It's no secret. Apple's cheap. Competitive pressures from other large tech companies have investors wondering if Apple will be able to stay on top. Consumers, however, are more certain about how they feel about Apple. The latest report from MarketingWeek suggests customers are enthused with the company's products. Apple's brand, the report states, is more valuable than ever.

In the video below, Fool contributor Daniel Sparks explains this great disconnect between Apple's stock price and how consumers feel about Apple's products.

The article Consumers Vote: Apple's Brand Is the Gold Standard originally appeared on Fool.com.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Starting out in college dorms, Facebook's exclusivity made it cool. Over time, Facebook relaxed its parameters and began accepting any user in the world. And as the dominant social network, those bullish on Facebook believe its network effects will keep it relevant and avoid the declines of past online behemoths like AOL and MySpace. But the more skeptical look at Instagram's quick rise suggest that the next generation has already moved on from Facebook.

It it true? Are kids "over" Facebook? A recent Pew study sheds some light on this question.

Kids still use it
Even though having one's parents and grandparents on Facebook takes away from its cool factor, it turns out that kids still use it. This should give Facebook investors some confidence in its staying power, as it has integrated itself deeply into both the Internet's structure and society.

According to the survey, the percentage of social media-using teens who use Facebook increased from 93% in 2011 to 94% in 2012. Somehow, the site became more popular.

Of course, other sites gained and fell in popularity. Twitter's popularity increased from 12% of social teens to 26%. MySpace fell from 24% to 7%. While Yahoo!  fell from 7% to 2%, its new acquisition, Tumblr, increased from 2% to 5%. And, despite Google's attempts with Google Plus, only 3% of social media-using teens reported having a profile on the service.

Yahoo!'s billion-dollar-plus purchase of Tumblr looks like a shrewd move to capture users in the next generation, especially as page views move to more mobile platforms. Tumblr itself reports that its mobile page views are growing three times faster than desktop views, and mobile usage of the site will overtake desktop users later this year or early next year.

Google released a revamped Google Plus last week, with new features such as automatically adding related hashtags to posts, upping the amount of free space offered to store photos, and releasing a stand-alone "Hangouts" application. In the latest numbers Google gave in December, Google Plus had 500 million users, with 135 million actively using the site directly and not just through Gmail or search.

But how do they use it?
While these percentages help clarify general usage, the focus group quotes paint a more detailed picture of how the networks are used. For one, the presence of parents on Facebook forces teens to find other platforms. As a 19-year-old female states: "Yeah, that's why we go on Twitter and Instagram [instead of Facebook]. My mom doesn't have that." Also, Facebook is much more an extension of the real world than strictly an online realm. A 13-year-old girl says:

I feel like over Facebook, people can say whatever they want to. They can message you. And on Instagram you can delete the comment really easily, and you don't have to live with it, kind of. Whereas Facebook, if they say something mean, it hurts more. I don't know why it does. And also [Instagram] it's not public, so people tend to not come off so mean.

For many teens, a love-hate relationship with Facebook exists. They use it the most often out of any social network, but like to employ other services to communicate outside of what they might want to be easily seen in their public Facebook profile.

And, even though it appears Facebook has an unassailable dominance, new services like Instagram still crop up and become a hit with teens. Snapchat, an image messaging service that limits the time an image or video is able to be seen, is the latest popular application. As a 16-year-old girl says:

Well, because Facebook, everyone sees what I'm doing. But Snapchat is just to one person, unless they're a jerk and they screenshot it and post it on Facebook. But mostly it's just the person that you're sending it to, so it's like a conversation.

Moats and network effects
Facebook is well aware of threats, and like the case with Instagram, isn't afraid to shell out some cash to stop them. The fluid nature of Internet popularity still might spark some doubts in Facebook's ability to stay on top, but so far, the data shows no such drop off for the next generation.

The article Facebook: Kids Still Use It, but It's Not Cool originally appeared on Fool.com.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Though the Dow Jones Industrial Average spent most of the day underwater, a steady upward climb was enough to give it a slight win for the day, finishing with a gain of eight points, or 0.06%. A day after the Japanese Nikkei fell more than 7%, U.S. markets seemed to wake up with a hangover, as investors were still digesting the reality that the Fed's bond-buying program could soon be tapering off. In the only economic report of the day, durable goods came in well ahead of schedule, jumping 3.3% in April, on expectations of 1.6%.

Also providing a jolt for the Dow was Procter & Gamble , gaining 4% after announcing a change at CEO. The consumer-goods giant said current CEO Bob McDonald is retiring, and will be replaced with former chief A.G. Lafley, effective immediately. Shares hit an all-time high on the news. Some investors, including activist investor Bill Ackman, who owns a 1% stake in the company, have been agitating for a switch, as the consumer-goods giant has had a tough time finding new growth channels because its products are already ubiquitous. Lafley is 65, and many expect him to help groom a successor. P&G share slid 6% last month in its earnings report due to slow revenue growth and a poor outlook.

Hewlett-Packard , meanwhile, was the Dow's worst-performing stock today, falling 2.6% after soaring 17% the day before on a strong earnings report and outlook. Today's drop was not news-driven, and seems to be merely a correction after yesterday's bounce. HP has been the best-performing Dow stock this year, but also one of the most volatile, and with revenues still declining quickly, there's no guarantee the stock will be able to maintain the gains we've seen thus far.

The only other Dow stock to move more than 1% today was Wal-Mart , which gained 1.3% after announcing a program to help improve its inventory system. The world's biggest retailer has reportedly hired an outside auditor to add neon green dots to items that are particularly sensitive to stockouts. Separately, Wal-Mart also announced it would sell Fatburger patties, a burger chain popular on the west coast, a deal that could help the retailer gain favor with fans of the fast-food chain.

The article Dow Limps Into Holiday Weekend originally appeared on Fool.com.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Tupperware Brands is reaching into its corporate bowl for a fresh payout to shareholders. The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.62 per share. This will be paid on July 8 to stockholders of record as of June 19. That amount matches the firm's previous distribution, which was paid in early April. Prior to that, Tupperware Brands was rather less generous, handing out $0.36 per share.

The company is an extremely reliable and regular payer of dividends. Over the past decade, its distribution has ranged from $0.22 per share to the present level.

The just-declared dividend annualizes to $2.48 per share. That yields just under 3% at Tupperware Brands' most recent closing stock price of $82.72.

Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they've bought and sold, via "13F" filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let's look at Joel Greenblatt's Gotham Asset Management. It's of great interest to many investors because Greenblatt is the author of the well-regarded and best-selling The Little Book That Beats the Market and because his system of seeking out companies with high returns on capital and hefty earnings yields. His "Magic Formula" has many fans. As my colleague Morgan Housel has noted, "The simple formula absolutely destroys market averages over time. Greenblatt backs this up with considerable statistical evidence."

The company's reportable stock portfolio totaled $2.0 billion in value as of March 31, 2013.

Interesting developments
So what does Gotham's latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:

The biggest new holdings are Seagate Technology and Warner Chilcott. Other new holdings of interest include Tellabs and Windstream . Tellabs offers a satisfying dividend yield of 3.7%, but the networking equipment maker has been facing some headwinds, such as the death of its CEO and the recent departure of its CFO. Its performance has been spotty, besting estimates in its fourth quarter but disappointing them in the recent first quarter.

Rural telecom company Windstream has an even more fetching dividend yield, north of 11%! But while it's shifting its focus more toward broadband service, it remains significantly a landline company, and its last quarter featured declining revenue. It did post a profit, but not one that would support its current dividend level. Its investments in new revenue streams may ultimately pay off, though.

Among holdings in which Gotham Asset Management increased its stake was Atmel , which makes touchscreen controllers. The stock recently hit a 52-week high, but it has been posting shrinking revenue and earnings lately. The company is plumping up its profit margins by cutting costs, has a growing backlog, and expects improving business conditions. Some see the stock as undervalued, with its forward P/E near 14.

Gotham Asset Management reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Frontier Communications . Frontier, like Windstream, is a high-yielding rural telecom specialist. It's weighed down with considerable debt, and though it is shifting its business focus, favoring business customers now, it's been posting declining revenue lately. Its credit rating took a hit in recent months as well.

Finally, Gotham's biggest closed positions included Wells Fargo warrants and Georgia Gulf. Other closed positions of interest include Nuance Communications , which develops speech-recognition software. The stock sank late last month, after posting disappointing earnings. Nuance is threatened by weak demand, shrinking margins, and intensifying competition. Carl Icahn has taken a big stake in the company, but some doubt the wisdom of that. With its seemingly low valuation, some see it as a buyout candidate.

We should never blindly copy any investor's moves, no matter how talented the investor. But it can be useful to keep an eye on what smart folks are doing. 13-F forms can be great places to find intriguing candidates for our portfolios.

The article Here's What This "Market-Destroying" Investor Is Buying originally appeared on Fool.com.