McCormick (MKC) is a spice company that manufactures and distributes flavor products and other specialty food products to the food industry. McCormick is expanding its activity internationally based on a strategy of acquiring other companies around the world, mostly market leaders like Ducros of France, the largest spice company in Europe.

Even with the company's international presence, the US market still represents 60% of total revenues, while Europe is 20% and the other 20% comprises the rest of the world. McCormick is expanding to emerging markets with a major focus on Latin America, India and China. Its main reason is their market dimension and its culture around spicy food.

This could be a major change for the company's long term strategy, because in the next 10 to 20 years these emerging markets will have a better buying power, which will increase margins and completely change revenues in terms of geographic

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) stock price has been in a downward trend since 2010 and is presently below the minimum of $25.39 reached during the subprime crisis. The trend on the stock price is reflecting the evolution on revenue growth as you can see on the chart below.

(click to enlarge)

For a better understanding the sales structure, I'm presenting a table with the company's segments and the respective weight and margins. For the major segments I've also provided the principal sub segment and its one year growth, with the intention of showing that these four sub segments represent 50% of sales. As you can see the fall on the market price has been justified but it may have gone too far. The introduction of tablets into the market is causing a lower demand of notebooks, having a significant impact on HPQ's major sub segment.

(click to enlarge)

When evaluating a hardware

BP is one of the biggest companies in the oil and gas sector. After the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that brought down the stock below subprime crisis levels, the company has never been the same again. Two years after the tragic event BP is now the most attractive company in the oil and gas sector.

In terms of the stock price its major competitors (Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX)) are trading near 3 year highs while BP still trades 35% below the levels it was before the disaster.

Looking at the company's balance sheet we observe it has a debt ratio of 62% and a capital structure composed by two-thirds in long term assets, which is in line with the sector. Moreover, its book value per share of $35.48 gives some comfort to investors.

BP's income statement presents an 7.21% operating margin which is very

Six Flags Entertainment (SIX) owns and operate regional theme, water and zoological parks and is the largest regional theme park operator in the world. This is a very risky area to be in during a slowdown or even a recession because of its high fixed operating costs which makes it harder to achieve the breakeven point.

(Click to enlarge)

Six Flags' balance sheet has a debt ratio of 54% which presents some equilibrium in terms of capital structure if we take into consideration this is an area of activity is composed mostly by long term assets and big infrastructure. On the positive side we observe a substantial reduction on the overall cost of debt that passed from 9.05% in 2010 to 4.60% in 2011. With its debt composed mostly by long term liabilities related with park infrastructure that have a long life cycle, while short term liabilities are adaptable to

Alcoa Inc. (AA) is the world's biggest explorer and producer of aluminum and its derivatives.

The company benefited from the boom in house construction but since the sub prime crisis it has never really recovered in terms of market cap, but in terms of revenue it is at the same level as 2005. The net income is another story; 2011 fiscal year it reported a net income of $611 Million or 50% below the $1233 Million verified in 2005, while the stock price is 62% below the 2005 minimum.

(Click charts to enlarge)

From the income statement, overall sales increased since 2009 and the company forecast that global aluminum demand would grow 7% in 2012. Its operating margin is 7.14% and has been penalized by a downward trend in aluminum prices that are currently near the 52-weeks low.

Analyzing Alcoa's balance sheet we verified a debt ratio of 57% and

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) procures, transports, stores, processes, and merchandises agricultural commodities and products. The company's products are primarily for two end-uses, including food or feed ingredients.

As one of the world's leading agricultural processors, Archer Daniels will be a protective stock in case of a recession due to its stable activity that is focused on primary needs. With a worldwide transportation network in more than 265 locations, ADM has a presence in almost every part of the globe (more than 75 countries). Nevertheless, its main market remains the US, representing 53% of Global Sales.

Click to enlarge

Salesforce.com (CRM) supplies customer relationship management services, providing a technology platform for customers and developers to build and run business applications. Notice that this is a company with a core business focus on the relationship between suppliers and customers' through social media using a cloud system, which implies a great potential in terms of future for its core business. Nevertheless, sometimes a company with great potential in terms of their main activity can be expensive in terms of stock market price, and this is one of this cases.

CRM's balance sheet presents a debt ratio of 60% reflecting the recent investments in the cloud system which were mostly financed by debt. This is clearly a strategy based on growth financed by creditors that produced the desirable consequence, an increase in revenues. Notice that CRM's residual value is $919 Million when the current market cap is $18942 Million, implying a potential

Crown Castle International (CCI) operates in the wireless infrastructure sector, mostly in the U.S. and Australia. In 2007, CCI and Global Signal merged, resulting in a 75% increase in sales. As such, any analysis of this company should take 2007 as the starting point.

CCI has seen an annual 10% rise in sales since the merger, which is a reflection of the fast expansion in the mobile phones and wireless sector. The present run to 4G technology has given new momentum to this sector, but we must remember that all the major telecommunications providers already have their net in place, and this new system will use some of the old equipment. This means that wireless infrastructure providers like CCI will see a gradual increase in demand rather than a boom in demand.

Our customers have introduced, and we believe they plan to continue to deploy, next generation wireless technologies, including

The social media sector is the most recent focus of the market with Facebook (FB) being the crown jewel and the most expected IPO of the year.

Social media is recent but we must distinguish those companies that had their IPO last year [LinkedIn (LNKD), Zynga (ZNGA), Groupon (GRPN) and Yelp (YELP)] and those that have been in the market for more than 10 years [Quepasa (QPSA), Geeknet (GKNT), Sina (SINA) and Google (GOOG)]. In the next analysis I will exclude Google because of its diversity in terms of activity, even so it will be present in the table of companies' financial data due to its importance to the sector.

Looking at fundamentals, generally companies in this sector have a debt ratio bellow 30% with Groupon being the only exception with a ratio around 60%. Comparing the price to their book value we observe that all of these companies are

Activision (ATVI), a company in the video game sector, is going to release the game "Diablo III" on the night of May 14. This action-role-playing game has a legion of fans that have been waiting for more than two years for it.

In terms of previous game's releases, the stock has shown a pattern of rising the week before the game starts selling in stores; let's see if the pattern repeats.

Looking at ATVI's balance sheet, we can see a low debt ratio of 21% and the current market cap is 32.50% above its book value ($9.26), giving investors some security. The net income expected from analysts is $1.085 Million, giving an estimated price to earnings ratio of 12.70. This makes the company attractive as a long term

Barrick Gold (ABX) and Newmont Mining (NEM) have suffered due to the recent downtrend in mining companies. If we take into consideration that gold prices are 11% above their 52-week lows, while the stock prices of Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining are at one-year lows, we can assume this downward trend may have gone too far.

Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold focus on the exploration of gold and copper mines. With gold exploration representing around 85% of sales in these companies, the price of this precious metal will be the main driver of their results. Note that Newmont Mining will announce earnings results on April 27 and Barrick Gold on May 2, which could mean a significant trend inversion in the next two weeks.

Geographically, Newmont Mining has a majority of its sales in Europe (71%), while Barrick Gold focuses on North and South America (72%). For this reason, it

Nokia (NOK) reported 1st-quarter results with a loss of €1572 Million ($2044 Million), but let's look at the numbers and see if it's still possible for Nokia to become profitable in the second quarter.

First of all, we must assume that the restructuring has already been totally discounted, which implies that the €945 Million ($1229 Million) accounted on "Other Expenses" won't repeat again in the future.

Scenario 1:

In this case, the only change is in sales, which will rise 24% to €9139 Million ($11881 Million) in order to achieve the breakeven point. Notice that this value is lower than the €9275 Million ($12058 Million) verified in the 2nd Quarter of 2011.

Nokia's campaign in the U.S. appears to show some results, Lumia 900 already sold out in some stores and is at the top of Amazon (AMZN) sales. The support of AT&T (T) might continue and may help

Research in Motion (RIMM) is in a downward trend, both in stock price and market share. Nokia (NOK) is in a downward trend, both in stock price and market share. Microsoft (MSFT) is in an upward trend in sales, profits and stock price.

Microsoft has enough money to buy RIMM and NOK in one single shoot. Remember an article in The Wall Street Journal - "Microsoft, Nokia Flirted With RIM" - and the old rumors about Microsoft making a takeover on Nokia?

The partnership between Nokia and Microsoft revealed a big interest from software giant to get into the smart phones market and expand Windows position in this area. For Microsoft, it would be the better of two worlds, adding to the new Windows a combination of Skype and BlackBerry Messenger, and accelerate an entrance into the tablet market.

This double

Nokia (NOK) is the world's biggest seller of mobile phones. It has a partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) for the smart phones segment, where Microsoft is supplying software and supporting part of the costs regarding research and development. New Lumia 900 went to the market last Sunday and already reached the first place on Amazon.com's (AMZN) best sellers.

Nokia announced a profit warning where the main point was a negative operating margin (-3%), but this is only a reflection of an aggressive campaign which was necessary to get into this segment with enough strength to provide future profits and defy Apple's (AAPL) and Samsung's leadership.

In terms of market capitalization, this news brought some craziness to the market where a company with $10.371 Billion in Current Liquidity (Current Liquidity = Current Assets - Current Liabilities) was valued at $15.904 Billion (Market Cap).

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) operates in the technology sector, a pioneer in the creation and development of computers and hardware, and is on the way for one more decade of innovation. This is a company that since 1926 has been at the forefront of technology, maintains a strategy of investment in innovation, is the largest maker of patents in the world, and has a business model that relies on the creation of new business and then carries out a partial sale of that business.

In terms of residual value, it is practically zero, which means that in case of insolvency and by my model, the shareholder will have an almost total loss of invested capital in the case of bankruptcy. However, this is a company with a solid business with steady income from licensing of software and hardware maintenance services. On the other hand, due to the

Cisco Systems' (CSCO) residual value has a devaluation potential for the shareholder of 64% in case of bankruptcy, but we must remember that the stock price minimum of the last five years was $13.30, even during the sub-prime crisis.

During 2011 the company was penalized by the market due to a drop in sales, reduced margins and fears of lack of strategy. However, the company proceeded to restructure by eliminating areas that were not part of core business and presented a program to cut costs, which also included a substantial reduction of its workforce.

In the last quarter, we've already seen the restructuring effects leading to an increase in both sales and profit, with Cisco adopting a more aggressive strategy that passed through a slight decline in prices in order to capture market share. With the Cloud segment beginning to show results, this is still a sector with

Electronic Arts (EA) is a company in entertainment software and video games, known by their sports games like FIFA, NHL and more recently SSX (a snowboard game).

The company is refocusing on online games, with "Star Wars: The Old Republic" being the crown jewel. In this game, the player is able to control a game character like in the movies, and to interact with other players around the world. This game is intended to steal market share from his competitor Activision Blizzard (ATVI), which dominates this market segment through the game "World of Warcraft."

Moreover, the "Star Wars" game provides a steady income due to the ongoing monthly payments from players who keep playing online. More recently, EA started developing games for smartphones, tablets and social network sites, expanding its market potential.

In terms of residual value, there is a potential depreciation of 75% to the

Intel Corporation (INTC) operates in the technology sector, is known for having created the first microprocessor, and currently sells various types of computer components and hardware. In terms of residual value, it is 77% below the current market capitalization, which implies a high risk if we consider that for the investor to achieve a return equal to the potential loss, the shares would have to be sold 77% higher at $49, a level not reached since 09/25/2000.

Intel's has presented itself as a company that is known for coming into the right business, and its performance is a reflection of those choices. Sales rose 40% in the last five years, accompanied by an improvement in operating margins, which increased from 22.82% to 32.37% and with a jump in profits of 85% over the same period.

We conclude that this improvement in Intel's activity is due to good management