How Can 3M Earnings Grow Faster?

3M (NYSE: MMM  ) is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings report tomorrow, and shareholders have sent the stock on an impressive run so far this year, with sizable gains that have outpaced the overall performance of the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . Yet for the company to justify its higher valuation, 3M earnings need to keep pace with share-price gains, and that doesn't look very likely to happen in the near future.

3M still has plenty of good prospects for future growth, though. The question is whether 3M can reawaken its longtime innovative spirit and come out with another set of revolutionary products that will reinvigorate its business. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with 3M over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report.

Stats on 3M

Analyst EPS Estimate	$1.71
Change From Year-Ago EPS	3%
Revenue Estimate	$7.77 billion
Change From Year-Ago Revenue	3.1%
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters	1

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Can 3M earnings growth accelerate?
Analysts haven't been too upbeat in recent months about the prospects for 3M earnings, as they've cut their June-quarter estimates by $0.07 per share and shaved a full dime per share from their full-year 2013 and 2014 estimates. That hasn't held the stock back, though, with shares posting gains of more than 10% since mid-April.

What makes 3M's share-price gains so impressive is that they've come despite relatively weak growth. In its first-quarter report, 3M saw overall revenue growth slow to just 2.1%, with net income rising only slightly. Admittedly, a large part of those headwinds came from the strong dollar's currency impact on foreign revenue, but still, 3M hasn't come out with innovative blockbuster products that tend to be the long-term drivers of sales success.

One issue that 3M faces is that it's tended to be conservative with respect to emerging businesses. That stands in stark contrast to fellow Dow conglomerate General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) , which has made gutsy bets on the energy side of its business and has seen them largely pay off. Just as GE got into wind turbines and has expanded to oil and gas services, 3M has the potential to become a much larger player in the solar industry if it chose to go beyond its supporting role for other companies and take the lead in module production or technological innovation. In addition, 3M's LED light bulb promises a 25-year life span and could seriously challenge GE in the lighting space if it put its mind to it.

Yet 3M has started to get more aggressive about capturing opportunities. With substantial cash commitments to strategic growth acquisitions and to research and development, 3M already leads GE and several of its other conglomerate peers, and it has plans to boost its R&D spending even further. Combined with its having identified Latin America, Asia, and Africa as prime candidates for expansion, especially in its health-care and consumer-business divisions, 3M is putting a long-term growth strategy in place that investors seem to have faith in.

In the 3M earnings report, watch for the company to give more specifics on its plan to jump-start its growth. With a solid dividend, investors will be willing to wait for better results, but eventually, 3M needs to come through with higher earnings and revenue if it wants to sustain its recent stock-price gains.

From conglomerates to niche-industry players, your best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of. Click here now to keep reading.

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5 Best Internet Stocks To Watch For 2015

E-reading is most popular among young booklovers. According to the Pew Research Center, 34% of 18- to 29-year-old readers consumed a digital book in 2011, matching the percentage of 30- to 49-year olds and beating the older age groups. Unfortunately, the go-to money-saver for bibliophiles everywhere ��borrowing instead of buying your books ��proves tricky in the Internet age. E-books are tougher to lend and borrow than their musty paper counterparts, and e-sharing comes with many strings attached. Still, you don't have to buy every book on your digital reading list. Here are five ways to make the most of what's available:

See Also: Fabulous Freebies 1. Plan your shares carefully.

Users of Amazon's Kindle reader or Barnes and Noble's Nook reader can share only select books. (Publishers choose which books can be shared; you can find whether a book is lendable on its product page of each site.) And lenders need to pick their borrowers judiciously. With both platforms, a loaned book can never be lent again.

5 Best Internet Stocks To Watch For 2015: IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)

IAC/InterActiveCorp engages in the Internet business in the United States and internationally. The company�s Search segment develops, markets, and distributes various downloadable toolbars; provides search, reference, and content services through its destination search and other Websites, including Ask.com and Dictionary.com; and aggregates and integrates local advertising and content for distribution to publishers on Web and mobile platforms, as well as markets and distributes mobile applications through which it provides search and additional services. Its Match segment offers subscription-based and advertiser-supported online personals services through its Websites comprising Match.com, Chemistry.com, OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, and OkCupid.com, as well as through mobile applications and Meetic-branded Websites. The company�s ServiceMagic segment offers Market Match service that matches consumers with service professionals; Exact Match service, which enables con sumers to review service professional profiles and select the service professional that meets their specific needs; and 1800Contractor.com, an online directory of service professionals. This segment also offers Website design and hosting services. Its Media and Other segment operates CollegeHumor.com, an online entertainment Website that targets young males; Vimeo, a Website on which users can upload, share, and view video; and Pronto.com, a comparison search engine. This segment also engages in the creation of video content for various distribution platforms; and operates as an Internet retailer of footwear and related apparel and accessories, as well as focuses on multimedia business. The company was formerly known as InterActiveCorp and changed its name to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004. IAC/InterActiveCorp was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Rhyu joins the company from IAC's (NASDAQ: IACI  ) Match.com, where he has filled the roles of both CFO and chief administrative officer since 2011. Previous to that, he was a senior vice president at News Corp's (NASDAQ: FOXA  ) Dow Jones & Company. He also served as corporate controller for both Sirius XM Radio and GrafTech International (NYSE: GTI  ) .

• [By Lawrence Meyers]

  Rather than pick the obvious candidates, I also like to look for great stocks to buy that might not be on most investors��radar. Here are three such stocks to buy:

  InterActiveCorp (IACI)

  InterActiveCorp (IACI) is Barry Diller�� conglomerate of internet companies, not terribly different from John Malone�� Liberty Interactive (LINTA). The strategy for IACI stock has been to wait for a leader in a given sector to emerge and then buy it up, or at least a portion of it. These businesses either have a history of generating lots of cash flow, or have the potential to do so.

• [By Igor Novgorodtsev]

  InterActiveCorp (IACI) bought Ask.com for $1.85 billion in 2005. The new Perion will be worth only about 40% of that. After the merger, Perion will leapfrog its much larger rivals: Babylon and AVG (AVG). Finally, Perion should be able to increase its operating margins as it can spread its SG&A costs over a much larger base (Conduit EBITDA margin is 32% vs. Perion's 23%). Perion will keep its senior management team intact: Josef Mandelbaum will remain its CEO and Yacov Kaufman its CFO. Perion has successfully orchestrated a roll-up acquisitions of privately-held Sweetpacks and Smilebox, so I have high confidence that they know how to integrate a new business.

• [By Timothy Lutts, Publisher, Cabot Heritage Corporation]

  In 2004, TripAdvisor (TRIP) was purchased by conglomerate Interactive Corp (IACI), which spun off its travel businesses under the name of Expedia in 2005. In December 2011, TripAdvisor was spun off from Expedia in an IPO.

5 Best Internet Stocks To Watch For 2015: Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It operates retail Web sites, including amazon.com and amazon.ca. The company serves consumers through its retail Web sites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Web sites, and their own branded Web sites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually various type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company provides fulfillment; miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as online advertising; and co-branded credit cards. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS  ) will release its quarterly report on Wednesday, and investors still have high expectations that the multimedia empire can sustain its impressive growth rates well into the future. With its smart acquisitions of content-production powerhouses Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar and with an ironclad grip over the sports-programming world with its leading ESPN network, Disney has held competitors at bay and has become a must-have source of content both for cable providers and for streaming-video giants Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) , and shareholders expect earnings growth to continue well into the future.

Top Food Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Symantec Corporation(SYMC)

Symantec Corporation provides security, storage, and systems management solutions internationally. The company?s Consumer segment delivers Internet security, PC tune-up, and online backup solutions and services to individual users and home offices. Its Security and Compliance segment provides solutions for endpoint security and management, compliance, messaging management, data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication services to large, medium, and small-sized businesses, as well as offers solutions through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) security offerings. This segment?s products enable customers to secure, provision, and remotely manage their laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and servers. The company?s Storage and Server Management segment provides storage and server management, backup, archiving, and data protection solutions across heterogeneous storage and server platforms, as well as solutions delivered through its SaaS offerings to large, medium, and small-s ized businesses. Symantec?s Services segment offers implementation services and solutions, including consulting, business critical services, education, and managed security services. The company also provides various enterprise support offerings, such as annual maintenance support contracts, including content, upgrades, and technical support. It sells its products through its eCommerce platform, as well as through distributors, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, system builders, ISPs, and retail locations worldwide. Symantec markets and sells its products through distributors, retailers, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, original equipment manufacturers, system builders, and Internet service providers; and its e-commerce channels, as well as direct sales force, value-added and large account resellers, and system integrators. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Flannelly]

  Nomura Securities analysts initiated coverage on Symantec Corporation (SYMC) early on Wednesday, giving the stock a “Neutral” rating because its upside is already priced into its current valuation.

  The analysts see shares of SYMC reaching $29, which suggests a 14.6% upside to the stock’s Tuesday closing price of $25.30.

  Nomura Securities analyst Frederick Grieb commented, “In the early innings of a classic turnaround story, but upside largely priced In. We initiate coverage of Symantec (SYMC) with a Neutral rating and a 12-month target price of $29. Symantec is a leading vender in the security and storage markets, but has struggled to grow market share post its 2005 acquisition of VERITAS. The company has faced competitive pressures in its core markets, with ‘freemium’ antivirus software pressuring the consumer business, while the storage business has been challenged by enterprise migration to Windows and Linux from Solaris and UNIX. Despite these headwinds, we are launching coverage of Symantec with a Neutral rating, as we believe management will be able to improve the business by increasing margins (perhaps to +33%) and longer-term organic growth through a combination of simplifying management structures and a better strategy to incentivize the sales force. However, given the stock�� 33% increase YTD, due in part to multiple expansion (P/E up 18% YTD), we believe much of the upside from this turnaround is already baked in. FY14E EPS starts at $1.2; FY15E EPS starts at $2.18.”

  Symantec Corp shares were inactive during pre-market trading on Wednesday. The stock is up 34.43% year-to-date.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) were down 11.70 percent to $18.46 after the company fired President and Chief Executive Steve Bennett and appointed director Michael Brown as interim president and CEO. UBS downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $27.00 to $21.00.

• [By Tim Melvin]

  The first "insider" stock to buy is Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), one of the leading internet security providers in the world.

  Symantec makes a wide range of products that help individuals and businesses keep their computers and mobile devices safe from viruses and malware. The stock recently dropped sharply after the company fell short of analysts' quarterly earnings expectations, but CEO Stephen Bennett clearly disagrees with the market's opinion of the company's prospects. He got out his checkbook and added 1,000,000 shares of stock for a total cost of more than $2.2 million. He now owns 488,000 shares of Symantec stock and clearly has high expectations for the future of Symantec's stock price.

• [By Anora Mahmudova]

  Symantec Corp. (SYMC) slid 13% after the security-software maker fired Chief Executive Steve Bennett late Thursday and replaced him with board member Michael Brown.

5 Best Internet Stocks To Watch For 2015: eBay Inc.(EBAY)

eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Hill]

  In this installment, our analysts explain why they're watching eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) and Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT  ) .

5 Best Internet Stocks To Watch For 2015: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)

Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rex Crum]

  Among other online and social-media companies Facebook Inc. (FB) shed 15 cents a share to close at $54.56, LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) gave up 22 cents a share to close at $207.42 Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) �rose 53 cents to end the day at $40.12 a share.

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is projected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.33 per share on revenue of $1.08 billion.

  The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.53 per share on revenue of $12.05 billion.

U.S. factories more competitive, study says

WASHINGTON — U.S. manufacturers have grown more competitive over the past decade compared with factories in China, Brazil and most of the world's other major economies.

So says a new private study, which found that rising wages and higher energy costs have diminished China's long-standing edge over the United States. So has a boom in U.S. shale gas production. It's reduced U.S. natural gas prices and slowed the cost of electricity.

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The Boston Consulting Group is issuing a report Friday on its study of manufacturing costs in the 25 biggest exporting countries. Only seven of those countries had lower manufacturing costs than the United States did this year. And since 2004, U.S. manufacturers have improved their competitiveness compared with every major exporter except India, Mexico and the Netherlands.

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In 2004, for example, manufacturing in China cost 14% less than manufacturing in the United States. By this year, the China advantage had narrowed to 5%. If the trends continue, Boston Consulting found, U.S. manufacturing will be less expensive than China's by 2018.

Over the past decade, labor costs, adjusted to reflect productivity gains, shot up 187% at factories in China, compared with 27% in the United States. The value of China's currency has risen more than 30% against the U.S. dollar over the past decade.

The higher Chinese currency made goods produced in China and sold abroad comparatively more expensive. And foreign goods became comparatively more affordable in China.

Chinese electricity costs rose 66%, more than double the United States' 30% increase. The start of large-scale U.S. shale gas production in 2005 has helped contain electricity bills in the United States and neighboring Canada and Mexico.

China, too, has r! eserves for shale gas. But it will need years to develop them.

"This is not something you can turn on overnight," said Justin Rose, a partner at Boston Consulting and co-author of the study.

Brazil has lost even more ground than China. In 2004, manufacturing was 3% cheaper in Brazil than in the United States. By 2014, Brazil was 23% more expensive. Brazilian factories didn't improve efficiency enough to offset rising energy and labor costs.

The countries where manufacturing was cheaper than in the United States are Indonesia, India, Mexico, Thailand, China, Taiwan and Russia.

Australia was the most expensive country for manufacturing. Its costs were 30% higher than those in the United States.

The survey doesn't include transportation costs, which vary depending on where goods are shipped. Several countries also face obstacles not captured by Boston Consulting's manufacturing cost index — from corruption to inefficient government bureaucracies.

What Long-Term Care Costs Now

How much does care in a nursing home cost? Does home care cost less?

Long-term-care insurer Genworth just came out with its annual cost of care study, which found that the national median rate for a private room in a nursing home is $240 per day ($87,600 per year). That's a 4.35% increase over 2013. But the cost varies a lot by location. For example, it's $91,615 per year in Florida and $104,025 in California, but $65,700 in Texas and $59,860 in Missouri. If you're estimating costs for your future – or looking for care for a parent –compare costs for all the cities where you (or your parent) would consider living. See Genworth's interactive map to compare costs across the country.

SEE ALSO: How to Make Long-Term Care More Affordable

Home care costs more per hour than a nursing home, but if you don't need round-the-clock care, it could cost less overall. The national median rate for a home-health aide is $20 per hour, which is a 1.59% increase from last year. If you needed, say, 44 hours of care per week, the median cost would be more than $45,000 per year. Assisted living has a median cost of $3,500 per month ($42,000 per year), which is a 1.45% increase over last year, according to Genworth.

Long-term-care insurance can cover all of these types of care, but the policies have been getting a lot more expensive. Many people now buy policies that fill in the gap between the estimated cost of care (a typical long-term-care claim is about three years) and the amount they can afford to pay out of savings. For more information about calculating how much coverage to get and which policy features to choose, see Options for Covering Long-Term-Care Costs. Also see our Long-Term-Care Special Report.

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For help finding a nursing home or assisted living facility, see Choose the Right Long-Term-Care Facility for Your Parents.

Got a question? Ask Kim at askkim@kiplinger.com.

Amazon Stock: Can Jet City Comics Compete With the Big Boys?

On Tuesday, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN  )  stock set a new 52-week-high after Amazon Publishing announced the launch of Jet City Comics, through which it will publish new original comics and graphic novels.

In conjunction with the announcement, Amazon offered Symposium #1 as the very first comic released with the Jet City Comics imprint, based on the popular Foreworld saga. What's more, Symposium #1 will be followed in October by original adaptations of Meathouse Man, written by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, as well as Hugh Howey's best-selling science fiction novel, Wool.

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Image sources: Amazon.com.

Of course, I suggested in May that Amazon would be brilliant to include comic-book storylines as part of its fan fiction-driven Kindle Worlds platform, and I was especially excited when the Web giant followed through last month with a license for fans to envision new plots based on content from comics publisher Valiant Entertainment.

That said, I certainly didn't expect Amazon.com to launch its own brand.

Sure, Valiant's characters don't exactly boast the star power of big names from DC Comics or Disney's (NYSE: DIS  ) Marvel Entertainment -- but hey, Valiant did win a Diamond Gem award last year for Best Comic Book Publisher of the Year for companies with less than 4% total market share. With a universe of more than 1,500 characters, Valiant has also managed to sell more than 80 million comic books since it was founded in 1989.

Of course, DC, for its part, has more than 10,000 characters to choose from, including the likes of Superman and Batman, which have both proved themselves as multibillion-dollar properties thanks to their box office and merchandising prowess.

Then there's the 9,000-character-strong Marvel, for which Disney paid $4 billion to acquire in 2009. Given the runaway success of Disney's Marvel Studios films since then, including the last two Iron Man films, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers (and with plenty more on the way), I'd say that was a fantastic investment on Disney's part.

Of course, many of those big-name properties have also been around for longer than many of us have been alive and have had time to build up massive numbers of adoring fans -- heck, Iron Man made his debut in Tales of Suspense #39 in March, 1963, and Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in June 1938:

Image source: Wikipedia.

But, really, while this demonstrates the pure, raw entertainment potential possessed by comic books and graphic novels, does Amazon's Jet City Comics stand a chance of actually competing with the big boys and forming its own deeply loyal group of admirers?

To be honest, even with a few big-name authors on board, it's doubtful we'll see the Jet City comics imprint making a notable impact in the entertainment world anytime in the near future, let alone a significant positive impact on Amazon stock.

Foolish takeaway
That said, what's the worst that could happen? On one hand, similar to Amazon's other digital publishing platforms, I can't imagine launching and maintaining Jet City Comics represents any sort of huge financial outlay for the company, so the effort certainly won't drag down Amazon stock if it fails.

On the other hand, remember Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has never been particularly keen on running the business with a short-term mind-set, which is why I'm convinced Jet City Comics could simply be another effective, low-overhead way of slowly pulling in new readers, with big long-term revenue-generating potential as the base grows.

In fact, between Amazon's core publishing platforms, Kindle Worlds, and Jet City Comics, I'd venture to say Amazon Studios is doing a pretty darned good job of planting seeds to maximize its chances of finding the next great original content to produce movies and television shows for its Prime video streaming service down the road.

After all, the television landscape is changing quickly, with new entrants such as Amazon and Netflix disrupting traditional networks. The Motley Fool's new free report "Who Will Own the Future of Television?" details the risks and opportunities in TV. Click here to read the full report!

Fast Access to Cash is Still King for Chance to Earn Big

Top 10 Small Cap Stocks To Watch Right Now

Aslysun/Shutterstock This is part four in a series on the Six Circles of Wealth. The first three circles are income, investments and guaranteed income. The next is cash, also known as liquidity. Cash is an essential part of a solid financial fortress. Even the sound of the word evokes an all-over body tingling to most people. The adage that "cash is king" is true, and this is especially true if that cash is used to buy distressed assets at a huge discount. The longer the sales cycle for an asset, the more valuable cash becomes. When you sell stocks, the money usually clears the next day. There is no costly waiting time, as there is when you sell a property or even a business. When you sell long-sales-cycle assets, then cash can become an invaluable negotiating tool, depending on the sales situation of the seller. Many people will tell you not to keep much money in cash because you will make no money on the cash (or at least very little). This is a shortsighted view. Having cash in a bank, in cash-value life insurance and even a safe deposit box is invaluable because you can access the money immediately without having to sell an asset at a loss. A $200,000 House for $100,000 -- Today Only

American Heritage E-Cigs: From Great to Even Better (ECIG, MO, AHII)

Every cigarette company from Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) to Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp. (OTCMKTS:ECIG) will want to take notice of this morning's news from American Heritage International Inc. (OTCBB:AHII) - the young startup's electronic cigarettes now have something else great going for them. As such, it just got a little easier for smokers to justify dumping traditional tobacco cigarettes like those made by Altria (like Marlboro) in favor of e-cigs....

...not that it wasn't already pretty easy to do so. The fact that electric cigarettes don't leave tar and other burning carcinogens in smokers' lungs is pretty well documented. That's why sales of e-cigs are expected to explode from last year's $1 billion to $3 billion this year, and that's why sales of electronic cigarettes are expected to surpass tobacco cigarette sales by 2047.But, that's not where the upside of AHII stops.

Even within the electronic cigarette industry alone, American Heritage International is a stand-out. The company has known for weeks now (per consumer testing) that its electronic cigarettes were preferred among its competitors like Victory Electronic Cigarettes, MarkTen (owned by Altria), and NJOY, just to name a few. Well, per this morning's press release, AHII e-cigs now last longer, becoming more and more like a tobacco-based cigarette without all the health hazards and social frustrations.

The upgrade adds to an already-compelling product. Of all the electronic cigarettes out there, American Heritage International's are the only ones that actually look and feel like a real cigarette, as opposed to a ballpoint pen or a mini-flashlight that most e-cigs appear to be at first glance. Consumers love the traditional look and feel too.

With all of that being said, what investors need to know about AHII more than anything else at this point is that the company has only been around for a few weeks, and its high growth phase is just beginning. As of the beginning of April, American Heritage International is still only available in eleven states. However, that's eleven more than its product was available in December. Yes, AHII is still very much a ground-floor opportunity, and though it may be a few years before it causes significant problems for a "big tobacco" name like Altria or Philip Morris, it's not too soon for it to start making problems for a smaller e-cig newcomer like Victory Electronic Cigarettes. Moreover, given how well-received the company's products have been in locales where they've already been launched, today's announced improvement is yet another reason AHII shareholders could be rewarded soon.

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For more on American Heritage, its investor presentation PDF offers the most insight. The corporate website can be found here.

The Key for Paychex to Grow

On Wednesday, Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX  ) will release its latest quarterly results. With the employment picture starting to perk up, the payroll and HR-services industry stands to benefit the most from an uptick in hiring, and Paychex hopes to stake its claim to get its fair share of new business.

Paychex faces plenty of challenges, however, as companies do their best to streamline their internal operations in order to maximize efficiency and cut costs. With increasing competition from both its established rivals and new upstarts, can Paychex keep its competitive advantage intact? Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Paychex over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report.

Stats on Paychex

Analyst EPS Estimate	$0.38
Change From Year-Ago EPS	11.8%
Revenue Estimate	$585.96 million
Change From Year-Ago Revenue	6.2%
Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters	2

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Paychex's earnings sink or swim this quarter?
Analysts have been guardedly optimistic about Paychex and its earnings lately, boosting their calls for the May quarter by a penny per share along with their full-year fiscal 2014 consensus. The stock has responded favorably, climbing about 8% since mid-March.

In general, increases in employment are good for Paychex. With employers starting to hire again, more of them will need the payroll-processing and other services that Paychex provides, and that should provide at least modest growth going forward.

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Yet Paychex faces competitive threats on multiple fronts. On one hand, traditional rival Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP  ) has recently reupped on a deal with Visa to let employers pay their workers through prepaid Visa cards. For ADP's traditional big-business customers, that's not necessarily a huge draw, but for small- and mid-sized companies that tend have less formal arrangements for paying their employees, the program is appealing. That's especially troubling for Paychex because it has tended to favor those smaller businesses, leaving the biggest companies to ADP.

Meanwhile, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU  ) hasn't been standing still either. It caters to customers who want automated solutions like its QuickBooks software rather than full-service HR coverage, but by trying to offer those customers more services, Intuit already has inroads with those customers and could eventually lure Paychex clients over to its side as well.

In order to fend off that competition, Paychex made a move earlier this month, buying the maker of the hiring and work-flow software suite myStaffingPro. In addition, enhanced versions of its smartphone app attempt to make Paychex services more accessible to employees, giving them information about their health benefits and flex-account balances in a convenient format.

In Paychex's report, watch for further discussion of the myStaffingPro buyout and how it fits into the company's overall strategy. At this point, Paychex should start enjoying some tailwinds, but only if it can maintain its strong position within the growing industry.

One area where Paychex and its rivals have to work hard is in providing information about Obamacare. The Motley Fool's new free report, "Everything You Need to Know About Obamacare," lets you know how your health insurance, your taxes, and your portfolio could be affected. Click here to read more. 

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