Bitcoin endorsed by top hedge fund manager (Financial Times)
Financial advisers who gathered in New York to hear leaders of the asset management industry impart their best investment ideas for the year ahead were given a surprising tip by one prominent hedge fund manager: Bitcoin. Michael Novogratz, co-chief investment officer of macro funds at the $55bn Fortress Investment Group, used a panel discussion on the prospects for emerging markets to trumpet the much-hyped digital currency, which he said could be used as a cheaper way of transferring money in countries with weak banking systems. Even if that did not come to pass, he said, there could be money to be made from a Bitcoin bubble along the way.

Ackman to Sell Part of His Stake in Canadian Pacific (New York Times)
More than a year after the activist investor William A. Ackman won a bitter battle for control of the Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP), he is cashing in part of his investment at a substantial profit. On Thursday, Mr. Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management said it would sell around $800 million of its stake in Canadian Pacific, or 5.9 million shares, in an open market transaction at an undisclosed price per share. Following the sale, Pershing Square will hold a 9.8 percent stake in the company and will remain Canadian Pacific's largest shareholder.

Is Icahn's Case for Apple at $1,250 Flawed? (Insider Monkey)
Carl Icahn thinks Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock could soar to $1,250 in the next three years, giving investors who own Apple at $525 a 33.5% annualized return. He laid out the scenario in his open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, made public this morning. As he has previously suggested, it would take a $150 billion buyback. This prompts two questions: 1. Is the proposed buyback realistic? 2. If the buyback were executed, could shares really appreciate to $1,250 in three years?

Hedge Funds Moot Argentine Debt Deal (FINalternatives)
Hedge funds hoping to head off another Argentine debt default have proposed to pay their peers holding out from the last default. The hedge funds in question, including Brevan Howard Asset Management and Gramercy Funds Management, hold restructured Argentine debt. In debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010, the overwhelming majority of Argentine bondholders accepted huge losses in exchange for new bonds—but U.S. court rulings have thrown into question whether Argentina can continue to pay its obligations on those bonds while refusing to pay the holdouts, led by Aurelius Capital Management and Elliott Management.

Few advisers recommend alternative investments (InvestmentNews)
Financial advisers shy away from alternative investment products because most are too difficult to explain to clients, a new study shows. Only a quarter of advisers invest regularly in hedge funds, private equity and commodities, according to a study released Thursday by Natixis Global Asset Management. Although the majority of the 1,300 advisers surveyed as part of the study have invested over time in a mix of alternatives, just 25% use them on a regular basis. Those who typically use alternative investments are those who work with high-net worth investors.

Mick McGuire, Marcato Reiterate 6.7% Stake in Sotheby's, Issues Presentation (Insider Monkey)
In a new filing with the SEC, Marcato Capital Management, a hedge fund managed by Richard McGuire, disclosed its presentation during the “Excellence in Investing: San Francisco" conference held yesterday. In the presentation, Marcato presented its case on Sothebys (NYSE:BID), and expressed its ideas regarding the company’s value. The key points Marcato made were that Sotheby’s owned real estate and financing operations are strengths that investors may be overlooking. Marcato holds around 4.6 million shares of Sotheby’s, which represent about 6.7% of the company.

Oaktree Capital, NewPage Holdings: In a passive filing just released, Howard Marks‘s Oaktree Capital Management just disclosed a 15.8% stake in the privately-held NewPage Holdings. The papermaker filed for bankruptcy two years ago and Marks has been fighting for a controlling position ever since.

It’s worth mentioning that Marks and Oaktree have held first lien notes from NewPage for more than a decade now, but today’s SEC filing marks the first time we’ve gotten a look at exactly how much stock Oaktree owns since the company became a 1934 act reporting entity this past summer.

Disclosure: none

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Mario Gabelli, Mac-Gray: According to a 13D filing, Mario Gabelli, the manager of Gamco Investors, now owns 980,223 shares of Mac-Gray Corporation (NYSE:TUC). The new position represents 6.66% of the company. A couple of days ago, Moab Capital disclosed its intention to vote in favor of the company’s merger proposal; Mac-Gray is set to be acquired by CSC Fenway.

According to the definitive agreement and plan of the merger between Mac-Gray and CSC, the latter will purchase outstanding common stock of Mac-Gray for $21.15 in cash, which was at a 42% premium above the stock’s closing price on October 14. In this way, the value of the deal amounts to some $524 million. The merger was approved unanimously by Mac-Gray’s Board of Directors.

Earlier today, Mario Gabelli disclosed holding a 5% stake in Edgen Group Inc (NYSE:EDG).

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Gamco Investors, Edgen Group: In a new 13D filing, Mario Gabelli, and Gamco Investors reported holding a 5.29% position in Edgen Group Inc (NYSE:EDG). According to the filing, Mario Gabelli holds an aggregate amount of around 1 million shares of the company, worth some $12 million, at the current price of the company’s stock. Gamco did not disclose ownership of Edgen Group shares in its latest 13F filing.

At the beginning of October, Edgen Group and Sumitomo Corporation/Sumitomo Corporation of America said that they entered into a definitive merger agreement in which Sumitomo will purchase all of the outstanding shares of Edgen for $12 apiece in cash. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year, but is yet to be approved by regulators.

Disclosure: none

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Although we don’t believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes — just in case they’re material to our investing thesis.

The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) is within 10 points of its all-time high this afternoon, adding another 0.3% to the 3% gain it has racked up in October. This should have investors wondering if this is still a good time to buy. By many measures, the stock market is certainly not undervalued. Let’s take a look at one of the measures that Warren Buffett uses to determine whether the market is expensive or cheap. The metric shows the market is not undervalued; read on to find out more.

Warren Buffett’s favorite market metric
Looking at the S&P 500, in 2001 Buffett explained to Carol Loomis in Fortune magazine that determining whether the market is expensive or cheap doesn’t have to be complicated at all. Here’s the metric Buffett uses:

The market value of all publicly traded securities as a percentage of the country’s business — that is, as a percentage of GNP. The ratio has certain limitations in telling you what you need to know. Still, it is probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment.

Basically, Buffett divides the total market capitalization of the U.S. stock market by gross national product. For a refresher, GNP measures the value of goods and services that a country’s citizens produce regardless of where they live. This includes the value of goods and services that American companies produce abroad.

So how do you tell whether the stock market is expensive? Buffett went on to explain: “If the percentage relationship falls to the 70% or 80% area, buying stocks is likely to work very well for you. If the ratio approaches 200% — as it did in 1999 and a part of 2000 — you are playing with fire.”

Where is the stock market trading today?
The most common way to calculate the market value of all publicly traded securities is by looking up the market capitalization of the Wilshire 5000, which tracks the largest 5,000 companies in the U.S. with “readily available price data.” At the end of September, the market cap of the Wilshire 5000 was $20.6 trillion — and that doesn’t even account for October’s run-up.

To find GNP, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has a great website where you can locate most U.S. economic data. The most recent data for GNP comes from the second quarter of 2013, when GNP was $16.9 trillion.

Dividing the total market capitalization by GNP gives us a percentage of 122%, which indicates that the market is getting pricey.

Final word
With the Federal Reserve committed to low interest rates and pumping money into the economy through quantitative easing, who knows how high the market can go. Investors who are putting new money to work now will likely see low returns going forward. It’s getting harder and harder to find great companies at good prices. While investing is simple, it certainly is not easy.

The article Buffett’s Favorite Metric Shows the Stock Market is Not Cheap originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Dzombak.

Dan Dzombak is excited for the release of today. Dan can be found on Twitter @DanDzombak or on his Facebook page, DanDzombak. He has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Sabby Management, Advaxis: Advaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADXS), a micro-cap biotech development company, has just seen Hal Mintz’s Sabby Management disclose a 6.3% stake. Earlier today, Sabby revealed it has joined Alpha Capital Anstalt in another small biotech player, DARA Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:DARA). We’ll be watching this situation very closely.

Advaxis recently conducted a public offering of some 6.6 million shares and warrants at prices worth $4 per share of common stock, and $0.001 per warrant. The total gross proceeds after the offering amounted to $26.5 million.

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The EU is threatening to fine data companies for sharing information with US intelligence. Will stocks suffer?

President Obama had to make an awkward call yesterday to his French counterpart, Francois Hollande. Further revelations from Edward Snowden, reported by the French newspaper Le Monde, have brought to light American efforts to spy on France.

Of particular concern is evidence that the US was monitoring French data companies, including Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU), which is a competitor to many American firms trying to make inroads on the European continent.

Needless to say, the French, one of our closest allies since sponsoring our War for Independence, are less than pleased.

This is not the first international indictment to result from American spying efforts. Last month, Brazil’s Prime Minister Dilma Rousseff cancelled a visit to the US after discovering that America had spied on the country’s leading energy firm, Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (NYSE:PBR). Rousseff faces an important re-election next year, and the US is hardly as popular in South America as is it in France, where many streets in the capital are still named for our former presidents.

It was only a matter of time after the news came out that the European Union started taking action. And American firms aren’t going to like it.

Starting as soon as three years from now, technology firms could be liable for the information regarding EU citizens that they turn over to US intelligence agencies. And the fines recently approved by the EU’s parliament are considerable: 5% of the offending company’s yearly revenue.

For a data company like Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), that could amount to billions and billions of dollars. And smaller American data firms like Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ:ACXM) could be threatened by the fines even more, considering their much smaller balance sheets to begin with.

Talk about being caught between a rock and hard place. A lot of the biggest and most successful technology companies in America make most of their money by collecting data on users and selling it to advertisers, governments, and other interested parties.

We’re not just talking about fines from the EU, we’re talking about a major disruption to the core business model for many data companies. And firms in question could theoretically find themselves in a situation where they face fines from one country, but prosecution from their own country at the same time.

The EU’s ruling still needs to be approved by all of the member states. That could take up to six months. And even then, technology firms have two years to comply with the rules before the would be subjected to fines.

That’s a long time in the tech world, which indicates the EU might be doing a bit of posturing. Big European economies have no desire to stifle American businesses, especially those that might consider moving operations to the Continent.

However, there’s no doubting that the EU’s action will have data companies paying close attention here on out. Investors should too. So consider our list of tech stocks involved with data collection below.

Click on the interactive chart to view analyst ratings over time. 

There is huge potential for online dating stocks, but customer satisfaction is on the decline. Should you invest?

Online dating companies have been in the news a lot lately. Maybe you’ve even heard of this new app that the kids are using: Tinder. Far from just another extension of post-adolescent shallowness, Tinder has spread like wildfire and now processes over 200 million matches per day.

That number is high because the app makes it very easy to browse through several matches in one sitting, phasing out things like profiles and questionnaires. Users are simply presented with a photograph and a button for “yes” and “no.”

Still. 200 million.

This app has also succeeded at getting something which many other dating sites have only dreamed of – a relatively even distribution between men and women. Tinder is putting to rest the dated notion that women would be less interested in online dating options on the more casual side.

And consider a new report discovered by Quartz this morning. It’s suggesting that millennials, the increasingly ubiquitous term for people who came of age in the post-2000′s period of social media and Lady Gaga, are less likely to feel ashamed of online dating.

This may not be interesting in its own right. New products, especially ones that pertain to affairs of the heart, are always going to be greeted with skepticism at first.

But it’s interesting because while more and more twenty-somethings report an acceptance of online dating, they simultaneously profess to being less satisfied with the results. Including apps like Tinder, the market for online dating has expanded four times in the last five years. And while the percentage of Americans who are online seems like a narrow demographic at 11% – that number swells to almost 40% when you exclude married couples.

That’s some pretty considerable market growth. And yet we have to include evidence of dwindling satisfaction with the results.

- Over a third of customers reported getting matched with someone they already know – hardly the point of online encounters.
- And over half reported being misled by, um, embellished profiles.
- One in ten customers admitted being ashamed for resorting to using dating websites to begin with.

Those are hardly product endorsements.

This of course strikes a very different note from China, where a matchmaking industry has flourished. There, bachelors regularly shell out six figure fees to matchmaking services. These are country club  alternatives compared to the American firms, and they actually hire operatives to scan the streets and high-end stores, finding matches for wealthy clients with rigid specifications.

Jiayuan.com International Ltd (NASDAQ:DATE), the largest Chinese dating service that trades in the US, has seen huge growth this year, withearnings per share (EPS) rising 150%, and projected to grow another 20% in the next year.

China may be a unique case. America has neither the one-child policy nor the gender imbalance which has prompted parents to resort to informal, open-air marriage markets, presenting hand-written personal ads for their children. And new data suggests that, with some anomalous exceptions, Americans are still as wary as ever of meeting a stranger online.

So does the brave new world of online dating present investing opportunities? We compiled a list of stocks traded on US exchanges that operate in this market. We’ll let you decide if it’s a match made in, well, online heaven.

Click on the interactive chart to view sales data over time.

1. Is the proposed buyback realistic?
2. If the buyback were executed, could shares really appreciate to $1,250 in three years?

Let’s dig in.

The buyback
Icahn suggests the buyback should be executed at $525 per share, approximately where Apple shares traded at market open this morning. Is it realistic to expect Apple to be able to repurchase $150 billion in shares at $525? Probably not.

Here’s why. The buyback, Icahn suggests, should be in the form of a tender offer. In a tender offer, Apple would offer to purchase investors’ shares at a given price. Typically, however, tender offers must tender a price at a premium to the market price in order to incentivize shareholders to sell. That being said, how would Apple get $150 billion worth of shares at $525 per share if the stock is currently trading slightly above that price? For instance, If a current shareholder is already holding shares at $525, why would he or she decide to sell at $525 just because Apple makes a tender offer that would offer zero upside? Even more, how would Apple find enough investors to get a whopping $150 billion worth of shares? With Apple trading at or above $525, it wouldn’t.

In a conversation I had this morning with Fool contributor Adam Levine-Weinberg, who follows Apple’s story closely, he suggested $525 may be far too low:

Short of reporting a terrible December quarter forecast, there’s no way Apple could get shareholders to tender $150 billion worth of stock for $525. It would probably have to offer $600-$650 to get that much interest, at which point the economics are not quite so favorable.

In other words, Icahn should have struck hard back in June when Apple was still at $400.

Would a tender offer at $600 to $650 per share be good use of Apple’s cash? Maybe, but that’s certainly far more difficult to argue than a tender offer at $525.

Sure, Icahn did say that he believes the tender offer would still be compelling at $550 or $575 per share in an interview with MoneyBeat on CNBC this afternoon. But even this sounds wishful. A tender offer at $575 would give investors about an 8% return at today’s price, hardly meaningful for current investors who obviously feel comfortable holding at $530. Even more, Apple reports fourth-quarter earnings and first quarter guidance on Oct. 28; if Apple beats analyst estimates, shares could easily jump to $575, once again increasing the amount Apple would have to tender in order to incentivize shareholders to sell.

Apple to $1,250?
The shares are irrationally undervalued, Icahn argues. In the letter to Cook, he calls Apple his “most compelling investment” and says its undervalued state is a “short-term anomaly.” He illustrates his reasoning by comparing shares to the S&P 500.

The S&P 500 trades at roughly 14x forward earnings. After backing off net cash, Apple trades at just 9x (not factoring into account that the company has a significantly lower cash tax rate than the rate Wall Street analysts use). This discount (cash adjusted) becomes even more compelling given our confidence that Apple will grow earnings per share at a rate well in excess of the S&P 500 for the foreseeable future.

With a position valued at about $2.5 billion, Icahn has put his money where his mouth is. In fact, he has recently increased his position from 2.9 million shares to 4.7 million shares (22% increase). Is Icahn right about Apple shares?

JHL Capital, Unisys: James H. Litinsky‘s JHL Capital Group just disclosed a 5.2% stake in Unisys Corporation (NYSE:UIS), an IT services and consulting company. JHL’s filing indicated this is a passive investment, not activist, and shares of Unisys are up more than 50% in the past six months.

In its last 13F, the firm reported holding just over 1.3 million shares of Unisys stock, and the latest move indicates it now holds 2.25 million shares. With JHL’s stake now over the 5% threshold, this explains the need for today’s filing.

A couple of days ago, Unisys posted its results for the third quarter, showing a net loss of $11.6 million, or $0.3 per share, down from a net loss of $12.4 million posted in the same period of last year.

Steven Cohen‘s SAC Capital Advisors and AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, are also shareholders of Unisys, holding around 1.5 million shares and 603,100 shares respectively at the end of the last 13F filing period.

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Sabby Management, Dara Biosciences: In a new 13G filing just reported to the SEC, Hal Mintz’s Sabby Management reported an 8.3% stake in DARA Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:DARA) stock. Due to the nature of the disclosure, Sabby is here as a passive investor, much as Alpha Capital Anstalt reported yesterday. At market close, Alpha reported a slightly smaller 7.6% stake in Dara.

A couple of days earlier, Dara Biosciences announced it is entering into a Securities Purchase Agreement with several institutional investors, in which the company intends to sell 5.1 million shares in a direct offering. The price of the offering is set at $0.50 per share with gross proceeds amounting to almost $2.6 million, Dara Biosciences said in a statement.

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Hawaiian Holdings, Hirzel Capital Management: According to a new Form 4 filing, Zac Hirzel‘s Hirzel Capital Management slightly raised its position in Hawaiian Holdings, Inc.(NASDAQ:HA), now indirectly owning around an aggregate amount of almost 5.7 million shares of the company. Hirzel disclosed purchasing 29,800 shares in one transaction, at a price of about $7.40 apiece.

A couple of weeks ago, Hirzel made another bullish move in Hawaiian Holdings, raising his position to 5.6 million shares, or 10.8% of the company. Zac Hirzel has also sought to be placed on Hawaiian Holdings’ Board since May this year; the company has not accepted his request thus far.

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Solus Alternative Asset Management, YRC Worldwide: Christopher Pucillo and his hedge fund, Solus Alternative Asset Management, just reported selling around 137,300 shares of its holdings in YRC Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:YRCW). The shares have been sold in two deals at an average price of around $12 apiece. Following the sale, Solus holds some 602,600 shares of YRC  stock.

The stock of YRC Worldwide has returned over 70% since the beginning of the year. In the second quarter, the company posted almost flat results, with revenue worth $1.2 billion, and operating income of $14.3 million.

Avenue Capital, managed by Marc Lasry, held one of the largest stakes in YRC Worldwide in Q2, which contained slightly less than 25 million shares, worth around $25 million.

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Developers look to cash in as collectible card games go digital. Shall we deal you in?

Once strictly limited to heated arguments in the corner of a school cafeteria, collectible card games, or CCGs, have entered the digital gaming market.

With the push towards "free to play" (F2P) microtransaction-based mobile and social games, many companies have taken an interest in digital CCGs because of their ease of development and monetization.

CCGs are games where players purchase randomized "booster packs" of cards with different abilities and interactive features, to build "decks" to compete against other players. The player base is maintained through cyclical releases of new sets of cards that change the game in different ways

The first CCG to find major commercial success was Magic: The Gathering, which continues today as a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS).

A wave of imitators copied Magic's success, including Japanese exports Pokémon and Konami Corp (ADR) (NYSE:KNM)‘s Yu-Gi-Oh! Many others existed as niche projects, but the growth of video games as a competing medium, and the established success of the CCG revenue stream, have resulted in another rush of developers to the genre.

Click on the interactive chart to see price data for HAS and KNM over time. 

A CCG may succeed or fail depending on how well it courts the "midcore" demographic. This refers to the balance between making a game tactically deep and rewarding enough to reward your hardcore competitive gamer, but also accessible enough to encourage a more casual gamer.

F2P games generally try to ascribe to the 80:20 rule where 20% of your player base is paying (in this case, hardcore players) and therefore subsidizing the 80% who may not (casual players).

Mobile iOS and Android CCGs such as Rage of Bahamut and Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA)‘s War of the Fallen and Ayakashi Ghost Guild rank as some of the highest grossing apps in mobile gaming. They combine addictive gameplay with accessibility, and incentivize the hardcore market with premium priced cards.

As imitators to successful games flood the market, some companies are taking great steps to differentiate their games from the competition. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) brought the digital CCG battle back to the physical world with their respective Disney: Infinity and Skylanders franchises.

Both games work via figurines with chips embedded in their bases. Players use them to interact with an accompanying video game through proprietary hardware plugged in to a Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation or Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) XBox console.

Different figures affect the video game in different ways, and with both companies leveraging numerous recognizable intellectual properties and artificial rarity, expect the riots at Toys 'R Us to continue into the foreseeable future.

And Activision is doubling down on the CCG market as it enters Beta for Hearthstone, a digital CCG based on the massively popular Warcraft franchise.

With players growing to accept the F2P business model and a proven revenue stream, CCGs are shaping up to be a genre more developers will embrace in the future.

Do you think CCGs have mainstream staying power? Consider this "power nine" of digital and physical CCG developers and partners.

Click on the interactive chart to see data over time. 

“A Swiss bank that prints food,” is what a Nestle SA Reg Shs. Ser. B Spons (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NSRGY) scientist called the company. This five star CAPS-rated food giant manufactures food for everyone in your family from Baby to Grampa. Fido and Fluffy, too..

Nestle just won the title of the world’s fifth “most beloved” brand in an APCO Insight survey of 70,000 consumers in 15 global markets. It was the number one most beloved food and beverage brand. For the eighth straight year it received the number one rank for a food and beverage company in Fortune‘s list of “100 Most Admired Companies.”

Between womb and tomb
The company has dedicated itself to a new emphasis on infant nutrition and senior nutrition, as CEO Paul Bulcke detailed at Investor Day at Nestle’s Vevey, Switzerland company headquarters in October.

The company holds No. 1 market share in infant formula in most emerging markets, No. 2 in Europe, and No. 3 in North America.

In 2012, Nestle acquired Wyeth Nutrition from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and its portfolio of womb to tomb therapeutic nutrition products. Wyeth Nutrition is a different animal now with 10% of sales in 2010 coming from innovated new or renovated products and 75% of sales from entirely new or refreshed products.

Runs like a Swiss watch
The company prides itself on its attention to detail. The raw materials for infant nutrition products are subjected to 20-50 tests and examined for 1,000 contaminants. Then, finished batches, all manufactured in-house, are subjected to 50-100 tests per batch and 1,000 tests per year per formula recipe. And you wondered why formula costs so much and is kept under lock and key.

That kind of attention to detail is imperative. Like a Swiss watch, Nestle has many moving parts. In addition to nutrition solutions, its food and beverage division manufactures well-known brands of candy, frozen foods, juices, waters and more.

As CEO Bulcke said in the Investor Day presentation the company was charged with having so many brands that it let underperforming brands underperform for too long. They’re not going to slide any more, he assured investors.

NSRGY Total Return Price data by YCharts

A world of competitors
With so many brands come many competitors, chief among them: The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY), Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), Mead Johnson Nutrition CO (NYSE:MJN), Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE:UL), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and Groupe Danone.

Nestle’s most direct rival in the nutrition solution space, Abbott, is the number one infant nutritional company in the US. Abbott profits from adult nutrition, canned nutritional products that supplement meals for the aged, and infant nutrition. The company has more than 17 brands that address the needs of babies, the aging, and athletes.

Abbott has a subdivision of therapeutic nutrition for sufferers of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis. Abbott co-founded the Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition to battle and prevent malnutrition in hospital patients.

Abbott’s other divisions include established pharmaceuticals (generics), diagnostic products, and medical devices. It isn’t a pure play on supplemental nutrition, either. On Oct. 16 Abbott reported weaker than expected sales from its nutrition division due to Chinese supplier problems. Sales from its other divisions offset that weakness helping the stock surge 5%.

Consultancy firm Interbrand annually bestows top honors to the best global brands. Here are some of this year’s top brands in the consumer goods space:

Source: Interbrand.

Impressively, all four of these brands have secured spots on the Best Global Brands list since its 2001 inception. All four brands have also gained ground on the list since that time.

The highest-ranking consumer brand on the list, Gillette, has climbed from No. 18 in 2001 to its current No. 16. Procter & Gamble acquired the brand in 2005 for $57 billion. P&G is the razors-and-blades market leader in nearly all of the geographies in which it competes. The company commands a 70% share in the global razors-and-blades market, primarily due to the Gillette brand. P&G’s lucrative grooming segment, which includes Gillette, brings in 9% of company net sales, and 16% of P&G’s net earnings.

Procter & Gamble’s other top brand, Pampers, has skyrocketed to No. 29, up from No. 92 in 2001. It also enjoyed the largest jump in brand value during the past year, climbing 15%. With sales in excess of $10 billion annually, Pampers is P&G’s largest brand, and the No. 1 diaper brand worldwide. Pampers are sported by 25 million bundles of joy in more than 100 countries. P&G’s baby-care segment captures roughly 35% of the global market.

The Kellogg and Colgate brands have also soared since 2001, climbing nine and six spots, respectively. Kellogg has strengthened its offerings in cold cereals, warm breakfasts, and snacks. It has introduced several products, such as Special K hot cereal with quinoa, and Special K protein shakes, in response to consumer demand for healthier food. Kellogg brand value increased an impressive 8% in the last year.

Colgate continually reaffirms its commitment to dental health with innovation that reaches beyond its clinical products. One example is Colgate’s PreviDent toothpaste, which repairs tooth enamel for cavity-prone teeth. Yet, despite Colgate’s innovation, its brand value gained only 2% during the past year.

Do top consumer brands equal satisfied shareholders?
The three companies behind these brands have returned stellar profits to their stockholders over the course of their publicly traded lives. Yet none of these brands have edged out the S&P 500′s nearly 25% year-to-date return. In fact, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble, and Kellogg have returned roughly 23%, 21%, and 13%, respectively, so far this year.

Yet, when we look at performance over a longer snapshot of time, all three of these consumer goods giants have outperformed the market.

Source: Data by YCharts.

Colgate-Palmolive, Kellogg, and Procter & Gamble returned roughly 178%, 138%, and 118%, respectively, over the most recent decade. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 returned 106% during that same period.

Oil production out of North Dakota’s Bakken Shale continues to surge higher. The play is now expected to hit daily oil production of more than a million barrels of oil sometime early next year. One secret to its success is that oil companies continue to get more out of each drilling rig.

According to a new report from the Energy Information Agency, each rig in the Bakken is being used to produce more oil. This month, the average rig will be used to deliver 459 barrels of oil production per day. Production per rig is expected to grow in November to about 482 barrels of oil per day. What’s pretty stunning is, that’s nearly double the just-more-than 250 barrels of oil each rig was adding a year ago. The following chart shows just how efficient rigs have become.

Source: EIA

The transition to pad drilling, along with other efficiency gains, has really helped fuel the Bakken’s latest surge. The results have been pretty remarkable. Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (USA) (NYSE:KOG), for example, recently reported a 54% spike in its Bakken oil production. The company has focused on cutting down on the days required to drill each well. As the following chart shows, drilling days for Kodiak Oil & Gas are steadily falling, while completed wells per quarter are increasing.

Source: Kodiak Oil & Gas

The trend toward faster drilling is fueling more than just quicker growth for Kodiak Oil & Gas and its peers. For example, Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CLR) has used a combination of drilling efficiencies, and the shift to multi-well pads, to slash $800,000 off the cost of drilling each well. That’s yielding an increasing rate of return for the company. Overall, the returns that Continental Resources enjoys at $100 oil have improved from 50%, to 65%.

By getting more oil production growth out of each rig, it’s enabling companies like EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) to simply print money from the Bakken. Over the past year, EOG Resources has seen its drilling days drop from 24.3 per well to just 16.9 this year. That has helped EOG to shave more than $600,000 off its completed well cost.

What’s pretty remarkable is that, at the same time that the company is drilling more quickly, it’s also drilling longer laterals. In fact, each well is now more than 2,000 feet longer than the ones the company was drilling last year. Those longer laterals are helping EOG Resources to recover more oil per well.

Energy companies in the Bakken are really getting much more efficient at drilling wells. That’s enabling each rig to deliver more oil production growth. It’s this continual improvement, which is yielding real results, that’s enabling the Bakken to continue exceeding expectations. That’s one of the secrets to why production keeps growing.

The article 1 Secret to Bakken Oil Production originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Matt DiLallo.

Fool contributor Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of EOG Resources.

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I have a “love-hate” relationship with LeBron James.

I was turned off by “The Decision” — a crass July 2010 show in which he announced that he would be “taking his talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat after years of playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

And then came the 2013 NBA Finals. I’ve been a San Antonio Spurs fan for nearly 30 years, and LeBron and the Miami Heat ripped my heart out in winning one of the most compelling NBA Finals of all time.

Still, there’s a lot to like about the guy. Over the years, I’ve admired the maturity LeBron has shown, “The Decision” notwithstanding. He has gone from impoverished kid and high-school phenom to NBA megastar and savvy businessman.

That savvy has drawn the admiration of many outside the sports world — including one man who is as iconic in the business world as LeBron is when it comes to basketball.

Who am I talking about?

Warren Buffett.

The Oracle of Omaha is a fan of King James?

Yeah.

“He’s savvy, Buffett told the Miami Herald in November 2012. He’s smart about financial matters. It’s amazing to me the maturity he exhibits. I know that if I had been famous at that age, I would have had trouble keeping my feet on the ground.

According to reports, they email each other from time to time, they have dinner together, they play golf and more. LeBron even says he’s sent Buffett some of his financial statements, according to Sports Illustrated.

Buffett even uses LeBron to explain his own ultra-successful investing strategy.

Buffett calls it the “LeBron James analogy.” He says, “If you have LeBron James on your team, don’t take him out of the game just to make room for someone else. … It’s crazy to put money into your 20th choice rather than your first choice.

What does that mean?

In short, it means invest the most in the best companies. … If you’ve done your homework and you’ve determined that a few select companies are clearly the best ones in your portfolio, you should put the bulk of your money in those companies.

Don’t diversify just for the sake of diversification. After all, you want those companies to do the bulk of the work for your investments, in much the same way that you want LeBron James to take more shots in a game than one of his teammates.

Buffett has lived his strategy. His top five holdings make up 76% of the equity portfolio of his giant investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B).

He isn’t the only believer, though. Bill Gates’ top investment — worth $8 billion — makes up 46% of the stock portfolio he set up for his nonprofit foundation. Fidelity legend Peter Lynch and Blum Capital’s David Einhorn have also said they believe that less is more when it comes to owning stocks.

Billionaires go to jail for it. Money managers have fled the country and faked suicides when it’s suggested. Hedge funds have paid billions in fines and been harassed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on little more than a hint of its occurrence.

Most recently, celebrity investor and high-tech titan Mark Cuban fought and secured a courtroom victory when accused of violating this regulation. Famed entrepreneur and TV personality Martha Stewart wasn’t as fortunate as Cuban — she spent time behind bars in 2004 for what amounted to be a relatively small amount of money.

The strangest thing is, this action is considered a legitimate edge in the commodity markets. It’s only in the stock market where it’s considered a mortal sin.

If you haven’t guessed, I am talking about insider trading.

Insider trading offers an unfair advantage to those with the information and capacity to profit from it. It is the desire to level the playing field that motivates the authorities to clamp down on insider trading. It truly is the most powerful edge available in the stock market, hence its illegal status.

While non-public insider trading is illegal, there is a way to capture some of this edge for yourself without worrying about SEC wiretaps and a guilty conscience.

Company insiders are required by law to make their stock transactions public. This information is readily available online. There are several websites that compile this information, but my favorite (and one of the most widely used) is Yahoo Finance.

To find this information, first plug in the stock symbol on the Yahoo Finance’s ticker lookup field. When the company’s information page has loaded, find the “Ownership” section near the bottom of the blue rail on the left side of the page. Here you will find the major holders, insider transactions and the insider roster. The insider transaction section will show insiders who are selling and/or buying shares. Look for a substantial tilt on the buy or sell side by insiders to gain an overall perspective.

Remember, insiders can sell shares for any reason. However, large relative amounts, a sudden shift from a being a consistent buyer to a seller or vice versa, or a preponderance of buyers/sellers can signal something is going on that has not yet made the news.

In my experience, insider purchases are more telling than insider sales. In general, one only purchases with the desire to make a profit. Selling can be a signal of bad news around the corner or it can simply be a monetary need of the seller. It’s not possible to tell the difference on an individual basis.

It is this insider information that can tip off investors to pending trouble or bullish stock news. For those interested in more detailed information on insider activity, InsiderInsights.com is the website I find most helpful, and Morningstar.com has a very thorough section on current insider transactions.

The following are three stocks that appear to be sending signals of insider activity.

1. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)

Director Mark Vadon recently purchased 10,000 shares for $752,000. This is on top of a 5,000-share purchase last December for $318,500. He paid $63.70 per share last December compared with $75.20 in September. I see this as a serious vote of bullish confidence.

The Lone Ranger was a big fan of silver.

He named his horse after the shiny metal and fashioned bullets out of it. If werewolves ever threatened Wild West homesteaders, I’m sure the masked man and Tonto could’ve taken care of them.

Lately, silver bulls probably feel like the Lone Ranger — with the emphasis on the “Lone.” With the recent correction in precious metals prices, silver has been pounded extra hard.

Since its top in mid-2011, iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:SLV), which tracks the price of silver, has slid more than 50%. Compare that with the gold tracker iShares Gold Trust(ETF) (NYSEARCA:IAU), which has given back less than 30%. Why?

Secondary trades like silver are often afterthoughts for investors. When the price of the popular asset class seems to bid up, buyers will violently pile in to a cheaper alternative. The cheaper the investment, the higher it climbs. They are also punished more severely when things go south. But as always, the herd, in its infinite lack of wisdom, is missing a major point: Silver is useful outside of being a currency proxy.

Recently, I discussed a short-term trading idea for GLD based purely on technical indicators and the fact that gold as an asset class is extremely oversold. The situation with silver is very similar.

From a technical standpoint, shares of SLV have put in a very clear double bottom, which in technical analysis constitutes an extremely bullish signal.

Look for a bounce from its current level of around $22 to nearly $32. That’s upside of 45%.

But while I called for a similar bounce in GLD shares and then a drop, look for SLV’s run to be sustainable. Here’s why.

Unlike gold, silver has many industrial applications. One of the most important areas is electrical power. As a plentiful, non-corrosive metal, silver is widely used as a contact component in manufacturing high-grade electrical switches and circuit breakers.

Let’s examine that sector from 40,000 feet up. Granted, the U.S. homebuilding industry is sluggish, dampening demand for electrical components. In emerging markets, however, upgraded housing is built as consumers move up to the middle class, increasing the need for components.

Also, as emerging countries expand, so do their power distribution systems. That’s in addition to the fact that pundits have been calling for an upgrade to the U.S. electrical grid for years. When this long-awaited push finally occurs, it could well be on a massive scale.