Top Stocks 2014, Best Stock Market 2014, Hot Stocks Investing: 8/31/14

Actionable Content Marketing – Interview with Heidi Cohen

Whether you’ve been in the digital and content marketing game for just a few years, or since before the expression “content marketing” was popular, the tools exist for bright minds to create a brand and communicate their thought leadership. Powered with experience, great ideas and a passion for knowledge attainment and sharing, people like Heidi Cohen have walked the talk with content marketing by using content to advance their position in the digital marketing world.

As�the President of Riverside Marketing Strategies and the Chief Content Officer of the Actionable Marketing Guide, Heidi Cohen‘s content marketing experience ranges from being a�long time direct marketer for companies like The Economist, a columnist at ClickZ for many years, and past adjunct professor in the Masters in Integrated Marketing program at NYU.�Based in New York City, Heidi publishes a very popular blog on all things marketing: Actionable Marketing Guide.

In this pre�Content Marketing World�interview, Heidi covers all the content marketing bases, from strategy to audience to content to ROI. She even shares business lessons from a few favorite childhood stories.

How important is it for a company to have a content marketing strategy defined before asking internally for budget or engaging an outside consultant? Can experimentation lead to strategy or is a hybrid approach more practical?

Content marketing like social media should NOT be something a business does on the side because it�s in vogue.

A company considering taking advantage of content marketing to achieve its business goals should start by examining its business objectives, target audience, and offering to understand where they have gaps in their marketing plans. This enables them to create specific pieces of content.

Before diving into content marketing, a business should know what�s working and what isn�t or they may wind up reinventing the wheel.

For companies that don�t understand what�s happening to their business or how the market has evolved, it�s useful to bring in an outside consultant to guide them.

Ideally a content marketing plan should come from within your business since it�s core to your strategy and needs to be yours.

What are some ways you can use audience insights to inform your content planning and promotion?

Take the time to understand your target audience including your prospects, customers, influencers, end-users and fans. Use a combination of quantitative and qualitative information. Ideally, this should be based on past purchase behavior and customer interactions.

Create a set of marketing personae so that your content speaks directly to your market.Develop content that your audience actively seeks.Place and distribute your content based on your audience�s media consumption habits and their device usage.

Visuals in content marketing are increasingly popular but how important are they really? Is this the beginning of the end of text or just a phase?

The use of images and visuals is NOT new. It dates back to the cave drawings. Viewing visual content is built into our DNA.

The take-away for content marketers:

Employ a variety of forms of visual content to boost your content�s ability to attract the maximum audience. �There�s a lot of content out there. Use every technique you can to break through!!!

As for text, don�t write it off too quickly. Language and writing have evolved over centuries, I don�t think that they�re disappearing any time soon. The proof: Smartphone ownership and use. They�ve grown exponentially recently BUT text and email are among the most popular functions after social media.

The take-away for content marketers:

Do as your mother taught you! �Use your words� to explain and help your target audience to understand you. Incorporate them into the 5 basic content types your prospects need and seek.

BTW � Note how I used both images and text to convey my point and get your attention?

Is Content Marketing ROI really that hard? What are you doing to measure content marketing performance?

Tracking content marketing ROI is only difficult because, despite the goal of increasing profitability, many businesses don�t think about it until after they�ve created and distributed their content. As a result, measuring results are an afterthought.

To effectively understand content marketing and its contribution to your business, select your metrics after you determine your business goals. Then incorporate appropriate calls-to-action and related landing pages. (NOTE: These are not one-size-fits-all.)

In the spirit of the Content Marketing in Wonderland (Alice) theme of the #CMWorld eBook series, what was your favorite story from childhood? Any lessons in it for business or marketing today?�

I had 2 childhood favorites:

Le Petit Prince by �Antoine de Saint-Exup�ry

The fox says to the Little Prince, �You become responsible forever for what you�ve tamed. You�re responsible for your rose.�

This was one of the first books I read in French and I loved the drawings. It�s a book of adult lessons parading as a child�s book.

Marketing take-away: As marketers, we have a responsibility for our customers. It�s a promise we make. This goes back to the 4 Moments of Truth.

Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

I loved this book. Probably because I wanted to live in Manhattan not its suburbs! Or maybe because my dad had high security clearance in World War II and worked on secret stuff he never talked about.

Marketing take-away: You always need to keep tabs on what�s happening around you. Keep up with changes in the environment (including styles, politics, and economics), transformations in technology, and the evolution of competitors. It�s not just your direct competitors. Most businesses do that. Consider the broader set of major players and indirect competitors.

By observing others, you�ll start to walk in your customers� shoes and see your offering from their perspective.

Thanks Heidi!

You can get even more of Heidi’s�content marketing ROI wisdom from the #CMWorld eBook:�Building an Audience Development Strategy for Content Marketing. In fact, here are all 4 eBooks in the Content Marketing World series:

Building a Content Marketing StrategyBuilding an Audience Development Strategy for Content MarketingA Visual Content Marketing Strategy�Showing Real ROI for Your Content Marketing

To dig even further into the realm of content marketing,�check out the�Content Marketing World�conference�coming up next week Sept 8-11 in Cleveland. If you use the discount code,�TopRank, you’ll save $100 off main event and all-access registrations.

Actionable Content Marketing – Interview with Heidi Cohen

Content marketing like social media should NOT be something a business does on the side because it�s in vogue.

Before diving into content marketing, a business should know what�s working and what isn�t or they may wind up reinventing the wheel.

For companies that don�t understand what�s happening to their business or how the market has evolved, it�s useful to bring in an outside consultant to guide them.

Ideally a content marketing plan should come from within your business since it�s core to your strategy and needs to be yours.

What are some ways you can use audience insights to inform your content planning and promotion?

Visuals in content marketing are increasingly popular but how important are they really? Is this the beginning of the end of text or just a phase?

The use of images and visuals is NOT new. It dates back to the cave drawings. Viewing visual content is built into our DNA.

The take-away for content marketers:

Employ a variety of forms of visual content to boost your content�s ability to attract the maximum audience. �There�s a lot of content out there. Use every technique you can to break through!!!

The take-away for content marketers:

Do as your mother taught you! �Use your words� to explain and help your target audience to understand you. Incorporate them into the 5 basic content types your prospects need and seek.

BTW � Note how I used both images and text to convey my point and get your attention?

Is Content Marketing ROI really that hard? What are you doing to measure content marketing performance?

In the spirit of the Content Marketing in Wonderland (Alice) theme of the #CMWorld eBook series, what was your favorite story from childhood? Any lessons in it for business or marketing today?�

I had 2 childhood favorites:

Le Petit Prince by �Antoine de Saint-Exup�ry

The fox says to the Little Prince, �You become responsible forever for what you�ve tamed. You�re responsible for your rose.�

This was one of the first books I read in French and I loved the drawings. It�s a book of adult lessons parading as a child�s book.

Marketing take-away: As marketers, we have a responsibility for our customers. It�s a promise we make. This goes back to the 4 Moments of Truth.

Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

By observing others, you�ll start to walk in your customers� shoes and see your offering from their perspective.

Thanks Heidi!

Building a Content Marketing StrategyBuilding an Audience Development Strategy for Content MarketingA Visual Content Marketing Strategy�Showing Real ROI for Your Content Marketing

5 Best Income Stocks To Own For 2014

As bank investors, it's easy to get focused on the big banks. They make a lot of noise and are regularly in the news: more than occasionally for the wrong reasons. But we focus on the giants and ignore the regionals at our own investing peril.

The best regional banks can take serious financial power and investment finesse and turn it into share-price appreciation without the annoying drama and potentially dangerous hubris of the too-big-to-fail institutions. PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC ) is one of these low-drama, high-power banks. Here are three reasons to buy stock in this Pittsburgh-based powerhouse right now.

1. Big-bank beating first-quarter earnings
For the first quarter of 2013, PNC reported net income of $1.0 billion. For the first quarter of 2012, PNC's net income was $811 million. That makes for an increase of 23.3%. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ) came close to but couldn't quite match PNC's performance, with net-income growth of 22% year over year. �

Top 5 New Stocks To Watch Right Now: TransAlta Corporation (TAC)

TransAlta Corporation operates as a non-regulated electricity generation and energy marketing company. The company engages in the production and sale of electric energy through its diversified portfolio of facilities fuelled by coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, and biomass resources in Canada, the United States, and Australia. It has an aggregate net ownership interest of approximately 8,025 megawatts of generating capacity in operation. The company was founded in 1911 and is based in Calgary, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By alicet236]
TransAlta Corporation (TAC) Reached the Five-Year Low of $12.78
The prices of TransAlta Corporation (TAC) shares have declined to close to the five-year low of $12.78, which is 47.9% off the five-year high of $23.30. TransAlta Corp. is owned by one Guru we are tracking. Among them, zero have added to their positions during the past quarter. One reduced their position. TransAlta Corp. was incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act in March 1985. TransAlta Corp. has a market cap of $3.43 billion; its shares were traded at around $12.78 with a P/E ratio of 96.80 and P/S ratio of 1.46. The dividend yield of TransAlta Corp. stocks is 8.71%. TransAlta Corp. had an annual average earnings growth of 0.20% over the past 10 years.
[By Nitish]
Google Inc. reported consolidated revenues of $15.96 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, an increase of 22% compared to the second quarter of 2013. The company reports advertising revenues consistent with GAAP on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the second quarter of 2014, TAC totaled $3.29 billion, or 23% of advertising revenues.

5 Best Income Stocks To Own For 2014: Telestone Technologies Corp.(TSTC)

Telestone Technologies Corporation offers wireless local-access network technologies and solutions primarily in the People?s Republic of China. Its access-network solutions include the research and development, and application of access network technology. The company designs and sells electronic equipments, such as wireless fiber-optic distribution system products, RFPA products, passive components, repeaters, radio frequency peripherals, and base station antennas used to provide access network solutions for 2G, 3G, broadband access, and CATV networks. It also offers project design, project management, installation, maintenance, and other after-sales services. In addition, Telestone provides various solutions to the telecommunications industry, which cover indoor and outdoor environments comprising hotels, residential estates, office buildings, airports, exhibition centers, underground stations, and highways and tunnels. Further, the company engages in the design, develop ment, production and installation, and trading of wireless telecommunication coverage system equipment. It also markets its products to 29 countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and Vietnam. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By insider]
The valuation box will also clearly indicate it if a company is traded at below its net current asset value (NCAV). Please see the valuation box for Telestone (TSTC) below.

5 Best Income Stocks To Own For 2014: EMCOR Group Inc. (EME)

EMCOR Group, Inc. provides electrical and mechanical construction, and facilities services primarily to commercial, industrial, utility, and institutional customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers various electrical and mechanical systems, including electric power transmission and distribution systems, such as power cables, conduits, distribution panels, transformers, generators, uninterruptible power supply systems, and related switch gear and controls; premises electrical and lighting systems, including fixtures and controls; low-voltage systems comprising fire alarms, and security and process control systems; voice and data communications systems, including fiber-optic and low-voltage cabling systems; and roadway and transit lighting and fiber-optic lines. It also provides heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and clean-room process ventilation systems; fire protection systems; plumbing, processing, and piping systems; controls and filtration systems; water and wastewater treatment systems; central plant heating and cooling systems; cranes and rigging; millwrighting; and steel fabrication, erection, and welding systems. In addition, the company offers facilities services comprising industrial maintenance and services; outage services to utilities and industrial plants; commercial and government site-based operations and maintenance; military base operations support; mobile mechanical maintenance and services; floor care and janitorial; landscaping, lot sweeping, and snow removal; facilities and vendor management; call center; building systems installation and support; and technical consulting and diagnostic services. Further, it provides small modification and retrofit projects; retrofit projects; and program development, management, and maintenance services for energy systems. EMCOR Group, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Seth Jayson]
When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME ) .
[By Eric Volkman]
EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME ) is growing the old-fashioned way -- with the purchase of outside assets. The company announced�that it will acquire the privately held RepconStrickland, a Texas-based firm it describes as "a leading provider of recurring turnaround and specialty services to the North American refinery and petrochemical markets."

5 Best Income Stocks To Own For 2014: American Assets Trust Inc (AAT)

American Assets Trust, Inc. is a full-service vertically integrated and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company owns, operates, acquires and develops retail, office, multi-family and mixed-use properties primarily in Southern California, Northern California, Oregon and Hawaii. The Company operates in four business segments: retail, office, multi-family and mixed-use. As of December 31, 2011, its portfolio consisted of 10 retail shopping centers; six office properties; a mixed-use property consisting of a 369-room all-suite hotel and a retail shopping center, and four multi-family properties. As of December 31, 2011, it owned land at five of its properties that the Company classified as held for development. On January 24, 2012, it acquired One Beach Street, consisting of approximately 97,000 rentable square feet in a renovated office building located along the Embarcadero in San Francisco�� North Waterfront District. On August 30, 2011, it sold Valencia Corporate Center.

On March 11, 2011, the Company acquired First & Main, an approximately 361,000 square foot, 16-story, office building located at 100 SW Main Street, in Portland, Oregon. On July 1, 2011, it acquired the Lloyd District Portfolio, consisting of approximately 610,000 rentable square feet on more than 16 acres located in the Lloyd District of Portland, Oregon. On September 20, 2011, it acquired the Solana Beach-Highway 101 property, consisting of approximately 1.7 acres located in Solana Beach, California. On December 14, 2011, it acquired an additional 0.2 acres adjacent to such location.

The Company is the sole general partner of American Assets Trust, L.P., a Maryland limited partnership (the Operating Partnership). The Company, as the sole general partner has control of its Operating Partnership and owned 67.8% of its Operating Partnership as of December 31, 2011. At December 31, 2011, its operating portfolio had approximately 705 leases with office and retail tenants, of which s! even expired on December 31, 2011 and 15 had not yet commenced. Its residential properties had approximately 753 leases with residential tenants at December 31, 2011, excluding Santa Fe Park RV Resort. The retail portion of its mixed-use property had approximately 64 leases with retailers.

Retail

The products for its retail segment primarily include rental of retail space and other tenant services, including tenant reimbursements, parking and storage space rental. The Company�� retail properties include Carmel Country Plaza, South Bay Marketplace, Rancho Carmel Plaza, Lomas Santa Fe Plaza, Solana Beach Towne Centre, The Shops at Kalakaua, Waikele Center and Alamo Quarry Market. Its retail portfolio included 10 properties with a total of approximately three million rentable square feet available for lease as of December 31, 2011. As of December 31, 2011, these properties were 95% leased. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it signed 69 retail leases for 247,560 square feet. During 2011, the retail segment contributed 41.2%, of its total revenue.

Office

The products for its office segment primarily include rental of office space and other tenant services, including tenant reimbursements, parking and storage space rental. The Company�� office properties include Torrey Reserve, Solana Beach Corporate Centre, 160 King Street and The Landmark at One Market. Its office portfolio included six properties with a total of approximately 2.2 million rentable square feet available for lease as of December 31, 2011. As of December 31, 2011, these properties were 94.4% leased. During 2011, it signed 56 office leases for 233,213 square feet. During 2011, the office segment contributed 30.7% of its total revenue.

Multi-family

The products for its multi-family segment include rental of apartments and other tenant services. Its multi-family portfolio included three apartment properties, as well as an RV resort, with a total of 922 units! (includi! ng 122 RV spaces) available for lease as of December 31, 2011. As of December 31, 2011, these properties were 91.8% leased. Its multi-family leases, other than at its RV Resort, generally have lease terms ranging from 7 to 15 months, with a majority having 12-month lease terms. The Company�� multi-family properties include Loma Palisades, Imperial Beach Gardens, Mariner�� Point and Santa Fe Park RV Resort.

Mixed-Use Property

The products of its mixed-use segment include rental of retail space and other tenant services, including tenant reimbursements, parking and storage space rental and operation of a 369-room all-suite hotel. Waikiki Beach Walk Retail and Hotel is a mixed-use property. Its mixed-use property consists of 97,000 rentable square feet of retail space and a 369-room all-suite hotel. Revenue from the mixed-use property consists of revenue earned from retail leases, and revenue earned from the hotel, which consists of room revenue, food and beverage services, parking and other guest services. As of December 31, 2011, the retail portion of the property was 99.2% leased, and during 2011, the hotel had an average occupancy of 88.4%.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By James E. Brumley]
You can put American Assets Trust, Inc. (NYSE:AAT) and Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) on your watchlist, if not in your portfolio. These two stocks are the best of the best among names you've probably not heard of. Just because you haven't heard of a stock, however, doesn't mean it can't dole out nice rewards. Indeed, I'm convinced the more obscure names like PKE and AAT are the market's best trading opportunities specifically because they're picks off the beaten path - the trades aren't crowded yet.
[By Life Sciences Report]
AF: Kamada Ltd. (KMDA) is a relatively unknown Israeli company that is doing very well. It is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. It has an intravenous form of a drug for alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, which causes lung and liver disease, that is partnered with Baxter International Inc. (BAX).
[By Markus Aarnio]
Owens Realty Mortgage's competitors include American Assets Trust (AAT), Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE) and Boston Properties (BXP). American Assets Trust has seen five insider buy transactions and four insider sell transactions this year. American Assets Trust has a dividend yield of 2.78%. Alexandria Real Estate Equities has seen 14 insider sell transactions this year. Alexandria Real Estate Equities has a dividend yield of 4.10%. Boston Properties has seen one insider buy transaction and four insider sell transactions this year. Boston Properties has a dividend yield of 2.43%.

Hot Shipping Stocks To Watch For 2014

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bad news, Amazon fans: The site is making it a little harder to score free shipping. For the first time in over a decade, Amazon (AMZN) is raising the minimum purchase necessary to get your order shipped for free. The usual $25 threshold for free "Super Saver" shipping is going up to $35, effective immediately. "Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping has changed to $35," the company said in a brief announcement on its site. "This is the first time in more than a decade that Amazon has altered the minimum order for free shipping in the US. During that time, we have expanded free shipping selection by millions of items across all 40 product categories." Luke Knowles of FreeShipping.org told us he was surprised by the move, noting that it's difficult to raise a free-shipping threshold once customers have gotten used to it. "I guess it's probably just that they're not making enough money," he says. "They think they've already got the customer locked in to shopping with them."

Best Shipping Stocks To Buy For 2015: TICC Capital Corp.(TICC)

TICC Capital Corp., a business development company, operates as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The firm invests in both public and private companies. It invests in secured and unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt, junior subordinated debt, preferred stock, and common stock. The firm primarily invests in debt and/or equity securities of technology-related companies that operate in the computer software, Internet, information technology infrastructure and services, media, telecommunications and telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, hardware, technology-enabled services, semiconductor capital equipment, medical device technology, diversified technology, and networking systems sectors. It concentrates its investments in companies having annual revenues of less than $200 million and a market capitalization or enterprise value of less than $300 million. The firm invests between $5 million and $30 million per transaction. It seeks to exit its investments within 7 years. It serves as the investment adviser to TICC. The company was formerly known as Technology Investment Capital Corp. and changed its name to TICC Capital Corp. in December 2007. TICC Capital Corp. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, closed-end asset manager TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: TICC ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

Hot Shipping Stocks To Watch For 2014: SPDR KBW Bank Etf (KBE)

SPDR KBW Bank ETF (the Fund), formerly KBW Bank ETF, seeks to replicate as closely as possible the performance of the KBW Bank Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted, modified-market capitalization weighted index of geographically diverse companies representing national money center banks and regional banking institutions listed on United States stock markets. It is created and maintained by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.

The Fund utilizes a passive or indexing approach, and attempts to approximate the investment performance of its Index, by investing in a portfolio of stocks intended to replicate the Index. The Fund�� investment manager is SSgA Funds Management, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Mary Anne & Pamela Aden]
So, for now, the US stock market is the best overall market. So continue holding the stocks you have, which are mostly doing very well. If you want to buy new positions and increase your stock allocation, the following ETFs are among the strongest ETFs, and we recommend them for purchase: SPDR KBW Bank (KBE)

Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY)

Merrill Lynch Retail HOLDRS (RTH)

iShares Dow Jones US Financial Service (IYG)

PowerShares Dynamic Leisure & Entertainment (PEJ)

Subscribe to The Aden Forecast here��/P>

Hot Shipping Stocks To Watch For 2014: Myers Industries Inc.(MYE)

Myers Industries, Inc. manufactures and distributes polymer products for the industrial, agricultural, automotive, commercial, and consumer markets primarily in the North, Central, and South America. It operates in four segments: Material Handling, Lawn and Garden, Engineered Products, and Distribution. The Material Handling segment offers plastic reusable material handling containers, and pallets and bins, as well as metal shelving, cabinets, and racking systems primarily under the Buckhorn and Akro-Mils brand names for automotive, appliance, general industrial/manufacturing, distribution, agriculture, retail, and food processing markets. The Lawn and Garden segment provides injection-molded and thermoformed pots, hanging baskets, flats and carry trays, plug trays, nursery containers, propagation sheets, and specialty pots under the Dillen, ITML, Pro Cal, Listo, Planters? Pride, and Akro-Mils Lawn & Garden brand names for the horticultural container needs of the floricult ure/horticulture market. Its customers include professional growers, greenhouses, nurseries, retail garden centers, mass merchandisers, and consumers. The Engineered Products segment offers engineered plastic and rubber original equipment and replacement parts, tire repair materials, and custom rubber and plastic components and materials under the Ameri-Kart, Patch Rubber, and WEK brand names. This segment serves the automotive, recreational vehicle and marine, construction and agriculture equipment, healthcare, and transportation markets. The Distribution segment distributes tools, equipment, and supplies used for tire, wheel, and undervehicle service on passenger, heavy truck, and off-road vehicles. It offers products under the Myers Tire Supply and Myers Tire Supply International brands to independent tire dealers, mass merchandisers, commercial auto and truck fleets, tire retreaders, and general repair facilities. Myers Industries, Inc. was founded in 1933 and is headqua rtered in Akron, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Rich Duprey]
Industrial polymer manufacturer�Myers Industries� (NYSE: MYE ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.09 per share, the same rate it paid last quarter after raising the payout 12.5%, from $0.08 per share.
[By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Myers Industries (NYSE: MYE ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Shipping Stocks To Watch For 2014: Sify Technologies Limited(SIFY)

Sify Technologies Limited provides enterprise and consumer Internet services primarily in India. The company offers various corporate network/data services comprising e-commerce and network connectivity solutions, such as end-to-end services network, application, and security services; voice origination and termination services; co-location and managed hosting services; and system integration services for data centre build, hardware distribution, security solutions, and turnkey projects. It also provides application services, including SLEMS and Microsoft Exchange messaging platforms; I-test for online assessment and LiveWire, which enable management of training processes across the organization; document management system for the management of documents electronically; and Forum, a forward supply chain solution. In addition, the company operates e-Ports that offer browsing, chat, email, gaming, utility bill payment, travel ticketing, hotel booking, mobile recharge, Intern et telephony, and online share trading services; and portals, which provide news, views, reviews, interactions, and services in the areas of movies, sports, finance, food, videos, astrology, online games, shopping, and travel, as well as offers content offerings and broadband services. Further, it provides infrastructure management services, such as network management, datacenter and helpdesk outsourcing, desktop and storage outsourcing, IT security outsourcing, LAN and WAN outsourcing, database and telecom outsourcing, and application monitoring and management services to automotive, chemical, media, and financial enterprises; and virtualization design, integration, and deployment services for servers, storage, networks, and end user clients. Sify has approximately 1,278 e-Ports in 200 towns and cities; and serves 1,06,000 broadband subscribers through 1500 cable TV Operators. The company, formerly known as Sify Limited, was founded in 1995 and is based in Chennai, India. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY).
[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY). Utilities shares dropped by 0.11 percent in the US market today.

Hot Shipping Stocks To Watch For 2014: Synchronoss Technologies Inc.(SNCR)

Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. provides on-demand transaction management solutions primarily in North America. It offers solutions to manage transactions, including device and service procurement, provisioning, activation, intelligent connectivity management, and content synchronization for communications service providers, cable operators/multi-services operators, original equipment manufacturers with embedded connectivity, and e-Tailers/retailers. The company provides ConvergenceNow, ConvergenceNow Plus+, and InterconnectNow platforms that provide on-demand order processing, transaction management, service provisioning, device activation, intelligent connectivity, and content transfer and synchronization through e-commerce, telesales, enterprise, indirect, and other retail outlet channels. It also offers PerformancePartner Portal, a graphical user interface that allows the entry of transaction data into the gateway; Gateway Manager, which offers the capability to fulfill multiple types of transactions; WorkFlow Manager that provides interaction with third-party relationships, as well as enables customers to have a single transaction view, including data from third-party systems; and Visibility Manager, which offers a centralized reporting platform for intelligent analytics around the workflow, transaction management information, historical trending, and mobile reporting for users to receive critical transaction data on mobile devices. In addition, the company provides Content Synchronization Portal that facilitates content migration across devices from different platforms; Device Client, which offers connectivity for activation, connection management, and content migration and synchronization for feature phones, smartphones, computers, and tablets. It sells its products and services through direct sales force and strategic partners. Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Roberto Pedone]
Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR) is a provider of on-demand transaction management solutions. This stock closed up 1% at $35.38 in Monday's trading session.

Monday's Volume: 508,000

Three-Month Average Volume: 284,678

Volume % Change: 80%

From a technical perspective, SNCR trended up modestly higher here right above some near-term support at $34.27 with above-average volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last month and change, with shares moving higher from its low of $26.60 to its recent high of $36.49. During that move, shares of SNCR have been consistently making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of SNCR within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if SNCR manages to take out some near-term overhead resistance levels at $36 to its 52-week high at $36.49 with high volume.

Traders should now look for long-biased trades in SNCR as long as it's trending above some support at $34 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that this near or above 284,678 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then SNCR will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $40 to $43.
[By Lee Jackson]
Synchronoss Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCR) may not only beat earnings, but CNBC�� Jim Cramer is touting it as a breakout stock that may be ready to explode for investors. The company provides software-based activation and personal cloud solutions for connected devices. The consensus price target for the stock is $38.

Hot Shipping Stocks To Watch For 2014: Market Leader Inc(LEDR)

Market Leader, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides software-as-a-service-based business and marketing solutions for real estate professionals primarily in the United States and Canada. It offers real estate agents and brokerage companies with software-as-a-service based products, as well as online lead-generation, online prospect management, online real estate portal content and advertising, and customer coaching and training solutions. The company also offers consumers with free access to the information and tools they need throughout the home buying and selling process through its national consumer real estate sites. Its consumer Web sites include: JustListed.com, a service that notifies home buyers as soon as new homes hit the market; HouseValues.com, a service, which provides home sellers with market valuations of their current homes; and HomePages.com, a real estate portal that enables consumers to see the home listings in their area, view detailed neighbor hood and school data, compare recent home sales, find local real estate agents, and find the value of their own homes. In addition, the company offers Growth Leader, a Website and customer relationship management tool for real estate agents; RealtyGenerator, a lead-generation and lead management system for real estate brokerage offices; and ActiveRain.com that provides professional networking, referral, recruitment, content syndication, and online marketing services for professionals in real estate and related businesses. Market Leader, Inc. markets its products to individual agents and brokerage offices directly, as well as through marketing partnerships with real estate franchise networks. The company was formerly known as Housevalues, Inc. and changed its name to Market Leader, Inc. in November 2008. Market Leader, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Michael Lewis]
For a bit of context, competitor Trulia (NYSE: TRLA ) is in negotiations to buy Market Leader (NASDAQ: LEDR ) for $355�million. Market Leader is a smaller (and growing) business that's similar to both Zillow and Trulia. Since Market Leader is still earnings negative, we can't compare it on a P/FCF basis, but we can look at other metrics. For one, Market Leader trades at a still-ridiculous-but-slightly less-so 57.2 times forward earnings. It trades at 6.4 times last year's sales. Zillow trades at 16.4 times last year's sales. Management expects sales to hit (on the high end) $182 million -- that implies a price of 10.55 times forward sales. If they double a year or two after, which would be unbelievably phenomenal, it would trade at 5.3 times sales.

Hot Shipping Stocks To Watch For 2014: CA Inc.(CA)

CA Technologies, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, delivers, licenses, and supports information technology (IT) management software products that operate on a range of hardware platforms and operating systems. It offers enterprise IT management software for organizations that addresses components of the computing environment, including people, information, processes, systems, networks, applications, and databases. The company provides a portfolio of mainframe and distributed software products with a focus on mainframe, service assurance, security (identity and access management), project and portfolio management, service management, virtualization and service automation, and cloud computing. It serves banks, insurance companies, other financial services providers, government agencies, manufacturers, technology companies, retailers, educational organizations, and health care institutions worldwide. CA Technologies offers its solutions through its d irect sales force and indirectly through global systems integrators, technology partners, managed service providers, solution providers, distributors and volume partners, and exclusive representatives. The company was formerly known as CA, Inc. and changed its name to CA Technologies in May 2010. CA Technologies was founded in 1974 and is based in Islandia, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on CA Technologies (Nasdaq: CA ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
[By Dividend]
CA (CA) has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion. The company employs 13,600 people, generates revenue of $4.643 billion and has a net income of $955.00 million. CA�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $1.924 billion. The EBITDA margin is 41.44 percent (the operating margin is 29.33 percent and the net profit margin 20.57 percent).

Top 5 Asian Stocks To Own Right Now

U.K. stocks fell for the first time in four days, led by a selloff in mining companies, as base metals declined and U.S. economic growth trailed forecasts.

Rio Tinto Group and Anglo American Plc (AAL) retreated more than 2.5 percent as copper and lead declined. Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) sank 6.8 percent as analysts downgraded the shares. Standard Life Plc slipped 1.2 percent as Chief Financial Officer Jackie Hunt resigned to move to a rival insurer. Ocado Group Plc (OCDO) fell for the first day this week as the online grocer ruled out a takeover by William Morrison Supermarkets Plc.

The FTSE 100 (UKX) Index lost 16.17 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,426.42 at the close in London. The benchmark gauge is still up 2.2 percent this week, the biggest advance since Jan. 4, amid speculation the European Central Bank will cut interest rates next week. The broader FTSE All-Share Index fell 0.3 percent today, and Ireland�� ISEQ Index slid 1 percent.

�� am a little bit cautious in the short term,��said Ian Williams, a market strategist at Peel Hunt LLP in London. �� am not surprised we have see a bit of a flattening out in the market. Next week, the macro calender is packed. There are quite a few banana skins, so I would be pulling back on some of the more bullish positions.��

5 Best Defense Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.(TC)

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in mining, milling, processing, and marketing molybdenum products in the United States and Canada. The company?s principal properties include the Thompson Creek Mine and mill in Idaho; a metallurgical roasting facility in Langeloth, Pennsylvania; and a joint venture interest in the Endako Mine, mill, and roasting facility in British Columbia. It also holds interests in development projects comprising the Davidson molybdenum property and the Berg copper-molybdenum-silver property located in northern British Columbia; the Howard?s Pass property, a lead and zinc project situated in the Yukon territory-northwest territories border; and the Maze Lake property, a gold project located in the Kivalliq district of Nunavut. The company produces molybdenum products, primarily molybdic oxide and ferromolybdenum, as well as soluble technical oxide, pure molybdenum tri-oxide, and high purity molybdenum disulfide. As o f December 31, 2010, its consolidated recoverable proven and probable ore reserves totaled 462.2 million pounds of contained molybdenum in the Thompson Creek Mine and the Endako Mine. The company was formerly known as Blue Pearl Mining Ltd. and changed its name to Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. in May 2007. Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Top losers in the sector included Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF), down 4 percent, and Thompson Creek Metals Company (NYSE: TC), off 3 percent.
[By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Basic Materials shares gained around 0.24 percent in trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Harmony Gold Mining Company (NYSE: HMY), up 4.1 percent, and Thompson Creek Metals Company (NYSE: TC), up 3.8 percent. In trading on Wednesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.36 percent.

Top 5 Asian Stocks To Own Right Now: Celsion Corporation(CLSN)

Celsion Corporation, an oncology drug development company, develops and commercializes targeted chemotherapeutic oncology drugs based on its proprietary heat-activated liposomal technology. The company is developing its lead product, ThermoDox that is in Phase III clinical trial for primary liver cancer; and in phase II clinical trial for treatment of recurrent chest wall breast cancer. It has a license agreement with Yakult Honsha to commercialize and market ThermoDox for the Japanese market. The company also has a license agreement with Duke University under which it received exclusive rights to commercialize and use Duke's thermo-liposome technology. In addition, Celsion Corporation has a joint research agreement with Royal Phillips Electronics to evaluate the combination of Phillips' high intensity focused ultrasound with its ThermoDox to determine the potential of this combination to treat a range of cancers. The company was founded in 1982 and is based in Columbia, M aryland.

Advisors' Opinion:

[By EquityOptionsGuru]
The Prolieve Thermodilatation System was actually developed by the current management of Medifocus while employed at Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:CLSN). The system was also jointly developed with Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) before being acquired by Medifocus in July 2012. Prolieve has already received FDA approval, is currently generating revenue, and is the only in office alternative to drug therapy. The system essentially uses microwave energy to treat Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), which is a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland that typically affects men over the age of 50. The Prolieve device works by compressing and heating prostatic tissue that may be blocking the flow of urine. This particular treatment option offers patients several benefits including the following:

Top 5 Asian Stocks To Own Right Now: Aberdeen Emerging Markets Smaller Company Opportunities Fund Inc (ETF)

Aberdeen Emerging Markets Smaller Company Opportunities Fund Inc (the Fund), formerly Aberdeen Emerging Markets Telecommunications and Infrastructure Fund, Inc., non-diversified management investment company. The Fund�� principal investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, at least 80% of the Fund�� net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, are invested in equity and debt securities of emerging markets telecommunications companies and of infrastructure companies. In addition, under normal market conditions, at least 20% (but not more than 24.9% at the time of purchase) of the Fund�� net assets will be invested in equity and debt securities of companies in the infrastructure industry. Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited (AAML) serves as the Fund�� investment adviser with respect to all investments. Advisors' Opinion:

[By Mani]
[Related -SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (GLD): Is It Time To Buy Gold?]
UBS strategist Edel Tully expects gold will remain bid so long as Ukraine/Russia tensions remain high, but that needs to come from fresh longs as gross shorts are now much reduced.
[By inthemoneystocks]
Millions of soccer fans around the world await the most important global sporting event, the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Many media outlets have already started to hype different stocks, as well as statistics about the event. This brings about a question for us traders: Who is going to win and how can we profit? As technical traders, who study and trade from the charts, we are one step ahead of the news, and possibly even the game! With that in mind, let's look to the iShares MSCI Brazil Index (ETF) (NYSEARCA:EWZ) to help us pick the winning nation by analyzing the chart.

Top 5 Asian Stocks To Own Right Now: Pruksa Real Estate PCL (PS)

Pruksa Real Estate PCL is a Thailand-based company engaged in the development of commercial buildings and residential housing. It serves both local and overseas markets. The Company offers single-detached houses, townhouses and condominiums under the names of Baan Pruksa, Pruksa Ville, The Connect, The Plant Citi, Passorn, Pruksa Village, The Seed, IVY, The Plant City, Urbano, Tree condo, ChapterOne and Be You, among others. The Company develops residential housing projects mainly in Bangkok and the surrounding areas. It also has projects in Nakhorn Pathom, Chonburi and Phuket, as well as overseas projects in India, Vietnam, and Maldives. As of December 31, 2012, it operated 141 projects and had five direct subsidiaries, including Kaysorn Construction Company Limited, Putthachart Estate Company Limited, Phanalee Estate Company Limited, Pruksa Overseas Company Limited and Pruksa International Company Limited. Advisors' Opinion:

[By amigobulls@twitter]
Twitter currently trades at a Last Twelve Months (LTM) Price to Sales (PS) ratio of 27, which translates to astronomical valuations. Consider a comparison with Facebook which generates about 10 times the revenue and still grows at a healthy 60 odd percent. Facebook trades at an LTM PS multiple of 19. Here one should note that Facebook also delivered a net profit margin of 27% in Q2 vs Twitter's loss margin of 46% and has nearly 5 times Twitter's active users.

Content and Influencer Marketing is A Powerful Way to Grow Your Business

A never ending stream of high quality content simply isn’t sustainable for most organizations. But what if Marketers could tap into a rich source of content optimized for engagement, sharing and action?

This is the promise of co-created content and participation marketing. Not limited to influencers, participation marketing is to partner with others to create content that the community they are a part of would find useful. These co-creation partners might be existing customers, industry influentials, other connected businesses and individuals or even prospective customers.

A brandividual is popular. An influencer is effective at creating popularity.

While many see influencer marketing as a way to simply gain entry to an influencer’s network, there are many more dimensions to it than that. We’ve been experimenting with numerous influencer content projects over the past 3 years and have developed some exciting strategies and processes around influencer engagement and content co-creation.

Recently, Ann Handley of MarketingProfs (and Author of the new book, Everybody Writes) interviewed me on this topic for her column in Entrepreneur Magazine�“4 Ways to Get Influencers to Spread Your Brand’s Message”.

Here is my�Q and A prep for the interview offering insights into everything from defining what an influencer is to the top things to avoid:

How should a company define “influencer”? Are there benchmarks�and�best practices they might consider?

An influencer has subject matter authority, credibility amongst a network and most importantly, the ability to affect actions amongst the network. The most common mistake businesses make with influencers is to qualify them based purely on network size (fans, friends and followers) and affinity to a certain industry or area of interest. Without the ability to affect the way a network thinks and how they act, an influencer isn�t really influencing anyone. They�re just a �brandividual�.

Influencers can be people at large in an industry, they could be inside a company as subject matter experts or even amongst customers. Influencer relationships often include a value exchange of some kind and it�s up to the company and influencer to decide whether that�s an exchange of information or visibility or compensation.

Think about what you want the influencer to do, how will their involvement help your company reach a particular business goal? What will an ongoing relationship with influencers mean to your marketing and reputation?

Best practices for working with influencers includes a process of:

IdentificationQualificationEngagementRecruitmentImplementationAmplificationFeedback & OptimizationOngoing Relationship

As companies become more influential themselves, they need to look in both directions. What I mean is, beyond picking the most popular, influential people is to identify up and coming influencers. Working with an established influencer makes them your friend for a day. Helping upcoming talent become influential makes them a friend for life.

What are some tools you can use to find influencers in your industry?

It�s often useful to start with executives, marketing, communications and product managers to develop a list of topical expertise and even nominations of specific individuals. Attending industry events can reveal influencers who are speaking and meeting them in person can initiate a relationship.

For example, working with Connie Bensen and�Dell�s Social Media Predictions project, we took a seed list of influencers from marketing staff at Dell and expanded upon it using tools to find other influencers like those initially identified. That eBook has had well over 150,000 views and thousands of shares on SlideShare alone.

Those characterizations will be useful with influencer discovery tools like Followerwonk�or Little Bird which both focus on Twitter. There are also robust paid tools like Traackr, BuzzSumo�or GroupHigh.

After you use a tool to identify influencers for each topic, then you can bring that list back to your internal subject matter experts to manually review and filter. Of course, no influencer discovery tool is perfect. Correlation amongst multiple tools and sources might take more time, but it’s a best practice for distinguishing between brandividuals and effective influencers.

What’s the key to getting influencers�to share your content for you?

First, create content worth sharing. Topics that address issues that are important to the influencer will get your foot in the door and useful, visually compelling content will inspire them to open that door and share. Reaching out blindly and asking to share doesn�t work as well as having a connection first and then asking.

Second, let the ego do the talking. Content that includes an influencer’s contribution�will probably get shared even more. Because let�s face it, people love to see themselves get recognized. Better yet, ask them to participate in the creation of the content. However, when mentioning influencers in content it�s essential that it be credible, high quality and creative. Most influencers have caught on to the tactic of simply mentioning famous industry people just to get them to share. There must be value created that inspires and earns the share.

When we helped Jason Miller and Deanna Lazzaroni at LinkedIn create The Sophisticated Marketer�s Guide to LinkedIn, we identified and engaged with influencers best known as LinkedIn and B2B marketing experts. Then we asked them to share their best tips for marketing on LinkedIn which were included in the eBook along with advice from LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. The eBook has been shared thousands of times generating millions in new business. In fact, the ROI on this project is at 21,000% You read that right! We’re now helping LinkedIn create a follow up guide focused on Thought Leadership.

Third, make it fun and easy. When emailing an ask, make it funny or at least clever and especially easy for the influencer to share. Capture their attention, succinctly explain what it is and what you want them to do. Then offer pre-written social share text that�s even personalized just for them. You may even create a resource page with images and other share options for them to use.

When we create conference eBooks for events like Content Marketing World or MarketingProfs B2B Forum, we send image previews of the influencer�s page in the eBook along with prewritten tweets to give them a quick view of what the thing is and an easy way to schedule social shares.

Bonus – but not my favorite. Pay them. Either compensate the influencer with information, with promotion or with compensation to share your content. Once you start down this road, it�s pretty difficult to get off, so plan for continued compensation once you start.

Does influencer outreach have to be face-to-face, ideally? Or does it work online?

Influencer outreach can begin on or offline but I believe both are essential. A common scenario involves meeting an influencer in person at an event, connecting on LinkedIn and following up with an invite to work together.

Another would be to recognize influencers on a list, connect on Twitter, engage online and when a face to face opportunity becomes available, make a connection in person. There is no substitute for face to face, but many of our influencer relationships are only online.

If you give influencers something cool for free, is it okay to expect them to talk about the cool free thing?

An experienced influencer will understand the implied value exchange, but even with them, I�d recommend that expectations be communicated. �We know you love cycling and we�d love to send you a pair of our new cycling sunglasses to try out. Maybe even rave about! (but only if you love love them of course). That sort of thing.

If the cool free thing is highly relevant, creative or unique, there�s an equally high chance they will talk about it online and off. But there are no guarantees. So communication is key.

What’s the biggest mistake a business makes in trying to engage influencers?

Presumptive, high expectation pitches with no romance and little upside for the influencer. It�s the equivalent of a stranger approaching you and saying, “Let�s get married�.

The time to start creating relationships with influencers is long before you actually need them. If a company is thinking that working with influencers is even a remote possibility, they should start identifying, qualifying and engaging with them now. That way, when the time comes to work together on a project, there�s already some familiarity and credibility before �the ask�.

If you would like to get into more of the strategy and how-to tactics of influencer and content marketing, be sure to see my presentation at Content Marketing World next week:

Content + Influencer Marketing = Powerful Way to Grow Your Business
September 9th, 2014 – 3:30pm
Through several influencer content marketing case studies, this presentation will help you:

Understand the difference between brandividuals and influencersIdentify, qualify and recruit influencersSelect the right topics and content formatsPromote and measure influencer co-created content