by Ian Innes

Do a quick search on Google News and type in the keyword phrase “home invasion.” This search brings up132,000 articles regarding burglaries, robberies and other property crimes from around the world.

An infographic published in mid-2011 by HomeownersInsurance.com shows the prevalence of home invasions in the United States. Statistics show that there are 28,800 property crimes every day, 8,640 burglaries each day, 1,440 robberies every day. One out of every five homes will experience a break-in or an invasion throughout the course of ownership. With these terrifying figures, would any homeowner, especially one with a family, want to risk not having a good home security system? Over the years, the home security industry has dramatically transformed. Many individuals are turning to companies that can guarantee security and protection.

Through remote monitoring, mobile apps and other forms of technology to provide home security, property owners are changing the way they protect their homes.

Is there a security enterprise that can provide customers “the security you need” and the “service you expect”? SafeMart is that firm that offers residential and commercial security and safety products. By offering advanced alarm home monitoring and technologically sound security cameras, one’s home can be converted into a secure fortress of solitude.

Founded in 2002 and located in Saint Mary’s, Kansas, SafeMart provides an extensive list of products and services that have proven to be successful. Its alarm systems include wireless home security, wired burglar alarms, alarm contacts, voice auto dialer, alarm accessories and apartment/dorm security. Furthermore, the home alarm and monitoring features include VOIP alarm monitoring, LiveWatch home monitoring, home automation devices and Honeywell Total Connect.

Each home alarm system is quick to install and easy to operate. These systems have functions that can be monitored and controlled through smartphones, computers and iPads. If a customer has difficulty, he or she can turn to SafeMart’s award-winning support team.

For homeowners mindful of their expenses, SafeMart’s prices provide relief.  It promotes an offer of the lowest price guaranteed by matching a “legitimate” company’s online prices for the same item. In the event that the price cannot be equalled, SafeMart gives its clients a free voucher valid toward alarm monitoring for 12 months.

Its SafeMart tech support is free to access and has Advantage and DIY Support, which includes  user forum access, returns policy, phone tech support and warranty term doubled by SafeMart.

SafeMart has been endorsed by Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins and Kansas Republican Senator Jerry Moran.

“[SafeMart] has demonstrated their capacity to create jobs and meet the needs of their customers. The fact that the company has more than tripled its workforce over the last [two] years is a testament to your commitment to ensuring that good things continue to happen to our state,” Sen. Moran wrote in a letter to SafeMart earlier this year.

For four consecutive years, SafeMart has been ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest-growing companies. Also, it was named the National Growth Hero by Interlogix Global Security.

by Bill Richards

From Google’s Florida, Panda and Penguin algorithms to search engines becoming more social (see Bing partnering with Facebook), the search engine optimization landscape has completely changed since the days when search engines first launched in the late 1990s.

With millions of websites competing for the top spot in their respective keyword phrase, niche or topic, the SEO industry still continues to grow, but there are different factors involved than there were back in the early 2000s when keyword phrasing was the ultimate decider.

Moving forward, webmasters must focus on generating frequent and unique content that can give visitors pertinent and inimitable information instead of rehashing content, repeating keywords and asking other fellow webmasters to link to the webpage. They also must establish a significant social media presence as this is another element that will be taken into account.

Is there any advice that web experts can give? Well, perhaps web developers should avoid the SEO-death talk and instead concentrate on how SEO will be here to stay and to generate new ideas to provide benefits to Internet users and offer a different type of landscape for visitors, customers and potential clients.

One firm that has been a staple in the SEO industry is Submit Express, a company that specializes in SEO, Internet marketing, web writing and other marketing services. Established in 1998 at a time when there was growing competition, Submit Express has become a household name in the SEO industry.

It was originally established by Pierre Zarokian, an Armenian computer science and web developing specialist, who became interested in how search engines determine page rankings and decided to start up Submit Express in his parents’ garage without any investment.

Located in Burbank, California, Submit Express offers a large number of marketing services, including opt-in email advertising, link building, Pay Per Click (PPC) search engine placement and local SEO. It also provides a number free webmaster tools, such as sitemap submission, link popularity check, pagerank checker, keyword traffic estimator, meta tags analyzer and many more.

For more than a decade, it has aided more than 5,000 companies with their SEO needs and more than 25,000 companies in relation to premium search engine submission service. In total, its free submission and webmaster tools have generated approximately 20 million visitors (at the time of this writing).

Over the years it has initiated new features. In 2008, it launched a foreign language SEO service that is comprised of French, Russian and Spanish. A year later, it started a popular content writing service called iClimber. By rejuvenating the popular web phrase “content is king,” iClimber offers website copywriting, Twitter posting, press release writing and distribution, article writing and submission and blog and forum posting.

As the company maintains a staff of 30 or more experienced professionals involved in project management, web copywriting, Internet marketing, website development and much more, Submit Express is searching to innovate the SEO marketplace and capitalize on its massive successes.

One way it has continued to be a premier company in the SEO market is its page rank on the Google search engine. For years, it has been ranked No. 1 and placed in the top 10 rankings for top keywords such as “search engine optimization,” “search engine placement,” and “search engine submission.”

Due to its helpful nature, various functions and features, free tools and thriving services, it has received quite a number of awards and accolades.

This year, TopTenReviews gave Submit Express gold and excellence awards. In 2007 and 2008, it was named as one of the fastest-growing companies on the Inc. 5000 list. Also in 2008, it made the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the United States.

by Becca Cobb

Gartner, a research firm, published findings from its latest report regarding the public cloud market. It projects that the cloud industry will grow by more than 18 percent internationally this year alone to $131 billion.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), including cloud compute, storage and print services, is the fastest-growing segment of the cloud industry. It is expected to increase 47.3 percent to $9 billion this year.

Between 2013 and 2016, $677 billion will be spent on cloud services. Cloud advertising will account for about 48 percent of the total market. This means approximately $310 billion will be allocated to advertising budgets.

“The continued growth of the cloud services market will result from the adoption of cloud services for production systems and workloads, in addition to the development and testing scenarios that have led as the most prominent use case for public cloud services to date,” said Ed Anderson, research director at Gartner, in a press release. “Evidence of this growth is found in the increasing demand for cloud services from end-user organizations, met by an increased supply of cloud services from suppliers.”

With the cloud industry generating tremendous growth, the number of companies and providers involved in the market continues to expand.

PayPerCloud is a firm that offers cloud hosting and specializes in creating High Availability Cloud Hosting Infrastructure and extending Cloud Enabled Software Applications. They work with companies that look for an enterprise-level of steadiness and communications, but without the excessive costs involved.

Located in Folsom, California, PayPerCloud offers a wide range of products and services to ensure cloud needs are met and that their data and information are secure. Some of its services offered include hosted exchange, customized private clouds, software applications, consultation and managed private clouds.

With expert technical support staffs, a management team that consists of professionals with more than 75 years of experience in the field, PayPerCloud ensures complete customer satisfaction. It guarantees immediate technical support availability, it does not oversell its servers and it refrains from cutting corners because of price.

As more people become concerned about online privacy and security, PayPerCloud offers consistent certainty that its servers are updated by its team of security experts and that it sustains the latest capabilities made available to its software.  It has a highly functioning network and leading companies connect to its software. Many private enterprises have used its services, including Jell Networks, UBM, Pathlogic, Smarsh and Western Networked Insurance Services.

Some may not understand the difference between a private cloud and a public cloud. However, there are quite a number of features available with a private cloud that protects and defends a client’s sensitive information. Customers have identified an imperative feature: more security requirements, which has been a requisite because of new and heightened regulations. Other clients have found that its solutions are accessible because of Web Farms and SQL Clusters.

In October, PayPerCloud made headlines when it introduced the Vaultscape Free Online Backup. This function allows companies to attain reliable backups in order to shelter off-site backup servers rather than vulnerable on-site tapes.

“You can’t get a more cost effective online backup solution. Free is a pretty great place to start,” said Miles Feinberg, PayPerCloud CEO, in a news release. “With 2GB free forever, we believe that our customers will appreciate the security and peace of mind that comes with knowing their data is protected. The Free offer allows customers to try out the system for free for as long as they want with no obligation. We are confident that as their needs increase they will stay with our solution to protect their valuable electronic assets.”

Pricing plans vary, but some monthly packages start from as little as $1.95 – there are free plans available, but it depends on what visitors are looking for. When it comes to cost, one aspect is being praised after had instituted an attractive option for clients: an affiliate and partnership program; monthly plans can be free and customers can earn eight percent each month with referrals.

by Aaron Falk

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) failed to pass in the Senate earlier this year. The act was recently reintroduced to the House of Representatives this past month but prospects for its approval remain slim.  President Barack Obama has issued an Executive Order and a policy strategy to deal with cybersecurity, but security experts say it won’t do much to change the current realm of online security.

In recent weeks, numerous multinational corporations and juggernaut firms have been the victims of hacking and data breaches. The New York Times, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Twitter have either experienced a successful hack or an attempted breach.

The Associated Press reported that a strong password is one of the best defenses against a cyberattack. By knowing an account password, an impending hacker can access other accounts, like Amazon, post disparaging remarks on a social network and find out personal information about the victims.

Earlier this year, hackers took over the Twitter accounts of Burger King and Jeep. It is likely that these companies  they had simple online passwords that were easily guessed by a professional hacker.

Aside from password sophistication, Internet security companies are bringing about innovative products and services to the industry. One company in particular is working to promote the idea of identifying the root cause of the majority of data breaches, which are the result of insecure software applications.

Security Innovation is an application security company established by Dr. James A. Whittaker. The company is offering a service that deals with insecure software applications. Security Innovation bases their solutions on three pillars of safe Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC): standards, education and assessment.

By using these pillars, Security Innovation professionals make the case that standards, education, and assessment work together to produce an atmosphere of replicated and secure software development and action.

This security apparatus applies standards to create a need for education and understanding. Its education facet leads to standards and assessments that are initiated with great accuracy. Assessments establish solutions in standards, education, and enhanced tools administration and management.

Since its foundation, Security Innovation has evolved and maintained a series of products and services that provide a comprehensive understanding of security computer-based preparation courses, encryption toolkits and trusted computing middleware. Its services are just as extensive because they include software security assessment, application risk management instruction, training and embedded system design.

Security lab is a page featured on Security Innovation’s website that includes free online courses, webcasts, books, online resource tools and cryptography. A blog is also updated frequently and covers the latest news, analysis and trends in the world of cybersecurity.

It was recently announced that due to the company’s success, Jason Taylor, Security Innovation Chief Technology Officer, was recognized as one of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals (MVP) in the Developer Security category.

“Security Innovation has been conducting cutting-edge research in the field of application security for more than ten years and is continually developing, refining, and sharing this research with the community at large,” said Ed Adams, CEO, Security Innovation, in a press release. “Jason is at the core of many of these initiatives; he shares a true passion for secure software development. His willingness and desire to share his expertise with the technical community has undoubtedly helped thousands of individuals to understand how to reduce application security risk.”

For over 10 years, Security Innovation has assisted in the security protocols for ING Direct, Moody’s, Royal Bank of Canada, Google, GoDaddy.com, Nike, the United States Court of Appeals, Zargis Medical, Experian and many other private companies and public agencies. In the case of online hacks and breaches, the emergence of new forms of cybersecurity will provide many companies with a sense of relative relief.

Sollensys (SOLS) has been on my radar lately after it announced the completion of its acquisition of Sollensys, the South Korean manufacturer of touch screen panels, and the appointment of Frank Woo as CEO. Sollensys, which was earlier named Health Directory, changed its name to Sollensys to ensure the continuity of the name of the South Korean company. Gwan-je “Frank” Woo’s previous work experience includes the DaeWoo group, Samsung’s e-MRO, and Silicon Valley venture capital firm Koges Corporation. He has also served on advisory boards at various organizations like South Korea’s Ministry of Commerce. Woo was educated at Korea’s Aerospace University and quickly applied his scientific training to the technology sector.

Rowland W. Day said “This acquisition and appointment of Frank Woo is a huge milestone for Sollensys. Going forward, Frank will lead our South Korean subsidiary by implementing the business strategy centered around one of the fastest growing segments of the new economy – interactive touch screen display panels. We are very excited about the direction and opportunities for Sollensys”. Frank Woo said “Thanks to our proprietary technology and technical experts, we are able to design products up to three times faster than our competitors. Our product success rate is an industry leading 95%. The rest of the industry has only a 60 to 70% success rate which means producing a similar number of working touch screen panel modules is both more time-consuming and more expensive with our competitors”.

The company

Sollensys manufactures key components of touch screen modules, such as glass, touch sensor panels, and LCD displays. It can supply a range of complex products ranging from 3 inches to 20 inches in length. Typically, it supplies a combined product for use in standard 3.5-inch, 4-inch, and 10.1-inch mobile devices, though it also has the capability to provide customized solutions. The company’s investors include large South Korean films such as KB Bank and Rothdale Partners. Sollensys is in the process of expanding its global presence to a planned 12-country footprint by 2016. It’s customers include Chinese mobile device companies KPT Company and T-Smart.

Intellectual property protection

As with any company in the business of innovation, Sollensys uses intellectual property protection to ensure that it remains competitive in terms of costs. It has built a portfolio of 26 patents covering key areas, including multi-gesture functionality, stylus designs, manufacturing processes and its unique technology for interfacing with the human hand. These patents also provide protection for its valued 95% production efficiency (which means that only 5% of Sollensys’ touch screens are defective), a figure that is well in excess of the industry average of 60 to 70%.

The touch screen market and the competition

As of August 2012, the market for touch screen modules totaled $16 billion annually and is expected to double by 2018. Sales of touch screen panels are expected to grow 14% in the next 12 months and almost 900 million touch screen as will be sold this year rising to 1.3 billion in 2014. Smartphones are estimated to account for approximately 75% of current touch screen demand, but growth is also driven by record sales of tablet PCs. Over 1.2 billion touch screens will be installed in smartphones this year, which is a 68% increase year-on-year. Smartphones account for over 40% of all U.S. cell phones and a large percentage of cell phones in use globally. This indicates that the growth trend in touch screens is strong and will continue to grow.

There are many firms looking to increase their share of the touch screen market. Most of the global touch screen market is held by private manufacturers working for Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT) and other major cell phone manufacturers such as HTC and Nokia (NOK). Other manufacturers like AUO and LG Display supply to device manufacturers such as Apple for use in the iPad mini. The explosive growth in tablets and smartphones means that manufacturers will need to expand their list of panel suppliers.

Conclusion

Sollensys is currently the only listed U.S. manufacturer of touch screens. This provides investors with direct exposure to the growing touch screen market. Sollensys has the ability to provide complete solutions from pattern design and tuning to manufacturing. Its competitors cannot compete on pattern design and tuning. Sollensys can supply products for use in devices ranging from mobile phones to other electronic consumer products, and is therefore able to avoid the competition and low margins that characterize competitors who concentrate on mobile markets alone. Sollensys has the credentials and the technical expertise to achieve its objectives. Investors looking for exposure to the quickly growing touch screen market should perform further research to see if Sollensys fits into their technology portfolio goals.

Hydraulic fracturing (also known as “fracking”) has kept the price of methane (natural gas) and ethane down. This source of natural gas along with gas development overseas promises to provide affordable hydrocarbon gases for years to come.

This has interesting cost-saving ramifications for the steel industry and some chemical companies. Below, I explore firms which could benefit from plentiful methane and ethane that are also trading at attractive prices based on valuation. I will explain why LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), Commercial Metals (CMC), and United States Steel (X) offer investors the best opportunities to gain from plentiful methane and ethane.

Natural Gas Everywhere

Developments in the U.S. shale-gas industry which had revitalized the chemicals industry and boosted domestic energy self-sufficiency aspirations, added another sector to its beneficiaries – the steel industry. Five U.S. steel plants are researching ways to use cheaper gas fuel to purify iron ore in lieu of coal. Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine hinted of constructing a $661 million factory in the U.S., while Nucor (NUE) plans to start a $750 million Louisiana project in mid-2013 to benefit from cheap gas. Analysts at Barclays also report a joint venture between Australian steel company Bluescope Steel (BLSFF.PK) and Cargill, plans to build a (direct-reduced iron) DRI plant in Ohio and India’s Essar Global eyes one for Minnesota.

Nucor claims that DRI technology produces iron for the first stage of steelmaking at about $324 a ton, $82 or 20% percent cheaper than conventional blast furnace. Consulting firm Steel Market Intelligence’s Managing Partner Michelle Applebaum said, “That technology has been around 30 years, but for 29 years gas prices in the U.S. were so high that the technology was not economical. This is how steel will be built moving forward.” To continue reading, click here.

by Erica Thinesen

Senesco Technologies (SNTI) hopes to fight cancer using a gene regulation product that helps control two proteins needed to promote both cell growth and cell death. These proteins, found naturally in plants (ingested by humans) travel through the body on a gene called eIF5A. In healthy cells, these proteins enable cells to grow. When cells become too large or too old to benefit the body, these proteins signal the cell to die.

In patients with cancer, these proteins fail to signal cell growth and death correctly. Cells without proper regulation of these proteins typically continue to grow and turn cancerous.

With billions spent each year on cancer research, pharmaceutical companies and investors, the development of effective drug therapies can prove quite lucrative – provided the therapies work effectively to save lives.

Senesco Technologies and SNS01-T

Senesco Technologies primarily focuses on the treatment of B-cell cancers such as multiple myeloma that originates in bone marrow and mantle cell lymphoma, one of the rarest forms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In addition to treating B-cell cancers, the company hopes its gene regulation product SNS01-T will help treat many other conditions, including diabetes and ischemia, as well as other types of cancer.

In 2012, the company was granted orphan drug status of SNS01-T. The treatment helps regulate both lysine (protein that promotes cell death) and hypusine (protein that promotes cell growth). SNS01-T is made up of a DNA plasmid which aids in the regulation of cell death, siRNA, which aids in the regulation of cell growth, and polyethylenimine (PEI), a polycationic carrier that covers both the DNA plasmid and siRNA as they travel through the blood stream to cells.

Instead of focusing on treatments that slow the spread of cancerous cells to healthy cells or exclusively reduce existing tumors, Senesco Technologies has instead chosen to focus on delivering proteins already used by the body to fight and prevent cancerous cells from developing. This drug treatment would also help the body shut down existing cancer cells to prevent the spread of damaged cells to healthy cells.

Recent Studies/Clinical Trials

With promising results from multiple pre-clinical trials using mice, Senesco launched a clinical trial for SNS01-T in the summer of 2012. Pre-clinical trials resulted in 85-95% growth inhibition in mice given bi-weekly doses of SNS01-T for a 6-week period.

Currently in phase 1b/2a of its clinical trial, Senesco announced preliminary results in mind-December 2012. The open-label, multiple dose trial is comprised of patients with multiple myeloma, mantle cell lymphoma, and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Patients receive bi-weekly doses of SNS01-T for a 6-week period followed by an observation period to evaluate patient safety and ability to receive treatment for a prolonged period of time without injury or illness.

Comprised of four cohorts with three to six patients each, the clinical trial will continue through the spring of 2013. After completion of the study, Senesco’s Data Review Committee will have the opportunity to look over research, images of tumors (before, during, and after the study) to determine the effectiveness of treatment in reducing existing and new tumor growth.

Clinical trials for SNS01-T are being held in several locations around the United States including The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, The Randolph Cancer Center, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, New Jersey.

Upon completion of this trial, Senesco hopes not only to have found a viable treatment for multiple types of cancer, but also a treatment that could be used to help fight other diseases and conditions. Because the treatment relies on the regulation of proteins the body uses to promote healthy cell growth and death, perhaps it may be used to treat blood conditions, immune disorders, and other health issues that stem from improperly regulated cells.

Financials

Senesco boasts of low overhead and reported a cash flow of $1,312,056 as of September 30^th, 2012. The company recently announced the sale of 30,000,000 of common stock, valued at approximately $3 million. With continued funding from investors, proceeds from licensing eIF5A technology to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, Senesco Technologies may be a good investment for those looking for long-term investment opportunities in a growing market such as cancer research.

Fighting Cancer is Just the Beginning

By licensing eIF5A technology to agricultural programs that study premature decay, dehydration, and diseases common to certain plants, Senesco earns a monetary return after these programs reach specific research milestones and/or royalties from the sale of products created using this technology. Senesco has licensed its technology to multiple companies and programs including Rahan Meristem (1998) LTD, which used the technology to find ways to prevent the spread of a particular fungal disease that destroys banana plants.

The prices of online travel search companies have jumped up as different players in the space are acquiring shares to shore up control of these firms. These developments have been great for investors who were shareholders before these purchases pushed share prices up. The question investors should ask today is whether any of the stocks in this space trade at reasonable valuations.

In this article, I will discuss Expedia (EXPE), Kayak Software (KYAK), Orbitz Worldwide (OWW), priceline.com (PCLN), and TripAdvisor (TRIP) to see if they are attractive investment candidates. I chose these five stocks because I believe they could offer the best investment opportunities for investors under the right market conditions. These are the most widely viewed travel websites on the market today.

Travel Search Company Takeovers

Liberty Interactive (LINTA) purchased $300 million in TripAdvisor shares from Barry Diller, who resigned as the Chairman of the firm. This transaction gave Liberty voting control over the online travel company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Liberty acquired 4.8 million shares at $62.50 per share from Mr. Diller and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. Diller sold his shares at a 63% premium, as compared to Monday’s closing price. He only owned 3% of total shares in the company. After the transaction, Liberty Interactive will hold 18.2 million shares in the company, and 12.8 million Class B super voting rights shares. Hence, Liberty now has 57% voting control and 22% of total equity.

As a result of the transaction, TripAdvisor’s share price rose by 6.6% to $40.90 on Tuesday, December 11th, attaining its highest price level since July. To continue reading, click here.

Cisco (CSCO) has made the right decision in choosing to concentrate its innovation on open standards and open source. At the base level, Cisco’s technologies will be available on the open source platform while the company will continue to add value from the top. This is a very successful business model as limited versions of software programs and networking products can be made available to smaller businesses and developers, while professional grade products and services can be sold at premium prices to medium and large businesses.

By choosing to keep base level technologies on an open source platform, Cisco is effectively increasing its long-term profitability. A networking ecosystem that is premium at the upper levels and open source at a basic level will have a great appeal among developers, small, medium and large businesses.

Moreover, small businesses that need assistance from Cisco’s experts can go ahead and purchase networking solutions at an additional cost. The best part is, Cisco’s technological integrations can be used in any type of the industry, enabling production lines that are monitored by means of an intelligent network, with benefits for production management, product quality and cost reduction.

Cisco also announced a plan for global availability in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing a teleconferencing and networking solution that incorporates tools for effective online meetings, both in the office and in mobile environments, albeit in a private cloud environment. To continue reading, click here.

I regard banks and other financial institutions as black boxes. These firms are too complex to understand as executives, let alone as outside investors. Insiders have a hard time keeping track of their many regulations and contracts that these organizations have to honor. Outside investors have a worse task: they have to try to understand material changes in the company without detailed, proprietary information that is available to management.

The complexity of these businesses makes them very dangerous to investors and management. Sometimes there is forewarning of issues that become huge scandals and management misses it. New reports about JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) proprietary trading scandal reveal some forewarning by regulators. Sometimes the problems are widespread in an organization, as was the case in HSBC’s (HBC) money laundering investigation and settlement. The risks of these firms cannot be quantified or even described until after they surface in the news.

The prevalence of these scandals demonstrates that financials are truly speculative bets.

SEC Warnings Before JPMorgan’s Loss

Almost a year before JPMorgan Chase lost $6.2 billion due to derivative positions, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) was already pressing the bank for adequate disclosures to investors regarding its proprietary trading and principal transactions revenue.

The SEC wrote JPMorgan’s CFO Douglas Braunstein asking for the above-mentioned information, according to correspondence between the agency and the company communicated between June 15th and February 17th of last year. A provision contained in the Dodd-Frank Act known as the Volcker rule restricts proprietary trading – bets or trades executed by the banks using their own money, as distinguished from those it trades on behalf of its clients. To continue reading, click here.

Japanese stocks have been cheap for over 20 years, and for about the same amount of time, value investors have been interested in these stocks. Though they trade at price-to-book multiples that are below their U.S. counterparts, they also face special challenges that should give U.S. investors pause.

Discounts to Book Value

There are many Japanese stocks whose price-to-book ratios are lower than the 2.03 average of the S&P 500:

Though many of these investments are household names, there are some big reasons to think twice about these names. First, Japan’s currency is expensive relative to the dollar, making these stocks less of a bargain. Secondly, Japan’s population is declining and its population is getting older. This hinders growth.

International Buyers and Partners

If there is a price discrepancy, there is an opportunity for arbitrage. To continue reading, click here.