by Becca Cobb

All who enter the stock market game are seeking the ‘holy grail’ of investments: a substantial return for minimal risk. A developing field that could offer these high risk-adjusted returns is investing in intellectual property.

A fundamental way to use the stock markets to invest successfully in intellectual property is to identify pervasive emerging technology trends, then find companies that hold core intellectual property associated with these growing markets. Or, you could invest in companies that do this for you. It stands to reason that as technology booms, there will be no shortage of individuals and companies seeking IP rights to inventions. Thus, a company that seeks to serve this continuing and growing demand would be beneficial to look into.

Enter Marathon Patent Group (MARA).

Marathon has developed strategies that allow its clients to maximize the value of IP assets through a wide range of services. Inventors and patent owners can monetize patent portfolios through IP licensing campaigns, idea creation, development, and enforcement. In other words, Marathon takes businesses and individuals from start to finish in the IP process.

Investors can easily see why this company sets itself above competition. One of the main issues with IP investing is that typically “the best IP is not for sale.” If a company is making money through market share, high gross margins, or a great licensing deal, it wouldn’t sell the associated IP. Often the IP that is available on the market has a distressed feeling because assets that are for sale are the result of a bankruptcy or a decision of a big company to shut down a line. Investors cannot wait for IP to be on the market because by then, it generally is not associated with anything that makes money.

Marathon goes in at ground level. Assisting in development and commercialization of a license, it creates a mutually beneficial relationship with all its clients. Moreover, these partnering opportunities create an ongoing relationship that includes patent analysis and watchful tracking of patent implementation.

It cannot be stressed enough the possible benefit investors can receive from IP. A recent success story has been VirnetX (VHC), a leader in automatic secure virtual private network (VPN) technology. The company saw its stock price more than quintuple since August 2010, after it began to work harder monetizing its intellectual property.

Assisting with the commercialization is usually where most IP companies stop. Some, such as Cytori (CYTX), do not assist in expansion of the patent. While focusing on ‘high-value’ cell-based therapeutics going to market, it only assists in what they call ‘core geographies’ (only certain countries) and have virtually no system for expansion into other industries or other areas. Cytori currently trades around $2.70

Marathon goes the extra mile by providing strategies for enforcement as well as infringement tracking and reporting – and these with no barriers to countries or markets.

Making money at the outset is one thing, but keeping a vigilant eye on what others are doing is required in order to ensure you are keeping all your entitled profits. Last year, Altitude Capital invested in Visto and DeepNines, a company that just secured an $18 million jury verdict against McAfee for infringement.

Mitek (MITK) is a company with key patents in the field of remote banking and shows why enforcement is crucial. The patents held by Mitek have recently been challenged in court by USAA which argues that the Mitek patents are invalid and unenforceable. As a result of just the opened challenge, Mitek has seen its stock market value fall dramatically.

Another good example is the case of Tessera (TSRA), a leader in chipset miniaturization technology. Tessera lost close to 50 percent of market value in one session in December 2008 after the International Trade Commission (ITC) made an initial determination against the company during a patent action it brought against several wireless manufacturers. The commission initially found that while Tessera’s patents were valid, they had not been infringed by the respondents. The stock continued to trade at a significant discount until the ITC reversed its initial determination. It ruled that Qualcomm, Motorola, and four other wireless chip makers had infringed on Tessera chip packaging patents and it stopped those companies from importing chips to the U.S. unless they posted a bond equal to 3.5 percent of the products’ value. The result: Tessera stock rose over 100 percent.

There are several pitfalls that Marathon assists fledgling companies and inventors in avoiding. The risk that a key patent could be found invalid, either following a legal decision or simply as the result of rumor or attack, or patent claims that are not broad enough to prevent the emergence of non-infringing alternatives are big risks that the Marathon team protects.

Due diligence and specialized expertise are required for businesses looking to secure their IP assets. For the investor, it is imperative to find a company that is a leader in its field. Marathon fits the bill. Trading at $.38 a share, I see this stock as an excellent consideration for growth.

by Aaron Falk

Pornographic material can be traced back centuries ago. Whether it is in artwork, literature, motion pictures, magazines or on the Internet, pornography is a prevalent aspect in society and has become a generally accepted form of entertainment.

It was concluded last year that close to one-third (30 percent) of all web traffic in the world is porn-related. Some websites generate billions of page views each year, while certain adult content websites stream 1,000 gigabytes (one terabyte) each second. That’s definitely a lot of nudity to absorb.

Indeed, adult content has been a strong business in all different kinds of economies. With the rise of the Internet, it has grown even larger than it did in, let’s say, the latter part of the 20th century. As technology becomes more advanced, the way individuals view adult content may change rather significantly.

Here are four interesting pornography statistics released by Family Safe Media:

- $3,075.64 is spent each second on pornography

- 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography every second

- 327 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines per second

- Every 39 minutes new content of pornographic material is being produced in the U.S.

One company attempts to be at the head of the pack with their innovative website, Newsfilter.org. It launched in 1999, at the peak of the famous dot-com boom, with only two people running the entire organization. Years later, the company now has a 12-person staff with offices in the United States, the Philippines and Cyprus.

With more than 10,000 videos available to choose from, the company has become known for selling and promoting over-the-top adult videos. Some of the content may be viewed as real since most of the content is filmed on a small budget with a simple camcorder. Newsfilter.org specializes in offering shocking videos that encourage visitors to keep coming back on a regular basis.

Essentially, Newsfilter.org maintains a niche of underground material that have been banned on occasion by federal and local authorities in several nations across the globe. Director of Search Marketing, Zack Williamson, noted that some of the agencies were embarrassed when an IMDB link was sent to them.

This month, Newsfilter.org revealed its redesigned website that features a more optimized user experience, an increased spotlight in search engines and different features to make the visit a lot more social. The most important thing is that it has more daily uploads and sharing options.

These are only some of the reasons why the company continues to post a high number of visitors each month and generates a large sum of revenues. Be sure to take a gander over to Newsfilter.org for all of your adult content needs.

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.

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.

Pfizer’s (PFE) current pipeline makes it a more attractive investment option than its peers and rivals. The company has 78 drugs in its pipeline currently. 53 of these drugs are in Phase 1 or Phase 2 trials. Eight, however, are in registration, and another 17 are approaching registration in Phase 3 trials. In just the last three months the company has seen four of its drugs approved for sale by the FDA.

By comparison, Merck (MRK) has 32 drugs in trial stages, and three under review. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has a total of 16 drugs in clinical trials with two in registration. Both of these companies have particularly weak pipelines, although Johnson & Johnson does not depend as heavily on its pharmaceutical business as Merck does. Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) has seven drugs in the registration phase with an additional 46 drugs in the clinical trials stage. Eli Lilly (LLY) has a healthy 62 drugs in clinical stages. But Eli Lilly is in trouble given that its best-selling drug Cymbalta is on track to lose patent protection in the first half of 2013. Cymbalta provided Lilly 22% of its revenue in 2011 and losing patent protection will see Cymbalta sales decline by two-thirds or more.

Pfizer’s recently approved drugs will go a long way towards making up the $9 billion a year in sales that Lipitor, which has lost patent protection, provided. The rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz is expected to provide more than $2.5 billion in sales a year. Xeljanz is a pill taken twice a day that functions by inhibiting molecules known as “Janus kinases”, crucial to the joint inflammation that characterizes rheumatoid arthritis. To continue reading, click here.

Trends of higher unemployment and lower workforce participation have started to reverse. More hiring benefits companies that engage in staffing and payroll support. In this article, I will discuss six stocks which could benefit from a continuation in this economic trend. The six stocks I will discuss are Monster Worldwide (MWW), LinkedIn (LNKD), ADP (ADP), Paychex (PAYX), Manpower (MAN), and Robert Half (RHI). I chose these six stocks for discussion because I believe they could potentially offer investors the biggest gains from a jobs recovery.

Monster Prepares for Sale

Monster Worldwide’s Executive VP Timothy Yates shared plans to sell the whole company, citing management presentations to several potential buyers. The management team hopes to sell the core business and is willing to sell non-core assets first in order to streamline a takeover.

Monster stock rose 10% after disclosing its plans to restructure by shedding lesser performing businesses and seeking a buyer for its ChinaHR unit. The company wants to tame losses in the developing markets and focus on its core business. Monster has been cutting costs and downsizing its workforce since March due to declining revenues lost to competitors and the economic slowdown in Europe. Monster’s changes are expected to shed costs by another $130 million annually.

The company also wrote down goodwill of $216 million in the third quarter. MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler said, “It looks like they’re trying to make it easier for the company to be sold and sell off pieces to make the company more attractive as a whole”.

The company bought ChinaHR on a “staggered” basis for a total of $243.9 million – a 40% stake for $50 million in 2005, an additional 4.4% for $19.9 million in 2006 and the remaining 55.6% for $174 million in 2008. To continue reading, click here.

Thankfully trends of higher unemployment and lower workforce participation have started to reverse, providing relief from the “great recession.” More hiring bodes well for companies that engage in staffing and payroll support. Stocks that would benefit from a continuation in this economic trend are considered below.

Employment and the Oval Office

Prior to winning the recently concluded elections, President Barack Obama had campaigned in Ohio, and noted that privately owned firms had set the pace by hiring the most employees in a period of eight months. Other sectors such as construction have also played a role in creating new jobs as reports show that about 17,000 workers have been absorbed by construction companies. General Motors (GM), which is the largest U.S. car manufacturer, indicated that it plans to bring on board 10,000 workers to help reduce the amount of work that is outsourced. It plans to open four facilities country wide to accommodate this labor force.

Recent reports from the labor market indicate that more workers have been employed during the month of October and this has pushed up the unemployment rate higher as more people are flooding the employment market to look for jobs. Some sectors of the economy such as motor industry and construction sites are already experiencing the gains made in employment as consumers are spending freely. UBS (UBS) Securities Chief Economist Maury Harris said, “Jobs are expanding despite all this expression of business caution. You continue to see improvements in people’s perceptions of what’s happening in the job market.” To continue reading, click here.

Don’t be fooled by the attractive price multiples of U.S. and Japanese automaker stocks. Yes, they are often trading at cheap price multiples. However, these discounts come at the cost of higher risk. Ford (F) is highly leveraged and General Motors (GM) is eager to follow suit. Japan’s automakers are suffering setbacks from angry Chinese counterparties and customers. They are also domiciled in a country with an expensive and appreciating currency.

The Bait: Low Valuations

Current financial metrics illustrate how these stocks appear attractive on the basis of price multiples:

Ford has the debt one would expect from a financial services company, because to a large extent it is an auto-loan company that also sells cars.

General Motors is not far behind based on news that it is gaining access to an $11 billion revolving line of credit. This borrowing facility consists of $5.5 billion which will mature in five years and $5.5 billion which will mature in three years. This credit line doubles its $5.5 billion five year facility that was meant to mature in 2015. General Motors’ website said that this new credit line “offers improved pricing and terms, and the ability to borrow in currencies other than U.S. dollars.” This will give its financial business, GM Financial, twice the ability to borrow. More than thirty-five institutions from fourteen countries participated in this gargantuan deal.

This expanded line of credit gives the GM more borrowing power than Ford which has access to $9.3 billion in credit facilities. To continue reading, click here.

Today many industries in the tech sector are in value territory. This fall from grace is apparent in how the firms of the SPDR Technology Selector Fund (XLK) trade at an average 15 price-to-earnings ratio which is only slightly higher than the 14 price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500 (SPY) fund companies. Many familiar semiconductor names trade at even lower valuations. Apparently, tech is no longer the darling of investors and the sector has nearly the same valuations as the broader stock market.

Investors can seize the opportunity offered by the market today by reviewing the challenges faced by different semiconductor stocks that are priced as value investments. In particular, semiconductor manufacturers and their suppliers are frequently trading at attractive multiples in today’s markets. Are they value investments or value traps?

PC Sales Slide

The tech sector is recoiling from the third quarter’s blow to personal computer sales. PC sales worldwide declined 8.3% compared with the last year’s third-quarter sales, according to Gartner Inc. market research.

Gartner head analyst Mikako Kitagawa said, “The overall PC market decline was triggered by a continuing slowdown in PC shipments,” and that the outlook for the launch of Microsoft Windows 8 is tenuous because “shipments were less vigorous as vendors and their channel partners liquidated inventory in the third quarter.”

Retailers resisted placing orders because of the weak back-to-school sales. These firms had cleared out their entire inventory before the launch of Windows 8. In contrast, the professional market remained unaffected. To continue reading, click here.

Although life expectancy has greatly increased over the past several decades, this doesn’t necessarily mean that people are living healthier. Along with longer lives can also come the potential for many more physical and mental ailments – most of these requiring at least some form of pharmaceutical medication to cure, or to at least keep at bay.

This can be very good news for big pharmaceutical – or big pharma – companies that spend millions, or even billions, each and every year testing and applying for their meds to get on pharmacy shelves and physician’s prescription pads. When successful, a medication can literally equate to tremendous profits for these drug manufacturers and distributors.

In this article, I will discuss why one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly (LLY), could provide a lot of income and growth for its investors.

With a market cap of over $53 billion, Eli Lilly is a worldwide manufacturer and seller of pharmaceutical products, with a focus on medications that are used to treat depression, diabetes, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar issues, and fibromyalgia, among a variety of others. These products are distributed via independent wholesale distributors as well as directly through pharmacies across the globe.

Throughout the past year, Eli Lilly has experienced over 5% in its sales growth and a net profit margin of more than 17%. But these numbers could increase a great deal if Sola, an Eli Lilly drug that is designed to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, receives acceptance from the FDA. To continue reading, click here.

New government requirements are putting car maker ingenuity to the test. According to the Wall Street Journal, “by 2025, the U.S. government wants large pickup trucks like the Chevrolet Silverado to get about 44% better mileage than today.” The prospect “could be a daunting challenge, particularly if General Motors (GM) doesn’t want to cut the towing capability, payload or power of its best-selling and highly profitable big pickup,” especially since GM has already “improved the Silverado’s fuel efficiency by 20% since 2002.” In the end, GM will have to up its game even further or stop making one of its most popular models.

But, there is a loophole. “Administration officials [have] highlighted the goal of boosting the average fuel efficiency of new cars and light trucks to 54.5 miles on a gallon of gasoline by 2025,” writes theWall Street Journal. “In the real world, however, an auto maker could still sell significant numbers of vehicles that don’t meet that target. If the Silverado falls short of the requirement that it get about 26 miles per gallon in 2025 – the official target as adjusted to reflect real-world driving results – GM could make up the difference by selling a smaller truck or car that gets better mileage than required for its class.”

While hybrid technology is not a requirement to accomplish these standards, the easiest way to do this is by using electric car technologies.

The Obama administration estimates the cost of converting a vehicle to that level of efficiency at $1,800 a vehicle by 2025, and “consumers who buy 2025 cars can expect to save more than $8,000 over the life of a car compared to 2011 models. To continue reading, click here.