Best Defensive Companies To Buy Right Now

3M (MMM) recently released its second-quarter results. A quick glimpse into the quarterly report reveals this:

Revenue increased marginally compared to the comparable quarter in 2012.GAAP EPS also recorded growth. Overall margins fell across the board.Revenue Details

3M recorded revenues of $7.75 billion. This was lower than the $7.77 billion that was forecast by 11 analysts earlier polled by the S&P Capital IQ. GAAP sales equaled those of Q2 2012.
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EPS details
The EPS for the quarter was $1.71. This was equal to the earnings estimates provided by 16 analysts earlier polled by the S&P Capital IQ. The EPS was 3.0% higher than last year�� comparable quarter��.

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Margin details

Gross margin stood at 48.2%, 40 basis points lower than 2012Q2. The operating margin came in at 22%, 90 basis points lower than Q2 2012.Net margin stood at 15.4%,10 basis points lower than Q2 2012.

3M�� stock is considered a defensive stock that mainly trades on a strong-margins basis. 3M�� repeated margin weakness in the 2nd quarter has begun to become a source of worry for many investors. This does not mean that the stock is an outright loser; quite on the contrary, 3M�� growth measures up quite well when you compare it to its major peers.3M�� stock is not rated as a growth stock capable of huge growth spurts. Nevertheless, 3M shares still look overpriced right now.

Best Supermarket Stocks To Invest In 2015: Parnassos Enterprises SA (PARN)

Parnassos Enterprises SA is a Greece-based holding company. The Company mainly operates through its subsidiary Seirios SA, which offers traveler services on the Athens - Lamia highway. Seirios SA owns a building complex with a total area of 16,720 square meters and it operates two petrol stations, a trading and repairing tire center, two road assistance buildings, two car washing stations, a laundry-lubricator station for tracks, snack bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. It also operates two more petrol stations on the Athens - Lamia highway in the Olympus Plazza block of buildings, which also operates two car washer and two track washer stations. The Company also owns, through Seirios SA, the subsidiary Alsity SA, a company which is engaged in the design, construction, development and operation of the Olympic Sailing Centre in Agios Kosmas, Greece. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Biotech news this week was dominated by a number of healthcare and biotech related IPOs, including Parnell Pharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: PARN), Signal Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: SGNL), ZS Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: ZSPH), Ardelyx Inc (NASDAQ: ARDX)�and Zafgen Inc (NASDAQ: ZFGN) with Kite Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: KITE), Microlin Bio Inc (NASDAQ: MCLB) and�Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SNDX) presumably set to debut today (Note:�See�This Week�� Biotech IPOs: Two Losers and One Winner So Far (PARN, SGNL & ZSPH)):

Best Defensive Companies To Buy Right Now: Eaton Vance Corporation (EV)

Eaton Vance Corp., through its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, marketing, and management of investment funds in the United States. It also provides investment management and counseling services to institutions and individuals. Further, the company operates as an adviser and distributor of investment companies and separate accounts. As of October 31, 2004, the company provided investment advisory or administration services to approximately 150 funds; approximately 1,300 separately managed individual and institutional accounts; and participated in approximately 40 retail-managed account broker/dealer programs. It markets and distributes shares of funds through a retail network of national and regional broker/dealers, banks, insurance companies, and financial planning firms. Eaton Vance Corp. was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  An even more interesting proposal came from Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV  ) earlier this year, which asked the SEC to allow it to create what it calls an exchange-traded managed fund. Ideally, Eaton Vance would like to see the SEC allow it not to make daily disclosure of its holdings, with the company seeking to use what's known as NAV-based trading to help facilitate trade. With NAV-based trading, investors would agree to pay not a fixed dollar value for shares but rather a variable price above or below whatever turns out to be the day's final net asset value for the ETF's assets. Eaton Vance hopes that such an idea would satisfy any concerns about lack of daily disclosure of holdings while still allowing efficient intraday trading. Given that the SEC allows mutual funds to disclose holdings as infrequently as once per quarter -- with a lag allowed between the end of each quarter and the filing date -- it's not unreasonable to expect active ETFs eventually to get similar treatment.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Some of T. Rowe Price's competitors have made moves toward offering actively managed ETFs. For instance, earlier this year, Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV  ) filed with the SEC to create a new type of ETF, limiting the amount of disclosure the company would have to make about its holdings. So far, actively managed ETF have largely been limited to the bond arena, where requirements for daily disclosure of holdings don't represent as much of a loss of proprietary information. For now, T. Rowe Price has said it has no immediate plans to offer active ETFs.

• [By Value Digger]

  Halcon produced 18,348 boepd (81% oil and liquids) in Q4 2012, and it had 108.8 MMboe proved reserves as of December 2012. With Enterprise Value (EV) at $5.5 billion currently (including the recent additional debt), Halcon trades at $300,000 per flowing barrel, $50.5/boe of proved reserves and PBV=2.

Best Defensive Companies To Buy Right Now: Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.(TC)

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in mining, milling, processing, and marketing molybdenum products in the United States and Canada. The company?s principal properties include the Thompson Creek Mine and mill in Idaho; a metallurgical roasting facility in Langeloth, Pennsylvania; and a joint venture interest in the Endako Mine, mill, and roasting facility in British Columbia. It also holds interests in development projects comprising the Davidson molybdenum property and the Berg copper-molybdenum-silver property located in northern British Columbia; the Howard?s Pass property, a lead and zinc project situated in the Yukon territory-northwest territories border; and the Maze Lake property, a gold project located in the Kivalliq district of Nunavut. The company produces molybdenum products, primarily molybdic oxide and ferromolybdenum, as well as soluble technical oxide, pure molybdenum tri-oxide, and high purity molybdenum disulfide. As o f December 31, 2010, its consolidated recoverable proven and probable ore reserves totaled 462.2 million pounds of contained molybdenum in the Thompson Creek Mine and the Endako Mine. The company was formerly known as Blue Pearl Mining Ltd. and changed its name to Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. in May 2007. Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Top losers in the sector included Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF), down 4 percent, and Thompson Creek Metals Company (NYSE: TC), off 3 percent.

• [By Jim Jubak]

  The stock market liked what it heard Wednesday, August 7, from Thompson Creek Metals (TC) after the close in New York. Second quarter adjusted net earnings of 8 cents a share crushed the Wall Street consensus of a penny a share. Revenue climbed 3.8% to $117.8 million versus expectations for revenue of just $1.3.8 million. The company also said that its new Mt. Milligan mine is on schedule with a start-up for the concentrator expected this month, with first ore-feed by mid-August. The company said it expects commercial production to begin in the fourth quarter of 2013, with production ramping to full capacity over the next twelve months.

Best Defensive Companies To Buy Right Now: Yappn Corp (YPPN)

Yappn Corp., formerly Plesk Corp., incorporated on November 3, 2010, is focusing on social media Website that will host multi-language conversations based on different topics, such as interests, brands and activities. Its platform will enable users to meet people from all over the world without any language barriers and to interact with them through online chatting and forums by providing access to topical discussion boards in almost 70 languages. This will permit real-time multiple language conversations to co-exist without the fracturing that comes as a result of many people posting in multiple languages to a single chat area or splintering the audience by segregating posts by language. Yappn is a topic or interest focused site bringing people together to discuss current events, celebrities, technology, sports, entertainment and other popular areas of conversation. On March 28, 2013, it purchased social media platform and related group of assets known as Yappn.

The Company will have gamification system that will reward users for their engagement through virtual trophies, badges, and medals for participation in selected events. The Company, with the power of Ortsbo offers a set of communication tools where users can create opportunities to meet, chat, engage and consume in their own virtual location creating global social engagement for private events and closed networks. Users can also connect to social networks and engage friends and followers on Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter and more. It will be available on all devices through mobile, portable and desktop online access. With Yappn, user generated content be closed captioned in multiple languages in minutes, using Ortsbo�� pending business processes and tools for a translation experience. Commercial enterprises can use its Website to communicate their content, their e-commerce offerings and other messaging on a global scale.

The Company competes with Facebook, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Google and Apple.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Digital Caddies Inc (OTCMKTS: CADY), MEDL Mobile Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS: MEDL) and Yappn Corp (OTCMKTS: YPPN) offer different ways to potentially profit from Internet or mobile technology. However, all three small cap stocks have also been the subject of paid promotions or investor relations types of activities. So will investors actually profit from the efforts of these small caps to profit from the Internet or mobile technology? Here is a quick reality check:

Best Defensive Companies To Buy Right Now: Changyou.com Limited(CYOU)

Changyou.com Limited develops and operates online games in the People?s Republic of China. It involves in the development, operation, and licensing of massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs), which are interactive online games that might be played simultaneously by various game players. The company operates seven MMORPGs that include its in house developed Tian Long Ba Bu; and licensed Blade Online, Blade Hero 2, Da Hua Shui Hu, Zhong Hua Ying Xiong, Immortal Faith, and San Jie Qi Yuan. As of December 31, 2010, Changyou?s games in China had approximately 111.4 million aggregate registered accounts; 1.0 million aggregate peak concurrent users; and 2.7 million aggregate active paying accounts. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China. Changyou.com Limited is a subsidiary of Sohu.com Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Changyou.com (Nasdaq: CYOU  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings on July 29. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Changyou.com's revenues will increase 24.3% and EPS will expand 1.5%.

Best Defensive Companies To Buy Right Now: Daily Mail and General Trust PLC (DMGT)

Daily Mail and General Trust PLC (DMGT) is a United kingdom-based multi-media and information company. The Company�� business activities are split into seven operating segments: RMS, business information, events, Euromoney, national media, local media and radio. Its dmg information is a business information division, providing business to business (B2B) information to the property, financial, energy and educational recruitment markets. As of October 2, 2011, dmg events, its business-to-business (B2B) exhibition and conferences division, operated 27 exhibitions and two conference businesses. Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC is a B2B media group. Associated Newspapers is its newspaper division. In September 2012, it sold its remaining 50% interest in DMG Radio Australia to Illyria. In July 2013, Daily Mail and General Trust PLC announced that Rothermere Continuation Limited has a holding 89.2% of interest of the Company. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Daily Mail & General Trust Plc (DMGT) climbed 2.4 percent to 861 pence. The company said contribution from national newspapers to the group�� revenue dropped to 36 percent this year from 43 percent in 2012 and will fall further. The publisher of Britain�� second-biggest U.K. daily newspaper forecast full-year revenue will be 1.8 billion pounds, matching analysts�� estimates.