Out Fox The $treet

Lam Research (LRCX) reported a strong quarter after the close and the stock is up about 5% in initial trading. The company provided the market with $5 billion reasons to own the stock.

Applied Materials (AMAT) spent the last year convincing people of a new normal in the semiconductor space, but the December guidance suggests the cyclical sector hasn't changed at all. - Downside Q1 guidance has revenue of $3.56B to $3.66B (consensus: $3.98B) and EPS of $0.75 to $0.83 (consensus: $0.93; -25% Y/Y at midpoint). Consensus was for a revenue decline so it wasn't like the market expected great quarterly numbers from AMAT. The odd part was the decision of the BOD to spend $751 million during the quarter on share repurchases. Any company expecting to miss estimates by such a wide margin should not be loading up on stock buybacks. The question here is whether the cycle has further downside. AMAT still expects solid profits so now isn't the time to runaway, but its too early until after Thanksgiving to even think about chasing the after-hours dip to $32. Lets see where AMAT trades on Friday.

This article is a continuation of a monthly series highlighting the top net payout yield stocks that was started in June, 2012 (see  article ). The series highlights the best stocks for the upcoming month. Please review the original article for more information on the net payout yield concept. January Returns Below are two charts highlighting the monthly returns of the top ten stocks from January (see list  here ). Due to limitations with YCharts, the chart was broken into the Top 5 and Next 5 lists. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long AMP, COP, DTV, KSS, MSI, NLY, and WLP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

When Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX ) reported earnings on Monday night, it confirmed that the company had continued a massive buyback spree that began in January of 2012. Along with a current 4.5% dividend yield, the stock provides a massive net payout yield (NPY) of almost 30%. The company is a worldwide leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Seagate dropped over 9% as investors were disappointed with results more » Disclosure: Long MSI. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

This article is a continuation of a monthly series highlighting the top net payout yield stocks that was started in June (see article ). The series highlights the best stocks for the upcoming month. Please review the original article for more information on the net payout yield concept. December Returns Below are two charts highlighting the monthly returns of the top 10 stocks from December (see list here ). Due to limitations with YCharts, the chart was broken into the Top 5 and Next 5 lists. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long AMP, COP, DTV, KSS, MSI, NLY, WLP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.