Ignoring politics, how can investors make money on health care stocks?

A key element of the “Affordable Cara Act” (ACA), otherwise known as “Obamacare”, kicks in today – health insurance exchanges. Politics aside, is there a buck to be made by investors?

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives offered up federal spending bills that would the government going but delay Obamacare’s implementation. But, the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected the House’s spending bills, leading to a government shutdown of “non-essential” services for the first time in 17 years. However, the shutdown won’t affect the health insurance exchanges because Obamacare is considered by the feds to be “mandatory” like, say, border patrol or Social Security.

(Read more: For it or against it, Obamacare exchanges are open)

With both sides accusing each other trying to raise health care costs, it’s unknown how long the acrimonious stalemate will last. What we do know is this: health care is about 15% of the

Is there value in Microsoft?

Microsoft just snagged a contract with a prominent airline. And, a legendary value investor says the stock is “stupidly underpriced”. So is the tech giant a buy?

While American and United Airlines gave their pilots Apple iPads to replace the 38 lbs. of books each one carries into a cockpit, Delta just announced that it’s going with Microsoft Surface 2 tablets. One of the reasons is that Delta’s training software already runs on Windows.

(Read: U.S. to consider relaxing rules on using electronics in flight)

On the, well, surface of it, Delta’s purchase of 11,000 Surface 2 tablets won’t move the needle all that much when it comes to Microsoft’s revenues. Given that the Surface 2 retails for about $449, this would mean at most a $5 million buy without any special software.

But there’s more to Microsoft’s story than just one contract.

Bill Miller, chairman of Legg Mason Capital Management, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” today:

“Microsoft has been a terrible stock

What big social media company is most likely on shaky ground?

Social media may have been lighting up lately on everything from the “Breaking Bad” series finale to the turning bad situation in the federal government. But it’s social media stocks that have been really lighting up investors’ portfolios.

But, as Twitter speeds up its IPO filing process, is it a sign that the sector is at a top? And, what big social media company is most likely on shaky ground?

(Read: Twitter to make IPO filing public this week: Quartz)

As a whole, social media has been a great investment in 2013. Since the start of the year, the Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL) is up 53%.

Some individual social media stocks have done even better than that. Facebook is up 90% in 2013 while professional networking site LinkedIn has given investors 114% returns year-to-date.

However, it’s the reviews and recommendations site Yelp that has outpaced them all. Since the start of 2013, Yelp’s stock has more than tripled. It’s up