Those of you that follow us know that we were among the very first to write about the vast potential of the Utica Shale (starting with our August 1, 2011 article. We have subsequently updated our Utica outlook and profiled four different leading Utica Shale players.

This is our sixth Utica Shale compilation conference call article. We continue to believe that conference calls are an invaluable source of information and often give "color" that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Therefore, we are once again sharing our notes relating to the Utica Shale from the recently concluded fourth quarter conference calls of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK), EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP), Gulfport Energy Corporation (GPOR), PDC Energy, Inc. (PDCE) and Rex Energy Corporation (REXX). To that end…

Chesapeake Energy Corporation

Chesapeake's entire conference call may be accessed HERE. Chesapeake reminded us that it has captured the industry's largest acreage position

Mario Gabelli, frequent guest/commentator on CNBC and Barron's among others, is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Gabelli Asset Management Company Investors [GAMCO]. Gabelli was selected by The Institutional Investor as the 2010 Money Manager of the year. His individual net worth has been estimated by Forbes magazine at $1,000,000.00. As part of this year's Barron's Roundtable Gabelli recently divulged his ten favorite stocks for this year. We thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to discuss his ten selections and see if we are in agreement - here are Gabelli's final five picks: (See part 1 here)

Patterson Companies, Inc. (PDCO)

Patterson is a $3.72 billion market cap company that trades an average of 657,000 shares per day. Patterson distributes dental, veterinary and rehabilitation supplies. Gabelli is bullish on the dental business saying that as you age you spend more dollars per tooth. One positive

Mario Gabelli, frequent guest/commentator on CNBC and Barron's among others, is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Gabelli Asset Management Company Investors [GAMCO]. Gabelli was selected by The Institutional Investor as the 2010 Money Manager of the year. His individual net worth has been estimated by Forbes magazine at $1,000,000.00. As part of this year's Barron's Roundtable Gabelli recently divulged his ten favorite stocks for this year. We thought it would be a worthwhile exercise to discuss his ten selections and see if we are in agreement - here are Gabelli's first five picks:

Boulder Brands, Inc. (BDBD)

Boulder is a $794 million market cap company that trades 422,000 shares per day. Boulder is a consumer food products company. Gabelli seems to have three angles on Boulder - first he likes the Glutino brand that they acquired that features gluten free foods, second, he likes that the company is run

Utility company stocks have long been the province of "widows and orphans" and retirees due to their safety, stability and high yields. Now with interest rates being depressed across the entire maturity spectrum, utility stocks (and dividend stocks in general) are becoming of greater interest to an ever broader group of investors.

Today we will examine the fifteen highest yielding utility stocks that are represented in the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index. The final five companies are: Southern Company, PG&E Corp., American Electric Power Co., Inc., Consolidated Edison, Inc. and SCANA Corp.

Southern Company (SO) Yield 4.54%

The stock closed at $43.16 giving the company a market cap of $37.73 billion. Southern Company operates as an electric utility. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia and has 4.4 million customers across the southeastern United States. The annual dividend is $1.96 and was increased 3.7% in April 2012 making eleven

Utility company stocks have long been the province of "widows and orphans" and retirees due to their safety, stability and high yields. Now with interest rates being depressed across the entire maturity spectrum, utility stocks (and dividend stocks in general) are becoming of greater interest to an ever broader group of investors.

Today we will examine the fifteen highest yielding utility stocks that are represented in the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index. The second five companies are: Ameren Corporation, Integrys Energy Group, Inc., PPL Corporation, Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc. and Duke Energy Corporation.

Ameren Corporation (AEE) 5.09% Yield

The stock closed at $31.46 giving the company a market cap of $7.63 billion. Ameren operates as a public utility holding company in Missouri and Illinois providing both electricity and natural gas. Earnings are estimated at $2.44 per share for the year just ended and $2.05 this year. Book value

Utility company stocks have long been the province of "widows and orphans" and retirees due to their safety, stability and high yields. Now with interest rates being depressed across the entire maturity spectrum, utility stocks (and dividend stocks in general) are becoming of greater interest to an ever broader group of investors.

Today we will examine the fifteen highest yielding utility stocks that are represented in the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index. The first five companies are: Exelon Corporation, Pepco Holdings, Inc., FirstEnergy Corp., Entergy Corporation and TECO Energy, Inc.

Exelon Corporation (EXC) 7.17% Yield

The stock closed at $29.29 giving the company a market cap of $25.02 billion. Exelon is a utility services holding company that delivers electricity and natural gas to customers in Maryland, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois. Book value is $25.54 per share. Earnings are estimated to fall from an

Click here for Part 1.

Dogs of the S&P 500 - yes, you read the headline correctly, and, no, I did not mistakenly insert "S&P 500" in place of "Dow". This is our second annual Dogs of the S&P 500 series. Most of us are at least acquainted with the classic Wall Street strategy known as "Dogs of the Dow" which was first popularized some twenty years ago. The strategy calls for buying shares of the ten highest yielding companies in the thirty stock Dow Jones Industrial Average. A major part of the attraction of the rules based strategy is its simplicity but inherent in the strategy of attempting to discover high dividend yielding value stocks that have fallen out of favor are elements of reversion to the mean and dollar cost averaging.

One major shortcoming of the "Dogs of the Dow" is, with only thirty stocks in its

Click here for Part 2.

Dogs of the S&P 500 - yes, you read the headline correctly, and, no, I did not mistakenly insert "S&P 500" in place of "Dow". This is our second annual Dogs of the S&P 500 series. Most of us are at least acquainted with the classic Wall Street strategy known as "Dogs of the Dow" which was first popularized some twenty years ago. The strategy calls for buying shares of the ten highest yielding companies in the thirty stock Dow Jones Industrial Average. A major part of the attraction of the rules based strategy is its simplicity but inherent in the strategy of attempting to discover high dividend yielding value stocks that have fallen out of favor are elements of reversion to the mean and dollar cost averaging.

One major shortcoming of the "Dogs of the Dow" is with only thirty stocks in its

Dogs of the S&P 500? Yes, you read the headline correctly, and, no, I did not mistakenly insert "S&P 500" in place of "Dow." This is our second annual Dogs of the S&P 500 series. Most of us are at least acquainted with the classic Wall Street strategy known as "Dogs of the Dow," which was first popularized some twenty years ago. The strategy calls for buying shares of the ten highest yielding companies in the thirty stock Dow Jones Industrial Average. A major part of the attraction of the rules-based strategy is its simplicity, but inherent in the strategy of attempting to discover high dividend yielding value stocks that have fallen out of favor are elements of reversion to the mean and dollar cost averaging.

One major shortcoming of the "Dogs of the Dow" is, with only 30 stocks in its universe, it becomes unlikely to produce a diversified

In Parts 1 and 2, we explained that it is tax-loss selling season. Every year around this time investors are afforded the opportunity to sell their losing positions thereby "harvesting" their tax losses to offset and/or eliminate the capital gains that they may have realized on their other positions. Tax-loss selling is often concentrated in those stocks that have suffered the greatest declines during the year. We therefore like to review the list of stocks with the greatest year-to-date declines and attempt to identify from that list a few names that look "oversold," have decent fundamentals and which might be subject to a technical bounce as tax-loss selling dries up as the end of the year approaches and disappears entirely with the advent of the new year. To that end we have identified 15 stocks that have suffered year-to-date declines of at least 40%, have a small enough market cap

In Part 1 we explained that it is tax-loss selling season. Every year around this time investors are afforded the opportunity to sell their losing positions thereby "harvesting" their tax losses to offset and/or eliminate the capital gains that they may have realized on their other positions. Tax-loss selling is often concentrated in those stocks that have suffered the greatest declines during the year. We therefore like to review the list of stocks with the greatest year-to-date declines and attempt to identify from that list a few names that look "oversold," have decent fundamentals and which might be subject to a technical bounce as tax-loss selling dries up as the end of the year approaches and disappears entirely with the advent of the new year. To that end we have identified 15 stocks that have suffered year-to-date declines of at least 40%, have a small enough market cap that the

It's that time of year again - no we don't mean the Holiday Season - we are referring to tax-loss selling season. Every year around this time investors are afforded the opportunity to sell their losing positions thereby "harvesting" their tax losses to offset and/or eliminate the capital gains that they may have realized on their other positions. Tax-loss selling is often concentrated in those stocks that have suffered the greatest declines during the year. We therefore like to review the list of stocks with the greatest year-to-date declines and attempt to identify from that list a few names that look "oversold," have decent fundamentals and which might be subject to a technical bounce as tax-loss selling dries up as the end of the year approaches and disappears entirely with the advent of the new year. To that end we have identified 15 stocks that have suffered year-to-date declines of

Utica Shale Players 3rd Quarter Conference Calls Update

Those of you who follow us know that we were among the very first to write about the vast potential of the Utica Shale (starting with our August 1, 2011 article - accessible HERE). We have subsequently updated our Utica outlook and profiled four different leading Utica Shale players.

This is our fifth compilation conference call article. We believe that conference calls are an invaluable source of information and often give "color" that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Therefore, we are once again sharing our notes relating to the Utica Shale from the recently concluded third-quarter conference calls of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK), EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP), Gulfport Energy Corporation (GPOR), PDC Energy, Inc. (PDCE) and Rex Energy Corporation (REXX). To that end…

Chesapeake Energy Corporation

The entire Chesapeake conference call can be accessed HERE. Chesapeake reminded us again that

Dividend stocks continue to experience a renaissance in this environment of high uncertainty and low interest rates. It is intuitive to most that a good dividend increases a stock's defensive posture and mitigates exposure on the downside. Additionally, studies based upon the S&P 500 have shown that approximately 44% of portfolio returns historically come from dividends. It is no longer an oxymoron to equate dividends with semiconductor stocks. With the five companies profiled below, you are able to safely combine above market rates of current income (and the possibility of continued dividend growth) with the prospect of significant price appreciation. As a historical note, since we profiled these five chip stocks last year, our five dividend paying chip stocks increased 19.56% (with 4.26% of the total return being from dividends). Here are the five dividend paying chip stocks that meet our criteria for current yield, safety of dividend, earnings growth

For those who follow us you know that we were among the very first to write about the vast potential of the Utica Shale (starting with our August 1, 2011 article - accessible here). We have subsequently updated our Utica outlook and profiled four different leading Utica Shale players.

This is our fourth compilation conference call article. As we have previously stated we think quarterly conference calls are invaluable sources of information and often give "color" that can not be obtained elsewhere. Therefore, we are once again sharing our notes relating to the Utica Shale from the recently concluded second quarter conference calls of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK), EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP), Gulfport Energy Corporation (GPOR), PDC Energy Inc. (PDCE) and Rex Energy Corporation (REXX). To that end…

Chesapeake Energy Corporation

The entire Chesapeake conference call can be accessed here. Chesapeake reminded us that it is the

This is another in a series of articles wherein we profile companies that have been the subjects of takeover chatter that we think represent compelling investments even in the absence of a takeover bid. To that end, here is our list of takeover targets that we find attractive on a "stand alone" basis:

Digital Generation, Inc. (DGIT)

Digital Generation is a $342 million market cap company based in Irving, Texas, that provides digital technology services that enable the electronic delivery of advertisements, syndicated programs and video news to both traditional broadcasters and online outlets. Some may recall the company used to be known as DG FastChannel, Inc.

The company is being shopped and according to various reports the company turned down a $20 per share offer from rival Extreme Reach, Inc. due to potential antitrust concerns. We look for the company to be taken over by a private equity

For those who follow us, you know that we were among the very first to write about the vast potential of the Utica Shale (starting with our August 1, 2011 article.) We have subsequently updated our Utica outlook and profiled four different leading Utica Shale players.

This is our third compilation conference call article. As we have previously stated we think quarterly conference calls are invaluable sources of information and often give "color" that can not be obtained elsewhere. Therefore, we are once again sharing our notes relating to the Utica Shale from the recently concluded first quarter conference calls of Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Gulfport Energy (GPOR), EV Energy Partners (EVEP), Petroleum Development Corporation (PETD) and Rex Energy (REXX). To that end…

Chesapeake Energy Corporation - May 2, 2012 conference call

Chesapeake and the various analysts on the call were distracted by all the ongoing nonoperational Aubrey McClendon/Chesapeake soap

We all hear takeover rumors on a daily basis as they seem to circulate on and off Wall Street on a 24/7 basis. Most of the time the rumors that we hear are really just 'idle chatter" or others "talking their book". However, we have found that from time to time takeover rumors can point us to companies, industries and/or trends that provide profitable investment opportunities that we might not otherwise have been exposed to.

Thus, we like to investigate those takeover rumors that we find plausible and then research the ideas that seem intriguing. We never recommend that anyone simply "buy the rumor", but rather our advice is to only take long positions in companies that we would like to own even in the absence of the takeover rumor. To that end, here are five stocks that have been subject to takeover rumors this month that we think represent

We were among the very first to write about the vast potential of the Utica Shale. Please refer to our August 1, 2011 (here) and September 8, 2011 (here) Seeking Alpha articles. We have also profiled in detail four of the leading Utica Shale players [see our articles on Chesapeake Energy (CHK), EV Energy Partners (EVEP), Gulfport Energy (GPOR)and Rex Energy (REXX)].

At the time of our first article, it seemed like (other than Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake) nobody other than us was talking about the vast potential of the Utica. During the past six months the Utica has been the subject of frenzied activity - billions of dollars of lease acquisitions, takeovers and joint ventures. As a result the Utica Shale has gone "mainstream" and is now the subject of front page coverage by the mass media outlets of all types.

As much as

Oil prices have been climbing for several months now. Both oil and equities in general are part of the so called "risk on" trade. In addition to what appears to be an improving U.S. economy, a projected soft landing in China and (hopefully) an improving political and sovereign debt situation in Europe oil is benefiting from Iran's belligerent intransience and Israel's saber rattling.

With the S&P 500 setting a multi-year high last week and with Brent crude oil prices having remained above $100 for the better part of a year (dwarfing the previous record of 113 straight days set back in 2008), we think it is an opportune time for investors to increase exposure to the exploration and production (E&P) sector. Our focus is on companies heavily weighted to oil because of the domestic surplus of natural gas. To that end, we examine five of our favorite exploration and production