Tricks for the stock market     
 

Investing in penny stocks always involves accepting a high level of risk, and this tends to be even more the case when the stock market is volatile or uncertain. Penny stock investing is not for the faint of heart, but rather only for investors with a healthy dose of risk tolerance.

The overall market is uncertain as it faces the prospect of an impending interest rate hike going into 2016, and substantial gains may be difficult to come by investing in larger companies, many of which have already attained record highs in recent years. Penny stocks offer the opportunity to invest in largely unrealized potential, as with a small biotech firm still in the research and development phase. The risk, of course, is that the potential may remain unrealized. However, investing in small companies that eventually do break through to become hugely profitable firms offers investors the chance at returns on investment (ROI) that usually can’t be found in more mature stocks.

To increase the odds of making a good penny stock investment, investors are wise to search out stocks operating in market sectors evidencing strong growth and to identify those companies in the healthiest financial positions.

1) Curis Inc.
Curis Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS) is a small biotechnology firm engaged in developing therapeutic drugs for treating cancer and neurological and dermatological diseases. The company pursues research both in-house and through strategic joint ventures with other biotech or pharmaceutical firms, and has several drug candidates in research and development. The company’s most advanced drug project is a small molecule inhibitor designated as CUDC-907. CUDC-907 has reached the stage of completing the dose escalation segment of phase 1 clinical studies.

The company has substantially increased its investment in research and development (R&D), from $3.3 million in 2014 to $5.9 million in 2015. Curis has not reached the point of profitability, but despite its level of R&D investment, it has a healthy debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio of 0.27.

The company suffered a setback in revenue from $4.8 million in the second quarter of 2014 to $2.1 million in the second quarter of 2015, largely due to a license fee decrease resulting from a $3 million payment the company received in 2014.

The company’s stock price tumbled throughout most of 2014, but it bottomed out around $1.20 per share near the end of the year. In 2015, the company’s stock rose sharply to $3.75 in the first part of the year before retracing to near the $2 price level. As of November, the share price is around $2.50, which represents an increase of roughly 70% for the year. The consensus estimate for the stock price in 2016 is approximately $3.10 per share.

2) First Majestic Silver
A stock to consider in light of the fact that many market analysts believe precious metals prices have bottomed out in 2015 is First Majestic Silver (NYSE: AG). Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, First Majestic is in the business of acquisition or exploration, development and production of silver mines in Mexico.

The company owns five silver mines that are already producing and has two mining projects in the exploration and development phase. The company estimates final 2015 production figures to be in the neighborhood of 12.5 million ounces.
The argument for investing in First Majestic is based primarily on a projection for rising silver prices and secondly on the company’s proven ability to reduce production costs. Managing production costs is a very important factor in making mining operations profitable, and First Majestic has shown its ability to do this by reducing per ounce production costs approximately 20%, from $18.18 in 2014 to $14.49 in 2015. Additionally, the company has maintained an extremely low D/E ratio of just 0.02.

The company’s stock price, trading at $3.11 per share as of November 2015, bottomed around the $2.80 level three times in 2015. The 2016 consensus estimate for First Majestic, which traded as high as $25 a share in 2011, is $3.80 to $4.

3) Avon Products Inc.
Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) is a leading manufacturer of beauty products. In addition to cosmetics and fragrances, the company markets jewelry, apparel, home decorative items, nutritional products and housewares. Avon operates in more than 60 countries worldwide.

The company, and its stock price, have suffered a decline in recent years, falling all the way from nearly $30 a share down to $2.50 a share. As of November 2015, the stock price stands at $2.72. Avon might be worth investing in simply because of its extremely low share price, given the fact that the company has a long, established history and strong brand name recognition, and it operates over such a large global marketplace. Even at its current low share price, the company still has a market cap of over $1 billion. The company also offers a very generous dividend yield of 9.02%.

4) Genetic Technologies Ltd.
Australia-based Genetic Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: GENE) was the first company to obtain patents giving it the intellectual property rights to specific uses of non-coding DNA for the purpose of genetic analysis. The company manufactures testing and assessment tools for managing women’s health, specifically to improve techniques for breast cancer screening.

The company’s current lead product is the BREVAGgenplus test, an improvement over its already successful test product, BREVAGen, which was launched through its U.S. subsidiary company, Phenogen Sciences Inc. BREVAGenplus enables substantially expanded testing for clinical risk factors and genetic markers correlated with non-hereditary breast cancer.

Genetic Technologies has received a boost from recent breast cancer screening guideline changes by the American Cancer Society and from the completion of additional validation studies of BREVAGenplus. The release of those study findings, scheduled for the first quarter of 2016, could propel the stock significantly higher.

At $2.41 a share, the company’s stock price has increased more than 30% in 2015. With an all-time high price of over $50 per share, the stock potentially has a long way to run on the upside. The company has an attractively low price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 1.74.

5) Groupon Inc.
Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) has been in relative freefall since its 2011 initial public offering (IPO) at $26 per share. Nonetheless, the company’s earnings per share (EPS) have been on a steady climb recently, and the projected EPS growth for 2016 is 22.5%.

Groupon is an online discount website that serves as a marketing tool for businesses by offering a variety of discounts on goods and services. The company has expanded rapidly since it was founded as a local operation in Chicago in 2008, and it currently operates in more than 500 local markets worldwide.

Although the company missed 2015 third quarter revenue estimates, it beat third quarter EPS estimates impressively, posting a gain of 0.02 EPS against estimates of a 0.04 EPS loss.

The last time the company’s stock reached this low price level, in 2012, it rebounded to over $12 a share in less than a year.

‘O.J.: Made in America’: 5 Things We Learned From Part 5

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for Part 5 of Espn’s O.J.: Made in America.] The fifth and final installment of O.J.: Made in America takes us from the controversial not-guilty verdict in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial to the present day, where Simpson is serving time in a Nevada prison for his role in a bungled armed robbery. After the not-guilty verdict in 1995, Simpson attempted to pick up his charmed life right where he left off … but he quickly found that wasn’t so easy. Here are five things we learned about the O.J.

Historic Orthodox council stalls after Russia pulls out

This was to be the first meeting of all Orthodox leaders since the year 787

The Russian Orthodox Church has rejected a last minute appeal to attend what was billed as the first meeting of fellow Church leaders since 787.

Russia says it cannot participate in the Holy and Great Council, on the Greek island of Crete, as not all churches will be present.

The Churches of Antioch, Bulgaria and Georgia had previously refused to take part after disputes about the meeting.

The gathering, due to start on Sunday, has been 55 years in preparation.

Fourteen Churches representing over 300 million faithful had been originally invited.

Experts say the decision by the Russian Church, which represents some 100 millon followers, highlights longstanding divisions among Orthodox Christians.

There is also a struggle for power between Russia and the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, considered the spiritual head and “first among equals”.

He is the driving force behind the meeting.

The disagreements ranged from seating plans to efforts to reconcile with the Vatican.

Moscow also fears that Patriarch Bartholomew will give support to the Ukrainian branch of the Church, fuelling what one Russian state-owned newspaper has called “a simmering religious war”.

Russian Patriarch Kirill said he considered the Crete gathering a preparatory session for a synod that will unite all the Churches “without exception.”

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Orthodox Christians

Image copyrightAP

• There are 300 million Orthodox Christians, who are members of 14 national Churches
• The denomination split from western Christianity – in the form of what is now Roman Catholicism – in 1054 amid disputes about the power of the Vatican
• Unlike the Roman Catholics, the Orthodox Churches are independent and have their own leadership
• Orthodox clergy are distinguished by their elaborate headgear and bushy facial hair, which they wear because they take literally some of the words of the Old Testament, which prohibit shaving

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

Director:

Frank Darabont

Writers:

Stephen King (short story “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”),Frank Darabont (screenplay)

Stars:

Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton | See full cast & crew »

Pen To Paper: the Weinsteins do kung fu, Santa gets a sibling

Those wily Weinsteins have snaffled up the rights to Kung Fu High School, a novel by Ryan Gattis about, strangely enough, a high school where the kids are kung fu gurus. The story follows five gangs fighting for school supremacy, each using a different form of the lethal martial art. No word on casting yet but the script has been scribbled by Ernesto Foronda, who wrote Justin Lin’s crime drama Better Luck Tomorrow and is currently scripting Lin’s revenge-fuelled remake of Oldboy. (What odds would we get on Lin signing up for…

Gerard Butler’s ‘Geostorm’ Pushed Nine Months; ‘Lego Movie 2’ Delayed

Warner Bros. has pushed Gerard Butler drama “Geostorm” back nine months to Oct. 20, 2017, and delayed “The Lego Movie 2” until 2019.

The studio has also moved Ben Affleck’s crime drama “Live by Night” forward nine months to Jan. 13, 2017 — which had been the slot for “Geostorm.” Affleckdirected “Live by Night” from his own script, adapted from the 2012 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. The film stars Affleck, Chris Messina, Sienna Miller, Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Saldana, Chris Cooper and Elle Fanning.

Finally, Warner Bros. moved its Ed Helms–Owen Wilson comedy “Bastards,” produced by Alcon, back to two months from Nov. 4 to Jan. 27.

Warner Bros. has two other Lego movies coming in 2017 — “Lego Batman” on Feb. 10 and “Ninjago” on Sept. 17. “The Lego Movie 2″ will open on Feb. 8, 2019,” utilizing the same opening weekend that “The Lego Movie” had in 2014.

“The Lego Movie” was a surprise success, opening with a $69 million weekend domestically

Why ‘Mother, May I Sleep With Danger’ Is Smarter Than You Think

Here are some things that have been in the news in recent weeks: A male college student raping an unconscious woman. A killer motivated by his own homophobia. Mass shootings in Florida. Here are some things that appear inJames Franco‘s remake of 1996 the Lifetime movie Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? A male college student attempting to rape an unconscious woman. A killer motivated by his own homophobia. Mass shootings in Florida.

The Franco-masterminded 20th anniversary remake of the Tori Spelling-starring original also contains nubile teenage vampires,

‘Outlander’ Recap: Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan on the Bloody Reveals of ‘Vengeance is Mine’

Spoiler warning: Do not read on unless you’ve seen “Outlander” Season 2, Episode 11, titled “Vengeance is Mine.” Refresh your memory with last week’s “Outlander” recap.

As the Battle of Culloden looms ever closer, this week’s “Outlander” sees Claire and Jamie’s lives spinning even further out of their control — first ambushed and besieged by the Redcoats, they then find themselves forced to separate to protect their men, which leads Claire to an unexpected confrontation with the duplicitous Duke of Sandringham, who is revealed to be the architect of Claire’s attack and Mary’s brutal rape in the streets of Paris. Not only does the episode feature the welcome return of Jamie’s mute friend Hugh Munro, it also allows Mary and Murtagh to exact their revenge on the men responsible for that heinous crime, offering some semblance of closure for what transpired in France.

Beyond featuring the death of a major character and pulling

‘Ice Age: Collision Course’: Film Review

Toward the end of Ice Age: Collision Course, while attempting to divert the path of an incoming killer asteroid, Ray Romano’s woolly mammoth Manny sighs, “This isn’t working.” It’s a sentiment likely to be shared by many enduring this disappointing, chaotic fifth installment of the wildly successful computer-animated franchise. While the Ice Age movies have increasingly tended to place shtick ahead of substance, there had always remained a certain sweetness at their core, manifested through the various milestones taking place in the main characters’ prehistoric lives. Sadly, 15 years in, even the domestic developments surrounding Manny and his

23 of The Best Cult TV Shows of All Time: ‘Mystery Science Theater’ to ‘Twin Peaks’

Cult TV Shows. Disney has released an image of the signs they will install at their resorts to warn guests of alligators in the waters. “We are installing signage and temporary barriers at our resort beach locations and are working on permanent, long-term solutions at our beaches,” the company said in a statement. “We continue to evaluate processes and procedures for our entire property, and, as part of this, we are reinforcing training with our Cast for reporting sightings and interactions with wildlife and are expanding our communication to Guests on this topic.” A gator attacked and killed two year-old Lane.