2 Billion Reasons Why Android Will Forever Dominate

From now until the end of the year, 250 million more Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) Android devices will come online, bringing Android's total army to 1 billion strong. According to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, low-cost devices will help drive Android's total reach to 2 billion active devices in the coming years. In other words, most people's first encounter with a smartphone will be an Android device.

This is both a blessing and a curse for Google, which founded Android on a platform of openness. In one respect, it has allowed Google to command elements of the mobile experience, which should translate into more lucrative search queries for Google. But on the other hand, Android's openness puts Google at risk of other businesses putting their best interests ahead of Google's.

I can say for certain that Android's approach has created developer attraction that differs in scale than what Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) can offer. By and large, Apple developers make money off of how many people download their application. Google, on the other hand, gives developers an opportunity to modify and own more of the mobile experience on a much higher level, which is a far more powerful preposition.

Although Apple may command about 73% of industry's operating profits, Android's openness invites the possibility of more innovation to the smartphone experience since than what Apple could ever offer. To really do Android some justice, it should never be compared to Apple on a sheer monetary basis. There are far more business opportunities to consider for an Android developer, which are inherently more difficult to measure.

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) Home is a testament not only to Facebook's interest in owning more of the mobile experience, but also confirmation that Android is a more innovative smartphone platform than Apple iOS. Eric Schmidt was recently quoted that he thinks what Facebook and Amazon has done to the Android experience as "fantastic," because it shows how open Android really is. The fact that Google allows major competitive threats to piggyback off of Android's 70.1% market share is nothing short of amazing.

Android's openness may in fact undermine Google's built-in moneymakers, but it's never going to stop a user from opening up a browser and going to Google.com.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other web companies, it's also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn't sold. That's why it's more important than ever to understand each piece of Google's sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool's new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

Why LIN TV Shares Jumped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of LIN TV (NYSE: LIN  ) were up as much as 13% today, climbing steadily after the local media provider announced this morning its second acquisition in less than a week.

So what: LIN, which specializes in local multimedia and advertising, said it had gained majority ownership of Dedicated Media, "a leader in multi-channel ad buying and optimization," according to LIN's press release. Management said the acquisition will help maximize the effectiveness of its advertising and add depth to its targeted marketing suite.

Now what: Perhaps proving that boring businesses often make the best investments, LIN shares have been on fire over the past year, gaining more than 300% since the summer. Today's acquisition comes on top of LIN's purchase last week of a majority stake in HYFN, a social media management specialist, showing that the media company has its eye on continued growth. Don't be surprised to see shares keep  moving higher from here.  

Don't miss the next update on LIN TV. Add the company to your Watchlist by clicking right here.

Can't Seem to Save? You're Not Following These Simple Rules

#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-68382{display:none}.cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-68382,#postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-68382{width:570px;display:block} How's your bank balance? It should be healthier than this time last year. And if it isn't? Only a few explanations exist for this lack of progress: The past 12 months were filled with budget busters such as car trouble, medical co-pays and the need to replace major appliances. You were already living paycheck to paycheck, and the increased costs of food and other essentials sent you into the red. You simply didn't make it your business to save. It's vital to have an emergency fund and, ideally, additional savings for future goals (replacement vehicle, home of your own, college fund). But these accounts don't build themselves. You have to take responsibility for making them happen. Maybe you've had bad luck, as noted above. Or maybe you just haven't figured out how to save. Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson suggests beginning by talking about goals. Simply saying "I want to save money" is a dream, not a plan. Without a specific destination in mind, you'll probably never get started. Break it down So pick a path. A specific need/want is a good start. Suppose $3,000 would put your kid through an advanced music camp this summer. Maybe you'd like to save enough for a reliable used car. Perhaps you and your spouse want to have at least three months' worth of living expenses in the bank. Do those kinds of numbers make you feel faint? Start smaller: "In the next year, I will save $1,000." Now subdivide that goal: $1,000 divided by 52 is about $19.23 a week, or about $2.74 a day. Thinking in terms of a daily three bucks is a lot more manageable than wondering how you'll come up with a grand. As Johnson notes, the easiest way to start is to figure out ways you might be wasting money. Let a budgeting app do the work for you. He likes a free service called PowerWallet. For example, it might reveal that 40 percent of your total food budget is spent on meals away from home. This kind of wake-up call will help you trim the fat, so to speak. Divert Some Funds If you've been paying extra on certain items (mortgage, student loans), stop doing that for a while. Yes, getting ahead is great, but not at the expense of having no savings to cover that car repair or balky fridge. Suppose you've been putting an extra $100 on your house payment each month. Instead, throw that hundred toward your savings goal. It won't take as long as you think to hit that sweet spot because this won't be the only way you save. Or it shouldn't be. All sorts of ways exist to carve a few dollars here and a few dollars there from your current budget; remember, we're talking fewer than three bucks per day. For some easy everyday tactics, see "15 Simple, Proven Strategies to Save On Everything You'll Ever Buy" and "7 Money-Saving Tips People Often Forget About."

Sinking: It’s Not Just For the Offshore Drillers Anymore

Offshore drillers have company now that falling oil prices are hitting the shares of Helmerich & Payne (HP), Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN), Nabors Industries (NBR) and Seventy Seven Energy (SSE)–and for good reason, say Susquehanna’s Charles Minervino and Kai Wang. They explain:

Reuters

Recent weakness in WTI and Brent, coupled with geopolitical issues and less urgency offshore are posing a broader threat to E&P capital budgets in 2015…We view the Land Drillers as being among those with more risk to estimate revisions, given high current dayrates and significant newbuild construction activity, which may potentially be problematic if lower crude prices persist or a weaker outlook on U.S. E&P spending came out of earnings season. That said, valuations screen much better in land drilling right now and we prefer Patterson-UTI Energy (3.7x 2015 EBITDA) and Nabors Industires (4.5x 2015 EBITDA).

Minervino and Kai Wang also think shareholder returns will become more important for Helmerich & Payne, Patterson-UTI Energy Nabors Industries, and Seventy Seven Energy. He explains why:

While the Land Drillers are still the best performing subsector in our coverage universe (up 17% YTD), the stocks have pulled back 23% since July. We are anticipating attractive free cash flow generation for the land drillers, and given the pullback in these stocks, we estimate free cash flow yields are 1.6%, 8.7%, 6.5%, and 9.1% for Helmerich & Payne, Patterson-UTI Energy, Nabors Industries, and Seventy Seven Energy. Helmerich & Payne has actively increased its dividend in the past 12 months and we are anticipating the company will generate $166mn of free cash flow in 2015. Patterson-UTI Energy still has about $187mn remaining on its share repurchase authorization, while Nabors Industries recently announced a $250mn buyback transaction from Pamplona. We believe there is more in the cards for shareholder returns from these three companies as we progress into 2015. We do not expect Seventy Seven Energy to buy back stock or announce a dividend at this time.

Shares of Helmerich & Payne have dropped 4.3% to $85.61 at 3:16 p.m., while Patterson-UTI Energy has fallen 7.3% to $27.04, Nabors Industries has declined 5.7% to $19.67, and Seventy Seven Energy is off 5.1% at $20.27.

Technical Update: Gold Remains In Trouble

Related GOLD Morning Market Losers Benzinga's Top #PreMarket Losers Signs of the Times: 'We Buy Gold' (Fox Business)

Gold futures continued to trade bearishly this week, even as they churned sideways.

Technicians now believe that gold is in wave “(iii) of iii” lower with potential support at 1205.70 and 1137.70.

As gold is oversold, technicians note that selling at current levels could be dangerous. They recommend aspiring sellers wait to for rallies into which to sell.

The technicians note that such "selling into rallies" by aggressive traders may ramp up at or near 1265 in conjunction with overbought readings on the %R indicator.

Meanwhile, technicians note that big money buyers are likely to stay away until the extreme low target of 1137.70 is tested.

Stock chart: 

Posted-In: Long Ideas Short Ideas Futures Technicals Commodities Markets Trading Ideas

© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  Related Articles (GOLD) Technical Update: Gold Remains In Trouble Morning Market Losers Benzinga's Top #PreMarket Losers Bear of the Day: Randgold (GOLD) - Bear of the Day Morning Market Losers Benzinga's Top #PreMarket Losers Around the Web, We're Loving... We're Now Hiring Journalists for our Newsdesk! Better Manage Your Personal Finances

Stocks: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

What goes down must go up? It sure seems that way.

REUTERS

After two days of losses, the S&P 500 has gained 0.5% to 1,972.83 today, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 16,985.61 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.6% to 4,419.03. The small-company Russell 2000, however, ticked up just 0.1% to 1,172.97.

The big news of the day: The minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting. After initial dip, buyers stepped in and pushed stocks up towards a new high of the day. Citigroup’s Steven Englander explains why:

The Fed Minutes did not deliver anything new. In practice this is dovish as almost all market participants who expected a shift  from the Statement/Press conference were on the hawkish side. No one expected a more dovish message so the hawks are caught offside. However we are talking smalls here.

Of course, today was also the first trading day of earnings season, following Alcoa’s (AA) beat after the yesterday’s close. Mizuho’s Carmine Grigoli and Ujjal Basu Roy think earnings growth will accelerate during the second half of the year:

We are confident that earnings growth will accelerate over the balance of the year. Macroeconomic data suggest to us that analysts may be underestimating the level of prospective improvement in the second quarter. Our outlook calls for the S&P 500 to post a year-over-year gain of 7% in net income in the second quarter followed by 8% – 12% gains in the second half.

Goldman Sachs’ Amanda Sneider  and team explain which kinds of companies are most likely to beat earnings forecasts:

Companies where analysts revise down quarterly earnings estimates during the quarter are less likely to beat expectations than stocks with positive revisions or no change to estimates. Likewise, stocks with negative revisions are more likely to miss. Companies with negative revisions are rewarded more for beating expectations and penalized less for missing.

Companies that have had earnings revisions rise during the second quarter and are likely to beat earnings include Wyndham Worldwide (WYN), CBRE Group (CBG), Consol Energy (CNX), McKesson (MCK) and Boston Properties (BXP), Sneider says.

Stocks Going Ex-Dividend on Friday, June 20 (PNY, AWH, More)

Ex-dividend dates are very important to dividend investors, since you must purchase a stock prior to its ex-dividend date in order to receive its upcoming dividend payout. For more information, check out Everything Investors Need to Know About Ex-Dividend Dates.

Below we highlight five big-name stocks going ex-dividend on Friday, June 20.

1. Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) offers a dividend yield of 3.46% based on Wednesday's closing price of $37.03 and the company's quarterly dividend payout of 32 cents. The stock is up 13.97% year-to-date. Dividend.com currently rates PNY as “Neutral” with a DARS™ rating of 3.4 stars out of 5 stars.

2. Allied World Assurance

Allied World Assurance (

Public Pensions Hiding Trillions in Liabilities, SEC Commissioner Says

Lax governmental accounting standards that have allowed systemic underfunding of public pensions would amount to fraud were those public plans subject to laws governing the private sector, according to SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher.

“In the private sector, the SEC would quickly bring fraud charges against any corporate issuer and its officers for playing such numbers games,” said Gallagher. “And, we would also pursue and punish the so-called fiduciaries who recklessly seek yield to meet unrealistic accounting assumptions. We should not treat municipalities any differently.”

Gallagher’s comments were made in a May 29 address at the first Municipal Securities Regulator Summit. The SEC’s Office of Municipal Securities oversees the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market. Munis can be an important fixed-income vehicle for retirement, as the interest earned on them is tax-exempt.

Nearly three-fourths of muni bonds are held by retail investors.

Gallagher said that municipal bond issuers are misleading investors by failing to disclose the true extent of pension and other post-employment benefits (OPEB), like retiree health care obligations.

"Trillions of dollars in liabilities ... are not appropriately reflected on government books, thereby seriously misleading investors about the riskiness of their investments in municipal securities," he said.

The most optimistic estimates (often made by plan administrators) show state and local pension plans are underfunded by $1 trillion. Others believe the more accurate number is more than $4 trillion. Gallagher said that in order to fund the shortfalls, every household in the U.S. would need to pay $14,000 a year for the next 30 years.

With the most grievous shortfall — Gallagher did not name the city or state — each household in that municipality is on the hook for more than $88,000 in unfunded pension liabilities. Median income in the unnamed city is $47,000.

In Detroit, pensions will be bailed out with an infusion of liquidated assets and federal relief, but general obligation bondholders are only expected to recover 10% to 13% of their principal.

Gallagher said that Detroit proves that bankruptcy courts will favor underfunded pension funds over bondholders. “It is imperative the bondholders know with precision the size of the potential pension liabilities of the entities in which they are investing. And yet, they do not.”

Public pension plans have been over-optimistic in assuming future rates of returns that will be used to pay liabilities. Generally, a 7 1/2% to 8% return is factored. Gallagher says a return in the mid-6% range is more realistic. Risk is potentially exacerbated when funds chase yield to account for inflated return goals.

“This lack of transparency can amount to a fraud on municipal bond investors, and it does a disservice to state and local government workers and retirees by saving elected officials from making the hard choices either to fully fund the pension promises that were made to public employees, or not to make the promises in the first place,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher applauded GASB efforts to bring transparency to public pensions and urged all municipalities follow the board’s improved accounting standards. But reform of this scale isn’t expected overnight. Gallagher recommends the requirement of supplemental disclosures to fully inform investors.

---

Check out Government Pension ‘Millionaires’ Outearn Private Sector on ThinkAdvisor.

First Take: Weak 1Q growth points to 2Q rebound

A quarterly contraction in the economy can set off anxiety-ridden thoughts of recession.

Take a breath and lighten up. The economy's 1% decline in the pace of growth last quarter will likely lead to a sharper bounce-back in the current quarter, economists say.

First of all, much of the shrinking economy was the result of sharply slower inventory-building by businesses, a development that was at least partly weather related. If not for the tepid stockpiling, the economy would have grown about 0.6% instead of contracting 1%.

REVISED GDP: Eonomy shrank at 1% annual pace in 1Q

EMPLOYMENT: Weekly jobless claims sink near 2007 low

Manufacturers try to match the parts they purchase and the products they make to anticipated sales. In the second half of last year, companies aggressively ramped up production and built up inventories, leading many economists to expect a snap-back effect in the first quarter.

But Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist of High Frequency Economics, says inventories matched up with sales pretty closely late last year. In the first quarter, meanwhile, final sales to consumers, business, governments and others were weak, rising 0.6%. But the increase in inventories was far weaker.

While the slowdown in part was payback for the aggressive stockpiling last year, O'Sullivan believes harsh winter weather halted factory production even more than it crimped sales. Many manufacturers, in fact, reported that snowstorms had shuttered factories.

As a result, manufacturers churned out far fewer widgets, even fewer than what was warranted by the modest sales activity. Auto dealerships, for example, had far fewer cars sitting on their lots in the first quarter than in October through December, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Economists, in turn, expect manufacturers and retailers to build up their stocks in the current quarter more than they previously estimated to meet solid sales activity and to make up for the unexpectedly small additions ! in the first three months of the year.

Weather also impacted other sectors last quarter. Non-residential construction fell 7.5% and home building was down 5%.

And state and local government spending dipped 1.8%, vs. the 1.3% initially reported.

While not all of the declines can be chalked up to weather, much of it can be, economists say.

"The first-quarter contraction was quite obviously due to the unusually severe winter," says Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics.

And that means that construction of new homes and warehouses put off early this year is likely occurring in the current quarter.

O'Sullivan expects the economy to grow 4% in the second quarter, while many economists expect growth of 3% the rest of the year, up from the roughly 2% pace so far in the recovery.

Move Over, Wall Street: Silicon Valley Is Invading Your Turf

McIek/Shutterstock If you ask most people where the greatest threat to Wall Street's nearly 100-year dominance as the world's leading financial center would come from, places like London, Zurich, Tokyo or even Beijing might be suggested. But more and more, it looks as if the threat to Manhattan's financial crown will come from right here in the USA. Silicon Valley appears to have Wall Street in its sights, aggressively funding a new generation of tech startups whose goal is to disrupt the financial services industry and attack Wall Street with a strategy and an attitude they have never faced before. These new fin-tech companies are younger, more flexible and -- with deep-pocketed venture capital firms backing them -- less concerned about reaching financial profitability in the near term. Unlike most venerable Wall Street companies, they are private entities that don't have to please the stock market with share prices or quarterly earnings nor support an infrastructure top-heavy with partners, associates, directors and VPs that would make Gordon Gekko cringe. Crowdsourced Earnings Estimates Estimize is an example of this new type of company that is putting Wall Street on notice. Founded in 2011 by former quantitative hedge fund analyst Leigh Drogen, Estimize crowdsources company earnings estimates on an open and transparent platform -- the opposite of the opaque proprietary model big Wall Street firms use -- and then makes those numbers available to the public for free. According to multiple peer-reviewed research papers, the Estimize approach provides more representative data for earnings, which come from more than 4,000 analysts who contribute to their web-based platform. The company says this translates to earnings estimates that have proven 69 percent more accurate than traditional Wall Street analysts. Drogen says the last figure "shows that our philosophies are winning against the stale old philosophies regarding sharing of data within the financial community." "I want Estimize to lead the change in how the financial community shares information and points the spotlight on certain individuals based on a meritocracy." Major players in the financial research industry already recognize that change, including Bloomberg, which offers Estimize earnings estimates through its platform. Zero Commission Stock Trades In the brokerage space, Robinhood, which is backed by Marc Andreessen and Google Ventures, is bringing the stock market version of the Holy Grail to investors -- zero commission stock trades. With its mobile-only platform, Robinhood allows customers to trade any amount of shares, as often as they like, for no fee. According to co-founder Vladimir Tenev, Robinhood's model doesn't depend on commissions for profitability, which should cause traditional brokers to quake in their boots. Instead Robinhood charges other companies to build upon its platform. This means that a consumer could use a third-party mobile app like Twitter, StockTwits or Yahoo Finance and trade stocks seamlessly via Robinhood for free. What should particularly worry Wall Street is that companies like Estimize and Robinhood don't think in traditional terms on a number of issues. For example, the first 11 hires at Robinhood were not financial advisers or brokers, but programmers, because it views itself not as a financial company, but a tech company. This philosophy also informs the way they market their product -- forgoing a brick and mortar presence or Superbowl adds -- to reach their target audience. With just a website, a social media campaign and the buzz from tech media, Robinhood has had more than a quarter of a million people sign up for brokerage accounts. Follow the Job Market A key reason that tech firms are competing in the financial sector is that the 2008 crisis cut jobs on Wall Street, causing many new highly skilled college graduates to look elsewhere for employment. One example of this comes from a recent survey by Harvard's newspaper. The Crimson found that only 31 percent of graduates were planning to pursue jobs in the financial sector, down from 2007, when the number was 47 percent. The macro trend also bodes well for tech, as Moody's Analytics predicts that 450,000 new workers will be hired in the high-tech industry by 2015, compared to only 230,000 for finance. It would be premature to count Wall Street out quite yet. Financial companies have faced wars, recessions, populist politicians, regulatory reforms and Occupy Wall Street, and have come out more profitable than ever. But the emphasis on product before profit, and the speed in which they can build and adapt their products to consumer needs, may give fin-tech companies the edge they need to dethrone the wolves of Wall Street.

Can rebounding stocks keep rebounding?

In the world of Wall Street chart-watching, stock market rebounds after major pullbacks are not all created equal.

We bring this public service announcement to you because the current market rebound from its Feb.3 low is currently under the microscope on Wall Street, but the jury is still out on whether this recovery has legs or is a merely a fake-out.

Some market bounces have staying power. Others do not.

There are "oversold bounces," which occur after stocks are pounded into submission in a short time span and then reverse course. These quick pops tend to be fleeting and often end prematurely, leaving bulls unsatisfied and forcing them to confront the prospect of a stock market transitioning from an uptrend to a downtrend.

TRACK YOUR STOCKS: Get real-time quotes with our free Portfolio Tracker

There are also "breakout" rallies, which not only erase all the losses from the preceding pullback, but also catapult major stock indexes like the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 to new record highs.

Whether the recent rally turns out to be just an oversold bounce, or the start of a move to new highs, remains to be seen. The big challenge for indexes like the Dow is that a record high closing level often acts like a price ceiling. And it's not always easy for prices to break out above old peaks.

All investors can do now is watch to see if the major indexes are successful in making new highs, or if they fail. Failure would be a bearish development.

Microsoft Exec Moves to Google (MSFT, GOOG)

As Microsoft (MSFT) looks for a new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer, there is now one less in-house prospect, as Blaise Aguera y Arcas has left the company to join Google.

Aguera y Arcas worked on developing the Microsoft Bing search engine, focusing on the maps and mobile aspects, according to the New York Times. This news comes after it was announced on Friday that Qualcomm (QCOM) promoted its operating chief, Steven Mollenkopf, to CEO. Many saw Mollenkopf as a potential new CEO for Microsoft.

Microsoft shares were up 22 cents, or 0.6%, in pre-market trading. YTD, the company’s stock is up 32.84%.