Investors of internet music streaming giant Pandora (P) were like "deer in headlights" when Google (GOOG) announced last week that it was entering the fray of music streaming. Who could really say that Google's announcement caught them off guard? In fact, after Google signed its content-sharing deal with Sirius XM (SIRI) last year, it's a wonder that the music streaming business has taken Google so long. It's been the logical next step to Google's media building empire.

After all, for more than a year, it's been rumored that Apple (AAPL) had planned to enter the mix. Google did what it always tries to do - steal Apple's thunder. While Apple was hardly surprised by Google's entry, I was nonetheless amazed to see the stunned reaction by Pandora's supporters. It became a "who's who in music righteousness."

Somehow, the feeble aspect of Pandora's business and the fact

Skullcandy (SKUL) finally found bottom after losing two thirds of its IPO valuation in mid-2011. The headphone maker initially opened for trading above $20 per share. Sadly, it has been a long, painful ride down for shareholders, who recently saw shares dip below $5 after posting first quarter results on May 2nd.

Many thought a bottom might have been in place when shares started to trade strongly headed into the fourth quarter earnings back in February. While the results were good, the guidance was not. The CEO had just left the company and sales were estimated to be down ~30% year-over-year for the next quarter.

Well, Skullcandy was pretty close to estimates this quarter, with sales down just under 30% from the previous quarter. Management mainly cited repackaging efforts and product rebranding for the lack of sales. It should also be noted that sales were not down merely for lack

On Monday, I made a case for why I felt the Street was still underestimating Sirius XM (SIRI). Not surprisingly, though, I got a few emails from readers wondering, "How can a stock that has already gained close to 25% on the year when factoring its $3.59 high, be discounted?" It's a fair question. The answer is hidden in how the company's valuation is assessed. But I'm realizing while the Street has been correcting its error over the past year, analysts still don't fully understand this company.

The valuation equation

The market is sometimes presumed to always be right. Depending on your frame of mind, sometimes this can work for you or against you. In that regard, a company's valuation is based on quite a bit of assumptions, some of which takes into account things like market dynamics, a company's performance history, management's guidance etc.

However, these metrics, as

It's been four months since Michael Dell, along with Silver Lakes Partners offered a proposal to take Dell (DELL) private at a price of $13.65 per share. This valued the deal at $24.4 billion. I thought this was a suitable offer for a company that has grossly underperformed over the past five years. Today, Dell is actually trading below the offer price, which plays in Michael Dell's favor.

While the cynic in me, never really believes that privatization will make much of a difference fundamentally for Dell, I'm willing to consider that it's better than the status quo. Besides, one thing it will do is shield Dell from much of the scrutiny that the company is experiencing today. But after another disappointing quarter as a public company, there's no place to hide. And if investors don't act quickly, more leverage will be lost as the company's financials continue its

It sounds trite to say, but there's never a dull moment in the land of Sirius XM (SIRI). Our recent articles, which outlined scenarios where both Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) might be interested in the satellite radio giant, have caused quite the stir. With shares having reached a five-year high of $3.59 last week and resting at $3.54 (as of this writing), there is now notions that Sirius XM has grown too expensive. I disagree.

While we won't argue that this recent rise presents opportunities for investors to secure profits, there is ample evidence that more gains are on the way. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know where the stock is heading - nobody really does. However, what we do know is that Sirius is operating on all cylinders. And with a few improvements along the way, $4.00

Shares of beleaguered phone giant Nokia (NOK) took a pounding last Tuesday, falling as much as 7% following the release of the company's flagship phone, the Lumia 925. I'd like to say it was a surprise that the Street seemed broadly unimpressed by the new flagship phone, but that would not be accurate.

When Is the Recovery Coming?

Over the past couple of weeks, we have talked about the dire state of Nokia, much to the dismay of the company's supporters. By contrast, I have outlined a bullish case for BlackBerry (BBRY), which is clearly on the opposite trajectory while exceeding earnings and unit expectations. In fact, even as shares of BlackBerry have posted declines over the past couple of days, this is an excellent entry point for long-term investors.

Meanwhile, Nokia shareholders are still unable to accept the reality that Nokia's chances of making a dent

In our last discussion of Sirius XM (SIRI), we outlined several reasons why the company was no longer a speculative bet. In fact, we made the case that even though the stock had already posted double-digit gains on the year, it was still poised to deliver more profits to investors. In the article, we said the following:

Even though Sirius has already gained more than 16% year-to-date, I believe the odds favor a push to $3.50 and possibly $4.00 before the third-quarter conference call.

On Wednesday, Sirius, which is the authority on premium radio, announced its presence with considerably more power than we expected. The stock surged to $3.59 on an inordinate volume level of more than 112 million shares. Remarkably, this occurred on the same day that Google (GOOG) announced it was entering the internet radio market. Raise your hand if this caught you by

Another quarter is in the books and Cisco (CSCO) continues to affirm its resurgence as a technology bellwether. Upon completing its ninth consecutive earnings beat, Cisco is once again looking more like the company that dominated the 90s and could do no wrong. Still, the company is not without its share of detractors.

The Street remains broadly unimpressed by what the company has been able to do dating back more than eight quarters. But you can't keep a good stock down, especially one with a chip on its shoulder. As the stock currently sits right at its 52-week high of $24.24 (as of this writing), the major question for analysts continue to be, where is the value? If Cisco's third quarter serves as an indication, patient investors will be rewarded with more gains than they expect. $40 is where the stock is heading

A Dominant First Quarter

Despite

One of the perils of being a successful company is that you begin to attract quite a bit of attention. Sirius XM (SIRI), which has dominated the premium radio market over the past couple of years - reaching almost 25 million subscribers, is no exception. Apple (AAPL) wants some of this success. The question, though, is what does this mean for Sirius XM investors when Apple enters the market. If you noticed, I didn't say "if."

The Apple Effect to Sirius and Pandora

Apple's entry into the realm of music streaming is not news and has been rumored for some time. However, what is noteworthy here is the possible date of the announcement. We feel it will come in June at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). For that matter so does Katy Huberty, analyst at Morgan Stanley. According to AppleInsider, Huberty said:

"Apple could

Shares of Apple (AAPL) are trading down $5.21 this morning - reaching a low of $450.48 on no news. There are discussion on Twitter and other articles that the stock is being manipulated. "Manipulation," however you chose to define it, has become the default answer to the question, why is my stock going down?

Remarkably, the market is never presumed to be right. When shares go up, stocks are "overbought," and when shares go down they're "oversold." We can't make up our minds. This speaks to the biases that we have and the pitfalls that exists with always "wanting to be right" - regardless of the facts.

Somehow, admitting that our companies have poorly executed never enters the rationale for why a stock goes down. "Manipulation" was also the prevailing reason given by frustrated Nokia (NOK) investors who are simply unable or unwilling to admit that

We've lost quite a bit of friends this week in our discussions of beleaguered phone giant Nokia (NOK). Remarkably, despite the company's significant loss of market share over the past couple of years, it's a wonder how the word "giant" is still an applicable description. But Nokia, despite its struggles with execution, still has a meaningful position in the market, including its Lumia line of phones, which recently grew 27% sequentially. So what's the problem?

How has the company become better?

This is the question that Nokia investors are unable to answer - at least not with a straight face. My problem with the company at this point is that when Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop, took over the company two and a half years ago, he brought quite a bit of promises - many of which are now broken. Although Elop seems to be a great

Misery loves company - it's human nature. The fact that it makes us feel better about ourselves to know that someone else just might have it "a little worse" than we do, is fundamentally pathetic. It goes against the purpose of humanity's progress. Nevertheless, in the stock market this type of thought is par for the course. Investors justify their holdings based on how badly a rival company's stock might be doing. But it's not always that simple.

The Race for Market Share

On Tuesday, we highlighted the difference between BlackBerry (BBRY) and Nokia (NOK), two beleaguered tech giants that are trying to make a comeback. We argued that BlackBerry, by virtue of its recent earnings report, which showed meaningful sales improvements and sequential advancements, has made significantly more progress than Nokia.

Nokia bulls disagreed, which was not a surprise. However it was nonetheless remarkable

Here's something you don't see every day; a company that is a leading provider of a product in a growing industry, yet that company is grossly irrelevant at the same time. Unfortunately, this has become Nokia's (NOK) biggest claim to fame.

Despite how many times Nokia has tried to revive itself from death's grip, it's becoming increasingly evident that the company's fate won't change. And now that BlackBerry (BBRY) is no longer the industry's punch line, investors have to wonder if Nokia's fortunes are ever going to change. To that end, first-quarter results only introduced more doubt.

It's no longer of matter of when

Despite what Nokia bulls may want to believe in terms of the company's progress, Nokia shares are still down more than 13% on the year. And it's not because management has "out-executed" the competition - although this is a popular claim from

Although we don't currently own the stock, we have found ourselves coming to the defense of agriculture giant Monsanto (MON) quite a bit. To many investors, Monsanto is everything that is evil to farmers and crops, given that the company sells genetically enhanced seeds, which are seen as "unnatural." To the rest of the world, however, this company is a wealth-building operation.

The stock is up almost 15% on the year and is now resting at a 52-week high. And if fiscal second-quarter earnings results were any indication, not only is Monsanto on-track with its long-term plans of feeding the world, but this company also plans to feed the Street's insatiable appetite for growth. While this is certainly encouraging news for investors, it's worth asking, if now is not the right time to step away from the table and take profits.

Planting the seeds of doubt Q2

Regardless

Wells Fargo (WFC) has rarely offered investors any reason to be critical of its operation - at least relative to its "big four" peers, which include Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C), which have had both operational battles as well as unfortunate gaffes with PR.

That said, we weren't overly impressed with Wells Fargo's first quarter earnings report, which demonstrated growth struggles. While the bank has always enjoyed a premium based on its operational performance, investors are beginning to wonder if this level of deference is still deserved.

Is Softness in Q1 Temporary?

We tried to find reasons to be excited about this quarter, but we simply couldn't. Aside from some improvements in expenses, which declined by 2% from last year's quarter, everything else was unimpressive. Granted, the issues related to the sequestration could have had a meaningful impact.

However, when compared with the 3% revenue decline

Richard Saintvilus of Stocksaints.com, who's also a fellow contributor here on Seeking Alpha, wrote a timely piece Wednesday morning, just before market open, in which he asked, "how high can Sirius XM (SIRI) Fly?" In that article, Richard said the following:

Given Sirius' growth momentum, it wouldn't surprise me to see the stock break $3.30 today. But I do wonder, though, how long can Sirius' strong performance maintain this level?

Surely enough, the stock reached as high as $3.33 shortly after the start of trading and then took off to $3.39. The question is, can this continue, especially since this one is known to feel the summer lull blues. Besides, one has to imagine that there will be profit-taking with each new high. That said, whether you've been holding this stock for a while or you are thinking about buying, don't allow any sudden decrease deter you

By Robert Weinstein

I recently wrote an article comparing Netflix (NFLX) and Apple (AAPL), and I couldn't help but wonder if I really was picking the right comparison with Apple. I have also compared Apple with Amazon (AMZN) because I believe Amazon is the best shorting opportunity with a time frame of 12-24 months.

Most investors rightly are not focused beyond 24 months without at least rebalancing every six months as a result of new information and changing valuations.

Also, like the weather, the further we try to look forward, the greater challenge it becomes to remain accurate in our predictions. Even when a stock's price trends in the expected direction, the catalysts may look very different than when we begin.

As a market timer, I am forever seeking extremes in price that indicate a pivot point resulting from a market sentiment shift. If you want to know the

By Robert Weinstein

You wouldn't know it by all the negative spin by the media, but Apple (AAPL) doesn't have a problem- investors have a stock problem. Sales reported are strong and growing. Margins are relatively strong considering how many new products were released.

Focusing on slightly lower margins is nonsense because Apple introduced more new products in the last quarter then the comparable quarter. We should expect a small margin reduction. Product startup costs weigh on margins and the seeds take time before the profits can be harvested.

If Cook didn't introduce as many products the media would have jumped on him for that. Oh, wait, they did anyway. It's just nuts how so many people turned on Apple since Steve Jobs left. Meanwhile, the company is executing well beyond any of its peers.

Margins should expand or remain strong after the initial costs of getting the iPad mini

Many companies offer quarterly (or more often) dividends to shareholders. This can be a great source of income and with each dividend payment received, investors are able to lower their risk in an investment. The one requirement to receive a dividend from a company is to be a shareholder on the day of record for the dividend.

For the most dividend catching success, an investor must be willing to own longer term in the companies as well. Once in a while things do not go as planned and the price drops. When this happens, as it will if you try to capture a dividend enough times, I am always happy that I limit my investing to companies worth owning. This is one of my favorite and easy to understand methods of making gains through options and dividends.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) develops, licenses and supports a range of software products

By, Robert Weinstein

Background: Texas Instruments (TXN) Incorporated engages in the design and sale of semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Texas Instruments trades an average of 8.6 million shares per day with a market cap of $31 billion.

Investors can read about many dividend capturing strategies, most of them work better on paper than they do in practice. With the gains made, I am able to stop out and take a loss with the few that do not work as planned. Although much of the gains will come from dividends, it should be noted in my experience, the option decay can provide a return. This is especially true in lower yielding stocks.

Yield: 3.08%

Dividend Amount: 21 cents

Ex-Dividend Date: October 29, 2012

Beta: 1.09

Strategy: Buy Texas Instruments stock and