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Great Call on Transocean! What's Next?

The business of offshore oil drilling is simple in concept. A company buys a collection of drills, equips and staffs those drills with skilled workers, and then contracts the drills out to major oil companies. Top-flight drillers are the ones like Transocean (NYSE: RIG) that have lots of quality people and equipment and have good relationships with top oil companies like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and Petrobras (NYSE: PBR).

5 Stocks Approaching Greatness

Some companies are obviously great investments -- in hindsight. Yet for every stock out there screaming "buy me," others simply give us a nudge and a nod. How can we tell tomorrow's obviously great investments from the thousands of pretenders?

3 Stocks Ready to Roar

There are plenty of strategies for picking stock winners: low-P/E stocks, companies selling at a discount to their future cash flows, and more. At the small-cap stock picking service Motley Fool Hidden Gems, even in this market the analysts have stayed ahead of the market by finding undervalued stocks that the market and investors have ignored.

Rig Count Chop Cuts Halliburton

During the first half of 2008, as you may know, Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), the second largest of the oilfield services companies, rode a record run-up in global crude prices toward a similarly record year of its own. But on Monday, the company’s reported earnings slid down on a "significant volume reduction" and a "margin compression," and it was hit by a 35% year-over-year cut in its net income.

You Can Still Buy Stocks for 85 Cents on the Dollar

Don't let the six weeks of market rallies trick you. There are still ways to get in on blue-chip companies at pre-rally prices. Closed-end funds continue to trade at sharp discounts to their actual holdings.

10 Stocks to Shake the Market

Some stocks are one-hit wonders, making a big splash when they first appear, then quickly fizzling into obscurity or oblivion. But for other stocks, that initial big move is only a preview for even bigger and better gains to come.

There Are Two Sides to Every Story Stock

Earlier this month, I waxed bullishly about recent Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Nasdaq: GMCR). The company behind the popular Keurig single-cup java brewing systems is growing quickly, but not everyone is convinced that the stock is a winner.

Tiny Profits, Texas-Sized Dreams

he stars at night are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas.
The prairie sky is wide and high
Deep in the heart of Texas.
-- From Deep In the Heart of Texas (as made popular by Perry Como, George Strait, and many others)

B of A's Ken Lewis: Still Mostly Clueless

Yesterday on CNBC, Maria Bartiromo asked Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) CEO Ken Lewis how he would prove to an upcoming shareholder meeting that Merrill Lynch will become something that, you know, doesn't require a 12-figure bailout by the federal government. With shares down 80% in the past year, that seems like a reasonable question. Here's how Lewis responded:

Schering and Merck: A Match Made in Purgatory

Merck (NYSE: MRK) needs Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP), and the first-quarter results prove it.

Did Oprah Break Twitter?

Oprah almost broke Twitter -- or so it seems, anyway. The microblogging service's page views surged more than tenfold last week, according to data provided to blogger TechCrunch by Compete.

Boston Scientific Rebuilds

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) has lots of new competition and a currency headwind, so flat sales from continuing operations are understandable. It wasn't enough to get investors excited, but should be enough to get the company started on a rebuilding year.