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Even at a time when Germany luxury brands BMW, Mercedes, and Audi seem to be pulling ahead of their competition, General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) is remaining level-headed, CFO Dan Ammann assured Automotive News Monday. Rather than attempting to match GM’s German competitors, the company will instead be focusing on its own smaller lineup, which it plans to fill with 10 new or redesigned models by mid-2015. 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! BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi are hustling to introduce new models, as they compete for new buyers in the competitive luxury segment. According to Automotive News, the Mercedes CLA sedan will arrive in September, along with the Audi A3 sedan. Both are vying for the attention of younger buyers, similar to the x1 small crossover that BMW recently released. Despite these advancements, Ammann feels little pressure to have Cadillac match its competitors model for model and compete in the luxury brand foot race, explaining, “Continuing to move down price points, and microsegmentation of all of these little categories, all seem to be driven by a sort of volume-at-all-costs mentality.” Rather than engaging, he feels comfortable about taking a step back and developing Cadillac’s smaller base. Cadillac sales are up 37 percent from last year but still trail Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus. Don’t Miss: GM’s Newest Launch Is Getting a Little Help From Japan. Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Glass product is barely in anyone’s hands yet and already the privacy implications of the revolutionary, wearable technology have stirred debate and policies everywhere from Congress to casinos. Google Glass combines a tiny screen with video recording capabilities and links them to the Internet via a tether with a compatible smartphone. Even Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone has already gotten in on some of the fun, despite strong competition between it and devices powered by Google’s Android OS. 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! “Criticisms are inevitably from people who are afraid of change or who have not figured out that there will be an adaptation of society to it,” said Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt recently. Schmidt was of course referring to the Glass’s ability to record anywhere at anytime and stream the video and pictures it takes to the Internet. The wearable, smart device is voice controlled and while it does give off a faint glow when its camera is rolling, that indication is far from satisfactory for many. Eight U.S. Congress members sent Google CEO Larry Page  a letter on Thursday, according to the Christian Science Monitor, asking about various privacy issues that exist, including the facial recognition features in Glass. While Google says no facial recognition feature currently exists in Glass, it says that is the possibility if it has “strong privacy protections in place” in the future. Theoretically, Google Glass could almost instantly pull up information on any face the user looks upon if Google or another software developer create the software to do so. 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! A business sector that already highly values privacy and has always taken a hard stance against consumer technology — particularly cameras — is the casino industry. Caesar’s Entertainment Corp. (CZR) has already banned Google Glass in its gambling areas and in showrooms. Other casinos are expected to follow as Glass slowly makes its way into the market. While Glass certainly poses a new threat to privacy, all of its functions can already be performed by a smartphone, though a smartphone has be in someone’s hand to record — Google Glass just listens for its wearer to tell it to start recording. Don’t Miss: Is Google Ready to Crush PayPal? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Not long ago it seemed that the "smart money" was invested in hedge funds which generated outsized returns for investors. When broad markets fell by 40% in the crash of 2008 and 2009, hedgies like John Paulson, who bet against mortgage-backed securities, made fortunes. In 2007, Paulson made $3.7 billion. In 2010, he made $5 billion.Now that the financial crisis has abated, such returns for Paulson and his fellow superstar hedgies appear to be a thing of the past. And, with the recent rash of insider trading prosecutions by the Feds against hedge fund managers, investors must seriously question the value of putting their money with these folks.The saga of SAC Capital may ultimately show that the only reason hedge funds realized outside returns was through illegal insider trading on confidential information. And the bad news around SAC and its manager, Steve Cohen, continued to get worse

There was a time when people either chose an Apple (AAPL) smartphone or, if they thought it was too expensive, they'd settle for an Android smartphone. Being able to afford it was the defining factor.While at times, spec-wise, Apple was selling about the same devices as the Android competition, people still opted for Apple at a higher price. That is the very definition of Apple having a moat, and its incredible margins thus being sustainable.I am afraid that increasingly, that isn't the case anymore. There are growing signs that people are starting to opt for either Apple or (some) Android phones as if they were on equal grounds even if they carry about the same price and specs. This is a tremendous change in attitude, and could represent a breakdown of Apple's traditional moat. Case in point, the Samsung S4 Enter the Samsung S4 (SSNLF.PK). With the

This article will focus on stocks that were found using a stock screener on May 16, 2013. The stock screener had the following criteria: Small cap stock Listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ or AMEX Earnings per share growth of at least 15% for the current year Four consecutive quarters of non-negative earnings A profit margin TTM of 40% or greater and/or above the industry average A return on equity TTM of 30% or greater and/or above the industry average This screen looked to identify small cap companies. The market cap of the five stocks found in this screen ranges from a low of $405 million to a high of $734 million. It also looked for companies with solid, positive earnings in the last four quarters that also were forecasted to grow earnings significantly in the coming year. The fundamentals of their profit margins and their return on equity were

Today, I want to pit two Magic Formula Investing gun stocks against one another: Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Sturm Ruger (RGR). What is behind the gun stocks' appearance in MFI? Do they look like attractive investments at current prices? Which of the two is better? Let's put them under the scope. Boom, Boom, Boom Like it or not, firearms are woven tightly into American history and culture. The founding fathers found gun ownership so important that they protected it in the second amendment to the U.S. constitution. Some of the world's most famous guns and gunmakers, from the Colt Single Action to the Remington 870 to the M16, have come from America. At about 40% personal ownership and over 300 million guns, the U.S. easily has the most armed citizenship in the world.Recently, the gun industry has enjoyed record demand, with

The Mid-cap Blend style ranks seventh out of the twelve fund styles as detailed in my Style Rankings for ETFs and Mutual Funds report. It gets my Dangerous rating, which is based on aggregation of ratings of 17 ETFs and 307 mutual funds in the Mid-cap Blend style as of May 2, 2013. Prior reports on the best & worst ETFs and mutual funds in every sector and style are here.Figures 1 and 2 show the five best and worst-rated ETFs and mutual funds in the style. Not all Mid-cap Blend style ETFs and mutual funds are created the same. The number of holdings varies widely (from 20 to 3004), which creates drastically different investment implications and ratings. The best ETFs and mutual funds allocate more value to Attractive-or-better-rated stocks than the worst, which allocate too much value to Neutral-or-worse-rated stocks.To identify the best and

By: The ETF ProfessorIn less than two months a dizzying array of global central banks have lowered interest rates. The European Central Bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Reserve Bank of India, the Bank of Israel, the Central Bank of Turkey and the list goes on.When the domino effect will end is anyone's guess, but it does not appear the end is near. The U.S. and Japan have little or no room for further rate cuts, but plenty of other countries do. Many are emerging markets economies where central banks' hands are being forced due to strengthening currencies.Other prime candidates for additional rate-cutting are developed markets with significant commodities and/or emerging markets exposure. What is clear is the path of least resistance for international interest rates is lower in the near-term and the following country-specific equity-based ETFs stand to be affected.iShares MSCI Turkey Investable

Intel (INTC) looks like a company that we may not recognize five years from now. With the new CEO and the transition into chips for tablets and smartphones, this is only the beginning. The company will start focusing on new technology and also explore new markets that it has not been in to help generate its multibillion dollar revenue stream in the future. Let's take a look at some of the journey that we will experience with Intel in the near future. Brian Krzanich Says Move to Mobile will be Quick The new CEO says that the company is focused on accelerating its move into the mobile chip market. Intel has found it a bit hard to move into the land of Qualcomm (QCOM) and the $85.4 billion mobile chip market. Mr. Krzanich was appointed as the new CEO this year but has been with the company since 1982 starting

By: The ETF ProfessorHighlighting fourth-quarter 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was noted hedge fund legends David Einhorn and George Soros held sizable stakes in the largest gold miners ETF, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX).To be fair to Soros, during the fourth quarter, he pared his stakes in GDX and the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) by 800,000 and 400,000 shares, but he still owned 1.5 million shares of GDX and about two million shares of GDXJ at the end of the quarter.At the end of the first quarter, Soros held 2.66 million shares of GDX, according to the latest 13F, meaning his stake in the ETF almost doubled. The filing also shows Soros still holds 1.2 million shares of GDXJ and initiated a new options position in that ETF.As for Einhorn's Greenlight Capital,