Chevron (CVX) is one of the leading integrated energy companies in the world. Fortune magazine ranks it as the third largest company in the United States and the tenth largest company in the world. The company operates within all aspects of the energy business ranging from petroleum to chemicals to energy services. It also engages in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and gas. In comparison with its immediate peer group, Chevron boasts the highest earnings per barrel.

The company's results for the second quarter show net earnings of $7.2 billion (EPS of $3.66 per diluted share) against $7.7 billion (EPS of $3.85 per diluted share) for the same quarter in the previous year. Total revenues were $60 billion against $67 billion on a year-on-year basis. EPS were well in excess of the consensus estimate of $3.24 per diluted share and reflects a strong performance in a

While most of its competitors are planning to keep production stable to ride out 2012, Newfield Exploration (NFX) just raised its expectations from 292 to 302 bcfe to 296 to 304 bcfe for the year, a modest increase but an increase nonetheless. Despite low gas prices its revenues for the quarter were actually up, at $628 million due to increases in production, which should continue for the rest of this year according to the raised guidance.

Newfield reported second quarter earnings per share of $1.00 on net income of $135 million, which includes an unrealized gain on derivatives trading of $83 million. Newfield indicated that without the gain on trading, earnings per share in the second quarter were $0.61. Newfield Chairman, President and CEO Lee K. Boothby estimates that Newfield will end 2012 with 30% growth in oil and liquids production over 2011. Its second

Google's (GOOG) stock has a strong history built upon its ability to provide information at the tap of a few keys. But Google is much more than a search engine. Google is many things. It is social networking. It is a targeted advertising powerhouse. It is android phones. In providing this innovation, Google's equity has not suffered a roller coaster ride of price trading in conjunction with speculation on the success or failure of new product offerings. Looking forward, I am examining what innovation will do to the price of Google's stock.

After Google went public in 2004, it did what many public companies do and made acquisitions using its stock as currency. It has acquired online payment and instant messaging systems, loyalty programs, facial recognition software, all in all over 100 acquisitions to add to its tentacle spread of internet domination. The recent acquisitions of Motorola, Double

Abbott Laboratories' (ABT) most recent earnings report reaffirms it's on schedule to fulfill its 2012 guidance, as well as completing its split into two profitable companies by the year's end. So far in 2012, Abbott has had vertical and horizontal growth in one of its flagship products, Humira. Abbott has also recently unveiled innovative and promising products from its device and diagnostics divisions, while building a robust pipeline of pharmaceuticals in conjunction with regulatory success as well. Below I will explain why shareholders should hold onto this asset for the long term to benefit from adequate dividends and increased wealth after the split, while interested investors should buy now before the stock price increases due to Abbott's continued success in the remainder of 2012 alongside the anticipation of the split.

Alongside Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE), Merck (MRK) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Abbott is among the most

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) started from humble beginnings to emerge as a major player in Internet commerce. Over the years, the company has developed sound business strategies, created a diverse portfolio that includes online retail, streaming media, web server and cloud computing. Amazon has built a brand that most people all over the world instantly recognize. The company has also continually found ways to stay innovative in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

With growth comes a certain amount of uncertainty, since growth doesn't always equal a return on investment. But investors shouldn't worry too much as Amazon seems to be moving in the right direction with its latest projects and investment ventures.

Digital Media Development Center

Amazon recently announced it will open a digital media development center in London, England. Combining two media outlets purchased last year, Lovefilm and Pushbutton, the company plans to develop and create new media content

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the U.S. government agency that underwrites mortgage insurance, seems to be running out of money. The number of holders of FHA-insured mortgages that had not made a payment in 90 days or more increased by 27% in the fiscal year that ended on March 31.

Things have gotten so bad at the FHA that some observers now think that a federal bailout of the agency will be necessary. A report from federal regulators indicated that the number of foreclosures on FHA-insured mortgages increased by 17% in the last year.

The interesting thing is that the problems at the FHA are coming to light just as things in the rest of the mortgage industry seem to be getting better. The rate of delinquent mortgages issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was recently down by 39%.

mREITs are Less of a Risk

Mortgage

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) announced that it is raising its third quarter forecast. The company also said that it expects to write down $8 billion worth of its enterprise-services business and shuffling management at the top of the division. It further added that it is eliminating 27,000 jobs, mostly coming from the enterprise service division. Following the write-down, it will replace John Visentin as the head of enterprise services. The company will bring on board Mike Nefkens and Jean-Jacques to head the unit.

The decision to write-down implies the declining value of Electronic Data Systems. It acquired the company for $13.9 billion in 2008. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd expected that the marriage of HP and Electronic Data Systems will produce one of the market's leading outsourcing providers, with the ability to complete lifecycle capabilities in healthcare, government, manufacturing, financial services and other industries. But, it failed with this

The citizens of Richmond will not likely vouch for oil and gas companies at least for a few months until the smoke that billowed from Chevron's (CVX) refineries on August 6th are forgotten. Chevron's 240,000-barrel-a-day plant is a major source of gasoline for the region, and the leak has caused major embarrassment for Chevron. San Franciscans were legitimately furious over the leak and demanded an explanation from the company's authorities. Chevron did accept that this was a mistake that they wish didn't happen. What remains to be seen is how this incident will affect Chevron stock. Chevron is one of the strongest oil and gas companies in the world, and it has several active projects across the globe.

Analysts expect that the fire will cause gas prices to be pushed above $4 per gallon on the West Coast. Chevron's Richmond refinery produces almost 16% of West

First Solar (FSLR) could just be the most volatile stock in the market these days. In less than two months, it has gone from one of the market's biggest losers to a hot growth stock.

As you can see from the chart above, First Solar fell from a high of around $35 in early March to a low of $11.43 in early June. Yet, in the last two months, it has increased in value by almost $10 per share. That translated into negative earnings per share of -$6.41 for the past year.

The reason for this unusual performance is clear. First Solar announced that its earnings in the second quarter rose by an astonishing 81%. The increase in earnings comes partly from a new corporate strategy of selling to utilities that are building giant solar farms or generating stations, rather than to individuals.

The second-quarter earnings increase

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a long-term defensive asset positioned for a significant uptick in capital appreciation in 2013. The second quarter earnings report showed that total revenues in many segments of its expansive portfolio were hindered by negative currency impacts offsetting operational growth worldwide. Johnson & Johnson also faces a settlement with the DOJ and potential litigation from several states over Risperdal marketing campaigns. These events may reduce earnings and public perception in the market through the remainder of 2012.

For more promising near-term investments, interested investors should look for opportune entry points in the second half of 2012 or look into comparable rivals at a discount like Pfizer (PFE), Merck (MRK) or GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Current shareholders should hold for the long term. A derivative settlement with shareholders over breaches of fiduciary responsibilities is creating top-down mandates to improve quality control and assurance beginning in 2013. There

Despite its recent losses, I believe Goldcorp Inc. (GG) is still a good buy because of its high earnings per share. In the second quarter of 2012, the Canadian miner paid earnings of 41¢ per share, despite a 20% drop in earnings during the same period. Goldcorp's earnings were down because its production fell. The company only produced 578,600 ounces of gold during the second quarter; it mined 597,100 ounces during the same period last year. That means Goldcorp's production has dropped by 20% in the past year.

The company's chief executive, Chuck Jeannes, blamed the drop in production on problems at two of the company's biggest mines Red Lake in Ontario and Penasquito in Mexico. Jeannes told the press that problems reaching high grade ore at Red Lake and a water shortage at Penasquito were driving up costs and cutting production.

Rising costs, rather than falling

With over 1.1 million net acres under lease across Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, Apache (APA) is increasing its productivity for the latter half of 2012 and is on track for operating an average of 25 rigs and drilling 240 wells. Just as impressive is the company's $33.63 billion market cap, a dividend yield of .80%, and estimates of oil and gas production growing at double-digit rates over the next five years, reaching approximately 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day by 2016. While all of this is impressive for investors, the icing on the cake is that fact that last month, the company discovered one of the world's largest finds: One well with shale-gas discovery in a massive field with estimates that it contains as much as 48 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. Obviously, this is a huge find and one that I believe will

F5 Networks (FFIV) has successfully built itself as the leader in the delivery of network-based applications, data storage devices and other network resources. Its strong financial performance is a testament to its superiority among the software vendors. It generates high returns on capital based on its high-margin businesses and stable revenue streams. I believe that its strong competitive advantage is high switching costs of its customers from its Application Delivery Network (ADN) services. ADN is a suite of technologies that can perform complex tasks like data traffic management, Web application security, protocol optimization and data center load balancing. This is the niche where F5 Network has entrenched competitive position. This segment has been the major growth drivers of the company as it commands more than 50% of the market.

Blue Ocean: Small Niche Player in the Enterprise Market

The Blue Ocean Strategy was conceived in 2005

Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) is one of the most discussed and most puzzling stocks around these days. Its business is booming and its revenues keep increasing in a very bad economy. Yet Sirius's share value remains low despite all the cash the company is generating.

On August 3rd, 2012, for example, its shares were trading at a dismal price of $2.16. That's better than the less than $1.30 prices we saw in June, but the share value is low compared to the company's revenues. Forbes is currently projecting Sirius revenues for the second quarter of 2012 to be $833 million, which is 11.9% higher than revenue for the same quarter last year.

Sirius is also in a very strong position as regards to cash. The company has so much cash that it is actually in position to retire $186 million worth of debt. A press release

Heavily criticized for not keeping up with its competitors, perhaps Sprint (S) has finally gotten the message. It's not that Sprint hasn't tried over the years. Offering a variety of wireless data plan options, the company is the only wireless carrier to offer unlimited data usage. The company is also making changes to its Nextel 'Push to Talk' service by dismantling the current program to provide an updated version called Direct Connect, which will run solely on Sprint's network. Sprint also stated that it refuses to charge iPhone customers for FaceTime calls, while rival AT&T (T) has stated that it probably will charge its customers.

But even with all these improvements and fairness towards customers concerning fees and data usage, AT&T and Verizon (VZ) continued to outshine the company by offering faster data speeds in more locations…until now.

With the release of Sprint's

Altria Group (MO), the U.S. tobacco giant, recently announced that it was moving into previously uncharted territory with the launch of a tobacco-free nicotine product. The maker of Marlboro cigarettes is launching a non-dissolving nicotine disc in a lozenge shape called Verve. This represents the latest attempt by a major tobacco company to use smokeless products in the background of falling sales for traditional cigarettes.

Unlike the other smokeless products sold by Altria and its major U.S. competitor, Reynolds American (RAI), Verve will not contain any tobacco but instead use nicotine extracted from tobacco. The company is betting that this will permit it to market the product with health warning labels that are less stringent than the labels used for products containing tobacco. There is no doubt that nicotine is addictive and is associated with health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes but, crucially, there

SandRidge Energy (SD) was reaffirmed with an equal weight rating by Barclays Capital earlier this month, showing that although lowered natural gas and crude prices are hammering exploration and production companies, some are still holding their own. I believe SandRidge is one of the more forward-looking names of the bunch, with an oil-weighted reserve base and growth-oriented production plans. While there are some areas of concern, such as SandRidge CEO Tom Ward's questionable past with Chesapeake Energy (CHK) CEO Aubrey McClendon and a debt-to-equity ratio that would be staggering for any company but a younger firm, overall SandRidge looks like a value proposition.

CEO Ward Can't Get Enough Distance From McClendon and the Chesapeake Disaster

As many are aware, Ward was co-founder of Chesapeake, which he led before departing to head SandRidge in 2006. Many of McClendon's woes now receiving an airing in the media tie back

With peak oil fading fast in the rear-view mirror, investment in energy exploration and production companies is more focused on the quality and life of the energy assets, and the ability of a company to exploit those assets in cost-effective ways.

Commodity prices could be volatile for some time. The impact of the Iranian embargo by Europe and the U.S. has yet to be quantified. Macroeconomic factors in the EU have the European economy trying to salvage itself. These, together with the slowdown in emerging market growth and the continued economic doldrums domestically, have left oil prices lurching around $79 to $87 in the last two weeks and natural gas prices trading off their two-decade lows, but still below $3 per mcf.

EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG) is an independent producer of oil and gas, primarily in North America with some operations in Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, China and