Back in April 2012, University of Pennsylvania Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel, predicted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) has a 50% chance of hitting 17,000 and a 75% chance that it will hit 15,000 by the end of 2013. The 15,000 mark has already been reached and surpassed. With the Dow now at 15,354, the average only needs to advance another 10.7% to end the year at 17,000.

Siegel's thesis is based on the relative cheap valuation of stocks and their behavior over time. In April 2012, the market had a P/E ratio of 13. Siegel said,

When you start at a 13 price-earnings ratio, get back in history, the future is much, much brighter. We've never had bad stock returns over the next three, five, 10 years when you start with a 13 P/E ratio, and that's the world of difference.

The market now sports a

Honda Motors (HMC) has a few positive things going for it that are likely to drive the stock higher over the next few years. The maker of autos, motorcycles, and power products is experiencing a perfect storm of conditions that should benefit its business and contribute to higher earnings growth to catalyze the stock. Honda's products are a great value for consumers as the company offers quality and reliability at affordable prices.

Attractive Valuation

At first glance, the trailing P/E ratio of 16 and the forward P/E of 14 do not look all that intriguing. However, Honda has a PEG ratio of only 0.73, a price to sales ratio of 0.59, and a price to book ratio of 1.17. With the PEG and price to sales ratios under 1 and the price to book ratio under 2, Honda is undervalued.

The company became undervalued as a result of the

Myriad Genetics (MYGN) is a $2.64 billion mid-cap molecular diagnostics company that specializes in analyzing genes. The company analyzes genes to assess a person's risk for developing disease later in life. This analysis also determines a patient's likelihood of responding to specific drugs and to determine optimal dosing. It also assesses a patient's risk of disease progression and reoccurrence. Myriad owns the patents for these innovative and life-saving diagnostics, giving the company a moat around its business.

Actress Angelina Jolie recently brought attention to Myriad when she wrote about having her double-mastectomy in the New York Times. Myriad's gene diagnostics determined that Jolie carries a faulty gene, BRCA1, which increases her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. She decided to have a preventive double-mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer. Jolie wrote that her chances of developing breast cancer were reduced from 87% to

The following companies in the energy and biotech sectors have recently exceeded expectations on revenue and earnings growth. These earnings reports could act as a catalyst for stock gains over the next few months.

Energy

Great Plains Energy (GXP) is a $3.6 billion mid-cap company involved in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company generates electricity through coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, and wind resources. Great Plains has 6,600 megawatts of generating capacity and sells electricity to 825,300 customers in Missouri and Kansas.

Great Plains Energy reported first quarter revenue of $542.2 million, which beat expectations by 4.9%. Earnings per share of $0.17 beat expectations by 54.5%.

The company is trading just slightly above its book value per share of $21.79 as indicated in the price to book ratio of 1.08. This gives the stock an attractive valuation. Great Plains' gross margin of 43% is higher than

Chesapeake Energy's (CHK) stock has struggled since the financial crisis of 2008. The stock did rise above $30 in 2011, but has since dropped to its current price of $19. The company is a producer of natural gas and oil in the United States. Chesapeake has natural gas interests in the Haynesville, Bossier, Marcellus, and Barnett shale. The company also has numerous liquid interests in multiple states. CHK has the potential to be a promising investment if a few key wrinkles are ironed out.

One issue that Chesapeake needs to resolve is getting a permanent CEO on board. The company needs an industry leader that can lead CHK to long-term growth. The fact that the company has not replaced Aubrey McClendon has created a sense of uneasiness and uncertainty among investors. When a solid, permanent leader is announced as the new CEO, this uncertainty should fade.

Another issue that needs

Phillips 66 (PSX) looks like one of the more compelling investments in the oil and gas industry. The company operates in the following four segments: Refining, Marketing and Specialties, Midstream and Chemicals. Refining comprised 65.5% of the company's net income in the first quarter. Marketing and Specialties, which was separated from the Refining segment, comprised 13.4% of net sales. The Midstream segment which comprised 7.8% of net income in the first quarter includes the company's 50% equity investment in DCP Midstream. The Chemicals segment, which comprised 20% of net income in the first quarter, includes the company's 50% investment in CPChem. Phillips 66 is well-positioned to benefit from the growth in U.S. oil, natural gas and NGL production.

Phillips 66 beat its earnings estimates for Q1 2013 by 16% (EPS of $2.19 vs. an estimate of $1.88). The increase in earnings was primarily due to improved results from

The "sell in May and go away" scenario could present itself this year. The markets have been on fire thus far in 2013. The SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) is up over 10.5% year-to-date. That's approximately a year's worth of gains in less than four months. Since the stocks comprising the index are expected to earn an average of about 10.5% annually, this should approximately equal the yearly gains for the index. Since markets don't continue to rise without corrections, it is possible that we'll see a dip soon.

Historically, since 1950, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) only gained an average of 0.3% from May through October. The Dow gained an average of 7.5% from November through April since 1950. There is no doubt that a dip in the market is due. I wanted to explore the possible causes that could trigger this scenario for 2013.

A barrage of

Although McDonald's (MCD) faces a challenging informal eating out (IEO) environment (increased competition and slow economic growth), the company is still able to generate loads of cash and remains steadfast in putting it to good use. McDonald's has a priority of using its cash to reinvest in the business for long-term growth. This includes: modernizing current restaurants to make them more appealing and efficient for customers and developing new restaurants in key markets to expand the company's footprint.

McDonald's also uses its cash to reward shareholders. The company earned its status as a dividend champion by increasing its dividend payments every year since 1976. With a solid track record like that, I would expect annual dividend hikes to continue. The current dividend of 3.1% is higher than the yield of the S&P 500, which currently pays about 2%.

The company also makes use of its cash through share repurchases. Shareholders

With most of the beer companies outperforming the S&P 500 recently, investors in these stocks have no reason to whine. The recent news that Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) has agreed to sell its rights to several foreign brands to the United States should ensure competitive beer prices. This was part of the terms of an anti-trust lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice. This will allow BUD to proceed with the takeover of Grupo Modelo of Mexico, the brewer of Corona. As part of the agreement, BUD will sell Modelo's 50% stake in Crown Imports, which distributes Corona and other Modelo brands in the United States. This 50% stake is being sold to Constellation Brands (STZ), which already owns the other 50% stake. Without this agreement, BUD's market share would have increased from 39% to 46%. By allowing Constellation to purchase the other 50% stake in Crown Imports

I remember when Warren Buffett took a lot of criticism back in 1999 during the dot-com bubble. Many investors thought that the oracle of Omaha lost his edge since he wouldn't invest in any of the high-flying tech companies during that time period. Although Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) stock took a hit after the bubble burst, the company did not get crushed as drastically as many of the tech companies that never recovered. Berkshire recovered nicely and has outperformed the market over the long term. You have to admire Buffett's poise in sticking to his investing principles during the dot-com frenzy. Ultimately, his investing principles have won over time.

As a change of pace, I wanted to highlight the company's business segments rather than discuss the typical stock holdings. Berkshire Hathaway is a comprehensive collection of businesses, which includes: insurance, railroad, utilities/energy, manufacturing, service and retailing, financial products, and investments.

Citigroup (C) beat estimates on its top and bottom lines for Q1 2013. Revenue of $20.8 billion exceeded estimates by 3.2% and EPS of $1.29 exceeded estimates by 11.2%. The company's book value per share increased to $62.51, but the stock is trading about 27% below these levels. There are certain parts of the business that have seen increases for the quarter and others that have experienced declines.

The Winners

The Citicorp segment was a highlight in the quarter, which had a 6% increase in revenue to $19.6 billion. Citicorp net income increased 17% to $4.6 billion. Under this segment, consumer loans grew 1%, while corporate loans grew 9%.

Geographically, North America was the brightest region where revenues increased 20% and net income increased 51% for the Citicorp segment. Latin America had a 4% increase in revenue, but net income remained flat. Asia saw a 1% increase in revenue

Investors seeking yield have been considering Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) for their above average distributions and steady price appreciation. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) is a pipeline transportation and storage MLP with 46,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. KMP's pipelines transport natural gas, crude oil, refined petroleum products, carbon dioxide, and more. The storage terminals hold petroleum products and chemicals.

KMP sports a decent yield of 5.5%. The partnership has increased its distributions every year since 1997. The partnership agreement requires KMP to distribute all of its available cash on a quarterly basis to its unitholders. KMP anticipates that it will pay cash distributions of $5.28 per unit in 2013. This is a 6% increase in distributions over 2012 and would make the yield 5.9% in terms of the current price. That's not a bad yearly raise for income investors, considering that the average pay raise

Biotechs that produce vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat viruses ramped up Friday April 5 on news that 6 people were confirmed to have died in China as a result of the Avian Flu outbreak. China officials advised people to avoid eating poultry and had over 20,000 birds slaughtered at a wholesale market in Shanghai where the Avian Flu (H7N9) virus was detected in a pigeon. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) rose 28%, Pure Bioscience (PURE) and Hemispherx Biopharma (HEB) each rose 15%, Sinovac Biotech (SVA) rose 9%, and Novavax (NAVAX) rose 6%.

John Oxford, a professor of virology, at Queen Mary, University of London, warned that this could turn into a pandemic if the H7N9 virus mutated and allowed human-to-human transmission. His concerns stem from influenza's history of emerging and spreading. Back in 2003, a previous strain of Avian Flu known as H5N1, killed over 300 people and devastated

eBay (EBAY) has committed to drive continued growth in its primary businesses: Marketplaces, PayPal, and GSI Commerce. The company is focusing on leveraging its global mobile ecommerce leadership and technologies for new customer and retailer experiences. To accomplish this, eBay is creating a new web-enabled retail interface that is intended to be a new seamless, multiscreen commerce experience. At the end of 2012, eBay had over 112 million active users.

(click to enlarge)

The company has a goal of enabling $300 billion of global commerce by 2015. eBay achieved a global commerce volume of $175 billion in 2012. All three business segments are included in these figures. The company expects revenue to grow to $21.5 billion in 2015, as compared to $14.1 billion in 2012. The use of mobile devices is a growing opportunity where eBay expects to generate $20 billion of mobile commerce in 2013.

The Marketplaces segment

Bank of America (BAC) was trading at about $7 this past summer and at only $5 in December 2011. The stock is now trading at over $12. Despite this large run-up in price, the stock is still trading at a significant discount to its book value per share of $20. Most stocks typically trade at least at or above their book value per share. This means that BAC has a good chance of performing well over the long-term as the price continues to approach its book value per share.

Bank of America operates in all 50 states and in more than 40 countries. The company serves over 53 million customers with about 5,500 banking centers and 16,300 ATMs, call centers and online/mobile banking platforms.

(click to enlarge)

The company increased its assets by 3.8% and decreased its long-term debt by 26% in 2012 over 2011. Deposits increased 7% year-over-year, while

Our basic need to eat food daily has helped to make General Mills (GIS) a consistent, reliable, dividend paying investment over the long-term. The company's variety of cereals, soups, yogurts, baking mixes, frozen foods, and other goodies are consumed daily and contribute to the company's top and bottom lines.

The company reported positive increases for its fiscal third quarter of 2013. Net sales increased 8% to $4.4 million, while earnings per share increased 3% to $0.60. New businesses (primarily Yoki and Yoplait Canada) accounted for 6 of the 8 net sales percentage points.

(click to enlarge)

General Mills is a champion dividend paying company with a yield of 3.2%. The company and its predecessor firms have paid dividends for 114 consecutive years without interruption or reduction. General Mills offers a dividend reinvestment plan as a convenient way to invest and accumulate shares in the company.

The company also is committed

Sunrise, sunset; sunrise, sunset; swiftly flow the days; seedlings turn overnight into sunflowers; blossoming even as we gaze

"Fiddler on the Roof"

These words, from a song in "Fiddler on the Roof," remind me of how quickly a person or a business can grow. The words sunrise, sunset, provides a vision of Facebook (FB) stock, which has fallen and risen numerous times since its IPO, but has not broken out above the IPO closing price of $38. Facebook was launched in 2004, and now has over 1 billion monthly active users and 618 million daily active users. Facebook increased its monthly active users by 25% and its daily active users by 28% in 2012 over 2011.

Facebook has also significantly increased its mobile users. Worldwide mobile monthly active users increased 57% to 680 million in 2012 over 2011. The company anticipates that the rate of mobile usage will exceed

Silver Wheaton (SLW) is a high growth silver streaming company with a market-cap of $11 billion. It is the largest precious metals streaming company in the world. The company has 14 long-term silver purchase agreements and 2 long-term precious metal purchase agreements. Under these agreements, the company has the right to purchase all or a portion of silver and gold production at a fixed low price from high-quality mines located around the world, in exchange for an upfront payment. Other than its initial upfront payment, the company has no capital or exploration costs.

Silver Wheaton achieved a record 2012 production of 29.6 million silver equivalent ounces with record sales of 27.3 million silver equivalent ounces. This record production led the company to record financial results with revenue and cash flow increasing about 15% in 2012 over 2011.

The company implemented a dividend policy in 2011 that distributes 20% of

To bring about improvements in the quality of people's lives and to help prolong and save those lives after many years of trials and investment - that is the beauty of biotech companies. The two biotech companies that are featured in this article work in the field of oncology (cancer). Both companies are small-cap stocks with the potential to move dramatically in either direction in short periods of time. These companies are facing FDA approval decisions within the next few months. Binary events such as this can cause large gains or losses depending on the outcome, therefore they are not for the conservative investor.

AVEO Pharmaceuticals (AVEO) has an FDA panel review date on May 2, 2013 with an FDA decision date on July 28, 2013, for Tivozanib with an indication for advanced renal cell carcinoma. This condition is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults,

With an income producing yield of 7.6%, I wanted to evaluate how Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) looks as a potential investment and take a look at the potential risks. The company is involved in the midstream transportation and storage of natural gas in the United States. ETP has 69,000 miles of natural gas, refined products, NGL, and crude oil pipelines. Energy Transfer Partners is structured as a master limited partnership (MLP).

ETP completed its merger of Sunoco in October 2012. Sunoco generates cash flow from its gasoline retail outlets located on the east coast, the Midwest, and the Southeast areas of the U.S. Mergers/acquisitions such as this are a part of ETP's primary objective of increasing distributable cash flow by expanding existing operations or through strategic acquisitions.

The partnership generates fee based revenue from transporting fuels through its pipelines and by the storage of fuels. Revenue is also generated