Money Morning’s Keith Fitz-Gerald brings us a sobering look at investing in gold. If there is a moral to the story, it’s that nothing is what it seems anymore – not even gold.

Keith Fitz-Gerald (Money Morning): Millions of investors who bought gold in the last 12 months are undoubtedly very happy at the moment – considering that the yellow metal has risen 60% since last November to a recent close of $1,138.60 an ounce on Monday.

But chances are good that many won’t be smiling when they discover just what the taxman has planned for their gains.

Unbeknownst to most investors, gold is considered a collectible not a capital asset. In plain English, this means that despite the fact that many people believe they are investing in gold, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) believes that they are collecting it.

This is no small distinction and hurts investors

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Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

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Monday November 16, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

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PowerSafe Technology Corporation (PSFT.PK) subsidiary Amplification Technologies Inc. (www.amplificationtechnologies.com) (ATI), is offering higher performance thermoelectrically cooled discrete amplification single photon counting solid state photodetectors. These photodetectors are mounted on a two stage thermoelectric cooler inside a hermetically sealed TO8 package and can be operated down to a temperature of -30oC.

For an unprecedented fifth year in a row, readers of Business Insurance once again have named CIGNA’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) the best in the industry.

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U.S. Geothermal Inc., a renewable energy company focused on the production of electricity from geothermal energy, owns and operates geothermal power plants at Raft River, Idaho and San Emidio, Nevada, and is developing the Neal Hot Springs project in Oregon. The company strives to create enhanced value for stakeholders while addressing America’s domestic energy needs and promoting a clean environment.

Geothermal energy is energy recovered from the heat of the earth’s interior. Geothermal heat can appear in the form of volcanoes, hot springs and geysers. Classified as a renewable source of electricity, Geothermal energy is an established method of electrical power generation with 2,000 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity in the Western United States.

There are many benefits to utilizing geothermal energy. A geothermal power plant does not burn fuel; energy production is clean, and renewable. It is also a base load source; as a result, geothermal plants are designed to run

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BOISE, IDAHO — (Marketwire) — 11/10/09 — U.S. Geothermal Inc. (TSX: GTH)(NYSE Amex: HTM), will host a telephone conference call for investors and analysts on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. EDT (2:30 p.m. MDT) to discuss the 2nd Quarter Financials, which were filed on November 9, 2009.

The conference call may be accessed by dialing (877) 407-8133 in Canada and the United States, or (201) 689-8040 internationally. A simultaneous webcast of the conference call will be provided through www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=152403.

U.S. Geothermal Inc., a renewable energy company focused on the production of electricity from geothermal energy, owns and operates geothermal power plants at Raft River, Idaho and San Emidio, Nevada, and is developing the Neal Hot Springs project in Oregon.

Please visit our Website at: www.usgeothermal.com

Contacts: U.S. Geothermal Inc. Saf Dhillon Investor Relations 866-687-7059 604-688-9895 (FAX) saf@usgeothermal.com

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Lithia Motors (LAD) announced a profit of $7.2 million or 33 cents per share, before special items, in the third quarter, an improvement from $1.45 million or 7 cents per share in the year-ago period. This was attributed to increased sales due to the U.S. Government’s “Cash for Clunkers" cash incentive program for fuel-efficient vehicles. The auto retailer managed to nearly meet the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 34 cents per share.

Revenues in the quarter declined 10% to $458 million driven by lower new vehicle sales. New vehicle sales fell 15% to $242 million while used vehicle sales remained almost flat at $136 million. Same store new vehicle sales declined 14.3% while used vehicle sales increased 3.9% on a year-over-year basis.   Lithia’s gross profit margin increased 190 basis points to 18.7%. New vehicle margin rose 110 basis points to 8.8%, used vehicle retail margin elevated 490 basis points to

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Kimco Realty Corporation (KIM), a real estate investment trust (REIT) operating the largest portfolio of neighborhood and community shopping centers in North America, has reported a decline in third quarter 2009 FFO (fund from operations) to $112.6 million or 30 cents per share from $176.9 million or 68 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter. Fund from operations, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income.  The year-over-year decrease in FFO was due to the negative impact of non-cash impairments and charges related to early debt repayment. Excluding the one-time charges, FFO for the quarter was $117.9 million or 31 cents per share compared to $182.8 million or 70 cents per share in the year-ago period.  Overall occupancy in Kimco’s combined shopping center portfolio was 92.4% at quarter end. In ...

On Friday, before market opened, Weyerhaeuser Company (WY) reported discouraging results for the third quarter 2009.  The company reported net sales of $1,407 million compared to $2,107 million in the year ago quarter. Excluding one time items, Weyerhaeuser reported a net loss of $56 million, or 26 cents per share versus a net loss of $3 million, or 1 cent per share, in the third quarter of 2008.  Weyerhaeuser operates through four business segment such as Timberlands, wood products, cellulose fibers and real estate. Excluding a pre-tax gain of $163 million from the sale of 140,000 acres of non-strategic timberlands in northwestern Oregon, the segment’s quarterly results decreased $10 million.  Excluding the pre-tax items, the wood product segment’s loss in the reported quarter decreased $55 million. During the quarter, cellulose fibers segment included a pre-tax gain of $122 million related to alternative fuel mixture credits, ...

TriQuint Semiconductor Inc (TQNT) recently reported revenues of $173.0 million in the third quarter of 2009, down 7% year over year but up 2% sequentially. The sequential revenue growth was broad-based and came from all end markets. In particular, network markets grew 13% sequentially, driven by the resurgence in demand after clearance of excess inventory in the WLAN market. Gross margin improved to 35.0% from 33.2% in the previous quarter driven by improved factory utilization and efficient cost management. Net income grew 37% sequentially to $15.7 million. Earnings per share came in at 7 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. As of September, the company had cash and equivalents of $134.6 million, an increase of $35.2 million from the previous quarter. TriQuint had no debt at the end of the quarter. Going forward, management expects revenues between $175 ...

West Coast Bancorp raised capital of $155 million in an offering of two separate issues of Convertible Preferred Stock to institutional investors, including MFP Partners, L.P., Castle Creek Capital, and GF Financial, LLC.

West Coast Bancorp issued 1.43 million shares of Series A Mandatorily Convertible Participating Preferred Stock and 0.12 million shares of Series B Convertible Participating Preferred Stock.

The Series A stock is convertible into 71.4 million shares of West Coast Bancorp at a price of $2.00 per share. The Series B stock is convertible into 6.1 million shares of West Coast Bancorp also at a price of $2.00 per share. The investors who purchased the newly issued preferred stock are also entitled to two seats on the board of directors.

West Coast Bancorp is a bank holding company that owns West Coast Bank. West Coast Bank has 65 branches located in Oregon and Washington, with total

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Thursday October 22, 2009

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AQNM, WMT, PSFT, APA, PWRM, NOC, CSRH, IP, CVAT, CVX

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WMT, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

WMT operates retail stores in various formats worldwide.

WMT today presented its global plans for store and club growth next year at its annual conference for the investment community and updated its projections for capital expenditures through the fiscal year ending on Jan. 31, 2011.

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PSFT, Powersafe Technology Corp., PSFT.PK

Powersafe Technology Corp.’s (Other OTC: PSFT.PK) Subsidiary Amplification Technologies has just patented a revolutionary solution for low-level signal detection: multichannel Discrete Amplification (DA).

DA photodetectors could function in both analog and photon counting modes. The

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