Brian Taylor‘s Pine River Capital Management disclosed, in a new filing, that it currently holds almost 2.6 million shares of Yongye International, Inc (NASDAQ:YONG). The stake is activist by nature and amasses around 5.1% of the company’s outstanding common stock. The fund has not disclosed holding shares of Yongye in its latest 13F.

Earlier in October Glenn Krevlin‘s Glenhill Advisors disclosed boosting its position in Yongye International to 1.94 million shares, equal to 3.8% of the company’s common stock. At the same time, Glenhill sent a letter to the company’s board expressing its disagreement with the decision for Yongye to go private, considering the the $6.6 per share offer proposed by the company, has little value for the shareholders.

Also, in September, it was announced that the board of Yongye is under investigation regarding its intentions to sell the company to Full Alliance International, for $6.69 per share. According to a statement, the deal discounts severely the combined cash and book value of the company, which amount to $5.02 and $10.03 per share respectively. In this way, it might be that Yongye’s board has broken their duties in front of the shareholders through entering into an unfair merger agreement.  The agreement and plan of merger with Full Alliance was signed at the end of September.

Aside from Glenhill, and respectively Pine River, James Dinan’s York Capital Management disclosed 2.3 million shares of Yongye at the end of the second quarter. Matthew Halbower‘s Pentwater Capital Management reported ownership of 1 million shares.

Disclosure: none

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David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital Sell 2.5 Mln Shares of Einstein Noah Restaurant Group

John Burbank, Passport Capital Add to Position in 58.com

Jana Partners' Third Quarter Portfolio: Closer to the Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Industries

David Einhorn‘s Greenlight Capital, in a newly amended filing with the SEC, disclosed cutting its position in Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BAGL) to slightly above 6.7 million shares, from over 9.2 million held earlier. Following the decrease, Greenlight holds 38.3% of the company, down from 53.1% reported in an earlier filing.

The fund disposed the shared under an underwriting agreement. Greenlight agreed to sell 2.5 million shares of Einstein Noah Restaurant in a registered public offering. The price specified under the terms of the deal, amounts to $17 per share. The shares have been sold to Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, who acts as the sole underwriter.

It’s not the first move Greenlight is applying regarding its Einstein Noah Restaurant. The fund disclosed selling 1.5 million shares during the third quarter, according to its 13F filing. The stock of Einstein Noah Restaurant has been growing since the beginning of the year, posting a YTD return of over 30%, sporting also a solid P/E of around 22.6.

Some other hedge funds from our database have been holding less significant shares. For example, Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies held 303,900 shares in the previous round of 13F filings. It is followed by Nathaniel August‘s Mangrove Partners, and D. E. Shaw‘s D E Shaw, which own 117,527 shares, and 64,265 shares, according to our database.

Disclosure: none

Recommended Reading:

John Burbank, Passport Capital Add to Position in 58.com

Jana Partners' Third Quarter Portfolio: Closer to the Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Industries

Lansdowne Partners Reduce Position in LSE-listed Central Asia Metals

John Burbank‘s Passport Capital has revealed an increase in their investment in 58.com Inc (NYSE:WUBA). In a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Passport Capital has reported holding of 3.2 million Class A shares, up from 2.8 million shares previously owned. Burbank’s current position represents 11.8% of 58.com’s common stock.

Another fund interested in this stock is Robert Pitts‘ Steadfast Capital. Pitts recently acquired a little over 1.8 million shares, or 7.6% of the common stock, held through 904,377 ADR shares.

58.com, a Chinese provider of online advertising services, went public on October 31st. In the Initial Public Offering (IPO), the company sold 11 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at $17 a piece. An over-allotment option for an extra 1.65 million ADS has been awarded to the underwriters, with each ADS being equal to two Class A shares. The price took off, rising to $27 apiece during the first day of trading, with shares currently changing hands at approximately $34.6. On November 12, 58.com announced that the underwriters of its IPO had exercised in full their options to buy 1.65 million shares at the initial price of $17. As a result, the company’s receipts following the IPO rose to $215 million.

The Chinese giant managed to constantly increase its revenues in the interval 2010 – 2012 from $10.7 million to approximately $87 million. 58.com posted revenues of $58.8 million and a profit of $285,000 for the first 6 months of 2013. This was the first time the company reported a positive profit. 58.com has $71 million worth of assets under control and debts of approximately $82 million.

Disclosure: none

Recommended reading:

Jana Partners' Third Quarter Portfolio: Closer to the Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Industries

Lansdowne Partners Reduce Position in LSE-listed Central Asia Metals

Government Announcements Place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Between Funds' Eyebrows

Many hedge funds have been filing their 13Fs for the third quarter of 2013 lately. In these forms, they disclose many of their long equity positions as of the end of September. Although the portfolio information is a few weeks old, there are still a few ways for investors to use it.

We have found, for example, that the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds outperformed the market by 18 percentage points even though we started measuring the returns a couple of weeks after 13Fs have been made public. It can also be productive to treat individual 13Fs as free recommendations from fund managers- not necessarily to be followed, but to be considered briefly and then researched further if they seem appealing.

In this article, I will briefly look into Barry Rosenstein's, Jana Partners', portfolio. This hedge fund with a portfolio worth more than $7 billion is a value-oriented, event-driven investment firm that has been around for about 12 years. Over the past few years, its strategy has been all about “ignoring the crowd” – a sentiment that can be tracked at the firm's moves.

Jana´s Most Valuable Holdings: Chemicals

Although Jana's most valuable asset is a put option on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY), we like to look at long stock holdings. This is the case for Agrium Inc. (USA) (NYSE:AGU), a producer and provider of agricultural products and nutrients in North and South America. Mr. Rosenstein's fund owns 8,186,575 shares (down from 11,329,696 on the previous quarter) of the company, valued at roughly $742 million. This makes of this agricultural chemicals company Jana´s largest known long position.

This investment certainly makes sense as increasing demand for food will most likely drive growth for the firm in the years to come. However, the stock has been quite beaten up this year and growth projections amongst analysts are not so encouraging.

It seems Mr. Rosenstein is quite into the chemical industry, as its third most valuable holding is Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH), a  specialty chemicals company. Over the third quarter, the fund increased its participation in the company by 16.5% (quarter over quarter), to 6,667,269 shares. These are valued at approximately $444.5 million. Although Jana’s stake in Ashland is of an activist nature -it seeks to create shareholder value-stimulation scenarios- the stock is also attractive from a fundamental point of view.

An Apple A Day…

Amongst Jana´s top 10 holdings during Q2 was Health Management Associates Inc (NYSE:HMA), a healthcare services company. However, it seems that Mr. Rosenstein wants to keep doctors away: over Q3, the fund sold out its entire stake at this firm. The move was most likely motivated by Health Management Associates´ unclear prospects, an expansion rate that is expected to decelerate, plenty of debt in relation to its assets, and razor thin margins and returns.

As healthcare reforms make the future uncertain, the fund also sold its participation at Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH), another healthcare services provider.

However, its position regarding pharmaceutical companies is the opposite. Over the third quarter, Jana added Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) and Endo Health Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:ENDP) to its portfolio, probably due to their increasing sales and competitive advantages.

A Thing for Services

Apart from the aforementioned companies, the rest of Jana´s top 15 picks are mostly composed of diverse types of services companies, amongst which I could highlight Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX) and Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN), two IT services firms poised to deliver above average EPS growth rates over the next five years.

Disclosure: none

 Recent news has shown that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung are dominating software sales. The two together represent the total of mobile industry profits. Alarming! So where does that leave Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)? Lagging a bit behind it seems.

Ok, but Android is Google, you're probably thinking.  The profits made through software however, are going directly to its partners and not to Google itself.

Here's the proof

A recent update from IDC Worldwide Quarterly Phone Tracker has shown that during the last quarter, Android shipped a total of 211.6 million smartphones which subsequently left Android with an 81.0% of all smartphone shipments. Furthermore, studies shows that four in five sold mobile phone devices are Android.

On another note Apple received 56% of profits coming from the mobile phone industry during the same quarter, which is not at all that bad for the manufacturer. It seems that a clear distinction can be made between those who go for Apple products and those who prefer Samsung.

Fred Wilson, principal of Union Square Ventures, recently came up with a few conclusions after analyzing the most popular apps on both Android and iOS. It seems that Android users are basically young pre-teens who haven't much money and opt for cheaper phones. The market therefore consists of a younger crowd whilst iOS consumers are the "18 to 40 crowd".

On a tablet situation..

It seems that in the world of tablets, Apple is not such a big name. Apparently Samsung has the upper hand in the market, thanks to its "phablets" (we mean the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Samsung's Galaxy Mega and the likes).  In second place is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) who is thriving from the "real tablets" market. Apparently these are used mainly for entertainment; claims UBS, such as Amazon's Kindle which is leading the charts. On the contrary, Apple's shares in the same area have dropped from 70% to 30%.

No place for Google?

Interestingly enough, Amazon is pushing Google out of the way by making modifications to Android. It's not the only company to do this though. Samsung and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) are currently trying to develop a new operating system called Tizen. It's similar to Android in the sense that they're both versions of Linux. It seems like Android might have a new competitor soon..

Within less than two month period Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) confirmed the third fire accident in its Model S electric vehicle. The drivers were able to get out safely and no injuries have been reported in either of the incidents. The latest was reported earlier this month in Tennessee whereas the other two fire incidents were reported in Seattle and Mexico.

While the motor company confirmed the fire incident on its website, it claimed the fire occurred because of an accident and was not a spontaneous event. Police were not sure on how fast the vehicle was going and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been working with Tennessee police and the auto maker to collect as much evidence as possible about the incident to make sure whether any additional action is required.

Recall Not Required

Elon Musk, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) recently confirmed while speaking at a New York Times DealBook conference that the automaker would not be recalling its Model S electric vehicle. Despite three vehicle fires in just under two months, the CEO alleged that the media coverage of the fires is misleading. The CEO stressed that no injuries have occurred in any of the fire incidents.

While videos of all three incidents have gone viral, the stock price of Tesla Motors Inc. has also been affected severely. At this time, the stock has plunged over 8% in today's trade.

Even Daimler AG Ties won't be affected

One of the world's most successful automotive companies, pioneer of automotive engineering and the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, Daimler AG (OTN: DDAIF) said earlier this month to expand its cooperation with the U.S. based electric car maker,  Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) regardless of reported fire incidents with its electric vehicle. Bodo Uebber, the Chief Financial Officer of Daimler said at a press briefing that he has asked his people to look for other opportunities with Tesla and to look for more cooperation.

Currently, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is providing electric batteries and motors to Daimler for its new Mercedes-Benz B-Class and Smart Fortwo EV which will go on sale in the U.S. and Europe next year.

Daimler is in the middle of discussing potential strategies with Renault-Nissan towards building a next generation of compact vehicles in Mexico. However, Uebber mentioned that no decision has been made so far. Uebber added that despite being a late entrant, the company is eyeing to get a broader customer base for its compact cars.

Just when it appeared investors had left Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) for newer, shinier models, the Redmond, WA tech giant is beginning to return to investors’ good graces.

Indeed, shares of the company are up a remarkable 41.7% for the year.

What’s going on here?

A full-on restoration of investor confidence it seems.

When ValueAct Capital founder Jeff Ubben took an enormous $2 bullion long position in the company in April, investors were forced to reexamine the stock, seeking to answer the question, “What the heck does this guy see in Microsoft?”

Ubben and company are so impressed with what’s going on at Microsoft, they want to get involved. Either that, or they feel that holding $2 billion in the company’s stock entitles them to a say. The two parties have agreed to hold regular meetings, but we can assume that it won’t be long until G. Mason Morfit, president of ValueAct Capital is sitting on Microsoft’s board.

The departure of CEO Steve Ballmer on August 23rd, too, has seen the tech company’s stock prices tick upward and throughout the ongoing search for a replacement for Mr. Ballmer, something resembling optimism has emerged surrounding the company. In the past week, it’s been all good news for the Ballmer’s former company, although little of it seems to have much of anything to do with the core competencies of the company, save for some news about the XBOX One.

Microsoft has been lauded for both putting an end to their “stack rating” system and partnering with Google in an effort to curb child pornography online.

If you didn’t actually take a look at Microsoft’s stock chart, you might assume, based on headlines over the past several months, that the company’s stock had been continuing its seemingly eternally flat trend.

However, with the Surface doing reasonably well, Office sales maintaining a dominant market share and strong quarterly earnings accompanying a CEO shakeup, Microsoft has investors interested (and invested) for the first time in recent years.

London-based fund Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddock and Steve Heinz has reduced its position in London-listed Central Asia Metals Ltd (LON:CAML), a filing revealed. The fund now holds around 7.78 million shares, down from 9.05 million held earlier. The decreased position amasses 9.18% of the company’s voting rights. Earlier, Lansdowne disclosed upping its stake in Tableau Software Inc (NYSE:DATA) to 6.10% of the company outstanding Class A Common Stock.

Central Asia Metals is a company hedquarted in England. It is specialized in copper extraction and production, as well as other precious metals and base metals mineral exploration. It’s operations are focused in Mongolia and Kazakhstan, with largest projects concentrated in copper, gold and molybdenum. In the first half of 2013, the company managed to produce over 4,800 tonnes of cathode copper, and to sell over 5,000 tonnes, which represents a surge from 1,700 tonnes of copper produced and $1,300 tonnes sold in the same period of last year. The revenue of the company surged by over a threefold in the first half and totaled $21.2 million, versus $6.8 million in the same period of last year.

The company’s stock has returned more than 20% since the beginning of the year, and sports a P/E of 12.11. According to the company’s website, some other major shareholders of Central Asia Metals are Legal & General Group, and Commonwealth American Partners LLP, each holding around 9.9 million shares, and 7.5 million respectively, the stakes representing 11.4% and 8.6% respectively. They are followed by Montoya Investment Limited, and Majedie Asset Management, which own 5.1 million shares, and 4.5 million shares respectively.

Disclosure: none

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4 Cheap Stocks Panning Capital is Betting On

David Zusman's New Fund Is Worth Tracking: Let's See What It's Up To

Jana Partners Becomes QEP Resources' Largest Shareholder. Why?

Warren Buffett loves newspapers. Indeed, Buffett has regularly claimed that newspapers are in his blood. He has had a fascination with them ever since he started his first job as a newspaper boy. Many other investment managers have sniffed at this, disregarding the printed news industry as a dying breed. However, I’m of the opinion that Buffett has a point.

You see, one thing that stands out about the newspaper industry is that although the circulation of national and international printed papers is declining, local papers are still in demand. This is according to the 2011 Community Newspaper Readership Study, conducted by The Reynolds Journalism Institute, or RJI, on behalf of National Newspaper Association, or NNA, in August and October 2011.

Within the United States, three-quarters of residents in small cities and towns read a local newspaper from one to seven days a week. Moreover, 81% of these readers rely on the publications for local news and information. What’s more, around 52% of residents selected “newspaper” as their primary news source in small towns and cities

Falling out of favor
Lee Enterprises has been shunned by many investors for its exposure to the printed news industry. The company produces 46 daily newspapers and nearly 300 specialty publications in 23 states. However, Lee is in the middle of a transition. The company is trying to move its customers to the online space as physical readership declines.

It would appear that this plan is working, as Lee’s total digital revenue expanded 5% year-over-year during the third quarter. This helped cushion Lee’s overall year-over-year revenue decline to only 2.8%. That said, digging deeper into the numbers an interesting trend emerges which seems to support the idea that within local markets printed news readership remains high.

On a divisional basis during the fiscal third quarter sales of Lee’s National papers declined by just under 15%. However, revenue from Lee’s niche publications expanded 9%, impressive growth that reiterates my point made above .

All in all, the demand is definitely there and Lee should not be written off anytime soon.

Paparazzi
Daily Mail & General has also moved from the print to online market. Actually, Daily Mail & General has completely reinvented itself during this transition online. The company has realigned itself away from news and toward The Kardashians through its MailOnline platform, which has sent readership numbers through the roof.

In particular, the company reported earlier this year that while national newspaper sales declined 7%, underlying advertising revenue was up 2%. This was led by the MailOnline, which saw a 41% rise in advertising revenue. Average daily unique browsers were 8.2 million, with year-over-year growth of 38 %!

Branching out
The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) is one of the best known newspapers in the United States and possibly the world. However, The Washington Post no longer owns its own flagship publication. That said, the flagship publication long ago stopped being the company’s only revenue stream.

The Washington Post Company owns Kaplan, the education business, which could eventually be responsible for two-thirds of the company’s revenue. Beyond this, the rest of the company’s revenue will now come from Phoenix-based Cable One, which provides cable services. Furthermore, The Washington Post has acquired many other businesses within different sectors recently which has allowed the company to branch out and reduce its dependence on traditional print.

Actually, the company has become somewhat of a mini-Berkshire recently, as it acquired a parts supplier to boiler manufacturers and a small stake in Celtic Healthcare, a small hospice company .

Foolish summary
Warren Buffett has a point when it comes to newspapers and newspaper companies. Readership of printed news is declining but on a local and niche scale readership numbers are not falling but rising. What’s more, many traditional newspaper companies are now branching out from their original print offerings and into the online space where margins are higher. In the case of The Washington Post, the company has branched out into other businesses, and even without its flagship publication the company continues to function extremely well.

The article Warren Buffett Loves Newspapers, but Should You? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rupert Hargreaves has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. 

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

This is the first year that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has chosen to introduce two new iPhone models. The iPhone 5C was supposed to have generally the same parts as last year's iPhone 5, but comes in a new plastic casing available in different colors. The new model was supposed to be a step away from the high-end considering its price, and to differentiate from the company's flagship aluminum iPhone 5S, which exclusively has a TouchID fingerprint sensor for secure access. At the moment of its launch, some market watchers predicted that the iPhone 5C would find greater success in the long run. However, Apple is now reducing its iPhone 5C production.

Foxconn and Pegatron

Recently, Apple lowered iPhone 5C orders to Pegatron Technology by 20 percent and those to Foxconn Electronics by nearly one-third for the 5S. Today, it has been reported that Foxconn will stop production of the iPhone 5C at its factory in Zhengzhou, northern China, and shift the capacity to iPhone 5S, according to anonymous industry sources. However, some say that the company will not stop production of the iPhone 5C but only reduce its weekly output slightly. To this moment, Foxconn has declined to comment.

Foxconn has been Apple's primary assembly partners for years, while Pegatron "pushed" its way in with a contract to build both the iPhone and the iPad mini. Reportedly, each company will handle about 30 percent of orders for Apple's iPhone 5C, while the other will take care of the remaining 70 percent respectively. But really, what is the deal with the iPhone 5C?

Weak sales

Apparently, the new plastic Apple iPhone has experienced less-than-stellar sales since it was launched in September. Plus, as we have said before, the "C" in its name does not stand for "cheap." The price both for selling and producing it are high. Costs associated with the ramp-up in production of this device are reported to have affected Pegatron's bottom line, as the company reported lower-than-expected 3Q net profits on Monday. Although the order cutbacks have done their share of contribution to this phenomenon as well.

Is that all, folks?

"Weak sales" can be a not so solid argument to support the reason why Apple is really reducing its iPhone 5C production. On the one hand, when reporting its handset business, the company does not break down figures on a model-by-model basis, citing competitive reasons. That means we can't really know to what extent the sales of the iPhone 5C affect the numbers we see. But do numbers lie? The iPhone 5C and 5S went on sale on the same day and reached sales of 9 million.

Even more, it was reported last week that the company will be adding new suppliers for the iPhone 5C and iPad mini to boost the production in 2014. So, there's another reason to add as to why Apple has been reducing and redirecting Foxconn's and Pegatron production on iPhone 5C, rather than just assuming it's not selling out.

In a disclosure of its holdings, Joseph Edelman’s Perceptive Advisors made public that it currently owns 6.57 million shares of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX) last week. The fund remains bullish regarding the pharmaceutical company, acquiring 200,000 shares at around $6.50 each, following the purchase of 515,700 shares of common stock last week. This large transaction comes only a week after AcelRx presented its third-quarter results.

Despite announcing a net loss of $11.0 million, or $0.26 per share, for the third quarter of 2013, the specialty pharmaceutical firm had good news to share with investors. Richard King, president and CEO of AcelRx, stated during the presentation, that the company is "working diligently to prepare Zalviso to be well positioned for launch in the US market, subject to regulatory approval.”

The much anticipated launch of Zalviso, an acute  pain management system for health providers, was surely taken into account by Joseph Edelman's Perceptive Advisors.  The completion of the Phase 3 development program for Zalviso, was largely responsible for the net loss AcelRx experienced over the past quarters. However, as the product is soon bound to be launched commercially, the company anticipates solid earnings.

Despite being the largest shareholder amongst hedge funds, Perceptive Advisors is not the only investment firm with a bullish sentiment towards AcelRx. Benjamin J. Taylor's  Sophrosyne Capital holds more than 732,000 shares of common stock, which represents 5.32 percent of its portfolio. Alydar Capital, which is managed by John Murphy, owns another 492,311 shares, and is the third largest hedge fund bull in our list. Along with these three investment firms, Grt Capital Partners, and Richard Driehaus' Driehaus Capital, hold around 188,000 shares each. With good long-term prospects, all these hedge funds are looking to make a profit from their bullish stance towards AcelRx.

Perceptive Advisors, a long-short hedge fund which focuses on biotech, was founded by Joseph Edelman in 1999. The fund has been generating solid returns since its foundation, gaining 24% in 2009, and 16% in 2010. The investment firm's portfolio amounts to an estimated value of $991 million, with over 85% of its assets stemming from the healthcare sector.

Disclosure: none

After Kieran Goodwin left King Street Capital Management LP back in 2010, he set on a path to create his own investment firm. The new company, Panning Capital Management LP, filed its first 13F Form on December 31^st 2012, disclosing a rather risk prone investment portfolio. The New York-based hedge fund, was to begin trading by betting  on, and against, securities from loans to distressed assets.

As the Panning Capital Management's first year in existence comes to an end, several new positions have been added to its portfolio, while other holdings have been dropped. Nevertheless, the investment strategy seems to be the same, as undervalued stocks are preferred by Goodwin's company.

Baltic

Baltic Trading Ltd (NYSE:BALT) is one of the new positions acquired by Panning Capital Management since its creation back in late 2012. Despite owning 625,000 shares of common stock, the total value of the investment barely surpassed the $3 million mark. With such an undervalued stock, Goodwin is certainly looking to make a killer profit, should share prices rise. As the drybulk shipping company is set to receive two more Handysize ships by the end of the third quarter of 2013, new profits can be expected.

GM

Another fresh addition to Panning Capital Management's portfolio is General Motors Co  (NYSE:GM). With more than 1.12 million shares of GM, amounting to a $17.3 million position, the hedge fund's can expect good returns. This relatively undervalued motor company has been recovering well from the crash it suffered during the financial crisis, and is expected to continue growing.

Southwest

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) was another interesting addition to Panning Capital Management's portfolio. The hedge fund was able to acquire 1 million shares of common stock, for the moderate sum of $14.56 million. As the airliner has large expansion plans in already in progress, share value is expected to grow in the long-term. This undervalued stock fits well into the investment firm's strategy of buying shares of beat down companies, which are now recovering and have a bright future outlook.

RBS

The 250,000 shares of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (NYSE:RBS), which Panning Capital Management purchased at a low price, is yet another investment worth looking at. The bank, which was the recipient of the world's largest bank bailout package, and is currently owned to 81.14% by the government of the United Kingdom, is set to expand in the long term. As restructuring efforts are underway, Goodwin's hedge fund remains bullish regarding this stock's future.

Disclosure: none

Twitter Inc. (NASDAQ:TWTR) has been in the headlines recently for coming up with new applications for users, like the custom tweet timeline . However, the social network is now willing to prove its civic duty by launching an emergency "alert" service in the UK. The Twitter alerts will help users avert natural catastrophes like flash-floods and hurricanes by sending out a warning text message and alert on their timelines.

Let's take a look at Twitter's intentions with this new program and see what benefits customers can find in its use.

Breaking news

The Japanese tsunami of 2011 undoubtedly left the population in awe at how unpredictable and harmful natural catastrophes can be. So, when the U.S., Japanese and South Korean government started seeing the large growth of Twitter Inc. (NASDAQ:TWTR) users in their countries, they decided the social media giant could be of great use. Hence, Twitter invented the emergency "alert" service and those three nations were the first to climb on board. And after Hurricane Sandy and the manhunt in Boston, it became clear that the social network could contribute positively in preventing accidental deaths and damages.

UK on board

In the past, Twitter Inc. (NASDAQ:TWTR) has shown how useful it can be as an information source, especially when other forms of communication are inaccessible. The Arab spring and Egypt revolts were the perfect example of how fast and far news can travel through the microblogging site if necessary. So now, the UK Foreign Office, the Environment Agency, the London Fire Brigade and the entire regional police force have signed up for the "alert" service in the hope that it will help them improve their performance under difficult situations. However, the Twitter emergency service will only be used "to share urgent information about a significant risk to life or the environment as a result of flooding or an environmental incident", as stated by the Environment Agency.

A life-saving initiative

Now Twitter Inc. (NASDAQ:TWTR) may not be a hero, but its users definitely could be. The company's Partner Manager Bridget Coyne stated when the service first launched that, "When news breaks about a weather or safety emergency, government agencies and emergency responders jump into action on the ground and on Twitter, delivering critical and timely information and engaging with constituents". And this course of action will be the key in helping the UK forces retain a conflict, since instant information can be the life-saving factor in scenarios like a terrorist attack.

Talara Capital Management, a hedge fund founded by David Zusman, a former Perella Weinberg Partners portfolio manager, has been catching our attention recently, although it is still quite small and manages about $200 million in assets. This real asset investment partnership is focused on long-term (fundamental) investments on global resource and industrial companies.

Over the past few months, Mr. Zusman's fund has been making some interesting moves worth tracking. By comparing its 13F filings for the period finished on June 30^th and the one concluded on September 30^th, we can form a basic idea of the way that Talara's investments have changed and where they are being directed. Let's take a look at some basic points:

Cutting down on oil.

Emerald Oil Inc (NYSEMKT:EOX) was the fund's largest holding in terms of value by the end of the second quarter. Although the stock gained more than 50% in price since the beginning of the year, the third quarter was quite troubled, and this led the fund to sell 379,732 shares. However, it still owns 985,180 shares, valued at approximately $8.1 million.

Talara also sold out its participation -100,000 shares, worth almost $6 million- at Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL). However, the stock price escalated 10% since.

Looking at these, and other moves, like the Jones Energy Inc (NYSE:JONE) –its seventh largest holding by the end of Q2- sell out, one can notice that the fund is moving away from the oil & gas industry.

Where’s the money going?

Talara’s portfolio is turning toward techonology. Its current main holding is ATMI Inc (NASDAQ:ATMI), a tech materials provider with a market cap close to $1 billion. The fund added 209,687 shares to its portfolio during the third quarter. Since that moment, stock price has risen by more than 10%, and its holdings are now worth about $10.4 million.

The bullish sentiment here is most likely encouraged by the company’s position as a supplier for the top semiconductor manufacturers in the world. As semiconductor technologies advance, the firm is also prone to benefit from increased demand for materials, scale advantages and decreasing costs.

Bullish on basic materials.

The firm is also placing big bets–just like on the second quarter- on Ashland, a  specialty chemicals company in which Jana Partners has a big stake. Mr. Zusman's holdings increased by 5,000 shares during the third quarter, to 99,873 shares, worth $6.6 million.

Rolling toward success.

Similar to the aforementioned case, is that of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), of which the fund owns 191,241 shares, compared to 160,000 the previous quarter. Its holdings are currently valued at roughly $7.3 million. Finally, also making the fund's top 5 picks is Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG). Talara owns 110,000 shares (up from 95,000 on the previous quarter), valued at $7.2 million.

Disclosure: none

According to an amended filing with the SEC, Barry Rosenstein's Jana Partners increased their holdings in QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP) to over 13.54 million shares last week. This represents 7.6% of the company's total outstanding shares, making the hedge fund the largest shareholder, based on publicly available filings. A few weeks prior to the disclosure, Jana Partners had sent a letter to QEP's board, wherein it presented an action plan for the firm's "chronic underperformance for shareholders.”

The action plan consists of three major points. First off, Jana Partners wants to add Board members and fill management positions with individuals with midstream experience. The second step consists of "separating QEP's midstream business ("QEPFS") to unlock its true value". Finally, the hedge fund insists that shareholders must receive more significant returns on capital, indicating that this action could be funded by sales of non-core assets.

Jana Partners does not appreciate management's lack of effort to increase shareholder value. The hedge fund intends to influence the board to "evaluate the interest of several strategic and financial partners who have approached QEP regarding a transaction that would result in a separation of QEPFS.” In the letter to the Board, the hedge fund had few kind words for CEO Charles B. Stanley. According to Jana Partners, Stanley "is unwilling to accept that true value maximization requires the full implementation of this plan, most importantly the immediate separation of QEPFS.”  If the separation were to be achieved however, additional value would be added to Jana Partners' investment, generating a very favorable outcome.

Although Barry Rosenstein's Jana Partners is by far the largest QEP shareholder, other hedge funds are also bullish regarding the energy company. D E Shaw, which is managed by D. E. Shaw, holds over 1.13 million shares of common stock, representing  0.05% of its 13F portfolio. Other optimistic hedge funds include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management. These three investment firms hold smaller positions, although still significant with more than 750,000 shares each.

Jana Partners is a value-oriented investment firm. Founded by Barry Rosenstein in 2001, the hedge fund's motto is “Ignore the crowd,” a statement the company's management follows consistently. Barry Rosenstein is keen on putting his money behind businesses with enough funds to continue growing, as is the case with QEP.

Disclosure: none

Through its first five years of existence, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)'s Android phones have been notoriously bad at taking pictures. Especially we compare its quality to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s iPhone, which made quite a revolution regarding cameras and the mobile phone business.

This situation has improved somewhat over the past year or two, with devices such as Galaxy S3/4 and Xperia Z1, that provide decent imaging performance. But still, they don't match the quality of pictures taken with an iPhone, or even Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)'s Pureview. And Google's signature Nexus phones remain pretty disappointing on this regard. But things may change soon. It seems that Google has finally decided to focus on getting better pictures.

Catching Up With Competition?

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been working on a new camera API to be included in the Android KitKat release, and shipped with Nexus 5. Unfortunately, they were not able to finish the work in time. So this new phone still has the old under-performing API.

This explains the lack of improvements of the camera in Nexus 5. Old, not up to the task API can't fully utilize latest advances in imaging hardware. And once again, Android phones lost to their competition in the camera department.

However, new features will come with the next phone. Al least we can now be certain that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has decided to develop some formidable software and image processing that will improve Android's imaging.

The new Android camera API will include RAW file support, burst mode and support for removable cameras. But most of the improvements are likely to be in the low-level hardware support and image processing optimizations.

Will this finally allow Android phones to catch up to competition? Well, it can if Google doesn't take too long polishing things up and releases the new camera API in Android KitKat 4.4.1 update in a month or two.

Meanwhile, Android KitKat 4.4 Still Has Good Reviews

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)'s Android 4.4 KitKat is a pretty significant update, one that sees both UX changes and plenty of new features added. Anyone using a stock version of the platform will immediately notice subtle differences in the design, layout, looks and feel of the platform.

CNET's Sarah Mitroff praised Kitkat's "minimalist design" for being "fresh" and "simple" while noting the further integration of Google Now, which is now very much at the center of the experience.

Pocket-lint’s Chris Hall also enjoyed Google’s brighter, cleaner approach to Android, suggesting it “means that the display appears to be larger, because you have the spread of colour across the whole screen.”

And quite a good number of more good reviews can be found in different forums.

By Victoria Frers

According to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Eton Park Capital, run by Eric Mindich, boosted Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR) holding in its equity portfolio. The filing revealed Eton holding a passive stake which amasses some 7.5 million shares of class A common stock. The position is passive by nature and represents 6.21% of the outstanding class A common stock. In its latest 13F, Eton Park reported holding 5.75 million class A shares of AeroSystems Holdings.

The holding of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings experienced one of the highest increases in the fund’s latest 13F, compared to other companies. Eton Park disclosed boosting its stake in the company by 3.25 million shares.

The stock of Spirit AeroSystems has been advancing since the beginning of the year, and already increased by almost 90%. The stock also trails a solid forward P/E of around 11.7. This, together, with an expected EPS increase by around 400% for the next year, makes Spirit Aerosystems as a company worth taking a look at for an investor. Earlier this month, the company engaged in manufacturing of equipment for aircrafts announced about delivering its first edge wing structures for Airbus’ A320neo.

In addition to Eton Park, according to our database, other hedge funds reported significant positions in the company. As follows, Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich‘s Scopia Capital held the largest stake, which contained over 18.4 million shares. It is followed by Jeffrey Altman‘s Owl Creek Asset Management, and Orbis Investment Management, managed by William B. Gray, whose positions amass around 5.8 million, and 3.2 million shares respectively.

Disclosure: none

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On November 15th, Pershing Square Capital Management filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission two new 13D forms. In the first, the firm disclosed a new holding in Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB:FNMA)  totaling 115,569,796 shares of common stock, or 9.98% of outstanding stock. In the second filing, Pershing Square Capital Management revealed a similar position in the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (OTCBB:FMCC). According to the document the fund holds now 63,505,693 shares of common stock, which represents 9.77% of the company’s outstanding stock. The disclosure of the mentioned positions shows Bill Ackman's great interest in public government-sponsored enterprises funds.

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management is not the only hedge fund with a great interest for government secured bonds. On Wednesday, November 13th, Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme Capital Management made pubic its interest for acquiring a stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So far, the hedge fund holds nearly $3.5 billion face value of the government and $17.3 billion in rights issue on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares. And the new plan to acquire an additional stake is rumored to be worth a total of $52 million.

If US government announcements to 'wind down' the two mortgage companies are to be taken seriously, then the transaction is expected to find important tailwinds. According to President Obama, "private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage markets… I believe that our housing system should operate where there's a limited government role, and private lending should be the backbone of the housing market."

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have experienced 8% to 9% in appreciation since Fairholme’s move. What the future holds for both government-sponsored mortgage enterprises remains to be seen. Since Berkowitz's plan is to convert the shares controlled into common equity, Fairholme will need the support of other investors in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As of today, several preferred shareholders are rumored to have reached a principle of agreement. Hence, a response from Bill Ackman is expected soon.

Disclosure: none

If you’re a conservative investor looking for a high yield plus the potential for price appreciation, you may be doing yourself a disservice by sticking to the bond universe. For Foolish investors, stable stocks with growing dividends are always worth a look.

When looking for solid dividend stocks, I try to look for a combination of excellent dividend-raising history, high current yield, and superior potential for earnings growth. Earnings are important, and you should also examine the projected five-year earnings growth rate, as well as the current P/E ratio.

Here are three pharmaceutical companies to consider for investors looking to get exposure to this sector.

Patent expiring in three more tears
AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)  has a 3.3% yield, and the stock is up 44% since it began trading in January; it’s currently just off its all-time high of $50.

AbbVie was spun off earlier this year from Abbott Labs, which has raised its dividend every year for 40 years. Its payout ratio is a reasonable 42%, which leaves plenty of cash for further investments in the company as well as returning some to shareholders.

The company announced third-quarter earnings on Oct. 25, reporting $0.82 in earnings per share, 5% better than the consensus analyst forecast. The consensus for full-year 2013 is $3.14 per share.

AbbVie’s P/E is 30% lower than the pharmaceutical sector average at 24.5. Its 5-year projected earnings growth rate is 13.4%, which gives it a low PEG ratio of only 1.3, compared to 4.0 for the industry as a whole.

AbbVie is heavily reliant on one drug, Humira, which treats rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and digestive diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. It was the No. 1 selling drug in the world in 2012, and it accounts for around half of AbbVie’s annual sales. While it still maintains its patent, it is due to expire in 2016, although competitors’ drugs are expected to ramp up more slowly than normal because of the biologic nature of the drug, which is harder to duplicate than an ordinary synthesized medication.

Although the patent expiration is looming, there is still some time before it will begin to seriously impact sales. In the meantime, keep an eye on AbbVie’s pipeline, especially its efforts with a new oral hepatitis-C drug.

Teva (NYSE:TEVA) in turmoil?
Teva Pharmaceuticals , the Israel-based company known mostly for its line of generic drugs, is currently trading at around $38 and yields 3.4%; the company has been raising dividends consistently for 14 years and has an impressive five-year dividend growth rate of 21.8%. Its five-year projected earnings growth rate is not terribly exciting at 5.6%, and after excluding extraordinary items, it has a reasonable payout ratio of around 46%.

The stock price has bounced around in the $37 to $42 range over the past year, and has slid recently to its low point because of its lackluster third-quarter results and the departure of its CEO. The reason for the change in management is unclear, as the official announcement said that he stepped down, but he told a reporter that it wasn’t his decision. Only days previously, he had issued a statement that said,  “I categorically deny the rumours suggesting that I am considering resigning from the management of Teva. We are talking about a report without any basis.”

Teva will lose its patent protection on Copaxone, its popular multiple sclerosis drug, in 2014. Copaxone accounts for more than 20% of Teva revenues and 50% of its profit, which will be a huge hit next year. The company had been asking for a stay until 2015, but it was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Teva is also involved in a bribery investigation in Europe, so that fact may also be weighing on investors. Additionally, the company just announced that it will pay nearly $600 million to the Israeli government in “trapped profits,” profits generated by multinational companies that have not been taxed by the Israeli government. The government is offering reduced rates as incentive to repatriate some of the untaxed profits.

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) turnaround?
AstraZeneca is currently trading at $53 and yields 3.4%; the company has a five-year dividend growth rate of 8.2%. The company pays its dividend twice per year instead of quarterly, and its 2013 dividend will be $0.05 less than its 2012 payout. Its P/E is low at 14.4, and its payout ratio is high but not unsustainable at 75%.

The company reported its third-quarter results on Oct. 31, and profits and revenues are down significantly in 2013; they are estimated even lower for 2014. In fact, the 5-year projected earnings growth rate for the company is a negative 10.6%.

Declines are the result of patent losses on many of the company’s popular drugs; even though the patent still remains on heart drug Crestor, sales for the company’s top-seller have slowed. The company is pursuing acquisitions in order to supplement its drug pipeline.

The company has hired a new CFO, and explained in the recent earnings conference call that it is in a “trough” and that a turnaround can be expected. But when asked to forecast a timeline for that turnaround, outgoing CFO Simon Lowth refused to commit.

The stock is trading at its 52-week high, up 15% from its low of $44 a year ago.  This is actually a little curious, since there are many near-term challenges for this company.

Conclusions
AbbVie looks good for another couple of years, before the risk of the Humira patent expiration begins to really weigh on the company. It’s still reasonably valued despite the price increase, and It would be terrific in a dividend-growth portfolio.

Both Teva and AstraZeneca yield more than AbbVie, but that doesn’t mean they are a better option. Teva needs to clean up its management team and get its legal troubles behind it before it can stabilize. And AstraZeneca is a potential turnaround story, but a lot of patience might be required.

The article 3 High-Yield Pharmaceutical Dividend Stocks originally appeared on Fool.com.

Karin Hernandez owns shares of AbbVie. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 

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

This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines feature downgrades on both trucker Swift Transportation (NYSE:SWFT)  and hi-tech-er NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) . But the news isn’t all bad.

Level 3 is going up
The week began on a bright note for shareholders of Internet backbone operator Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT) , which received a boost to its price target from analysts at UBS. In a bow to investor sentiment that has jacked up Level 3′s share by more than 60% over the past year, UBS raised its target price on the stock to $30 a share.

And yet, UBS still couldn’t quite bring itself to recommend buying Level 3, which it left rated neutral. Why is that?

Several great reasons come immediately to mind. First and foremost, the fact that Level 3 still isn’t profitable — that it has not, in fact, earned any profit whatsoever in the past 15 years! True, Level 3 is generating positive cash flow from operations, and even generated a bit of free cash flow for its shareholders… in 2009. But Level 3 is not FCF-positive today. It remains mired in more than $8 billion net debt, and even if it does turn profitable at some point in the future, most analysts agree that long-term growth rates at the company won’t exceed 4%.

Long story short, saying it’s only neutral on the stock just might be the nicest thing UBS could say about it.

Will Swift stall? 
It’s certainly nicer than what Stifel Nicolaus had to say about Swift Transportation today. Worrying over the stock’s “valuation,” Stifel cut its rating on the Phoenix-based trucker one notch to neutral. And yet, when you look at it, neutral-rated Swift is actually a less bad (which is not to say “good”) bargain than neutral-rated Level 3.

Swift shares currently fetch 23 times earnings on the open market, and are expected to grow these earnings at about 16% annually over the next five years. The company sports modestly better free cash flow ($145 million) than reported GAAP earnings ($139 million), suggesting a high quality of earnings at the company. On the other hand, Swift does carry a sizable slug of debt — about $1.6 billion net of cash.

Weighing all these factors, I find I agree with Stifel’s move to downgrade. This stock’s 16% growth rate is certainly — ahem — “swift.” But after the 165% run-up the shares have seen over the past year, I think most of the easy money in Swift has already been made. A ratings downshift is appropriate.

Envisioning a cheaper NVIDIA
Last but not least, we move to NVIDIA, the subject of an even more drastic downgrade — to underperform — from analysts at Morgan Stanley this morning. As StreetInsider.com relates, Morgan cut its rating on NVIDIA because it is “uncertain” that NVIDIA will achieve the 12% earnings growth rate that most analysts have the company pegged for.

But Morgan needn’t worry so much. Over the past four quarters for which NVIDIA has filed cashflow statements, the company generated $660 million in cash profits. That number is significantly ahead of the $467 million in GAAP earnings NVIDIA reported in trailing profits for the past 12 months. Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s sizable cash hoard gives the stock an ex-cash market cap (or enterprise value) of just $6.4 billion.

What this works out to is an enterprise value-to-free-cash-flow ratio of less than 10. Bolstered by a substantial 2.1% dividend yield, that should make the stock a pretty obvious bargain at consensus estimates of 12% growth. But in fact, even if Morgan Stanley is right and NVIDIA can’t meet the growth target, there’s a pretty decent-sized margin of safety built into this stock price.

I think the underperform rating is uncalled for. Even if you agree with the analyst that growth rates won’t measure up, NVIDIA isn’t any worse than a neutral in my book.

Motley Fool contributor Rich Smith owns shares of NVIDIA. The Motley Fool also recommends NVIDIA.

The article Monday’s Top Upgrades (and Downgrades) originally appeared on Fool.com.

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