Walmart Workers Start Early Protests With D.C. Sit-Down

The union-backed groups that have organized Black Friday strikes at Walmart (WMT) locations the past two years are gearing up for a third -- and things have started early. According to the group OUR Walmart, workers have already walked off the job or started protesting at stores in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and in various cities and towns in Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Maryland, Oregon, Minnesota, California, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Employees started a sit-down strike in a new D.C. store on H Street NW. Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg told DailyFinance that the company had heard only of the D.C. store sit-down and that it lasted approximately 15 minutes. "We recognized people [among the protesters] from various stores, including that one," Lundberg said, although he claimed they were "not the majority" of the protesters. More Protests on Black Friday? OUR Walmart did not make someone available for an interview before publication. Twitter posts using the hashtag #walmartstrikers purported to show images from protests at other stores, including ones in Arlington, Texas and Dallas. Walmart workers had already submitted formal strike notices in at least six states in anticipation of actions on Black Friday, according to the Huffington Post. OUR Walmart has publicly said that the main protests are timed for Black Friday, although it seems likely that the group will try to do something on Thanksgiving Day, as most of the stores will be open all day on Thursday as they have since 1988, according to Huffington Post. The group has said that it plans to hold strikes and protests at 1,600 of Walmart's roughly 5,000 U.S. locations on Friday. However, it is unclear how many stores they will actually visit. Lundberg claimed that last year protesters appeared at only approximately 300 stores in "made-for-TV" events. However, he did admit that there were "big demonstrations" at some locations that disrupted business.

GM recalls another 2.4M for belts, bags, more

General Motors is recalling a total of 2.42 million vehicles in four separate action to fix safety flaws.

The total nearly matches the 2.6 million cars GM recalled in three stages earlier this year for a deadly ignition switch flaw. The biggest recent recall day, however, was last Thursday, when GM announced five recalls that totaled 3 million vehicles.

GM also said it now plans to take a $400 million charge against second-quarter earnings for the costs of recalls — double the $200 million it had forecast after the five recalls last week.

The automaker took a $1.3 billion charge the first quarter for recalls, almost wiping out its earnings.

GM says the new recalls are part of its "continuing effort to quickly address emerging safety issues."

The government fined GM the maximum $35 million last week for dragging its feet on the ignition switch defect — spotted within GM in 2001 but not recalled until this year.

By GM's count, its "house cleaning" has resulted in 29 recalls in the U.S. so far this year, including Tuesday's. Two involve fewer than 100 vehicles.

GM links 18 crashes and one injury to one of the problems in the latest recall, but no fatalities. The ignition switch fault is linked to 12 deaths in 46 accidents that involved injury or death in the U.S. and one fatal crash in Canada.

The vehicles involved, and their defects:

1,339,355 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia full-size crossover SUVs from the 2009-14 model years and Saturn Outlooks from 2009-10. Front safety lap belt cables can wear out due to people moving around while wearing the belts. GM told dealers they can't sell new or used versions of the vehicles until they are repaired.1,075,102 vehicles were added to an April 29 recall to fix a transmission shift indicator cable that can wear and fail to indicate the correct gear. Added in this action: 2004-08 Chevrolet Malibu and Maxx, 2007-08 Saturn Aura, 2005-08 Pontiac G6. This fault is the one linked to the 18 crash! es and one injury.58 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD full-size pickups from the 2015 model year because loose electrical connections in the engine compartment could cause a fire.1,402 Cadillac Escalades and Escalade ESVs from the 2015 model year because a flaw in how the passenger-side front air bag is connected to the dashboard could cause the bag to inflate improperly in a crash. Only 224 of those had been sold, and GM sent those owners overnight letters warning of the condition.

2015 Cadillac Escalade(Photo: General Motors)

DryShips Earnings: A Huge Miss on Estimates Right Under Your Nose

DryShips (NASDAQ: DRYS  ) reported fiscal third-quarter results Wednesday night that blew away estimates. But things weren't as good as they seemed, even as shares rose in after-hours trading.

Revenue jumped 49% to $602 million, and adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.07, compared with a loss in the year-ago period. Analysts were looking for just $533 million in revenue and adjusted EPS of $0.05.  So far, so good -- but in the shipping business, DryShips disappointed, and disappointed badly.

Don't let the operating profit fool you
I've explained it before, and I'll explain it again: DryShips owns a majority stake in Ocean Rig UDW (NASDAQ: ORIG  ) . As such, it reports both companies on its financial statements mixed together. CEO George Economou put it well back during the August conference call when he stated, "I would like to clarify for everyone, once again, that DryShips is a pure shipping company with predominantly spot charter market exposure in 2014 and beyond and a majority stake in Ocean Rig, which operates as the deepwater drillships."

So how did the pure shipping, segregated out, perform in the third quarter? Getting that answer is fairly simple -- just take the Ocean Rig numbers alone and back them out of DryShips' report.

Ocean Rig reported $516 million in revenue, which leaves the pure shipping company with $86 million. Adjusted earnings for Ocean Rig were $104 million, which leaves DryShips with a $74 million adjusted loss. The DryShips earnings release comes off as a bit misleading.

I'll spare you the math, but the pure shipping company reported far worse than analysts' earnings estimates. To be fair to DryShips, though, it's probably more of a function of analysts asleep at the wheel. Shipping rates and expenses are fully disclosed in advance and wouldn't be all that difficult for analysts to calculate and guess close to accurately, if they took the time to do so.

What's new?
There wasn't much in the report that was new and not previously known. DryShips met its financial obligations through a combination of debt and equity offerings, the bulk of which happened after the quarter ended, as disclosed in previous press releases.

Going forward for shipping, Economou stated:

Insofar as the drybulk markets are concerned, the long awaited recovery in freight rates is happening, and we believe this may lead to a sustainable recovery in charter rates through 2015. Clearly our view is supported by forward charter rates and asset prices, which are holding up resiliently, underscoring the positive market expectations. Dryships has a large amount of spot market exposure and is therefore uniquely positioned to take full advantage of the expected recovery in charter rates.

On one hand, that's great news for the shipping company. On the other hand, he said almost the same thing a year ago, in the Nov. 4, 2013, press release, and 2014 up until a few weeks ago has been a terrible disappointment. Perhaps that will change, but as of this writing the "large amount of spot market exposure" Economou refers to is almost entirely with DryShips' Panamax fleet, and those rates are still down 23% on a year-over-year basis.

Unless Panamax rates make an enormous upward and sustainable move, I wouldn't be interested in DryShips as an investment. Over time, the company has always lost money and diluted shareholders like clockwork, and that pattern seems to be continuing.

"As significant as the discovery of oil itself!"
Recent research by the U.S. Energy Information Administration has already tabbed this "Oil Boom 2.0," with a downright staggering current value of $5.8 trillion. The Motley Fool just completed a brand-new investigative report on this significant investment topic and a single, under-the-radar company that involved with the driving force behind this boom. Simply click here for access.

Market Wrap-up for Nov. 3 – A Holiday Investing Plan

With October now in the rearview mirror, now is the time to prepare your portfolio for (gasp!) 2015. Here’s a simple plan to get your investments in order.

Time Flies

We all know the feeling: summer ends, and before we know it, it’s Halloween. Then Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and all of the other end-of-year holidays disappear into one big blur. The final two months of the year tend to go by very quickly, which is why it’s important to take a look at your portfolio now – before the holidays begin.

Consider Some Cuts

Despite some recent turmoil, 2014 has largely been a good year for equities so far. So if you’re sitting on a stock (or two) that has fallen significantly this year, you may want to consider trimming or exiting your position. Our general rule is to look at stocks that have fallen 25% from their 52-week highs. Ask yourself the following questions about any stock you own that has pulled back that much:

What are the reasons for the pullback? Are the reasons stock-specific or industry-specific? Is this company well-positioned for growth in 2015 and beyond? Would my funds be better deployed elsewhere in the market?

These questions are just a starting point for your examinations, but they should be enough to get you on the right track. Remember, there’s no shame in selling – it’s a natural part of the investment cycle, and it frees up money for you to invest in better stocks!

Scale Into Opportunities

Speaking of investing in better stocks, if you’ve got some capital to put to work, come up with a plan to do so over time by scaling in.

Scaling into positions is a tried and true method of putting money to work for long-term investors. The concept is simple: purchase relatively small amounts of shares over time on a regular basis until you’re fully invested.

When you scale in, you accomplish the following:

Remove the mental barrier of investing a large sum, and Reinforce the truism that there is no “perfect” price to buy a stock at.

A Simple Strategy to Scale Into Positions

For this example, we’re going to assume an investor has $100k to invest in quality dividend stocks. We’ll be putting these funds to work over a six-month period, although this timeframe could easily be accelerated to just three or four months if you so desire.

Month 1: Set Your Targets

Identify a basket of high quality dividend stocks you’d like to own (choose eight to 10 of them from our Best Dividend Stocks List). Take your time, do your research, and fully understand these companies and their businesses. You’ve got a whole month to pick your stocks, so you should feel very comfortable putting your money to work at the end of this period.

Month 2: Place Your Orders

Once you’ve got your list of stocks to buy, take 15% to 20% of your funds–in this example, $15k to $20k–and divide it by the number of individual stocks you want to own in your portfolio. This will give you the dollar total you’re going to commit to each stock. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say you’re going to buy 10 different stocks. This equates to a $1,500 to $2,000 investment in each name.

Months 3-6: Repetition is Good

In months three through six, you’ll simply repeat the exact same process as Month 2 until you are fully invested. If you invest 20% of your assets each month, it’ll take you five months to reach your goal. If you’re investing 15% each month, it’ll take closer to seven months, and so on. The key is staying consistent with your investment plan.

You don’t have to place your orders just once a month either – feel free to break your purchases up into weekly chunks if you feel comfortable doing so. Just make sure you stick with your routine.

How to Pay Off $30,000 in Student Debt In 3 Years

Richard Levine/AlamyWhen paying off student loans, tackle those with the highest interest rates first. If you are tired of having student loans hanging over your head, welcome to the crash course for debt elimination. Our syllabus is simple, the course objective has been plainly stated and grading will be based on a pass/fail basis. Let's begin. What's the rush? You may be wondering why we have defined such a short period of time to pay off a substantial debt. After all, The Institute for College Access & Success says the average student loan balance was $29,400, which is based on the latest data available for the class of 2012. With a supersized debt of that magnitude, you need a lot of time, right? Yes, but a lack of urgency can encourage complacency, and with time the debt will grow even larger. This may light a fire: Calculate the amount of interest you will pay by only making minimum payments on your student loans. If you can't put your hands on the statements for your loans, check the National Student Loan Data System to retrieve your loan information. It's quite likely you'll be surprised by the big number you discover. You might even find you'll be paying as much interest on your loans as the original principal amount. Putting a short fuse on the debt bomb will inspire a significant financial turnaround. Once you retire the student loans, imagine the boost to your cash flow. You might even feel affluent for a change. With those monthly payments gone, you can focus on buying a home, saving for retirement, paying for a wedding and all the other good things in life. No student loan debt means you can kiss Sallie Mae goodbye. You'll feel like a different person, with less stress and real financial freedom. Debt limits options. While the task may seem insurmountable, consider the Harvard University alum who paid off $90,000 in graduate school debt – in seven months. Joe Mihalic is a supply chain manager in Austin, Texas now, but three years ago he was deep in debt and desperate to get out. "I simply felt an overwhelming feeling of being trapped," Mihalic, author of "Destroy Student Debt: A Combat Guide to Freedom," wrote in an email. "I felt that the debt was severely limiting my options, and I realized I would never be truly free unless I became debt-free." By committing to a frugal lifestyle and squeezing every bit out of his annual salary, which was less than the balance on the loans, Mihalic accomplished his goal of rapid debt reduction. "I didn't start feeling weighed down by my debt until my self-esteem finally reached a level where I didn't need to constantly spend money to feel good about myself," he writes. "At that point, the negative feelings associated with my debt were greater than the positive feelings associated with consumption. Only then did I seek out a life of frugality and living below my means." A cash budget is key. And consider Jackie Ritz, a Paleo diet aficionado from North Carolina who blogs at ThePaleoMama.com. She and her husband paid off $50,000 worth of debt in 10 months. "We sat down one night and wrote down all of our debt, including our student loan debt, which was the most baggage," she wrote in an email. "My husband had carried his student loan debt the past 15 years, and we wondered how long we were going to let that debt keep following along with us. So in order to have financial freedom we knew we were going to have to be more aggressive in paying the student loans down and turn our minimum payments into the maximum amount we could manage in our budget." Ritz adds that sticking to a cash budget was the key. "During this time, we made a budget for all our expenses and used the 'envelope system'," she explains. "You place the week's worth of money in your envelopes and when the cash is out, it's out! This was probably the hardest part of it all since we were so used to swiping our debit or credit card without even thinking about a budget." A prerequisite. There is a prerequisite to this course. It is Paying Off Your Credit Card Debt 101. As much as you would like to rid yourself of the burden of college debt once and for all, if you have substantial credit card balances, they must be attended to first. The interest rate you pay on credit card debt is likely to be twice as much -- if not substantially more -- than what you pay on student loans. When you do tackle the student loans, pay off those with the highest interest rates first. That will save you money and allow each payment to reduce more principal. And before sending in a substantial payment to a lender, call first. Ensure the payment will be applied to the loan's principal – not to interest. Extreme debt reduction. In order to abolish $30,000 of student loans within three years, the payments will total $923.57, based on a 6.8 percent interest rate for 36 payments. You can nerd the numbers for your own debt situation. The strategy will be a combination of increasing your monthly income while reducing your monthly expenses to come up with the extra cash.