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As Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) continues its charge as the “it” company of the moment, the dealership-free electric car company is getting a hand from the same dealers who grind their teeth when speaking the name Elon Musk. Instead of forcing Tesla back into its shell, Business Week’s Kyle Stock thinks dealers who want the luxury electric cars banned are doing the brand a favor. Dealerships have a case to make, as laws exist that “protect” car buyers from the auto companies selling to them directly. Even though people would be happy to forego negotiations in order to get their hands on a car at the right price, car dealers can make their point effectively, as they’ve already done in North Carolina, where legislators are ready to put the kibosh on Tesla sales. Car companies like GM (NYSE:GM) and Ford (NYSE:F) would be happy to go direct as well, but that day won’t arrive any time soon. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Will car dealers ultimately make Tesla look more attractive than ever? It would certainly make a Tesla look like a hot ticket while the buzz around the company is impossible to ignore. From its fantastic earnings report to its meteoric rise on the stock exchange, Tesla is playing with the house’s money. In fact, having announced it would pay back its ATVM loan twice as fast as scheduled, Tesla was able to shed its negative associations to more troubled economic times. News that the company was raising over $1 billion via stock sales and other moves only generated more favorable press for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk. Though additional stock offerings were part of this money pile, Tesla’s price refused to dip on any level following the news. Shares were up nearly 20 percent for the week just before the close of Friday trading. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Texas car dealerships have succeeded in keeping Tesla sales out of Texas. Despite the objections of Musk, consumers have to head out of state to pick up a chic, earth-friendly Tesla ride. North Carolina will probably be next on the list. Would direct sales be bad for the consumer in the end? That question is up for debate. What’s certain is that more press for Tesla — especially press that posits them as industry innovator yet again — will likely make the car brand hotter than ever. Don’t Miss: Meet the Ford Focus That Packs an Extra Punch. Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Six days before her death in 1920, Lydia C. Roberts, a wealthy Iowa divorcee living in Manhattan, bequeathed Columbia University most of her $509,000 estate, creating a highly restrictive fellowship that stipulated the money may be only given to “a person of the Caucasian race” from Iowa. But the educational institution is attempting to change the terms the 93-year-old trust. For reasons no longer known, Robert’s endowment came with several strings attached. It also forbade the recipient from studying law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary surgery, or theology, and the student must move back to Iowa for a minimum of two years after graduation. Because of its restrictive terms, the university has not awarded the fellowship since 1997, although the school said it does not know precisely when when Columbia stopped adhering to the race-related provision of the gift. “Columbia long ago ceased awarding the fellowships in question and does not follow gift conditions that violate anti-discrimination laws,” the university said in a statement Wednesday. “It should go without saying that a university rightly known for the great diversity of its student body is as offended as anyone by the requirements of these fellowships.” NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Universities must generally adhere to the restrictions on endowments as long as they are legal, as University of Iowa Foundation’s chief operating officer Tiffani Shaw told USA Today. In this case, the terms of the Lydia C. Roberts Graduate Fellowship may violate United States anti-discrimination law. The university’s associate provost, Lucy Drotning, filed an affidavit in a state Supreme Court in Manhattan last week in support of legal action taken by JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), the estate’s trustee, as part of its own efforts to change the terms of the trust. The court papers requested that the whites-only provision be thrown out and the Iowa-only rule be modified to allow students that are residents of the state or students who graduated from colleges there be eligible for the award. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Even though the intent behind Roberts’ donation is unknown, challengers to the fellowships racial stipulations argue that its terms violate federal anti-discrimination laws. “It could be the donor put ‘white’ in there because at the time most students at Columbia University were white,” Angela Onwuachi-Willig a law professor at the University of Iowa, told the publication. “But it also could mean that it was a direct intent to discriminate against students of color. I think that the university would have a right to contest the continued use of the fund under those restrictions.” It is true that many schools offer scholarships targeted toward racial minorities, but, according to legal experts, the purpose of the award determines whether a scholarship discriminates. “There’s a difference between considering race as a factor in giving a scholarship where you’re trying to cultivate diversity, versus a scholarship where the intent is to exclude people based upon perceived inferiority of their race,” said Onwuachi-Willig. According to court papers, the current value of the trust is $840,000, and it earned $26,000 in income in 2011. Follow Meghan on Twitter @MFoley_WSCS Don’t Miss: 6 States That Provide a Tax Haven For the Unemployed. Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) annual flagship Worldwide Developers Conference will begin in San Francisco in less than a month, and it could be a watershed event for the company. But with a number of competitors announcing new products and services, Apple could find it difficult to “wow” at WWDC. Investors are expecting Apple and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to show that the company can still deliver innovative products. A new round of 13F statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past few days revealed that a number of mutual funds and hedge fund managers have trimmed their Apple holdings as concerns for the iPhone maker’s future have put its shares under pressure. Is Apple now a once-in-a-decade buying opportunity? Click here to get your 24-page Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Apple’s Stock now! Robert Paul Leitao, founder of Braeburn Group, wrote in a late April blog post that he expects to see evidence of Apple’s next disruptive step at the WWDC conference and he believes that the first step will be the release of the iOS 7 this summer. “While there’s talk of a larger-screen iPhone, a less expensive iPhone for emerging markets and expectations for major product refreshes over the next six months, what will drive Apple’s long-term growth is the company’s eco-system, expanding customer base and growth in the number of active iOS device users,” he wrote. With this in mind, it’s important of investors to understand that Apple is changing, both as a company as an investment opportunity. Here’s a groundwork for understanding the type of company Apple is today. Revenue/Earnings Growth Leitao argued that Apple is creating a firm foundation for future growth. But despite this assessment, the company’s most recent quarterly results provided fuel for critics who believe that Apple has lost its innovative touch. Yet, the company’s reported revenue of $43.60 billion represented a March quarter record and the company’s third highest quarterly revenue in history. However, for the March-ending period, Apple reported its first quarter-over-quarter earnings decline in a decade and its slowest rate of quarterly revenue growth in years. Since the third quarter of 2012, quarterly revenue growth has slowed to a pace last seen at the peak of the Great Recession. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Not only did the iPhone maker report that quarterly growth slowed, but that growth in the company’s fastest-growing revenue region, Greater China, dropped to 7.54 percent, below the 11.27 percent revenue growth experienced by the company as a whole. Gross Margin For several years, Apple enjoyed industry-leading margins, but in the last four fiscal quarters, its gross margin has dropped significantly. In the first fiscal quarter, Apple reported gross margin of 37.5 percent, its worst performance since the fourth quarter of 2010. That quarter was the first full quarter of sales for the iPhone 4, and the change in the iconic smartphone’s form factor that year mirrors the change in the form factor for the iPhone 5. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! As the timing of those two dips show, the high costs of equipment for the new handsets negatively impacted gross margin. Comparatively, the company’s gross margin reached its highest level during the first two quarters following the release of the second handset in the iPhone 4 series, due in a large part to the economies of scale created by the two-phone series. The release of the rumored iPhone 5S will likely result in a partial gross margin recover for Apple. Mar. 31, 2012 Jun. 30, 2012 Sep. 30, 2012 Dec. 31, 2012 Mar. 31, 2013 Jun. 30, 2012 (guidance) Gross Margin (%) 47.4 42.8 40.0 38.6 37.5 36 to 37 Product Mix It’s important to understand that while the i

Last July, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, issued a report called “The Retirement Crisis and a Plan to Solve It.” In it, he outlined the findings of a series of hearings held by the committee on the retirement crisis that has crept over America like rust over the past few years. Highlighting just a few troubling facts, Harkin points out that, in aggregate, Americans currently hold a $6.6 trillion retirement deficit. One of only five people in the private sector workforce have a define benefit pension plan, and half of Americans have less than $10,000 in savings. Anecdotal evidence curated through surveys finds that 92 percent of people believe there is a retirement crisis in America. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! What’s more, just 4 percent of employers are “very confident” that their employees will retire with sufficient assets. This is down from 30 percent in 2011. Only 14 percent of people believe they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement. Harkin articulates the idea of the three-legged stool of retirement security — defined pension plans, personal savings, and Social Security — and reveals how each has been eroded and undermined over time. With this in mind, it has become clear that individuals will need to take a more proactive approach to retirement savings. Social Security will not be enough — if it is even still around in the not-too-distant future — and employee benefits plans are, unfortunately, a job perk that most Americans are forced to live without. This leaves personal savings as the one leg of the stool that individuals can reinforce through fiscal responsibility and good decision making. Advice on how to better prepare fore retirement is abundant, and sometimes vapid, but it is usually a good idea to review the common knowledge and make sure that your personal strategy does not violate some obvious rule of basic retirement planning. So, briefly, here are some things to look out for: 1) Shop Around: The go-shop process is a hallowed part of any serious purchase agreement. The go-shop period helps ensure that a company’s board of directors stays true to its fiduciary duty, ensuring that shareholders get the best possible deal in the transaction. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! The metaphor isn’t perfect, but think of your retirement savings account as a business. You, through the magic of compartmentalization, are both the chairman of the board and the shareholder. You have a duty to look out for your own best interest, and ensure that you are not paying any more than you absolutely have to in banking or other fees associated with your retirement nest egg. 2) Small Numbers Add Up: Just as small recurring banking and management fees can add up to some serious coin over a period of time, so can small recurring expenses such as a beer, gas, movie tickets, and especially larger expenses associated with hobbies, gifts, and dates. The last thing anyone wants to do in retirement is choose between essentials, and in order to avoid this it is prudent to first choose between non-essentials. No one’s saying don’t have fun, but just make sure that Present You takes care of Future You. 3) Financial Literacy: Finance, like any other field, has a jargon all its own, along with a robust set of key concepts and best practices. There are a thousand ways to approach this learning curve, and most of them are free. The Internet is an autodidact’s dream come true, but for those who prefer more traditional instruction there are a number of very high quality free online courses now available, as well as words of wisdom from venerable investors like Warren Buffett to consider. 4) Feed Your 401K: If your employer offers a 401K retirement plan, feed it. In many ca

The online world can be a dangerous place for the unprepared. And it’s just going to get worse. It’s time to teach cyber security as an integral part of the high school and college curriculum and to all corporate employees. I grew up in New York City, and for a few years, heaven on earth for me was going to Boy Scout camp in the summer near the Delaware River. The camp had all the summer adventures a city kid could imagine: hiking, fishing, canoeing, etc. But for me, the best part was the rifle range. For a 12-year old kid from the city, shooting target practice and skeet with a 22 rifle meant being entrusted by adults with something you knew was dangerous — because they were beating gun safety into our brains every step of the way. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! From the minute we walked onto the shooting range to even before we got to touch a gun, we learned basic rules of handling weapons I still haven’t forgotten. If you screwed up, you got yelled at, and if you did it again, you got escorted out of the rifle range. While target practice and skeet shooting were fun, safety was serious. Over the years, I would learn how to shoot an M-16 in basic training in the military and go through a basic combat course to go to Southeast Asia (when we acted like this was a lark, our instructor stopped our drill and said, “For your sake I hope the guys shooting at you were screwing around in their combat course.” It got our attention.) When I bought a ranch, herds of wild boar still roamed the fields. While we were putting in the miles of fencing to keep them out, I bought much heavier weapons to deal with a charging 400-pound boar and hired an instructor to teach me how to safely use them. Each time gun safety was an integral part of training with new weapons. For me, guns and gun safety became one and the same. Hacking and Cyber Security For consumers, online surfing, shopping, banking and entertaining have become an integral part of our lives. And with that has come identify theft, hacking, phishing, online scams, bullying, and predators online, as well as possible loss of privacy. But for businesses, the threats are even more real. Go ask RSA (NYSE:EMC), Northrop (NYSE:NOC), Lockheed (NYSE:LMT), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and almost every other company with an online presence. Intellectual property stolen, customer data hacked, funds illegally transferred, goods stolen, can damage a company and put them out of business. I think we’re missing something. In the last 20 years, 3 billion people have gained access to the web. Yet, for most of them online safety remains a problem for other people. It’s pretty clear that for a company going online today is equivalent to playing with a loaded gun. The analogy of comparing the net with guns may seem stretched, but I think it’s an apt one. Guns have been around for hundreds of years, to provide food as well as wage war, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that gun safety rules were codified and taught. I think we need the equivalent of gun safety training for online access. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! We now know the basic tools online hackers use. We know enough to harden sites to stop the simple hacks and to educate employees about basic social engineering and phishing attempts. It’s time to teach cyber security as integral part of the high school and/or college curriculum — not as an elective. Companies need to make cyber security education an integral part of their on-boarding process. The Air Force Academy basic cyber security course is a good place to start (Stanford and other schools have a similar syllabi.) The class consists of basic networking and administration, network mapping, remote exploits, denial of service, web vulnerabilities, social engineering,

With shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) trading around $64, is SBUX an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let’s analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework: T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement Starbucks is a roaster, marketer and retailer of coffee operating worldwide. The company purchases and roasts coffees that it sells, along with handcrafted coffee, tea and other beverages and a variety of fresh food items, through its stores. It also sells a variety of coffee and tea products and licenses its trademarks through other channels, such as licensed stores and national food service accounts. In addition to its flagship Starbucks brand, the Company’s portfolio also includes Tazo Tea, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Starbucks VIA Ready Brew, Starbucks Refreshers beverages and the Verismo System by Starbucks. Starbucks has developed an amazing reputation over the last several years which has generated a lot of buzz for its products. Consumers continue to enjoy Starbucks branded products around the world which will surely lead to rising profits. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Strong Starbucks stock has seen an explosive move higher, over the last few years. Currently, the stock is trading at all-time high prices where it is still catching a bid. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Starbucks is trading above its rising key averages which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term. (Source: Thinkorswim) Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of Starbucks options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish. Implied Volatility (IV) 30-Day IV Percentile 90-Day IV Percentile Starbucks Options 20.4% 6% 5% What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a very small amount of call and put options contracts, as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days. Put IV Skew Call IV Skew June Options Flat Average July Options Flat Average As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a very small amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months. On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion. E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Starbucks’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Starbucks look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers? NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! 2013 Q1 2012 Q4 2012 Q3 2012 Q2 Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y) 27.50% 14.00% -0.51% 19.44% Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y) 11.26% 10.59% 10.96% 12.67% Earnings Reaction -0.82% 4.1% 9.05% -9.4% Starbucks has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over most of the last four quarters. From these figures, the markets have been very excited with Starbucks’s recent earnings announcements. P = Average Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector How has Starbucks stock done relative to its peers, Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ:DNKN), McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR

“A challenge only becomes an obstacle when you bow to it.” ? Ray Davis (Famous General in the Marines) In the investing world, one major challenge is defining the differences between “growth” vs. “value.” Warren Buffett said it best when he described growth and value as two separate sides of the same coin. In general, low or declining growth will be valued less than a comparable company with faster growth. Often, most companies go through a life cycle just like a human would (see Equity Life Cycle). In other words, companies frequently start small, grow larger, mature, and then die. Of course, some companies never grow, or because of lack of funding or outsized losses, end up suffering an early death. It’s tough to generalize with companies, because some businesses are more cat-like than human. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! For example, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) may not have had nine lives, but the stock has been left for dead several times during its lifespan, before managing to resurrect itself from value status to growth darling (with a little assistance from Steve Jobs). Whether Tim Cook can lead Apple back to the Promised Land of growth remains to be seen, but many investors still see value. Fluctuating price and earnings trends over a company’s life cycle frequently create confusion surrounding the proper categorization of a stock as growth or value. The other frustrating aspect to this debate is the absence of a universally accepted definition of growth and value. A few specialty companies have chosen to address this challenge. Russell Investments in Seattle, Washington is a leader in the benchmark/index creation field. Russell tackles the definitional issue by creating quantitatively based definitions, tediously explained in a thrilling 44-page paper titled, “Construction and Methodology.” Here is an exhilarating excerpt: “Russell Investments uses a ‘non-linear probability’ method to assign stocks to the growth and value style valuation indexes. Russell uses three variables in the determination of growth and value. On the value side, book-to-price is used, while on the growth side, the I/B/E/S long-term growth variable was replaced by two variables- I/B/E/S forecast medium-term growth (2 yr) and sales per share historical growth (5 yr).” As I bite my tongue in sarcasm, I like to point out that these methodologies constantly change — Russell most recently changed their methodology in 2011. What’s more, there are numerous other indexing companies that define growth and value quite differently (e.g., Standard & Poor’s, Lipper, MSCI, etc.). Like religious beliefs that are viewed quite differently and are prone to passionate arguments, so too can be the debates over growth vs. value categorization. I’ve been brainwashed by numerous great investors (see Investor Hall Fame), and underpinning my philosophy is the belief that price follows earnings (see It’s the Earnings Stupid). As a result, I am constantly on the lookout for attractively priced stocks that have strong growth prospects. If Russell or S&P looked under the hood of my client portfolios, I’m certain they would find a healthy mix of growth and value stocks, as they define it. If they looked in Warren Buffett’s portfolio, arguably similar conclusions could be made. Most observers call Buffett a value investor, but over Buffett’s career, he has owned some of the greatest growth stocks of all-time [e.g., Coca Cola (NYSE:KO), American Express (NYSE:AXP), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)]. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! At the end of the day, expectations embedded in the value of share prices determine future appreciation or depreciation, depending on how actual results register relative to those expectations. If stock prices are too high (as measured by the P/E, Price/Free-

Imagine a customer list including household names like Dannon, Dean Foods (DF), ConAgra (CAG), Kraft (KRFT), Kroger (KR), Unilever (UL), Hardee's, McDonald's (MCD), Starbucks (SBUX), Subway, Wendy's (WEN), Yum! (YUM), Wal-Mart (WMT), McCormick (MKC), Bayer, Coca-Cola (KO), Shell Oil, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), PepsiCo (PEP), Wyeth (owned by Pfizer (PFE)), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), S.C. Johnson, Perrigo (PRGO), CVS (CVS), Target (TGT), L'Oreal, Avon (AVP), Tyco Electronics (TYC), Home Depot (HD), True Value, Ace, Costco (COST), Kimberly-Clark (KMB) and Procter & Gamble (PG). In fact, imagine a customer list with over 13,000 business names. Factor in a respectable degree of customization for each customer making the prospect of that customer abandoning the business relationship expensive. It could even be substantiated that this company can well be the difference between a consumer's purchase of its customers' products or not. That's a company definitely worth a second look for a long-term investor.Berry Plastics

With shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) trading around $71, is TGT an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let’s analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework: T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement Target operates general stores in the United States, as well as online, where it sells merchandise at discounted prices. It operates in three segments: U.S. Retail, U.S. Credit Card and Canadian.  Target’s online presence is designed to enable guests to purchase products either online or by locating them in one of its stores with the aid of online research and location tools. Groceries, clothing, household items, and general merchandise can be found at Target stores that make it an efficient shopping experience for consumers throughout the nation. Target stores will continue to be an excellent option for consumers looking for a variety of discounted items in one location. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Strong Target stock has just recently broken above a long-term resistance level. The stock is now trading at all-time high prices and sees no signs of slowing ahead. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Target is trading above its rising key averages which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term. (Source: Thinkorswim) Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of Target options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish. Implied Volatility (IV) 30-Day IV Percentile 90-Day IV Percentile Target Options 20.46% 56% 52% What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a significant amount of call and put options contracts, as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days. Put IV Skew Call IV Skew June Options Flat Average July Options Flat Average As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a significant amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months. On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion. Using a solid investing framework such as this can help improve your stock-picking skills. Don’t waste another minute — click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now. E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Target’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Target look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers? 2012 Q4 2012 Q3 2012 Q2 2012 Q1 Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y) 1.39% 17.07% 2.91% 5.05% Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y) 6.76% 3.23% 3.33% 5.83% Earnings Reaction -1.45% 1.72% 1.76% 0.43% Target has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these figures, the markets have been upbeat about Target’s recent earnings announcements. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector How has Target stock done relative to its peers, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS), Costco (NASDAQ:COST), and sector? Target Wal-Mart Kohl’s Costco Sector Year-to-Date Ret

If you’ve been planning to take a vacation with your frequent flier miles, expect airlines to make that process more difficult and more expensive than ever. Industry mergers and increased passenger counts are limiting seats on flights these days, making the investment in an airline’s loyalty program a bad deal for consumers in almost every case. What is different about cashing in frequent flier miles for flights these days? As consolidated airlines like US Airways (NYSE:LCC) survey the future, they notice a higher percentage of filled seats on flights. More efficient routes have allowed airlines to trim their expenses, making for better earnings yet fewer seats to reward travelers for loyalty. The proliferation of traveler reward credit cards like United (NYSE:UAL) and Delta (NYSE:DAL) offer passengers is also increasing ways for customers to earn miles. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! As a result, attaining “elite” status on airlines will be more difficult since it will be more common, according to CNBC. Most airlines will increase the amount of miles needed to qualify for the upper echelon categories while others start selling the perks of the elites for small sums. In other words, it could be cheaper to find a discount flight with low-cost upgrades and get cash back on credit card purchases than to expect an airline to redeem miles cost-effectively for a flight you want. The bad news doesn’t end there. Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ:SAVE), a one-time discount option that now typically eclipses the fares of other providers, will charge fees in excess of $100 for “free” flights earned via miles. The miles themselves are even up for grabs: Delta is giving only a percentage of miles earned on student and discount fares. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! That price-per-mile model will likely become the norm for most major airlines. How much you spend on a flight will be the deciding factor on how many miles you end up receiving. The system will work for redemption as well. By assigning a value per mile, redeeming flights on the shorter end of the spectrum — say, New York to Chicago rather than New York to L.A. — would cost you fewer miles on the other end. Frequent flier programs just aren’t much of a value for travelers these days. Don’t Miss: What is Warren Buffett Buying and Selling? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet