qualcomm

Everyone knows that Apple under Steve Jobs performed wonderfully. But if you ask employees, the Mac maker is doing even better with Tim Cook at the helm. Surprised? You should be.

There are several stocks out there that seem expensive, but only in the rearview mirror -- especially shares of fast-growing tech firms, or companies that do great business overseas. Read on to find out how to spot a stock worth buying.

If the growing buzz by smartphone manufacturers and tech bloggers is to be believed, we're now just a few weeks away from the iPhone 5. Apple has been fairly quiet, but that's typical of this secretive company. Using history and the rumor mill as our guide, we can begin to arrive at some fairly likely conclusions. Let's go over five of them.

Mergers and acquisitions are becoming ever more popular, with activity up 24% in the first two months of this year -- after already growing 23% in 2010. Here's how your portfolio can benefit from this trend.

In a move to help it target tablet computers, cell-phone-chip designer Qualcomm has reportedly offered $3.5 billion to buy Atheros Communications, which has developed chips that connect wireless computers to the Internet.

U.S. corporate dividends are showing a big turnaround just one year after recording their worst quarter in history. S&P reports that 399 companies added $6.4 billion to dividends in the first quarter. By contrast, 367 companies cut dividends by a record $43.8 billion a year ago.

You'd never know it from recent equity action, but fourth-quarter earnings season has so far been remarkably strong. Apart from when the news is bad, earnings reports have gotten the cold shoulder from investors so far this season.

Fueled by the surging popularity of its Kindle reader, effective holiday discounts and free shipping, which we skeptics used to argue would bleed the Seattle-based company dry, online retailer Amazon (AMZN) posted better-than-expected results on Thursday. Net income soared 71% to $384 million, or...

There's been a lot of fuss at the Las Vegas electronics show over tablets and 3-D TVs, but Intel's new platform for mobile devices is a big deal. Long the leader in computer chips, Intel sees a market for its chips in mobile devices with the blurring of boundaries between computers and smartphones.

Boxee CEO Avner Ronen put up a slide at the NewTeeVee confab in San Francisco Thursday that showed a startling trend: There will be more Apple (AAPL) iTunes subscribers than Comcast (CMSCA) subscribers within a few years, Ronen contended. Them's fighting words for cable and programming giant...