10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014

On the face of it, figuring out how a bank makes money is a pretty straightforward affair. A bank earns a spread on the money it lends out from the money it takes in as a deposit. The net interest margin (NIM), which most banks report quarterly, represents this spread, which is simply the difference between what it earns on loans versus what it pays out as interest on deposits. This, of course, gets much more complicated given the dizzying array of credit products and interest rates used to determine the rate eventually charged for loans. Below is an overview of how a bank determines the interest rate for consumers and business loans.

It All Starts with Interest Rate Policy
Banks are generally free to determine the interest rate they will pay for deposits and charge for loans, but they must take the competition into account, as well as the market levels for numerous interest rates and Fed policies. The United States Federal Reserve influences interest rates by setting certain rates, stipulating bank reserve requirements, and buying and selling ��isk-free��(a term used to indicate that these are among the safest bonds in existence) U.S. Treasury and agency securities to impact the deposits that banks hold at the Fed. This is referred to as monetary policy and is intended to influence economic activity as well as the health and safety of the overall banking system. Most market-based countries employ a similar type of monetary policy in their economies.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Gold Resource Corporation (GORO)

Gold Resource Corporation engages in the exploration for and production of gold and silver in Mexico. The company also explores for copper, lead, and zinc. It holds interest in the El Aguila project comprising 10 mining concessions aggregating approximately 20,055 hectares located in the State of Oaxaca. The company also holds interests in the El Rey property covering approximately 2,773 hectares; Las Margaritas property that covers an area of approximately 925 hectares; Alta Gracia property comprising approximately 5,175 hectares; El Chamizo property; Solaga property that include 2 mining concessions totaling 618 hectares; and El Fuego property covering approximately 2,554 hectares. Gold Resource Corporation was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  Gold Resource (NYSE: GORO) dropped 20.90% to $6.44. Gold Resource shares have dropped 63.35% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 16.18% in the same period.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  We continue to recommend Newmont, [Coeur Mining (CDE)] and [Gold Resource Corp. (GORO)] as large cap, silver and small cap picks, respectively.

  Sterne Agee’s comments come one day after Ned Davis Research upgraded the gold sector to Neutral from Underweight. “…gold miners look to be finally bottoming,” John Laforge and Waren Pies wrote, though they say it’s too early to know if a new uptrend has begun.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Gold and silver miner Gold Resource (NYSEMKT: GORO  ) announced yesterday its June monthly distribution of $0.03 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past two months after it cut the payout in half from $0.06 per share due to precious metal price volatility.�

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Lazard LTD. (LAZ)

Lazard Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm. The company�s Financial Advisory segment offers various advisory services on mergers and acquisitions, and other strategic matters, as well as on restructurings, capital structure, capital raising, and other financial matters. Its Asset Management segment provides investment solutions and investment management services in equity and fixed income strategies; and alternative investments and private equity funds. The company serves corporations, governments, institutions, partnerships, and individual clients. It operates from 42 cities across 27 countries in Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Central and South Americas. Lazard Ltd. was founded in 1848 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Value investor John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio) recommends JM Smucker (SJM), Bally Tech (BYI) and Lazard (LAZ).
  Also check out: John Rogers Undervalued Stocks John Rogers Top Growth Companies John Rogers High Yield stocks, and Stocks that John Rogers keeps buying
  Currently 0.00/512345

  Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes)

Best Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Legacy Oil + Gas Inc (LEGPF.PK)

Legacy Oil + Gas Inc. (Legacy) is engaged in exploration, exploitation and development drilling for oil and natural gas reserves. Legacy's wholly owned subsidiary, Legacy Oil & Gas ND, Inc., holds properties and operates in the State of North Dakota. Its Southeast Saskatchewan properties are located in an area ranging from approximately 130 to 290 kilometers southeast of the city of Regina, Saskatchewan. Legacy has an average working interest of approximately 75% in 24,576 gross (18,647 net) acres of undeveloped land at Taylorton. It has an average working interest of approximately 70% in 32,959 gross (22,938 net) acres of undeveloped land in the Viewfield Bakken play with properties at Stoughton, Heward and Star Valley. On January 1, 2011, it amalgamated with its wholly owned subsidiaries Legacy VRI Ltd. and Legacy TV Ltd. In April 2013, it closed the acquisition of Villanova Oil Corp. (Villanova) and the acquisition of light oil assets. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Value Digger]

  To open up new Cardium opportunities, Manitok is also expanding to the Southern Alberta Foothills, where it plans to drill the first well of the farm-in with Legacy Oil & Gas (LEGPF.PK) before year end. Legacy Oil has a 99% average working interest in the Farm-in Lands prior to Manitok earning. Manitok will pay 100% of the cost to drill, complete and equip one horizontal Cardium oil well in order to earn 70% of Legacy's working interest, in a small block of land within the Farm-in Lands. If Manitok drills, completes and equips 3 horizontal Cardium oil wells at 100% of the cost, it will earn the entire 70% of working interest in Legacy's Farm-in Lands.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Synopsys Inc (SNPS)

Synopsys, Inc., incorporated in 1986, is engaged in providing technology solutions used to develop electronics and electronic systems. It supplies the electronic design automation (EDA) software that engineers use to design, create prototypes for and test integrated circuits, also known as chips. It also supplies software and hardware used to develop the systems that incorporate integrated circuits and the software that runs on those integrated circuits. Its intellectual property (IP) products are pre-designed circuits that engineers use as components of larger chip designs rather than redesigning those circuits themselves. It also provides technical services to support its solutions and it help its customers develop chips and electronic systems. Its products and services are organized into four groups: Core EDA (which includes the Galaxy Design Platform, the Discovery Verification Platform and its Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design products); IP and System-Level Solutions; Manufacturing Solutions and Professional Services. In July 2012, it acquired Ciranova. In October 2012, it acquired EVE. On November 30, 2012, the Company acquired SpringSoft. In February 2014, Synopsys Inc completed the acquisition of Target Compiler Technologies.

On September 2, 2010, the Company acquired Virage Logic Corporation. In October 2010, the Company acquired Optical Research Associates. In September 2011, the Company acquired nSys Design Systems Private Limited (nSys). In October 2011, the Company acquired Extreme DA. In January 2012, the Company acquired ExpertIO, Inc. In February 2012, the Company acquired Magma Design Automation Inc.

Core EDA products

The Company offers a number of Core EDA products to address the process. Its Core EDA products fall into the suites, which included the Galaxy Design Platform, which includes tools to design an integrated circuit; the Discovery Verification Platform, which includes tools to verify that an integrated circuit behaves! as intended, and the FPGA design products. Its Galaxy Design Platform provides its customers with a single, integrated chip design solution, which includes individual products and incorporates common libraries and consistent timing, delay calculation and constraints throughout the design process. The platform allows designers the flexibility to integrate internally-developed and third-party tools. With this advanced functionality, common foundation and flexibility, its Galaxy Design Platform reduces design times; decrease integration costs and minimize the risks inherent in advanced, integrated circuit designs. Its products span both digital and analog/mixed-signal designs.

The products included in the Galaxy Design Platform are the IC Compiler physical design solution, Design Compiler logic synthesis product, Galaxy Custom Designer physical design solution for analog/mixed-signal designs, PrimeTime/PrimeTime SI timing analysis products, StarRC product for extraction, and the Hercules and IC Validator physical verification product family. The Lynx Design System is a production-ready chip implementation environment that combines a Galaxy-based design flow, graphical user interface (GUI)-based runtime automation, design metrics capture and reporting, and utilities that automate the configuration of pre-validated foundry data. The Lynx Design System helps customers improve their productivity and optimally deploy Synopsys tools and methodologies.

The Company�� Discovery Verification Platform is an integrated portfolio of functional, analog/mixed-signal, formal and low-power verification products. The platform includes its simulation and verification products and design-for-verification methodologies, and provides a consistent control environment to help improve the speed, breadth and accuracy of its customers��verification efforts. The Discovery Verification Platform�� components support industry standards and span both digital and analog/mixed-signal designs. The principa! l product! s included in the Discovery Verification Platform are the VCS comprehensive RTL verification solution, Formality formal verification sign-off solution, NanoSim FastSPICE circuit simulation and analysis product, high-speed interface module (HSIM) hierarchical FastSPICE circuit simulation and analysis product, HSPICE circuit simulator, and CustomSim circuit simulation solution. FPGAs are chips that can be customized or programmed to perform a specific function after they are manufactured.

Intellectual Property (IP) and System-Level Solutions

Synopsys is a provider of high-quality, silicon-proven IP solutions for system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The broad DesignWare IP portfolio includes high quality solutions for widely used interfaces such as universal serial bus (USB), PCI Express, double data rate (DDR), Ethernet, serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) and high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI). In addition, Synopsys offers analog IP for high-definition video, analog-to-digital data conversion and audio. With its recent acquisition of Virage Logic Corporation, we added embedded memories, including static random access memory (SRAMs) and non-volatile memory, logic libraries, embedded test and repair IP and configurable processor cores, to its IP portfolio.

Synopsys has a portfolio of tools, models and services for the system-level design of SoCs. Primary system-level products include Platform Architect for architectural optimization, SPW and System Studio for algorithm design, Processor Designer for custom processor design, and Synphony Model and C Compiler for High Level Synthesis. In addition to these tools for the system-level design of SoCs, its portfolio includes prototyping tools for hardware verification, software development and hardware-software integration. With FPGA-based prototyping systems (HAPS), designers can speed embedded software development by three to six months with near real runtime speeds and real world interfaces, such as its pre-t! ested Des! ignWare IP components. The HAPS hardware systems are a modular, scalable and accurate way to model a chip. Its virtual prototyping solutions enable software engineers to start SoC and application software up to twelve months before traditional methods.

Manufacturing Solutions

The Company�� Manufacturing Solutions products and technologies address this problem by introducing manufacturability and yield considerations early in the design process, thereby improving yields. Some of its Manufacturing Solutions address mask-making and yield enhancement of very small-geometry integrated circuits, as well as high-level modeling of physical effects within the integrated circuit. Its Manufacturing Solutions include the Technology-CAD (TCAD) device modeling products, Proteus OPC optical proximity correction (OPC) products, CATS mask data preparation product and yield management solutions, including odyssey and recipe manager and editor (RME), and yield explorer.

Professional Services and Training

Synopsys provides consulting and design services that address all phases of the SoC development process. These services assist Synopsys customers with new tool and methodology adoption, chip architecture and specification development, functional and low power design and verification, and physical implementation and signoff. It also provides a range of expert training and workshops on its latest tools and methodologies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anna Prior]

  Synopsys Inc.'s(SNPS) fiscal fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled on a top-line increase driven by growth in the company’s time-based license revenue. However, the company’s guidance for the current quarter came in below Wall Street expectations.

• [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 Synopsys (Nasdaq: SNPS  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Tractebel Energia SA (TBLE3)

Tractebel Energia SA (Tractebel Energia) is a Brazil-based company involved in the energy sector. The Company is engaged in the generation and sale of electric power generated by its assets or acquired through near and long-term agreements. In addition, it provides online customer services to its customers. Tractebel Energia operates power plants in the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Goias, Ceara, Piaui, Minas Gerais, Tocantins and Maranhao. The Company generates energy through hydroelectric power plants, thermoelectric plants, small hydroelectric power plants, wind farms and biomass fired power plants. The Company is controlled by GDF SUEZ Energy Latin America Participacoes Ltda. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Patricia Lara]

  The state-run water company�� market value rose to a record $11.1 billion at the end of last month, narrowing the gap to generator Tractebel Energia SA (TBLE3) to about $360.7 million, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That�� down from $1 billion at the end of last year and $3.89 billion at the start of 2012.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Ambassadors Group Inc. (EPAX)

Ambassadors Group, Inc. provides educational travel experiences and online education research materials worldwide. Its Ambassador Programs and Other segment offers educational travel services to students and professionals. The company�s BookRags segment provides online research in the form of book summaries, critical essays, study guides, lesson plans, film summaries, biographies, literary criticisms, and references to encyclopedia articles. It offers People to People Ambassador Programs for the development and conducting of programs to grade school and high school students; and for the development, marketing, and operation of programs for professionals, college students, and athletes. The company also provides People to People Student Ambassador Programs, which offer educational opportunities for grade school, middle school, and high school students to visit foreign destinations to learn about the history, government, economy, and culture of such countries, as well as pr ovides educational and entertaining travel experience. In addition, it offers People to People Sports Ambassador Programs; and People to People Leadership Summit and World Leadership Forum Programs that provide domestic travel experiences for grade school, middle school, and high school students emphasizing leadership, community involvement, and government education. The company also offers People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs, which provide professionals to travel abroad to meet and exchange ideas with foreign citizens. In addition, it offers Discovery Student Adventures, a teacher recruited student travel program that provides opportunities for grade school, middle school, and high school students to visit destinations emphasizing adventure and scientific exploration. Further, the company operates bookrags.com, an educational Website. Ambassadors Group, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Spokane, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Ambassadors Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:EPAX), a leading provider of educational travel experiences, reported that its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share, which will be paid on June 7, 2012 to all common shareholders of record on May 24, 2012.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: BlackRock Muniyield Michigan Quality Fund II Inc (MYM)

BlackRock MuniYield Michigan Quality Fund II, Inc. (the Fund), formerly BlackRock MuniYield Michigan Insured Fund II, Inc., is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks to provide shareholders with as high a level of current income exempt from federal and Michigan income taxes as is consistent with its investment policies and prudent investment management by investing primarily in a portfolio of long-term municipal obligations the interest on which, in the opinion of bond counsel to the issuer, is exempt from federal and Michigan income taxes.

The Fund�� allocation in long-term investments include transportation, hospital, lease revenue, sales tax, education and housing. BlackRock Advisors, LLC is the manager of the Fund.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  But now that markets have had time to react, a number of different opinions are surfacing about how important Detroit's bankruptcy is:

  Investment manager BlackRock said early this week that its analysts "anticipate the impact of the event will be much smaller than its size might indicate," calling Detroit "an idiosyncratic situation" and saying that therefore its analysts "do not anticipate a widespread systemic effect." UBS noted that "precedents that do exist would appear to favor holders of [general-obligation municipal] bonds backed by an unlimited property tax" in its argument that the bankruptcy shouldn't create big problems, also noting that muni-bond insurance companies cover almost 90% of Detroit's debt. Citigroup notes that "the magnitude of Detroit's economic and financial problems dwarfs those of any other large local government in the U.S. by a wide amount" in arguing that muni-bond yields aren't likely to rise too far. Taking the other side of the argument, muni-bond specialist Nuveen Asset Management believes that "municipal investors should now view all Michigan general-obligation bonds as having no greater standing than any other form of municipal obligations," reversing the general understanding that general-obligation bonds backed by broad powers to tax are inherently more secure than bonds with more limited sources of revenue backing them. Indeed, Michigan-specific muni-bond funds took much more serious hits over the week than the broad muni-bond market, with BlackRock MuniYield Michigan (NYSE: MYM  ) falling almost 5% since last Thursday and Nuveen Michigan Quality Income (NYSE: NUM  ) posting about a 4% loss. Analyst Meredith Whitney went a step further, predicting a wave of municipal bankruptcies resulting from Detroit's action. Yet after having cried wolf in late 2010 and having proven to be wrong in her expected 12-month timeline for massive defaults, Whitney has had her credibility questioned by many ex

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Healthcare Trust Of America Inc (HTA)

Healthcare Trust of America, Inc., incorporated on April 20, 2006, is a self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company�� primary business consists of acquiring, owning and operating its portfolio of medical office buildings and other healthcare-related facilities. Its portfolio is primarily concentrated within the United States metropolitan areas and located primarily on or adjacent to (within a 0.25 mile) the campuses of healthcare systems. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� portfolio, including both the operating properties and those classified as held for sale, consisted of 214 medical office buildings and 24 other healthcare-related facilities, as well as two other real estate-related assets. As of December 31, 2012, the portfolio also consisted of approximately 10.9 million square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) with an average occupancy rate of 91%. On December 26, 2012, the Company acquired an on-campus medical office buildings (MOB) in Dallas, Texas. In September 2013, Healthcare Trust of America Inc acquired six on-campus medical office buildings located in South Florida.

During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company completed five new portfolio acquisitions and expanded one of its existing portfolios through the purchase of an additional medical office building. As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� total portfolio of properties maintained an average occupancy rate of approximately 91%. The Company's portfolio is diversified geographically, across 24 states. As of December 31, 2012, including both the Company�� operating properties and four buildings classified as held for sale, the Company had made 77 geographically diverse portfolio acquisitions, 63 of which are medical office properties, 12 of which are healthcare-related facilities (including four quality healthcare-related office properties), and two of which are other real estate-related assets.

The Company�� properties are primarily located on or adjacent to the cam! puses of healthcare systems in the United States, including Adventist Health Systems, Ascension Health, Banner Health System, Catholic Healthcare Partners, Catholic Healthcare West, Community Health Systems, HCA, Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corporation. As of December 31, 2012, approximately 74% of the Company�� portfolio, based on GLA, is located on or adjacent to the campuses of such healthcare systems. In addition, approximately 40% of the Company�� off-campus portfolio is anchored by a healthcare system.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Finally, we looked at medical office REIT Healthcare Trust of America (HTA), where four insiders bought a total of $344,000 worth of shares after the stock crashed to its lowest level since January. Of note to us was Chairman and CEO Scott Peters, who bought 13,000 shares for $137,000 and CFO Kellie Pruitt, who bought 5,000 shares for $51,400. In addition to the stock low, InsiderScore notes that insiders made similar purchases in June.

• [By Brad Thomas]

  For current investors, I still think the recent 10% price reduction still represents a premium valuation - of mispriced risk - and I would consider a rotation into a more risk-aligned healthcare REIT like Healthcare Trust of America (HTA) yielding 4.82% or Ventas, Inc. (VTR) yielding 3.47%. (See my HTA article here and my VTR article here).

• [By Brad Thomas]

  He has undeniably delivered for his investors. In the space of 18 months, Mr. Schorsch has executed three transactions. He helped with the roadshow for Healthcare Trust of America (HTA), a non-traded REIT for which he served as broker-dealer and raised nearly $1 billion. He also listed American Realty Capital Trust (ARCT) for public trading and merged ARCT III with his own American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP). The three deals netted investors internal rates of return of 11%, 14% and 33%, respectively, according to company data. In the meantime, publicly traded shares of ARCP have increased 60% - to $16, from $10 - since last July.

• [By Brad Thomas]

  REITs mentioned: (VTR), (OHI), (O), (DLR), (HCP), (HTA), (KIM), (FRT), (SPG), and (SKT).

  Note: This article is intended to provide information to interested parties. As I have no knowledge of individual investor circumstances, goals, and/or portfolio concentration or diversification, readers are expected to complete their own due diligence before purchasing any stocks mentioned or recommended.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Amarin Corporation PLC(AMRN)

Amarin Corporation Plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing treatments for cardiovascular diseases. Its lead product candidate includes AMR101, a prescription grade omega-3 fatty acid, which is in second Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of high triglyceride levels in statin-treated patients who have mixed dyslipidemia. The company, formerly known as Ethical Holdings plc, was founded in 1989 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Selena Maranjian]

  Finally, Passport Capital's biggest closed stock positions included HollyFrontier�and eBay. Other closed positions of interest include Amarin (NASDAQ: AMRN  ) and Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD  ) . Amarin stock has fallen roughly in half over the past year. The company is a late-stage cardiovascular-focused biotech enterprise, with a promising (and FDA-approved) drug to lower triglycerides, fish-oil-based Vascepa. It needs a big partner for Vascepa, though, and one likely suitor recently bought a competitor instead. Meanwhile, the FDA has scheduled an October meeting about the drug, for which Amarin is seeking expanded approval.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Stocks on the Move: Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) is down 21.4% at $4.25. SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) is up 23% at $47.16 on a higher forecast for 2014. Amarin Corp. plc (NASDAQ: AMRN) is down 20.1% at $5.09.

10 Best Safest Stocks To Buy For 2014: Dean Foods Company(DF)

Dean Foods Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food and beverage company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Fresh Dairy Direct-Morningstar and WhiteWave-Alpro. The Fresh Dairy Direct-Morningstar segment manufactures, markets, and distributes various branded and private label dairy case products, including cream, ice cream mix, and ice cream novelties; creamers and other extended shelf life fluids; yogurt, cottage cheeses, sour creams, and dairy-based dips; fruit juices, fruit-flavored drinks, iced teas, and water; half-and-half and whipping creams; and items for resale, such as butter, cheese, eggs, and milk shakes. This segment sells its dairy case products to retailers, distributors, foodservice outlets, educational institutions, and governmental entities. The WhiteWave-Alpro segment manufactures, develops, markets, and sells various branded dairy and dairy-related products, such as milk and other dairy products; organic dairy products; plant-based beverages, such as soy, almond, and coconut milks; and soy food products, coffee creamers, and creamers and fluid dairy products. It also provides branded soy-based beverages and food products in Europe under the Alpro and Provamel brands. This segment sells its products to various customers, including grocery stores, club stores, natural foods stores, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, drug stores, and foodservice outlets. The company was formerly known as Suiza Foods Corporation and changed its name to Dean Foods Company on December 21, 2001 as a result of merger between the former Dean Foods Company and Suiza Foods Corporation. Dean Foods Company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  The milk producers are pushing the health aspects of their argument in that kids drinking more milk would be healthier. As the largest dairy producer, Dean Foods (NYSE: DF  ) , notes, while about half the sugar in flavored milk is from naturally occurring lactose, all the sugar in soda is added sugar. Of course soda is facing falling consumption levels, too, these days.

• [By Pendulum]

  Best In Class Food Companies:

  Coca-Cola (KO)Pepsico (PEP)Mondelez (MDLZ)Kraft Foods (KRFT)General Mills (GIS)Kellogg (K)ConAgra Foods (CAG)Hershey (HSY)J.M. Smucker (SJM)McCormick (MKC)Dean Foods (DF)

  A few comments about this analysis:

• [By Michael Lewis]

  Dairy pure-play Dean Foods (NYSE: DF  ) is flirting with its 52-week high after an encouraging earnings report released earlier this week. As it so often goes in special situations, investors deemed the company relatively uninteresting after a high profile spin-off of plant-based food segment WhiteWave (NYSE: WWAV  ) and divestiture of Morningstar -- purveyor of staples such as International Creamer. Skeptics cited declining milk consumption and heavy debt as detractors to the stock, but, post spin-off, Dean Foods is a cash-generating, inexpensive pick in an otherwise difficult sector. With the recent earnings report in mind, let's take a closer look.