Wednesday, November 26, 2014

5 Best Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now

I am young, unmarried. Where do I invest?

This is the phase when you can take maximum risks with your investments as you have no dependents or, for that matter, even other financial responsibilities.

Married with young children, and expenses are rising?

You probably are planning to take a home loan soon and maybe already have a car loan. Given your income status, you are probably in a position to take risks even at this phase.

Only earning member in the family?

You are married with young children and your spouse is no longer working. Your expenses are rising and you may pile on credit card debts. Since you have only one income coming in, you should be cautious with your expenditure.

You are married with older children?

By now you should also have cleared off most of your major loans like your home loan. If your children are no longer dependent on you, you may consider closing term insurance policies and leaving only so much as your spouse would need.

Top 5 Electric Utility Stocks To Watch For 2015: IHS Inc. (IHS)

IHS Inc. (IHS), incorporated on May 5, 1994, is a source of information and insight in areas, such as energy and power; design and supply chain; defense, risk, and security; environment, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability; country and industry forecasting, and commodities, pricing, and cost. The Company is organized by geographies into three business segments: Americas, which includes the United States, Canada, and Latin America; EMEA, which includes Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and APAC (Asia Pacific). IHS sources data and transforms it into information and insight that businesses, Governments, and others use every day to make decisions. Its product development teams have also created Web services and application interfaces. These services allow its customers to integrate the Company�� information with other data, business processes and applications (computer-aided design, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, and product data/lifecycle management). The Company develops its offerings based on its customers' workflows, and it sells and delivers them into the industries in which IHS�� customers operate. As of November 30, 2011, HIS focused on five customer workflows: strategy, planning, and analysis; energy technical; product engineering; supply chain, and EHS & sustainability. As of November 30, 2011, it was focused on six verticals: energy and natural resources; Government, defense and security; chemicals; transportation; manufacturing, and technology, media, and telecommunications. In March 2012, the Company acquired Displaybank, a global authority in market research and consulting for the display industry; the Computer Assisted Product Selection (CAPSTM) electronic components database and tools business, including CAPS Expert, from PartMiner Worldwide, and the digital oil and gas pipeline and infrastructure information business from Hild Technology Services. In March 2012, the Company acquired IMS Research. In March 2012, the Company acquired BDW Automotive GmbH. I! n May 2012, it acquired Xedar Corporation, a developer and provider of geospatial information products and services. In July 2012, the Company acquired CyberRegs business from Citation Technologies, Inc. In July 2012, the Company acquired GlobalSpec, Inc. On April 16, 2011, IHS acquired ODS-Petrodata (Holdings) Ltd. ODS-Petrodata is a provider of data, information, and market intelligence to the offshore energy industry. On April 26, 2011, it acquired Dyadem International, Ltd. (Dyadem). Dyadem offers operational risk management and quality risk management solutions. On May 2, 2011, the Company acquired Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI). CMAI is a leading provider of market and business advisory services for the worldwide petrochemical, specialty chemicals, fertilizer, plastics, fibers, and chlor-alkali industries. On August 10, 2011, the Company acquired Seismic Micro-Technology (SMT). SMT offers Windows-based exploration and production software, and its solutions are used by geoscientists worldwide to evaluate potential reservoirs and plan field development. On November 10, 2011, it acquired Purvin & Gertz. Purvin & Gertz is a global advisory and market research firm that provides technical, commercial, and strategic advice to international clients in the petroleum refining, natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and petrochemical industries. Energy and Power IHS covers the technical and economic spectrum of energy and power. Detailed records and forecasts on oil, gas and coal supplies, combined with insights on traditional and emerging energy markets, help enable its customers to make decisions. Its offerings include production information on more than 90 % of the world's oil and gas production in more than 100 countries; oil and gas well data that includes geological information on more than four million current and historic wells worldwide; energy activity data that includes current and future seismic, drilling and development activities in more than 180 countries and 335 hydrocarbon-producing regions worldwide; information and research to develop unconventional hydrocarbon resources-shale gas, coal bed methane and heavy oil; knowledge of energy markets, strategies, industry trends, and companies; information and research summits, such as IHS CERAWeek and the IHS Herold Pacesetters Energy Conference, which offer decision makers the opportunity to interact with its experts, and critical information about analysis of coal, nuclear and renewables, including wind, solar, and hydro power. The Company competes with DrillingInfo, Inc., TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, Accenture, Deloitte, Wood Mackenzie, Ltd., Schlumberger Limited, Halliburton, LMKR and Paradigm Ltd. Design and Supply Chain IHS Design and Supply Chain solutions provide information for customers that allow them to manage a product from conception to research and development to production, maintenance and disposal. It also provides companies access to specifications and standards. The Company�� offerings include market and technology research and analysis; standards management solutions, including more than 370 commercial and military standards and specification publishing organizations; advanced product design and process engineering; strategic product content and supply chain management; environmentally compliant product design; counterfeit part risk mitigation; product performance and cost optimization, and indirect parts and maintenance, repair, and operations logistics, inventory and cash flow optimization tables, including wind, solar, and hydro power. The Company competes with SAI Global and Thomson Reuters Corporation. Defense, Risk and Security IHS delivers open source intelligence in the areas of global defense, risk, and security, including maritime domain awareness. IHS offers open source intelligence solutions for military planners, national security analysts, and defense and maritime industry strategy and planning professionals. The Company�� offerings include military and national security assessments; defense equipment and technology information; defense budgets and procurement forecasting; defense industry trends and analysis; terrorism and insurgency analysis; global commercial ship identification and specifications; live tracking of commercial ship movements; shipping and shipbuilding markets and forecasts, and ports and port security information. The Company competes with McGraw-Hill, Gannett, Forecast International and Control Risks Group. EHS and Sustainability IHS EHS and Sustainability solutions support critical decisions around environmental, health and safety, operational risk, greenhouse gas and energy, product stewardship and corporate responsibility. The Company�� offerings include global and local software implementations; material compliance and lifecycle information content; strategic planning services in greenhouse gas management and cap-and-trade; compliance and verification expertise for local, regional, national, and international EHS and sustainability management system responsibilities, and risk management assessment across a range of industries. The Company competes with SAP and Verisk. Country and Industry Forecasting IHS delivers detailed forecasts and analysis of economic conditions within political, economic, legal, tax, operational, and security environments worldwide. Additionally, IHS provides forecasts, market-sizing, and risk assessments for a number of industries worldwide, including aerospace and defense, agriculture, automotive, chemicals, construction, consumer and retail, energy, finance, government, healthcare and pharmaceutical, military and security, mining and metals, commerce and transport, and telecommunications. Its offerings include in-depth analysis of the business conditions, economic prospects, and risks in more than 200 countries and more than 170 industries; security risk analysis and daily updates on both Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and sovereign risk ratings in more than 200 countries; event-driven updates of its risk analysis and ratings; short-, medium- and long-term forecasts for business planning and decision making; historical information since 1970; Deep market intelligence for the automotive, agriculture, chemicals, construction, consumer goods, commerce and transport, energy, financial, healthcare and pharmaceutical, telecommunications, and steel industries; and scenario explorations examining alternative outcomes to the questions impacting global business. The Company competes with Economist Intelligence Unit and Moody's Corporation. Commodities, Pricing and Cost IHS offers information, forecasts, and analysis to help its customers understand the how, when, and what of commodity prices and labor costs. IHS analysts monitor and forecast more than 1,300 global price, wage, and manufacturing costs across the regions for sectors, including energy products, chemicals, steel, nonferrous metals, industrial machinery and equipment, electronic components, paper and packaging, transportation, and building materials. Its offerings include analysis and forecasts for more than 1,300 global price, wage, and manufacturing costs; market intelligence of drivers, assumptions, and risks relating to commodity and service prices; cost and price data with actionable insights; forecasts covering global spot market prices, wages, and material costs; advisory forums to assist in monitoring, forecasting, and managing power and energy portfolio project costs, and consulting capabilities that enable clients to source materials. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    IHS (NYSE: IHS) is estimated to report its Q2 earnings at $1.44 per share on revenue of $551.27 million.

    The Kroger Co (NYSE: KR) is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $1.05 per share on revenue of $32.64 billion.

  • [By Laura Brodbeck]

    Next week investors will be waiting for several key earnings reports including Family Dollar Stores�(NYSE: FDO), Micron Technology�(NASDAQ: MU), Constellation Brands�(NYSE: STZ),�IHS (NYSE: IHS), and Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC).

  • [By Laura Brodbeck]

    Thursday

    Earnings Expected From: Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR), IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), Blackberry (NASDAQ: BBRY), Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) Economic Releases Expected:  Russian unemployment rate, eurozone consumer confidence, US initial and continuing jobless claims, British retail sales, Spanish trade balance

    Friday

5 Best Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: VirnetX Holding Corp(VHC)

VirnetX Holding Corporation engages in developing and commercializing software and technology solutions for securing real-time communications over the Internet. Its software and technology solutions, which include secure domain name registry and GABRIEL Connection Technology, facilitate secure communications and create a secure environment for real-time communication applications, such as instant messaging, voice over Internet protocol, smart phones, eReaders, and video conferencing. The company focuses on commercializing its technology to original equipment manufacturers within the IP-telephony, mobility, fixed-mobile convergence, and unified communications markets. VirnetX Holding Corporation was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By James E. Brumley]

    While there's no denying that Vringo, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNG) and VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEMKT:VHC) have made a big name for themselves - not to mention made big, even if uneven, gains for shareholder of VHC and VRNG - within the worked of intellectual property enforcement, bigger isn't always better. Smaller companies in the IP arena have a focus and flexibility that larger players like VirnetX and Vringo could never enjoy. Take, for instance, Endeavor IP Inc. (OTCBB:ENIP). This little patent owner may not look like much at first glance, but just ask the four organizations that have already entered licensing deals with ENIP and/or the four, well, now five companies that are currently litigating against Endeavor IP.... this little outfit packs a huge punch.

  • [By Tom Shaughnessy]

    The VirnetX (VHC) short side has opened its toolbox unveiling a simple and manipulative tool idea. It has been suggested that the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") has a limitless amount of control over Federal Court decisions. Although the USPTO does have a bearing in the validity of patents, they in no way can nullify the decision of a Federal Court judge. New Bay Capital LLC ("New Bay") is utilizing inter partes reviews through the USTPO, although a Federal Court judge is not bound by the USTPO's findings.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: Ford Motor Credit Company(F)

Ford Motor Company primarily develops, manufactures, distributes, and services vehicles and parts worldwide. It operates in two sectors, Automotive and Financial Services. The Automotive sector offers vehicles primarily under the Ford and Lincoln brand names. This sector markets cars, trucks, and parts through retail dealers in North America, and through distributors and dealers outside of North America. It also sells cars and trucks to dealers for sale to fleet customers, including daily rental car companies, commercial fleet customers, leasing companies, and governments. In addition, this sector provides retail customers with a range of after-sale vehicle services and products in the areas, such as maintenance and light repair, heavy repair, collision repair, vehicle accessories, and extended service contracts under the Ford Service, Lincoln Service, Ford Custom Accessories, Ford Extended Service Plan, and Motorcraft brand names. The Financial Services sector offers vari ous automotive financing products to and through automotive dealers. It offers retail financing, which includes retail installment contracts for new and used vehicles; direct financing leases; wholesale financing products that comprise loans to dealers to finance the purchase of vehicle inventory; loans to dealers to finance working capital, purchase real estate dealership, and/or make improvements to dealership facilities; and other financing products, as well as provides insurance services. Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 and is based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Daniel Sparks]

    In the first quarter, Tesla's gross margin of 17.15% outperformed a number of auto manufacturers. Ford (NYSE: F  ) , for instance, reported a gross profit margin of 16.21% during the same period -- and that was on sales of about 1.5 million vehicles. To make this comparison fair, however, it's important to note that Tesla's core auto business' gross margin was just 2% in the quarter, according to Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas. ZEV credits were a major contributor to the company's 17% gross margin, says Jonas.

  • [By John Rosevear]

    Over the last few years, Ford's (NYSE: F  ) ability to execute its ambitious plans has been top-notch.

    Near death just a few short years ago, the iconic automaker is now strong and profitable, with a big cash reserve to hedge against future downturns.

  • [By Reuters]

    Stan Honda, AFP/Getty ImagesGM's Cadillac brand was one of the biggest gainers in the latest J.D. Power vehicle reliability survey. DETROIT -- Engine and transmission problems caused quality in the U.S. auto industry to slip for the first time in 16 years in a vehicle dependability study of owners of 3-year-old cars and trucks, falling from last year's record-high levels. The industry's 2011-model cars, introduced in 2010, the year after sector sales hit a 28-year low during the recession, saw a nearly 6 percent decline in quality to 133 problems per 100 vehicles from 126 last year, according to the J.D. Power U.S. vehicle dependability survey released Wednesday. It was the first increase in the average number of problems since 1998. General Motors (GM), the No. 1 U.S. automaker, received eight segment awards, tops in the industry, and all four of its brands finished above the industry average. Its luxury Cadillac brand was one of the biggest gainers in the survey, jumping 11 spots to rank as the third most reliable. The biggest complaints among the more than 41,000 owners surveyed were about engine hesitation, rough transmission shifts and lack of power, but David Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power, said a lot of that was due to lack of consumer familiarity with the smaller, less powerful 4-cylinder engines many buy now. "The manufacturers are starting to recalibrate the engine and transmission to squeeze every last point-one mpg out of the vehicle to help them hit CAFE regulations," he said of the rising federal fuel efficiency standards. "Some of the manufacturers accept that by doing that there's a compromise," Sargent added. "The consumers complain that the engine and transmission are not responding the way they want." Engine and transmission problems rose by nearly six per 100 vehicles, accounting for most of the industry's overall increase, and the decline was particularly sharp with 4-cylinder engines, where the number of p

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Back in the heyday of the automobile, there were dozens and dozens of car manufacturers. In addition to�Ford (NYSE: F  ) , General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) , and Chrysler, we had top nameplates like Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, and more, with all but the Big Three eventually succumbing to competitive issues and fading from the marketplace.

5 Best Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: HNI Corp (HNI)

HNI Corporation, incorporated in 1944, is a provider of office furniture and hearth products. The Company operates in two segments: office furniture and hearth products. A broad office furniture product offering is sold to dealers, wholesalers, national office product distributors, end-user customers, and federal, state and local governments. Hearth products include a range of gas, electric, wood and biomass burning fireplaces, inserts, stoves, facings and accessories. These products are sold through a national system of dealers and distributors, as well as Corporation-owned distribution and retail outlets. It manufactures office furniture in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Texas and China. The Company manufactures hearth products in Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington and Pennsylvania. On November 14, 2011, the Company acquired Sagus International, Inc. (Sagus), a designer and manufacturer of educational furniture solutions. In August 2012, the Company BP Ergo Limited, a manufacturer and marketer of office furniture in India.

Eight operating units, marketing under various brand names, participate in the office furniture industry. These operating units include The HON Company, Allsteel Inc., Maxon Furniture Inc., The Gunlocke Company L.L.C., Paoli Inc., Hickory Business Furniture, LLC (HBF), Sagus and HNI Hong Kong Limited (Lamex). The operating unit Hearth & Home Technologies Inc. (Hearth & Home) participates in the hearth products industry. The retail and distribution brand for this operating unit is Fireside Hearth & Home. HNI International Inc. (HNI International) sells office furniture products manufactured by the Company�� operating units in select markets outside the United States and Canada. With dealers and servicing partners located in more than 50 countries, HNI International provides project management services virtually worldwide. The Company distributes its products through a network of independent office furniture dealers,! office products dealers, wholesalers and retailers. The Company is a supplier of office furniture to the nationwide distributors of office products.

Office Furniture

The Company designs, manufactures and markets a range of office furniture in four categories: storage, including vertical files, lateral files and pedestals; seating, including task chairs, executive desk chairs, conference/training chairs, side chairs and educational chairs and desk combinations; office systems (modular and moveable workspaces with integrated work surfaces, space dividers and lighting), and desks and related products, including tables, bookcases and credenzas. Its products are sold under the brand names, such as HON, Allsteel, Maxon, Gunlocke, Paoli, HBF, Artco Bell, Midwest Folding Products, LSI Corporation of America, basyx and Lamex, as well as private labels.

The Company offers a range of storage options designed either to be integrated into its office systems products or to function as freestanding furniture in office applications. The Company sells its freestanding storage through independent office products and office furniture dealers, nationwide chains of office products dealers, wholesalers and national office product distributors. The Company's seating line includes chairs designed for all types of office work.

It offers a complete line of office panel system products for team work settings, private offices and open floor plans. The Company offers whole office solutions, movable panels, storage units and work surfaces that can be installed and reconfigured. The Company and its dealer partners also offer consultative selling and design services for its office system products.

The Company�� offering of desks and related products includes stand-alone steel, laminate and wood furniture items, such as desks, bookshelves, credenzas and mobile desking. The Company's desks and related products are sold to a range of customers from those designing office config! urations ! to small retail and home office purchasers. It offers a range of tables designed for use in conference rooms, private offices, educational institutions, training areas, team work settings and open floor plans. It is North America�� manufacturer and marketer of prefabricated fireplaces, hearth stoves and related products, primarily for the home, which it sells under Heatilator, Heat & Glo, Quadra-Fire and Harman Stove brand names.

The Company�� line of hearth products includes a range of gas, electric and wood burning fireplaces, inserts, stoves, facings and accessories. Heatilator and Heat & Glo are brand in the two segments of the home fireplace market: vented-gas and wood fireplaces. In addition, the Company is also engaged in pellet-burning stoves and furnaces with its Quadra-Fire and Harman product lines, which provide home heating solutions using renewable fuel.

The Company competes with Steelcase Inc., Haworth, Inc., Herman Miller, Inc., Knoll, Inc., The Global Group, Kimball International, Inc., KI, Virco Mfg. Corporation, Teknion Corporation, Travis Industries Inc., Lennox International Inc., Monessen Hearth Systems Co., FMI Products, LLC, Wolf Steel Ltd. (Napoleon) and FPI Fireplace Products International Ltd. (Regency).

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Fireplace and office furniture maker�HNI� (NYSE: HNI  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.24 per share, the same rate it paid for the last four quarters after it raised the payout a penny from $0.23 per share.

  • [By Anna Prior]

    HNI Corp.(HNI) said it plans to close its Midwest Folding Products facility as part of an ongoing cost-cutting effort. The Iowa office-furniture maker said it would consolidate the Chicago production into an existing education-furniture manufacturing facility and estimated it would save $2.3 million a year starting in 2015.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Top Solar Stocks For 2015

Top Solar Stocks For 2015: JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd.(JASO)

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., through its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of photovoltaic solar cells and solar products, which convert sunlight into electricity in the People's Republic of China. The company?s principal products include monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells, as well as various solar modules. It also provides silicon wafer and solar cell processing services. The company sells its products primarily under the JA Solar brand name, as well as produces equipment for original equipment manufacturing customers under their brand names. It sells its solar cell and module products primarily to module manufacturers, system integrators, project developers, and distributors in the Germany, Italy, the United States, Hong Kong, Spain, India, the Czech Republic, France, and South Korea. The company has strategic partnerships with various solar power companies, such as BP Solar, Solar-Fabrik, and MEMC/SunEdison. JA Solar H oldings Co., Ltd. was founded in 2005 and is based in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Big Earnings Movers: Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is up 8.7% at $88.05 following positive results and a raised outlook. Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is down 6% at $15.45 as the bookseller watches its revenue slide. JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down 10.3% at $XX on a mixed earnings report and LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) is flat at $1.60.

  • source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-solar-stocks-for-2015-2.html

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Best Defense Companies To Watch For 2015

Best Defense Companies To Watch For 2015: Hexcel Corp (HXL)

Hexcel Corporation (Hexcel), incorporated in 1948, is a composites company. The Company develops, manufactures and markets composites, including carbon fibers, reinforcements, prepregs, honeycomb, matrix systems, adhesives and composite structures, for use in Commercial Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Industrial Applications. Its products are used in a variety of end applications, such as commercial and military aircraft, space launch vehicles and satellites, wind turbine blades, automotive, bikes, skis and a variety of other industrial applications. Hexcel has two segments: Composite Materials and Engineered Products. The Composite Materials consists of carbon fiber, reinforcements for composites, honeycomb core and matrix product lines. The Engineered Products consists of composite structures and specially machined honeycomb product lines.

Composite Materials

The Composite Materials segment manufactures and markets carbon fibers, fabrics and specialt y reinforcements, prepregs, structural adhesives, honeycomb, composite panels, molding compounds, polyurethane systems and laminates that are incorporated into many applications, including military and commercial aircraft, wind turbine blades, recreational products and other industrial applications. HexTow carbon fibers are manufactured for sale to third-party customers, as well as for its own use in manufacturing certain reinforcements and composite materials. Carbon fibers are woven into carbon fabrics, used as reinforcement in conjunction with a resin matrix to produce pre-impregnated composite materials. Carbon fibers is also used in filament winding, hand layup, automatic tape layup and advanced fiber placement to produce finished composite components. Its carbon fibers product applications include structural components for commercial and military aircraft, space launch vehicles, and certain other applications, such as recreational and industrial equipment. !

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Industrial fabrics and specialty reinforcements are ma! de from a variety of fibers, including carbon, aramid and other polymers, several types of fiberglass, quartz, ceramic and other specialty fibers. These reinforcements are used in the production of prepregs and other matrix materials used in primary and secondary structural aerospace applications, such as wing components, horizontal and vertical stabilizer components, fairings, radomes and engine nacelles, as well as overhead storage bins and other interior components. Hexcels reinforcements are also used in the manufacture of a variety of industrial and recreational products, such as wind energy blades, automotive components, boats, surfboards, skis and other sporting goods equipment.

HexPly prepregs are manufactured for sale to third-party customers and for internal use by its engineered products segment in manufacturing composite laminates and monolithic structures, including finished components for aircraft structures and interiors. Prepregs are manufact ured by combining reinforcement fabrics or unidirectional fibers with a resin matrix to form a composite material with structural properties not present in either of the constituent materials. Reinforcement fabrics used in the manufacture of prepregs include glass, carbon, aramid, quartz, ceramic and other specialty reinforcements. Resin matrices include bismaleimide, cyanate ester, epoxy, phenolic, polyester, polyimide and other specialty resins.

Other fiber reinforced matrix developments include HexMC, a form of quasi-isotropic carbon fiber prepreg that enables small to medium sized composite components to be mass produced. HexTOOL is a specialized form of HexMC for use in the construction of high temperature composite tooling. HexFIT film infusion material is a product that combines resin films and dry fiber reinforcements in production and enables the manufacture of contoured composite structures, such as wind turbine blades.

Poly! mer matri! x ma terials are sold in bulk and film form for use in direct pro! cess manu! facturing of composite parts. Resins can be combined with fiber reinforcements in manufacturing processes, such as resin transfer molding (RTM), resin film infusion (RFI) or vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) to produce composite components for both aerospace and industrial applications. Hexcel manufactures and markets a range of Redux film and paste adhesives. These structural adhesives, which bond metal to metal and composites and honeycomb structures, are used in the aerospace industry and for many industrial applications.

HexWeb honeycomb is a cellular structure consisting of nested hexagonal cells. The product is similar in appearance to a cross-sectional slice of a beehive. It can also be manufactured in asymmetric cell configurations for more specialized applications. Honeycomb is primarily used as a lightweight core material and acts as an energy absorber. When sandwiched between composite or metallic facing skins, honeycomb increases the st iffness of the structure, while adding very little weight. The Company produces honeycomb from a number of metallic and non-metallic materials. Its metallic honeycomb is made from aluminum and is available in a selection of alloys, cell sizes and dimensions. Non-metallic materials used in the manufacture of honeycomb include fiberglass, carbon fiber, thermoplastics, non-flammable aramid papers, aramid fiber and other specialty materials. During the year ended December 31, 2011, revenues for the Composite Materials segment to third-party customers represented approximately 77% of its total revenues.

Engineered Products

The Engineered Products segment manufactures and markets composite structures and precision machined honeycomb parts for use in the aerospace industry. Composite structures are manufactured from a variety of composite and other materials, including prepregs, honeycomb, structural adhesives and advanced molding ma! terials, ! using such man ufacturing processes, as autoclave processing, multi-axis nu! merically! controlled machining, heat forming, compression molding and other composite manufacturing techniques. During 2011, revenues for the Engineered Products segment to third-party customers represented approximately 23% of its total revenues. The Engineered Products business unit has a 50% ownership interest in a Malaysian joint venture, Asian Composites Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By MONEYMORNING.COM]

    There's also the advanced materials firm Hexcel Corp. (NYSE: HXL), which supplies honeycomb composites to some of the biggest names in the aerospace industry.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Hexcel (NYSE: HXL  ) reported earnings on July 22. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Hexcel met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

  • [By Rich Smith]

    This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include a pair of aerospace upgrades for European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (NASDAQOTH: EADSY  ) and Hexcel (NYSE: HXL  ) . But it's not all good news, so let's start off by finding out why.

  • source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/best-defense-companies-to-watch-for-2015.html

Friday, November 21, 2014

Top 5 Diversified Bank Stocks For 2014

Organizers said that 100 workers protested for higher wages in Los Angeles, and five were arrested.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Five Wal-Mart workers were arrested Thursday night while protesting for higher wages in Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said that the company knows of three current and two former employees who were arrested.

The workers were among 49 other activists arrested, according to OUR Walmart, the union-backed group behind the demonstrations.

The organizing group, including clergy members and community organizers, had been staging a two-day strike, asking the nation's largest retailer for higher pay, better benefits and hours, and the right to speak up without retaliation. OUR Walmart estimated that 100 workers picketed over the course of two days.

10 Best Consumer Service Stocks To Own Right Now: Bayer AG (BAYRY.PK)

Bayer AG is a management holding company. The Company�� business operations are organized into three subgroups: HealthCare, CropScience and MaterialScience, supported by the service companies Bayer Business Services, Bayer Technology Services and Currenta. Bayer HealthCare is involved in the research, development and manufacture of health products for people and animals. Bayer CropScience is engaged in the crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. Bayer MaterialScience supplies polymers, and develops solution for a range of applications. In November 2009, Bayer MaterialScience acquired the polymer coatings business from Lombard Medical Technologies PLC. On November 2, 2009, it acquired Athenix Corporation. On October 1, 2009, it acquired two dermatology product lines from SkinMedica, Inc., Carlsbad, California, United States. On June 25, 2009, it acquired the remaining 10% interest in Bayer Polymers (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., China. In May 2009, it acquired the remaining 49% interest in Berlimed, s.a., Spain, from Juste s.a. Quimica Farmac茅utica (Juste), and in return sold its 51% interest of Justesa Imagen, s.a., Spain, to Juste. In May 2009, it also sold the Thermoplastics Testing Center, Krefeld, Germany, to Underwriters Laboratories Inc. In March 2010, the Company announced that its Bayer MaterialScience LLC has acquired Artificial Muscle, Inc, a company active in electroactive polymers for the consumer electronics industry.

Bayer HealthCare

The Company researches, develops, manufactures pharmaceutical and medical products. Bayer HealthCare operates in four operating divisions: Animal Health, which is engaged in manufacture of veterinary medicines and grooming products; Bayer Schering Pharma, which is engaged in manufacture of prescription medicines; Consumer Care, which is engaged in the manufacture of over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements, and Medical Care, which is engaged in manufacture of blood glucose monitoring devices and contrast agent injecti! on systems. Its products for farm animals include Baytril. Its products for companion animals include Advantage/Advantix and Baytril. Its drug discovery in the pharmaceuticals segment focuses on the areas of cardiology, oncology,

women�� healthcare and diagnostic imaging.

Bayer CropScience

CropScience maintains a global network of research and development facilities. In the Crop Protection segment it identifies and develops safe and economically sustainable insecticides, fungicides and herbicides and carries its research projects in areas, such as plant health or stress tolerance. As of December 31, 2009, its active ingredient pipeline of Crop Protection contained 20 development projects, of which 10 was at an advanced stage and 10 at an early stage of development, and an additional 45 projects was undergoing early-stage research. Its operations are structured into six business operations units: four regional Crop Protection units plus the Environmental Science and BioScience units. Its insecticides include Confidor/ Admire, Calypso, Decis, Temik and Oberon. Its fungicides include Antracol, Fandango, Flint/Stratego/Sphere/Twist, Folicur and Previcur Energy. Its herbicides include Atlantis, Basta, Betanal, Fenikan, Hoestar, Husar, MaisTer, Puma. Its seed treatment products include Bariton, Gaucho, Lamarador, Poncho and Raxil.

Bayer MaterialScience

The Company supplies materials, such as polycarbonates and polyurethanes and system solutions for a range of everyday uses. It operates in three business units: Polyurethanes, Polycarbonates, and Coatings, Adhesives and Specialties. Its Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties producst include Desmodur, Bayhydur, Dispercoll and Artwalk. Its Polycarbonates include Makrolon, Makrofol / Bayfol, Fantasia and Bayblend. Its Polyurethanes include Multitec, Baydur, Bayflex, Baypreg and Vulkollan. Its Thermoplastic Polyurethanes include Desmopan / Texin.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Henry Kawabe]

    In June, Seattle Genetics announced it entered into a collaboration with Bayer HealthCare (BAYRY.PK) for access to its Seattle Genetics' auristatin-based ADC technology to create cancer drugs that home in on tumors and then deliver a toxic dose to their cells. The collaboration will generate upfront and option exercise fees of up to $20 million. Seattle Genetics is also eligible to receive up to approximately $500 million in potential milestone payments, as well as royalties on worldwide net sales of any resulting products under the multi-target collaboration.

Top 5 Diversified Bank Stocks For 2014: Lance Inc.(LNCE)

Snyder?s-Lance, Inc. manufactures, markets, and distributes snack food products primarily in the United States. Its products include pretzels, sandwich crackers, kettle chips, cookies, potato chips, tortilla chips, other salty snacks, sugar wafers, nuts, and restaurant style crackers. The company sells its products principally under the Snyder?s of Hanover, Lance, Cape Cod, Krunchers!, Jays, Tom?s, Archway, Grande, Stella D?oro, O-Ke-Doke, EatSmart, and Padrinos brand names. It also purchases and sells cakes, meat snacks, and candy under its brands, as well as partner brand products for resale. Snyder?s-Lance, Inc. sells its products through direct-store-delivery network, distributors, and direct sales to grocery/mass merchandisers, convenience stores, club stores, discount stores, food service establishments, drug stores, schools, military and government facilities, recreational facilities, offices, and other independent retailers. The company was formerly known as L ance, Inc. and changed its name to Snyder?s-Lance, Inc. in December 2010. Snyder?s-Lance, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina with additional offices in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Alex Planes]

    At a quarter the size of Snyder's-Lance (NASDAQ: LNCE  ) , Diamond could actually be a buyout candidate in its own right, assuming its larger competitors can come to trust its accounting. It would be an easy acquisition for either Kellogg or General Mills� (NYSE: GIS  ) , neither of which has any notable nut or popcorn brands to speak of.

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    As part of snack food maker�Snyder's-Lance's� (NASDAQ: LNCE  ) first-quarter earnings report today,�it�announced the payment�of its regularly quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share.

Top 5 Diversified Bank Stocks For 2014: Kraft Foods Group Inc (KRFT)

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (Kraft Foods Group), incorporated on March 16, 2012, operates food and beverage businesses in North America. The Company manufactures and markets food and beverage products, including convenient meals, refreshment beverages and coffee, cheese and other grocery products, in the United States and Canada, under a stable of iconic brands. Its product categories span breakfast, lunch and dinner meal occasions, both at home and in foodservice locations. The Company sells its products to supermarket chains, wholesalers, supercenters, club stores, mass merchandisers, distributors, convenience stores, drug stores, gasoline stations, value stores and other retail food outlets in the United States and Canada. On September 14, 2012, the Company�� parent company, Kraft Foods Inc. (Kraft ParentCo), issued a press release relating to the anticipated trading markets for Kraft Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Group, Inc. common stock through the completion of its spin-off from Kraft Foods Inc. In October 2012, Mondelez International, Inc. completed the spin-off of North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group. In June 2013, Kraft Foods Group Inc announced plans to create two new, standalone business units: Meals and Desserts, and Enhancers and Snack Nuts.

The Company�� brand portfolio consists of food brands in North America, including three brands: Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; Oscar Mayer meats, and Maxwell House coffees- plus over 20 brands. It manufactures and sells food and beverage products in 50 categories. The Company operates in five segments: U.S. Beverages, which manufactures packaged juice drinks, powdered beverages and coffee; U.S. Cheese, which manufactures processed, natural and cream cheeses; U.S. Convenient Meals, which manufactures processed meats and lunch combinations; U.S. Grocery, which manufactures spoonable and pourable dressings, condiments, desserts, packaged dinners and snack nuts, and Canada & N.A. Foodservice, which sells products that span ! all of its segments and includes the Canadian and Puerto Rico grocery business, the North American foodservice operations and the North American Grocery Export Business.

U.S. Beverages

During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company�� U.S. Beverages segment contributed 16% of its combined net revenues. This segment manufactures refreshment beverages, including Capri Sun (under license) and Kool-Aid packaged juice drinks, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light and Country Timepowdered beverages and MiO liquid concentrate, and coffee products, including Maxwell House, Gevalia and Yuban coffees, Maxwell House Internationalbeverage mixers and Tassimo (under license) hot beverage system.

U.S. Cheese

During 2011, U.S. Cheese segment had contributed 20% of the Company�� combined net revenues. This segment manufactures processed cheese, including Velveeta and Cheez Whiz processed cheeses, Kraft and Deli Deluxe processed cheese slices, Kraft grated cheeses and Polly-O and Athenos hummus and cheeses; natural cheese, including Kraft and Cracker Barrel natural cheeses, and cream cheese, including Philadelphia cream cheese and cooking creme.

U.S. Convenient Meals

During 2011, the Company�� U.S. Convenient Meals segment contributed 18% of its combined net revenues. This segment�� principal brands and products include Oscar Mayer lunch meats, hot dogs and bacon, Lunchables lunch combinations, Boca soy-based meat alternatives, and Claussen pickles.

U.S. Grocery

During 2011, the Company�� U.S. Grocery segment contributed 25% of its combined net revenues. This segment�� principal brands and products include Kraft and Kraft Deluxe macaroni & cheese dinners, Planters nuts, trail mixes and peanut butter, Corn Nuts corn snacks, Jell-O dry packaged desserts and refrigerated gelatin and pudding snacks, Cool Whip whipped topping, Jet-Puffed marshmallows, Baker�� chocolate and baking ingredients, Kraft and Miracle Whip sp! oonable d! ressings, Kraft and Good Seasons salad dressings, A.1. steak sauce, Kraft and Bull��-Eye barbecue sauces, Grey Poupon mustards, Shake N��Bake coatings, Stove Top stuffing mix, Taco Bell Home Originals (under license) meal kits, Velveeta shells and cheese dinners, and Velveeta Skillets meal kits.

Canada & N.A. Foodservice

During 2011, the Company�� Canada & N.A. Foodservice segment contributed 21% of its combined net revenues. The principal products and brands in this segment span all of its segments. Canadian grocery offerings include Nabob coffee and Kraft peanut butter, as well as a range of products in the Grocery Business Lines. The North American foodservice business sells branded products, including Maxwell House coffee, A.1. steak sauce and a range of Kraft sauces, dressings and cheeses, and serves the needs of restaurants and other foodservice operations. Puerto Rico grocery offerings include all grocery business lines, except for powdered and liquid concentrate beverages, such as Crystal Light, Tang and MiO. The North American Grocery Export Business products and brands span all grocery business lines, except for powdered and liquid concentrate beverages and certain products sold under brands, such as Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraftmayonnaise, which marketed and sold locally by Kraft ParentCo in countries outside the United States and Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Magic Diligence]

    One stock that has been in the official Magic Formula (MFI) screen for the past month or so has piqued my interest: Kraft (KRFT).

    The MFI screens, particularly the $50 million screen, are usually reserved for deep value stocks. Usually you find stocks in here suffering serious adverse business developments (LQDT, NSR, etc.), operate in out-of-favor industries (APOL, STRA, etc.), have volatile and difficult-to-predict future prospects (PDLI comes to mind), or are just simply cheap quantitatively (CSCO, COH, et.al.).

  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    When shares of old Kraft stock broke into two components last fall, most investors expected the higher-growth Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ  ) global snacks business to be the more attractive segment of the two post-spinoff companies. Yet the North American grocery business that now trades as Kraft Foods Group (NASDAQ: KRFT  ) has shown surprising success as an independent company, and as it's turned out, shares of the new Kraft stock have done a lot better than Mondelez during the first nine months of their separate existence. Let's take a closer look at exactly how the new Kraft has done so well and what's in store for its stock going forward.

Top 5 Diversified Bank Stocks For 2014: Banco Macro SA (BMA)

Banco Macro S.A. (the Bank), incorporated on November 21, 1966, is a bank in Argentina. The Bank provides standard banking products and services to a nationwide customer base. The Bank has two categories of customers: retail customers, which include individuals and very small companies, and corporate customers, which include small, medium and large companies and major corporations. In addition, it provides services to four provincial governments. The Bank offers a range of standard products, which are available to both its retail and corporate customers. Retail customers are individuals, entrepreneurs and very small companies (companies with less than Pesos one million in sales per year). It provides services to them throughout Argentina, in particular outside of the City of Buenos Aires, which has higher concentrations of low- and middle-income individuals who are traditionally underserved by large private banks. The Bank serves its retail customers through its nationwide branch network. Approximately 94% of the Bank�� branches are located outside of the City of Buenos Aires.

The Bank offers its retail customers traditional banking products and services, such as savings and checking accounts, time deposits, credit and debit cards, consumer finance loans (including personal loans), mortgage loans, car loans, overdrafts, credit-related services, home and car insurance coverage, tax collection, utility payments, automated teller machines (ATMs) and money transfers. The Bank offers personal loans, document discounts, (housing) mortgages, overdrafts, pledged loans and credit card loans to its retail customers.

The Bank provides its corporate customers with traditional banking products and services, such as deposits, lending (including overdraft facilities), check cashing advances and factoring, guaranteed loans and credit lines for financing foreign trade and cash management services. It also provides them trust, payroll and financial agency services, corporate credit cards a! nd other specialty products. The corporate business is focused on the classification by sizes and sectors. The Bank has four categories for its corporate customers: small companies, which register up to Pesos 52 million in sales per year; medium companies, which register more than Pesos 52 million and less than Pesos 150 million in sales per year; major companies, which register more than Pesos 150 million in sales per year, and agro companies, which operate in agriculture or in the commerce of its products (approximately 97% of its corporate customers are small businesses).

The Bank�� lending activities to the corporate sector (defined here as firms with loans outstanding in excess of Pesos 20,000) totaled Pesos 4,985 million. Most of its lending activity consists of working capital loans to small and medium-sized businesses. The Bank offers short-term and medium- to long-term corporate lending products. Short-term products include credit lines for up to 180 days and consist mainly of overdraft facilities, corporate credit and debit cards and factoring, as well as foreign trade related financing, such as pre-export, post-shipment and import financing. Medium-to long-term products include credit lines and specific lending facilities of more than 180 days.

The Bank offers transaction services to its corporate customers, such as cash management, customer collections, payments to suppliers, payroll administration, foreign exchange transactions, foreign trade services, corporate credit cards and information services, such as its Datanet and Interpymes services. The Bank�� payments to suppliers��services enable its customers to meet their payment obligations to their suppliers on a timely basis through a system. This service also provides payment liquidations, tax payment receipts, invoices and any other documents required by the payer.

The Bank�� collection services include cash or check deposits at its 408 branches, automatic and direct debits from checking ! or saving! s accounts and the transportation of funds collected from corporate customers to its branches for deposit. The Bank provides its corporate clients with access to the Datanet service, which is an electronic banking network linking member banks in Argentina. These services permit its clients to obtain reliable online information on a real-time basis from their bank accounts in Datanet, as well as perform certain transactions. The Bank also provides tax collection and financial agency services to four provinces.

The Bank competes with Santander Rio, Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires S.A., BBVA Banco Frances S.A., HSBC Argentina S.A. and Banco Patagonia S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    Marco Bank (BMA) offers a range of traditional banking products and services to corporates, SME's and individuals in Argentina. This stock closed up 5.6% at $20.93 in Monday's trading session.

    Monday's Volume: 404,000

    Three-Month Average Volume: 78,386

    Volume % Change: 504%

    From a technical perspective, BMA jumped sharply higher here right above some near-term support at $19 with strong upside volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last two months and change, with shares moving higher from its low of $13.63 to its recent high of $21.73. During that move, shares of BMA have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of BMA within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if BMA manages to take out its 52-week high at $21.73 with high volume.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in BMA as long as it's trending above some key near-term support levels at $19 to $18.29 and then once it sustains a move or close above its 52-week high at $21.73 with volume that's near or above 78,386 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then BMA will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $25 to $27.

  • [By Federico Zaldua]

    Despite growing expenses, in local currency terms, the bank's net income improved 16% year-over-year (yoy) while Non-Performing-Loans (NPL) have been kept below 4%. Hence, through Galicia, you can invest in an operationally healthy bank that shall behave in line with government bonds. Trading at 3 times P/E and 75% book value I think Galicia is good bet within the space.

    High Exposure to Public Debt

    Banco Macro (BMA) has been one of the highest growing banks during the last two decades. One interesting thing about Banco Macro is that the bank owns approximately $400 million of government related securities when the bank's total market capitalization is now just above $1 billion. On the other hand, Banco Macro is growing earnings aggressively at a 39% year over year rate in local currency terms with a very low (and stable) 1.6% NPL rate. Banco Macro is slightly more expensive than Galicia trading at 80% its book value and 3.2 times P/E.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Own For 2014

PPL Corporation�� (PPL) subsidiary, PPL Montana announced the allotment of a new 60-megawatt (MW) powerhouse to the residents of the region. The company�� $245 million investment in the new powerhouse replaces a century old powerhouse at the Ranibow Dam hydroelectric facility. This powerhouse will generate sufficient clean electricity to power 45,000 homes.

The newly constructed powerhouse is located approximately 2,500 feet downstream from the Rainbow Dam in the Great Falls and is 200 feet from the previous powerhouse.

In addition, PPL Corporation replaced over 23 miles of 100-kilovolt (KV) power lines and structures, improved the substations at each plant, and fixed a new Crooked Falls switchyard. Currently, water runs through a 2,500-foot power canal and a 25-foot diameter penstock to the new turbine generator.

This venture will help PPL Corporation to improve the competence and reliability of the electrical systems by linking five hydro plants of the Great Falls to NorthWestern Energy�� grid.

Top 10 Semiconductor Stocks To Watch Right Now: CDI Corporation(CDI)

CDI Corp. provides engineering and information technology project outsourcing solutions and professional staffing services primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It operates in four segments: ES, MRI, Anders, and ITS. The ES segment provides engineering, design, project management, staffing, and outsourcing solutions to oil, gas, refining, alternative energy, power generation and energy transmission, chemicals, and heavy manufacturing industries; engineering, design, logistics, and staffing services to the defense industry, primarily in marine design, systems development, and military aviation support; engineering, design, project management, staffing, and facility start-up services to pharmaceutical, bio-pharmaceutical, and regulated medical services industries; and architecture, civil and environmental engineering, communication technology, and consulting services to governmental, educational, and private industry customers. The MRI segment opera tes as a global franchisor that does business as MRINetwork and provides the use of its trademarks, business systems, and training and support services to its franchisees who engage in the search and recruitment of executive, technical, professional, and managerial personnel for employment by their customers. It also provides training, implementation services, and back-office services to enable franchisees to pursue staffing opportunities. The Anders segment provides contract and permanent placement candidates to customers in the areas of architecture, building services, rail, commercial and industrial construction, consulting engineering, facilities management, interior design, surveying, and town planning. The ITS segment offers various information technology related services, which include staffing augmentation, permanent placement, outsourcing, and consulting. The company was founded in 1950 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Smith]

    Philadelphia-based CDI Corp. (NYSE: CDI  ) has won a $36 million contract to provide watercraft engineering and marine services to the U.S. Navy.

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Own For 2014: Skyline Corporation(SKY)

Skyline Corporation and its subsidiaries engage in designing, producing, and marketing manufactured houses, modular homes, and towable recreational vehicles to independent dealers and manufactured housing communities in the United States and Canada. The company?s manufactured homes include two to four bedrooms, kitchen, dining area, living room, one or two bathrooms, kitchen appliances, and central heating and cooling, as well as exterior dormers and windows, interior or exterior accent columns, fireplaces, and whirlpool tubs. Its towable recreational vehicles comprise travel trailers and fifth wheels offered under the Aljo, Bobcat, Koala, Layton, Mountain View, Nomad, Texan, Wagoneer, Walkabout, and Weekender brands; and park models under the Cedar Cove, Cutlass, Cutlass Elite, Deerfield, Forest Brook, Shore Park Homes, and Vacation Villa brands, which consists of sleeping, kitchen, dining, and bath areas. The company markets its manufactured and modular housing to subur ban and rural areas of the continental United States and Canada. Skyline Corporation markets its recreational vehicles to vacationing families, traveling retired couples, and sports enthusiasts pursuing four-season hobbies. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Holly LaFon] rch 12, Third Avenue Management sold 55.7% of its stake in Skyline Corp. for a total value of $3,394,689. It now has 361,805 shares, or 4.31% of the company.

    Third Avenue incurred a loss on Skyline. The firm has had the stock since before the second quarter of 2009 after it had been sliding for several years. That quarter, Third Avenue bought it for roughly $20 per share. Since 2009 its stock price has declined 60% and the firm has been mostly selling its shares since then. The stock closed at $7.98 per share on Friday.

    Third Avenue Management was founded by legendary value investor Martin Whitman and manages mutual funds, separate accounts and hedge funds. Third Avenue managers believe that the current balance sheet rather than projected future figures are the best measure of a company�� value. Companies they invest in are also usually cheap and safe.

    Skyline makes manufactured housing and recreational vehicles. Its revenue per share has been declining at a rate of 13.2% over the last 10 years, and 23.2% in the last 5 years. The company has been operating at a loss since 2008, and EBITDA and free cash flow has been negative since 2007.

    NWQ Managers and PrivateBancorp (PVTB) Bob Evans Farms (BOBE)

    On February 29, NWQ reduced its stake in PrivateBancorp (PVTB) by 28.48%. At $14.50 per share, the total value of the sale was $18.8 million. It now owns 3,253,454 shares or 4.49% of the company. NWQ initiated its holding in PrivateBancorp in the fourth quarter of 2009 with 4,334,692 shares at an average price of $12.15. It sold shares as the price rose during 2010, and added 2,008,454 shares in the third quarter of 2011 when its price dropped to an average of $10 per share. On Friday, the stock is trading near $15 per share.

    PrivateBancorp is a small, regional bank based in Chicago. After its stock fell to a 52-week low of $6.44 in late 2011, its 2011 fourth-quarter and full-year results helped push it up 38% to $15 in 2012. Afte

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Own For 2014: Amyris Inc.(AMRS)

Amyris, Inc., an integrated renewable products company, provides alternatives to a range of petroleum-sourced products used in specialty chemical and transportation fuel markets worldwide. The company uses its industrial synthetic biology platform to modify microorganisms, primarily yeast, to convert plant-sourced sugars into a variety of hydrocarbon molecules that serve as flexible building blocks to be used in a range of products. It is also involved in the sale of ethanol and ethanol blended gasoline to wholesale customers through a network of terminals primarily in the southeastern Unites States. In addition, the company sells farnesene or Biofene, which is used as an ingredient in a range of consumer and industrial products, including detergents, cosmetics, perfumes, and industrial lubricants. Further, it focuses on the commercialization of renewable diesel and jet fuel. The company was formerly known as Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc. and changed its name to Amyris, Inc . in June 2010. Amyris, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    Amyris (AMRS), a renewable products company, provides various alternatives to a range of petroleum-sourced products for the specialty chemical and transportation fuel markets worldwide. This stock closed up 3.3% to $4.02 in Thursday's trading session.

    Thursday's Range: $3.86-$4.04

    52-Week Range: $2.17-$6.11

    Thursday's Volume: 357,000

    Three-Month Average Volume: 202,839

    From a technical perspective, AMRS spiked higher here and broke out above some near-term overhead resistance at $3.97 with above-average volume. This stock has been uptrending for the last three months and change, with shares moving higher from its low of $2.75 to its recent high of $4.19. During that move, shares of AMRS have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. This spike higher on Thursday is now starting to push shares of AMRS within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if AMRS manages to take out Thursday's intraday high of $4.04 and then once it clears more near-term overhead resistance at $4.19 with high volume.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in AMRS as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $3.73 or its 200-day at $3.64 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 202,839 shares. If that gets underway soon, then AMRS will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $4.88 to $5.25, or even $5.50.

  • [By Alyce Lomax]

    Solazyme is more than a biofuels play like fellow biofuels upstarts like Amyris (NASDAQ: AMRS  ) and Gevo (NASDAQ: GEVO  ) . I purchased shares of Solazyme for the Prosocial Portfolio (I hold shares in my personal portfolio, too) not only for its impressive foray into a nascent field, but also because it had already inked some impressive partnerships. Meanwhile, its alternative oils go much further than simply trying to provide alternatives to fossil fuels. Its microalgae-derived oils can also be used in skin care and food.

  • [By Maxx Chatsko]

    He believes several companies have set the bar precipitously low to start the year despite targeted developments expected to occur before the start of 2014. Watch the following video for his thoughts on potential positive surprises awaiting investors in�Amyris� (NASDAQ: AMRS  ) ,�BioAmber� (NYSE: BIOA  ) ,�Codexis� (NASDAQ: CDXS  ) , and�Solazyme� (NASDAQ: SZYM  ) .

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares dropped by 0.30 percent. Among the sector stocks, Amyris (NASDAQ: AMRS) was down more than 8.5 percent, while Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (NASDAQ: USAP) tumbled around 5 percent.

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Own For 2014: El Paso Electric Company (EE)

El Paso Electric Company, a public utility company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity primarily in west Texas and southern New Mexico. It principally operates nuclear, natural gas, and coal power plants, as well as wind turbines. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned 6 electrical generating facilities with a net generating capacity of approximately 1,643 megawatts. It serves approximately 370,000 residential, commercial, industrial, public authority, and wholesale customers. The company sells its products to electric utilities and power marketers, as well as to oil and copper refining, and steel production facilities, universities, and the United States military installations. El Paso Electric Company was founded in 1901 and is based in El Paso, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Tyler Crowe]

    It may have been a long time coming, but the technology for renewable fuels is very close to the point that they can can compete on the open market against traditional energy sources. First Solar just recently announced a deal with El Paso Electric (NYSE: EE  ) that it will sell electricity to El Paso from its Macho Springs solar facility for 5.79 cents per kilowatt hour, less than half what El Paso pays for electricity from coal. Also, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission has stated that 83% of all additional energy generation in the U.S. for Q1 2013 came from either wind or solar facilities. Perhaps the route to developing better solutions wasn't the smoothest, but it's hard to deny the overall outcome.�

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Own For 2014: Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR)

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBG, Inc.) is a holding company. The Company is an automated global electronic broker and market maker specializing in routing orders and executing and processing trades in securities, futures, foreign exchange instruments, bonds and mutual funds on more than 100 electronic exchanges and trading venues worldwide. In the United States, it conducts its business in Greenwich, Connecticut, Chicago, Illinois and Jersey City, New Jersey. Abroad, the Company conducts business through offices located in Canada, England, Switzerland, Hong Kong, India, Australia and Japan. It operates in two segments: electronic brokerage and market making. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 11.5% in IBG LLC, the holding company for its businesses. The Company is the sole managing member of IBG LLC.

As a direct market access broker, the Company serves the customers of both traditional brokers and prime brokers. It provides its customers with order management, trade execution and portfolio management platform. Its customers can simultaneously access different financial markets worldwide and trade across multiple asset classes (stocks, options, futures, foreign exchange (forex), bonds and mutual funds) denominated in 17 different currencies, on one screen, from a single account based in any currency. Its bank and broker-dealer customers may white label its trading interface (make its trading interface available to their customers without referencing its name), or can select from among its modular functionalities, such as order routing, trade reporting or clearing on specific products or exchanges. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company introduced the Interactive Brokers Information System (IBIS). IBIS is a market information workspace, which provides subscribers with real-time market data, research, analytics, stock scanners, charts and alerts. As a market maker, the Company provides continuous bid and offer quotations on over 867,000 securities and futures produ! cts listed on electronic exchanges worldwide.

Electronic Brokerage-Interactive Brokers

During 2011, Electronic brokerage represented 50% of net revenues from electronic brokerage and market making combined. It conducts its electronic brokerage business through its Interactive Brokers (IB) subsidiaries. As an electronic broker, it executes, clears and settles trades worldwide for both institutional and individual customers.

The Company competes with TD Ameritrade, The Charles Schwab Corporation, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Market Making-Timber Hill

During 2011, Market making represented 50% of net revenues from electronic brokerage and market making combined. The Company conducts its market making business through its Timber Hill (TH) subsidiaries. It provides liquidity by offering bid/offer spreads over a base of over 867,000 tradable, exchange-listed products, including equity derivative products, equity index derivative products, equity securities and futures. Together with its electronic brokerage customers, in 2011 it accounted for approximately 9.9% of exchange-listed equity options traded worldwide and approximately 10.1% of exchange-listed equity options volume traded on those markets in which it actively trades. The Company�� United States market making activities are conducted through Timber Hill LLC (TH LLC), a securities broker-dealer that conducts market making in equity derivative products, equity index derivative products and equity securities.

TH LLC is a member of the Boston Options Exchange, BATS exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, International Securities Exchange, NYSE AMEX Options Exchange, NYSE Arca, OneChicago, NASDAQ OMX PHLX and the New York Mercantile Exchange. TH LLC also conducts market making activities in Mexico at the MEXDER and the Mexican Stock Exchange and in Brazil! at the S! ao Paulo Stock Exchange and the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange. The Company conducts market making activities in Canada through its Canadian subsidiary, Timber Hill Canada Company (THC) at the Toronto Stock Exchange and Montreal Exchange. In addition, it participates in stock trading at the Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs) in both the United States and Canada.

The Company�� European, Asian, and Australian market making subsidiaries, primarily Timber Hill Europe AG (THE), conducts operations in 20 countries, comprising the securities markets in these regions. Its other European operations are conducted on the London Stock Exchange; the Weiner Borse AG; the Copenhagen Stock Exchange; the Helsinki Stock Exchange; the NYSE Euronext exchanges in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and London; NASDAQ OMX Nordic in Sweden, Finland and Denmark; the Swedish Stock Exchange; the MEFF and Bolsa de Valores Madrid in Spain; the IDEM and Borsa Valori de Milano in Milan, and the OTOB in Vienna.

The Company competes with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citadel, Susquehanna, Wolverine Trading, Group One Trading, Peak6 and Getco.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By victorselva]

    The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) is a savings and loan holding company. The company is engaged, through its subsidiaries, in securities brokerage, banking, money management, and financial advisory services. Its subsidiaries include Charles Schwab & Co. (a leading discount broker-dealer), Charles Schwab Investment Management (a mutual fund investment advisor) and Charles Schwab Bank.In this article, let's take a look at this brokerage firm and try to explain to investors the reasons this is an apparently appealing investment opportunity.The FocusThe company provides financial services to individuals and institutional clients through two segments: Investor Services and Institutional Services. The Investor Services segment provides retail brokerage and banking services to individual investors. The Institutional Services segment provides custodial, trading, and support services to independent investment advisors. The Institutional Services segment also provides retirement plan services, specialty brokerage services, and mutual fund clearing services. The company seeks to meet the financial services needs of investors, advisers and employers. It focuses on building client loyalty with the goal of attracting new clients and serving them. Additionally, Schwab麓s strengths through shared core processes and technology advances which help create services that are scalable and consistent with the business.Interest Rates, Capital Structure and Debt-to-Capital RatioThe results are dependent on short-term interest rates, as 37% of its top line came from net interest income in the first quarter of 2014.The broker has been making significant efforts to become less dependent on interest rates, which we expect Federal Reserve will raise them in late 2014 or 2015. Also, the company麓s plan is to reach a low-cost capital structure and targets a long-term debt-to-total financial capital ratio of less than 30%.Lucrative Derivatives Trading In 2011, the company acquired Compl

  • [By Eric Volkman]

    Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IBKR  ) results for the company's Q1 have been unveiled, revealing fairly steep drops in its top and bottom lines. For the quarter, revenue was $216 million, or nearly 30% below the $304 million the firm posted in the same period the previous year. Net income also went down by 41% on a year-over-year basis to hit $6.6 million ($0.14 per diluted share). The same line item for Q1 2012 was $11.1 million ($0.27).

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Own For 2014: TICC Capital Corp.(TICC)

TICC Capital Corp., a business development company, operates as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. The firm invests in both public and private companies. It invests in secured and unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt, junior subordinated debt, preferred stock, and common stock. The firm primarily invests in debt and/or equity securities of technology-related companies that operate in the computer software, Internet, information technology infrastructure and services, media, telecommunications and telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, hardware, technology-enabled services, semiconductor capital equipment, medical device technology, diversified technology, and networking systems sectors. It concentrates its investments in companies having annual revenues of less than $200 million and a market capitalization or enterprise value of less than $300 million. The firm invests between $5 million and $30 million per transaction. It seeks to exit its investments within 7 years. It serves as the investment adviser to TICC. The company was formerly known as Technology Investment Capital Corp. and changed its name to TICC Capital Corp. in December 2007. TICC Capital Corp. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Brian Pacampara]

    Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, closed-end asset manager TICC Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: TICC  ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

  • [By Monica Gerson]

    TICC Capital (NASDAQ: TICC) is estimated to report its Q4 earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $28.43 million.

    Fuel-Tech (NASDAQ: FTEK) is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.06 per share on revenue of $29.00 million.

10 Best Electric Utility Stocks To Own For 2014: OncoSec Medical Inc (ONCS)

OncoSec Medical Incorporated, incorporated on February 8, 2008, is an emerging drug-medical device company. The Company focused on designing, developing and commercializing medical approaches for the treatment of solid cancers. In March 2011, the Company acquired from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Inovio) certain assets related to the use of drug-medical device combination products for the treatment of different cancers.

The Company�� acquired assets relate to certain non-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccine technology and property relating to selective tumor ablation technologies, which it refers to as the OncoSec Medical System (OMS), a therapy which uses an electroporation device to facilitate delivery of chemotherapy agents, or nucleic acids encoding cytokines, into tumors and/or surrounding tissue for the treatment and diagnosis of various cancers. As of January 24, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue from operations.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By James E. Brumley]

    How does the old saying go? Beggars can't be choosers? Two weeks ago, yours truly penned some bullish comments regarding OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCMKTS:ONCS). The long and short of it was, if ONCS could clear a technical ceiling around $0.36, then life would get much easier for the bulls.

  • [By James E. Brumley]

    If you're looking for the next big biotech breakout stock, then OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCMKTS:ONCS) deserves a place on your watchlist. This volatile cancer play has been down more than up 2011, but if you look closely at a long-term chart of ONCS, you may find it's already wiggled its way into a new uptrend. And, it may be only a matter of time before the bullish fireworks start to go off.

  • [By John Udovich]

    Small cap biotech stocks AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: AVEO), OncoSec Medical Inc (OTCMKTS: ONCS) and MetaStat Inc (OTCBB: MTST) are focused on or are developing treatments or diagnostic technologies for metastatic cancers. In case you aren�� familiar with the term metastasis or metastatic, it�� the�spread of cancer from its primary site to other places in the body as cancer cells break away from a primary tumor, penetrate into lymphatic and blood vessels, circulate through the bloodstream and then grow in a new focus (metastasize) in normal tissues elsewhere in the body. In other words, it�� a dangerous form of cancer, but there are some small cap biotech stocks targeting it for diagnostics or treatment:

  • [By Bio-Wire]

    Another company that has benefitted from Inovio�� newfound attention is OncoSec Medical (OTC: ONCS) ��a newer ��ffshoot�� company that uses a similar but distinctly different electroporation device known as the OncoSec Medical System (OMS) that is based on Inovio�� technology. The specific amplitude and frequency of the OMS electroporation is calibrated such that plasmid delivery into solid tumor masses is fully optimized, while CELLECTRA electroporation is less specialized and focus more on the vaccination of skin cells. The cross-license agreement made between Inovio and Oncosec also covers the two devices for their distinctly different applications.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Amazon.com Won’t Rely on E-Commerce Forever

If you were to ask anyone what Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) core business was, I'd wager that 10 out of 10 times the answer would be "e-commerce." That's undoubtedly true today, but it might not be true forever.

It turns out that the company's Amazon Web Services division, which is currently the No. 1 cloud computing vendor by a healthy margin, could very well become Amazon's most important business.

It depends on how you define "largest"
To be clear, Amazon will most certainly always be an e-commerce heavyweight; but at a recent media event in Las Vegas, AWS chief Andy Jassy outlined Amazon's future plans for its cloud computing business. Amazon wants to take over the cloud world.

Amazon intends to build data centers in "virtually every large country" in the world, and has no problem with investing "as much as it takes to grow the business." Furthermore, Jassy predicts that AWS will become the largest part of Amazon's business. That's a pretty bold claim considering the sheer scale of Amazon's e-commerce operations as well as its revenue base.

Revenue

2014 YTD

Percentage of Sales

Media

$15.6 billion

26%

Electronics and other merchandise

$40.2 billion

67%

Other

$3.9 billion

6%

Total

$59.7 billion

100%

Source: 10-Q. Other includes AWS. Percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding.

But perhaps Jassy doesn't mean "largest" in terms of revenue. After all, it's hard to fathom AWS sales eclipsing e-commerce revenue in the foreseeable future. However, given the thin margins associated with its e-commerce business, it wouldn't be a far stretch to think that AWS could surpass e-commerce in operating income at some point.

Naturally, it's hard to really know how profitable AWS is since Amazon is something of an investor's nightmare when it comes to transparently reporting its financial results. Amazon's consolidating operating margin right now over the past four quarters is a measly 0.1%, which wouldn't be hard to beat. Once infrastructure investments are made, AWS will scale readily.

Analysts estimate that AWS currently generates about $5 billion in revenue per year at a gross margin of 90% to 95%. 

A long and cloudy road
Jassy has even grander plans for Amazon, and wants to continue adding even more services to the platform to broaden its relationships with customers. That includes analytics, administration, security, and app services, among others. Some services will inevitably be commoditized and be susceptible to pricing pressures, but the overall portfolio of services will also include higher-margin offerings. Simply put, AWS could one day become a one-stop cloud shop.

AWS currently operates in numerous different geographical regions (even though it includes AWS results in its North America segment): the U.S., Brazil, Ireland, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. If the company is truly intent on expanding to "virtually every large country," it still has a long way to go.

$19 trillion industry could destroy the Internet
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Monday, November 17, 2014

10 Best Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch Right Now

A lot of North East youth and children go out to metros to pursue higher education. The programme also focused on how parents fund their education costs. The aspects like how can financial advisors tap a market, penetrate this market and make these savers into investors would also be covered.

The panellist for the discussion included BP Muktieh, chairman and managing director of North Eastern Development Finance Corporation; Naresh Pachisia, managing director of SKP Securities and a certified financial planner; Debashish Mohanty, country head of retail network at UTI and RK Garg, chief general manager of North Eastern circle at SBI.

Here is the edited transcript of their discussion.

Q: How to increase the investment penetration? What should be the roadmap for it?

Mohanty: The investment penetration is very low in this part of the country and whole of the country. Out of 120 crore population, there might be around 1.5 crore unique mutual fund investors. It clearly states the agenda that we need more penetration.

Hot Defensive Companies To Own For 2015: Intelsat SA (I)

Intelsat S.A., incorporated on July 18, 2011, is a satellite services business, providing a layer in the global communications infrastructure. The Company operates satellite capacity, holds orbital location rights, contract backlog, serve commercial customers and deliver services. It provides diversified communications services to the world�� media companies, fixed and wireless telecommunications operators, data networking service providers for enterprise and mobile applications, multinational corporations and Internet service providers (ISPs). It is also the provider of commercial satellite capacity to the United States government and other select military organizations and their contractors.

The Company has a satellite fleet comprised of more than 50 satellites, covering 99% of the Earth�� populated regions. Its fleet, combined with the IntelsatOne terrestrial fiber network and a collection of teleports, form a singular unmatched global infrastructure to meet any communications requirement. As the provider of satellite services, the Company provides mission critical communication services.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Satellite services provider Intelsat (NYSE: I  ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.71875 per share on its 5.75% Series A mandatory convertible junior non-voting preferred stock, which trades on the NYSE under the symbol I.PRA.

10 Best Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch Right Now: T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS)

T-Mobile US, Inc., formerly MetroPCS Communications, Inc., incorporated on March 10, 2004, is a wireless telecommunications carrier, which offers wireless broadband mobile services primarily in metropolitan areas in the United States, including the Atlanta, Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando/Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Tampa/Sarasota metropolitan areas. Its flagship brands include T-Mobile and MetroPCS. As of December 31, 2012, it held licenses for wireless spectrum suitable for wireless broadband mobile services covering a total population of 144 million people in and around many of the metropolitan areas in the United States. It provides its services using code division multiple accesses (CDMA) networks using 1xRTT technology and evolution data optimized (EVDO) and fourth generation long term evolution (4G LTE).

The Company has roaming agreements with other wireless broadband mobile carriers that allow them to offer its customers service in many areas when they are outside its service area. These roaming agreements, together with the area it serve with its own networks, allows its customers to receive service in an area covering over 280 million in total population under the Metro USA brand. The Company sells products and services to customers through its Company-owned retail stores, as well as indirectly through relationships with independent retailers and third party dealers. Its service allows its customers to place unlimited local calls from within its local service area and to receive unlimited calls from any area while in its service area, for a flat-rate monthly service fee. For additional usage fees, it also provide certain other value-added services. All of these plans require payment in advance for one month of service. If no payment is made in advance for month of service, service is suspended at the end of the month that was paid for by the customer and, if the customer does not pay within 30 day! s, the customer is terminated. It believes its service plans differentiate them from the more complex plans and long-term contract requirements of traditional wireless carriers.

The Company voice services allow customers to place voice calls to, and receive calls from, any telephone in the world, including local, domestic long distance, and international calls. Its voice services also allow customers to receive and make calls while they are located in areas served by its networks and in those geographic areas served by the networks of certain other wireless broadband mobile carriers with whom it has roaming arrangements. The Company�� data services include text messaging services (domestic and international); multimedia messaging services; mobile Internet access; mobile instant messaging; location-based services; social networking services; push e-mail; multimedia streaming and downloads; and services provided, depending on the network and locale, through the Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, or BREW, Blackberry, Windows, and the Android platforms, such as ringtones, ring back tones, games, content, and applications.

The Company�� Custom calling features offers custom calling features, including caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling and voicemail. Its Advanced handsets sells a variety of feature phones, and increasingly, smartphones, predominately manufactured by nationally recognized manufacturers for use on its network, including models that have cameras, include HTML browsers, play music, play streaming audio, display streaming video and downloaded video, and have other features facilitating digital data. It sells a variety of handsets using vendor or handset specific operating systems, such as BREW, Blackberry, Windows, and the Android operating system.

The Company provides its wireless broadband mobile services using paired personal communications services (PCS), spectrum and advanced wireless services, or AWS, spectrum. In addition, it holds a! license ! for 12 MHz of paired 700 MHz Lower Band A spectrum in the Boston-Worcester, MA/NH/RI/VT basic economic area (BEA), which, unless it receives a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), of the four year construction requirements, it plans to construct in the first half of 2013. In each of its metropolitan areas where irt provides service. As of December 31, 2012, it holds between 10 mega hertz (MHz) and 60 MHz of paired spectrum and on average it has approximately 22 MHz of paired spectrum in the metropolitan areas it serves. In the aggregate, as of December 31, 2012, it offers wireless broadband mobile services using its own network.

The Company operates 1xRTT CDMA networks in all of the metropolitan areas it serves and it has upgraded its networks to 4G LTE in all of metropolitan areas. It also has deployed EVDO at selected high use sites in its CDMA network to increase network data capacity to meet the growing data needs of iy customers. Its network includes a mobile switching center (for CDMA), enhanced packet core (for 4G LTE), and IP core. These serve several purposes, including routing traffic, managing call handoffs, and managing access to the public switched telephone network (for CDMA) or the Internet (CDMA and 4G LTE). These network elements also provide access to voicemail and other value-added services, base stations (for CDMA) or eNodeBs (for 4G LTE), cell sites or distributed antenna system (DAS), nodes, and backhaul facilities, which carry traffic to and from its cell sites and its switching or enhanced packet core facilities, consisting of a combination of dedicated circuits, cable, fiber, and microwave facilities.

Its cell sites in the network are co-located, meaning its equipment is located on leased facilities that are owned by third parties who retain the right to lease the locations to additional carriers and in many cases other wireless broadband mobile service providers already have facilities at such locations. The switching centers and na! tional op! erations center provide around-the-clock monitoring of its network. Its switches connect to the public switched telephone network through fiber rings leased from third-parties, which transmit originating and terminating traffic between its equipment and local exchange and long distance carriers. It also has negotiated interconnection agreements with relevant local exchange carriers, or LECs, in its service areas. It uses third-party providers for domestic and international long distance services, international SMS interconnection with the public switched network and other carriers, roaming services, and the majority of its backhaul services.

The Company competes with AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA , Deutsche Telekom, Clearwire, Dish Network , Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Communications, Cricket Communications, Leap Wireless International and Google.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Evan Niu, CFA]

    For a carrier focusing so heavily on transparency and communication with consumers, T-Mobile's (NYSE: TMUS  ) freshly unveiled Jump program is a bit confusing. On the surface, it sounds great: two smartphone upgrades every year instead of one smartphone upgrade every two years.

10 Best Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch Right Now: Tim Participacoes SA (TIMP3)

TIM Participacoes SA (TIM) is a Brazil-based holding company engaged in the telecommunications segment. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, TIM Celular SA (TIM Celular) and Intelig Telecomunicacoes Ltda (Intelig), it provides telecommunication services throughout Brazil. TIM Celular and Intelig are active as Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) providers in the local and national and international long-distance modalities in all Brazilian states. Additionally, the Company provides multimedia communication services and personal mobile services, mobile data services and a third generation (3G) network, as well as international roaming agreements, multimedia messaging services, blackberry services and sale of related equipment. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Zahra Hankir]

    Brazil�� Ibovespa extended its weekly decline to 3.3 percent. Mobile carrier Tim Participacoes SA (TIMP3) sank after parent Telecom Italia SpA (TIT)�� chief executive officer said its Brazilian assets are strategic, damping speculation the local unit will be sold.

  • [By Inyoung Hwang]

    Telecom Italia climbed 5.2 percent to 64.2 euro cents, its highest price since May. The telecommunications operator would gain enough funds to improve its domestic business if it sells at least 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) of shares or its stake in Tim Participacoes SA (TIMP3) in Brazil, according to Goldman Sachs.

10 Best Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch Right Now: China Teletech Holding Inc (CNCT)

China Teletech Holding, Inc., formerly Guangzhou Global Telecom, Inc., incorporated on March 29, 1999, is a distributor of pre-paid calling card and integrated mobile phone handsets and a provider of mobile handset value-added services. The Company serves as one of principal distributors of China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile products in Guangzhou City. The Company is also developing an on-line refill platform with China Mobile to develop its on-line business in the Guangdong Province. On March 30, 2012, the Company acquired China Teletech Limited.

The Company operates its business through its subsidiaries in China: Guangzhou Renwoxing Telecom Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Global Telecommunication Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Rongxin Technology Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Rongxin Investment Co., Ltd. The Company also engages in the business of wholesale and distribution of mineral water, as well as trading of wine in China. The Company has cooperative distribution relationships with Panasonic, Motorola, LG, GE, Bird, Samsung corporations for their mobile handsets.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By MARKETWATCH]

    HONG KONG (MarketWatch)-- Hong Kong stocks rose early Thursday, as China Mobile Ltd. shined on news of iPhone pre-orders hitting 1 million units. The Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI) added 0.6% to 23,032.09. Market heavyweight China Mobile (HK:941) (CHL) rallied 0.9%, as the world's largest mobile carrier said it has received more than 1 million pre-orders for the iPhone before it goes on sale in the carrier's stores on Friday, at a time when Apple Inc. (AAPL) Chief Executive Tim Cook visited Beijing for future cooperation between the two giants. Telecom equipment shares also advanced, with ZTE Corp. (HK:763) (ZTCOF) rising 1.2%. Meanwhile, China Mobile's smaller rivals slipped, as China Unicom (HK:762) (CHU) dropped 0.7%, and China Telecom (HK:738) (CNCT) fell 0.5%. China South City Holdings (HK:1668) , a developer of logistics and trade centers, surged 56%, after the company announced that Internet giant Tencent Holdings (HK:700) (TCTZF) would invest about 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($195 million) for an almost 10% stake in the developer in order to expand their business online, including e-commerce and online payment services. Tencent Holdings (HK:700)

10 Best Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch Right Now: Sprint Corp (S&LS)

Sprint Corporation, incorporated on May 10, 2012, offers a range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumers, businesses and government users. On July 10, 2013, the Company, SoftBank Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint Nextel) completed the merger. In the Merger, Sprint Corporation was merged into Sprint Nextel, New Sprint became the parent company of Sprint Nextel, with Sprint Nextel becoming its direct wholly owned subsidiary, and Sprint Nextel changed its name to Sprint Communications, Inc.

The Company develops, engineers and deploys technologies, including the first wireless fourth generation (4G) service from a national carrier in the United States; offering mobile data services, prepaid brands, including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities, and a global Tier 1 Internet Service. The Company also offers unlimited data services.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Holly LaFon]

    Since Wilmers & Co. took over M&T Bank in 1983 the bank has acquired 23 banks and Savings and Loans (S&Ls) ��expanding from a single state to seven ��and assets have grown from $2 billion to $110 billion. M&T's branch count has grown from 60 to over 870. The bank currently boasts a customer base of over 2 million retail household customers and nearly 220,000 commercial customers.

10 Best Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch Right Now: Softbank Corp (SFTBF)

SOFTBANK CORP. is a Japan-based company that provides digital information services. The Company has six business segments. The Mobile Communication segment provides cellular phone services and sells attached cellular phone terminals. The Broadband and Infrastructure segment provides high-speed Internet access services, Internet protocol (IP) phone service, and contents. The Fixed Communication segment provides transmission services for audio and data, as well as exclusive line and data center services. The Internet Culture segment is engaged in the Internet advertising, broadband portal and auction businesses. The Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) segment sells personal computers (PCs), peripheral devices and software for PC use, as well as provides business-to-business and business-to-customer e-commerce services. The Others segment is involved in the broadcasting media, technology service, media marketing and overseas fund businesses.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By MARKETWATCH]

    LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- With the yen holding on to its gains and investors cautious as earnings season kicks off, Japanese stocks slid lower Friday after closing the previous day with some late-session gains. The Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NIK) fell 0.9% to 14,358.28, with the Topix down 0.8%, as the dollar bought 97.36 yen, little changed from 24 hours earlier. The relatively strong yen weighed on some names with high global exposure, as Sharp Corp. (JP:6753) (SHCAF) lost 1%, Pioneer Corp. (JP:6773) (PNCOF) dropped 1.6%, and Bridgestone Corp. (JP:5108) (BRDCF) fell 1.2%. An outlook cut from Canon Inc. (JP:7751) (CAJ) helped send its shares down 1%, while rival Nikon Corp. (JP:7731) (NINOF) lost 1.8%, though Olympus Corp. (JP:7733) (OCPNF) gained 1%. Telecoms were weak, with Softbank Corp. (JP:9984) (SFTBF) falling 2.5%, KDDI Corp. (JP:9433) (KDDIF) down 1.7%, and NTT DoCoMo Inc. (JP:9437) (NTDMF)

  • [By Daniel Inman]

    Shares in Softbank Corp. (JP:9984) � (SFTBF) ���one of the largest constituents on the Nikkei Average ��fell 2.2% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the firm�� Sprint (S) �unit is considering a takeover of its smaller rival T-Mobile US (TMUS) , with a bid potentially coming in the first half of 2014.

  • [By MARKETWATCH]

    LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japanese stocks rose Wednesday after a lower open, with action quiet as most other Asian markets were closed for the Christmas holiday. The Nikkei Stock Average (JP:NIK) gained 0.4% to 15,948.04, but with the broader Topix 0.4% lower. Seven & I Holdings Co. (JP:3382) (SVNDF) , operators of the 7-Eleven convenience-store chain, rose 1.3% as a Nikkei Asian Review report said it planned to pay about 楼5 billion yen to purchase nearly half of Bals, which runs home-and-kitchen-furnishings retailer Francfranc. Chip maker Renesas Electronics Corp. (JP:6723) (RNECY) was a strong performer, rallying 5.3% after suffering a sizeable drop in the previous session. On the downside, shares of Softbank Corp. (JP:9984) (SFTBF) fell 0.9%, after a separate article in the Nikkei saying that previously reported plans by the firm to buy T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) through its newly acquired Sprint (S) unit would value the transaction at more than 2 trillion yen ($19 billion) and would take place as early as next spring. Auto-maker stocks were mixed after the release of Japanese car-sales data for November, with Toyota Motor Corp. (JP:7203) (TM) flat, Honda Motor Co. (JP:7267) (HMC) down 0.4%, Mitsubishi Motors

10 Best Wireless Telecom Stocks To Watch Right Now: Eutelsat Communications SA (ETL)

Eutelsat Communications SA is a France-based holding company that provides fixed satellite services. It provides four types of services, including broadcast services, such as direct-to-home and professional broadcasting; broadband services, comprising broadband Internet access; telecoms and data services to ensure permanent communications links from all points of the globe, establish or restore communications in an emergency and multicast content; as well as mobile and maritime communications, such as fleet management and on- and off-shore broadband maritime communications. It operates a fleet of satellites covering Europe, the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as parts of Asia and the Americas. In January 2014, it acquired Satelites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. and together with SES SA have completed the sale to EchoStar Corp. of Solaris Mobile Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Sofia Horta e Costa]

    Eutelsat Communications SA (ETL) declined 6.2 percent to 21.02 euros after predicting sales will grow by more than 2.5 percent for the year 2013 to 2014. The company, which operates 31 satellites, forecast growth of more than 5 percent for the following two years through June 2016. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its price target for the stock to 24 euros from 33 euros, saying analysts��will probably reduce their estimates following the company�� revised guidance.