Saturday, January 31, 2015

Hot Energy Stocks For 2014

One of the surprises, at least on the surface, of the market's recent swoon was the outperformance of consumer discretionary stocks. This group usually leads to the downside, not the upside, when the market is weak. Consumer staples stocks, on the other hand, usually do relatively well in times of turbulence. So when both of these groups outperform, there has to be something else in play.

Although I am not an economist, it appears that consumers are going to be beneficiaries of prolonged lower energy prices.

On the charts, one stock with solid potential is retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY).

It began this year on a very sour note, but managed to turn itself around in June. From there, the trend has been quite bullish, and there is still more room to run.

Top 10 Oil Service Stocks To Invest In 2015: NGL Energy Partners LP (NGL)

NGL Energy Partners LP is a limited partnership company formed to own and operate a vertically-integrated propane business. The Company operates in three segments: retail propane; wholesale supply and marketing; and midstream. Its retail propane business sells propane to end users consisting of residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial customers. The Company�� wholesale supply and marketing business supplies propane and other natural gas liquids and provides related storage to retailers, wholesalers and refiners. Its midstream business, which consists of its propane terminaling business, takes delivery of propane from pipelines or trucks at its propane terminals and transfers the propane to third-party transport trucks for delivery to retailers, wholesalers or other consumers. The Company�� general partner is NGL Energy Holdings LLC (the General Partner). On October 14, 2010, it executed a series of transactions (the Combination) with NGL Supply, Inc. (NGL Supply). In February 2012, the Company acquired all of the assets comprising the propane and distillate operations of North American Propane. In May 2012, the Company acquired Downeast Energy Corporation. The assets contributed by Downeast are located in Maine and New Hampshire. In November 2012, the Company acquired limited liability company membership interests in Pecos Gathering & Marketing LLC and its affiliated companies (Pecos). In July 2013, NGL Energy Partners LP announced the acquisition of the assets of Crescent Terminals, LLC. Effective July 8, 2013, NGL Energy Partners LP acquired High Roller Wells Big Lake SWD No 1 LP. In August 2013, NGL Energy Partners LP acquired the water disposal and hauling business of Oilfield Water Lines LP. In September 2013, NGL Energy Partners LP acquired the water disposal business of Coastal Plains Disposal #1, LLC owned by WinCo Development, LLC. In November 2013, the Company announced acquisition of all of the equity interests of Gavilon, LLC.

Retail Propane

The Co! mpany�� retail propane business consists of the retail marketing, sale and distribution of propane, including the sale and lease of propane tanks, equipment and supplies, to more than 56,000 residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial customers. It markets retail propane primarily in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas through its customer service locations. The Company owns or leases 44 customer service locations and 37 satellite distribution locations, with aggregate above-ground propane storage capacity of approximately four million gallons. It also owns a fleet of bulk delivery trucks and service vehicles.

Wholesale Supply and Marketing

The Company�� wholesale supply and marketing business provides propane procurement, storage, transportation and supply services to customers, through assets owned by it and by third parties. Its wholesale supply and marketing business also obtains the majority of the propane supply for its retail propane business. The Company procures propane from refiners, gas processing plants, producers and other resellers for delivery to leased storage, common carrier pipelines, rail car terminals and direct to certain customers. It has the right to utilize 100% of the ConocoPhillips Blue Line pipeline, which runs from Borger, Texas, to its propane terminals in East St. Louis, Illinois and Jefferson City, Missouri. The Company leases approximately 67 million gallons of propane storage space in various locations to accommodate the supply requirements and contractual needs of its retail and wholesale customers.

Midstream

The Company�� midstream business, which consists of its propane terminaling business, takes delivery of propane from a pipeline or truck at its propane terminals and transfers the propane to third party trucks for delivery to propane retailers, wholesalers or other customers. The Company�� midstream assets consist of its three propane terminals in East St. Louis, Illinois; Jefferson City, Missou! ri, and S! t. Catharines, Ontario. The Company is a service provider at each of its terminals, which have a combined annual throughput in excess of 170 million gallons of propane.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dividends4Life]

    This week a few companies answered the call and rewarded their shareholders with higher cash dividends:

    Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) engages in regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses. January 16th the company increased its quarterly dividend 2.4% to $0.63 per share. The dividend is payable March 15, 2014, to stockholders of record on February 12, 2014. The yield based on the new payout is 4.7%.

    Cousins Properties Incorporated (CUZ), a real estate investment trust (REIT), owns, develops, and manages real estate portfolio, as well as performs certain real estate-related services. January 16th the company increased its quarterly dividend 66.7% to $0.075 per share. The dividend is payable February 24, 2014, to stockholders of record on February 10, 2014. The yield based on the new payout is 2.8%.

    Wisconsin Energy Corporation (WEC) generates and distributes electric energy, as well as distributes natural gas. The company operates in two segments, Utility Energy and Non-Utility Energy. January 16th the company increased its quarterly dividend 2% to $0.3900 per share. The dividend is payable March 1, 2014, to stockholders of record on February 14, 2014. The yield based on the new payout is 3.8%.

    BlackRock Inc. (BLK) is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors. January 16th the company increased its quarterly dividend 14.9% to $1.93 per share. The dividend is payable March 24, 2014, to stockholders of record on March 7, 2014. The yield based on the new payout is 2.4%.

    ONEOK Inc. (OKE) operates as a diversified energy company in the United States. January 15th the company increased its quarterly dividend 5.3% to $0.40 per share. The dividend is payable February 18, 2014, to stockholders of record on February 10, 2014. The yield based on the new payout is 2.5%.

    Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (OHI) is a real es

Hot Energy Stocks For 2014: Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (KRNGF)

Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (Karoon Gas) is an Australia-based exploration company. The Company is principally engaged in the hydrocarbon exploration and evaluation in Australia, Brazil and Peru. The Company operates in three segments: Australia, Brazil and Peru exploration. The Company�� Australia segment is involved in the exploration and evaluation of hydrocarbons in four offshore permit areas: WA-314-P, WA-315-P, WA-398-P and WA-482-P; The Company in its Brazil segment is involved in the exploration and evaluation of hydrocarbons in five offshore blocks including Block S-M-1037, Block S-M-1101, Block S-M-1102, Block S-M-1165 and Block S-M-1166. The Company under its Peru exploration segment is involved in the exploration and evaluation of hydrocarbons in two blocks in Peru, including Block 144 (onshore) and Block Z-38 (offshore). Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By MARKETWATCH]

    LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks seesawed in early Monday trade, with gains for miners and energy names helping support the market, as the S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) sat 0.1% higher at 5,325.90 after changing direction several times. Official Chinese data showing manufacturing holding its growth rate in October appeared to help some miners, as did gains for some commodity prices. Shares of Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO) (RIO) rose 0.5%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) added 0.7%, Oz Minerals Ltd. (AU:OZL) (OZMLF) advanced 1%, and Whitehaven Coal Ltd. (AU:WHC) improved by 1.9%. Likewise, an advance for gold futures sent Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) rallying 3.4%, and Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (AU:KCN) (KSKGF) up 2.9%. Energy shares also traded higher, with Oil Search Ltd. (AU:OSH) (OISHF) up 1.3%, and Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. (AU:KAR) (KRNGF) adding 1.7%. On the downside, retailers were mostly lower, with David Jones Ltd. (AU:DJS) (DVDJF)

  • [By MARKETWATCH]

    LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks gave ground in early Friday trading, with banks broadly lower after overnight losses in the U.S., where investors worried that better-than-expected data would prompt the Federal Reserve to roll back stimulus soon. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) lost 0.4% to 5,178.30, as National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB) (NAUBF) fell 1.8%, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) lost 0.8%, and Macquarie Group Ltd. (AU:MQG) (MCQEF) retreated 1.3%. Among the resource shares, losses for gold both in New York and in early Asian electronic trade helped send Evolution Mining Ltd. (AU:EVN) (CAHPF) down 1.9% and Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (AU:KCN) (KSKGF) off 4.5%, though Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) held the drop to 0.4%. Oil prices managed a modest gain, however, resulting in a 0.2% rise for Oil Search Ltd. (AU:OSH) (OISHF) and Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. (AU:KAR) (KRNGF) , while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (AU:WPL)

Hot Energy Stocks For 2014: Gastar Exploration Ltd (GST)

Gastar Exploration Ltd (Gastar) is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas and oil in the United States. The Company�� principal business activities include the identification, acquisition, and subsequent exploration and development of natural gas and oil properties with an emphasis on unconventional reserves, such as shale resource plays. As of December 31, 2011, it is pursuing the development of liquids-rich natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachia area of West Virginia and, to a lesser extent, central and southwestern Pennsylvania. The Company also holds prospective acreage in the deep Bossier play in the Hilltop area of East Texas and conduct limited coal bed methane (CBM) development activities within the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. The Company is a holding company. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Robert Rapier]

    Gastar Exploration (NYSE: GST) is another Aggressive Portfolio pick made on Dec. 11, and so far it has rallied quite aggressively, producing a three-week capital gain of 26 percent. It helped here too to catch the very bottom of the recent correction, but Gastar has continued to report strong test well results from the Hunton Limestone play it’s pioneering in Oklahoma.

  • [By Heather Ingrassia]

    Gastar Agreement: On April 1st it was announced that Gastar Exploration, Ltd. (GST) had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire proven reserves and undeveloped leasehold interests in Kingfisher and Canadian counties of Oklahoma from Chesapeake Energy Corporation, repurchase Chesapeake's common shares of the Company and settle all litigation for $1 million. Although smaller in scope than most of Chesapeake's previous asset-shedding transactions, the agreement with Gastar accomplishes two things. First, is the fact the settlement resolves the legal wrangling both companies were engaged in and as a result Chesapeake walks away with $85 million of the potential $130 million they were suing for. Second, is the fact Chesapeake wipes it hands of acreage, that although producing, may not be producing as much as Chesapeake had once hoped, and therefore was worth much more to Gastar in the long run.

  • [By David Smith]

    Earlier, the company had pocketed $75.2 million by selling to Gastar Exploration (NYSEMKT: GST  ) leasehold acreage in Oklahoma's Kingfisher and Canadian counties. It'll obviously require a passel of sales of that magnitude to shore up an overweight balance sheet.

  • [By Josh Young]

    The parallel to Goodrich in the transaction is Gastar Exploration (GST), which has approximately 100,000 net acres in the Hunton (excluding additional exposure from the WEHLU deal). Gastar, similar to Goodrich prior to the Sanchez TMS deal, seems to trade at a discount to a $2,000 per acre implied value for its unconventional oil acreage. In fact, Gastar's CEO recently said he thought the current liquidation value of Gastar's Marcellus assets would be $4-7 per share, net of debt, versus the current $4.25 share price.

Hot Energy Stocks For 2014: Bonanza Creek Energy Inc (BCEI)

Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc., incorporated in December 2010, is an oil and natural gas company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of onshore oil and associated liquids-rich natural gas in the United States. The Company�� assets and operations were focused primarily in southern Arkansas (Mid-Continent region) and the Denver Julesburg (DJ) and North Park Basins in Colorado (Rocky Mountain region) during the year ended December 31, 2010. In addition, it owns and operates oil producing assets in the San Joaquin Basin (California region). It operated approximately 99.4% and held an average working interest of approximately 85.8% of its proved reserves as of December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, its net proved reserves was 32,860 million barrels of oil equivalent (MBoe).

The Company�� proved reserves and its drilling locations in its Mid-Continent acreage are located in the Dorcheat Macedonia field and the McKamie Patton field. In the Dorcheat Macedonia field the Company averages a 83.3% working interest and 68.5% net revenue interest, and all of the Company�� acreage is held by production. It had approximately 78 gross (65.0 net) producing wells and its average net daily production during April 2011, was approximately 1,249 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Boe/d) from a proved reserves base of 15,247 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which about 64.5% was oil and natural gas liquids. As of April 30, 2011, the Company had drilled 13 gross (10.2 net) wells. Immediately northwest of the Dorcheat Macedonia field, it owns and operates the McKamie gas processing facility, which processes all of the gas from the field. It owns additional interests in the Mid-Continent region near the Dorcheat Macedonia field. These include interests in the McKamie-Patton, Atlanta and Beach Creek fields. Its estimated proved reserves in these fields as of December 31, 2010, were approximately 1,947.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, and average net daily production du! ring April 2011, was approximately 239 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The McKamie processing facility is located in Lafayette County, Arkansas and is located to serve its production in the region. The Company�� facility has a processing capacity of 15 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas and 30,000 gallons per day of natural gas liquids. The facility processes natural gas and natural gas liquids, fractionates liquids into three components for sale, and sells four products at the facility's tailgate: propane, butane, natural gasolines and natural gas. It also owns approximately 150 miles of natural gas gathering pipeline that serves the facility and surrounding field areas and 32 miles of right-of-way crossing Lafayette County that can be utilized to connect the facility to other gas fields or future sales outlets. Natural gas is sold at the tailgate of the facility into a CenterPoint pipeline connection. Fractionated natural gas liquids are held on site and trucked out by the buyer, Dufour Petroleum. The McKamie processing facility had an average net output of 749 barrels of oil equivalent per day based on the facility contracts in April, 2011.

The two main areas in which the Company operates in the Rocky Mountain region include the DJ Basin in Weld County, Colorado and the North Park Basin in Jackson County, Colorado. The DJ Basin is a structural basin centered in eastern Colorado that extends into southeast Wyoming, western Nebraska, and western Kansas. Its operations in the DJ Basin are in the oil window of the Niobrara and as of December 31, 2010, consisted of approximately 42,698 gross (29,742 net) total acres. The Company�� estimated proved reserves in the DJ Basin were 8,402 million barrels of oil equivalent at December 31, 2010. As of April 30, 2011, it had a total of 141 gross (133.6 net) producing wells and its net average daily production during April 2011, was approximately 1,124 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The Company�� working inter! est for a! ll producing wells averages is 94.8% and its net revenue interest was approximately 76.5% in 2010. The Codell sandstone and Niobrara oil shale are blanket deposits in the DJ Basin.

The Company controls 47,003 gross (39,030 net) acres in the North Park Basin in northern Jackson County, Colorado. The Basin is divided into three principal opportunities: the North and South McCallum units and the non-unit acreage. The Company operates the North and South McCallum fields. The McCallum field covers 10,277 gross (8,606 net) acres of federal land with the majority of the oil production coming from a waterflood in the Pierre B formation and the carbon dioxide production coming from naturally flowing Dakota wells. Oil production is trucked to the market while carbon dioxide production is sent to a Praxair plant for processing and delivery to the market. In the North Park Basin, its estimated proved reserves as of December 31, 2010, were approximately 696.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which 100% were oil. Its average net production during April 2011, was approximately 140 barrels of oil equivalent per day. All of the Company�� 47,003 gross (39,030 net) acres in the North Park Basin are prospective for the Niobrara oil shale.

In California the Company owns acreage in four fields: Kern River, Midway Sunset and Greeley, which the Company operates, and Sargent, which it does not. Its estimated proved reserves in California were 886 million barrels of oil equivalent at December 31, 2010. As of April 30, 2011, we had a total of 57 gross (48.7 net) producing wells and its average net daily production was approximately 218 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Its working interest for all producing wells averages 85.4% and its net revenue interest is approximately 71.9%. As of December 31, 2010, it had identified approximately 18 gross (13.6 net) PUD locations in California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Robert Rapier] For those who are unaware, each month there is a joint web chat for subscribers of The Energy Strategist (TES) and MLP Profits. The chat is conducted by Igor Greenwald, managing editor for TES and chief investment strategist for MLP Profits, and myself. This month’s chat took place on Sept. 10.

    We place a priority on answering questions about portfolio holdings and recommendations during the chat, but often we get questions about companies we don’t currently recommend. Or, we sometimes get questions or comments about a company that require an extended answer. In these cases we push those questions to the end, and attempt to answer them if time allows. For this past chat there were several questions remaining at the end, which I will address here today. For each company, a brief background is presented for readers who may not be familiar with the company.

    Q: What is your view of BCEI at the present price?

    Bonanza Creek Energy (NYSE: BCEI) is a Denver-based oil and gas company with operations in Colorado and southern Arkansas. While the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas get more press, oil and gas plays in the Denver-Julesburg Basin have helped turn Colorado into one of the fastest growing energy producing states in the country and the fastest growing oil producer in the Rocky Mountains. Since 2008 oil production in Colorado has risen by an impressive 63 percent to a 50-year high.

    BCEI is well-positioned with acreage in the Wattenberg Gas Field north of Denver. The field is one of the largest natural gas plays in the US. Wattenberg represents 60 percent of BCEI’s proved reserves, with 59 percent of those reserves classified as liquid. Of the company’s remaining reserves, 39 percent are located in the oil-bearing Cotton Valley Sands in Southern Arkansas (68 percent liquids) and 1 percent in Colorado’s North Park Basin (100 percent liquids).

    BCEI has grown reserves at a 45
  • [By Holly LaFon]

    Another area that is intriguing to us is the North American energy sector which looks to have a number of interesting catalysts currently. While the energy sector is at present only a modest overweight in the portfolios, we have been encouraged by several trends taking place for a number of years. These positive developments are also having an impact that goes far beyond the energy sector itself. Many believe that the U.S. will become energy independent and possibly a net exporter of natural gas and oil (currently restricted by law) in the next decade. This opinion is based primarily on the development of new drilling techniques (i.e. horizontal drilling, and high pressure fracking) that have enabled companies to access oil and natural gas reserves in shale formations that were previously not economically viable. The ability to tap into this acreage is a game-changer in our view and is already having a tremendous impact on the economy. Employment rates in these mostly rural areas surrounding the shale basins are very high and companies thus find hiring extremely competitive. Strong labor markets tend to create strong local economies. Oil States International (OIS) has been able to capitalize on this trend by providing housing and other services to oil service workers that are in demand in the area. CST Brands (CST) operates gas stations in Texas, but it is increasingly looking to broaden its product offering beyond fuel. Rail companies like Union Pacific (UNP), Canadian Pacific (CP), Kansas City Southern (KSU) and Genesee and Wyoming (GWR) have also benefited substantially. Given that shale areas are rural and often lacking infrastructure, substantial investment must be made to support drilling and production activities. Without pipelines in place, railroads have been the primary takeaway mechanism for moving production to the various clusters of refining capacity around the United States. In order to serve this demand, massive investment in railcars has been nee

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Not all stocks are created equal, however, and the analysts expect some stocks to handily outperform others, and their top picks “are poised to deliver long-term, capital-efficient growth…while trading at attractive valuations that currently provide 20%+ upside to our price targets.” Their winners?�Oasis Petroleum (OAS),�Approach Resources (AREX),�Bonanza Creek Energy�(BCEI) and Gulfport Energy�(GPOR), all of which are rated Buy with Oasis also added to Goldman’s conviction list. Investors, however, should avoid �WPX Energy�(WPX), which the analysts rate a Sell. They explain why:

Hot Energy Stocks For 2014: FX Energy Inc (FXEN)

FX Energy, Inc. is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with production, appraisal, and exploration activities in Poland. The Company operates within two segments of the oil and gas industry: the exploration and production (E&P) segment in Poland and the United States, and the oilfield services segment in the United States. The Company also has oil production, oilfield service activities, and a shale acreage position in the United States. During the year ended December 31, 2011, its oil and gas production was 4.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas (12.0 million cubic feet equivalent per day). The Company concentrates its exploration operations in Poland primarily on the Rotliegend sandstones of the Permian Basin. The Company has identified a core area consisting of approximately 852,000 gross acres surrounding PGNiG�� producing Radlin field.

Activities and Presence in Poland

The Company conducts its activities in Poland in project areas, including Fences, Blocks 287, 246, and 229 near the Fences concession, Warsaw South, Kutno, Northwest, and Edge. In the Fences during 2011, it completed the Lisewo-1 well as a commercial well and drilled the Plawce-2 well in a tight sand area. In its other concessions it drilled the Machnatka-2 well, a noncommercial Zechstein/Carboniferous test, in the Warsaw South concession, and started drilling the Kutno-2 well, a deep Rotliegend test, in the Kutno concession. The Fences concession area encompasses 852,000 gross acres (3,450 square kilometers) in western Poland�� Permian Basin. The Fences concession area encompasses 852,000 gross acres (3,450 square kilometers) in western Poland�� Permian Basin. The Company has drilled 11 conventional wells targeting Rotliegend structures through the date of this filing. Eight of these wells are commercial. The Company is produce from four of these eight wells.

The Block 287 concession area is 12,000 acres (50 square kilometers) located approximately 25 miles so! uth of the Fences concession area. The Company owns 100% of the exploration rights. As of December 31, 2011, it has reentered only the Grabowka-12 well. During 2011, it produced at an average daily rate of approximately 0.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The Company has a 100% interest in a concession south of its Fences project area covering approximately 241,000 acres (975 square kilometers). The Company hold a 51% interest in a total of 874,000 acres (3,538 square kilometers.) in east-central Poland. During 2011, it entered into a farmout agreement with PGNiG under which it earned a 49% interest in the entire Warsaw South concession in return for paying certain seismic and drilling costs. It subsequently drilled the Machnatka-2 well to test Zechstein and Carboniferous potential in the western part of the concession area.

The Company holds a 100% interest in 706,000 acres (2,856 square kilometers). The area encompasses a Rotliegend structure (Kutno) with projected four-way dip closure. It started drilling the Kutno-2 well during 2011. It hold concessions on 828,000 acres (3,351 square kilometers) in west-central Poland, in Poland�� Permian Basin directly north of PGNiG�� BMB and MLG oil and gas fields. The Company has a 100% interest in four concessions in north-central Poland covering approximately 881,000 acres (3,567 square kilometers). As of December 31, 2011, it held oil and gas exploration rights in Poland in separately designated project areas encompassing approximately 4.6 million gross acres. The Company is the operator in all areas, except its 852,000 gross-acre core Fences project area, in which it hold a 49% interest in approximately 807,000 acres and a 24.5% interest in the remaining 45,000 acres.

U.S. Activities and Presence

The operations consist of shallow, oil-producing wells in the Southwest Cut Bank Sand Unit (SWCBSU), of Montana. Its oil wells produce approximately 155 barrels of oil per day, net to its interest. From its fie! ld office! in Montana, the Company also provides oilfield services. The Company produces oil from approximately 10,732 gross (10,418 net) acres in Montana and 400 gross (128 net) acres in Nevada. In 2011, the Company entered into a joint venture with two other companies, American Eagle Energy, Inc., and Big Sky Operating LLC, in which it pooled our approximately 10,000 net acres in our SWCBSU with their approximately 65,000 net acres, the Americana leases, along with a farmout agreement that provides the group with an ability to earn an interest in an additional 7,000 acres covered by the Somont leases. During 2011, it drilled three vertical wells on joint venture acreage to obtain log and core data. The Company also drilled a 3,600-foot lateral from one of these three wells, the Anderson 14-29, and carried out a multistage fracture. The Company is testing oil potential in the Anderson 14-29 well. The Company has a one-third working interest in all formations below the Cut Bank in its SWCBSU.

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

    I hate to be the one to say I told you so, but, I told you so. Within the past week I suggested both FX Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FXEN) and MeetMe Inc. (NYSEMKT:MEET) were on the verge of breakouts, and sure enough, both are making good on that promise today; FXEN is up 5%, and MEET shares are higher by nearly 13%. Granted, the market's bullish tide is helping... a little. But, with both of these stocks outpacing the market's gain today, odds are that we would have seen these breakout moves anyway.

  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    Another energy player that's starting to trend within range of triggering a major breakout trade is FX Energy (FXEN), which is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with principal production, reserves and exploration in Poland and oil production, oilfield service and exploration activities in the U.S. This stock is off to a slow start in 2013, with shares off by 14%.

    If you take a look at the chart for FX Energy, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways inside of a consolidation chart pattern for the last two months and change, with shares moving between $2.93 on the downside and $3.98 on the upside. Shares of FXEN are now starting to bounce higher off its 50-day moving average of $3.36 share, and it's quickly moving within range of triggering a major breakout trade above the upper-end of its recent range.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in FXEN if it manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.62 to $3.71 a share and then above more resistance at $3.98 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action 377,632 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then FXEN will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $4.50 to $4.76 a share. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give FXEN a chance to tag or trend above $5 a share.

    Traders can look to buy FXEN off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $3.15 or $2.93 a share. One could also buy FXEN off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Hot Energy Stocks For 2014: Target Energy Ltd (TEXQY)

Target Energy Limited is an Australia-based company engaged in the development, production and exploration of oil and gas in the United States of America. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, the Company continued to develop and explore its oil and gas prospects in Texas and Louisiana. The Snapper wells in St Martin Parish, the Pine Pasture #1 and #2 wells in the East Chalkley field, the Merta #1 well at the Highway 71 prospect continued to produce. The Merta #1 well at the Highway 71 prospect continued to produce. Drilling commenced in the Fairway project on September 10, 2011, with the BOA 12 #1 well being completed as a producer. On August 12, 2012, the Darwin #1 well was drilled to a total depth of 3,070 meter. It is located three kilometer north-east of the BOA wells and will test both the Wolfberry and Fusselman formations. The Company�� subsidiaries include TELA (USA) Inc, TELA Louisiana Limited Inc, TELA Texas Holdings Limited Inc and Target Energy Limited. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    Target Energy Limited (OTCQX:TEXQY, ASX:TEX) (http://targetenergy.com.au/) is an oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and trading under ticker “TEX” and OTC Markets trading under ticker “TEXQY”.

    Today�(July 10), Target Energy Limited ticker (OTCQX:TEXQY) had remained (0.00%) +0.000 at $6.48 thus far (ref. google finance 12:34PM EDT�July 10, 2013), and Target Energy Limited on the Australian Securities Exchange ticker (ASX:TEX) had surged (+9.68%) +0.006 at $.068 with�106,557 shares in play at the close (ref. google finance July 10, 2013 – Close).

    Target Energy Limited previously reported that the company is continuing drilling operations at the Pine Pasture #3 oil well on their East Chalkey Oil Field in Parish, Louisiana. The Company had independent studies which indicated that put upside recoverable reserves for Pine Pasture #3 range between 250,000 and 450,000 barrels of oil. In addition, the report also revealed that the East Chalkey Field has an upside estimate of 4 million barrels of oil.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Top Airline Stocks To Watch Right Now

U.S. airlines had far more delayed flights and canceled more flights in the first month of this year than it did the year before, according to new Transportation Department data. The data showed that January was one of the worst January reports in the past two decades for the airline industry in terms of on-time performance and cancellations.

The nation's largest airlines posted an on-time arrival rate of 67.7% in January, down from both the 81% rate posted in January 2013 and the 68.9% rate in December 2013, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. It was the third lowest on-time arrival rate for a January in 20 years of comparable data.

The carriers canceled 6.5% of their scheduled domestic flights in January, up from 1.5% the same month last year. That was also a significant increase over the 2.9% cancellation rate in December 2013. It was the second highest January cancellation rate in 20 years.

Top Managed Healthcare Stocks To Buy For 2015: Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd (VBHLF)

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (VAH) is an Australia-based company engaged in the development and operation of domestic and international airlines. VAH�� fleet includes ATR-72, Embraer 190, Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, AIRBUS A330 and Boeing 777-300ER. It product includes Airbus A330 Business Class. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, the Company carried 19,468,929 guests on 216 city pairs to 52 destinations, and operated 162,817 flights. On February 22, 2012, under the proposal, all of the shares in the international airline business of Virgin Australia were transferred to a new holding company, Virgin Australia International Holdings Pty Ltd. In April 2013, it acquired 100% of the issued share capital in Skywest Airlines Ltd. In July 2013, Virgin Australia Holdings Limited announced that it has acquired 60% interest of Tiger Airways Australia Pty Limited from Tiger Airways Holdings Limited. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By MARKETWATCH]

    LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks gave ground in early Friday trading, with banks broadly lower after overnight losses in the U.S., where investors worried that better-than-expected data would prompt the Federal Reserve to roll back stimulus soon. The S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) lost 0.4% to 5,178.30, as National Australia Bank Ltd. (AU:NAB) (NAUBF) fell 1.8%, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) lost 0.8%, and Macquarie Group Ltd. (AU:MQG) (MCQEF) retreated 1.3%. Among the resource shares, losses for gold both in New York and in early Asian electronic trade helped send Evolution Mining Ltd. (AU:EVN) (CAHPF) down 1.9% and Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (AU:KCN) (KSKGF) off 4.5%, though Newcrest Mining Ltd. (AU:NCM) (NCMGF) held the drop to 0.4%. Oil prices managed a modest gain, however, resulting in a 0.2% rise for Oil Search Ltd. (AU:OSH) (OISHF) and Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. (AU:KAR) (KRNGF) , while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (AU:WPL)

Top Airline Stocks To Watch Right Now: ANA Holdings Inc (ALNPF)

ANA HOLDINGS INC., formerly All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., is a Japan-based airline holding company. Its Air Transportation segment is engaged in the air transportation business, the provision of various services at airports, the provision of reservation services via telephone, the freight express business, and the maintenance of aircrafts in domestic and overseas markets. The Traveling segment plans and sells tour packages under the brand names ANA Hello Tour and ANA Sky Holiday, it also offers services to travelers at arrival areas and sells travel products and air tickets. The Others segment involves in the information communication, trading and merchandise business, building management, logistics and airplane fixture repair business, and hotel operation. On March 4 and March 5, 2013, it fully acquired all shares of one and two consolidated subsidiaries through stock swap, respectively, made them become wholly-owned subsidiaries. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Daniel Inman]

    In Tokyo, ANA Holdings (JP:9202) � (ALNPF) �declined 4.7% after the airline lowered its 2013 fiscal-year net profit forecast by 65% on higher fuel costs and slow service expansion because of delays in Boeing (BA) �787 Dreamliner deliveries.

Top Airline Stocks To Watch Right Now: Southwest Airlines Co (LUV)

Southwest Airlines Co., incorporated on March 9, 1967, operates Southwest Airlines, a passenger airline, which provides scheduled air transportation in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the Company was serving 72 cities in 37 states throughout the United States. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company added addition services in two new states and three new cities: Charleston, South Carolina; Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Newark, New Jersey. Southwest provides point-to-point. On May 2, 2011, the Company acquired AirTran Holdings, Inc. (AirTran).

AirTran�� route system provides hub-and-spoke, rather than point-to-point, service, with approximately half of AirTran�� flights originating or terminating at its hub in Atlanta, Georgia. AirTran also serves a range of markets with non-stop service from bases of operation in Baltimore, Maryland; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Orlando, Florida. As of December 31, 2011, AirTran was serving 68 United States and near-international destinations, including San Juan, Puerto Rico; Cancun, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Nassau, The Bahamas; Oranjestad, Aruba; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and Bermuda. As of January 31, 2012, AirTran served 65 destinations. During 2011, approximately 71% of Southwest�� customers flew non-stop, and Southwest�� average aircraft trip stage length was 664 miles with an average duration of approximately 1.8 hours.

As of December 31, 2011, Southwest offered 25 weekday roundtrips from Dallas Love Field to Houston Hobby, 13 weekday roundtrips from Phoenix to Las Vegas, 13 weekday roundtrips from Burbank to Oakland, and 12 weekday roundtrips from Los Angeles International to Oakland. Southwest offers connecting service opportunities from over 60 Southwest cities to different Volaris airports in Mexico including Aguascalientes, Guadalajara, Mexico City (MEX), Mexico City-Toluca (TLC), Morelia, and Zacatecas. The Company�� International Connect portal conducts two separate transac! tions: one with Southwest�� reservation system and one with Volaris�� reservation system.

Southwest bundles fares into three categories: Wanna Get Away, Anytime, and Business Select. Wanna Get Away fares are lowest fares. Business Select fares are refundable and changeable, and funds may be applied toward future travel on Southwest. Business Select fares also include additional perks, such as priority boarding, a frequent flyer point multiplier, priority security and ticket counter access in select airports, and one complimentary adult beverage coupon for the day of travel. The Company�� Internet Website, southwest.com, is the avenue for Southwest Customers to purchase tickets online. During 2011, southwest.com accounted for approximately 78% of all Southwest bookings. During 2011, approximately 84% of Southwest�� Passenger revenues came through its Website, including revenues from SWABIZ, the Company�� business travel reservation Web page.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By DAILYFINANCE]

    Matt Rourke/AP DALLAS -- US Airways began studying a potential merger with American Airlines several months before American filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2011, according to papers filed Monday by the two companies. The documents give a blow-by-blow account of how the merger was negotiated, including the thorny issues of how to share ownership of the merged company and who would run it. The companies also revived a proposed $20 million severance deal for Tom Horton, the CEO of American parent AMR Corp. A federal judge had declined to approve the payout, finding that it violated a 2005 bankruptcy law, but he had left open the possibility that a payment could be reconsidered later. US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), whose CEO, Doug Parker, will run the combined company, played up the importance of Monday's filings with the bankruptcy court in New York and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "With these materials filed, we are one step closer to completing the merger, which we expect to occur in the third quarter of this year," US Airways officials said a memo to employees. The bankruptcy court has already signaled approval for the merger, which would create the world's largest airline. The deal faces only a few more hurdles, including approval from the U.S. Justice Department and US Airways shareholders. AMR will have 60 days to win support among creditors for its reorganization plan. Major creditors were closely involved in negotiations leading to the merger announcement in February, so it seems unlikely that they would derail the plan that will be considered by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane. It's less clear whether antitrust regulators in the Justice Department will impose major conditions on the deal. Regulators approved other big airline mergers -- Delta and Northwest, United and Continental, Southwest (LUV) and AirTran -- so industry analysts expect them to let this deal pass. The Justice Department, however, could require the American-

  • [By Anders Bylund]

    DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH  ) may have lost the high-stakes poker game over some serious wireless operations, but the satellite broadcaster has plenty of backup ideas up its sleeve. First up: a fresh marketing agreement with Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV  ) that delivers free movies and TV shows to Southwest passengers, courtesy of DISH.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    While we suspect some investors may be cautious following the strong performance of airline stocks over the past 12��4 months, we believe there is significant runway remaining. It is important to note that despite the major consolidations that have been announced over the past five years, only one merger ��Delta-Northwest ��has been fully implemented, while remaining combinations ��Southwest (LUV)-AirTran, United-Continental, and U.S. Airways-American Airlines (AAL) ��are in various stages of achieving synergies. We expect the primary benefits of consolidation to be: (1) a more favorable pricing environment, (2) reduced risk of irrational pricing, and (3) an improved ability to use ancillary revenues to affect passenger fares and further mitigate fuel cost risk.

Top Airline Stocks To Watch Right Now: Indonesia Transport & Infrastructure Tbk PT (IATA)

PT Indonesia Transport & Infrastructure Tbk, formerly PT Indonesia Air Transport Tbk, is an Indonesia-based air transport service provider. The Company provides air transportation, hiring and/or leasing aircrafts, repairs and maintenance of aircrafts and trading of aviation technical equipment and related spare parts. It also provides medical evacuation services, tourism and scheduled flight services to several routes in central and eastern Indonesia. The Company operates various types of fixed wing aircrafts and helicopters, such as EC 155 B1, AS 365 Dauphin N2 twin turbine helicopter, Beechcraft 1900D, ATR 42-300, ATR 42-500 and Fokker 50. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Shereen El Gazzar]

    The forecast, from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), sees the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region with the strongest international passenger growth, with a compound average growth rate of 6.3% and 5.7% respectively.

Top Airline Stocks To Watch Right Now: American Airlines Group Inc (AAL)

American Airlines Group Inc., formerly AMR Corporation, incorporated in October 1982, operates in the airline industry. The Company's principal subsidiary is American Airlines, Inc. (American). As of December 31, 2011, American provided scheduled jet service to approximately 160 destinations throughout North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Asia. AMR Eagle Holding Corporation (AMR Eagle), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, owns two regional airlines, which do business as American Eagle-American Eagle Airlines, Inc. and Executive Airlines, Inc. (collectively, the American Eagle carriers). American also contracts with an independently owned regional airline, which does business as AmericanConnection (the AmericanConnection carrier). As of December 31, 2011, AMR Eagle operated approximately 1,500 daily departures, offering scheduled passenger service to over 175 destinations in North America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

American, AMR Eagle and the AmericanConnection airline served more than 250 cities in approximately 50 countries with, on average, 3,400 daily flights and the combined network fleet numbered approximately 900 aircraft as of December 31, 2011. American Airlines is also a founding member of the oneworld alliance, which includes British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LAN Airlines, Iberia, Qantas, JAL, Malev Hungarian, Mexicana, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines. Together, oneworld members serve 750 destinations in approximately 150 countries, with about 8,500 daily departures. American is also one of the scheduled air freight carriers in the world, providing a range of freight and mail services to shippers throughout its system onboard American's passenger fleet.

To improve access to each other's markets, American has established marketing relationships with other airlines and rail companies. As of December 31, 2011, American had marketing relationships with Air Berlin, Air Pacific, Air Tahiti Nui, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cape Air, C! athay Pacific, China Eastern Airlines, Dragonair, Deutsche Bahn German Rail, EL AL, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Finnair, GOL, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia, Japan Airlines (JAL), Jet Airways, JetStar Airways, LAN (includes LAN Airlines, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru), Niki Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines.

American has established the AAdvantage frequent flyer program (AAdvantage). AAdvantage members earn mileage credits by flying on American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection carrier or by using services of other participants in the AAdvantage program. Mileage credits can be redeemed for free, discounted or upgraded travel on American, American Eagle or other participating airlines, or for other awards. American sells mileage credits and related services to other participants in the AAdvantage program. There are over 1,000 program participants, including a credit card issuer, hotels, car rental companies, and other products and services companies in the AAdvantage program. As of December 31, 2011, AAdvantage had approximately 69 million total members.

The Company competes with Alaska Airlines (Alaska), Delta Air Lines (Delta), Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways (JetBlue), Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines (Southwest) and AirTran Airways (Air Tran), Spirit Airlines, United Airlines (United) and Continental Airlines (Continental), US Airways and Virgin America Airlines.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Maxx Chatsko]

    The global aviation industry, led by The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA  ) and major airlines such as American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL  ) , has set ambitious goals to reduce its environmental footprint and increase its use of drop-in fuels such as renewable jet and renewable diesel. Specifically, the global fleet will improve its fuel efficiency by 1.5% every year between now and the end of the decade. From there, the industry aims to achieve carbon neutral -- or carbon negative -- growth and slash carbon dioxide emissions to 50% of 2005 levels by the year 2050. It's an ambitious plan for sure, but substantial momentum behind efficient aircraft design and drop-in biofuels points to the potential for success.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    On Monday, United Continental (UAL) announced that Cleveland would no longer be used as a hub. Imperial Capital’s Bob McAdoo and Scott Buck�explain what United Continental stands to gain–and why it could be good news for American Airlines (AAL) and Delta Air Lines (DAL), too:

Top Airline Stocks To Watch Right Now: AirAsia Bhd (AIRA.KL)

AirAsia Berhad (AirAsia) is principally engaged in providing air transportation services. It has covered over 80 destinations via 160 routes crisscrossing 18 countries. AirAsia has in the pipeline approximately 355 single-aisle aircraft from Airbus - 264 A320 new engine options (neo) and 93 A320 current engine options (ceo). The Company�� ancillary services include in-flight meals, check-in baggage, counter check-in, Pick-a-Seat, Hot Seat selection, Fly-Thru, Red Carpet and various merchandise (on-board, as well as in its online Megastore) and cargo service. Indonesia AirAsia introduced approximately 10 new routes. Of these, 11 were internal: Bandung - Pekanbaru, Jakarta - Semarang, Denpasar - Yogyakarta, Denpasar - Surabaya, Medan - Pekanbaru, Medan - Banda Aceh, Surabaya - Bandung, Surabaya - Jakarta, Surabaya - Semarang, Makassar - Jakarta and Makassar - Balikpapan. The Company�� operations are conducted in Malaysia. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Johanna Bennett]

    But AirAsia (AIRA.KL) shares, which were also downgraded by AllianceDBS, fell 8.5% on the local exchange. The airplane�� lead insurer, Allianz SE (AZSEY), and the manufacturer, Airbus Group (EADSY), each fell roughly 1% in early afternoon market action.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Top 5 Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now

Jacquelyn Martin/AP WASHINGTON -- U.S. Supreme Court justices Tuesday appeared to seek a compromise over whether police officers need warrants to search cellphones. In two hours of oral arguments before the court, the justices appeared sympathetic to the need of police officers to quickly search phones when a suspect is arrested but were also wary of privacy concerns raised by the amount of personal data now kept on mobile devices. The court indicated it could issue a ruling that says police might need a warrant in some circumstances but not in others. It was unclear what rationale the court would embrace. One possible outcome would be for a search not to require a warrant so long as the evidence in question was directly related to the criminal investigation. Several justices appeared concerned about granting the police unfettered access to the vast amount of information contained on smartphones. "People carry their entire lives on cellphones," Justice Elena Kagan said. On the other hand, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that criminals have embraced new technology, which has enabled them to be "more dangerous, more sophisticated, more elusive." The nine justices are weighing cases from California and Massachusetts arising from criminal prosecutions that used evidence obtained without a warrant from a judge. The legal question rests on whether the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which bars unreasonable searches, requires police following an arrest to get court approval before a cellphone can be searched. The two defendants challenging their convictions, David Riley and Brima Wurie, say evidence found on their phones shouldn't have been used as evidence at trial because the searches were conducted without warrants. Should the court limit the scope of what police can search without a warrant, both men could still lose as the searches in their cases may still not need a warrant. Rulings are expected by the end of June. The cases are Riley v. California, 13-132 and U.S. v. Wurie, 13-212.

Best Penny Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Caplease Funding Inc (LSE)

CapLease, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT), focused on financing and investing in commercial real estate that is net leased primarily to single tenants with investment grade or near investment grade credit ratings. It provides private and corporate owners of net lease real estate with equity, debt, and mezzanine financing options. The company is organized to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes and accordingly it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. Capital Lease is based in New York City.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Net-lease property REIT American Realty Capital Properties� (NASDAQ: ARCP  ) says that with Capital Lease Funding (NYSE: LSE  ) announcing the expiration of its 40-day "go shop" period and no other buyers being found, it plans to buy its rival sooner than originally intended.

  • [By Inyoung Hwang]

    Berkeley Group Holdings Plc (BKG) surged 8.3 percent after saying first-half profit rose 22 percent. London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) climbed 2.4 percent after Bank of America Corp.�� Merrill Lynch unit recommended buying the stock. Givaudan SA (GIVN) lost 1.3 percent after Nestle SA said it will sell $1.27 billion of shares in the world�� largest flavorings maker.

Top 5 Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: Cellcom Israel Ltd.(CEL)

Cellcom Israel Ltd. provides cellular communications services in Israel. It offers basic and advanced cellular telephone services, text and multimedia messaging services, and advanced cellular content and data services. The company?s basic cellular telephony services include voice mail, cellular fax, call waiting, call forwarding, caller identification, collect call, conference calling, ?Talk 2?, additional number services, and collect call services; and outbound and inbound roaming services. It also provides value-added services comprising Cellcom volume that includes downloadable content, such as music, games, on-net-reality programs, drama series, and video games; SMS and MMS services to send and receive text, photos, multimedia, and animation messages; access to third party application providers for notification of roadway speed detectors, mange vehicle fleets, and enable subscribers to manage and operate time clocks and various controllers for industrial, agricultural , and commercial purposes; video calls to communicate with each other through video applications; zone services for calls initiated from a specific location; location-based services; voice-based information services; text-based information services and interactive information services, including news headlines, sports results, and traffic and weather reports; and data services to access handsets, cellular modems, laptops, tablets, and cellular routers, as well as Internet based payment services. In addition, the company sells handsets, modems, routers, tablets, and laptops, as well as provides repair and replacement services; and offers landline telephony, transmission, and data services through its approximately 1,500 kilometers of inland fiber-optic infrastructure and complementary microwave links to selected business customers. As of March 31, 2011, it provided its services to approximately 3.395 million subscribers. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Netanya, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Smith]

    Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL  ) is getting a new CFO.

    Following the company's successful merger with Netvision, current Chief Financial Officer Yaacov Heen is declaring his mission accomplished, and says he intends to resign his post on Sept. 17 after 16 years with the company. At that time, Cellcom says it will bring on Shlomi Fruhling, the former VP for strategy and finance at Netvision, to become the merged company's new CFO on Sept. 18.

Top 5 Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: Amarantus Bioscience Holdings Inc (AMBS)

Amarantus BioScience Holdings, Inc., formerly Amarantus BioSciences, Inc., incorporated on March 22, 2013, is focuses on developing intellectual property and proprietary technology in order to develop drug candidates and diagnostic blood tests to diagnose and treat human diseases. The Company owns the intellectual property rights to a therapeutic protein known as Mesencephalic-Astrocyte-derived Neurotrophic Factor (MANF), owns the intellectual property rights to biomarkers related to oncology and neurodegeneration named BC-SeraPro and NuroPro respectively, has a license to an Alzheimer�� disease blood test named LymPro, and owns a number of proprietary cell lines called PhenoGuard. MANF was the first therapeutic protein discovered from a PhenoGuard Cell Line. In December 2012, the Company acquired neurodegenerative diagnostic portfolio from Power3 Medical Products. On March 22, 2013, the Company was merged with into Amarantus Bioscience Inc.

The Company also owns an inventory of 88 cell lines that Amarantus refers to as PhenoGuard Cell Lines. MANF is a protein that corrects protein misfolding. The Company�� MANF product development effort is centered on a therapy for Parkinson�� disease.

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

    Judging from the company it's keeping Green Automotive Co. (OTCMKTS:GACR) may have just made its way into the upper echelon of small cap stock opportunities. The electric car company joins Elite Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCBB:ELTP), Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:AMBS), and only three other companies as Wall-Street.com's "Best 6 Stocks" for January of 2014. As one of the top information resources for investors - particularly in terms of information regarding small and micro cap stocks - being named among the site's top pick is an accolade for AMBS, ELTP, and GACR. Even more impressive is that Green Automotive Co. was the only consumer-goods name among those six. Amarantus Bioscience Holdings and Elite Pharmaceuticals are biotechnology names... an industry that can and often does attract a lot of attention just by the nature of the business. The other three names making the "Best 6" list were an energy explorer, a power-management technology manufacturer, and prescription/medical food producer. For an electric car manufacturer to make the list speaks quite highly of GACR.

  • [By James E. Brumley]

    What do Acasti Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ACST), Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ:KNDI), and Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:AMBS) have in common? Not a lot, if you're simply looking at their business lines. Kandi Technologies Group makes electric cars, and even though Amarantus Bioscience Holdings and Acasti Pharma are both in the pharmaceutical arena, they're not too much alike. There is one common element among AMBS, ACST, and KNDI right now, however... they're three of the market's most bullish setups. Anyone looking for a new trading idea here should start with one of these three.

  • [By Bryan Murphy]

    I've taken bullish swings on - and been wrong to do so - Amarantus BioScience, Inc. (OTC:AMBS) before. My most recent bullish call on the budding biotech name was in April... a rally that fizzled shortly after I said it was just getting started. Somehow though, I find myself coming back to AMBS as a breakout candidate. This time, however, it's for a slightly different reason.

  • [By James E. Brumley]

    At first glance, Amarantus Bioscience Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB:AMBS) doesn't look like anything more than a volatile mess. It's up 17% today, but had been up twice that amount this morning. Even more exhausting is the fact AMBS, currently at $0.0529, had been as high as $0.089 and as low as $0.039 within the past three months. Point being, Amarantus Bioscience Holdings has been, and continues to be, all over the map.

Top 5 Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: Sterlite Industries(India)

Sterlite Industries (India) Limited operates as a non-ferrous metals and mining company in India and internationally. It engages in the smelting and processing of copper and production of copper byproducts. The company?s primary products consist of copper cathode and continuos cast rods, as well as by products comprise sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, hydrofluoro silicic acid, gypsum, ferro sand, and slime. It also owns the Mt. Lyell copper mine at Tasmania in Australia, as well as owns various zinc assets, including Skorpion Zinc in Namibia; Black Mountain Mines in South Africa; and Lisheen Mines in Ireland. In addition, the company produces aluminum from its bauxite mines. Its aluminum products include aluminum ingots and wire rods; rolled products, such as coils and sheets; and vanadium sludge as a by-product. Further, the company smelts and produces lead and zinc, as well as produces and sells sulphuric acid to fertilizer manufacturers and other industries; and silver ingots primarily to industrial users. It operates three lead-zinc mines in the state of Rajasthan, northwest India. Additionally, it involves in power generations business. As of March 31, 2011, the company had a power generation capacity of 1,041 MW from its thermal power plants and wind power plants. The company was formerly known as Sterlite Cables Limited and changed its name to Sterlite Industries (India) Limited in 1986.The company was incorporated 1975 and is based in Mumbai, India. Sterlite Industries (India) Limited is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources plc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Sy Harding]

    Those largest holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor, Petroloeo Brasileiro (Brazil), China Mobile, China Construction Bank, CNOOK (China Offshore Drilling), Gazprom OAO (Russia), America Movil (Mexico), Sasol Ltd. (South Africa), Hon Hai Precision (Taiwan), and Infosys (India).

  • [By Rajhkumar K Shaaw]

    BNP Paribas Securities (Asia) Ltd., Macquarie Capital Securities (India) Pvt. and Ambit Capital Pvt. cut their Sensex targets as the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly increased its benchmark interest rate to stem a record decline in the rupee and curb consumer prices in the world�� second-most populous nation. Strategists reduced their average profit estimate by 4.5 percent as higher borrowing costs threaten to worsen the slowest economic expansion since 2009.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Big Banks: Summers Bye-Bye Winners (Update 1)

Updated from 4:27 p.m. ET with comment from Ron Beasley, and investment advisor in Houston.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Morgan Stanley (MS) was the winner among the largest U.S. banks on Monday, with shares rising over 2% to close at $53.14.

Bank stocks fared even better than the broad market Monday, as investors cheered the withdrawal by former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers from consideration to be President Obama's nominee to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman.

The KBW Bank Index (I:BKX) rose 0.8% to close at 64.17, with all 24 index components showing gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8%, while the S&P 500 (SPX.X) rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite ended with a slight decline. Big banks seeing shares rise nearly 2% included Goldman Sachs (GS), which closed at $67.03, and Wells Fargo (WFC), which closed at $$42.89. Shares of JPMorgan Chase were up 1% to close at $53.14, after Reuters and the Wall Street Journal separately reported that the company would agree to pay fines of "at least" $700 million, springing from the compliance and risk-management failures that led to the "London Whale" hedge trading losses that amounted to at least $6.2 billion during 2012. Both reports cited unnamed sources. JPMorgan CFO Marianne Lake at a conference last Monday said the bank's third-quarter legal expenses could exceed $1.5 billion. The Journal on Friday reported that JPMorgan's second-half expenses from regulatory expenses could rise by an additional $4 billion, including the cost for an additional 5,000 employees "to clean up its risk and compliance problems The Next Fed Chair Bernanke's term ends on Jan. 31 of next year, leaving plenty of time for the Senate to confirm a nominee, however, Obama may face difficulty in finding a candidate who can clear the Senate Banking committee, before heading to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote. Summers has been critical of the Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary policy, while the other highest-profile candidate -- current Federal Reserve System Vice Chair Janet Yellen -- is favored by investors who wish for the central bank to maintain the course it has taken under Bernanke's leadership. Summers had faced plenty of opposition from Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee, including Jon Tester (D., Mont.), who had gone on the record saying he was against Summers's potential nomination, and Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), Sherrod Brown (D.,-Ohio) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who were widely expected at least to question the suitability of Summers for the role. Some of the criticism springs from his support of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which prevented direct regulation of derivatives trading between large banks.

Hot Food Stocks To Own For 2015

Obama may also face a tough time if he nominates Yellen, since Senate Banking Committee member Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) stands out for having voted against Yellen's nomination to be Fed Vice Chair in 2010.

This is a very high-profile week for the Federal Reserve. The Federal Open Market Committee meets Tuesday and Wednesday, after which the committee will release its policy statement and Ben Bernanke will hold a press conference. The FOMC is widely expected to begin tapering the central bank's bond purchases.

The Fed has been making net monthly purchases of $40 billion in long-term mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion in long-term U.S. Treasury bonds since last September, as part of its "QE3" policy to hold-down long-term interest rates. The market has been anticipating an end to the Fed's balance sheet expansion, sending the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds up by over 100 basis points since the end of April.

In light of mixed signals in recent economic reports, the FOMC may decide to wait again before it begins reducing the Fed's bond purchases, but even if the tapering begins, the committee is expected to make no policy change for the federal funds rate, which is the central bank's main policy tool. The Fed has kept the federal funds rate in a range of zero to 0.25%, and the FOMC has repeatedly said this "highly accommodative" policy was likely to remain appropriate at least until the national unemployment rate drops below 6.5%. The August unemployment rate was 7.3%, improving slightly from 7.4% in July. "We find that there is little compelling evidence that the labor market has improved meaningfully in the past six months, despite the drop in the unemployment rate to 7.3%," KBW analyst Frederick Cannon wrote in a note to clients Sunday. "Therefore, we think the most likely outcome for the Fed decision will be either a very modest tapering of their bond buying (a $5-$10 billion monthly reduction) or a postponement of tapering." Short-Term Traders Beware Cannon also believes this may be a good time for investors holding financial stocks to take profits, especially those whose stellar returns this year have been the most correlated with the rise in the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds. Among the financial stocks with year-to-date gains must correlated with the rising rate for the 10-year, according to Cannon, are TD Ameritrade (AMTD), U.S. Bancorp (USB), M&T Bank (MTB), Prudential Financial (PRU) and Charles Schwab (SCHW). A Longer-Term View Then again, short-term volatility can be quite a benefit for long-term investors looking to load up on favored names. "it's a silly notion that the considerable long term values in bank shares are somehow irrelevant for the next three months," says Ron Beasley, an investment advisor in Houston, who's portfolio as of June 30 included Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp (USB). "Over-reactions that are amplified by high-volume trading activity provide opportunities that wouldn't exist in a value-based market," Beasley says, adding that "being a value investor now is actually easier than it used to be, with all this noise surrounding the activity in the markets." Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp have generated by far the strongest and steadiest returns on equity among the largest 10 publicly traded U.S. banks over the past five years. Shares of both companies trade for significant discounts to their valuations before the credit crisis of 2008. Wells Fargo trades for 10.7 times the consensus 2014 earnings estimate of $4.01 a share, among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. U.S. Bancorp's shares closed at $37.51 Monday and trade for 11.7 times the consensus 2014 EPS estimate of $3.21. RELATED STORIES: Bank of America May Have $20B Resting on This Controversial Report Fed Trends Could Bring Down Bank Stocks for 2013 Summers Withdrawal Greatest Liberal Victory Since Crisis Jim Cramer: Thank You, Larry Summers Blackstone's GSO Tops Among New Kodak Shareholders as Listing Looms Reich: Don't Taper Fed Stimulus JPMorgan to Suffer $4B Compliance Hit in 2013: Report -- Written by Philip van Doorn in Jupiter, Fla. >Contact by Email. Follow @PhilipvanDoorn

Philip W. van Doorn is a member of TheStreet's banking and finance team, commenting on industry and regulatory trends. He previously served as the senior analyst for TheStreet.com Ratings, responsible for assigning financial strength ratings to banks and savings and loan institutions. Mr. van Doorn previously served as a loan operations officer at Riverside National Bank in Fort Pierce, Fla., and as a credit analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he monitored banks in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Mr. van Doorn has additional experience in the mutual fund and computer software industries. He holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Long Island University.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

5 Best Media Stocks To Buy For 2015

5 Best Media Stocks To Buy For 2015: Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI)

Gannett Co., Inc. operates as a media and marketing solutions company in the United States and internationally. Its Publishing segment publishes 83 U.S. daily newspapers with affiliated online sites, including USA TODAY, a national, general-interest daily newspaper; USATODAY.com; USA WEEKEND, a magazine supplement for newspapers; Clipper Magazine, a direct mail advertising magazine; bi-weekly Nursing Spectrum and NurseWeek periodicals; and military and defense newspapers. This segment also includes 17 paid-for daily newspapers; approximately 200 weekly newspapers, magazines, and trade publications; and approximately 600 non-daily publications, as well as involves in commercial printing, newswire, marketing, and data services operations. The company?s Digital segment owns and operates CareerBuilder, an employment Web site, which offers online recruitment and career advancement services for employers, employees, recruiters, and job seekers; ShopLocal, which provides multicha nnel shopping and advertising services; Planet Discover, which offers hosted search and advertising services; PointRoll, which provides digital marketing services and technology; and Schedule Star, which offers scheduling solution for high school athletic departments. Its Broadcasting segment operates 23 television stations and affiliated Web sites, which produce local programming, such as news, sports, and entertainment programming. This segment also includes Captivate Network, a national news and entertainment network that delivers programming and full-motion video advertising on video screens located in elevators of office towers and select hotel lobbies in North America. The company has strategic business relationships with online affiliates, including Classified Ventures, ShopLocal.com, Topix, and Metromix LLC, as well as strategic marketing agreement with Microsoft. Gannett ! Co., Inc.. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dan Dzombak]

    Lastly, Icahn added 12 million shares of media company Gannett (NYSE: GCI  ) , raising his position to 6.6% of the business, though Gannett only makes up a little over 1% of his portfolio. Gannett owns newspapers, websites, and TV stations. Spinoffs are one of the common themes among Icahn's holdings: Gannett announced in August that it plans to split its broadcasting and publishing divisions at some point in 2015.

  • [By Roberto Pedone]

     

    Gannett (GCI) operates as a media and marketing solutions company in the U.S. and internationally. This stock closed up 5% at $29.08 in Monday's trading session.

     

    Monday's Volume: 4.65 million

    Three-Month Average Volume: 2.28 million

    Volume % Change: 125%

     

    From a technical perspective, GCI ripped sharply higher here above-average volume. This spike higher on Monday is quickly pushing shares of GCI within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if GCI manages to take out its 200-day moving average of $29.37 to some more resistance at $29.80 with high volume.

     

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in GCI as long as it's trending above Monday's intraday low of $27.85 or above $27 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that's near or above 2.28 million shares. If that breakout gets underway soon, then GCI will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at its 50-day moving average of $31.47 to $32.90. Any high-volume move above those levels will then give GCI a chance to tag $34.

     

  • [By John Mitchell]

    Gannett (NYSE: GCI  ) and the Tribune Co. (NASDAQOTH: TRBAA  ) , two companies that publish daily newspapers, have announced combined! layoffs o! f 1,000 positions (not all in the newsroom). News magazines are feeling the same pinch. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 9% of adults get their news from print sources, with news magazines scoring the lowest. The Pew news study as early as 2010 listed online news as the primary source for 39% of adults.  One of Time's biggest competitors, Newsweek, ended its paper publication in early 2013 in favor of an online edition only.

  • [By Tiernan Ray]

    FBR & Co.‘s William Bird, who follows the shares of old media dinosaurs Gannett (GCI),  Meredith (MDP), News (NWSA), and The New York Times (NYT), today offers the findings of a survey of 2,041 adults in the U.S. from March 12th to March 17th.

    Bird has an Outperform rating on shares of Gannett, and Market Perform ratings on the other three names.

    The upshot of the survey is that a third of young readers don’t read print papers, and are more and more flocking to online news outlets.

    The survey, conducted with the help of Clear Voice Research LLC, suggests to Bird a “steady structural pressure on print, a tip of the spear demographic problem for print circulation, and slow magazine tablet adoption—a negative as tablets offer a better business model for magazines.”

    More specifically, there is “value destruction” as more and more people trade from print to digital editioins of publications:

    The survey suggests that structural pressure on consumer newspaper readership is a touch above that of magazines. Over the next year, print newspaper usage is expected to decline a net 5% (i.e., 6% expect to use more versus 11% who expect to use less). A total of 11% of respondents said they plan to use print newspapers less and 10% said they plan to  use print magazines less. This was exactly offset by the percentage of respondents who said they plan to consume online newspapers more (11%) and those who plan to consume online magazines more (10%). With $1 of pri! nt ad spe! nd translating to $0.25 in digital, these results are supportive of  continued print-to-digital value destruction.

    Younger readers tend to be more inclined to dump print, says FBR:

    According to our survey, intended print newspaper subscription cancellations total 9.8% over the next 12 months. Notable is that plans to cancel skew heavily toward the below 35 year old demographic. The 18 to 34 demographic reflects

  • source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/5-best-media-stocks-to-buy-for-2015-2.html

Friday, January 23, 2015

Top Low Price Stocks To Own For 2015

Top Low Price Stocks To Own For 2015: WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Fund (DES)

WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Fund (the Fund) seeks investment results that closely correspond to the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Index (the Index). The Index is a fundamentally weighted index measuring the performance of the small-capitalization segment of the United States dividend-paying market. The Index consists of the companies that compose the bottom 25% of the market capitalization of the WisdomTree Dividend Index after the 300 largest companies have been removed.

The Index is dividend weighted annually to reflect the proportionate share of the aggregate cash dividends each component company is projected to pay in the coming year, based on the most recently declared dividend per share. The Fund's investment advisor is WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of WisdomTree Investments, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Timothy Lutts]

    And, on the medical devices side, the company is a leading producer of coronary metallic drug-eluting stents (DES), LASIK devices used in laser vision surgery, and insulin pumps.

  • [By Philip Springer]

    WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend ETF (DES) invests in dividend-paying small-cap companies that meet certain liquidity requirements. It then weights them by the dollar value of dividends they are expected to pay out over the next year.

  • source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-low-price-stocks-to-own-for-2015-3.html

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Top 5 Communications Equipment Companies To Own For 2014

European stocks posted their biggest weekly decline since November as reports signaled that the economic rebound in the U.S. has slowed, while the European Central Bank said risks remain to the euro area�� recovery.

Vodafone Group Plc lost 2.1 percent after Verizon Communications Inc. denied that it has considered buying the mobile-phone operator. Kazakhmys Plc and Evraz Plc slumped more than 7 percent this week, leading a gauge of mining stocks to its longest streak of losses in 13 years. Alcatel-Lucent SA advanced 3.9 percent as Deutsche Bank AG recommended that investors buy shares in the telecommunications equipment maker.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) fell 2.3 percent in the four-day week following the Easter holiday, completing its longest stretch of losses in more than 10 months. The slump pared the gauge�� advance so far this year to 2.7 percent. The Stoxx 600 had gained as much as 6.7 percent amid speculation that central banks would continue to provide monetary stimulus.

Hot Rising Stocks To Buy Right Now: Envivio Inc (ENVI)

Envivio, Inc., incorporated on January 5, 2000, is a provider of Internet protocol (IP) video processing and distribution solutions, which enable the delivery of video to consumers. The Company�� solution is designed to enable service providers and content providers to offer video anytime, anywhere across a range of video formats, networks, consumer devices and operating systems. Its software-based solution runs on industry-standard hardware and includes encoders, transcoders, network media processors all controlled through its network management system. It enables service providers and content providers to deliver linear broadcast and on-demand video services to their customers through multiple screens, such as tablets, mobile handsets, netbooks, laptops, personal computers (PCs) and televisions. Its customers include mobile and wireline telecommunications service providers, cable multiple system operators (MSOs), direct broadcast satellite service providers (DBSs), and content providers, which includes broadcasters and content publishers, owners, aggregators and licensees.

Core Technologies

The Company�� software platform includes core technologies: modular software architecture and multi-core video compression. The Company�� core competencies are in developing advanced media compression and video over IP technologies, where it delivers a carrier grade, multi-screen solution. Its modular software architecture provides a common platform of capabilities and features, which allows its products to perform critical video processing and distribution functions, including ingestion, processing, packaging, protection and encryption, network optimizations and monitoring. In addition, its software-based architecture allows customers to enable features or add capacity through the input of a simple security or license key.

The Company Multi-core video compression has a set of video processing and compression algorithms designed to optimize performance on industry-stan! dard, multi-core hardware chipsets. These algorithms are central to all of its encoder and transcoder products.

Products

The Company�� unified video headend solution and unified delivery infrastructure for live and on-demand multi-screen video delivery are built on its encoding, transcoding and video distribution products. Its suite of products consists of Envivio 4Caster, Muse, Halo and 4Manager. Its 4Caster product delivers video to mobile, PC and television from a single platform. It has designed 4Caster to optimize live and on-demand workflows for video delivery commensurate with the characteristics of both legacy and current network infrastructures by encoding video input in multiple codecs, resolutions, bit rates and formats. 4Caster utilizes pre-processing techniques to clean and optimize video sources before encoding.

Envivio Muse is its new multi-screen software architecture designed for live or file-based video transcoding and distribution to multiple devices. Muse is available on industry-standard blade servers or its 4Caster appliances and enables service providers running large-scale operations to leverage their existing datacenter infrastructure to deliver enhanced video services. Muse also enables advanced functionality, such as ad-insertion and content protection for mobile devices that facilitates service monetization.

The Company�� Halo Network Media Processor performs final content adaptation for consumer devices, including protected adaptive bitrate streams compatible with Apple iOS, Android 3 and Microsoft Smooth Streaming enabled consumer devices. Its 4Manager network management system is specifically engineered to manage next generation video headends for mobile television, over-the-top (OTT) and Internet protocol television (IPTV), while continuing to support traditional broadcast distribution networks. 4Manager allows service providers to monitor and control all headend appliances. 4Manager is designed to maximize video he! adend ava! ilability and reliability by reporting system malfunctions and can automatically switch away from a defective unit, minimizing service disruption.

Services

The Company offers a range of services in support of its products, including on-site project assessment, systems integration, on-site delivery and operational and customer support. On-site project assessment include complete review of content sources, existing systems and middleware to determine the proper interface and adaptation equipment necessary for its customer to deliver an optimized consumer quality of experience. Systems integration configures all the equipment with its solution according to network design and plan. On-site delivery install all equipment and test the operational environment, including redundancy and system monitoring, as well as administer technical training to validate predefined use cases in an operational environment. Operational and customer support provides different grades of service level agreements and support contracts according to requirements.

The Company competes with Harmonic Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Elemental Technologies, RGB Networks, Inc., Google Inc. and Ericsson AB.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Udovich]

    Small cap video technology stocks Envivio Inc (NASDAQ: ENVI), Ku6 Media Co Ltd (NASDAQ: KUTV) and Tremor Video Inc (NYSE: TRMR) made some interesting moves today and in recent days or months���meaning its worth taking a closer look at all three to see if there might be opportunities for traders and investors alike:

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Leading and Lagging Sectors
    Technology stocks gained Thursday, with Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) leading advancers. Meanwhile, gainers in the sector included Envivio (NASDAQ: ENVI), with shares up 2.8 percent, and Adept Technology (NASDAQ: ADEP), with shares up 4.3 percent.

Top 5 Communications Equipment Companies To Own For 2014: Fabrinet (FN)

Fabrinet, incorporated on August 12, 1999, provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of complex products, such as optical communication components, modules and sub-systems, industrial lasers and sensors. The Company offers a range of optical and electro-mechanical capabilities across the entire manufacturing processes, including process design and engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, advanced packaging, final assembly and test.

The products that the Company manufactures for its OEM customers includes optical communications devices, such as selective switching products, such as reconfigurable optical add-drop modules (ROADMs), optical amplifiers, modulators and other optical components and modules that collectively enable network managers to route signals through fiber traffic at various wavelengths and over various distances; tunable transponders and transceivers that eliminate the need to stock individual fixed wavelength transponders and transceivers used in voice and data communications networks; and active optical cables providing high-speed interconnect capabilities for data centers and computing clusters, as well as Infiniband, Ethernet, fiber channel and optical backplane connectivity.

Solid state, diode-pumped, gas and fiber lasers (industrial lasers) used across a array of industries, including semiconductor processing (wafer inspection, wafer dicing, wafer scribing), biotechnology (DNA sequencing, flow cytometry, hematology, antibody detection), metrology (instrumentation, calibration, inspection), and material processing (photo processing, textile cutting, annealing, marking, engraving); and sensors, including differential pressure, micro-gyro, fuel and other sensors that are used in automobiles, and non-contact temperature measurement sensors for the medical industry. The Company also designs and fabricates application-specific crystals, pri! sms, mirrors, laser components and substrates (customized optics) and other custom and standard borosilicate, clear fused quartz, and synthetic fused silica glass products (customized glass).

The Company competes with Sanmina-SCI Corporation, Celestica Inc., Venture Corporation Limited, Benchmark Electronics, Inc, Browave Corporation, Fujian Castech Crystals, Inc., Research Electro-Optic, Inc. and Photop Technologies, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Fabrinet (NYSE: FN  ) reported earnings on April 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended March 29 (Q3), Fabrinet beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Calling all cash flows
    When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Fabrinet (NYSE: FN  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top 5 Communications Equipment Companies To Own For 2014: Alcatel Lucent SA (ALU)

Alcatel Lucent, incorporated on June 18, 1898, is engaged in mobile, fixed, Internet Protocol (IP) and Optics technologies, applications and services. The Company is a partner of service providers, enterprises, industries and governments worldwide. Alcatel-Lucent includes Bell Labs centres of research in communications technology. Its operations are in more than 130 countries. The Company operates in three business segments: networks, applications, and services. On December 31, 2010, the Company completed the sale of its Vacuum pump solutions and instruments business to Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology AG. In September 2010, the Company acquired OpenPlug, a mobile software and applications development tools vendor. In June 29, 2010, the Company acquired ProgrammableWeb.

During 2010, the Company launched the Digital Media Store, a multicontent digital storefront that allows service providers to deliver content to end-users. Launched during 2010, Optism is a permission-based mobile marketing solution. During 2010, it launched Alcatel-Lucent�� Mobile Wallet Service (MWS), which allows the mobile operator to leverage its secure network to deliver a mobile payment capability through a mobile handset. During 2010, it also launched Alcatel-Lucent�� Application Exposure Suite to facilitate the development of new services by third-party application developers and content providers.

Networks Segment

The Networks segment supplies a portfolio of products and offerings used by fixed, wireless and converged service providers, as well as enterprises and governments for their business communications. The Company�� IP portfolio consists of four product families that deliver multiple services, including broadband triple play for residential customers; Ethernet and IP Virtual Private Network (VPN) services for Enterprise customers, and wireless second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G) and long term evolution (LTE) broadband services for mobile operators. The main product fami! lies include Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) service routers, Carrier Ethernet service switche, Multi-service wide-area-network (or MS WAN) switches and Content Delivery Network (CDN) appliances.

Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) service routers direct traffic within and between carriers��national and international networks to enable delivery of a range of IP-based services (including Internet access, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), Voice over IP (VoIP), mobile phone and data, and managed Enterprise VPN services) on a single common network infrastructure with superior performance, with application intelligence, and with scalability (such as the simultaneous support of many diverse types of traffic and customers); Carrier Ethernet service switches. Carrier Ethernet service switches enable carriers to deliver residential, business and wireless services, and these products are mainly used in metropolitan area networks; Multi-service wide-area-network (MS WAN) switches. Multi-service wide-area-network (MS WAN) switches enable fixed line and wireless carriers to transition their existing networks to support newer technologies and services, and Content Delivery Network (CDN) appliances. Content Delivery Network (CDN) appliances distribute and cache (store) Web and video content.

The Company�� Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) and Carrier Ethernet products are designed to facilitate the development and availability of applications for the more participatory and interactive Web 2.0 business and consumer services. Its service routers are particularly well suited to deliver complex services to business, residential and mobile end-users. Its IP/MPLS service routers and Carrier Ethernet service switches are often used in conjunction with its DSL and Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) access products to deliver these newer triple-play services, or with its wireless access products to deliver LTE solutions, or w! ith its D! ense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and optical switching products to deliver converged backbone transformation solutions for optimizing IP transport. Its Optics division designs and markets equipment for the long distance transportation of data over fiber optic connections via land (terrestrial) and under sea (submarine), as well as for short distances in metropolitan and regional areas.

The Company�� transport portfolio also includes the microwave wireless transmission equipment. Its terrestrial optical products offer a portfolio designed to seamlessly support service growth from the metro to the network core. With its products, carriers manage voice, data and video traffic patterns based on different applications or platforms and can introduce a range of managed data services, including multiple service quality capabilities, variable service rates and traffic congestion management. These products allow carriers to leverage their existing network infrastructure to offer these new services. Its submarine cable networks can connect continents (using optical amplification required over long distances), a mainland and an island, several islands together, or many points along a coast. It offers a portfolio of point-to-point microwave radio products meeting both European telecommunications standards (ETSI) and American standards-based (ANSI) requirements.

The Company�� Wireless All Around message developed during 2010 is a combination of wireless and IP products. The version of CDMA technology, known as 1X EV-DO Revision A, enables operators to offer two-way, real-time, high-speed data applications, such as VoIP, mobile video, push-to-talk and push-to-multimedia. The introduction of High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and HSPA+ (the latest evolutions of W-CDMA technology) on networks and devices has led to increases in data speeds available to broadband devices. The Company develops mobile radio products for the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile communications (GS! M) standa! rd, including General Packet Radio Service / Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (GPRS/EDGE) technology upgrades to that standard.

LTE offers service providers a compelling evolution path from all existing networks (GSM, W-CDMA, CDMA or WiMAX) by simplifying the radio access network and converging on a common IP base. RFS designs and sells cable, antenna, tower systems and their related electronic components, providing an end-to-end suite of radio frequency products. RFS serves original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors, system integrators, network operators and installers in the broadcast, wireless communications, microwave and defense sectors. Specific applications for RFS products include cellular sites, in-tunnel and in-building radio coverage, microwave links, television and radio. The Company offers products that extend from legacy switching systems to IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) solutions for fixed, mobile, and converged operators. It has deployed its next-generation network (NGN) products in more than 170 fixed NGN networks, and it has provided the core network for more than 66 full IMS fixed and mobile networks. Its fixed access solutions allow carriers to offer triple-play services over a single access line. Its carrier customers are offering both residential and business customers multiple services, such as a number of broadcast channels, video on demand, high definition television (HDTV), VoIP, high speed Internet, and business access services.

Applications Segment

The Applications segment develops software-based applications and solutions that contribute to the personal communications for users. The Applications group is divided into two businesses: Enterprise Applications and Network Applications. The Enterprise Applications business includes its IP-based communications and collaboration applications for enterprises, including the Genesys contact center business. The Network Applications business develops applications used by service pr! oviders t! o deliver a range of services to their customers, and also includes Motive, which provides software for service providers to remotely manage their customers��at-home networks, networked devices and broadband and mobile data services. During the year ended December 31, 2010, its Applications segment accounted 12% of its total revenue.

The Applications segment is investing resources in next generation collaboration and communications systems offered by its Enterprise Applications division; customer contact, customer engagement and service management areas addressed by its Genesys and Motive businesses; carrier applications, such as communication and messaging, next-generation telephony, digital media and multi-screen delivery of content and personalized advertising, device agnostic location based address book services, and technologies, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), and Application Enablement.

Services Segment

The Services segment is focused in helping the service provider and customers realize the potential of media, information technology (IT) and telecommunications services and technologies. These services address the lifecycle of its customers��networks and operations, and encompass business consulting, systems design and integration, maintenance and managed services. The service offerings are organized around four areas: network and system integration, managed and outsourcing solutions, multi-vendor maintenance, and product-attached services.

The Company competes with Avaya, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, ZTE and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Smith]

    AT&T's� (NYSE: T  ) announcement of a $22 billion, three-year-long program of capital investment was supposed to save the telecom equipment industry. So far, it seems only Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO  ) are thriving. Meanwhile, erstwhile industry giant Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU  ) is failing fast, as revenues fall, profits disappear, and cash vaporizes.

  • [By John Udovich]

    Mid cap telco equipment stock Alcatel Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) is up 205.9% since the start of the year for a much better performance�verses peers or benchmarks like Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) or the iShares North American Tech-Multimedia Networking ETF (NYSEARCA: IGN)���meaning its probably worth taking a closer look at the stock as its been producing plenty of good news for a change.�I should note that we have recently added�Alcatel Lucent SA to our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio as a�technical based trade because we think shares will continue higher on speculation�about an�improved global footprint�for this leading mobile data network provider.

Top 5 Communications Equipment Companies To Own For 2014: Digicore Holdings Ltd (DGC)

Digicore Holdings Limited is a South Africa-based holding company engaged in the manufacturing and distribution of fleet management and vehicle tracking solutions. The Company operates in three segments: South African Distribution, Foreign Distribution, Product Development and Manufacturing and Group Management. The Company's South African distribution segment focuses on distribution of manufactured fleet management and vehicle tracking solutions within the South African consumer market. Foreign distribution focuses on the distribution of manufactured fleet management and vehicle tracking solutions all around the world. Product development and manufacturing segment focuses on investing in research, manufacturing and development of vehicle tracking and fleet management solutions for distribution. Group Management segment renders management services to the Company. On August 31, 2012, the Company obtained an additional 27% shareholding in Ctrack (Pty) Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Eric Lam]

    Detour Gold (DGC) plunged 18 percent to C$6.35, an almost five-year low. The company said in a statement it will not reach its 2013 production target of 270,000 ounces of gold and now forecasts 240,000 to 260,000 ounces.