CNBC Stock Blog

Brian Sytnyk | Photographer's Choice | Getty Images Macau’s casinos at dusk

The bulls are rolling the dice on Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment.

OptionMonster’s tracking systems detected the purchase of about 6,000 June 11 calls for $1.70 to $1.75 yesterday. Volume was more than 100 times open interest in the strike, indicating that this was new activity.

Calls lock in the price investors must pay to buy stock, so they can generate significant leverage if it appreciates. But they will also lose value if a rally doesn’t materialize.

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AP

Consumer electronics chain Best Buy is in serious need of high-level leadership.

With no permanent CEO, its board chairman stepping down, and a chief financial officer leaving this Friday, skeptics say the “Big Box” chain

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[BBY  Loading...      ()   ] could soon become the next Circuit City.

Not true, says Anthony Chukumba, analyst for BB&T Capital Markets: Just look at the balance sheet.  » Read More

“We think the notion they could be the next Circuit City is quite frankly ridiculous,” Chukumba said in an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “This is a company that did $50 billion in sales last year, was profitable, and has very strong free cash flow.”

Getty Images The exterior of Yahoo! corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

For Yahoo investors, what a difference a year makes?

There has been a lot of change, but not when it comes to the floundering tech giant’s share price

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[YHOO  Loading...      ()   ].

At this time last year, co-founder Jerry Yang still held a tight grip on Yahoo’s board and its digital content transformation, battling with shareholders to retain the company’s Asian assets. Yang has since left Yahoo. Last week, amid the lingering management and board reshuffle, Scott Thompson was ousted as CEO. That, in turn, settled a proxy contest with activist fund Third Point, leading up to Yahoo’s sale of a 20 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group for $7.1 billion on Sunday.

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After moving steadily higher throughout the first quarter, the markets were roughly flat in April and have been sliding in May. Could they be gearing up for their next upward move? After all, earnings have been quite robust, and corporate profits continue to trend nicely higher.

If we do get further gains, then it could pay to follow a strategy that paid off handsomely in the first quarter: focusing on risky and often heavily shorted stocks . As investors started to focus on riskier stocks, short-sellers got spooked and scrambled to cover their bearish bets. By doing so, they unwittingly added buying pressure to these stocks.

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Adam Gault | Getty Images

The SPDR Health Care Select Sector exchange-traded fund is less than a sneeze from its recent highs, and some bulls are looking for it to pop.

Upside activity lit up OptionMonster’s tracking systems yesterday, with heavy buying in the June 37 calls. One huge block of 23,000 contracts priced for $0.31.

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AP Lowes Store

In the home retailer race, Lowe’s Cos. is falling behind.

“Lowe’s looks like Wile E. Coyote and Home Depot looks like the Road Runner once again,” Christopher Horvers, retail-hardlines analyst for JPMorgan Chase, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

Horvers’ observation comes after Lowe’s

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[LOW  Loading...      ()   ] lowered its guidance for 2012 on Monday, causing shares to fall more than double that of Home Depot shares following its own weaker-than-expected earnings report.

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Somebody out there probably still holds shares of Nortel Networks. It’s really nothing to be ashamed of. I logged into an account I had been ignoring to find 29 shares next to the following listing: BORDERS GROUP MICHIGAN INC NO STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY 01/12/2012. Stuff happens.

That said, I can only hope the volume I see come in on Nortel each day does not represent a fresh long play or some pathetic attempt to average down. Even Nortel itself advises investors to stay away:

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AP

Here’s some food for thought: According to research from Wharton Professor Jeremy Siegel, reinvested dividends account for 97 percent of total market performance. So it shouldn’t be a big surprise that finding dividend increasers is a big priority for investors hard pressed to find gains in May.

And when it comes to dividends, food stocks sport yields and rate hikes that would make any income investor salivate right now. That’s why we’re focusing on dividends in five food-related stocks today.

But we’re not waiting for food firms to announce dividend hikes. Instead, we’re focusing on the future, taking a look at five companies that are likely to boost their dividend payouts in the next quarter.

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George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Hhgregg has dropped to long-term support levels, and the bulls are stepping in before the company’s earnings report this week.

OptionMonster’s tracking programs detected the purchase of about 4,000 June 9 calls for $0.95 to $1.10 on Friday, with the single largest block pricing for $1. There was no open interest in the strike before the trade appeared, so this is a new position.

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Getty Images Radio Shack

Maneuvering this world as a long-term investor requires patience. On a weekly if not daily basis you’re bound to watch some bearish analyst note take one of your holdings down. Most of the time these reports address near-term pressure that generally has little to do with a company’s long-term story. That’s when you buy on the dips: When you have confidence that the forward-looking narrative remains intact.

There are times you must cut and run. A stock becomes dead money because the trajectory is mired with uncertainty or, worse yet, the company adheres to an unworkable long-term strategy.

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One of the challenges on Wall Street has always been trying to find ways to tip the scales more evenly to allow “the little guy” a chance at reaching some modicum of success.

I have found that the most effective way of bringing balance to the investment community has been through due diligence. While everyone wants to make money, not everyone knows how to conduct research or care enough to take time to do it.

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Getty Images MetLife

MetLife has peeled back from its March highs, but now buyers are nibbling again.

Activity lit up early yesterday in the June 32 calls, and more than 6,100 of the contracts traded by the end of the session. The largest chunk priced for $1.14, and others followed from $1.19 up to $1.28, according to OptionMonster’s real-time tracking systems.

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