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This is how astonishing the stock market is in 2013.

It's not just that the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) finished the week at record highs. Or that the Nasdaq Composite Index's ($COMPX) finish on Friday was its best since October 2000.

It's just that the gains so far in 2013 have come without any prolonged pullbacks and remarkably few weekly losses.

The Dow has suffered just five weekly losses this year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq just four. Since the turn of this century, the indexes typically have seen eight to 10 weekly losses by now. That includes even the horrific 2008. 

By: Louis Bedigian

 

Is Apple (AAPL) bracing for an iPad Mini sales decline?

Every few weeks, a new report suggests that the answer is "yes."

In March, iPad Mini shipments were expected to decline in preparation for the launch of the next-gen model. Apple cannot sell more units than it ships, so this could feasibly hurt the company's bottom line.

Additional details came to light in April when shipments were rumored to decline by as much as 30%  this quarter. Now DigiTimes has reported that one of Apple's suppliers, AU Optronics (AUO), could reduce its panels from four million units to no more than 2.8 million units.

 

Toyota Motor (TM) blew through my $120 target price on May 10 and kept going. The New York traded ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) traded at $127.26 just before the close on Friday.

As of Friday, I’m increasing my target price to $151 for the ADR. Toyota Motor is a member of my Jubak’s Picks portfolio. This stock pick is up 28.7% since I added it to the portfolio on February 5, 2013.

I added Toyota Motor to this portfolio as a way to play the decline in the Japanese yen being engineered by the Bank of Japan and the Abe government in Tokyo.

My reason for holding onto this position, and increasing the target price, is my belief that the yen at Friday's close of 103.24 to the dollar isn’t the near the end of the drop in the yen. The consensus on Wall Street is we’re headed through 105 to 110 by the end of the year. I think that’s conservative, and that we’re likely to see 120 or so by the end of 2013.

 

By Zacks Equity Research

 

On Thursday, shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU) hit a 52-week high of $68.45. The momentum was driven by a strong first quarter, which included a 20.6% positive surprise rating affirmation, and successful closure of the acquisition of life insurance business of The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG).

 
Prudential reported first-quarter 2013 earnings on May 1. Adjusted operating earnings came in at $2.28 per share, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.89. Results also exceeded the year-ago earnings of $1.61 per share.
 

Prudential reported net loss of $1.55 per share in the first quarter of 2013, which was narrower than the prior-year loss of $2.03.

 

 

Adrian Day, president of Adrian Day Asset Management, shares his analysis of the bond market with MoneyShow.com's Nancy Zambell, and suggests his preferred strategy for those investors looking for income.

Adrian, the bond market has not done very well of late, and of course the stock market has been absolutely great. If you had to say either or, would you say either-or?

No, I'm not a big fan of bonds right now for any investor, even investors who want income. Typically, people think if you need income you need to go to bonds. I think interest rates can stay lower than most people imagine for a lot longer than people imagine.

 

By the staff at Kapitall.com

This list looks at stocks reporting earnings next week that have been the subject of attention from hedge funds and short sellers. Do you think an earnings surprise is in store?

To build this list, we started with a universe of stocks reporting earnings next week (May 20 to 24). We looked for an increase in buying from institutional investors, with significant net institutional purchases over the last quarter representing at least 5% of share float. This indicates that hedge fund managers and mutual fund managers expect the upside.

Next, we looked for some degree of optimism from short sellers, with a decrease in share float month over month of at least 1%. This may not seem like much, but in each case the short floats are significantly high, making them short squeeze candidates if earnings surprise to the upside.

 

Information provided by Theflyonthewall.com 

By Tim Parker

It's hardly what statisticians would consider scientific data but it's telling, nonetheless. The Bloomberg Global Poll is a survey that was conducted with 906 Bloomberg customers on May 14. According to the back story, Bloomberg interviewed the respondents using their Bloomberg terminal.

You've heard of the Bloomberg terminal -- the high dollar subscription service used by banks like JPMorgan (JPM). You've probably also heard of the recent related scandal, where apparently Bloomberg accessed data about its clients' terminal usage.

But let's not digress. According to Bloomberg, 71% of respondents said that Apple (AAPL) had lost its status as the industry leader in all things technology. It wasn't completely negative, though. Only 28% believed that this was permanent while 43% said that Apple was in a temporary soft spot. Another 23% said that Apple remains that best in the technology business.

 

By Richard Saintvilus

 

When we last discussed Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), I asked if growth was still on the menu (see TheStreet).

I won't dispute that the company makes the perfect burrito, but the stock has been priced for perfection for some time. Although the execution has been anything but flawless.

With rising costs of beef weighing on Chipotle's margins, alongside weakening same-store sales, it's become hard to stomach the stock price, which carries a price-to-earnings ratio twice that of McDonald's (MCD) and almost double the multiple of Yum Brands (YUM) -- it doesn't make sense. Today, on the heels of the company's first-quarter earnings report, these concerns are even more glaring.

 

By Michael Fowlkes, InvestorsObserver

Sony CEO to discuss turnaround plans
What's happening: Sony (SNE) has been one of the market's strongest performers thus far in 2013, gaining 82.6%. Activist investor Daniel Loeb, who has increased his stake in the company to 6.5%, has recently called on the company to spin off its entertainment arm. But the company said it has no intention of doing so. CEO Kazuo Hirai is scheduled to present the company's turnaround plans at the company's strategy meeting Wednesday.

Technical analysis: SNE was recently trading at $20.45, down $1.78 from its 12-month high and $10.88 above its 12-month low. Technical indicators for SNE are bullish and the stock is in a strong upward trend. The stock has support above $16.00. Two analysts cover the stock, both of who give it a "strong buy" rating. The stock receives Standard & Poor's 3 STARS "Hold" ranking.

 

By Jenny Cosgrove

 

One year after a catastrophic IPO that saw $10 billion wiped off Facebook's (FB) value and after its shares shed 40% in just three months, the company is making a comeback.

 

After its dramatic fall from grace, fund managers and analysts CNBC spoke to say it's time for investors to take another look at Facebook's stock.

 

"We didn't participate in the IPO as the management team were an unknown quantity, having run the business as a social project rather than commercial venture previously, and they had not demonstrated how they would monetize mobile traffic via their advertisement-led business model," said Jeremy Gleeson, technology fund manager at AXA Framlington.

 

Information provided by Theflyonthewall.com

Friday's noteworthy upgrades include:

• Ctrip.com (CTRP) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup
• General Motors (GM) upgraded to Buy from Underperform at CLSA
• Standard Pacific (SPF) upgraded to Buy from Fair Value at CRT Capital

Friday's noteworthy downgrades include:

• Actuant (ATU) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at SunTrust

 

By Richard Suttmeier 

 

The major equity averages continued to set new all time highs this week, with the Nasdaq ($COMPX) setting a new multi-year high. Stock market strength is causing higher overbought technical momentum readings on weekly charts.

 

Higher stock prices and a higher 30-year Treasury bond yield intensified the ValuEngine valuation warning as 70.8% of all stocks were overvalued on Wednesday. Friday morning this reading slipped to 69.9% as the bond yield moved slightly lower. The bottom line is that stocks are more overvalued and more overbought than they were a week ago, but still without confirming a market top.

 

Bruce Berkowitz, manager of Fairholme Capital Management, had a good year in 2012. That was after a miserable 2011. It seems that the redemption of funds have stopped and he could buy some more stocks.

He hasn't done much buying over the past year due to redemption. But he did buy back some past holdings in his fund in the recent quarter. He bought into Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) and Genworth Financial (GNW). All of them were the past holdings in his portfolio.

He added to positions in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Sears Holdings (SHLD) and Leucadia National (LUK), reduced positions in MBIA (MBI) and Wells Fargo (WFC), and sold out of CIT Group (CIT) during the three-months ended  31 March, 2013, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Fairholme Capital Management.