Why You Should Book Your Holiday Travel Now

If you think holding off on buying airline tickets for the holidays will help you score a last-minute deal, think again. Flights for Thanksgiving travel already are about 49% more expensive than the rest of the year, says CheapAir.com CEO Jeff Klee. And fares will almost certainly rise from this point until Thanksgiving and Christmas. So how do avoid paying an outrageous amount to get home for the holidays? Follow these strategies.

SEE ALSO: When to Book Flights to Get the Lowest Fares

Book flights by October 1. Airfare for holiday travel has been edging up slightly since Labor Day, says Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com. But prices will likely jump by as much as 20% in October. So buy your tickets by September 30 to save money. Because you have a few more days until the end of the month, set up a fare alert with a site such as Airfarewatchdog.com or Kayak.com to be notified if the price drops on a flight you want to take. Typically airlines have sales on Tuesdays, so you might see a slight drop the last day of September, which falls on a Tuesday, she says. Be ready to buy if you see any drop in price. But be prepared to purchase tickets by September 30 even if a deal doesn't surface because prices in all likelihood will only increase.

Consider alternate travel dates. The busiest travel day of the year is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Banas and Klee say. The next busiest is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Because demand for airplane seats is so high on those days, the prices are much higher than on other days. So you can save a lot by flying the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving and returning Friday or Saturday. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can save hundreds of dollars by flying on the actual holidays, Banas says. Another option is to plan your gathering during the first two weeks of December or the first week of January, which are the slowest weeks of the year for air travel, Banas says. See the CheapAir.com calendar for the best days to fly for the holidays. And you can use a flexible search option on travel booking sites, such as the one at Bing Travel, to see which days have the best fares.

Consider alternate airports. Check fares on flights to all the airports near your destination because you might find it's significantly cheaper to fly to one than another, Klee says. A search on Kayak.com showed that the average price of a roundtrip flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Los Angeles International Airport was $512 leaving November 25 and returning November 29 versus $560, on average, for the same route departing from New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport.

Buy tickets for family members separately. Unlike other industries that give you a discount for buying in bulk, airlines don't cut you a deal if you buy several tickets for the same flight at one time. In fact, you might pay more if you're traveling with several family members or friends and purchase all of your tickets during one transaction, Klee says. Airlines typically quote prices based on the lowest fare available for your entire party. So if you're a party of five, for example, and there are only three seats available at a $200 price level but five seats are available for $300, you'll be quoted the $300 fare for all five tickets, he says. Book each ticket separately to take advantage of the seats that might be available at a lower price.

Don't rush to book a hotel room. Although flights fill up quickly around the holidays, hotels do not because travelers tend to stay with family over Thanksgiving and Christmas, Banas says. As a result, hotels are more likely to offer last-minute discounts to fill rooms around the holidays. You can use a mobile app, such as Last Minute Travel, to get a deal on a room. Or if you don't like the idea of waiting until the last minute, book your room using Tingo, which will automatically re-book your room at a lower rate if the hotel drops its price. Then you'll get a refund for the difference.

Should Investors Stay Away From This Gold and Copper Mining Company?

Barrick Gold (ABX) released disappointing second quarter results. The company's shares fell amid a loss in the second quarter. The main reason for this decline was a weaker gold price and lower gold and copper sales volume. The company is worried about its weak performance. It is taking measures to improve its profitability. Barrick Gold has also cut its cost forecast for the future due to a decline in the gold prices.

It is focusing on cutting costs and selling assets. However, the situation is bad for the gold miner. Let us have a look if Barrick Gold's newly appointed management has anything new and innovative in their pockets which can improve its performance.

How is Barrick Gold doing?

Barrick Gold's quarterly revenue fell 24% to $2.43 billion. This could not meet the analyst's estimates and fell slightly short of the $2.47 billion. The loss that the company posted also included an impairment charge of $514 million related to its Jabal Sayid project. On the earnings front, Barrick Gold earned $0.14 per share. It also failed to meet analyst's estimates who were modeling the EPS to be $0.16.

The situation is not so good in the mining industry. So, it is not so astonishing to see the poor performance by Barrick Gold, but the thing that frightens is the falling revenue. Other peers such as Yamana Gold are posting good improvement in the revenue despite a weak market. Barrick Gold has to focus on initiatives that will lead it to profitability.

Due to poor commodity prices the mining companies are under pressure to cut costs and sell assets. Barrick has also made moves to reduce costs and improve capital efficiency. It has helped the gold miner to lower its mid year operating and capital cost guidance which can help it to improve its market share in future.

Looking to turnaround

Barrick Gold is targeting to achieve $500 million annual savings which it announced earlier this year. It is confident that its cost cutting initiatives are working and it believes to achieve this target by the end of the year. Moreover, Barrick Gold is cutting excessive cost where it thinks it can be cut. It has made a good 30% reduction in the working capital. In addition, it has also launched global programs which are focused on reducing inventory and improving maintenance planning.

Barrick Gold has great expectations with its corner stone mines. In the past, it five most important c

Is Home Depot One of the Best Companies in America?

In partnership with Glassdoor, our investment analysts are taking a closer look at some of the most popular companies in Glassdoor's career community.

You might have heard that Americans love their homes. As it turned out, we were so optimistic about everyone's love of their homes that the financial world came to a standstill when things turned ugly. That didn't stop us, though, and now we're back on the homebuying track. That's great news for Home Depot (NYSE: HD  ) as we're working on new homes, fixing up the old ones, and filling out all our extra space.

In addition to helping Americans make their house a home, the home-improvement retailer also treats its employees well and spends time and money to help its communities. That all adds up to good news for investors, and Home Depot's stock has easily outpaced the return of the S&P 500 over the last five years.

Loving the job of helping homeowners
On Glassdoor, Home Depot employees have rated the company 3.3 stars out of five, and 83% approve of the job that CEO Frank Blake is doing. The company's extensive benefits for part-time and full-time employees certainly help keep spirits up. Employees can get vision, dental, stock purchase options, and tuition assistance.

Home Depot employs over 300,000 people in its 2,266 stores; in the first half of 2014, 97% of those locations met the requirements for the company's profit-sharing plan. Clearly, Home Depot has created an environment that gives its associates reason to excel.

Home Depot in the community
In addition to supporting its employees in ways that go beyond paychecks, Home Depot is giving back to the communities that make it successful. The Home Depot Foundation puts associates into volunteering rolls, where they support the construction and repair of housing for needy families. It also has a focus on returned veterans, pledging $80 million for housing support and veteran housing non-profits.

The business is cutting back on its environmental impact -- switching to energy-efficient lighting systems, using reclaimed rainwater, and completing thousands of audits to make sure suppliers are in compliance with the company's sustainability strategy.

In reviews of the company, employees often note the value of its community engagement, even if they didn't love their jobs. Home Depot is leading the way in community involvement and is having a clear impact on the areas where it operates.

Supporting investors
Beyond making its employees and communities happier, Home Depot has been making investors smile -- with one new exception that we'll get to. Sales in this year's second quarter were up 5.8%,  as Americans turn to the company to refurbish their homes. Existing home sales are still on the rise, up 2.4% in June, according to the newest National Association of Realtors data.

Sales of existing homes generate two kinds of improvements that drive customers to Home Depot. First, sellers fix up their homes, often addressing neglected areas to make the structure as attractive as possible to prospective buyers. Whether through a contractor or by using their own hands, homeowners are putting cash into Home Depot.

Once those homes sell, the new owners are making them their own with fresh coats of paint, new fixtures, and updated landscaping. Those buyers are also heading to the Home Depot, driving sales up further. Even with its recent success, Home Depot is looking for more, as sales, prices, and household formation -- new homeowners moving into the market -- all slowly grow.

The elephant in the newly painted room
That would be Home Depot's payment systems data breach this year. It's bad news for everyone along the chain. Employees and communities are going to have less to work with, as the company must invest in technology in the near future. In addition, shareholders are likely to be hit with reduced earnings, softer sales, and potential litigation, depending on how the debacle shakes out.

Home Depot's stock jumped after its last earnings release, but shares subsequently fell back 5% with the revelation of that huge data theft. Home Depot has taken many of the same steps that Target did after its own 2013 data breach, including offering identity theft protection to customers and making sure shoppers aren't held liable for any future fraud.

The takeaway
While Home Depot is on the hook for all kinds of trouble, the business has a history of meeting the needs of its stakeholders. Employees, community members, and investors have all profited from Home Depot's success and business model.

The data breach wasn't due to a fundamental flaw in the business, and while it might harm the company in the short term, it is unlikely to be bad news for its long-term health. The Home Depot is one of America's strongest retailers and best-respected brands, and stakeholders at all levels should be happy to stay in this beneficial relationship.

Top dividend stocks for the next decade
The smartest investors know that dividend stocks simply crush their non-dividend paying counterparts over the long term. That's beyond dispute. They also know that a well-constructed dividend portfolio creates wealth steadily, while still allowing you to sleep like a baby. Knowing how valuable such a portfolio might be, our top analysts put together a report on a group of high-yielding stocks that should be in any income investor's portfolio. To see our free report on these stocks, just click here.

Best Buy Vs. RadioShack: Which One Will Fail First?

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images Tuesday was a day of extremes for investors of consumer electronics retailers. Shares of Best Buy (BBY) plunged 7 percent after posting disappointing quarterly results. That contrasted sharply with shares of RadioShack (RSH), which soared 19 percent on reports that a shareholder rescue package was in the works. We can't judge the fate of two meandering chains on a single trading day. After all, Best Buy may have let the market down by posting weaker-than-expected sales, but at least it's not the one hoping that a "rescue package" will save it from bankruptcy. Anytime a stock appreciates by a fifth of its value on anything with the words "rescue" and "package," you know there's a fairly good chance that it's not going to end well. Best Buy Is the Better Buy There's no denying that Best Buy is in a funk. Sales declined 4 percent to $8.896 billion, fueled by another quarter of shrinking comparable-store sales. The consumer electronics superstore chain sees the weakness continuing. It sees negative comps continuing through at least the next two quarters. Consumer appetite has been weak in general. Tablet sales have been cooling off, and Best Buy points out that the smartphone market has stalled ahead of the iPhone 6 hitting the market. Apple's (AAPL) new smartphone should be unveiled at some point next month, but it's doubtful that will be enough to light a fire under the mobile handset market. Apple updates the iPhone every year, and none of those upgrades have been enough to save Best Buy over the past two years of sliding sales. However, unlike RadioShack, Best Buy is still profitable. In fact, its adjusted earnings actually climbed in its latest quarter. The retailer has been successful in shaving its overhead to the point where it can grow its bottom line despite coming up short on top. It's a trick that Best Buy can't keep performing forever. Sooner or later it's going to have to find a way to get shoppers to come back. However, for now Best Buy is earning more than enough to cover its quarterly dividend. Thinking Outside the Small Box Things are going far worse at RadioShack. Forget dividends: RadioShack paid out its last dividend more than two years ago. Forget earnings: RadioShack hasn't been profitable since 2011. The iPhone 6 won't save RadioShack. It's been profitless through the last two generations of Apple hardware. RadioShack's lack of earnings coincides with when it decided to emphasize mobile products and services a couple of years ago. It was right to do so; mobile usage has been a growth industry. Unfortunately for RadioShack, smartphone shoppers just aren't buying their Android and iPhone handsets at its stores. Same-store sales plunged 14 percent in its most recently reported quarter, and deficits are widening. RadioShack is closing stores. It's attempting to remodel its remaining stores, but that doesn't come cheap. With $615.4 million in debt and its stock trading for pocket change, it seems as if RadioShack is on borrowed time. This brings us to Tuesday's report. Sources tell Bloomberg that RadioShack's second-largest investor is trying to spare RadioShack from filing for bankruptcy. It's looking to issue debt or equity to help improve the chain's liquidity. Then again, access to capital isn't as relevant as the company's past few years of destroying it. So where should investors be? Best Buy is bad, but RadioShack is worse. Best Buy is a stock where investors need to weigh the serious challenges it faces to start growing again. RadioShack at this point is more a speculation than an investment. More from Rick Aristotle Munarriz
•Shake Shack's IPO Had Better Bring the Beef •Do You Really Want McCafe in Your Keurig? •Why Is There a Bidding War to Buy Family Dollar?

At the Close: The Smaller They Come, the Harder They Fall

It was a tale of two markets today as blue chips gained and large-cap stocks dipped ever-so-slightly, while tech and small-company shares were beaten down.

Getty Images

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 17,031.14, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% to 1,984.13. The Nasdaq Composite, however, slumped 1.1% to 4,518.90 while the small-company Russell 2000 tumbled 1.2% to 1,146.52.

The big news today wasn’t the economic data–weaker industrial production and a stronger Empire State manufacturing survey–but M&A, as SABMiller expressed interest in Heineken, and Aneheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is thought to be pursuing SABMiller. UBS strategists Julian Emanuel and Omar Elangbawy expect more takeovers thanks to the strong US dollar:

The stronger dollar should result in relative outperformance for S&P 500 companies whose revenues are derived primarily from within the United States/North America, especially those companies that source product inputs from offshore. Conversely, export oriented firms with large revenue exposures outside North America could face competitive challenges as well as margin pressures from dollar strength. An unintended consequence of dollar strength is likely to be a continuation of the trend toward cross-border M&A, as corporate managements look for creative ways to put uninvested cash to work, especially overseas “trapped cash”, a sum we estimate…to be in excess of $800bn.

Former JPMorgan strategist Thomas Lee has returned with his own firm, Fundstrat. And he’s as bullish as ever:

Looking at all bull markets of at least 5 years in duration, none has ever ended without US investment spending at 26% of GDP or higher versus a current 23%. The current level is historically a trough in a recession and rising to the bull average would imply $800b of incremental investment in the US. Furthermore, the current 30Y vs 10Y yield curve is 75bp and has always inverted prior to (or shortly after) the bull peak.

Lee expects the S&P 500 to close 2014 at 2,100.

8 Areas Your Home Inspector Won't Inspect -- That You Must!

I think inspection day is exciting. It's an opportunity to spend an extended period of time in your new prospective house, exploring every nook, cranny, closet, and attic. You get to turn on all the faucets, and run each of the showers. You get to test all the appliances, and even peel back a corner of the wall-to-wall carpet to see if there is hardwood underneath.

What should be inspected? Everything. It's important to examine all areas of the home, including the exterior, interior, attic, basement, electric, plumbing, and heating and air systems. Faulty construction, improper electrical wiring, inefficient insulation, old heating, building permit violations, and other unseen problems can lead to expensive home repairs -- large and small. You and your inspector need to examine every square inch of the house -- from the electric garage door to the built-in microwave.

However, don't assume that if you hire a home inspector, he or she will be able to tell you absolutely everything you need to know about the house. They will cover almost everything, but you might have to fill in a few blanks. Home inspectors are very careful not to take on liability for issues that are outside their area of expertise, so there are certain areas that home inspectors will be hesitant to "sign off"on.

These are the areas that you will need to follow up on by hiring an additional inspector, whose expertise will give you the full picture:

Roof
Ask your inspector if he or she is certified to inspect the roof. Some inspectors are not, and you will need to call in a roof specialist to climb up there. Keep in mind that if you are doing an inspection in snowy weather, it may be very difficult to access and examine the roof. It may be possible to have a special provision that allows you to extend the inspection contingency specifically to accommodate the roof, in the hopes that the weather improves.

Chimney inspection
Your regular inspector may not do this, but if there is any question about stability or hints of structural damage, have a chimney specialist do a "chimney cam" and run a small video camera down the chimney to see it from the inside.

Geological inspection
Another specialized inspection, especially for hillside and cliffside properties, or in flood areas, a geological inspection can unearth a severe drainage or ground-shifting problem—and save you thousands from further damage.

Sewer inspection
Your inspector may tell whether or not things are " flowing." However, a sewer expert can use a "sewer cam" to discover cracks or breaks in the sewer line from the house to the street -- especially on properties that are heavily landscaped, where root growth can crack and clog the pipeline. This can be a serious expense, so find out now. Trust me, this inspection is worth its weight in gold. A sewer line replacement can be an enormous expense.

Termite inspection
This is usually done by the seller, because most mortgage companies and banks will need it prior to allowing a loan on the house. But whoever does it, make sure you review the finished report and all the recommended work is taken care of.

Moisture, mold, and toxins inspection
It's important to check for moisture in any basement or below-ground-level areas. Moisture is an indicator of the potential for a mold problem -- if there isn't one already. You'll want to make sure your house has a clean bill of mold heath, especially in wet and seaside areas.

Asbestos
You need this if the house was built prior to 1975. You may find it on insulation around ducting, water heaters, and pipes. If it is accessible and can be removed by an asbestos specialist, then maybe this is something you might want to ask the seller to do.

Nonconforming use
This is an area that may not come under any specific additional inspector. But your home inspector may not be the final word. This will be a joint effort with your inspector and your real estate agent to determine if all additions and major changes have been permitted and signed off on by the city. Converted garages, sun porches, or add-on bedrooms can increase square footage, but when done without permits, they can also add headaches when it's time to make them legal.

This article originally appeared on Trulia.com.

Top dividend stocks for the next decade
The smartest investors know that dividend stocks simply crush their non-dividend paying counterparts over the long term. That's beyond dispute. They also know that a well-constructed dividend portfolio creates wealth steadily, while still allowing you to sleep like a baby. Knowing how valuable such a portfolio might be, our top analysts put together a report on a group of high-yielding stocks that should be in any income investor's portfolio. To see our free report on these stocks, just click here.

The Bakken’s Major Milestone

Each week I get multiple requests to comment on a particular energy-related claim. Some of these come up again and again — "Is it true that there is a car that runs on water, but the oil companies have suppressed it?" — while others are based on recent news headlines. These queries sometimes inspire me to write about the topic just to set the record straight.

About six years ago an old friend forwarded me a teaser for a newsletter that made various claims about the Bakken Shale formation that is mainly under North Dakota. The teaser itself was a mish-mash of truths, half-truths, and misinformation (e.g., it casually confused shale oil and oil shale), but the overall message was that the Bakken had the potential to be a very big deal. So my friend wanted to know "Is this true?"

At that time, North Dakota produced about 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, but that had been gradually creeping up over time. I explained to my friend that indeed there was a lot of oil there, and this had been known for a long time. However, contrary to the teaser's claim that the oil could be extracted for $16 a barrel (bbl), the marginal cost for producing this oil was probably close to $100/bbl.

Then a funny thing happened. The price of oil rose above $100, and despite some retreats below that level it seemed to find a home near that price. That provided plenty of incentive to drill, and oil producers who had only recently begun to use horizontal drilling in conjunction with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) got better and better at doing so. This reduced the cost of production, further incentivizing oil production.

The ensuing production increase was astonishing, and vaulted North Dakota into second place among US oil producers (behind Texas):

Oil production in the Bakken Formation recently surpassed one million bpd, and is projected to grow to 1.7 million bpd by 2020. In honor of this milestone, let's refresh ourselves on the Bakken, including the major producers in the area.

Bakken Overview

The Bakken Formation is part of the Williston Basin that lies underneath parts of South Dakota, Montana, southwestern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan. While some parts of the Bakken Formation extend beyond the Williston Basin, in North Dakota the Bakken is entirely within the Williston Basin. Underneath the Bakken Formation is the Three Forks Formation, which has also begun to produce oil.

Source: US Geological Survey

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has estimated that the Bakken has a projected mean resource of 3.65 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil, while the Three Forks is estimated to contain 3.73 billion barrels of oil. The two formations were also estimated to contain a mean of 6.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 0.53 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids (NGLs).

The Bakken Producers

But of most interest to readers will be which companies are going to produce the remaining oil in the Bakken.

Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) was the first to complete a horizontal well in the Three Forks formation, and to date the company has drilled about 20% of all Three Forks wells. Continental is the largest leaseholder and oil producer in the Bakken with more than 1.1 million acres leased. Continental’s Bakken production totaled 108,573 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day in second quarter 2014, an increase of 23% from a year earlier.

The second largest producer in the Ba! kken is W! hiting Petroleum (NYSE: WLL), which averaged 80,195 boe/d in Q2 2014, an increase of 33% in a year. Whiting has a total of 674,162 net acres in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana. Whiting has held the top producer spot in the past, and should soon regain that spot. It recently announced a $6 billion all stock acquisition of Kodiak Oil & Gas (NYSE: KOG), the eighth largest oil producer in the Bakken. The transaction will create the largest Bakken/Three Forks producer, with production of more than 107,000 boe/d in the first quarter of 2014, 855,000 combined net acres and an inventory of 3,460 net future drilling locations.

Bakken oil production is a small part of the overall portfolio of Hess (NYSE: HES), but that's good enough for third place among Bakken producers. Hess reported 80,000 boe/d of Bakken production in Q2 2014, up 25% over Q2 2013.

EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) is perhaps best known as the largest oil producer in the Eagle Ford formation in Texas, but the company is also one of the top five oil and gas producers in the Bakken. EOG keeps oil production figures for different production areas pretty close to the vest, but the North Dakota state government does tabulate oil production figures for the companies that produce there. Based on the numbers that were made publicly available (some are listed "Confidential" and unavailable), EOG produced just under 70,000 barrels of oil per day in May 2014. It is possible that if the natural gas EOG produced were included it would rank ahead of Hess in boe/d, but without having all the data available it's impossible to be certain.

Rounding out the top five for Bakken oil production is Norway's Statoil (NYSE: STO). Statoil entered the Bakken in 2011 when it acquired Brigham Exploration, a major operator in the Williston Basin. Statoil now holds approximately 330,000 net acres in the Bakken, and in Q2 2014 produced 50,200 boe/d in the Bakken.     

Other major producers in the Bakken include the aforementi! oned Kodi! ak Oil and Gas that is merging with Whiting, Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO), XTO Energy (which was acquired by ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM)), Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS) — with the exit of Kodiak, the only remaining pure play on the Williston Basin in the top 10 — and Burlington Resources, owned by ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP).

Risk Factors

Are there any risk factors that could derail this Bakken shale oil boom? There are at least three. One is that oil prices need to remain high in order to keep production growing. The marginal cost of producing crude oil in the Bakken is still in the neighborhood of $100/bbl. A sustained dip to $80/bbl or less would slow the recent production growth rate.

The second risk factor is the possibility that the infrastructure won't be able to keep up with the growing oil supply. So far the solution to this challenge — in addition to large investments in pipeline infrastructure — has been to use rail cars to move the crude oil out of the area. In just three years the railroads went from essentially zero barrels to 700,000 bpd of crude oil shipped. That is about the volume carried by a fairly large crude oil pipeline. But shipping by rail carries special risks, and recent findings that Bakken oil is more volatile than most crudes are leading to pressure on both the oil industry and the railroads to address this problem.

Finally, a lot of the natural gas that is co-produced with the crude oil is flared. The gas is flared because in many cases there is no cost effective way to get it to market, but this increases the carbon dioxide emissions associated with Bakken oil production. The flaring is so extensive that the Bakken fields glow like a major city at night:

Source: NASA

The state of North Dakota recently declared that enough was enough regardi! ng the fl! aring, and has  ordered companies to find a way to reduce flaring or face mandated production cuts. This will, in turn, likely add to production cost, increasing the risks associated with falling oil prices.

Conclusions

The Bakken Formation was first characterized in the 1950s, and it has produced small volumes of oil for decades. But the marriage of hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling led to an oil boom in North Dakota that would rank its oil production ahead of countries like Qatar. Critics of the shale oil boom are right to note that production will eventually slow and decline, but timing is everything. Bakken production isn't generally forecast to peak until the early part of the next decade, and many companies will benefit. As the easy oil is produced — and presuming oil prices rise — Montana may see its own oil boom, along with the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Join us at The Energy Strategist to invest in the companies profiting the most from this ongoing Bakken boom.

(Follow Robert Rapier on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.)