When a company's financial and operational performance decline, its stock price follows. Because the story has worsened, it is natural for the stock to perform worse as well. But on occasion, a company's stock decline is disproportionately large relative to the decline in its performance. When such a decoupling occurs, chances of a takeover increase. We believe that such a decoupling has occurred with regard to NetApp (NTAP), and believe that the company's stock is oversold.

For the record, we own shares of EMC, NetApp's primary competitor. EMC

First Solar (FSLR) just has not caught a break. Its stock has been falling continuously for over one year now, hovering around $13 currently. It is unlikely that it has a break coming its way either, as it will likely continue the free-fall all the way to the bottom. Only one year ago it was priced over $100 and almost exactly four years ago was priced over $300. While previous prices have no bearing on current stock prices, seeing these old prices tells us not only where the company has been, but also where it never will be again.

The main driver of the decrease in its price is the decrease in the price of solar panels in general. The same force that has made it affordable to install solar panels on houses has also led to a decline in profitability for many solar companies, First Solar included. I think

On March 19, 2012, Apple (AAPL) announced plans to begin paying dividends for the first time since 1995. According to the release, Apple (AAPL) will pay out a $2.65 per share quarterly dividend during the "fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1." Apple, of course, has developed a cult following as the stock has taken a helicopter lift from $100 to $560 over the past three years. During this period, the faction of tech geek hipster Apple fan boys has spread to include owners of stock who lustily applaud every move that management makes. I today, represent Ebenezer Scrooge, and the voice of reason. I refuse to shill for dividend payments from any corporation allegedly in growth mode.

The Growth Story

Over the past three years, Apple is averaging 75-percent increases in net income growth. In its latest annual report, the company's 41-percent tallies in both

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is cutting 27,000 workers. Meg Whitman's axe helped to move the stock up. Imagine how much higher a 54,000-employee pink slip might have propelled the stock. Even after the 27,000 are gone, HP will still have almost twice as many employees as it did in 2007.

There will be plenty of bodies under payroll. Over the last six years alone, HP has gone on a $43 billion shopping spree, depleting its balance sheet of needed cash, all the while ignoring investing in organic growth, acquiring EDS, 3COM, Palm, 3Par, and the expensive $11.7 billion Autonomy.

Money makes the world go round. So where in the world is HP's money anyway?

I hate to be a wet blanket. With all the hoopla over the human resources chopping block, I'd like to focus on one aspect of HP that everyone has ignored -- the company's cash. Simply, where is it?

The companies that tend to pay dividends are in industries that are mature. A dividend payment is a sign that a company is no longer better off investing the cash into its own business.

Technology companies typically pay fewer dividends than utility companies. Apple (AAPL) announced this year that it would be paying a dividend of around 2%. The company made it clear it did not need such a large amount of cash. Apple realized that it could afford such a dividend.

Dell (DELL) recently announced earnings, and the stock fell more than 16%. Dell reported revenue of $14.42 billion and EPS of 43 cents per share. This is below Street estimates of $14.9 billion and 46 cents per share. Dell is concerned about PC demand due to the increased adoption of tablets.

Dell is in an extremely mature market. The PC market is also saturated by competitors, such as

If we conducted a poll for the biggest story in 2012, which would you select to highlight the year thus far? Would it be Facebook (FB) and all the hype it received pre-IPO, followed by an epic flop? How about Europe, and its continued economic blunders weighing on U.S. equities? Well, if you don't say Apple (AAPL) and its back-to-back stellar quarters, accompanied by its parabolic run, it certainly should make your top three. It is undeniable that Apple is the talk of the tech world. With a new iPhone coming out every year, a new iPad that recently just debuted, and having a tight fisted grip on consumers, success is expected for a while to come. Aside from owning Apple outright, who better to ride on the coattails of that success than Qualcomm (QCOM)?

Qualcomm is one of the chip suppliers for Apple and its wireless devices. Things such

I recently published an article, "Maybe It's The Apron Color," that looked at the share performance of Apple (AAPL) vs. that of Home Depot (HD) during the period immediately following the death of Apple's legendary co-founder Steve Jobs.

That article certainly brought some interesting comments; unfortunately, most of them were directed at an imaginary article, as they found fault with opinions or trading recommendations that were never expressed. One comment was also based on some imaginary concept of an all-benign and humanitarian company, that had an existence that was solely dedicated to the satisfaction of its customers, without regard to such worldly or mundane issues as profits.

One such comment focused on this statement from the article:

"It was backward looking, starting from a very meaningful date in the lifetime of Apple, the death of its heart and soul."

A reader commented:

Apple's heart and soul is alive and well

When the smoke clears:

At this time no one knows how long this little correction will last. It may even turn into a full scale blowup. The markets typically don't formerly announce the "all clear" bell as risks abound. Before the smoke clears however, now is the time to make some lists for a second half election year rally. Most of these funds are not household names and some are a tad on the aggressive side. They are mostly non-leveraged and should provide some added horsepower during for an intermediate trend market rebound. Because of their growth bent they will also be a bit more volatile, but with the added potential alpha boost when the market comes roaring back. This list is not intended to be long-term holdings, but for intermediate term (one to three months) market bounce plays in the second half of the year - when market conditions

It's bad enough that Research In Motion (RIMM) is losing market share to Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), but throw in the departure of key executives, well that's when things become more complicated.

Just recently, RIM's head of sales, Patrick Spence, announced he would be leaving the company to pursue another leadership position. Spence has been with the company for 14 years. He was a driving force behind RIM's dominance, but since the company's products have been becoming inferior, sales have been plummeting.

The new role will be combined with the COO. This is a strategy which I believe to be very poor. A company like RIM should maintain a strong sales team separate that of the top executives. This increase in oversight gives very little wiggle room for a new sales force.

This isn't just a regular departure either. Pence was the one that helped launch BB7 and he

In order to keep its GDP growth steady, China keeps constructing things. The country constructs shopping malls, large stadiums, highways, apartment blocks, hospitals, and schools -- among many other things -- at a rapid rate. This may sound like a great thing as the country is investing in its infrastructure, but things aren't really that bright for China. The shopping malls are being built, but there are no shops or customers in them. Large stadiums are being built, but there are no teams to play sports in them. Highways are being built, but they lead to nowhere and have no traffic on them. Apartment blocks are being built, but they have near zero demand. Hospitals are being built with no doctors and nurses in them. Schools are being built with no students or teachers in them. China is building things just for the sake of it.

On Tuesday, news stories

The technology sector remained bearish throughout the day yesterday. At the close of the market, the tech sector was down 0.97% for the day. It was the worst-performing sector and dragged the Nasdaq back into negative growth. Most of the larger companies, such as Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL), were largely unchanged; however, some of the smaller companies suffered large blows to their share prices. NetApp (NTAP) fell by 12.29% off of poor Q4 financial data, while OmniVision Technologies (OVTI) fell more than 8%.

Top Gainers

• MGT Capital Investments (MGT) up 26.60%
• Vringo (VRNG) up 24.63%, but down 4.13% after hours
• Pandora Media (P) up 12.29%
• Asia Pacific Wire & Cable (APWC) up 11.38%
• Optical Cable Corporation (OCC) up 9.67%

Top Losers

• LDK Solar Co. (LDK) down 15.08%, but up 4.25% after hours
• NetApp down 12.29%
• JinkoSolar Holding Co. (JKS) down 8.35%, but up 5.00% after hours
• OmniVision Technologies down

If you have read my previous articles, you know that I usually invest in dividend growth stocks. Recently, a number of prominent dividend-related contributors and commenters have mentioned an interest in investing in Hasbro (HAS) as it reached a yield of 4%. I decided to begin my own research on the company. What follows is the data I found and my thoughts on the company's future.

Business Summary

"Hasbro, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of children's and family leisure time products and services worldwide." Its most famous brands are "TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, NERF, LITTLEST PET SHOP, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, CRANIUM, and WIZARDS OF THE COAST" (Taken from Yahoo Finance page). It also has a licensing deal with the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) to produce products like the Avengers action figures, etc.

Its main, publicly-traded, competitor is Mattel (MAT); then secondarily,

Today we get the Michigan Sentiment Final, which could give us a boost, but nothing dramatic. Markets around the world are mostly higher this morning and U.S. futures are higher as well. It will be interesting to see if U.S. markets can remain positive going into the close ahead of the weekend or if we get weaker as people want to get out of the market in case Europe implodes again over the weekend. We fear that the sell-off is almost a certainty as stories continue to emerge of suicides as a result of these austerity measures in the southern European states, and it is only a matter of time before the rallies and protests resume.

Looking at Asian markets we see markets are mixed:

All Ordinaries - down 0.61%

Shanghai Composite - down 0.74%

Nikkei 225 - up 0.20%

NZSE 50 - down 0.28%

Seoul Composite - up 0.53%

Top Stories
Tim Cook forgoes $75M. While some top executives have taken huge payments despite failing on a grand scale, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook is giving up $75M by excluding himself from a program that enables staff to accumulate dividends on their restricted stock units that are still vesting. Cook has 1.125M such units that are due to vest over the next 10 years. Opinion: Protected covered call for Apple.

Dell eyes Quest Software. Dell (DELL) is in talks to buy Quest Software (QSFT), Bloomberg reports, as the PC maker continues its strategy of shifting its focus to higher-end business customers, a task made more acute by its weak PC sales in FQ1. In March, Quest agreed to sell itself to P-E firm Insight for $2B although it then received other offers during a "go-shop" period. Opinion: The real problem with Dell's earnings miss.

Japanese core inflation inches up.

Uncertainty is back. And it hit investors right in the face and from all sides: Greece is likely to leave the eurozone, a socialist was elected in France, Spain's banks were downgraded, JPMorgan (JPM) suffered derivatives losses and the Facebook (FB) IPO failed. A lot to take for investors, or, in other words, a great time to buy.

Negative news has dominated the headlines for a few weeks now, which led investors to sell-off stocks in a big fashion. Cisco (CSCO) had to sacrifice some billions in market capitalization after its earnings release last month (which was good nonetheless) and even Apple (AAPL), which has held up quite nicely over the recent past, is down about 12% since April.

I am short AAPL as a portfolio hedge and because I am influenced by who the marginal investor in AAPL stock is. The shareholder profile is less stable as short-term oriented

In a previous article related to Apple (AAPL) posted on April 24, 2012, Apple popped up as the highest returning protected covered for a search using our tools. The protected covered call was considered as Apple's earnings were about to be released. The protected covered call enables an investor to position an investment for a potential profit, yet be protected in case the stock's price drops significantly.

A protected covered call can be entered by selling a call option against a stock

By Guan Wang

Dan Loeb founded the New York-based hedge fund Third Point in 1995. Currently, the fund has approximately $7.5 billion AUM. Loeb is a pioneer in activist investing, which, owing to the large size of many of his positions, makes it relatively easier for investors to imitate his investments.

Loeb is also an outspoken investor, known for writing public letters about other financial executives. For example, the misstatement in the academic record of Yahoo's Scott Thompson might not have been noticed by the public if Loeb had kept silent. With regard to Loeb's performance as a fund manager, the value investor made $150 million, $200 million, and $270 million respectively from 2005 to 2007.

In 2010, Third Point's flagship fund returned 41.7%. It was down 0.1% in 2011, but the average hedge fund lost 5% during that year. Loeb recently reported his 13F holdings as of March 31,

"We try to develop products that seem somehow inevitable. That leave you with the sense that that's the only possible solution that makes sense...What we're working on now feels like the most important and the best work we've done..." Jony Ive

As consumers and investors speculate the potential of an iTV from Apple (AAPL), we at EconomicTiming.com are considering the possibility that this new product is closer than many expect. As I read the above mentioned Telegraph interview with Apple designer Jony Ive, the idea that Apple always manages to arrive where it's supposed to arrive stood out to me.

The detailed reality of an iTV presents numerous inconsistencies within the Apple business model: How could Apple reconcile charging $1500-$2000 for an iTV when the Mac Mini can be purchased for $599 and an iMac can be purchased for $1199? In order to justify such a price point the iTV