MSN Money's Top Stocks blog has moved to a new address: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/top-stocks

You'll find it's well worth the click. We have the same great list of contributing financial journalists, stock analysts and money pros; the latest news and commentary from partner sites including 24/7 Wall Street, Minyanville, InvestorPlace and The Street.com (with more on way); links to the latest financial news on video; all in a livelier, more interactive page.

Moving is a pain, but we think it's worth it. Remember to update your bookmarks and favorites, and come on over   Read More...

Would you spend $6 on a Big Mac? I wouldn't, and neither will people in Iceland.

That's why McDonald's (MCD) is closing its three restaurants in Iceland and has no plans to return, according to the Financial Times.

The move says more about Iceland than it does McDonald's. Until recently, Iceland was one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But its financial system imploded in the global credit crisis, and its three biggest banks were ruined by high debt. Its currency went into a tailspin and its capital markets shut down.

The departure of McDonald's is perhaps a tacit acknowledgement that the country isn't coming back.   Read More...

Perhaps the little guy is finally catching on to the games that Wall Street loves to play.

Last Thursday,  Dole Foods (DOLE) priced its IPO at $12.50 per share, well below an expected range of $13-$15 a share. Based on that, you might have expected it to move higher when shares opened Friday morning.

But investors sensed something sour in this offering, and it wasn't the pineapple. Shares fizzled from the start and closed down fractionally; they sat at $12.20 at Monday's close.

• A Better Choice: A Failed IPO That's Set to Double

That's not a huge loss, but it's far from IPO glory. And it reflects the caution that all investors need to have right now   Read More...

Third-quarter earnings, announced before the opening on Monday, should be a reminder of why I added Verizon (VZ) to my Dividend Income portfolio rather than to any of my more growth-oriented portfolios on October 9th.

Making enough money to pay the stock's 6.6% dividend doesn't seem to be a problem; getting enough growth in the new businesses to compensate for the decline in the old businesses continues to be a challenge.

The company did manage to beat Wall Street's earnings estimates for the quarter by a penny a share. Revenue came in as expected at $27.3 billion, up 10.2% from the third quarter of 2008.

The total number of wireless customers grew to 89 million. That's a 26% increase.   Read More...

Banks are reporting great earnings. But this is to be expected because making banks profitable is the most politically palatable way for the government to recapitalize the banking system. The government accomplished this by holding interest rates that banks have to pay on their deposits to almost zero and relaxing the accounting rules so they don’t have to be diligent about writing off their bad loans.

It looks to me like the plan is working. If this continues, the banks will make enough money to earn their way out of the bad loans that are still on their books.

Some banks are putting their executives’ interests ahead of their shareholders’, by using the lion’s share of the profits to pay record bonuses. Other banks are using the profits to do things more in line with their shareholders’ interests — paying back TARP, making acquisitions, and rebuilding their capital without diluting shareholders.   Read More...

When I added Microsoft (MSFT) to Jubak’s Picks on July 24, 2009 after the company announced results for its fiscal fourth quarter, I wrote “This is as bad as it gets.”

After its Oct. 23 earnings release, the company is now saying the same thing. In the post-earnings conference call, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell said that the fourth quarter may have been the bottom. Certainly, the company is behaving as if it were: Microsoft resumed buying back shares in the quarter that ended in September, with purchases of 1.4 billion shares.

First quarter earnings for fiscal 2010 fell to 40 cents a share, but that beat the 32 cents expected by Wall Street. Revenue declined by 14% from the first quarter of fiscal 2009 to $12.92 billion. That big drop in revenue came because Microsoft deferred $1.47 billion in revenue from customers upgrading to Windows 7. Put that back in and revenue came to $14.39 billion, a 4% decline from the year-earlier period.

Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates this quarter by cutting costs by more than Wall Street expected. Operating costs dropped 6.9% after the company made its first ever company-wide firings, slashed travel costs, and cut the prices it pays vendors. In the conference call, the company increased its cost-cutting target.

The big question going forward, however, isn’t about cutting costs, but about how many copies of the new Windows 7 operating system Microsoft can sell.   Read More...

Before you read too much into the headline notice I didn't say listen to the analysts; I said don't ignore them. Let me explain the difference. My own blog is called Financial Tides for a reason; I don't recommend swimming against the tide.

I think analysts and astrologists have a lot in common. They both claim they can foretell the future by interpreting the signs better than anyone else and are willing to share their insight with you for a price. Most of the analysts are young MBAs with CFAs so they have 2 little pieces of paper to certify how much better they are than you at reading the tea leaves. Their job is to produce reports that will give their brokers something to talk to you about.

Most brokerage firms do not allow their sale reps to do their own research. That would open them up to liability so they use these young MBA/CFAs to peruse all the published info on a company to document why they are making a buy/sell recommendation. How can you lose an arbitration hearing if your recommendations are well documented and produced using a standardized methodology?     Read More...

Is the market turning into a raging bull?

One sure way to tell if a bull market is back is by examining the number of private companies lining up to become publicly-traded securities.

That number seems to be rising. Last week private equity giant The Blackstone Group (BX) announced that it would be selling many of its portfolio companies via the public market. Interestingly, it was the IPO of BX itself that signaled the end of the last bull market in 2007.

But IPOs are a dangerous game for investors. Companies often debut with a lot of hype and at too-high prices. Stocks shoot up, then fall back as insiders and private investors who hold shares start selling. It’s the little guy who chased down shares in the market that loses.

So, I have a better idea for you: buy shares of busted IPOs. Here's why, plus three failed IPOs to buy now.   Read More...