Apple AAPL: This Stock Should Double From Here

I have such an intense enthusiasm for Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) that my collection of the company’s products sounds a lot like the lyrics of a famous Christmas song: five iPhones, four wireless routers, three MacBooks, two Apple TVs, and one pair of iPads.

And while my love for the company’s products is great, and would certainly be a factor, I can assure you that my analysis of the profit potential posed by Apple stock will be like any other recommendation I make – completely objective.

But with a polarizing “cult” stock like Apple, that’s clearly not a claim that every analyst can make.(more)

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Silver Stocks Could Shine Again Soon: PAAS, CDE. SSRI

I am somewhat amazed at what’s been going on in the market for the last week or so.
Of course, the gyrations of momentum traders are always something to behold. But when we look at stocks like Google (GOOG), we’ve seen tens of billions of dollars added to the market cap in just a very short time. There is simply no rational way to come up worth any reasonable, or even unreasonable, estimate of business value for either of GOOG stock.
It has been almost as silly in the other direction, too. Traders knocked billions off the market cap of Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) after the company actually reported a 44% improvement in earnings. And Teradata (TDC) saw its corporate value trimmed by something like $1.5 billion after the company lowered its forecast.
These wild swings in valuation have nothing to do with the worth of the company and are purely psychological in nature. (more)

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Intrexon (NYSE: XON): A Biotech Star’s Next Big Idea

That company, Intrexon (NYSE: XON), has been developing a set of tools that enable scientists to step inside the human gene and alter its basic structure. The company isn't concerned about coming up with a blockbuster drug. It wants to provide the tools for other biotech firms to make major breakthroughs. So what exactly is Intrexon looking to accomplish? The company is in the field of synthetic biology, which alters the core mechanisms of action taking place inside cell walls.

Make no mistake, this is an approach that will take time to pay off. Intrexon must sign partnerships that promise upfront licensing fees along with product-based royalties. In that respect, Intrexon is starting to gain steam:

-- In October 2012, Intrexon inked a deal with Fibrocell to supply the UltraVector platform to Fibrocell's dermatology and aesthetics products. (more)

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U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB)

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides a range of financial services in the United States. Its services include lending and depository services, cash management, capital market, and trust and investment management services. The company also engages in credit card services, merchant and ATM processing, mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage, and leasing. Its lending services include traditional credit products, as well as credit card services, leasing, financing and import/export trade, asset-backed lending, agricultural finance, and other products. The company's depository services comprise checking accounts, savings accounts, and time certificate contracts. It also offers ancillary services, such as capital market, treasury management, and receivable lock-box collection services to corporate customers; and a range of asset management and fiduciary services for individuals, estates, foundations, business corporations, and charitable organizations. In addition, the company provides Visa corporate and purchasing card services, and corporate trust services.
To review Bancorp's stock, please take a look at the 1-year chart of USB (U.S. Bancorp) below with my added notations:
USB has been trading mostly sideways for the last 3 or 4 months. Over that period of time, the stock has formed a resistance area around $37.50 (red), In addition, the stock has also created a strong level of support at $35.50 (blue). At some point the stock will have to break one of those two levels.

The Tale of the Tape: USB has identifiable levels of support and resistance. The possible long positions on the stock would be either on a pullback to $35.50, or on a solid close above $37.50. The ideal short opportunities would be on a break below $35.50.
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“At A Record High Median Price To Sales Ratio” There Is “Nothing Worth Buying”

First on China:

Chinese policy makers are locked in the same old failed credit simulative policies as the west to keep growth going. Indeed, the Chinese GDP ship appears to be steaming ahead in Q3 at a very respectable 7.8% yoy rate. This is the big message the markets have consumed. But look at the ship closely from the front or rear and you can see the ship increasingly rocking violently from side to side while still making forward progress. And are those Chinese policy makers that can be seen manically running from one side in an attempt to keep the ship from foundering? This is a totally unsustainable situation in my view. But again, no-one is listening.

And next, the US:

Only the brave can react to what they see and leave the markets. The global macro looks an appalling mess and even more importantly, long-term equity investors can find nothing worth buying. For equity investors we are closer to 2007 than 2001 as the vast bulk of the equity market, as represented by the median PE, PB or Price/Sales, is expensive. The US median price/sales ratios is at a record high, indicating that there is practically nothing cheap in the equity market left to buy.

Dear Albert: our condolences; the reason no-one is listening is because a comic term we came up with, namely BT(M)FATH, has become a daily investment strategy. And as long as the Fed allows that kind of idiocy to continue, nobody will listen. Why should they?
(more)
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Alumina Ltd AWC: A $4 Stock Valued at $11

Another way to play aluminum might be through Alumina Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE: AWC).

Alumina owns 40% of the world's largest alumina business, Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC), with Alcoa owning and managing the other 60%.

AWAC mines and refines bauxite and produces and markets alumina to smelters around the world. It's also the world's largest producer of alumina. Interestingly, AWAC is a low-cost producer, with many operations in the lower-cost quartiles.

To be sure, Alumina Ltd. is a riskier play on the sector than Alcoa. But it trades at about $4.00 per share right now, below its book value of around $4.25 per share. And Morningstar's fair-value estimate is $11.  (more)

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