Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Delamaide: House bill shields broker abuses

WASHINGTON — House Republicans actually performed a public service with one of their innumerable symbolic votes last week by reminding us how regulators are dragging their feet on new rules to prevent brokers from fleecing their clients.

The vote was one of those party-line affairs — like the 40-some efforts to repeal Obamacare — to approve legislation that will never get through the Senate and would encounter a White House veto if it ever did pass both chambers.

This bill — misleadingly named the Retail Investor Protection Act — would block the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Labor from requiring brokers and retirement account managers to follow the same rule as investment advisers to put client interests ahead of their own.

Money columnist Darrell Delamaide.(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USATODAY)

Say, what? There's something wrong with that?

Well, according the army of financial lobbyists who persuaded House Republicans and 30 of their Democratic colleagues to support the bill, requiring brokers to follow a so-called "fiduciary standard" would add so much cost that it would make financial advice prohibitively expensive for small investors.

That's great. So you can continue to afford advice to buy products you don't need or worse, will lose you money so your broker can reap high commissions.

In any case, a recent survey of financial advisers, including brokers, disputed this assertion, with four-fifths of the respondents saying it would not cost investors more for advice if brokers were held to a fiduciary standard.

The SEC has been trying to figure out how to reconcile this fiduciary duty with a business model based on commissions for the better part of three years, while the Department of Labor! has been wrestling with the same issue with regard to retirement accounts.

Neither has been able to put a proposal on the table (a 2010 effort by the DOL was quickly withdrawn).

The new SEC chairman, Mary Jo White, told journalists in passing earlier this month that the agency is working really, really hard on the problem. It's still a "major focus," she reportedly said, as the SEC tries to figure out "where we're going on it."

Although it received new impetus from requirements of the Dodd-Frank financial reform, the effort to harmonize rules for various types of financial advisers predates the financial crisis.

Regulators have long since realized that investors remain blissfully oblivious to the arcane distinctions between registered investment advisers, on the one hand, and broker-dealers on the other.

RIAs, as they are called, most often charge a fee for their advice, rather than take a commission on a trade, and they are legally obliged by the fiduciary standard to put the client's interests first and disclose all fees and conflicts of interest.

Broker-dealers, who generally make their money on commissions, are only required to recommend "suitable" investments — a flexible term that can be stretched to mean many things — but have no explicit fiduciary obligation.

As broker-dealers began offering managed accounts and styling themselves "financial advisers," the distinctions blurred even further and prompted the SEC a decade ago to start studying ways to clarify all this.

Fact is, brokers often try to sell high-commission products such as variable annuities to seniors, even though long surrender periods locking in the funds make this patently unsuitable for them. That is in addition to the classic churning of accounts and other abuses brokers are prone to.

Best Communications Equipment Companies For 2015

Brokers seek to be "producers" �! � what th! ey are "producing" is a bigger slice of your savings in the form of ever more commissions, whether you really need or want the transactions that generate them. (Remember that old commercial about the beautiful house on the hill built with your savings and the punch line — too bad it belongs to your broker.)

The potential for abuse is even higher in 401(k), and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), regulated by the Labor Department, where managers have even more leeway to churn commissions and embed fees.

California Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, characterized these broker abuses as "self-dealing" last week in opposing the Republican bill.

A fiduciary rule would not stop the abuses, but it would give regulators another, more easily provable ground to sanction offenders and obviate the need of investors to try and parse the difference between advisers.

It's clear enough why an ideological opposition to regulations of any sort or a susceptibility to the blandishments of financial industry lobbyists would lead lawmakers to block a fiduciary rule.

The only question is why they should bother when regulators are proceeding at a glacial pace anyway. At least this latest trophy vote can help raise awareness with the investing public about the risks they face.

Darrell Delamaide has reported on business and economics from New York, Paris, Berlin and Washington for Dow Jones news service, Barron's, Institutional Investor and Bloomberg News service, among others. He is the author of four books, including the financial thriller Gold.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Top 5 Building Product Stocks To Invest In 2014

After a big decline of more than 200 points yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) has spent the morning trading in a narrow range as investors wait for tomorrow's news on the U.S. employment picture. Although today's data included a drop in weekly unemployment claims that would ordinarily have spurred some optimism about tomorrow's report, investors aren't sure whether to root for a strong jobs report that would point to a healthier economy or for a weak report that would increase the odds of further accommodation from the Federal Reserve. That uncertainty kept the stock market near breakeven, with the Dow down two points as of 10:55 a.m. EDT.

But some stocks are bouncing back for shareholders. Home Depot (NYSE: HD  ) has risen 2.2% after getting hit hard in recent days. Rising interest rates have made their way into the mortgage loan market, and that has investors fearing a potential reversal in the substantial home-price gains that the housing market has seen over the past year. Yet reports yesterday that private-equity company Kelso might try to sell off its Custom Building Products home-furnishings and construction manufacturer might have reminded investors that Home Depot might benefit from a potential IPO of its former HD Supply unit, in which it still retains a 12.5% stake.

Best Integrated Utility Stocks To Buy For 2015: RCM Technologies Inc.(RCMT)

RCM Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, and delivery of business and technology solutions for commercial and government sectors in North America. It operates through three segments: Information Technology (IT), Engineering, and Commercial Services. The IT segment provides enterprise business solutions, application services, infrastructure solutions, competitive advantage and productivity solutions, and life sciences solutions. The Engineering segment offers engineering and design, engineering analysis, engineer-procure-construct, configuration management, hardware/software validation and verification, quality assurance, technical writing and publications, manufacturing process planning and improvement, reliability centered maintenance, component and equipment testing, and risk management engineering services. The Commercial Services segment provides long-term and short-term staffing, executive search, and placement servic es in various fields, including rehabilitation, nursing, managed care, allied health care, health care management, and medical office support, as well as offers in-patient, outpatient, sub-acute and acute care, multilingual speech pathology, rehabilitation, geriatric, pediatric, and adult day care services to hospitals, long-term care facilities, schools, sports medicine facilities, and private practices. This segment also offers contract and temporary services, and permanent placement services for full-time and part-time personnel in various functional areas, including office, clerical, data entry, secretarial, light industrial, shipping, receiving, and general warehousing. The company offers its services to aerospace/defense, energy, financial services, life sciences, manufacturing and distribution, public sector, and technology industries. RCM Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1971 and is based in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    RCM Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:RCMT) reported that primarily due to unexpected and extended client procedural delays in awarding certain engagements under an existing contract with a major North American utility, the Company’s second quarter revenues and operating income will fall short of its expectations.

Top 5 Building Product Stocks To Invest In 2014: D.R. Horton Inc.(DHI)

D.R. Horton, Inc. operates as a homebuilding company in the United States. The company?s Homebuilding segment engages in the acquisition and development of land, and construction and sale of residential homes on the land in 26 states and 72 markets in the United States primarily under the name of D.R. Horton and America?s Builder. This segment also builds traditional single-family detached homes, as well as attached homes, such as town homes, duplexes, triplexes and condominiums, which share common walls and roofs. Its Financial Services segment involves in originating and selling mortgages, as well as provides title insurance policies, examination, and closing services to homebuyers. The company markets and sells its homes through commissioned employees and independent real estate brokers. The company was founded in 1978 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Melvin Backman]

    A handful of other homebuilder stocks are also seeing some small gains as well, including D.R. Horton (DHI), Lennar (LEN) and PulteGroup (PHM).

    Airline companies continue to soar: Delta Airlines (DAL, Fortune 500)ended the day 2% higher. It continues to be one of the top performers in the S&P 500 this year. Delta recently announced more routes in and out of Seattle as it grows it presence there, going head-to-head in the "Battle for Seattle" with Alaska Air. Southwest Airlines (LUV, Fortune 500) is also up more than 2% today.

  • [By Erika Janowicz]

    Compass Point analyst Wilkes Graham updated his housing forecast:

    Graham increased assumed ROI's to 9% on average from 7%. Reduced targeted sector price/ book from $190% to 170%. Expects 20-30% growth in starts and new home sales in 2012 and 2013 to stabilize in 2014 and on at approximately 10%. For covered builders, the analyst lowered estimates by 8% and lowered price targets by 10%. Compass Point expects 10% annual growth in single family starts and new home sales and 2-5% pricing growth. Downgraded DR Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) from Buy to Neutral and KB Home (NYSE: KBH) from Neutral to Sell. DR Horton's and KB Home's PT was lowered from $23.50 to $20.00 and from $17.50 to $14.00, respectively. Graham reiterated a Buy rating on Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) and Standard Pacific Corp. (NYSE: SPF). The analyst raised the PT on Ryland from $50.00 to $50.50 and lowered the PT on Standard Pacific from $10.00 to $9.50. Compass Point reiterated a Neutral rating on Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH), Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV), Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN), PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM), and Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL). The price target for Beazer and Hovnanian was raised from $15.50 to $24.00 and $5.00 to $5.75, respectively. Graham lowered the PT for Lennar, Pulte, and Toll to $34.50, $17.00, and $31.00.

    This Week's Data

  • [By John Maxfield]

    If that isn't enough, moreover, the nation's two largest homebuilders are both set to report earnings on Thursday. D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI  ) is expected to earn $0.34 per share on $1.71 billion in revenue. Following the company's last earnings release, its shares rose to a six-year high after announcing that its fiscal second-quarter profit more than doubled over the preceding three-month time period.

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Top Headline
    D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) reported a rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit.

    D.R. Horton's quarterly profit surged to $139.5 million, or $0.40 per share, from a year-ago profit of $100.1 million, or $0.30 per share.

Top 5 Building Product Stocks To Invest In 2014: Nordstrom Inc.(JWN)

Nordstrom, Inc., a fashion specialty retailer, offers apparel, shoes, cosmetics, and accessories for women, men, and children in the United States. It offers a selection of brand name and private label merchandise. The company sells its products through various channels, including Nordstrom full-line stores, off-price Nordstrom Rack stores, Jeffrey? boutiques, treasure & bond, and Last Chance clearance stores; and its online store, nordstrom.com, as well as through catalog. Nordstrom also provides a private label card, two Nordstrom VISA credit cards, and a debit card for Nordstrom purchases. The company?s credit and debit cards feature a shopping-based loyalty program. As of September 30, 2011, it operated 222 stores, including 117 full-line stores, 101 Nordstrom Racks, 2 Jeffrey boutiques, 1 treasure & bond store, and 1 clearance store in 30 states. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Department store operator Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN  ) will pay a second-quarter dividend of $0.30 per share, the same rate it paid last quarter after it increased it 11% from $0.27 per share, the company announced yesterday.

  • [By Erin McCarthy]

    Nordstrom Inc.(JWN) said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter profit slipped 3.5%, but the high-end department-store operator’s earnings and sales still outpaced expectations. The company also said it will seek a financial partner for its Nordstrom credit card receivables, which totals approximately $2 billion.

  • [By Andrew Marder]

    The 1% has seen phenomenal income growth recently, and that's spurred growth at companies like Saks (NYSE: SKS  ) and Nordstom (NYSE: JWN  ) , both of which managed 5% increases in revenue in the last quarter.

Top 5 Building Product Stocks To Invest In 2014: Santa Fe Gold Corp (SFEG)

Santa Fe Gold Corporation (Santa Fe), incorporated in August 1991, is a mining company. As of June 30, 2012, the Company had four projects: its Summit silver-gold and Ortiz gold projects located in New Mexico, and its Black Canyon mica and Planet micaceous iron oxide projects located in Arizona. The Company has constructed a mill and are developing an underground mine at its Summit silver-gold project. Santa Fe�� Summit operations in southwestern New Mexico are conducted through its wholly owned subsidiary, The Lordsburg Mining Company. Its mica operations in Arizona are conducted through its wholly owned subsidiary, Azco Mica Inc. Santa Fe�� activity in Mexico is conducted through its wholly owned subsidiary, Minera Sandia, S.A. de C.V.

Summit Silver-Gold Project

The Summit silver-gold project includes the underground Summit silver-gold mine and related property consisting of 117 acres of patented mining claims and 740 acres of unpatented mining claims in Grant County, southwestern New Mexico, and the Banner mill, including mineral processing equipment consisting of a crushing and screening plant, a ball mill and a 400 ton-per-day flotation plant, and related property consisting of approximately 1,500 acres of wholly owned and leased patented and unpatented mining claims, located approximately 57 miles south of the Summit mine near Lordsburg, Hidalgo County, New Mexico. It owns and operates the Summit project under the Lordsburg Mining Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary. The Summit silver-gold property is located in Grant County, southwestern New Mexico, near the Arizona state line. The Banner mill site lies 57 miles to the south of the Summit property near the town of Lordsburg, Hidalgo County, New Mexico.

Santa Fe�� holdings at the Summit silver-gold property in Grant County, New Mexico consist of 10 patented federal mining claims totaling approximately 117 acres and 62 unpatented federal mining claims totaling approximately 740 acres. Its holdings at an! d adjacent to the Banner mill site in Hidalgo County, New Mexico consists of 86 wholly owned patented federal mining claims, 16 wholly owned unpatented mining claims, 17 leased patented mining claims and 6 leased unpatented mining claims, aggregating approximately 1,500 acres. All wholly owned claims are held in the name of Lordsburg Mining.

Ortiz Gold Project

The Ortiz Mine Grant, over which the Company holds a lease on the mineral estate underlying 42,297 acres (66 square miles) of segregated surface estate, is located 30 miles by road northeast of Albuquerque, Santa Fe County, New Mexico.

The Ortiz Mine Grant is underlain by mid-Tertiary monzonite and latite porphyry stocks, plugs, dikes and sills that have intruded Paleozoic to early-Tertiary sedimentary rocks. The intrusive rocks are part of the Ortiz Porphyry Belt, which comprises from north to south, the Cerrillos Hills, the Ortiz Mountains, the San Pedro Mountains, and South Mountain.

Black Canyon Mica Project

The Black Canyon mine is located 30 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona, and 3.5 miles west-southwest of Black Canyon City. The Glendale processing plant was located in an industrial area on the west side of Phoenix, Arizona, 47 miles to the south of the mine site. Its property holdings at and around the Black Canyon mine consists of 67 federal unpatented mining claims in Yavapai County, Arizona and nine federal unpatented mill site claims in Maricopa County, Arizona, which in total cover approximately 1,385 acres.

Planet Micaceous Iron Oxide (MIO) Project

The Planet property consists of thirty-one patented mining claims totaling 523 acres located in western Arizona. The Planet property is located in the northwest corner of La Paz County, west central Arizona. The property consists of thirty-one patented mining claims totaling 523 acres, consisting of an area of 3,600 feet wide by 8,000 feet long.

Lordsburg Exploration Project

T! he Compan! y in the the Lordsburg (Virginia) Mining District controls approximately 1,500 acres of prospective ground, the majority of which is comprised of patented mining claims that it owns, and the remainder patented and unpatented mining claims that it leases. As of June 30, 2012, the Company had completed an aerial mapping survey covering 30 square miles, carried out data compilation, conducted detailed geologic mapping and sampling, and conducted a geophysical survey.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    Today, SFEG has shed (-11.76%) down -0.016 at $.123 with 30,280 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 10:48AM EDT July 16, 2013), but don�� let this get you down.

    Santa Fe Gold Corporation previously reported it has amended the Mogollon option agreement with Columbus Exploration Corporation (CLX-TSX-V) (formerly Columbus Silver Corporation) under which Santa Fe may earn 100% interest in the Mogollon Project, Catron County, New Mexico. The Mogollon Project encompasses most of the Mogollon district in southwest New Mexico, which has substantial recorded historical production of silver and gold. The project fits Santa Fe�� strategic objective of developing new ore sources to augment ore currently processed though its Lordsburg flotation mill.

  • [By CRWE]

    Today, SFEG surged (+7.35%) up +0.009 at $.130 with 62,550 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 11:32AM EDT July 11, 2013).

    Santa Fe Gold Corporation previously reported its Annual Stockholder Meeting is scheduled to be held at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at the Albuquerque Marriott Hotel located at 2101 Louisiana Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110. Santa Fe Gold Corporation is a gold and silver producer with operations in New Mexico. Its Summit mine achieved commercial production in 2012. Summit produces high value gold-silver concentrates and silica flux products that are sold under contract to domestic and overseas smelters.

  • [By CRWE]

    Last Friday, SFEG had shed (-2.31%) down -0.003 at $.127 with 166,050 shares in play at the close (ref. google finance July 19, 2013 ��Close), but don�� let this get you down.

    Santa Fe Gold Corporation previously reported it has amended the Mogollon option agreement with Columbus Exploration Corporation (CLX-TSX-V) (formerly Columbus Silver Corporation) under which Santa Fe may earn 100% interest in the Mogollon Project, Catron County, New Mexico. The Mogollon Project encompasses most of the Mogollon district in southwest New Mexico, which has substantial recorded historical production of silver and gold. The project fits Santa Fe�� strategic objective of developing new ore sources to augment ore currently processed though its Lordsburg flotation mill.

  • [By CRWE]

    Today, SFEG has shed (-0.32%) down -0.001 at $.154 with�50,738 shares in play thus far (ref. google finance Delayed: 11:43AM EDT July 12, 2013), but don�� let this get you down.

    Santa Fe Gold Corporation previously reported it has amended the Mogollon option agreement with Columbus Exploration Corporation (CLX-TSX-V) (formerly Columbus Silver Corporation) under which Santa Fe may earn 100% interest in the Mogollon Project, Catron County, New Mexico. The Mogollon Project encompasses most of the Mogollon district in southwest New Mexico, which has substantial recorded historical production of silver and gold. The project fits Santa Fe�� strategic objective of developing new ore sources to augment ore currently processed though its Lordsburg flotation mill.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Top 5 Net Payout Yield Companies To Own In Right Now

Top 5 Net Payout Yield Companies To Own In Right Now: FirstMerit Corporation(FMER)

FirstMerit Corporation operates as the bank holding company for FirstMerit Bank, N.A. that provides a range of banking, fiduciary, financial, insurance, and investment services to corporate, institutional, and individual customers in northern and central Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. The company?s commercial business offers commercial term loans, revolving credit arrangements, asset-based lending, leasing, commercial mortgages, real estate construction lending, letters of credit, cash management services, and other depository products. Its retail business provides various financial products and services, including consumer direct and indirect installment loans, debit and credit cards, debit gift cards, residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, fixed and variable annuities, and ATM network services, as well as deposit products comprising checking, savings, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit. The company?s wealth business provides a sset management, private banking, financial planning, estate settlement and administration, and credit and deposit products and services. FirstMerit Corporation also offers trust and investment services, including personal trust and planning, and investment management; retirement plan services; retail mutual funds, other securities, variable and fixed annuities, personal disability and life insurance products, and brokerage services; and private banking services, including credit, deposit, and asset management solutions. As of December 31, 2009, it operated a network of 160 full service banking offices and 182 ATMs. The company was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Tim Melvin]

    The year ahead should be a great one for the smaller bank stocks. Larger regionals like Huntington Bancorp (HBAN) and Capital Ban Financial (CBF) have made it clear they intend to grow by ac! quisition in the years ahead. Banks like First Merit (FMER) and First Merchants (FRME) have done deals in the past year and are open to doing more to increase their market share and footprints. This should be the year the floodgates open and we see the first wave of merger activity in small banks.

  • source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-5-net-payout-yield-companies-to-own-in-right-now-2.html

Friday, April 24, 2015

Best Prefered Companies To Invest In 2015

Best Prefered Companies To Invest In 2015: Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Inc.(BNCL)

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Beneficial Bank that provides financial services to consumers and businesses in the United States. The company accepts a range of deposit products, such as non-interest bearing demand deposits, including individual checking accounts; interest-bearing demand accounts comprising negotiable order of withdrawal and money market accounts; savings accounts; certificates of deposit; and business banking deposit products, such as a commercial checking account and a checking account for small businesses, as well as offers cash management services, which consist of remote deposit, lockbox, and sweep accounts. It originates various loans, including fixed-rate and adjustable-rate one-to-four family residential loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial business loans, such as installment loans for capital improvements, equipment acquisition, and long-term working capital to professionals, sole proprietorships, an d small businesses; consumer loans comprising home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans, boat loans, loans for recreational vehicles, guaranteed student loans, and loans secured by passbook accounts and certificates of deposit; and construction loans. In addition, the company provides insurance brokerage and investment advisory services. It operates approximately 65 banking offices located in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; and Burlington and Camden Counties in New Jersey. The company was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc. is a subsidiary of Beneficial Savings Bank MHC.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

    spaxiax/Shutterstock Loans are inevitable for most adults. If you buy a house! or car, use a credit card or go to college, you'll likely need to take out a loan. U.S. household debt stands at $11.7 trillion, according to a recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey that draws on information from 40 million individuals. But taking out a loan doesn't always work out well, as anyone who has dealt with a debt collector can attest. So what mistakes are you most likely to make in the loan process? A good rule of thumb: If there's a chance your loan can destroy your marriage, business or send you into bankruptcy, you're about to make the biggest mistake of all: taking out the loan in the first place. 1. Not Reading the Fine Print There are always important gems of information buried in all that legalese, so you owe it to yourself to take a good look at what you're signing up for, says Leslie Tayne, a financial attorney and debt specialist who runs the Tayne Law Group in New York City. "Many people have a tendency to simply sign the dotted line, listening to the salesperson and not double-checking the agreement," Tayne says. "I see this all the time. A client will come in and tell me that they didn't know about something in the loan, such as a balloon payment or increase in interest rate." But if you sign the contract, you're telling the lender that you do know –- even if you don't -– which, of course, is the problem. 2. Taking Out a Loan for Someone Else Co-signing is a mistake, but some people double that error by taking out a loan and giving the money to someone else. "You'd be surprised at how often this happens," says Michael Poulos, CEO of Michigan First Credit Union in Lathrup Village, Michigan. He says his staff has, on occasion, encountered loan scenarios such as parents coming in to borrow money for their children and customers needing money to bail out family members from jail. One of the more interesting cautionary tales about borr

  • source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/b! est-prefe! red-companies-to-invest-in-2015.html

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Best Computer Hardware Stocks To Own For 2015

Best Computer Hardware Stocks To Own For 2015: Mitek Systems Inc (MITK)

Mitek Systems, Inc. (Mitek), incorporated in 1986, is engaged in the development, sale and service of software solutions related to mobile imaging applications and intelligent recognition software. Mitek is applying its technology and in image correction, optical character recognition and intelligent data extraction to mobile devices. Using Mitek Mobile Apps, camera-equipped smartphone users can deposit checks, pay bills, save receipts and fax documents. Users simply take a picture of the document and its products corrects image distortion, extracting relevant data, routing images to their desired location, and processing transactions through users financial institutions. It has developed and deployed Mobile Deposit, a software application that allows users to deposit a check using their smartphone camera. It has developed and deployed Mobile Receipt, a receipt archival and expense report application, and Mobile Phax, a mobile document faxing application. Its Mobile Pho to Bill Pay, a mobile bill paying application that allows users to pay their bills using their smartphone camera. During fiscal year ended September 30, 2010 (fiscal 2010), it had one operating segment based on its product and service offerings.

IMagePROVE Technology Products

Using IMagePROVE, the Company has a suite of business productivity applications for camera-equipped smartphones, including the iPhone and selected BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile handsets. It has four products that use its IMagePROVE technology Mobile Deposit, Mobile Receipt, Mobile Phax and Mobile Photo Bill Pay. Its products are used in the financial services industry. It has secured sales partnerships with system integrators for the financial services industry, including Fiserv, FIS, NCR, Jack Henry, Wausau, BankServ, RDM, J&B Software and Bluepoint Solutions.

The Companys Mobile Deposit is the smartphone application allows banks to a! ccept check deposi ts through photos of checks taken with camera-equipped smartphones. Mobile Deposit allows users to make deposits by photographing the front and back of a check and submitting the item electronically to their bank from their smartphone. Its Mobile Receipt is designed to convert the photo of a receipt taken with a smartphone into an image and with a single touch, converts the data into a professional looking expense report. Mobile Phax allows user to take a photo of any letter sized document or page and send it as a portable document format (PDF) file to any e-mail address or fax machine.

The Companys Mobile Photo Bill Pay allows users to take pictures of their bills with their smartphone cameras and its Mobile Photo Bill Pay product correct image distortion, reading relevant data and processing the transactions through the users banks. The payment is made electronically by debiting the users checking account and using existing online bill pay systems. With Mobile Photo Bill Pay, users can submit electronic payments from their smartphones without having to write checks, lick stamps, visit a payment location or even use their personal computers.

ImageNet Intelligent Character Recognition Toolkits

The Companys ImageNet products are designed to provide remittance processing, proof of deposit and lock box processing applications. Its products are used to reduce manual labor by automatically extracting amounts and routing information from checks and distinguishing between common document types, such as personal and business checks, substitute checks, pre-authorized drafts and other document types specified by customers. It sells ImageNet suite of products to its channel partners, who resell them as integrated components of their solutions and services. Its ImageNet suite of products includes ImageNet Prep & ID, ImageNet Payments, ImageNet Data Capture and ImageNet Signatures.

ImageNet Prep & ID is a software toolkit that is designed to! provide ! automatic form information document (ID), form registration and form/template removal. Image Net Prep & ID reduces the image size by removing information, such as pre-printed text, lines, and boxes; leaving only the filled-in data. ImageNet Payments allows for the automatic reading of machine and hand print information found on scanned documents and forms from any structured form, as well as bank documents, such as checks, deposit slips, and remittance coupons. ImageNet Payments integrates technology components from the CheckReader product that it licenses from a vendor that is designed to read rates of the currency and legal amounts of checks drawn on the United States and Canadian financial institutions.

ImageNet Data Capture is a software toolkit that captures data from types of unstructured business documents. ImageNet Data Capture is used in data capture applications where data must be found and extracte d from documents that have no pre-determined format or layout, but share common data elements. ImageNet Data Capture is designed to locate this data on documents using contextual, positional, format and keyword specific information. It has supplied ImageNet Data Capture as a stand alone application programming interface (API) to several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the document processing field. ImageNet Signatures is a software toolkit that locates, extracts and verifies signatures in any document. It encodes each signature and compares it with encoded reference examples rather than comparing actual images. Its image analytics encode 60 characteristics of each signature, which allows for accurate signature fraud detection.

FraudProtect Systems

The Companys FraudProtect System is an automated software application designed to allow banks to detect check fraud from forged signatures and counterfeit checks, as well as the detection of pre-authorized drafts and payee name alterations. Its FraudProtect suite of products includes FraudProtect SDK, P! ADsafe an! d PayeeFind. Its FraudProtect SDK is a toolkit designed to detect check fraud and forgery using image analytics to uncover inconsistencies and alterations in checks as they are processed by banks. These products are sold to OEMs and system integrators and can detect forged or illegally modified checks. Its PADsafe product detects fraudulent preauthorized drafts (PADs). PADsafe automatically identifies PADs from checks, and then notifies the user of fraudulent transactions, reducing and preventing the unauthorized withdrawal of funds. Its PayeeFind product is designed to prevent payee-altered checks from clearing.

ImageScore

ImageScore is the Companys Check 21 readiness solution for any financial institution that truncates or uses check images in an accounts receivables conversion environment. Integrated solution providers for financial institutions can also buy ImageScore to enhance their products. ImageScore is designed to analyze check images to provide the usability and information needed to help financial institutions act in accordance with regulatory and industry mandates.

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

    Anybody who was lucky enough to get into a Recon Technology, Ltd. (NASDAQ:RCON) position before October 7th, then congratulations - you're up big-time. Now get out. Instead, a better use of that capital is Mitek Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MITK). While RCON is overbought and ripe for a pullback, MITK is itching to stage a breakout.

  • [By U.S. News]

    In at least one Texas bank and one Ohio credit union, 3D video banking is currently undergoing testing, according to TheFinancialBrand.com, a website for bank and credit union marketing executives. Three-dimensional video banking is similar to a consumer video conference with a bank representative –- only in this case, the executive looks like a living, breathing person sitting across from you. Thanks to theater surround sound, the representative also sounds as i! f they're! in the same room. And since the consumer is interacting with a real person and not an automated hologram, the experience apparently isn't much different than the real thing. Banking and managing money isn't what it used to be. The 1970s and 1980s brought us the rise of the ATM. Consumers became acquainted with online banking during the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. The 2010s are shaping up as the era of mobile banking. That was underscored Sept. 10-11 in New York City when Mitek Systems Inc. (MITK), a San Diego-based technology company, debuted its Mobile Photo Account Opening product at Finovate, a trade show where banking tech products are often unveiled. The product allows consumers to open a bank account within 60 seconds. If you have your bank's app, you can use your smartphone's camera to take a photo of the front and back of your driver's license, and presto, your new checking, savings or credit card account is open. Here's a look at other financial products and services personal financial experts think we'll be using in the future. Within 10 years. "The economic payments system will begin to 'know us,' either through biometrics, optical sensor or facial recognition," says Joshua Siegel, managing principal of StoneCastle Partners, a New York-based asset management firm that invests in banks. That's already happening to some extent with smartphones –- the new Apple (AAPL) iPhone 5S, for example, uses fingerprint scanning to unlock the phone. Meanwhile, some fi

  • source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.seekpennystocks.com/best-computer-hardware-stocks-to-own-for-2015.html

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Best Companies To Invest In Right Now

Filing a tax return which the taxpayer knows materially underreports his tax is unwise.    It can cost the taxpayer far more in assessments of tax and penalties ultimately made, as well as attorney fees, than the amount of tax evaded.  It can even result in the taxpayer being prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned.

The IRS most commonly learns of alleged fraud in a tax return from an insider�� disgruntled former employee, spouse, or romantic interest of the taxpayer.  In one case, the taxpayer�� estranged daughter came to the taxpayer and asked him for a job.  The taxpayer hired her, and eventually placed her in charge of a business.  But the daughter mismanaged the business, and the taxpayer closed it.  The prodigal daughter became enraged, and reported her father to the Internal Revenue Service.  IRS Criminal Investigation Division then investigated the taxpayer�� tax returns.  A pair of undercover IRS special agents began appearing at the taxpayer�� principal business, feigning interest in purchasing business.  The taxpayer fell for the ruse, and ��uffed��to the purported prospective purchasers, claiming that he actually had substantially more income than reported on this tax returns.

Hot Small Cap Companies To Buy Right Now: Callon Petroleum Co (CPE)

Callon Petroleum Company (Callon), incorporated on March 29, 1994, is an independent oil and natural gas company. It is focused on growing production and reserves from its oil-weighted multi-play assets in the Permian Basin. In 2013, the Company shifted its operations from the offshore waters in the Gulf of Mexico to the onshore, Permian Basin region in Texas.

The Company operates 100% of its Permian acreage. As of December 31, 2013, the Company�� proved reserves were 14.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (80% oil and 50% proved developed).

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE: CPE) is estimated to post its Q4 earnings at $0.00 per share on revenue of $26.83 million.

    Supernus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SUPN) is expected to post a Q4 loss at $0.55 per share on revenue of $7.78 million.

  • [By Garrett Cook]

    In trading on Friday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.40 percent. Top losers in the sector included Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE: CPE), down 5.67 percent, and Tesco (NASDAQ: TESO), off 3.99 percent.

  • [By Garrett Cook]

    In trading on Friday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.40 percent. Top losers in the sector included Callon Petroleum Company (NYSE: CPE), down 5 percent, and Tesco (NASDAQ: TESO), off 3.9 percent.

Best Companies To Invest In Right Now: Apollo Gold Corporation(BRD)

Brigus Gold Corp. engages in the extraction, processing, refining, and production of gold and other by-product metals primarily in North America. The company principally produces gold and silver. It primarily owns the Black Fox Complex and Black Fox Mill properties located in the Timmins Mining District in the Province of Ontario, Canada; the Goldfields project located in the Lake Athabasca region of Saskatchewan, Canada; and the Ixhuatan property located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Brigus Gold Corp., through its joint venture, holds interests in the Ampliacion Pueblo Viejo and Loma El Mate gold exploration projects located in the Dominican Republic. The company was formerly known as Apollo Gold Corporation and changed its name to Brigus Gold Corp. in June 2010. Brigus Gold Corp. was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Zacks Investment Research]

    It is hard to find a good play in the Zacks Industry of mining non-ferrous metals, as the industry currently has a rank of 247 out of 261. In fact, in our five mining industries, there are only two No. 1-Ranked stocks: Brigus Gold (BRD) and Impala (IMPUY.PK). Both of these are in struggling industries, but they have proven to be best-in-class thanks to improving earnings estimates. Plus, both have seen their ranks surge from holds (or worse) up to strong buy territory, suggesting either of these names might be better picks than the struggling SCCO at this time.

  • [By MONEYMORNING]

    As well, Primero Mining (NYSE: PPP) bought Brigus Gold Corp (USA)(NYSE: BRD) for $220 million, and Asanko Gold (NYSEMKT: AKG) is acquiring PMI Gold Corporation (TSE: PMV).

Best Companies To Invest In Right Now: Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Inc.(BNCL)

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Beneficial Bank that provides financial services to consumers and businesses in the United States. The company accepts a range of deposit products, such as non-interest bearing demand deposits, including individual checking accounts; interest-bearing demand accounts comprising negotiable order of withdrawal and money market accounts; savings accounts; certificates of deposit; and business banking deposit products, such as a commercial checking account and a checking account for small businesses, as well as offers cash management services, which consist of remote deposit, lockbox, and sweep accounts. It originates various loans, including fixed-rate and adjustable-rate one-to-four family residential loans; commercial real estate loans; commercial business loans, such as installment loans for capital improvements, equipment acquisition, and long-term working capital to professionals, sole proprietorships, an d small businesses; consumer loans comprising home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans, boat loans, loans for recreational vehicles, guaranteed student loans, and loans secured by passbook accounts and certificates of deposit; and construction loans. In addition, the company provides insurance brokerage and investment advisory services. It operates approximately 65 banking offices located in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; and Burlington and Camden Counties in New Jersey. The company was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc. is a subsidiary of Beneficial Savings Bank MHC.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

    spaxiax/Shutterstock Loans are inevitable for most adults. If you buy a house or car, use a credit card or go to college, you'll likely need to take out a loan. U.S. household debt stands at $11.7 trillion, according to a recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey that draws on information from 40 million individuals. But taking out a loan doesn't always work out well, as anyone who has dealt with a debt collector can attest. So what mistakes are you most likely to make in the loan process? A good rule of thumb: If there's a chance your loan can destroy your marriage, business or send you into bankruptcy, you're about to make the biggest mistake of all: taking out the loan in the first place. 1. Not Reading the Fine Print There are always important gems of information buried in all that legalese, so you owe it to yourself to take a good look at what you're signing up for, says Leslie Tayne, a financial attorney and debt specialist who runs the Tayne Law Group in New York City. "Many people have a tendency to simply sign the dotted line, listening to the salesperson and not double-checking the agreement," Tayne says. "I see this all the time. A client will come in and tell me that they didn't know about something in the loan, such as a balloon payment or increase in interest rate." But if you sign the contract, you're telling the lender that you do know –- even if you don't -– which, of course, is the problem. 2. Taking Out a Loan for Someone Else Co-signing is a mistake, but some people double that error by taking out a loan and giving the money to someone else. "You'd be surprised at how often this happens," says Michael Poulos, CEO of Michigan First Credit Union in Lathrup Village, Michigan. He says his staff has, on occasion, encountered loan scenarios such as parents coming in to borrow money for their children and customers needing money to bail out family members from jail. One of the more interesting cautionary tales about borr

Best Companies To Invest In Right Now: Bridgepoint Education Inc (BPI)

Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (Bridgepoint), incorporated in May 1999, is a provider of postsecondary education services. The Company�� academic institutions include Ashford University and University of the Rockies. Its institutions deliver programs primarily online, as well as at their traditional campuses. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 86,642 total students enrolled in its institutions. Bridgepoint�� institutions conduct ongoing faculty and student assessment processes and provide a range of student services. The Company is also focused on developing new technologies, such as through Waypoint Outcomes, Constellation, and the development of its institutions' mobile learning platforms. The Company has developed Constellation to replace third party textbooks with digital course materials. Constellation materials are displayed in a browser-based platform. In January 2012, Bridgepoint introduced Thuze.

Ashford University offers associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs online, as well as bachelor's degree programs at its campus in Clinton, Iowa. Ashford University consists of four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies, the College of Education, the College of Health, Human Services and Sciences, and the College of Liberal Arts. University of the Rockies is a graduate institution that offers master's and doctoral degree programs in the social and behavioral sciences. Classes at University of the Rockies are presented in a progressive online format, as well as at its campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Waypoint Outcomes provides learning and assessment software to K-12 and higher education institutions nationwide.

Constellation provides mobile access to students over the Internet, as well as on a variety of devices, including Web-enabled smartphones and tablet devices. Constellation is a cloud-based and is compatible across operating systems, browsers and mobile technologies. The Company has developed Constellation-enabled courses pri! marily in core classes to reach students. As of December 31, 2011, approximately 76% of Bridgepoint�� institutions' students had taken a Constellation-enabled course. As of December 31, 2011, it had 32 Constellation titles available. Thuze is a cloud-based, multi-platform, collaborative learning environment for students to interact with their course digital materials and with each other. Thuze provides students with the resources to work from both their desktop computers and also from their tablets and smartphones. It launched Thuze as a pilot program with publishers in higher education. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company deployed new mobile application technology at Ashford University. The Company has online students from all 50 states and from the District of Columbia. It has students from 69 different countries. As of December 31, 2011, over 34,400 students have graduated from the Company�� institutions, with approximately 15,200 students graduating from its institutions, during 2011.

Students finance their education at the Company's institutions through Title IV programs and Non-Title IV funding sources. Title IV programs includes The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Federal Direct Loan Programs. FFEL and Federal Direct Loan Programs consist of two loans: Stafford loans, which are either subsidized or unsubsidized, and PLUS loans, which are made available to graduate and professional students, as well as parents of dependent undergraduate students. Non-Title IV funding sources include other funding sources, which consist of cash, private loans, state grants, corporate reimbursement, military benefits and institutional loans. The Company has engaged Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) to provide call center and transactional processing services for the online financial aid student populations at its institutions, including services related to disbursement eligibility review and Title IV fund returns. If Bridgepoint�� engagement with ACS were terminate! d, it wou! ld handle these processing services using its own resources or engage another third party vendor.

The Company�� institutions provide student support services, including academic, administrative and technology support. As of December 31, 2011, Bridgepoint�� institutions offered approximately 1,430 courses, 85 degree programs and 140 specializations. Its institutions offer programs and specialization areas through Ashford University's four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies; the College of Education; the College of Health, Human Services and Science; and the College of Liberal Arts, and through the University of the Rockies' two schools: the School of Organizational Leadership and the School of Professional Psychology. The Company�� leads are primarily generated from online sources. Its main source of leads is third party online lead aggregators. It also purchases keywords from search providers to generate online leads directly. In addition, the Company has an in-house team focused on generating online leads.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jim Royal]

    One of my favorite reasons to reinvest in stocks I already own is when an uncertain, but favorable catalyst occurs, but the stock does little. So my Special Situations portfolio is adding $1,000 to each of the following three stocks: Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB  ) , Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI  ) , and First Financial Northwest (NASDAQ: FFNW  ) . Read on to see why.

  • [By Dan Newman]

    Debt
    Another factor to take into account is weighing the extra two years of college costs versus an extra two years of wages. According to College Reality Check, the net price for a bachelor's degree at�Bridgepoint Education's (NYSE: BPI  ) Ashford University is about $17,300, only about $1,000 less than the cost of Harvard. An Ashford graduate can expect to earn $36,400 annually in his or her early career,�about $14,000 less than a Harvard grad.

  • [By Jim Royal]

    Earlier this week, Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI  ) revealed that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges had approved the company's Ashford University application for accreditation for five years. Investors had been concerned about this accreditation issue for the last year or so, and shares jumped on the news. They're now up about 50% from where my Special Situations portfolio bought in late April.

Best Companies To Invest In Right Now: Husky Energy Inc (HUSKF.PK)

Husky Energy Inc. (Husky), incorporated on June 21, 2000, is an international integrated energy company. The Company operates in two segments: Upstream and Downstream. Upstream includes exploration for, development and production of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas and natural gas liquids and other producers��crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, sulphur and petroleum coke, pipeline transportation and processing of heavy crude oil and natural gas, storage of crude oil, diluents and natural gas and cogeneration of electrical and thermal energy (infrastructure and marketing). Downstream includes upgrading of heavy crude oil feedstock into synthetic crude oil (upgrading), refining in Canada of crude oil and marketing of refined petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, ethanol blended fuels, asphalt and ancillary products, and production of ethanol (Canadian refined products) and refining in the United States of crude oil to produce and market gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuels that meet United States clean fuels standards (United States refining and marketing).

During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company had 512 retail locations in its light refined products operations, which consisted of 361 owned or leased locations (husky controlled) and 151 independent retailer locations. The Company is continually monitoring the owned and leased locations for environmental protection or to address regulatory compliance requirements, such as reporting.

Upstream Operations

Husky�� portfolio of Upstream assets includes properties with reserves of light crude oil (30掳 API and lighter), medium crude oil (between 20掳 and 30掳 API), heavy crude oil (liquid between 20掳 API and 10掳 API), bitumen (solid or semi-solid with a viscosity greater than 10,000 centipoise at original temperature in the deposit and atmospheric pressure), NGL, natural gas and sulphur. The Wenchang field is located in the western Pearl River Mouth Basin, approximately 400 kilometers ! south of Hong Kong and 100 kilometers east of Hainan Island. The Wenchang 13-1 and 13-2 oil fields are producing from 32 wells in 100 meters of water into an FPSO vessel stationed between fixed platforms located in each of the two fields. In December 2012, Husky signed a joint venture contract with CPC Corporation, Taiwan for an exploration block in the South China Sea. The exploration block is located 100 kilometers southwest of the island of Taiwan and covers approximately 10,300 square kilometers.

Husky has a 40% interest in approximately 621,700 acres (2,516 square kilometers) of the Madura Strait block, located offshore East Java, south of Madura Island, Indonesia. Husky�� two partners are CNOOC which is the operator and has a 40% working interest, and Samudra Energy Ltd., which holds the remaining 20% interest through its affiliate, SMS Development Ltd. Husky�� offshore East Coast Canada exploration and development program is focused on the Jeanne d��rc Basin on the Grand Banks, which contains the Hibernia and Terra Nova fields, as well as the White Rose field and satellite extensions including the North Amethyst, West White Rose and the South White Rose extensions. The White Rose oil field is located 354 kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and approximately 48 kilometers east of the Hibernia oil field on the eastern section of the Jeanne d��rc Basin. Husky is the operator of the White Rose field and satellite tiebacks, including the North Amethyst, West White Rose and South White Rose extensions. The Terra Nova oil field is located approximately 350 kilometers southeast of St. John��, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Terra Nova oil field is divided into three distinct areas, known as the Graben, the East Flank and the Far East. As of January 16, 2013, Husky held a working interest in 17 Exploration Licences (ELs) offshore Newfoundland, Labrador and Greenland. Husky is the operator of 13 of these ELs and has working interests ranging from 35% to 100%.

Hus! ky is the operator of two ELs offshore the west coast of Disko Island, Greenland. Tucker is an in-situ SAGD oil sands project located 30 kilometers northwest of Cold Lake, Alberta. Husky holds in excess of 550,000 acres in undeveloped oil sands leases and has a 100% working interest in all leases except in Athabasca South in which it has a 50% working interest. Husky�� heavy oil assets are primarily concentrated in a large producing region in the Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan area. The Company maintains a land position of approximately two million gross acres within this area. Over 90% of Husky�� proved reserves in the region are contained in the heavy crude oil producing areas of Pikes Peak, Edam, Tangleflags, Celtic, Bolney, Paradise Hill, Westhazel, Big Gully, Mervin, Marwayne, Lashburn, Gully Lake, Vermilion, Swimming, Morgan, Lindbergh, Aberfeldy, Marsden, Epping, Furness and Rush Lake, and in the medium gravity crude oil producing fields of Wildmere and Wainwright. As of December 31, 2012, the Company produces from oil and gas wells ranging in depth from 450 meters to 650 meters and holds a 100% working interest in the majority of these wells. In the Lloydminster area, the Company owns and operates 21 oil treating facilities which are tied into the Husky heavy oil pipeline systems. Husky operates 67 facilities in the area. Husky is the operator of a number of properties in southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan. The Foothills Northwest Plains area is located in western and northern Alberta and British Columbia. The area is made up of five distinct districts: Rainbow Lake, Northern Alberta, Northern Alberta & British Columbia Plains, Ansell-Galloway and Foothills.

Husky provides heavy crude oil feedstock to its Upgrader and its asphalt refinery, which are located at Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan. The combined dry crude feedstock requirements of the Upgrader and asphalt refinery are approximately equal to Husky�� heavy crude oil production from the Lloydminster area.! Husky al! so purchases third party volumes. Husky markets heavy crude oil production directly to refiners located in the mid-west and eastern United States and Canada. Husky markets its light and synthetic crude oil production to third-party refiners in Canada, the United States and Asia in addition to Husky�� Lima Refinery. NGL are sold to local petrochemical end users, retail and wholesale distributors and refiners in North America.

The Company holds a 50% interest in a 90 megawatts natural gas fired cogeneration facility adjacent to Husky�� Rainbow Lake processing plant. The cogeneration facility produces electricity for the Power Pool of Alberta and thermal energy (steam) for the Rainbow Lake processing plant. It provides power directly to the Power Pool of Alberta under an agreement with the Alberta Electric System Operator to provide additional electricity generating capacity and system stability for northwestern Alberta. The Company also operates and has a 50% interest in a natural gas storage facility at East Cantuar near Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

Downstream Operations

The Lima Refinery, located in Ohio between Toledo and Dayton, has an atmospheric crude throughput capacity of 160 thousand of barrels/day. The refinery produces gasoline, gasoline blend stocks, diesel, jet fuel, petrochemical feedstock and other by-products. The feedstock is received via the Mid-Valley and Marathon Pipelines and the refined products are transported via the Buckeye and Inland pipeline systems and by rail car to primary markets in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and southern Michigan. During 2012, crude oil feedstock throughput at the Lima Refinery averaged 150 thousand of barrels/day. Production of gasoline averaged 77 thousand of barrels/day, total distillates averaged 56 thousand of barrels/day and total butanes averaged 17 thousand of barrels/day. The BP-Husky Toledo Refinery, in which Husky holds a 50% interest, has an atmospheric crude throughput capacity of 160 thousand of barrels/day. Pr! oducts in! clude low sulphur gasoline, ultra low sulphur diesel, aviation fuels, propane, kerosene and asphalt. The refinery is located in one of the highest energy consumption regions in the United States. Husky owns and operates the Husky Lloydminster Upgrader, a heavy oil upgrading facility located in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. The Upgrader is designed to process blended heavy crude oil feedstock into high quality, low sulphur synthetic crude oil. Production at the Upgrader averaged 61 thousand of barrels/day of synthetic crude oil, 13 thousand of barrels/day of diluent and 4 thousand of barrels/day of low sulphur diesel in 2012.

Husky�� Canadian Refined Products operations include refining of light crude oil, manufacturing of fuel and fuel grade ethanol, manufacturing of asphalt products from heavy crude oil and acquisition by purchase and exchange of refined petroleum products. Husky�� retail distribution network includes the wholesale, commercial and retail marketing of refined petroleum products and provides a platform for non-fuel related convenience product businesses. Husky�� Pounder Emulsions division has a market share in Western Canada for road application emulsion products. Additional non-asphalt based road maintenance products are also marketed and distributed through Pounder Emulsions. Husky�� asphalt distribution network consists of emulsion plants and asphalt terminals located at Kamloops, British Columbia, Edmonton and Lethbridge, Alberta, Yorkton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, Manitoba and three emulsion plants located at Watson Lake, Yukon and Lloydminster and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Husky�� ethanol production supports its ethanol-blended gasoline marketing program. When added to gasoline, ethanol promotes more complete fuel combustion, prevents fuel line freezing and reduces carbon monoxide emissions, ozone precursors and net emissions of greenhouse gases.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Caiman Valores]

    But as highlighted earlier Whitecap's Canadian light sweet crude is not as heavily discounted as Canadian heavy oil or bitumen. This does not leave it exposed to the same price risks and volatility as those companies that have a significant portion of their production made up by Canadian heavy oil and Bitumen, such as Husky Energy (HUSKF.PK), Suncor (SU), Imperial Oil (IMO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ).

Best Companies To Invest In Right Now: Aon Corporation(AON)

Aon Corporation provides risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resource consulting and outsourcing services primarily in the United States, the Americas, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company?s Risk Solutions segment offers retail brokerage products and services, including affinity products, general underwriting management services, placement services, and captive management services; and advisory services to technology, financial services, agribusiness, aviation, construction, health care, and energy industries, as well as facilitates various risk management solutions for property liability, general liability, professional liability, directors' and officers' liability, workers' compensation, and various healthcare products. This segment also provides risk consulting services comprising captive management; eSolutions products that enable clients to manage risks, policies, claims, and safet y concerns through an integrated technology platform; reinsurance brokerage services, such as actuarial, enterprise risk management, catastrophe management, and rating agency advisory services; property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines, which include professional liability, medical malpractice, accident, life, and health, as well as capital management transaction and advisory services. Its HR Solutions segment offers human capital services in the areas of health and benefits, retirement, compensation, and strategic human capital; and benefits administration and human resource business process outsourcing services. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Reuters]

    Wendy Maeda/The Boston Globe via Getty Images NEW YORK -- Walgreen is moving 120,000 employees to a private health insurance exchange from coverage provided directly from carriers, the company will announce Wednesday. The pharmacy chain will join 17 other large employers on the Aon Hewitt Corporate Health Exchange as part of a growing movement to offer employees fixed dollar amounts to purchase their own plans on such exchanges. The end-cost to employees depends on the plan chosen, but they typically get more options than under traditional arrangements. Private exchanges mimic the coverage mandated as part of the Affordable Care Act. Enrollment in the public exchanges starts Oct. 1. "What happens to employer contributions over time? Will they put in as much as they put in the past? These are unanswered questions but potential negatives," says Paul Fronstin, a senior research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The benefit to Walgreen and other employers is unknown at this point, as their cost-savings aren't clear. Of the 180,000 Walgreen (WAG) employees eligible for health care insurance, 120,000 opted for coverage for themselves and 40,000 family members. Another 60,000 employees, many of them working part-time, weren't eligible for health insurance. Aon Hewitt (AON) says other participants in its program include retailer Sears Holding (SHLD) and Darden Restaurants (DRI). These new additions raise enrollment to 330,000 from 100,000 last year, and Aon Hewitt estimates enrollment will jump to 600,000 next year, a fivefold increase from 2012. By 2017, nearly 20 percent of employees nationwide could get their health insurance through a private exchange, according to Accenture Research (ACN). A recent report by the National Business Group on Health said that 30 percent of large employers are considering moving active employees to exchanges by 2015. Other major providers of private exchanges include Mercer, a division of Marsh & Mc

  • [By Holly LaFon]

    Aon (AON) also performed well in the quarter and first half, adding 5% and 16% respectively. As the world's largest insurance broker, the Risk Solutions group grows with global economic recovery as insurance pricing and risk coverage increase. In addition, fiduciary income should rise as interest rates move up. CEO Greg Case and his team continue to improve the Human Resources segment, which has been hampered by various issues including European weakness. By repurchasing $300 million in shares at discounts to our appraisal, management built value per share over the period.

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Risk manager�Aon� (NYSE: AON  ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.175 per share, the same rate it paid last quarter after raising the payout 11%, from $0.1575 per share.

  • [By GURUFOCUS]

    For the YTD, Aon (AON), the world's largest insurance broker and a leading benefits management firm, was among the Fund's largest contributors as the company's lower tax rate and increasing cash flow helped drive a 35% return. Higher interest rates will increase fiduciary income and help close the gap in the underfunded pension. Although nascent, Aon's healthcare exchange for corporate employees is gaining critical mass, most recently adding Walgreen Co in the third quarter. We applaud Greg Case and his team for their customer- focused, shareholder-oriented leadership.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

10 Best Recreation Stocks To Own For 2015

10 Best Recreation Stocks To Own For 2015: Marine Products Corp (MPX)

Marine Products Corporation (Marine Products), incorporated on August 31, 2000, designs, manufactures and sells recreational fiberglass powerboats in the sportboat, deckboat, cruiser, sport yacht and sport fishing markets. The Company sells its products to a network of 135 domestic and 69 international independent authorized dealers. The Company focuses to remain a manufacturer of recreational powerboats for sale to a range of consumers globally. The Company manufactures Chaparral sterndrive and inboard-powered pleasure boats including H2O Sport and Fish & Ski boats, SSi and SSX Sportboats, Sunesta Sportdecks and Xtreme Tow boats, Signature Cruisers, Premiere Sport Yachts and Robalo outboard sport fishing boats. The Company offers a range of products to the family recreational, cruiser and sport yacht markets through its Chaparral brand, and to the sport fishing market through its Robalo brand.

The Company's products include Chaparral - H2O Sport Series, whic h is a fiberglass multipurpose runabouts; Chaparral - SSi Wide tech, which is a fiberglass closed deck runabouts; Chaparral - SSX Sportdecks, which is a fiberglass bowrider crossover sportboats; Chaparral - Sunesta Xtreme Tow Boats, which is a fiberglass pleasure boats; Chaparral - Signature Cruisers, which is a fiberglass, accommodation-focused cruisers; Chaparral - Premiere Sport Yacht, which is a fiberglass sport yacht, and Robalo - Sport Fishing Boats, which is a sport fishing boats for freshwater lakes or saltwater use. Domestic sales are made through approximately 74 Chaparral dealers, 16 Robalo dealers and 45 dealers that sell both brands located in markets throughout the United States. Marine Products also has 69 international dealers.

The Company competes with Sea Hunt, Sea Fox, Grady-White, Boston Whaler, Everglades and Parker.

Adviso! rs' Opinion:
  • [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 Marine Products (NYSE: MPX  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

  • [By Sean Williams]

    Sink or swim
    Sometimes the best short-sale opportunities are small, under-the-radar companies. One that I feel fits the bill perfectly is fiberglass boat maker Marine Products (NYSE: MPX  ) .

  • source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/10-best-recreation-stocks-to-own-for-2015-5.html

Monday, April 20, 2015

Is BMW Building Its Own EV Charging Stations?

Next week, BMW (NASDAQOTH: BAMXF  ) is rolling out its new, all-electric i3. This move marks BMW's first launch into the niche market of all-electric cars, but BMW's not going in halfway. In fact, BMW is doubling down on its venture into EVs and teaming up with U.K.-based EV charging station provider Chargemaster, in a venture to build fast charge ChargeNow stations for BMW's new i-Series. Here's what you need to know.


BMW i3 Concept Coupe, November 2012. Photo: BMW USA.

BMW's new EV
We won't know for certain what the i3 looks like until next week, but that hasn't dampened the considerable buzz surrounding the new EV. Built using renewable materials when possible, the i3 has a full carbon-fiber structure that lends to the i3's overall weight of 2,634 pounds -- lighter than General Motors' (NYSE: GM  ) Chevy Volt, Nissan Motors' Leaf, and Toyota Motor's Prius plug-in hybrid.

The standard i3 uses a 22kWh lithium-ion battery, delivers 168 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, and can go 0 to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds. More pointedly, reviewers such as Edmunds and BBC's Top Gear test-drove the i3 and raved about the way it performed. According to official European Union test procedures, the i3 can go 118 miles on pure battery in comfort mode. Moreover, BMW says that in the worst conditions the i3 will go 81 miles on pure battery. If that's not far enough, thanks to BMW's e-drive technology, the driver has the option of putting the i3 in an "EcoPro" mode that extends the initial range to 124 miles per charge.

Still not enough range? With the purchase of the optional range extender -- a 650cc two-cylinder gasoline engine that acts as a generator and doesn't provide propulsion -- the range on the i3 is almost doubled. And the best part? The i3 has a base MSRP of $41,350, making this car a serious threat to Chevy's Volt.

More charging stations, please
Even with these impressive specs, the i3, as an EV, faces what all EVs face: range anxiety. No one wants to be stranded in the middle of nowhere, and with charging stations few and far between, that's a real possibility. Luckily, BMW is aware of this problem, and to help offset it, it's buying an estimated 2% equity stake in Chargemaster. The exact details of the deal haven't yet been released, but what is known is that the deal involves having both companies team up for a five-year period, to build fast-charge ChargeNow stations across the U.K., for BMW's i-Series. 

Taking into account that the U.K. is BMW's fourth largest sales market in the world, an expanded infrastructure is fantastic news for consumers considering the i3 but worried about range. Also good news? BMW claims the i3 can recharge in as little as 30 minutes when connected to a 50kW fast-charge station.

What about charging stations in the U.S?
Right now, BMW's quick-charge stations are only for the U.K., but that doesn't mean it can't use the same approach in the United States. The U.S. is BMW's largest market by sales -- although China is expected to surpass the U.S. later in 2013 -- and building a quick-charge infrastructure in the U.S. would probably have a positive impact on BMW's EV sales. Furthermore, the i3 isn't BMW's only car to launch into the EV market. The i8 extended-range plug-in hybrid is expected later in 2014, and it's an impressive vehicle, to say the least. Clearly, these moves signal that BMW is throwing its considerable weight into what is still a niche market. How it'll pan out has yet to be seen, but considering BMW's reputation, this is something to watch -- both for how i affects BMW's bottom line, and for how it affects other EV manufactures' sales.

Are you interested in placing your bets on the auto industry? Well, EVs are still a niche market, and they could remain that way for a while. But some automakers have their hand in EVs and are expanding into one of the great auto frontiers -- China. The Middle Kingdom is already the world's largest auto market, and it's set to grow even bigger in coming years. A recent Motley Fool report, "2 Automakers to Buy for a Surging Chinese Market," names two global giants poised to reap big gains that could drive big rewards for investors. You can read this report right now for free -- just click here for instant access.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

5 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2015

5 Best Warren Buffett Stocks To Watch For 2015: Waters Corp (WAT)

Waters Corporation (Waters), incorporated on December 6, 1991, is an analytical instrument manufacturer that primarily designs, manufactures, sells and services, through its Waters Division, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC and together with HPLC, referred to as LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products and post-warranty service plans. These systems are complementary products that are frequently employed together (LC-MS) and sold as integrated instrument systems using a common software platform and are used along with other analytical instruments. Through its TA Division (TA), the Company primarily designs, manufactures, sells and services thermal analysis, rheometry and calorimetry instruments. The Company is also a developer and supplier of software-based products that interface with the Company's instruments and are typica lly purchased by customers as part of the instrument system. The Company's products are used by pharmaceutical, life science, biochemical, industrial, nutritional safety, environmental, academic and governmental customers working in research and development, quality assurance and other laboratory applications. The Company operates in two segments: Waters Division and TA Division.

In January 2012, the Company acquired Baehr Thermoanalyse GmbH. In July 2012, the Company acquired Blue Reference, Inc. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company introduced the Xevo G2-S Q-TofTM and Xevo G2-S Tof mass spectrometers, bringing StepWave ion technology to its bench-top time-of-flight mass spectrometers.

Waters Division

HPLC is used to identify and analyze the constituent components of a variety of chemicals and other materials! . HPLC is used to identify new drugs, develop manufacturing methods and assure the potency and purity of new phar maceuticals. HPLC is also used in a variety of other applica! tions, such as analyses of foods and beverages for nutritional labeling and compliance with safety regulations, the testing of water and air purity within the environmental testing industry, as well as applications in other industries, such as chemical and consumer products. HPLC is also used by universities, research institutions and governmental agencies, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The ACQUITY UPLC I-Class provides a solution to a critical need by successfully analyzing compounds that are limited in amount or availability.

Waters manufactures LC instruments that are offered in configurations that allow for varying degrees of automation, from component configured systems for academic research applications to fully automated systems for regulated testing, and that have a variety of detection technologies, from ultra-violet (UV) absorbance to MS, optimized for certain analyses. The Company also manufactures tailored LC systems for the analysis of biologics, as well as an LC detector utilizing evaporative light scattering technology to expand the usage of LC to compounds.

The primary consumable products for LC are chromatography columns. These columns are packed with separation media used in the LC testing process and are replaced at regular intervals. The Company's chemistry consumable products also include environmental and nutritional safety testing products. Environmental laboratories use these products for quality control and proficiency testing and also purchase product support services required to help with their federal and state mandated accreditation requirements or with control over critical pharmaceutical analysis. In addition, the Company provides tests to identify and quantify mycotoxins in vari! ous agric! ultural commodities. These test kits provide reliable, quantitative detection of particular mycotoxins through the choice of flurometer, LC-MS or HPLC.

The Co! mpany off! ers a range of MS instrument systems utilizing various combinations of quadrupole, Tof, ion mobility and magnetic sector designs. These instrument systems are used in drug discovery and development, as well as for environmental, clinical and nutritional safety testing. The spectrometers sold by the Company are designed to utilize an LC system as the sample introduction device.

The Company's smaller-sized mass spectrometers, such as the single quadrupole detector (SQD) and the tandem quadrupole detector (TQD), referred to as LC detectors and are sold as part of an LC system or as an LC system upgrade. Quadrupole systems, such as the Xevo TQ and Xevo TQ-S instruments, are used for late-stage drug development, including clinical trial testing. Quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-Tof) instruments, such as the Company's SYNAPT G2-S, are used to analyze the role of proteins in disease processes, an application referred to as proteomics. Its SYNAPT G2 HDMS and SYNAPT G2 MS systems are exact mass MS/MS platforms. The Company's Xevo TQ-S instrument system is designed for UPLC/MS/MS applications. Its Xevo G2 Q-Tof is exact mass quantitative and qualitative bench-top MS/MS instrument systems. The Company's SYNAPT G2-S incorporates Waters StepWave ion transfer optics and Triwave ion mobility technologies along with a range of informatics tools.

TA Division

Thermal analysis measures the physical characteristics of materials as a function of temperature. Rheometry instruments complement thermal analyzers in characterizing materials. Rheometry characterizes the flow properties of materials and measures their viscosity, elasticity and deformation under different types of loading or other conditions.

Thermal analysis measures the physical characteristics of materials as a functio! n of temp! erature. Rheometry instruments complement thermal analyzers in characterizing materials. Rheometry characterizes the flow properties of materials and measures their viscosity, elast! icity and! deformation under different types of loading or conditions. As with systems offered through the Waters Division, a range of instrumental configurations is available with sample handling and information processing automation. In addition, systems and accompanying software packages can be tailored for specific applications. The Company's Q-Series family of differential scanning calorimeters includes a range of instruments, from analyzers to systems, which can accommodate robotic sample handlers and a range of sample cells and temperature control features for analyzing a range of materials.

The Company competes with Agilent Technologies, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Bruker Corporation, Danaher Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, PerkinElmer, Inc., Mettler-Toledo International Inc., NETZSCH-Geraetebau GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Malvern Instruments Ltd., Anton-Paar, Phenomenex, Inc., Supelco, Inc., Merck and Co., Inc. and General Electric Company.< /p> Advisors' Opinion:

  • [By Teresa Rivas]

    Danaher (DHR) and Waters Corporation (WAT) were mirror images of one another, with the former rising 1.3% at recent check and the latter falling by 1.3%.

  • [By Geoff Gannon] strong>Balchem (BCPC)

    · Idexx (IDXX)

    · II-VI (IIVI)

    · Mesa Laboratories (MLAB)

    · Masimo (MASI)

    I don't know most of those companies very well. I probably know Waters the best out of that group.

    Obviously, there are companies outside of Phil Fisher's area of focus – manufacturing with technical elements – that fit many of his principles.

    Among really high profile companies, the three that stand out are:

    1. Amazon (AMZN)

    2. Netflix (NFLX)

    3. Wells Fargo (WFC)

    Of those 3, Amazon stands out the most. J! eff Bezos! often seems to be channeling Phil Fisher. And I imagine that if Fisher were ever interested in a retailer it would be a retailer with Amazon's attitude about technology, customers, growth, and the long-term. More than anything though it's Amazon's constant internal push to develop new sales and especially new ways to serve existing customers without being prompted by outside forces th at makes me think it's a company Phil Fisher would be very interested in.

    Fisher liked companies that had a philosophy of growth. Something internal to the organization that caused it to seek ways to grow sales, win new customers, develop new products. Fisher obviously wanted a great organization in an industry with great long-term prospects. But I think a lot of growth investors focus more on the latter issue than Fisher would. I know they don't focus enough on the first issue. Fisher wanted a great organization first and foremost.

    I'm not sure any of the stocks I've mentioned in this article are necessarily good buys. The one exception is Wells Fargo. I'm never comfortable calling a bank entirely safe. So I'm less sure about suggesting any financial stock as a good buy than I am about stocks in most industries. But if you look at what Wells Fargo has achieved and what they are likely to achieve over the next ten years or so and then consider the p rice you are paying f

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

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Invest In 2014

We initiated a small position in Wesco Aircraft Holdings (WAIR) during the quarter. Wesco is a distributor and supply chain manager to the commercial and military aerospace markets. The company should benefit from the multi-year commercial aerospace build-out that is underway. We expect this tailwind to provide visible growth through at least 2017. Wesco also has an opportunity to provide more services to large defense contractors as funding pressures force the industry to become more efficient. If the company can improve margins along the way, we think the resulting earnings growth could provide reasonable-to-good return potential for the stock.From Wallace Weitz (Trades, Portfolio)'s first quarter 2014 report.Also check out: Wallace Weitz Undervalued Stocks Wallace Weitz Top Growth Companies Wallace Weitz High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Wallace Weitz keeps buying Currently 0.00/512345

Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes)

Hot Industrial Disributor Companies To Watch In Right Now: Dollar Tree Inc.(DLTR)

Dollar Tree, Inc. operates discount variety stores in the United States and Canada. Its stores offer merchandise primarily at the fixed price of $1.00. The company operates its stores under the names of Dollar Tree, Deal$, Dollar Tree Deal$, Dollar Giant, and Dollar Bills. Its stores offer consumable merchandise, including candy and food, and health and beauty care, as well as household consumables, such as paper, plastics, household chemicals, in select stores, and frozen and refrigerated food; variety merchandise, which includes toys, durable housewares, gifts, party goods, greeting cards, softlines, and other items; and seasonal goods, such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas merchandise. As of April 30, 2011, it operated 4,089 stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 88 stores in Canada. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Big Earnings Movers: Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is down 3.5% at $64.19. Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) is down 2.9% at $59.93 on a wider loss and tepid outlook. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is up 14.1% at $70.57 indicating that investors liked the results posted after markets closed on Wednesday. Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) is down 4.5% at $56.28. Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. (NYSE: ANF) is down 0.1% at $34.97.

  • [By Rising Dividend Investing]

    Falling Stock Correlation: What It Says About Consumer Spending

    As we mentioned in the Take Aways from the August 26th Investment Policy Committee meeting, the correlation index has been steadily declining. In 2008-09, macroeconomic events drove nearly every stock downwards. Specific sectors and stocks moved in tandem with one another. Today, stocks and sub-industries within each sector are performing very differently – which indicates a return to a more normal stock market environment.
    The Consumer Discretionary (also known as Consumer Cyclicals) sector is an example of an industry that has been rewarded for its fundamental success over the past 12 months. As a whole, the sector grew sales 6.1% and earnings 9.2% in the second quarter - much better than the 1.4% sales and 3.3% earnings growth of the S&P 500. While the overall sector did well in the second quarter, the table below shows how differently the 5 sub-categories of Consumer Discretionary performed:

    (click to enlarge)
    As we drill down even further, sub-categories of sub-sectors differ even more dramatically. Below is a snapshot of the Retailing sub-sector and its notable components:

    (click to enlarge)
    Specific stocks within each sub-category are varying in performance as well. General Merchandise retailers were significantly differentiated in the second quarter. Target’s (TGT) adjusted EPS were up 6.1% from 2012, while Dollar General (DG) and Dollar Tree’s (DLTR) earnings were up nearly 12% and 9%, respectively.
    The differences in sales and earnings growth amongst these different industries tell a story. The economy is not improving enough that people feel like they can let go and spend money on pure pleasures, but it is improving enough that they can afford to replace their cars and fix the doors on their houses. As these items wear out and need to be replaced, we expect the pent up demand will drive increased economic activity from cons
  • [By Teresa Rivas]

    Dollar General (DG) ended up on news it may bid for Family Dollar (FDO), which also logged gains at the expense of its current suitor, Dollar Tree (DLTR). Walgreen (WAG) gave up earlier gains on its July sales update to end the day in the red

  • [By Jon C. Ogg]

    Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was maintained as a Buy but was removed from the prized Conviction Buy list at Goldman Sachs.

    Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) was raised to Buy from Hold with a $79 price target at Argus.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Invest In 2014: Caterpillar Inc.(CAT)

Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. It operates through three lines of businesses: Machinery, Engines, and Financial Products. The Machinery business offers construction, mining, and forestry machinery, including track and wheel tractors, track and wheel loaders, pipelayers, motor graders, wheel tractor-scrapers, track and wheel excavators, backhoe loaders, log skidders, log loaders, off-highway trucks, articulated trucks, paving products, skid steer loaders, underground mining equipment, tunnel boring equipment, and related parts. It also manufactures diesel-electric locomotives; and manufactures and services rail-related products and logistics services for other companies. The Engines business provides diesel, heavy fuel, and natural gas reciprocating engines for Caterpillar machinery, electric power generation systems, marine, petrol eum, construction, industrial, agricultural, and other applications. It offers industrial turbines and turbine-related services for oil and gas, and power generation applications. This business also remanufactures Caterpillar engines, machines, and engine components; and offers remanufacturing services for other companies. The Financial Products business provides retail and wholesale financing alternatives for Caterpillar machinery and engines, solar gas turbines, and other equipment and marine vessels, as well as offers loans and various forms of insurance to customers and dealers. It also offers financing for vehicles, power generation facilities, and marine vessels. The company markets its products directly, as well as through its distribution centers, dealers, and distributors. It was formerly known as Caterpillar Tractor Co. and changed its name to Caterpillar Inc. in 1986. Caterpillar Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

    Caterpillar is a provider of construction and related industrial products and services during a time where countries around the world are seeing expansion. A recent earnings release has investors not impressed with the company. The stock has remained neutral in recent months and looks poised to continue this path. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been decreasing which has produced conflicting feelings about the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Caterpillar has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what Caterpillar does in coming quarters.

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Invest In 2014: Schlumberger N.V.(SLB)

Schlumberger Limited, together with its subsidiaries, supplies technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to the oil and gas exploration and production industries worldwide. The company?s Oilfield Services segment provides exploration and production services; wireline technology that offers open-hole and cased-hole services; supplies engineering support, directional-drilling, measurement-while-drilling, and logging-while-drilling services; and testing services. This segment also offers well services; supplies well completion services and equipment; artificial lift; data and consulting services; geo services; and information solutions, such as consulting, software, information management system, and IT infrastructure services that support oil and gas industry. Its WesternGeco segment provides reservoir imaging, monitoring, and development services; and operates data processing centers and multiclient seismic library. This segment also offers variou s services include 3D and time-lapse (4D) seismic surveys to multi-component surveys for delineating prospects and reservoir management. The company?s M-I SWACO segment supplies drilling fluid systems to improve drilling performance; fluid systems and specialty tools to optimize wellbore productivity; production technology solutions to maximize production rates; and environmental solutions that manages waste volumes generated in drilling and production operations. Its Smith Oilfield segment designs, manufactures, and markets drill bits and borehole enlargement tools; and supplies drilling tools and services, tubular, completion services, and other related downhole solutions. The company?s Distribution segment markets pipes, valves, and fittings, as well as mill, safety, and other maintenance products. This segment also provides warehouse management, vendor integration, and inventory management services. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Aaron Levitt]

    With a variety of oil stocks reporting full-year 2013 earnings, unconventional assets are the gifts that keep on giving for the oil service trio of Halliburton (HAL), Baker Hughes (BHI) and Schlumberger (SLB).

  • [By David Smith]

    Admittedly, Chevron (NYSE: CVX  ) is partnering with Saudi Aramco in production efforts in the Partitioned Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. And oil-field services and technology kingpin Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB  ) has planted major facilities in the country. But it seems that a more widespread use of western companies' capabilities could do wonders for Saudi reserves and production longevity.

  • [By Jim Jubak]

    But it just doesn't seem to matter for Schlumberger (SLB). Schlumberger is a member of my Jubak's Picks portfolio.

    On January 17, the oil services and technology company reported fourth quarter earnings of $1.35 a share, beating Wall Street estimates by two cents a share. Earnings grew by 29.8% year over year.

  • [By Matt DiLallo]

    Along with announcing earnings, both Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) and Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB  ) announced multi-billion-dollar stock buybacks. With so much money on the line, investors have to ask if this is the right move for these two oil-field service giants. Are these stocks cheap enough to warrant the buybacks or should these companies consider other options for those funds?

Top 10 Undervalued Stocks To Invest In 2014: Tupperware Corporation(TUP)

Tupperware Brands Corporation operates as a direct seller of various products across a range of brands and categories through an independent sales force. The company engages in the manufacture and sale of kitchen and home products, and beauty and personal care products. It offers preparation, storage, and serving solutions for the kitchen and home, as well as kitchen cookware and tools, children?s educational toys, microwave products, and gifts under the Tupperware brand name primarily in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and North America. The company provides beauty and personal care products, which include skin care products, cosmetics, bath and body care, toiletries, fragrances, nutritional products, apparel, and related products principally in Mexico, South Africa, the Philippines, Australia, and Uruguay. It offers beauty and personal care products under the Armand Dupree, Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, Nuvo, and Swissgar de brand names. The company sells its Tupperware products directly to distributors, directors, managers, and dealers; and beauty products primarily through consultants and directors. As of December 26, 2009, the Tupperware distribution system had approximately 1,800 distributors, 61,300 managers, and 1.3 million dealers; and the sales force representing the Beauty businesses approximately 1.1 million. The company was formerly known as Tupperware Corporation and changed its name to Tupperware Brands Corporation in December 2005. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Tupperware Brands (NYSE: TUP) is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $1.03 per share on revenue of $623.34 million.

    Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $1.12 per share on revenue of $779.02 million.

  • [By John Kell]

    Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Wednesday’s session are Dow Chemical Co.(DOW), Tupperware Brands Corp.(TUP) and Yahoo Inc.(YHOO)

  • [By Teresa Rivas]

    We think KMB will be perceived as the safest of the multinationals. Its sales outside the US are about 55% of total; this compares to 65%-70% for Procter & Gamble (PG) and Coty (COTY) and 80%-90% for Colgate (CL), Avon and Tupperware (TUP). In general, its risk to the most volatile currencies is below average (its exposure to Eastern Europe is less than 2% of sales), though it is still translating results in Venezuela (about 3% of sales and profit) at the official rate of 6.3 VEF/$ (the parallel rate just hit 175 VEF/$) and Argentina (also 3% of sales) may devalue again. The cost of important raw materials has started to weaken; as they follow oil�� decline they could boost gross margins in 2H15. Of note, polypropylene and natural gas are off 17% 4Q-to-date; pulp prices, while not declining much, seem manageable.