Since Apple, Inc. (AAPL) met its death cross (definition below) in December last year the stock has fallen over 21%, from $545.00 to its current $450.00 price level. When it occurred with Apple, this technical trend signal was so widely publicized that the media seems to now have a deathly (pun intended) fear of the event, regardless of its validity.

Before we look at gold and its impending death cross, the purpose of this article, let's first define what a death cross is:

A death cross occurs when an equity's 50-day simple moving average (SMA) (short-term movement) falls below its 200-day SMA (long-term movement). This is widely known in the technical trading world as a bearish indicator, telling traders that price movement is reversing trend to the downside. Naturally, this is generally a strong sell signal. Here is a graphical example of the death cross, illustrated by the graph

With the speculation surrounding gold recently, many investors are wondering whether to buy, sell, or hold. As with all investments, the answer grossly depends on your time frame.

First let's take a look at where gold is currently, via one-year and two-year time frames:

A number of factors, including a strengthening U.S. dollar, a stabilizing world economy, and the absence of Chinese gold demand during its Lunar New Year holiday last week have driven gold to a six month low, closing just above $1,600.00 last Friday.

This recent sell-off can also be partially attributed to the market's reaction to institutional investors George Soros, Julian Robertson, and Allianz's Pimco reducing their stake in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) in the fourth quarter of 2012. (More info can be found here.)

Naturally, the culmination of all of these factors has left gold investors feeling

The $1,650.00 price level has proven to be a significant one for gold over the past year. In the summer months of 2012, while below this price level, the precious metal found strong resistance at this level, failing to break above it until late August, 2012.

But since climbing above $1,650.00 last August gold has, once again, used this level as strong support. The precious metal has flirted with this support level a few times in the past two months and, each time, has withstood falling below it. As of this writing, gold continues to move further above this $1,650.00 support level.

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Gold futures, naturally, show similar support and resistance levels, illustrated by the graph below.

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Along with apparent support, it also looks as though commercial hedgers are becoming more interested in the precious metal as well. (Commercial hedger activity is more fully explained

The healthcare sector has been performing significantly well as of late and has consistently outpaced the S&P 500 (SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF: SPY). When comparing the returns of the healthcare sector versus those of the S&P 500, healthcare has dominated on all recent time frames, including one year, year to date (YTD), three month, and one month. Here is a detailed look of these returns:

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Shown by the graph below, the healthcare sector began to outperform the S&P 500 in the second quarter of 2012 and has continued to do so, yielding a one year 18.30% return versus the one year 11.21% return of the S&P 500:

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As healthcare stocks continue to perform well, some value can still be found in the sector. Below are four undervalued healthcare stocks with low price to book (P/B) ratios,

Continued from Your 2013 Portfolio: 10 High-Yielding Dividend Stocks, Part I, which outlines O'Shaughnessy's Cornerstone Value strategy, below are ten growth stocks, adapted from O'Shaughnessy's Cornerstone Growth strategy, worth considering for your 2013 portfolio. (A full list of the screen results, including 100 dividend stocks and 100 growth stocks, can be found here.)

The Cornerstone Growth strategy includes stocks with the following fundamental parameters:

1. Market cap > $150 million
2. EPS (TTM) > Previous year
3. 5 years consistent EPS growth
4. Price to sales ratio < 1.5

1. FSRV: FirstService Corp.

1. $829.0 Million market cap
2. 1124.00% EPS growth (TTM vs. prior TTM)
3. 12.23% 5-Year EPS growth
4. 0.38 Price/Sales ratio

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2. EXTR: Extreme Networks Inc.

1. $341.2 Million market cap
2. 867.00% EPS growth (TTM vs. prior TTM)
3. 7.21% 5-Year EPS growth
4. 1.06 Price/Sales ratio

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3. GPK: Graphic Packaging Holding Company

1. $2.6 Billion

I have adapted many of the findings of James P. O'Shaughnessy's book, What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time to my own investments. One of these strategies includes, at the end of each calendar year, using screens derived from the two best performing strategies in O'Shaughnessy's book to find potential value and growth opportunities for the year ahead.

For those who have not read What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time, O'Shaughnessy used a systematic, fundamental approach, compiling 45 years of S&P Compustat market data to research the performance of many different long term investment strategies. As expected, he concluded that some produced significantly greater returns than the S&P 500 while others produced less.

The two top performing strategies in his book, as mentioned, are O'Shaughnessy's Cornerstone Growth and Cornerstone Value strategies.

A myriad of closed end funds (CEFs) took a big hit this week on the back of concerns about the fiscal-cliff and possible tax increases. This CEF sell-off, however, has not been a result of an overall decrease in net asset values (NAV) and, therefore, may present a buying opportunity for many funds.

(The net asset value of a CEF is the total value of all the securities in the fund divided by the number of shares and, therefore, represents the true current value of the fund. The market price of the fund, however, often varies from the NAV. When the fund's share price is higher than the NAV per share it is said to be selling at a premium; when it is lower it is selling at a discount to the NAV per share.)

As a result of the recent CEF sell-off, many funds are selling below their respective

Since the election, all major indexes have turned sharply downward on the back of unresolved "fiscal cliff" issues. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are now approaching areas of significant support, leaving many investors on edge.

The S&P 500 is trading near support around 1,300. It was a fall through this support level that ignited the further crash in October, 2008. Since that crash, the S&P 500 managed to climb back to this significant 1,300 level in 2011 and was finally able to rise fully above this level throughout 2012, using it as support in May. Currently, as mentioned, the average is facing this support level once again, as it did in 2008.

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Similar to the S&P 500, the DJIA fell through support around the 12,000 to 12,500 level in 2008, climbed back up to this level in 2011, broke above it throughout 2012,

Gold and silver appear to be making their long-awaited comeback from their Q4 2011 fall. But do they have enough left in the tank to continue toward, and possibly surpass, their respective all-time highs? Let's take a look.

Many believe that the price of gold and silver increases, historically. These charts, from Kitco.com, show this seemingly obvious long-term uptrend on a 10-year time frame:

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But as most savvy precious metals investors know, when adjusted for inflation, this picture looks much different. CPI-adjusted, gold's high is actually around $2300 per ounce and silver's is around $130 per ounce, which both occurred in 1980. In other words, buying gold and silver with the hope that their respective prices will continually rise until the end of time may not be the best strategy.

(There is much debate over the true accuracy of the CPI adjustment, and many believe that

The wireless communications industry is currently the top performing industry on both the three-month and year-to-date (YTD) time frames. The industry's three-month and YTD performances stand at 31.07% and 56.10%, respectively. The S&P, on the other hand, stands at a much lower 6.04% three-month return and a 14.86% YTD return.

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Here is a graphical, YTD look at the wireless communications industry's performance versus the S&P:

Seeking value in a well-performing industry or sector can often uncover late bloomers, companies with a high potential for increased future returns as they catch up with the rest of their industry. That said, undervalued companies in the wireless communications industry are few and far between at the moment. But a couple wireless communications companies, with significant value potential, recently showed up on my radar:

1. Vodafone Group plc (VOD) recently broke above strong resistance around the $27.25 price level and

With the significantly negative market performance that surrounded our last election, investors are acutely aware of a potential increase in market volatility as the days pass by. Though the factors that affected our markets in 2008 are significantly less of a concern this time around, safer, well diversified investments are, in my opinion, becoming very attractive as this year's election approaches.

In a search for safety and diversity, many closed-end funds (CEF) can offer both; as well as a consistent income via frequent distributions.

CEFs, like mutual funds, offer instant diversity to investors while also offering better liquidity by way of their stock-like tradability. Safety, on the other hand, can be found by researching a number of metrics.

When focusing on consistent income from distributions, I like to look at a CEF's distribution history as well as its undistributed net investment income (UNII), a metric that shows how much undistributed

After teetering on support for nearly a year, gold looks to be on the move, jumping almost $100.00, from $1580.00 per ounce to $1670.00 per ounce, in just under 30 days. The commodity has also broken above its 200-day simple moving average (SMA), something it hasn't done since January.

Not surprisingly, many gold related stocks have turned sharply upward as well; Primero Mining Corp. (PPP), New Gold, Inc. (NGD), Royal Gold, Inc. (RGLD), Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM), Yamana Gold, Inc. (AUY), Central GoldTrust (GTU), and Allied Nevada Gold Corp. (ANV) are a few.

Value in the gold industry, though harder to find as the days pass, does still exist. Below are three undervalued gold stocks with over 50% upside that should see a significant climb if gold continues its movement upward.

Kingold Jewelry, Inc. (KGJI), a gold designer and manufacturer, appears significantly undervalued with a 0.54 price to book

Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH) was trading above $43.00 just two weeks ago, on August 1st. A few days later, due to "missed" earnings, the company's stock quickly fell almost 10%, to the $39.00 range.

Though Cardinal Health, Inc.'s fiscal fourth quarter net income rose 17%, from $203 million the previous quarter to $236 million, the company's revenue remained flat, $26.8 billion versus Wall Street's projected $27.3 billion (Yahoo Finance). This revenue miss played a large part in the stock's post-earnings tumble.

But now that the dust has settled, Cardinal Health, Inc. looks to be offering a bargain to investors looking for such. As mentioned, the company's stock fell to the $39.00 level after missing revenue projections. But the stock has since consolidated just above this level, around $39.50. Cardinal Health, Inc. has continually used this price level as support over previous months and has not traded below

The markets charged out of the gates at the beginning of the year and, as they tend to do, historically, began to lose steam in late April/early May. Since then all three major indexes, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the NASDAQ have all found resistance at the 1,400.00 level, 13,000 level, and 3,000 level, respectively.

Here is a one year look at the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and NASDAQ indexes:

Likewise, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA), and PowerShares QQQ (QQQ), exchange traded funds that track the indexes listed above, found resistance in late April/early May as well at the $140.00 level, $130.00 level, and $65.00 level, respectively.

SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA), and PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) have all been unable to break above their respective resistance levels, established in late April/early May, and are

When a stock is trading under its respective 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day simple moving averages (SMA), it could mean a troubled fate for the company. Or it could mean that the company is undervalued and, for whatever reason, is selling for less than what it's worth.

A company's price to book (P/B) ratio can also give us insight into a similar situation; the company is in trouble or it's significantly undervalued and is offering a good buying opportunity for investors.

Telling the difference between value and certain doom can be a challenge. I generally begin by looking for strong price support. Many falling stocks can be deemed "undervalued"; but when we see that investors are hesitant, currently and in the past, to let the stock fall below a certain price tier, there is generally a reason for that hesitation.

Analyst opinion certainly counts for something as well. If analysts are

Though the S&P 500 holds a stronger, 6.42% year-to-date (YTD) return than the utilities sector's 2.95% YTD return, the utilities sector began outpacing the S&P 500 in June and appears to be continuing to do so.

The utilities sector holds a three-month return of 5.63%, a one-month return of 2.10%, and a one-week return of -0.85%; clearly outperforming the S&P 500's three-month return of -2.45%, one-month return of 0.25%, and one-week return of -1.86%.

As I often find value in lagging stocks within a strong-performing sector, below is a list of six utilities stocks that, with low price-to-book (P/B) ratios, strong returns and projected growth, and moderate-to-optimistic analyst ratings, may offer value in a sector than appears to be picking up steam (sorted by P/B ratio):

1. Tri-Tech Holding, Inc. (TRIT), a China-based waste management company, is currently trading just above its 52-week low of $3.71. The stock has

The telecommunications sector is performing significantly well this year, with a year to date (YTD) return of 13.52%; over 5% above the S&P 500's (SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF: SPY) 8.35% YTD return.

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As shown by the YTD view on the graph above, the telecommunications sector began to outperform the S&P 500 in May and has continued to do so. Below is a further breakdown of this performance comparison along the different time horizons.

As telecommunications stocks continue to perform well, some value can still be found in the sector. Below are six undervalued telecommunications stocks with low price to book (P/B) ratios, low price to sales (P/S) ratios, above-average projected earnings growth, and positive return on equity (ROE), sorted by projected EPS growth (this year versus last year):

1. Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT), a wireless communications company, though currently in a downward

As the markets continue to churn sideways in our summer months, I have kept a significant portion of my portfolio in dividend yielding (income producing) equities and, as my readers likely know, I continue to seek new, dividend-yielding value.

A recent screen of mine, which captures equities with low price to book (P/B) ratios, low price to sales (P/S) ratios, positive return on equity (ROE), positive dividend yield, buy or better analyst ratings, and high EPS growth, yielded 20 dividend-yielding equities selling at what seem to be bargain prices.

Beginning with the highest yielding equities, below is a list of twenty bargain equities with buy recommendations:

1. RRSat Global Communications Network Ltd. (RRST), a diversified communication services company, holds a 1.19 P/B ratio, 0.87 P/S ratio, and 6.84% ROE. The company's earnings per share (EPS) is projected to grow 20.28% from its previous year's EPS. Though distributed irregularly, RRSat

Naturally, investors are always looking for the next Apple Inc. (AAPL) or the next Google Inc. (GOOG). As all companies begin with modest capitalization, the question is, what differentiates the Apples and Googles from the, well, whoever they were?

A broad, easy answer, of course, is growth. Successful companies grow; unsuccessful companies don't.

If we look at a company's analyst-projected EPS (earnings per share) growth we are given a somewhat reliable look into its growth potential and future success.

Currently, the market medians of the projected EPS growth, this quarter versus the same quarter of the prior year (Q/Q), and the projected EPS growth, this year versus last year (Y/Y), are 5.91% and 11.06%, respectively. This series details 30 small cap stocks whose projected EPS growth far exceeds the market medians mentioned above.

Below are thirty small cap, analyst-backed stocks with strong growth potential:

1. Resources