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    • Facebook (FB) reports after the bell today. Consensus estimates for Facebook are EPS of 13-cents on $1.44 billion in revenue. Unofficially, analysts don't care about the numbers as much as they do the story. On that front, Lee Munson, chief investment officer at Portfolio LLC, suggests investors brace themselves for a letdown.

      "I think we're going to be again disappointed by the mobile app growth," he says in the attached video. "Without that what else is there?"

      Not much as far as Wall Street is concerned. As was the case when they went public a year ago, Facebook still struggles to monetize users, particularly those migrating to mobile platforms. Any signs that FB is lagging the pace of migration from desktop to handheld will be poorly received.

      FB also needs to assuage claims that the number of users in developed markets is already shrinking. Claiming over 1 billion users is a fantastic accomplishment, but it's also about 1/3 of the entire online world. Right now most of the street is looking for growth while the reality of large numbers suggests retention of such a massive user base would be an upside surprise.

      Related: Facebook Needs a New CEO, Says Munson

      User growth going negative isn't on most analyst radars even if the press is starting to ponder the idea.

      Read More »

    • Apple (AAPL) and gold spent a decade making true believers rich only to gut them over the last 6 months. From October 1st of 2012 to the middle of this month, shares of Apple dropped 40%. At the same time, safe haven-seekers long the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) got drilled by 25%.

      Gold and Apple aren't "supposed" to move in lock-step. As Lee Munson, chief investment officer of Portfolio LLC notes in the attached clip, the first thing they teach you in "little trader's school" is that gold and stocks move opposite to one another.

      Assets don't care what you think should happen. Not only did Apple and gold drop in synch, they bottomed together as well. Since the start of last week shares of Apple are up more than 11% and the GLD ETF has tacked on half that amount.

      With gold trading like a lower beta version of Apple, Breakout asked Munson the same thing we did last June: Which would you rather own? Munson's going with Apple again, but only for the very patient.

      Read More »

    • If you haven't noticed, natural gas has gone from laughing stock to favorite commodity over the past year as the price of our most abundant fossil fuel has more than doubled.

      While many investors look to lighten up and lock in gains at this time of year, Jeff Hirsch, editor-in-chief of Stock Trader's Almanac, says although the list may be short, there are some bullish seasonal trends in play in May.

      "Two things that are really in the middle of a good season are natural gas and crude oil," Hirsch says in the attached video. "They are impacted by the heating season, but also the cooling season and the driving season. So that whole build up period between December and June/July when the usage that drives that bullish season for gas and oil."

      And of the two, he says nat gas looks to be the better bet right now. Not only is new demand coming on line but the price is breaking out to a two-year high. "We also think we had a secular low last April (at $1.96 m/btu) for the nat gas market. (UNG, FCG)," he says of the crash that took prices to generational lows. "It's nice that we have a lot of gas but there's more demand coming in and the supply is being taken up."

      Read More »

    • Beyond the sluggish economy and tight job market, one of the biggest challenges graduating college students face is finding something substantial to put on their slender resumes. This experience deficit has become increasingly problematic for business school grads, given the record number of MBA degree holders being pumped into the system each year and the reduced opportunities that exist.

      But there may be hope, at least for the financially minded, thanks to the first-ever All-America Student Analyst Competition --a real-world, risk-adjusted contest that measures students' stock picking and portfolio management prowess over a four-month period.

      "There are a lot of stock picking competitions that go on, but generally the winner is the person that has the best luck or puts all their money into a penny stock that goes up 4000%," says John Power, CEO of Mark My Media, the Connecticut-based firm that oversaw the trading tournament in conjunction with Institutional Investor.

      As Power explains in the attached video, six different performance factors where used to add an element of professionalism and sophistication that's not normally found in these types of contests. It's a component he says is critical because it shows that students are not only "able to pick stocks, but to manage portfolios in an effective way."

      Read More »

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    Breakout is Yahoo! Finance’s daily all-out, roll-up-your-sleeves, dive-in, interactive investing show, offering fresh segments throughout the trading day. If you love making money, if you want to protect what you have, if you’re passionate about understanding these crazy markets, you’re in the right place.

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