25 Of The Most Attractive Dividend Stocks

These are tough times for investors who look for cheap companies. The Dow and S&P 500 jump from high to high, but this boom is credit-driven; it's the result of the monetary easing policy of the world's major government banks.

The good thing is that we can buy stocks in every market situation, whether the market has a P/E level of 30 or 10. What we need to is to look at solid growth for the single stock and not overpay for the future prospects of an asset.

When I look at the market today, I see that the financial sector, conglomerates and basic material stocks are the cheapest valued ones in terms of forward P/E, but the highest growth is predicted for the Services and Technology sector, both of which have the highest P/E ratios.

Tech stocks have made many people rich, but if you recall the dot.com bubble in 2000, many investors and private dealers lost their money because they believed that their super high-flying stock could change the world.

Facebook, Twitter and Google dominate our world today, but will they do it in 10 or 20 years too? For sure, Microsoft has survived over 40 years. Oracle, IBM and even Apple also developed into dominant players and created a long track record, but technology is a fast changing business. You can make billions in a year, but also lose all your money in the next half-decade.

I own some of the old-school technology stocks too, but I don't like to pay for the uncertain future of a company more than it makes sense in an economic view. I will not pay 500 times sales today because of the company's next revolutionary product if I don't understand how it works.

I want dividends and a fair chance to make an 8 percent or more return, nothing else. The market has enough opportunities to realize this goal, and it is easy to succeed.

I've found a new screener on Morningstar, but it seems only to work with Canadian and US stocks. Morningstar has a great classification of companies, from financially healthy to growth, so I tested it.

Today, I was looking for fairly valuated growth stocks with a good dividend yield. In addition, 5-year expected earnings growth had to be over 8 percent. The screen delivered 25 results, and my focus is still on consumer stocks, as well as non-cyclical dividend payers.

Below are 5 of my favorite picks. Do you like some of them? Please let me know what you think from the screen.

#1 Verizon (NYSE:VZ) has a market capitalization of $204.90 billion. The company employs 176,800 people, generates revenue of $120.550 billion and has a net income of $23.547 billion. Verizon's earning

Baidu, Inc. Wants to Become a Leader in Artificial Intelligence

"Chinese companies are starting to dream," said early investor in Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU  ) and managing partner at GGV Capital Jixun Foo. Foo's proclamation was made in an in-depth article by MIT Technology Review, which examined the Chinese search giant's new effort to change the world with artificial intelligence. The company's new AI lab does, indeed, accompany some lofty aspirations -- ones big enough to hopefully help Baidu become a global Internet powerhouse and to compete with the likes of Google in increasingly important emerging markets where the default search engine hasn't yet taken the throne.

But what are the implications for investors? Fortunately, Baidu's growing infatuation with AI looks like it could give birth to winning strategies that could build sustainable value over the long haul.

Even Baidu's home page mirrors Google's. Image source: Baidu.com.

Finding an identity
Often referred to as the "Google of China," Baidu is known for unashamedly copying Google's winning tactics in China where it is the dominant search engine and where Google is banned. But as the company looks to emerging international markets, where Internet users are only up and coming, Baidu needs to begin finding its own identity. Baidu's AI push seems to fit the bill.

Baidu first announced its bigger plans for AI in May when it announced the hire of Google's Andrew Ng, who founded the rival search giant's Deep Learning team. Widely regarded as a leading figure in AI, Ng alone brings identity to Baidu. More importantly, his knowledge brings with him an opportunity for Baidu to play a leading role in AI.

Baidu's Silicon Valley AI lab has one "key quest," according to MIT Technology Review's Robert Hof: To create "software that can, in a real sense, learn on its own." In other words, Baidu wants to be the leader in deep learning. Deep learning, a new form of AI that attempts to build algorithms that reflect high-level human learning, is likely to play key roles in the future for companies with infinitely growing sums of data at their fingertips.

But Ng won't stop at deep learning. Heading up all Baidu research, Ng aims to help Baidu stand out in many aspects.

"It's Ng's job to develop cutting-edge technologies that will leave no doubt who is ahead," said Hof.

Ng's contributions over the coming years will likely be instrumental to Baidu's future. As Baidu expands internationally into markets where the company will go head-to-head with the likes of Google and Microsoft in vying for online search traffic, Ng could be the difference between new technologies that set Baidu ahead of competition. Further, the technologies Ng will work on are only those that could "significantly influence" the lives of at least 100 million people, he told MIT Technology Review -- ones that give a company a "lasting base to build on."

A growing number of affordable smartphones and the proliferation wireless Internet is helping bring new active Internet users to the global market. Baidu thinks its experience with new Internet users gives the company an advantage in emerging markets. Image source: Baidu.

But is the cost justified?
Will the new strategies, tools, and platforms birthed from this AI research and development effort be worthy of the cost to acquire the required talent? Executives like Ng don't come cheap. And neither will the 70 AI researchers and computer systems engineers Ng wants to hire.

Baidu's second-quarter results demonstrated just how big of an effect ambitious R&D efforts are having on business results. Despite revenue growth of 58.5% from the year-ago quarter, net income growth trailed meaningfully behind at 34.1%. Unsurprisingly, soaring R&D costs were among the primary factors that weighed on profitability. R&D costs in Q2 were up 84.5% from the year-ago quarter.

Baidu said in its second-quarter earnings call that the main reason for the hike in R&D expenses was an increase in the number of R&D personnel.

Investors shouldn't expect R&D spending to level out in the near future. Going forward, Baidu said during the Q2 call that it will continue to invest aggressively in growth. While the company did say it plans to be disciplined in its expenses, building opportunities for near and long-term top line growth will continue to be the focus, management said.

But given the sustainability of online search as a lucrative business model, and the ample opportunity for growth in and outside of China as the global population of active Internet users continues to grow, long-term investors should be glad to see Baidu investing heavily in building the technologies that will support the company's future. Even more, an emphasis on deep learning specifically could help Baidu build an enduring edge in key areas while also carving out its own identity.

Leaked: Apple's next smart device (warning, it may shock you)
Apple recently recruited a secret-development "dream team" to guarantee its newest smart device was kept hidden from the public for as long as possible. But the secret is out, and some early viewers are claiming its everyday impact could trump the iPod, iPhone, and the iPad. In fact, ABI Research predicts 485 million of this type of device will be sold per year. But one small company makes Apple's gadget possible. And its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors. To be one of them, and see Apple's newest smart gizmo, just click here!

Cleveland: Booming in more ways than Lebron

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Down the street from Jake Orville's office in downtown Cleveland, you can hear the cutting of steel gears from a nearly 100-year-old manufacturer of machinery parts. Just beyond that lies Millionaire's Row, a stretch of historic homes built by industrial tycoons like John Rockefeller and Western Union founder Jeptha Wade, who dominated the city in the late 1800s and early 1900s. But in the midst of these landmarks to the city's legacy as a manufacturing powerhouse, Orville and his team are working on something Rockefeller and Wade could never have envisioned: patented technologies to test for heart disease.

Orville is the CEO of five-year-old Cleveland Heartlab, which has licensed several innovations from researchers at nearby — and world-renowned — Cleveland Clinic. The partnership was initiated by the clinic as part of its mission to turn its inventions into commercially viable medical products, generating profits for both parties. To date, besides Heartlab, 66 neighboring companies have spun out from Cleveland Clinic ideas since 2000. All told, the clinic has 525 patents and 450 licensing agreements.

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This level of innovation would be stunning anywhere, but in Cleveland? Jake Orville was equally surprised when he arrived in 2008. After working for two public health-care companies, he had traveled the country looking for new technologies he could use to grow his own company. After pit stops in several of his old stomping grounds — New York, Chicago, Boston, southern California — someone suggested he check out Cleveland. His first reaction: "Cleveland? Are you crazy?" But he did visit and met with two dozen newly founded companies — and was blown away. "The technology I saw being developed ... was just as good, if not better, than what I had seen on both coasts."

Heartlab offers patented tests for potential heart disease that go well beyond standard diagnostics that only assess for cholesterol levels. By comparison, using basic blood or urine samples submitted by doctors across the country, Orville can test for multiple Biomarkers — many of them novel ones discovered by nearby medical researchers — that indicate, for example, inflammation of the arteries.

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For decades the Cleveland Clinic and the University Hospital System have made the area a leading health-care provider. What a newcomer like Orville didn't know about — and what many others around the country would be surprised to find — is a stretch of downtown dubbed the Health-Tech Corridor, the very same neighborhood where iconic American industrialists built their mansions and fortunes in a bygone era. Orville says he quickly realized the area has the perfect blend of resources to create medical and biotechnology products and companies: sophisticated medicine, world-class research and a strong business incubation and investment community.

The 1,600-acre Health-Tech Corridor acts as Cleveland's biomedical nerve center, housing three major health-care institutions besides ! the Cleveland Clinic, four higher education institutions, more than 130 biomedical and other technology companies and eight incubators that lease space and provide consulting and other business development services. This is where the Cleveland Clinic and other partner organizations, such as incubator BioEnterprise, interact with researchers, clinical caregivers, academics and business executives. State-funded groups like Team NEO (for North East Ohio) were launched to help attract new business to the region. Since Cleveland Heartlab opened in the Health-Tech Corridor's first building, eight additional buildings have opened for tenants. A ninth will open soon.

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Just as robotics companies in Pittsburgh and high-speed fiber-optic networks in Chattanooga, Tenn., have helped transform the economies of those cities, bioscience entrepreneurship has reshaped Cleveland's sagging economy. According to Team NEO, between 1990 and 2012, the region experienced a 41 percent decline in manufacturing employment, dwindling from 453,000 workers to 268,000. Over the same period, however, health-care employment saw a 55 percent increase — from 196,000 to 303,000 jobs. That gain spurred others: Professional, scientific and technical service jobs grew 27 percent to 85,000 jobs. And from 2003 to 2012, exports for medical equipment devices jumped 112 percent, more than any other segment in Northeast Ohio's economy.

Looking ahead, Team NEO projects continued growth across sectors from 2012 to 2020, including health care (13% or +40,000 jobs); finance (11% or +8,000 jobs); professional, scientific and technical services (16% or +12,000 jobs); and construction (19% or +12,000 jobs). Of course an organization dedicated to promoting the region might be painting a rosier picture than the facts will bear out, but the momentum is real.

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Naturally it will take ti! me for th! e rapid growth of Cleveland's bioscience sector to translate into dollars that compete with heavyweight sectors like real estate and manufacturing that have been around since the city's founding. (Despite decreases in manufacturing jobs, that sector — propelled by technology efficiencies — remains the largest source of growth for Northeast Ohio.) But bioscience has provided invaluable economic diversification that will help insulate Northeast Ohio's economy from future shocks in the manufacturing sector — so much so that Cleveland is doubling down. In October 2013 the city unveiled a $465 million, 235,00-square-foot Global Center for Health Innovation, intended as a marketplace for medical industry buyers and sellers, who will gather for health-care meetings and symposia at the site. Responding to critics who worry their tax dollars would be better spent elsewhere are supporters who believe the center will cement the city's identity as an international hub for medical technology.

Orville remains confident that bioscience will continue to pick up steam in the region. "World-class medicine will always be here, but beyond that, a mentality exists in Cleveland to be not just a good scientist but a good inventor. So we will continue to have technologies coming out that are competitive with the West Coast, a strong investor base and growing professional management resources."

The sector's long-term trajectory remains to be seen, but if Orville's right, Cleveland may need to make room for another Millionaire's Row.

A Few Reasons To Consider Tyson Foods for the Long Run

The world's second-largest meat processor, Tyson Foods (TSN), released impressive results for the third quarter. The company reported fantastic growth in its top line and its results came in line with expectations. Greater demand for chicken and pork products were the main growth drivers for the company. There are many key points Tyson Foods is counting on, which can take its growth to a new level. With rising demand for meat products and the proposed selling of Latin American chicken operations, Tyson Foods is expected to get better in the future.

Doing well

Tyson is seeing a strong fiscal year so far. Its quarterly revenue improved by 11% to $9.63 billion. This topped analysts' estimates. Consensus had been modeling revenue of $9.5 billion. Chicken and pork products were the best sellers for Tyson, and they resulted in a solid improvement in its earnings. The earnings of the company grew by 9%, reporting EPS of $0.75 per share, which was more than $0.69 per share from last year's same quarter.

Tyson Foods, having delivered a commendable performance in the third quarter, is all set to accelerate to new highs. Management is optimistic about its growth prospects. Tyson is focusing on important growth drivers, and is planning to sell some of its less preferred units such as the Latin American chicken operations. Though it is performing well, Tyson thinks that company can even perform better without it so it plans to sell this operation to JBS.

Besides, Tyson is also focusing on its home market. It is selling off its international operations and plans to use the money to pay off the acquisition charges of Jimmy Dean sausage maker Hillshire Brands Co.

Making the business efficient

Further, it has confirmed the shutdown of three of its plants. With this, Tyson Foods is aiming at restructuring its utilities and becoming more focused about its operational excellence. However, this shutdown of the plants will result in $49 million as impairment charges, but the company isn't worried about this as the shutdown will ultimately improve its operational performance. This will lead to better revenue in the future. Moreover, in the long run, these initiatives are expected to drive better sales, as it will allow Tyson to shift its production units to better capacities.

Also, under its expansion moves, the acquisition of Hillshire is expected to help Tyson in expanding its area of operation, adding more customers to it. Also, with such a combination, management thinks that Tyson will reap benefits in terms of improvements in operations, purchasing, and distribution. In addition, management has also taken a strict decision to maintain a cost-efficient structure to improve its profit margins.

Beyond the weakness

Tyson did see some temporary disruptions as a result of a fire which broke out at one of its fully cooked processing plants. But now, the plant is back to its operations with new equipment installed. The company did face some unexpected loss as a result, and is expecting this event to impact its fourth quarter results by a small margin. But, Tyson sees better demand for beef and pork, which will lead to an improved performance going forward.

Seeing the growth momentum, management has come up with a strong guidance for fiscal 2015. Tyson is expecting overall growth to improve 10%. On the revenue front, the company is expecting its top line to improve by 11%.

Conclusion

Looking at the financials, Tyson Foods looks impressive and reasonable with a decent trailing P/E of 15.04. Management is also expecting synergies to come its way with the acquisition of Tyson and Hillshire by 2015, which will help the company grow. Taking a look at its earnings growth for the next five years, an impressive growth in Tyson's earnings by a CAGR of 19% is visible. So Tyson Foods is a good bet for the long run.

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Why We're Taking Social Security at Age 62

Credit: Eric Chan via Flickr.

We have decided to take Social Security at age 62. We know there are as many ways to consider this decision as there are days in a year. And many experts advise against taking social security "early" so that you get a bigger check at full retirement age. It's hard to argue against that.

However, we have always lived an unconventional lifestyle, and the fact that so many experts agree on waiting for payment gives us pause for thought. Here is our logic.

First, the S&P 500 index has averaged returns of more than 8% per year, plus dividends, since we retired in 1991. If we take Social Security early and invest it, we won't be losing the extra 8% in benefits we could get for every year we delayed receiving them. Granted, the benefits of delaying Social Security are guaranteed, while stock market returns are not. The markets could go up, down, or sideways -- no one knows.

But we have lived off of our investments for the last 24 years, through good times and bad, and we could easily make it another four if necessary, so investing the monthly check is definitely an option. More likely, we will allow our cash to grow while we look for opportunities to deploy it in the market. Plus we would have control of the money, adding to our net worth.

Next let's look at some numbers
For easy math, say at 62 you are set to receive $1,000 per month in benefits. If you wait until you are 66, your payment will be $1,360. Sounds great, right? However, you would have missed receiving $48,000 dollars in payments from the previous 48 months. How long is it before you make that money back? Using this example, it would take 133 months, or a little over 11 years, meaning we wouldn't break even until age 77. In that time frame, the Social Security we began receiving at age 62, plus our investments, should grow enough to easily surpass the additional money received by waiting.

For some people, deferring until their full retirement age -- or even later -- could make sense, especially if they do not have the assets to support themselves, have difficulty handling money, or are still working. However, this is not our situation, and therefore we have decided to take the money and run.

It's really a question of who you think can handle your money better -- you or Uncle Sam?

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Dow Suffers 300 Point Drop; S&P 500 And NASDAQ Also Tumble

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U.S. stocks posted steep losses as investors had plenty to worry about.

Unable to reach a last-minute settlement, Argentina defaulted on its debt obligations. Naturally, as a global economy, the credit of one country affects other countries worldwide.

The Labor Department reported that U.S. labor costs rose the most in five years.

After Thursday's sharp sell-off, the Dow and S&P 500 posted their first monthly drop since January.

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The Dow lost 1.88 percent, closing at 16,563.30. The S&P 500 lost 2.00 percent, closing at 1,930.67. The NASDAQ lost 2.09 percent, closing at 4,369.77. Gold lost 0.80 percent, trading at $1,284.60 an ounce. Oil lost 2.35 percent, trading at $97.91 a barrel. Silver lost 0.74 percent, trading at $20.52 an ounce.

News Of Note

July Challenger Job-Cut Report rose to 46,887 from 31,434 in June.

Initial Jobless Claims rose 23,000 to 302,000, below estimates of 305,000. Continuing claims rose 31,000 to 2.54 million.

Second Quarter Employment Cost Index rose 0.7 percent from the first quarter, exceeding expectations of a 0.5 percent rise.

July Chicago PMI fell to 52.6 from 62.6 in June.

EIA Natural Gas Inventory rose 88 bcf, less than the 93 bcf gain expected.

Analyst Upgrades And Downgrades Of Note

Analysts at FBR Capital downgraded 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) to Market Perform from Outperform with a price target lowered to $48 from a previous $83. Shares lost 10.59 percent, closing at $50.13.

Analysts at JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating on Alcoa (NYSE: AA) with a price target raised to $24.50 from a previous $18.50. Shares lost 1.97 percent, closing at $16.39.

Analysts at Sterne Agee upgraded Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) to Buy from Neutral with a $176 price target. Shares gained 0.10 percent, closing at $145.32.

Analyst sat Bernstein upgraded Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) to Market Perform from Underperform with a price target raised to $16 from a previous $13. Shares gained 1.28 percent, closing at $17.45.

Analysts at Citigroup maintained a Neutral rating on Domino's Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) with a price target raised to $79 from a previous $77. Shares lost 2.11 percent, closing at $72.00.

Analysts at Citigroup maintained a Buy rating on Dunkin' Brands (NASDAQ: DNKN) with a price target lowered to $50 from a previous $54. Shares lost 0.99 percent, closing at $42.86.

Analysts at Citigroup downgraded Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) to Neutral from Buy with a price target raised to $66 from a previous $60. Shares lost 2.49 percent, closing at $61.06.

Analysts at Benchmark downgraded Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU) to Hold from Buy. Shares lost 18.70 percent, closing at $5.61.

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Analysts at Credit Suisse maintained an Outperform rating on Hess (NYSE: HES) with a price target raised to $120 from a previous $110. Shares lost 2.05 percent, closing at $98.98.

Analysts at CRT Capital downgraded L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) to Sell from Fairly Valued with a price target lowered to $90 from a previous $102. Also, analysts at Drexel Hamilton downgraded L-3 Communications to Hold from Buy while removing a previous $130 price target. Shares lost 12.27 percent, closing at $104.96.

Analysts at Bank of America initiated coverage of Michael Kors Holdings (NYSE: KORS) with a Buy rating and $120 price target. Shares lost 0.96 percent, closing at $81.48.

Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded Open Text (NASDAQ: OTEX) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target raised to $65 from a previous $51. Shares surged to new 52-week highs of $56.97 before closing the day at $55.62, up 14.82 percent.

Analyst at Barclays maintained an Equal-Weight rating on Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) with a price target lowered to $165 from a previous $167. Shares lost 2.94 percent, closing at $147.30.

Analysts at Barclays upgraded SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA) to Equal-Weight from Underweight with an unchanged $35 price target. Also, analysts at JPMorgan maintained a Neutral rating on SodaStream with a price target lowered to $40 from a previous $45. Shares gained 0.73 percent, closing at $33.00.

Analysts at JPMorgan maintained a Neutral rating on The Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) with a price target lowered to $47 from a previous $50. Shares lost 1.38 percent, closing at $42.88.

Analysts at JPMorgan maintained a Neutral rating on United States Steel (NYSE: X) with a price target raised to $35 from a previous $24. Also, analysts at Nomura maintained a Buy rating on U.S. Steel with a price target raised to $40 from a previous $32. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $33.85 before closing the day at $33.49, up 1.39 percent.

Analysts at UBS downgraded Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) to Neutral from Buy with a price target lowered to $41 from a previous $48. Also, analysts at JPMorgan downgraded Whole Foods to Neutral from Overweight with a price target lowered to $38 from a previous $48. Shares lost 2.28 percent, closing at $38.22.

Analysts at JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating on Yelp (NYSE: YELP) with a price target raised to $100 from a previous $94. Also, analysts at Credit Suisse maintained an Outperform rating on Yelp with a price target raised to $93 from a previous $90. Taking the opposite side, analyst at UBS maintained a Neutral rating on Yelp with a price target raised to $80 from a previous $60 while analysts at Raymond James downgraded Yelp to Market Perform from Outperform while removing a previous $80 price target. Shares lost 11.16 percent, closing at $67.16.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank maintained a Buy rating on Yum! Brands with a price target lowered to $78 from a previous $90. Shares lost 4.95 percent, closing at $69.40.

Equities-Specific News Of Note

Target (NYSE: TGT) hired former PepsiCo and Wal-Mart executive Brian Cornell as its new CEO. Cornell will replace the company's CFO John Mulligan who has been acting as interim CEO following Gregg Steinhafel stepping down in May. Shares of Target lost 2.92 percent, closing at $59.59.

Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) confirmed it has finalized a deal with Panasonic for the construction of its Gigafactory plant in the U.S. The company projected it will generate 35GWh of cells and 50 GWh of packs per year by 2020. Shares lost 2.46 percent, closing at $223.30.

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Boeing (NYSE: BA) finalized a $13 billion order with Japan based All Nippon to deliver 40 wide-body jets. Shares lost 1.48 percent, closing at $120.48.

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) acquired TOA Technologies, a developer of cloud-based software for managing customer requests to a company's field service workers. Shares of Oracle lost 1.37 percent, closing at $40.39.

Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) announced it will acquire Trunk Club for an undisclosed amount and will operate the new men's business independently. Shares of Nordstrom lost 1.37 percent, closing at $69.23.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) announced it will use some of its Red Lobster proceeds to fund a $500 million accelerated buyback program. Shares gained 0.95 percent, closing at $46.75.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) plans to lay off around 200 employees at Beats Electronics as part of a restructuring program. Shares lost 2.60 percent, closing at $95.60.

Winners Of Note

This morning, T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.48, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40. Revenue of $7.20 billion beat the consensus estimate of $7.04 billion. The company added 1.5 million net customers, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of adding at least one million net new customers. However, the company's earnings took a backseat to confirmed reports that French carrier Iliad has made an offer to acquire a controlling stake in the company. Ilad has obtained financing from unnamed banks and would also consider a capital raise to offer $15 billion to acquire 56.6 percent in T-Mobile U.S at a price of $33 per share. Iliad said that it values the remaining 56.6 percent of T-Mobile U.S., which is owned by Deutsche Telekom at $40.50 per share. Shares of T-Mobile U.S. gained 6.46 percent, closing at $32.94.

This morning, Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.81, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39. Revenue of $16.79 billion beat the consensus estimate of $15.28 billion. Net income for the quarter rose to $272 million from $110 million in the same quarter a year ago, as the company benefited from oilseed processing margins and strong demand. The company noted that a record southern hemisphere soybean crop and growing demand resulted in an 11 percent gain in agribusiness sales to $12.86 billion. Revenues from sugar and bioenergy rose 26 percent to $1.19 billion, while milling product sales rose 8.6 percent to $553 million. However, sales of edible oil products fell approximately 13 percent to $2.099 billion and was also negatively impacted by one-time costs in logistics because of backlogs and short-term cost increases in maintenance. The company noted that it is expecting a “solid second half of the year” across its segments. Shares gained 7.03 percent, closing at $78.84.

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The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) and Journal Communications (NYSE: JRN) announced that the two companies will merge their broadcast operations and plan to spin off the new entity as a new publicly-traded company. In addition, the newspaper businesses will combine to form a new company called Journal Media Group. Shares of E.W. Scripps hit new 52-week highs of $22.66 before closing the day at $21.68 while shares of Journal Communications also hit new 52-week highs of $11.37 before closing the day at $10.88, up 24.20 percent.

Tessera (NASDAQ: TSRA) announced a multi-year patent licensing agreement with Micron that will cover its chip packaging IP portfolio and the two companies will also explore other possible joint development efforts. Shares of Tessera hit new 52-week highs of $26.61 before closing the day at $25.41, up 9.43 percent.

Decliners Of Note

This morning, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.91, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90. Revenue of $2.00 billion missed the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. Net income for the quarter rose to $122.0 million from $10.8 million in the same quarter a year ago, as the company saw an 86 percent growth in revenue driven by strong growth in almost every business category. Same-store organic product sales growth was 4 percent in the quarter, while pro forma organic growth was 8 percent. Europe saw a same-store sales organic growth of 13 percent, Asia saw a same-store sales organic growth of 17 percent and the U.S. contact lens business helped contribute a 12 percent organic growth in the U.S. Valeant also released a presentation detailing its expectations through 2016, assuming it acquires Allergan. (NYSE: AGN) Valeant lowered its 2014 guidance to reflect the impact of a sale of assets to Nestle as the company unloaded products that compete with Allergan's. Valeant guided toward 2015 sales of $9.3 billion, ahead of the consensus estimate of $8.9 billion. However, Valeant's 2015 EPS guidance of $9.65 was nearly $1 below the consensus estimate. Shares of Valeant lost 6.71 percent, closing at $117.39.

This morning, Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.02, in-line with the consensus estimate. Revenue of $3.69 billion missed the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Net income for the quarter fell to $295 million from $352 million in the same quarter a year ago, as the company saw declining sales in several key U.S. segments. U.S. Morning Foods saw a revenue decline of 5 percent to $820 million, while U.S. Snacks sales declined 2.6 percent to $893 million. However, U.S. Specialty sales rose 1.5 percent to $276 million. European sales rose 6.8 percent to $772 million, Latin America sales rose 5.3 percent to $320 million and Asia Pacific Sales dipped 1.6 percent to $243 million. Kellogg revised its full year fiscal 2014 EPS guidance to a range of $3.91 to $3.99 from a previous $3.97 to $4.05. Shares lost 6.12 percent, closing at $59.83.

Samsung reported a 10 percent growth in memory sales to $6.7 billion in its quarterly results and also hiked its 2014 DRAM industry bit supply forecast to low-30 percent growth and sees its production growing at a high-40 percent rate. Analysts at Morgan Stanley speculated that Samsung is increasing its capital expenditure to ramp up DRAM production in 2015, which doesn't bode well for its largest competitor, Micron (NASDAQ: MU) whose shares lost 6.09 percent, closing at $30.55.

Earnings Of Note

This morning, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.89, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91. Revenue of $5.73 billion missed the consensus estimate of $5.75 billion. Net income for the quarter rose to $499 million from $481 million in the same quarter a year ago, as the company saw its average revenue per user grow by 1.7 percent to $106.98 and the company saw a record second-quarter subscriber volume growth. The company noted that it saw 42,000 residential triple play net additions, 67,000 residential high-speed data net additions, 79,000 residential net additions and business primary service unit and customer relationship net additions of 37,000 and 21,000, respectively. Shares lost 4.17 percent, closing at $145.10.

This morning, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $1.61, in-line with the consensus estimate. Revenue of $14.70 billion missed the consensus estimate of $15.40 billion. Net income for the quarter rose to $2.081 billion from $2.050 billion in the same quarter a year ago, as production in the quarter rose to 1.56 million barrels of energy per day from 1.55 million in the same quarter a year ago while total average realized prices were 5 percent higher. Production from the Bakken in North Dakota as well as Eagle Ford in Texas surged by 38 percent from a year ago to 208,000 barrels of energy per day. The company did, however, lower its third quarter production guidance to 1.435 million to 1.485 million barrels of energy per day because of maintenance issues. However, for the full fiscal year the production outlook's midpoint was raised to 1.525 million to 1.55 million barrels of energy per day. ConocoPhillips noted that it is on track to realize three percent to five percent volume and margin growth in the year. Shares lost 2.52 percent, closing at $82.50.

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After the market closed, LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.51, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39. Revenue of $534.0 million beat the consensus estimate of $511.17 million.

After the market closed, Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.11, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07. Revenue of $858 million beat the consensus estimate of $835.03 million.

After the market closed, GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) reported its second quarter results. The company announced an EPS of $0.08, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07. Revenue of $244.61 million beat the consensus estimate of $237.73 million.

Quote Of The Day

“The IPO also furthers our goal to position GE Capital as a smaller, safer specialty finance leader, and achieve 75 percent of our earnings from our Industrial businesses by 2016. The Synchrony offering is an important first step in our planned, staged exit from the business. We continue to target completing our exit in late 2015 through a capital-efficient split-off transaction.” - General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt commenting on Syncrony Financial's IPO debut.

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