from Neutral. Shares gained 0.35 percent, closing at $39.71.

Analysts at Maxim Group upgraded Pandora Media (NYSE: P) to Buy from Hold with a $35 price target. Shares gained 3.68 percent, closing at $26.20.

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded PetSmart (NASDAQ: PETM) to Underperform from Neutral with a price target lowered to $60 from a previous $77. Shares lost 3.98 percent, closing at $66.61.

Analysts at Miller Tabak upgraded Potash Corp (NYSE: POT) to Neutral from Sell with a price target raised to $30 from a previous $28. Shares gained 3.13 percent, closing at $34.95.

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Analysts at Stephens & Co upgraded Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF) to Overweight from Equalweight with a $95 price target. Shares gained 1.43 percent, closing at $86.03.

Analysts at Credit Suisse reiterated an Outperform rating on TripAdvisor (NASDAQ: TRIP) with a price target raised to $105 from a previous $94. Shares gained 4.43 percent, closing at $83.30.

Analysts at Janney Capital upgraded Visa (NYSE: V) to Buy from Neutral with a price target raised to $240 from a previous $210. Shares gained 1.49 percent, closing at $204.00.

Analysts at William Blair downgraded Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to Underperform from Market Perform. Shares lost 0.63 percent, closing at $76.89.

Analysts at Needham initiated coverage of World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) with a Buy rating and $30 price target. Shares gained 3.75 percent, closing at $20.74.

Analysts at Macquarie upgraded Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to Outperform from Neutral. Shares gained 2.29 percent, closing at $34.21.

Equities-Specific News of Note

According to BGR, Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN) rumored smartphone will have a 4.7 inch display with a 720p resolution and will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 13 megapixel rear camera. Additionally, the phone will have a 3D display which will support 3D viewing "in as many areas as possible." Shares gained 0.05 percent, closing at $316.08.

Eric Schneiderman, New York's Attorney General launched an investigation into Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) over its marketing practices. According to Dealbook, there are no signs that any criminal charges will be laid against the company and no grand jury subpoenas have been issued. Shares gained 1.99 percent, closing at $54.82.

General Electric's (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeff Immelt may give up his position earlier than previously expected as the company could look for "fresh blood" following Immelt's approximately 15 years as head of the company. shares gained 0.45 percent, closing at $25.83.

Elliot Associates reaffirmed that its $21 per share offer to acquire Riverbed (NASDAQ: RVBD) is still on the table. Shares lost 0.90 percent, closing at $18.69.

Shares of Under Armour (NYSE: UA) began trading under a 2:1 split basis. Shares gained 2.68 percent, closing at $52.45.

Entergy (NYSE: ETR) issued upside earnings guidance for the first quarter and projects it will earn around $2.28 per share, above the consensus estimate of $1.15. For the full fiscal year, the company is projecting its earnings per share to be $5.55 to $6.75, above the consensus estimate of $5.34. Shares gained 1.44 percent, closing at $71.97.

Himax (NASDAQ: HIMX) announced that it expects its first quarter revenue to be up 10.8 percent year over year to $194.6 million, ahead of the consensus estimate of $193.6 million. shares gained 3.56 percent, closing at $9.32.

Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) announced that it will begin idling its Canadian operations which includes the Barzion and Wolverine coal mines in British Columbia. Shares gained 4.87 percent, closing at $8.18.

Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) initiated a new $500 million share repurchase program. Shares gained 2.04 percent, closing at $151.40.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) will unveil a new Chevrolet Cruze car for the Chinese market as part of its initiatives to grow the brand in the country. Shares gained 2.47 percent, closing at $33.35.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) announced it has taken a stake in NantHealth, a developer of a clinical software platform in order to "put the power of a supercomputer in the palm of the caregiver's hand." Shares gained 0.98 percent, closing at $7.21.

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Sinopec (NYSE: SNP) has agreed to purchase assets from Russian oil producer Lukoil in Kazakhstan for approximately $1.2 billion. Shares lost 3.77 percent, closing at $88.86.

Total (NYSE: TOT) announced that its European refining margin fell to $6.60 per metric ton in the first quarter from $26.90 per metric ton in the same quarter last year. Shares gained 0.09 percent, closing at $67.79.

Dan Loeb's Third Point Capital released an SEC form 14A to further present his case against Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) management team. Shares lost 2.24 percent, closing at $39.30.

Winners of Note

Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) has agreed to purchase Gnip, a provider of real-time and hisotircal datasets for many social sharing platforms which include Twitter, Tumblr and others. Gnip also offers managed API access for Instagram, Google+ and others. Shares surged 11.43 percent, closing at $45.54.

One of Conn's (NASDAQ: CONN) major shareholders, W.R. Stephens Jr. purchased 152,746 shares valued at just under $6 million of the stock according to insider filing reports. W.R. Stephens Jr. Stephens was joined by another major shareholder, Elizabeth Campbell who purchased 106,034 shares valued at $4.188 million. Shares surged 14.53 percent, closing at $45.48.

Decliners of Note

hhgregg (NYSE: HGG) pre-announced sales totals for the fourth quarter in which net sales fell to $538.3 million from $597.6 million in the same quarter last year and below the consensus estimate of $551 million. Net loss per share for the quarter is expected to be $0.25, well below the $0.31 per share profit the company earned a year ago. Analysts were expecting the company to earn a profit of $0.10 per share in the quarter. Finally, hhgregg estimates that its fourth quarter comparable store sales decreased 9.9 percent with consumer electronics decreasing 18.9 percent and the wireless category decreasing 22.6 percent for the quarter. Fourth quarter and full year earnings are expected to be released on May 20. Shares lost 9.53 percent, closing at $7.88.

Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) has agreed to acquire Motorola's Enterprise business for $3.45 billion in an all cash transaction. "This acquisition will transform Zebra into a leading provider of solutions that deliver greater intelligence and insights into our customers' enterprises and extended value chains," stated Anders Gustafsson, Zebra's chief executive officer. Shares of Zebra lost 10.09 percent, closing at $61.39.

Earnings of Note

This morning, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) reported its first quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.44, in-line with the consensus estimate. Revenue of $10.57 billion beat the consensus estimate of $10.55 billion. Net income for the quarter fell to $1.62 billion from $1.77 billion in the same quarter last year despite a gain in global volume and value share in ready to drink beverages, specifically a volume growth of two percent in emerging and developing markets. Coca-Cola reaffirmed previous guidance of investing $400 million in 2014 media initiatives. Shares gained 3.72 percent, closing at $40.17.

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This morning, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reported its first quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.54, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48. Revenue of $18.11 billion beat the consensus estimate of $18.0 billion. Net earnings for the quarter rose to $4.73 billion from $3.49 billion in the same quarter last year as the company saw several successful new product launches and continued growth of its existing product portfolio. Johnson & Johnson issued guidance and sees its full year 2014 EPS to be in a range of $5.80 to $5.90, in-line with the consensus estimate. Shares gained 2.11 percent, closing at $99.19.

After the market closed, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) reported its first quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.38, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37. Revenue of $12.8 billion was in-line with the consensus estimate. Shares were trading higher by 1.79 percent at $27.27 following the earnings release.

After the market closed, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) reported its first quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.38, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37. Revenue of $1.08 billion was in-line with the consensus estimate. Shares were trading higher by 9.62 percent at $37.50 following the earnings release.

Quote of the Day

"The longer MasterCard, Priceline, Google, and the biotechnology names continue to plumb new lows, the more likely it is the rest of the market will follow them down." - Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank speaking to CNBC.

Posted-In: Amazon Smartphone Anders Gustafsson BGR BHP Billiton Blackberry Blackrock C Citigroup Coca-cola Conn Consumer Price Index Core CPI DIRECTV DOW Edwards Lifesciences Elliot Associates Empire State Survey entergy EOG Resources Eric Schneiderman General Electric General Motors China Gnip Google Herbalife Pyramid Scheme HHGregg Himax IBM ICSC Retail Store Sales Jeff Immelt Johnson & Johnson Lukoil mastercard Medtronic Morgan Stanley NAHB Housing Market NantHealth Oracle Pandora Media Peoples Bank of China PetSmart potash corp Redbook Chain Store Sales retailers Riverbed Sinopec Tiffany & Co Total twitter Under Armour Split visa Wal-Mart walter energy Whirplool World Wrestling Entertainment Yahoo! Zebra TechnologiesEarnings News Econ #s After-Hours Center Markets Best of Benzinga

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

  Most Popular Weekly Highlights: iPhone 6 Hype, iPad Air 2 Concepts, Twitch Popularity Skyrockets And More Earnings Expectations For The Week Of April 14: Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Google And More Four Stocks Down More Than 30 Percent Last Week GrowLife's Commitment and Dedication to the Market: An Open Letter to Shareholders GM Confirms Howell, Bingol Leaving Co., John Quattrone Named as Senior VP, Global Human Resources Goldman Sachs Initiates Coverage on Stratasys, 3D Systems; Favors Former Related Articles (AMZN + BBRY) Market Wrap For April 15: Who Doesn't Love A Turnaround? Will International Business Machines (IBM) Beat Q1 Earnings? - Analyst Blog Markets Falling? Get Your Defense Ready Technology ETFs: Pain or Gain Ahead? - ETF News And Commentary Report: Amazon 3D Smartphone Coming in June

KFC sells chicken corsage just in time for prom

Prom season is in full swing, and KFC wants to add a little something to the big night: a chicken snack on your date's wrist.

For a limited time, KFC is offering corsages showcasing the Colonel's famous fried chicken drumsticks resting on a bed of baby's breath.

The corsage kits sell for $20 and come with a $5 KFC gift card so teens can select their preferred style of chicken (Original Recipe, Extra Crispy or Kentucky Grilled Chicken), according to Nanz & Kraft's website, the florist company working with KFC on the promotion.

"Word is spreading, and they're going pretty fast," Angie Searcy, general manager of Nanz & Kraft, told USA TODAY Network. The company has 50 left as of Monday afternoon. They agreed to make 100, but may reconsider if KFC wants to continue the offer, Searcy said.

KFC, which is based in Louisville, approached Nanz & Kraft about the concept, Searcy said. The florist company has been in Louisville since 1850.

The partnership is local, but Searcy said the interest is widespread.

"We are shipping them all over the place. The bulk of (orders) are from different cities and states, not actually Kentucky," she said. Local orders come with real baby's breath and out-of-town corsages come with artificial baby's breath, according to the website.

KFC surprised a few people in Louisville who were talking about the promotion on Twitter with corsages of their own.

Twitter user @alyssaemelia shared a photo with her corsage and wrote, "Thank you @kfc for asking me to prom with a chicken corsage. #putawingonit."

Thank you @kfc for asking me to prom with a chicken corsage. #putawingonitpic.twitter.com/2ozjt2K0Fl

— Alyssa (@AlyssaEmelia) April 10, 2014

Follow @lagrisham on Twitter

Contributing: Emily Brown

Why Clearwire Shares Popped

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 Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR  ) were on fire today, climbing up as much as 31% after DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH  ) raised its bid for the 4G network provider from $3.30 to $4.40 a share, topping Sprint Nextel's (NYSE: S  ) bid by $1.

So what: Sprint already owns a 50% stake in Clearwire, whose chunk of 140 megahertz spectrum makes it a valuable asset for broadband users such as Sprint and DISH. Clearwire shareholders were supposed to meet tomorrow to discuss Sprint's offer, but that meeting will probably be postponed, considering the DISH proposal. Crest Financial, Clearwire's largest minority shareholder, had argued against the Sprint offer, saying the company should hold out for a better offer and open itself up to competitive bidding.

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Now what: Perhaps the best question about today's actions is why the stock opened so far below the bid and didn't go higher than $4.56. DISH's offer seems to put a price floor of $4.40 on the stock and could spur a counteroffer from Sprint or another company, potentially sending shares considerably higher. Sprint had called the $3.40-per-share proposal its "best and final offer," but that was when it was the best one on the table. Following Crest's advice seems to be Clearwire's best move here, as its spectrum should only gain value with time. Still, it's clear that this story is far from over. To stay on track, just add Clearwire to your Watchlist here.

Tesla stems bleeding after bad few days

DETROIT (AP) — Investors in the Tesla electric car company stemmed the bleeding a bit Friday. But it was still an abysmal few days, marred by another fire in a Model S and earnings results that many found disappointing.

Tesla's shares dropped a total of $37 on Wednesday and Thursday and were down another $7 by noon Friday before recovering to finish with a loss of $1.82. Twenty-two million shares traded Friday, almost double the average daily volume.

In three days, Tesla shareholders lost $4.7 billion, or nearly 22% of their investment. Billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who held about 28 million shares as of May 30, or a nearly a quarter of the stock, lost more than $1 billion as Tesla stock plunged from $176.81 at the close Tuesday to $137.95 on Friday.

Tesla could face more challenges next week. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. government's auto safety watchdog, said Friday it is in close contact with Tennessee officials, gathering information before deciding if a full investigation is needed.

However, by late Friday afternoon, NHTSA had not spoken with the trooper investigating the fire, said Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman Dayla Qualls in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

For most of the year, Tesla Motors was a Wall Street darling as the Model S received a top safety rating from the NHTSA and accolades from Consumer Reports and other magazines. Tesla, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., posted its first quarterly profit in the second quarter. Tesla's stock rose more than 470% from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30. The next day came the first fire in a Model S, outside of Seattle.

This week, a similar incident involving road debris occurred near Smyrna, Tennessee. Before pictures of the fire appeared online, investors were already concerned by the company's earnings report and a statement from Musk about Tesla needing more lithium-ion batteries to keep up with demand.

The Tennessee blaze appeared to be similar to one on Oct. 1, in Kent, W! ash. In that fire, a curved piece of metal punctured a shield and the battery, which is mounted under the passenger compartment in the Model S. Experts say that if an object pierces a battery cell, that can cause sparks or arcing and touch off a fire. It's still unclear if the battery was involved in the Tennessee fire.

In between those instances, a Model S caught fire in Mexico after hitting a concrete wall and a tree at a high speed.

Clarence Ditlow, who heads the Center for Auto Safety and is a frequent NHTSA critic, said Friday that the agency should have immediately sent investigators to Tennessee.

"Two or three similar fires (depending on whether one counts Mexico) in a vehicle population of 19,000 demands an investigation," Ditlow wrote in an e-mail. "New technology requires a heightened level of scrutiny so small problems can be nipped in the bud before they become big problems."

The low-slung Model S has a 6-inch clearance between the ground and the undercarriage. Other cars with gas engines sit lower, such as the Mercedes CLA Class at 3.9 inches and a Dodge Charger at 5 inches, according to the Edmunds.com auto website. But the Tesla automatically lowers itself about another inch at highway speeds, the company's website says.

"It's done in the name of improving aerodynamics to reduce drag and improve efficiency," said Edmunds.com vehicle test director Dan Edmunds.

AP Writer Bruce Schreiner contributed from Louisville, Ky.

Profiting from MLPs as Inflation Rises

Top Information Technology Stocks To Invest In Right Now

Even as Federal Reserve policymakers seemed unsure of the immediate direction of the global economy, debating whether disinflation could be an issue in the short term at their meeting March 18-19, most of them expected inflation would return to 2 percent in the next few years, according to minutes of the gathering released April 9.

But just when within the next two years inflation would start rising has been a point of debate, and the fact that producer prices exceeded economist expectations this week reinforced the idea that policymakers, for all their good intentions, may not time interest rates correctly to contain runaway inflation, as historically has been the case.

And this situation also clearly calls for the need to have investments that can simultaneously enhance earnings and protect against inflation, which can appear more suddenly than policymakers have forecasted. Energy infrastructure or midstream Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) can deliver this investment flexibility, offering investors exposure to the shale boom or commodity price rises, tax benefits, and most MLPs’ contracts are protected against the producer price increases we saw this month.

The prices businesses receive for their goods and services rose in March, defying a long stretch of subdued inflation across the U.S. economy, according to the Wall Street Journal. The producer price index for final demand, which measures changes in prices for everything from food and machinery to warehousing and transportation services, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from February, the Labor Department reported on April 11. The index rose 0.6%, excluding the volatile categories of food and energy.

Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal had expected t! he index to rise a more modest 0.1%, and predicted a 0.2% increase excluding food and energy. The index fell 0.1% in February, unchanged from the Labor Department’s initial estimate. The PPI for final demand was up 1.4% in March from a year earlier, the biggest year-over-year increase since last August.

The PPI measures the prices businesses receive from buyers such as governments, consumers and other businesses. The Labor Department overhauled the report this year to measure a much broader swath of the U.S. economy.

The Case for MLPs as an Inflation Hedge

Focusing on the energy infrastructure segment of the MLP market can provide a high level of cash flow stability while preserving inflation-hedging and diversification benefits. There is an explicit hedge against inflation in certain MLP contracts—for example, interstate crude oil pipeline companies, are allowed to increase their prices explicitly.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates pipelines and has established tariff rates that are adjusted on an annual basis to the PPI for finished goods plus 2.65%. MLPs also own real assets that provide value over replacement costs that generally increase during inflationary periods. Additionally, some MLPs considered to be "midstream" also have diversified business lines with commodity exposure through upstream operations and experience increased revenues during periods of inflation due to higher commodity prices.

As Morgan Stanley explains in a report, looking at the fixed income side, many MLPs have a "toll-road" business model, resulting in cash flow stability. These MLPs receive a fee, or "toll," for handling a customer's product on their infrastructure system.

The MLP does not own the commodity, virtually eliminating commodity price exposure and smoothing out its cash flows. For example, natural gas pipelines receive stable income (essentially rental fees) from pipeline capacity reservations, independent of actual throughput,! largely ! via "ship-or-pay" contracts.

Other product pipeline revenues typically depend on throughput, as noted above, but are protected by inflation escalators that act as a hedge. Finally other midstream assets have similar fee-based contracts that vary in risk depending on their position in the energy value chain. That’s why a potential MLP investor that wants to hedge against inflation will have to find the right combination of exposure to the commodity and its “toll-road” earnings.

And MLP price performance is not as sensitive to interest rate movements and/or inflation as commonly perceived. While sudden spikes in interest rates have caused declines in MLP price performance, there has only been a 0.29 correlation between MLP price performance and ten year treasury over the last 5 years, according to an analysis by Wells Fargo.

In our sister publication, MLP Profits, two Best Buy MLP recommendations are Enterprise Products (NYSE: EPD) and Magellan Midstream (NYSE: MMP). Offering a balance between its toll-road and commodity business, Magellan's profits are driven by two factors: (1) throughput volume, and (2) the tariffs it can charge on that volume. With regard to throughput volume, Magellan's enormous pipeline and storage network provides it with a great deal of flexibility, ensuring that it can keep its throughput volume moving along when particular refineries are down for maintenance. MMP is a Buy up to 77.

Enterprise Products has grown significantly since its IPO in July 1998, increasing its asset base from $715 million to over $38 billion as of March 2013.  It is the largest publicly traded master limited partnership (MLP) in the US, boasts a diversified business mix that includes natural gas pipelines, offshore production platforms, oil pipelines and even tank barges.

Roughly 70 percent of the firm's revenue comes from pipelines and other assets that generate fees regardless of whether they operate at full capacity. These fee-based busin! esses lim! it sensitivity to commodity prices and broader economic conditions and prevent massive earnings volatility. The company has a very low cost of capital because of its asset base and cash flows and can use its stable cash flows and low borrowing costs to add more accretive fee-based assets. EPD is a Buy up to 75.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Bucks Market Headwinds and Launches a New Chip Plus Other News (INTC & NVDA)

Despite some pull back in the market recently, chip stock Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (NYSE: AMD) has largely held up as have Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA). I should mention that we recently had an open position in Advanced Micro Devices in our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio from last summer up until late January when we locked in a small loss. We decided to get out in part because it's a trading portfolio and also because AMD's shares sank once more after the company had issued an earnings report – a repeat of what happened after three previous earnings reports. Nevertheless and if you are an investor with a long term time horizon, you might want to consider the following news:

What Tech Sell Off? In a recent CNBC segment, it was noted that despite the recent selloff in the broader tech space, semiconductor companies specializing in chips that power devices like smartphones and tablets have held up well. Some of the big winners since early March include Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Taiwan Semiconductor and Freescale Semiconductors, which are up better than 7% as these companies are benefiting from a shift in the tech sector and the stabilization of the PC market (according to Chad Morganlander with Stifel Nicolaus). World's Fastest Graphics Card Launched. On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices announced the launch of the world's fastest and most powerful graphics card - the AMD Radeon™ R9 295X2. Forbes already has a detailed review, which concluded by saying:

What I know for certain is that AMD's Radeon 295X2 is a compelling product, and that it justifies its asking price in performance, thermals, and aesthetics. And I hope it signals a bold new direction for AMD in terms of design language and branding. Quite simply, if you're not married to Nvidia's robust ecosystem and want a 4K-capable card that stays cool and quiet, you can't go wrong with the Radeon R9 295X2.

There are also good reviews from AnandTech, PCWorld, Kotaku , among other sites, that are worth looking at. The card will be available later this month at a starting price of $1499 USD and EUR 1099 (excluding VAT).

AMD Inks a $1.2 Billion Deal With GlobalFoundries. At the beginning of the month, Advanced Micro Devices announced announced that it had amended its Wafer Supply Agreement (WSA) with GlobalFoundries. Under the amendment, AMD expects to pay GlobalFoundries approximately $1.2 billion in 2014. This expectation is based on AMD's current PC market expectations and the manufacturing of certain Graphics Processor Units (GPUs) and semi-custom game console products at GlobalFoundries in 2014. Barron's noted that AMD had paid GlobalFoundries $960 million for chips to be made last year but bought no gaming chips, graphics processing units or GPUs. Annual Meeting of Stockholders. AMD is scheduled to hold its Annual Meeting of Stockholders on Thursday, May 8, at 9:00 am. A real-time video webcast of the meeting will be available at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/AMD14 plus a replay of the video webcast can be accessed at ir.amd.com for approximately four hours after the conclusion of the live event. Share Performance. Advanced Micro Devices is up 3.4% since the start of the year, up 73.8% over the past year and up 16% over the past five years; but as you can see from the following performance chart, AMD has both over and underperformed chip stocks Intel Corporation and NVIDIA Corporation:

Finally, here is a look at the latest technical charts for all three chip stocks:

SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) had an open position in AMD. To find out what other open positions SCN EO currently has, and to learn why so many traders and investors are relying on this premium subscription service, click here to find out more.

U.S. Stocks: The Battle of 1840

There is a fight going on at the 1840 level on the S&P 500, and that fight will likely decide the market’s next move. It’s a key level, and a lot of smart market types watching it.

After rising as high as 1897 intraday, the S&P 500 took a straight dive down, and is now bouncing and churning around this key support level. The index tested it briefly at the open, falling to 1841.95, bounced off it again, then came back to it again. The day’s low, so far, is 1839.92. UBS's(UBSN.VX) Art Cashin puts the critical range between 1837-1840. John O’Hara at FBN thinks the market is going to churn in the 1820-1840 area this week, and test that lower boundary. “That would be a good set-up for a rally into week’s end,” he wrote.

“Remember,” Joan McCullough at East Shore Partners wrote, “the hot dogs all have pretty much the same script.” In other words, everybody’s watching the same numbers. So if there’s a break one way or another, a scramble is likely to follow.

The fall to this level represents the leading edge of a correction similar to the one earlier this year, according to Asbury Research. The firm looks at the “rate of change” in the S&P 500 – the percentage change between the most recent price and the price 21 days ago. With Monday’s slide, this rate of change “has now moved meaningfully into negative (bearish) territory,” the firm wrote in a note, “which indicates that the U.S. broad market index is beginning a pullback/correction.”

The S&P 500 and its “rate of change,” with negative rates shaded in pink. Asbury Research

That shouldn’t come as much of a shock. The markets have been rising in more or less a straight line since August of 2011 (the last time there was a significant selloff), punctuated with these minor course corrections. Indeed, you can look at the S&P 500 over the past year, and draw a line connecting all the low points. Roughly speaking, that’s the long-term trend line, a support level that the index has yet to break. That’s one reason none of the mini-corrections recently have amounted to anything. This long-term support level has held. The index would likely have to drop decisively below 1800, in fact, to break this trend.

Which is one reason why you won’t see anybody in the market getting very concerned right here. Until a long-term uptrend is broken, this is all just backing-and-filling, as they like to say. Yes, there are questions about the Fed’s stimulus efforts, we among others raised them yesterday. But for now, the Fed is still running a fairly aggressive stimulus program.

“We believe that the S&P will continue to trend higher following the trajectory of the Fed's balance sheet,” wrote the team at Macro Intelligence 2 Partners. “Since QE was launched we have only ever seen significant sell-offs when the balance sheet hasn't been growing and that really isn't a risk in the U.S. until Q3.  In that scenario, if we can drain the last drop from the Fed's punchbowl we could technically hit 1925 or even 1950 sometime in Q3 before the risks of a major broad market correction rise.”

Again, until all of this breaks that long-term trendline, it’s just course corrections.

“Allow me to put a happy spin on the meltdown in the momentum stocks,” Ed Yardeni of the eponymous Yardeni Research wrote in his daily note. “First, they are still up significantly since the start of the bull market. More importantly, their sell-off might lower the risk of a broader market melt-up that would be followed by a much broader meltdown. In other words, it still looks like a healthy internal correction that might actually be good for the longevity of the bull market.”

Buckingham's Bets: A Global Trio

Congratulations to John Buckingham on the 37th anniversary of The Prudent Speculator. Here, the value investor highlights a diverse trio of global, dividend-paying investment ideas: a miner, a bank, and a drug maker.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP)

Australian conglomerate BHP is one of the world's largest miners, with diverse businesses that include aluminum, coal, copper, iron ore, mineral sands, oil, gas, nickel, diamonds, uranium, and silver.

Though there are headwinds, including Australia's Resource Super Profits Tax and economic difficulties in some regions of the global economy, we like that the company has continued to drive its productivity initiatives, in addition to cost efficiencies.

We believe that BHP's low-cost, long-life portfolio of expandable operations is robust, diverse, and well-suited for long-term growth. BHP generates attractive free cash flow, supporting a yield of 3.4%.

Canadian Imperial Bank (CM)

Canadian Imperial Bank, often referred to as CIBC, is the fifth-largest Canadian bank by market capitalization. We like that the firm reported relatively strong Q4 earnings, showing net income growth across all divisions.

Additionally, the company continues to enforce cost control management and the Canadian government has kept the banking segment attractive by maintaining barriers to entry, which help protect attractive returns for CIBC and its big competitors.

As the employment and economic growth outlook improves in Canada, and interest rates eventually rise, CIBC should meaningfully benefit. CM is trading for less than 11 times earnings and is yielding more than 4%.

Sanofi (SNY)

Based in France, Sanofi is a global integrated healthcare company. We like that it has a relatively robust and promising pipeline of new pharmaceuticals, including several that address diseases that have no current treatments.

We are attracted to SNY's industry leading global insulin position, via its mega blockbuster Lantus. Further, differentiated flu vaccines seem to have invigorated sales, and Genzyme's rare disease products are a major growth driver.

We are fans of Sanofi's well-diversified business portfolio and think that the shares are attractively valued, while we note that the current net dividend yield is 3.1%.

Subscribe to The Prudent Speculator here…

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2 Big Stocks the Crowd Is Talking About

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Put down the 10-K filings and the stock screeners. It's time to take a break from the traditional methods of generating investment ideas. Instead, let the crowd do it for you.

>>5 Hated Earnings Stocks You Should Love

From hedge funds to individual investors, scores of market participants are turning to social media to figure out which stocks are worth watching. It's a concept that's known as "crowdsourcing," and it uses the masses to identify emerging trends in the market.

Crowdsourcing has long been a popular tool for the advertising industry, but it also makes a lot of sense as an investment tool. After all, the market is completely driven by the supply and demand, so it can be valuable to see what names are trending among the crowd.

While some fund managers are already trying to leverage social media resources like Twitter to find algorithmic trading opportunities, for most investors, crowdsourcing works best as a starting point for investors who want a starting point in their analysis. Today, we'll leverage the power of the crowd to take a look at some of the most active stocks on the market today.

>>5 Rocket Stocks Ready for Blastoff

These "most active" names are the most heavily-traded names on the market -- and often, uber-active names have some sort of a technical or fundamental catalyst driving investors' attention on shares. And when there's a big catalyst, there's often a trading opportunity.

Without further ado, here's a look at today's stocks.

MGM Resorts

Nearest Resistance: $25

Nearest Support: $21

Catalyst: Technical Setup

MGM Resorts (MGM) is getting hammered lower for technical reasons this afternoon. Shares of the $11.8 billion casino stock are unwinding by more than 5% after breaking down through a textbook technical price pattern. MGM had been forming a head and shoulders top for the last several months, threatening a critical breakdown on a move through the pattern's neckline at $25. Well, we're getting that breakdown today.

The downside target for MGM is down at $21. That doesn't mean that shares will be able to bounce there -- it just means that there's a high probability that MGM will retrace to at least that $21 level. If the current environment continues, MGM could conceivably move even further down. Don't look for a bargain opportunity in this stock until it carves out some semblance of support again.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals

Nearest Resistance: N/A

Nearest Support: $80

Catalyst: Buyout

A buyout offer is buoying shares of Questcor Pharmaceuticals (QCOR) by more than 15% in today's session, following news that Dublin-based pharma firm Mallinckrodt (MNK) will pay cash and stock valued at $82.64 for each share of QCOR (as of this writing). After this morning's big gap higher, shares have been fading over the course of the session, widening the merger arbitrage gap to more than 6% as I write. That's a lot of risk put on the merger going through -- and a big potential profit for speculators willing to risk some capital on the news.

While the event risk is too high to qualify QCOR as a worthwhile technical trade, merger arbitrageurs have one of the most interesting setups this market has seen in quite some time. And they've got this weakening market to thank for it. If you can stomach the risk, buying QCOR looks attractive here.

To see these stocks in action, check out the at Most-Active Stocks portfolio on Stockpickr.



-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

RELATED LINKS:

>>5 Stocks Poised for Breakouts

>>Chart Smarts: Trade These 5 Big Stocks for Gains in April

>>3 Stocks Rising on Big Volume

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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

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

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

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji

Why Severn Trent, Babcock International, and ICAP Should Beat the FTSE 100 Today

LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE  ) started the day well by setting yet another new five-and-a-half-year high of 6,649 points before settling back a little -- as of 9 a.m. EDT it's up 0.15% to 6,642. The big early driver today was the takeover-led surge in Severn Trent shares, but the big miners are once again falling and dragging the index back.

Here's a look at three companies whose share prices are rising today and helping to boost the FTSE indexes.

Severn Trent
Shares in Severn Trent have soared 13.4% to 2,069 pence this morning after the provider of water and waste treatment confirmed rumors that it is the target of a takeover bid. Confirming recent press speculation, Severn Trent revealed that it has been approached by a consortium, comprising Borealis Infrastructure Management, the Kuwait Investment Office, and Universities Superannuation Scheme, which "may or may not" lead to an offer being made.

The leap in the share price has pushed the firm's forward P/E ratio to nearly 24, based on expectations for the year just ended on March 31, and dropped the predicted dividend yield to 3.6%.

Babcock
Full-year results have sent Babcock International Group shares up 6% to 1,154 pence in early trading. Chief executive Peter Rogers told us, "We generated good growth in underlying revenue and further improved our operational performance to deliver increases in operating margin, underlying earnings and shareholder value." And the figures bear him out.

From revenue that rose 6% to 3.24 billion pounds, Babcock -- which provides engineering support to a number of sectors -- secured a 16% rise in pre-tax profit to 318 million pounds. Full-year earnings per share gained 16% too, to 71.3 pence, and that was reflected in the firm's dividend, also lifted 16%, to 26.3 pence per share for a yield of 2.3%

ICAP
Shareholders of interdealer broker ICAP have enjoyed a 13.2% rise to 337 pence after final results came in a little better than expected. ICAP saw pre-tax profit fall 20% to 284 million pounds, but that was slightly ahead of the firm's earlier expectations. Adjusted earnings per share dropped 18% to 33 pence, but the company felt confident enough to keep its full-year dividend unchanged at 22 pence per share -- and that's a yield of 7%!

Chief executive Michael Spencer said, "This has been an extraordinarily tough year in the wholesale financial markets." However, he told us ICAP has beaten its annualized cost-savings target by 20 million pounds, adding, "Today we are a more efficient and collaborative business than we were a year ago and this will stand us in good stead for the future."

Finally, if you're looking for investments that should take you all the way to a comfortable retirement, I recommend the Fool's special new report detailing five blue-chip shares. They'll be familiar names to many, and they've already provided investors with decades of profits. But the report will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your hands on these great ideas -- they could set you on the road to long-term riches.

Senate Finance Approves Tax Extenders

The Senate Finance Committee approved by a bipartisan voice vote Thursday a bill to renew a set of tax extenders worth $85 billion that have expired or will expire at year-end.

The Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act, renews more than 50 extenders for two years, and includes the acceptance of a wind-energy production tax credit that originally was omitted from the bill.

Among others renewed were section 179 expensing, bonus depreciation, the research and development tax credit and the deduction for mortgage insurance premiums.

“When I joined the Finance committee nearly a decade ago, I couldn’t possibly have imagined chairing Congress’ fifteenth time renewing the stop-and-go tax cuts called ‘extenders,’” Wyden said during his opening remarks at the markup.

“Many of these extenders are well-intentioned and ought to be permanent. Their stop-and-go nature obviously contributes to the lack of certainty and predictability America needs to create more family-wage jobs. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Wyden added that he wanted to be “straightforward on one point — this will be the last tax extenders bill the committee takes up as long as I’m chairman. That’s why the bill is called the EXPIRE Act. It is meant to expire.”

This spring, Wyden said that he would start holding hearings on “fixing the broken tax code” and “building a new system that works in today’s global, digital economy.”

On Tuesday, Wyden said the Senate Finance Committee would hold a hearing on how to protect taxpayers from incompetent and fraudulent preparers.

Other issues for the committee to examine include identity theft and taxpayer rights as well as issues surrounding multi-employer pension plans “in order to protect Americans’ benefits,” he said.

---

Check out Senate Finance’s Wyden Set to Move on Tax Extenders on ThinkAdvisor.

What Google's Stock Split Means for You

No, the halving of Google Inc.’s stock price Thursday and a new ticker symbol aren’t mistakes on your screens.

Google’s long-awaited two-for-one stock split, announced nearly two years ago, has finally arrived, a development that will help cement founders Larry Page‘s and Sergey Brin’s control over the Internet search giant.

In a stock split, a company increases the number of shares outstanding while lowering the price accordingly. In this instance, Google’s “Class “A” shares now trade under the GOOGL ticker symbol, while the newly created “Class C” shares trade under the GOOG symbol.

WSJ’s Rolfe Winkler explained the implications of the split:

“By holding super-voting Class B shares, Page and Brin controlled 56% of Google as of last April's proxy filing. The founders have seen their grip erode over the years as Google continued to issue Class A shares to finance acquisitions and pay employees with stock. Each Class A share carries one vote, while each Class B share carries 10 votes.

“To solve the problem, Google created "Class C" shares that are being issued at the beginning of April to shareholders of record March 27. These have no voting rights and, going forward, are the shares Google intends to issue for compensation and acquisitions. That will end the slow-motion dilution for Class B shareholders.”

Google’s Class A shares recently rose 1% to $572.75 following the split.

Here’s the math behind the move, which Mr. Winkler wrote about last week:

“Say you hold 100 Class A shares today. At one vote per share, that entitles you to 100 votes. After the stock split next week, you will hold 100 Class A and 100 Class C shares. Class A shares keep their one vote, while Class C shares have none. So while your number of shares doubles to 200, you still have 100 votes. The same thing is happening for those holding super-voting Class B shares. And since it is much less likely Class A shares will be issued in the future, Brin and Page effectively put a floor under their voting control.

“One more question. Will the stock split affect the bottom line? No. Per-share earnings, as usual, will be cut in half to reflect the doubling of outstanding shares, but investors' overall share of profits don't change. (Twice as many shares multiplied by half the per-share earnings equals the same proportional share of profits.)”

The move comes as stock splits have largely gone by the wayside in recent years. Only 11 companies in the S&P 500 “split" their shares in 2013, the fourth-lowest number on record and down from an average of nearly 65 a year in the 1990s, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

In the past, such a move could’ve had a much bigger impact on the stock price, even though a split doesn’t fundamentally change anything about a company or its valuation. As WSJ’s Jason Zweig previously wrote, Xerox(XRX) shares jumped 10% on Jan. 25, 1999, when the company said it would split two-for-one. The next day, eBay(EBAY) went one better with a 3-for-1 announcement that sent its stock up 37.4%.

But the muted market response to Google doubling its shares outstanding suggests investors these days appear to be acting more rationally than they did in the 1990s.

Google originally announced the split in April 2012 as a way for the founders to preserve control over the company. “We have protected Google from outside pressures and the temptation to sacrifice future opportunities to meet short-term demands,” Mr. Page wrote in a letter to shareholders two years ago, explaining the stock-split proposal.

He said that routine, stock-based compensation given to employees as well as stock-based acquisitions “will likely undermine” Google’s current ownership system. “So we want to ensure that our corporate structure can sustain these efforts and our desire to improve the world,” the letter said.

Mr. Page acknowledged that some investors—particularly those who have opposed its dual-class voting structure—won’t support the change. But he said Google’s board, which spent more than a year considering the move, decided the structure is in the best interest of the company and shareholders.

Related: MarketWatch's Ben Pimentel explains the implications of Google’s stock split on WSJ’s Digits show.