Sunday, May 31, 2015

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now

There�� a bubble in bubbles on Wall Street -- or at least a bubble in blathering about bubbles. For evidence, consider the big, fat bubble that floated on the cover of the November 18th issue of Barron��. You��l also find the bubble meme in recent headlines: �� signs the stock market is in a bubble��(CBS News); ���Definitely a bubble brewing��in stocks: Pro��(CNBC.com) and ��s market bubbles form, investors may want to take cover��(Reuters).

SEE ALSO: 3 Reasons the Stock Market Is Not Overvalued (and One Reason It Might Be)

Here�� the real bubble trouble: When you��e really in one, you rarely hear about it. To those inside, bubbles are almost always invisible.

5 Best Asian Stocks To Buy For 2016: Materion Corp (BEM)

Materion Corporation, formerly Brush Engineered Materials Inc., is a holding Company. The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, is an integrated producer of advanced engineered materials used in a variety of electrical, electronic, thermal and structural applications. It products are sold into numerous markets, including consumer electronics, industrial components and commercial aerospace, defense and science, energy, medical, automotive electronics, telecommunications infrastructure and appliance. In March 2012, the Company acquired Aerospace Metal Composites Limited (AMC). In October 2011, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Materion Advanced Materials Technologies and Services Inc., acquired EIS Optics Limited. On March 8, 2011, the Company changed its name to Materion Corporation.

Advanced Material Technologies

Advanced Material Technologies manufactures precious, non-precious and specialty metal products, including vapor deposition targets, frame lid assemblies, clad and precious metal preforms, high temperature braze materials, ultra-fine wire, advanced chemicals, optics, performance coatings and microelectronic packages. These products are used in wireless, semiconductor, photonic, hybrid and other microelectronic applications within the consumer electronics and telecommunications infrastructure markets. Other key markets for these products include medical, defense and science, energy and industrial components. Advanced Material Technologies also has metal cleaning operations and in-house refineries that allow for the reclaim of precious metals from internally generated or customers scrap. Advanced Material Technologies products are sold directly from its facilities throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. Sales are made to over 3,200 customers. During the year ended December 31, 2011, sales for this segment were 69% of total sales.

Performance Alloys

Performance Alloys manufactures and sells three product famili! es: strip products, bulk products and beryllium hydroxide. Strip products include thin gauge precision strip and thin diameter rod and wire. These copper and nickel alloys are used as connectors, contacts, switches, relays and shielding. Markets for strip products include consumer electronics, telecommunications infrastructure, automotive electronics, appliance and medical. Its bulk products include copper and nickel-based alloys manufactured in plate, rod, bar, tube and other customized forms. Applications for bulk products include oil and gas drilling components, bearings, bushings, welding rods, plastic mold tooling, and undersea telecommunications housing equipment.

The Company�� Bulk products are copper and nickel-based alloys manufactured in plate, rod, bar, tube and other customized forms that, depending upon the application, may provide superior strength, corrosion or wear resistance, thermal conductivity or lubricity. Applications for bulk products include oil and gas drilling components, bearings, bushings, welding rods, plastic mold tooling, and undersea telecommunications housing equipment. The Company�� Beryllium hydroxide is produced at its milling operations in Utah from its bertrandite mine and purchased beryl ore. The hydroxide is used primarily as a raw material input for strip and bulk products, and by the Beryllium and Composites segment. It sells beryllium hydroxide to NGK Insulators, Ltd. Its strip and bulk products are manufactured at facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania and are distributed internationally, through a network of Company-owned service centers and outside distributors and agents. Sales are made to over 1,600 customers. During 2011, sales for this segment were 22% of total sales.

Beryllium and Composites

The Company�� Beryllium and Composites segment manufactures beryllium-based metals and metal matrix composites in rod, sheet, foil and a variety of customized forms at its Elmore, Ohio and Fremont, California facilities. Th! is segmen! t also manufactures beryllia ceramics at its Tucson, Arizona facility. Defense and science is the market for Beryllium and Composites, including industrial components and commercial aerospace, medical, energy and telecommunications infrastructure. Products are also sold for acoustics and optical scanning applications.

The beryllium facility produces primary beryllium. It is a feedstock material used to produce beryllium metal products, which was completed during 2011. Beryllium-containing products are sold worldwide. Electronic components utilizing beryllia are used in the telecommunications infrastructure, medical, industrial components and commercial aerospace, and defense and science markets. These products are distributed through direct sales and independent sales agents. Sales are made to over 300 customers. During 2011, sales for this segment were 4% of total sales.

Technical Materials

Technical Materials include clad inlay and overlay metals, precious and base metal electroplated systems, electron beam welded systems, contour profiled systems and solder-coated metal systems. These specialty strip metal products provide a range of thermal, electrical or mechanical properties from a surface area or particular section of the material. The applications for these products include connectors, contacts and semiconductors, including automotive electronics and consumer electronics markets. Its products are manufactured at its Lincoln, Rhode Island facility and sold directly and through its sales representatives. Sales are made to over 200 customers. During 2011, sales for this segment were 5% of total sales.

The Company competes with Sumitomo Metals, Heraeus Inc., Praxair, Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Solar Applied Materials Technology Corp., Tanaka Holding Co., Ltd., Johnson Matthey plc, International Beryllium Corp., Ningxia Orient Tantalum, LeBronze Industriel, American Beryllia Inc., CBL Ceramics Limited, Heraeus Inc. and AMI Doduco, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Inyoung Hwang]

    The Bloomberg USD Emerging Market Composite Bond Index (BEM), which includes sovereign and corporate debt, declined 4.39 percent in June, capping its second consecutive quarterly loss.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: LTC Properties Inc (LTC)

LTC Properties, Inc., incorporated on May 12, 1992, a health care real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company invests primarily in senior housing and long term care properties through property lease transactions, mortgage loans and other investments. Its primary senior housing and long term healthcare property types include skilled nursing properties (SNF), assisted living properties (ALF), independent living properties (ILF) and combinations thereof. During 2011, it leased a private school property to a non-for-profit corporation providing therapeutic support and intensive home, school and center-based behavioral therapy for children, youth and families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders. The Company, during 2011, acquired a 196-bed skilled nursing property. It purchased a 140-bed skilled nursing property located in Texas during 2011. During December 31, 2011, it acquired a vacant parcel of land in Texas. The Company, on March 26, 2012, acquired a skilled nursing property with 144 licensed beds. In May 2012, the Company acquired a 3.16 acre vacant parcel of land in Colorado. In July 2012, the Company acquired a skilled nursing property with 90 licensed beds. In August 2012, it acquired two skilled nursing facilities with a total of 288 licensed beds. In January 2013, the Company purchased two parcels of land.

As of 2011, it has investments in 12 states that include mortgages to 14 different operators. Skilled nursing facilities provide restorative, rehabilitative and nursing care for people not requiring the more extensive and sophisticated treatment available at acute care hospitals. Many skilled nursing facilities provide ancillary services that include occupational, speech, physical, respiratory and IV therapies, as well as sub-acute care services which are paid either by the patient, the patient's family, private health insurance, or through the federal Medicare or state Medicaid programs.

Assisted living facilities serve elderly persons who require assistance w! ith activities of daily living, but do not require the constant supervision skilled nursing facilities provide. Services are usually available 24 hours a day and include personal supervision and assistance with eating, bathing, grooming and administering medication. The facilities provide a combination of housing, supportive services, personalized assistance and health care designed to respond to individual needs.

Independent living facilities, also known as retirement communities or senior apartments, offer a sense of community and numerous levels of service, such as laundry, housekeeping, dining options/meal plans, exercise and wellness programs, transportation, social, cultural and recreational activities, on-site security and emergency response programs. Many offer on-site conveniences like beauty/barber shops, fitness facilities, game rooms, libraries and activity centers.

One of the properties in the Company�� real estate investment portfolio is a charter school. Charter schools provide an alternative to the traditional public school. Charter schools are autonomous entities authorized by the state or locality to conduct operations independent from the surrounding public school district. Laws vary by state, but generally charters are granted by state boards of education either directly or in conjunction with local school districts or public universities. Operators are granted charters to establish and operate schools based on the goals and objectives set forth in the charter. Upon receipt of a charter, schools receive an annuity from the state for each student enrolled. The other school in the Company�� investment portfolio is a private school and is closed and classified as held-for-sale.

As of 2011, the Company had investments in 25 states leased to 30 different operators. The Company�� owned properties are leased pursuant to non-cancelable operating leases generally with an initial term of 10 to 15 years. Many of the leases contain renewal options and! one cont! ains limited period options that permit the operator to purchase the property. The leases provide for fixed minimum base rent during the initial and renewal periods. The majority of the Company�� leases contain provisions for specified annual increases over the rents.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Eric Volkman]

    LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC  ) is tapping the markets for more capital with an underwritten public stock issue. The firm will offer 3.5 million shares of its common stock for $44.50 per share. Additionally, its underwriters have been granted a 30-day purchase option for up to an additional 525,000 shares to cover overallotments, if any.

  • [By Dividends4Life]

    Memberships and Peers: UHT is, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers��Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT) with a 4.4% yield, Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (HR) with a 5.2% yield and LTC Properties Inc. (LTC) with a 5.4% yield.

  • [By Marc Bastow]

    Healthcare real estate investment trust LTC Properties (LTC) announced a 9.7% increase to its monthly dividend, to 17 cents per share, payable Oct. 31, Nov. 29 and Dec. 31 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 23, Nov. 21, and Dec. 23, respectively.
    LTC Dividend Yield: 5.46%

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Phoenix New Media Ltd (FENG)

Phoenix New Media Limited (PNM), incorporated on November 22, 2007, is a new media company providing content on an integrated platform across Internet, mobile and television (TV) channels in China. PNM enables consumers to access professional news and other content and share user-generated content (UGC), on the Internet and through their mobile devices. The Company also transmits its UGC and in-house produced content to TV viewers primarily through Phoenix TV. Its platform includes its ifeng.com channel, consisting of its ifeng.com Website, its video channel, consisting of its dedicated video vertical and video services and applications, and its mobile channel, including its mobile Internet Website and mobile applications.

PNM offers a variety of paid services across all of its channels, including mobile Internet and value-added services (MIVAS), which includes its digital reading services, mobile game services and wireless value-added services (WVAS), such as messaging-based services (short message service and multi-media messaging services); video value-added services (video VAS), which consists of its online subscription and pay-per-view video services, its mobile subscription and pay-per-view video services, and video content sales, and Internet value-added services (Internet VAS). The Company primarily generates its paid service revenues from its WVAS, digital reading services and mobile video subscription and pay-per-view services by providing content to mobile device users and collecting revenue shares or fixed fees for its content services from the relevant mobile operator. The Company also earns paid service revenues in the form of fixed fees from China Mobile Communications Corporation (China Mobile), for its digital reading services.

Video Channel

The Company�� video channel is consists of its online video vertical at v.ifeng.com; mobile video subscription and pay-per-view services and mobile video application, video content sales business. The Compa! ny offers its video VAS paid services through its video channel, which include its online subscription and pay-per-view services, its mobile subscription and pay-per-view video services and video content sales. The Company�� v.ifeng.com vertical offers four categories of video products and services, namely free online video on demand (VOD), live Phoenix TV broadcasts, subscription online video service and pay-per-view online video service. It organizes and presents video content, supplemented by text, images, user surveys and comment postings on its v.ifeng.com vertical.

The VODs typically consist of short clips of up to five minutes of news programs, interviews, documentaries and other programs. Its VOD content is easily searchable on its Website and is organized into over 10 verticals of v.ifeng.com for easy browsing, including news, finance, culture, sports, history, entertainment, news commentary, military affairs, society, biographies history, entertainment, movies and TV, style, vblog, VIP channel, Phoenix TV, live broadcast, and original videos.It offers live streams of Phoenix TV's flagship channels, the Phoenix Chinese Channel and the Phoenix InfoNews Channel. Its online subscription video service enables users to watch advertisement-free premium content, such as feature-length documentaries and exclusive online Phoenix TV programming.

The Company�� online pay-per-view video service enables users to watch advertisement-free premium videos by purchasing access to particular videos on vip.v.ifeng.com. Like its online subscription videos, its pay-per-view videos include longer videos of up to 20 minutes in length. The Company offers video content through the mobile video platforms of telecom operators, primarily China Mobile and China Telecom. Mobile users who access its videos on China Mobile's platform either by subscription or on a pay-per-view basis pay a fixed fee.

Mobile Channel

The Company�� mobile channel consists of its 3g.ifeng! .com mobi! le Website and its MIVAS. The Company offers MIVAS paid services through its video channel, which include its digital reading services, mobile game services and WVAS. Users can access its mobile content and MIVAS directly from their mobile phones on its mobile Internet Website, 3g.ifeng.com; from a mobile operator's platform; by downloading its applications, and by opening a pre-installed application on their mobile devices. The Company provides and markets its MIVAS through cooperation with mobile operators, as well as various mobile device manufacturers, Internet sites, technology and media companies.

The Company�� 3g.ifeng.com Website is a modified version of its ifeng.com site reformatted for use on mobile devices and tailored to the preferences of its mobile users. 3g.ifeng.com allows its users to access ifeng.com and v.ifeng.com content. Similar to ifeng.com, its 3g.ifeng.com features an array of interest-based and interactive verticals, including news, stocks, micro-blog, user surveys, and digital reading, as well as a mobile video site for watching free mobile VOD.

The Company competes with NetEase.com, Inc., Sina Corporation, Sohu.com Inc., Tencent Technology Limited, Youku Tudou Inc., iqiyi.com, Sohu video, QQ video, PPlive.com, PPS.com, China Network Television, 3G Menhu, A8.com, and Kong Zhong Corporation, Wenxuecity.com, Duowei News and Yahoo!.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Belinda Cao]

    E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (DANG), the nation�� biggest online book retailer, rose 8.5 percent to $11.70, the highest price since Aug. 13. YY Inc. (YY), owner of a social entertainment website, rallied 4.9 percent to $50.47, the highest level since its listing in November. TV and Internet news outlet Phoenix New Media Ltd. (FENG) added 4.5 percent to a two-year high of $12.23.

  • [By Belinda Cao]

    Phoenix New Media Ltd. (FENG), a TV and Internet news outlet, gained 11 percent last week to $11.66 in New York, bringing its surge this year to 220 percent.

  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG  ) reported earnings on May 14. Here are the numbers you need to know.

    The 10-second takeaway
    For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Phoenix New Media beat slightly on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: diaDexus, Inc. (DDXS)

diaDexus, Inc. (diaDexus), incorporated on November 27, 1995, is a medical diagnostics company. The Company is focused on the development and commercialization of in vitro diagnostic products addressing unmet needs in cardiovascular disease. diaDexus�� product, the PLAC Test, helps identify individuals suffering a heart attack or stroke, the #1 and #3 causes of death, respectively in the United States. The PLAC Test measures Lp-PLA2, which is a vascular-specific inflammatory marker implicated in the formation of rupture-prone plaque.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has developed an Lp-PLA2 inhibitor (darapladib) and is testing the drug in two large, global, Phase III clinical trials involving over 27,000 patients to determine if inhibition of the enzyme reduces cardiovascular events. The PLAC Test is a blood test, available nationally through clinical reference, hospital, and advanced cardiovascular diagnostic laboratories.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Peter Graham]

    Small cap medical device or biotech related stocks Therapeutic Solutions International Inc (OTCMKTS: TSOI), diaDexus, Inc (OTCMKTS: DDXS) and Spherix Inc (NASDAQ: SPEX) have been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters with the good news being that it appears none are the subject of paid promotions from stock promoters. So why are these three stocks all of a sudden getting some attention and what else do you need to know about them before you make a short or a long term bet on one? Here is a closer look at the whole picture and what you might be missing:

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Carrols Restaurant Group Inc.(TAST)

Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc., through its subsidiary, Carrols Corporation, owns and operates quick-casual and quick-service restaurants. It operates restaurants under the Burger King, Pollo Tropical, and Taco Cabana names. As of January 1, 2012, the company owned and operated 547 restaurants, including 298 Burger King, 91 Pollo Tropical and 158 Taco Cabana restaurants in 17 states in the United States. It also franchised 36 restaurants in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Honduras, Trinidad, the Bahamas, and Venezuela, as well as in college campuses in Florida. The company was formerly known as Carrols Holdings Corporation and changed its name to Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. in November 2006. Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Syracuse, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Bloomberg Businessweek]

    Alamy McDonald's (MCD) may recently have struggled to lure customers, but it still does far more business at each location than rival burger chains. The average McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. drew $2.6 million in revenue last year. Average sales for No. 2 chain Burger King (BKW): $1.2 million, according to data from its largest franchisee, Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST). What accounts for this more-than-a-million gap? "Everything from marketing and site selection to product initiatives and franchisee selection have been historical factors," said Nick Setyan, vice president in charge of equity research at Wedbush Securities, in an email. Here are four factors that drive higher sales volumes at McDonald's: 1. McDonald's gets more customers during off-peak hours. Look no further than the strength of its breakfast business relative that of Burger King, says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at restaurant consultancy Technomic. Egg McMuffin is part of the fast-food vocabulary in a way Burger King can't match. And beverage and snack offerings such as McCafe and wraps have helped increase McDonald's sales between meals. The dramatic impact from off-peak business explains why chains such as Taco Bell (YUM) are entering the battle for morning customers, while others such as Starbucks (SBUX) are seeking more afternoon and evening business. 2. The power of the Happy Meal. McDonald's has the largest share of kids meal sales in the fast-food industry and gets about 10 percent of total sales from Happy Meals, the most commonly advertised child-oriented fast-food item on television. Burger King, meanwhile, is still trying to win back "parties with kids and seniors and women," said Josh Kobza, Burger King's chief financial officer, at a conference last year. One way to do that: "We got rid of the creepy king character that tended to scare away women and children." 3. McDonald's has an edge on efficiency. Despite recent operational challenges at McDonald's,

  • [By James Brumley]

    Larger restaurant chains can handle the lull. A less liquid small-cap name like Carrols Restaurant Group (TAST), however, feels the pain pretty intensely. That’s why shares are down about 8% this month.

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Otter Tail Corporation(OTTR)

Otter Tail Corporation engages in electric and nonelectric operations in the United States and internationally. It operates in six segments: Electric, Plastics, Manufacturing, Health Services, Food Ingredient Processing, and Other Business Operations. The Electric segment includes the production, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric energy through coal, wind, hydro, natural gas, and oil in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. As of December 31, 2009, it provided electricity to approximately 130,900 customers, including residential, industrial, commercial, and other customers. This segment also operates as a wholesale participant in the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator markets. The Plastics segment involves in producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes. The Manufacturing segment engages in the production of wind towers; contract machining; metal parts stamping and fabrication; production of waterfront equipment; and material and handling tray s, and horticultural containers. The Health Services segment sells diagnostic medical equipment, patient monitoring equipment, and related supplies and accessories. This segment also provides equipment maintenance service and diagnostic imaging services; and involves in the rental of diagnostic medical imaging equipment to various medical institutions. The Food Ingredient Processing segment produces dehydrated potato products. The Other Business Operations segment engages in residential, commercial, and industrial electric contracting; fiber optic and electric distribution systems; water, wastewater, and HVAC systems construction; and transportation and energy services businesses. The company was formerly known as Otter Tail Holding Company and changed its name to Otter Tail Corporation in 2001. Otter Tail Corporation was founded in 1907 and is based in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Dividend]

    Otter Tail (OTTR) has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion. The company employs 2,286 people, generates revenue of $859.24 million and has a net income of $38.97 million. Otter Tail�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $142.22 million. The EBITDA margin is 16.55 percent (the operating margin is 8.02 percent and the net profit margin 4.54 percent).

  • [By Richard Stavros]

    In examining the top two stock sellers and top two stock buyers listed above, we illustrate how these companies are managing their efforts to return cash to shareholders (See Chart C). The chart clearly shows that those firms that were making stock buybacks had better shareholder yields than those that were making stock issuances, namely Otter Tail Corp (NYSE: OTTR) and The AES Corp (NYSE: AES).

  • [By Marc Bastow]

    Electric utility holding company Otter Tail (OTTR) raised its quarterly dividend 1.6% to 30.25 cents per share, payable on Mar. 10 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 14.
    OTTR Dividend Yield: 4.47%

Top 10 High Tech Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Intellicell Biosciences Inc (SVFC)

Intellicell Biosciences, Inc., formerly Media Exchange Group, Inc., incorporated on March 8, 1999, is engaged in regenerative medicine company focused on the expanding regenerative medical markets using a process to separate adult autologous vascular cells (AAVC's) from blood vessels in adult adipose (fat) tissue. The Company is also exploring and undertaking, either on its own or in collaboration with a third party, providing a service for the collection, processing and storage of autologous cells for future use. As of December 31, 2011, the Company has developed technologies that allow reproducible separation of stromal vascular fraction (IntelliCell) containing adipose stem cells that can be performed in tissue processing centers and in doctors��offices. On June 3, 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of Intellicell Biosciences, Inc. The Company formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, ICBS Research, Inc.

The Company's process involves the application of ultrasonic cavitation (sound waves) to the extracted adipose tissue, which results in the separation AAVC's from the blood vessels in adult adipose (fat) tissue. This AAVC, or stromal vascular fraction (IntelliCells), are removed from the patient at the point of care, and separated at the point of care under the supervision of its certified technicians following current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs) and current good tissue practices (cGTPs), and the cells are then returned to the medical professionals at the point of care for use a patient's own body (autologous treatment), by way of a same-day clinical procedure for homologous use of these cells.

Intellicell Biosciences, Inc., formerly Media Exchange Group, Inc., incorporated on March 8, 1999, is engaged in regenerative medicine company focused on the expanding regenerative medical markets using a process to separate adult autologous vascular cells (AAVC's) from blood vessels in adult adipose (fat) tissue. The Company is also exploring and undertaking, either on ! its own or in collaboration with a third party, providing a service for the collection, processing and storage of autologous cells for future use. As of December 31, 2011, the Company has developed technologies that allow reproducible separation of stromal vascular fraction (IntelliCell) containing adipose stem cells that can be performed in tissue processing centers and in doctors��offices. On June 3, 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of Intellicell Biosciences, Inc. The Company formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, ICBS Research, Inc.

The Company's process involves the application of ultrasonic cavitation (sound waves) to the extracted adipose tissue, which results in the separation AAVC's from the blood vessels in adult adipose (fat) tissue. This AAVC, or stromal vascular fraction (IntelliCells), are removed from the patient at the point of care, and separated at the point of care under the supervision of its certified technicians following current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs) and current good tissue practices (cGTPs), and the cells are then returned to the medical professionals at the point of care for use a patient's own body (autologous treatment), by way of a same-day clinical procedure for homologous use of these cells.

The Company competes with Cytori Therapeutics, Stem Cell Assurance, Inc., Osiris, Aastrom Biosciences, Aldagen, BioTime, Baxter International, Celgene, Geron, Harvest Technologies, Mesoblast, Regenexx, NeoStem, X-Cell Center, Stem Cells, Athersys, and Tissue Genesis, Life Technologies, Asterand, pacific biosciences of california inc. and AllCells, LLC.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Bryan Murphy]

    Well, though I give myself a C for timing, it looks like I'm going to be able to give myself an A for stock-picking. Back on January 27th I deemed IntelliCell BioSciences, Inc. (OTCMKTS:SVFC) was a compelling buy, and though SVFC was stagnant for a month after that, it looks like the stock's finally getting on its horse. If you didn't get it then, you may want to get in now.

  • [By Bryan Murphy]

    To say that shares of IntelliCell BioSciences, Inc. (OTCMKTS:SVFC) has been disappointing since 2011 would be an understatement. SVFC has been an outright disaster since 2011, falling from a peak of $19.00 to a low of, well, just a few pennies as of late last year. In fact, there are those who are understandably wondering how the company is still alive, only producing about a half a million dollars in revenue in 2012, and then dialing that figure back down to nothing for the last few quarters. Yet, there's just something about a company that refuses to go away.... something compelling now.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Best Restaurant Stocks To Own Right Now

Best Restaurant Stocks To Own Right Now: Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Inc (BAGL)

Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. (ENRGI), incorporated on October 21, 1992, is an owner/operator, franchisor and licensor of bagel specialty restaurants in the United States. ENRGI operates under the Einstein Bros. Bagels (Einstein Bros.), Noahs New York Bagels (Noahs) and Manhattan Bagel Company (Manhattan Bagel) brands. ENRGI operates in three business segments: the Company-owned restaurants segment, the manufacturing and commissary segment, and the franchise and license segment. The Company-owned restaurants segment includes the restaurants that it owns. The manufacturing and commissary segment produces and distributes bagel dough and other products to its Company-owned restaurants, licensees and franchisees and other third parties. The franchise and license segment earns royalties and other fees from the use of trademarks and operating systems developed for the Einstein Bros., Noahs and Manhattan Bagel brands.

During the fiscal year ended Jan uary 1, 2013 (fiscal 2012), ENRGI acquired eight restaurants and opened an additional 15 Company-owned restaurants. It closed one Company-owned restaurant during fiscal 2012. On January 31, 2012, the Company sold a Company-owned restaurant. As of January 1, 2013, it had 816 restaurants in 39 states and in the District of Columbia. In January 2013, the Company opened an Einstein Bros. franchise in Montana. Its product offerings include fresh-baked bagels and other bakery items baked onsite, ma de-to-order breakfast and lunch sandwiches on a range of bagels, breads or wraps, gourmet soups and salads, assorted pastries, premium coffees and an assortment of snacks. Its manufacturing and independent distribution network delivers ingredients that are delivered fresh to its restaurants.

Company-owned restaurants

Einstein Bros. offers a menu that provides food for breakfast and lunch, including fresh-baked bagels and hot breakfast! sandwiches, freshly prepa red lunch sandwiches, cream cheese and other spreads, specialty coffees and teas, soups, salads and other menu offerings. Noahs is a neighborhood-based bakery/deli restaurant that serves fresh-baked bagels, hot breakfast sandwiches, made-to-order deli-style sandwiches, cream cheese and other spreads, specialty coffees and teas, soups, salads and other menu offerings. Manhattan Bagel provides a traditional New York style boil and baked bagel. Manhattan Bagel also serves a range of grilled sandwiches, freshly made deli sandwiches, freshly prepared breakfast sandwiches, soups, and a range of other fresh-baked sweets. Similar to Einstein Bros. and Noahs, Manhattan Bagel also features a line of fresh brewed coffees and specialty coffee/espresso beverages. During fiscal 2012, ENRGI generated approximately 90% of its total revenue from restaurant sales at its Company-owned restaurants.

Manufacturing and Commissaries

ENRGI operates a bagel dough manuf acturing facility in Whittier, California and has contracts with two suppliers to produce bagel dough and sweets to the specifications. These facilities provide frozen dough, partially-baked frozen bagels and fully baked sweets for its Company-owned restaurants, franchisees and licensees. These operations provide the restaurants with food products, such as sliced meats, cheeses, and/or certain salad ingredients. It has recipes and production processes for the bagel dough, cream cheese and coffee. Frozen, or partially baked and frozen, bagel dough is shipped to all of its Company-owned, franchised and licensed restaurants where the dough is then baked onsite. Its purchases other ingredients used in the restaurants, such as meat, lettuce, tomatoes and condiments, from a select group of third party suppliers.

Franchise and Licensing

ENRGI offers Einstein Bros. franchises to qualified area developers. As of January 1, 2013, the Company was registered t o offer Einstein Bros. franchises ! in 49 sta! tes and the District of Columbia. It also has a franchise base in the Manhattan Bagel brand. Its licensees are located primarily in colleges and universities, hospitals, airports and military bases. As of February 25, 2013, it had 28 development agreements in place for 136 total restaurants, 34 of which have already opened. During fiscal 2012, it opened 13 franchised locations and 27 licensed locations. During fiscal 2012, approximately 3% of its total revenue was generated by the Companys franchise and license operations.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By MARKETWATCH]

    SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Wall Street hedge-fund investor David Einhorn was active in the last quarter of 2013, taking new stakes in technology and energy companies, while trimming existing holdings in insurer Aetna (AET) , NCR Corp (NCR) and WPX Energy (WPX) , according to an SEC filing Friday. Einhorn's Greenlight Capital picked up stakes in Anadarko Petroleum (APC) , BP (BP) , McDermott Intl. (MDR) , Micron Technolgy (MU) and Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) , according to the latest 13F filing. He trimmed stakes in Aetna, Einstein Noah (BAGL) and WPX Energy, according to the filing.

  • [By Peter Graham]

    The Q1 2014 Potbelly Corp (NASDAQ: PBPB) earnings report is scheduled for after the market closes on Tuesday, May 6th, with investors and traders alike who follow either the sandwich restaurant chain stock (which debuted last October and is ! down some! 44% for retail investors)or who are into potential small cap peers like Cosi Inc (NASDAQ: COSI), Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc (NASDAQ: BAGL) and Panera Bread Co (NASDAQ: PNRA) should be paying attention. Aside from the Potbelly Corp earnings report, it should be said that the Q1 2014 Panera Bread Co earnings report was last Tuesday while theQ1 2014 Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc earnings report came last Thursday and the the Q1 2014 Cosi Incearnings report is likely scheduled for Monday, May 12. However, Potbelly Corp has attracted a bit of attention for its potential growth trajectory as well as itsvision to be the Neighborhood Sandwich Shop.

  • source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/best-restaurant-stocks-to-own-right-now-2.html

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Hot European Companies To Buy For 2015

European stocks have done well in 2013. The Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF and iShares Europe ETF may still be good bets.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Stocks are surging in the United States this year. Japan has done even better.

But if you're looking for the next big opportunity, Europe could very well be the best place to invest right now. The long recession in Europe may finally be over. And that could lead to stronger profits from European-based companies.

So what's the safest way to try and ride a European rebound?

Investing through a mutual fund: Many funds from big money managers have a fair amount of European exposure.

Take the widely held Fidelity Worldwide Fund (FWWFX), which has 30% of its assets invested in Europe. Holdings include Swiss bank UBS (UBS), German automaker Volkswagen (VLKAY) and French food and consumer products giant Danone (DANOY).

Top Diversified Bank Companies To Buy For 2016: Telefonica SA(TEF)

Telefonica, S.A. provides fixed and mobile telephony services primarily in Spain, rest of Europe, and Latin America. Its fixed telecommunication services include PSTN lines; ISDN accesses; public telephone; local, domestic, and international long distance and fixed-to-mobile communications; corporate communications; video telephony; supplementary and business-oriented value-added services; network services; leasing and sale of handset equipment; and telephony information services. The company?s Internet and broadband multimedia services comprise Internet service provider service; portal and network services; retail and wholesale broadband access; narrowband switched access to Internet; naked ADSL, a broadband connection; residential-oriented value-added services; companies-oriented value-added services; television services, such as IPTV, cable television, and satellite television; and Fiber to the Home, a service for high speed Internet access and digital video recording. Its data and business-solutions services principally include leased lines; virtual private network services; fiber optics services; the provision of hosting and application; outsourcing and consultancy services; desktop services; and system integration and professional services. The company?s wholesale services for telecommunication operators primarily comprise domestic interconnection services; international wholesale services; leased lines for other operators? network deployment; local loop leasing under the unbundled local loop regulation framework; and bit stream services. It also offers various mobile and related services and products that include mobile voice services, value added services, mobile data and Internet services, wholesale services, corporate services, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services. The company has a strategic alliance with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. Telefonica, S.A. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spai n.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]

    Telefonica provides fixed and mobile communication services primarily in Europe and Latin America. The company reported earnings that fell; however, the company is beginning to see a turnaround. The stock has been surging higher after hitting lows last year and is currently trading near highs for the year. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been mixed while revenues have been decreasing, but investors remain optimistic about the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Telefonica has been a relative performance leader year-to-date. Look for Telefonica to OUTPERFORM.

Hot European Companies To Buy For 2015: Aegon NV(AEG)

AEGON N.V. provides life insurance, pensions, and asset management products and services worldwide. The company?s life insurance products include traditional, term, universal, whole, and other life insurance products sold as part of defined benefit pension plans, endowment policies, post-retirement annuity products, and group risk products; supplemental health insurance products comprise accidental death, other injury, critical illness, hospital indemnity, medicare supplement, and student health; specialty lines consists of travel, membership, and creditor products; and long term care insurance products for policyholders who require care due to a chronic illness or cognitive impairment. It also offers a range of savings and retirement products and services, including mutual funds, and fixed and variable annuities, savings accounts and investment contracts, segregated funds, guaranteed investment accounts, and single premium immediate annuities, as well as investment advice to individuals. In addition, the company offers employer solutions and pensions, such as retirement plans, pension plans, and pension-related products and services; investment products, including onshore and offshore bonds, and trusts; reinsurance products and solutions to life insurance and financial services companies; general insurance products comprising house, car, and fire insurance; and asset management products and services, including general account assets, unit-linked funds, and third party activities. AEGON N.V. markets its products through independent and career agents, financial planners, registered representatives, independent marketing organizations, banks, broker-dealers, benefit consulting firms, wirehouses, affinity groups, institutional partners, independent managing general agencies, and specialized financial advisors, as well as through online, direct, and worksite marketing. The company was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherl ands.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Will Ashworth]

    Assuming it delivers on its outlook for 2014, its current free cash flow yield is a very enticing 20%. This isn�� a growth stock, but its brands still possess hidden value. As cheap stocks go, it�� very attractive.

    Cheap Stocks to Buy: Aegon (AEG)

    It�� not often that you can buy a $19 billion market cap for under 10 bucks. Aegon�� a Dutch insurance company that�� had a rough ride over the past few years, and its stock�� suffered as a result. In the late ’90s AEG stock traded around $60 — it hasn�� been anywhere close since. However, it�� got some good assets that should bear fruit in the years to come. Aegon has 12,000 employees in the Americas doing business primarily under the Transamerica brand, which has been a part of AEG since 1999.

Hot European Companies To Buy For 2015: TotalFinaElf S.A.(TOT)

TOTAL S.A., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated oil and gas company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemicals. The Upstream segment engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas. It also involves in the transportation, trade, and marketing of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as in LNG re-gasification and natural gas storage operations. In addition, this segment engages in the shipping and trade of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG); power generation from gas-fired power plants, nuclear, or renewable energies; production, trade, and marketing of coal, as well as in solar power systems and technology operations. As of December 31, 2010, it had combined proved reserves of 10,695 Mboe of oil and gas. The Downstream segment involves in refining, marketing, trading, and shipping crude oil and petroleum products. It also produces a range of specialty products, s uch as lubricants, LPG, jet fuel, special fluids, bitumen, marine fuels, and petrochemical feedstock. This segment holds interests in 24 refineries located in Europe, the United States, the French West Indies, Africa, and China, as well as operates a network of 17,490 service stations. The Chemicals segment produces base chemicals, including petrochemicals and fertilizers, as well as engages in rubber processing, resins, adhesives, and electroplating activities. TOTAL S.A. was founded in 1924 and is based in Paris, France.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Arjun Sreekumar]

    Given current oil prices, that means several projects are barely profitable, leading some oil sands operators to reconsider new ventures. For instance, Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU  ) , one of the largest oil sands producers by output, has been mulling over the profitability of three mining-related ventures jointly proposed with French oil major Total (NYSE: TOT  ) .

Hot European Companies To Buy For 2015: Fresenius Medical Care Corporation (FMS)

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, a dialysis company, provides products and services for patients with chronic kidney diseases. As of May 12, 2011, it provided dialysis care services to 216,942 patients through its network of 2,769 dialysis clinics primarily in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and Africa. The company also develops and manufactures various dialysis products, including hemodialysis machines, dialyzers, hemofilters, dialysis fluid filters, tubing systems, fistula needles, dialysis related equipment, acute hemodialysis machines, plasma filters, acute tubing systems and cassettes, catheters, and related disposable products for chronic hemodialysis, acute therapy, home therapy, and therapeutic apheresis, as well as dialysis drugs. In addition, it provides laboratory services. Fresenius Medical sells its products through distributors. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Johanna Bennett]

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid decided today to cut government payment to dialysis clinics. So why did share prices for DaVita HealthCare Partners (DVA) and rival Fresenius Medical Care (FMS) rise so steeply today?

  • [By John Udovich]

    Small cap dialysis stock Rockwell Medical Inc (NASDAQ: RMTI) looks set to decline when the market opens after Brean Capital initiated coverage with a sell rating and a price target of $4.00, meaning it might be time to take a closer look at what is going on with the stock along with�the performance of large cap dialysis stocks DaVita Healthcare Partners (NYSE: DVA)�and Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS) along with small cap dialysis stocks NxStage Medical, Inc (NASDAQ: NXTM).�

  • [By Johanna Bennett]

    Dialysis provider DaVita Healthcare Partners (DVA) soared almost 8.9% to close at $61.55 after the market learned that Medicare funding cuts would come in lower than expected. Rival Fresenius Medical Care (FMS) rose 7.2% on the same news.

Hot European Companies To Buy For 2015: BP p.l.c.(BP)

BP p.l.c. provides fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services, and petrochemicals products. Its Exploration and Production segment engages in the oil and natural gas exploration, field development, and production; midstream transportation, and storage and processing; and marketing and trading of natural gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and power and natural gas liquids (NGL). This segment has exploration and production activities in Angola, Azerbaijan, Canada, Egypt, Norway, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as in Asia, Australasia, South America, North Africa, and the Middle East. This segment also owns and manages crude oil and natural gas pipelines; processing facilities and export terminals; and LNG processing and transportation, as well as NGL extraction facilities. BP p.l.c. has interests in the Trans-Alaska pipeline system, the Forties pipeline system, the Central Area transmission sys tem pipeline, the South Caucasus Pipeline, and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, as well as in LNG plants located in Trinidad, Indonesia, and Australia. The company?s Refining and Marketing segment involves in the supply and trading, refining, manufacturing, marketing, and transportation of crude oil, petroleum, and petrochemicals products and related services to wholesale and retail customers primarily under the BP, Castrol, ARCO, and Aral brands. Its Other Businesses and Corporate segment produces and markets rolled aluminum products, as well as generates energy through wind, solar, biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage sources; and engages in shipping activities. The company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Roland Head]

    LONDON -- BP� (LSE: BP  ) (NYSE: BP  ) issued decent first-quarter results earlier this week, but its shareholders are probably more interested in whether the eventual outcome of the firm's Clean Water Act trial in New Orleans could threaten its attractive 5.1% dividend yield.

  • [By David Smith]

    Looking at Plains, he noted that the company is "... focused in large part in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where they recently acquired some strategic and very attractive assets from BP (NYSE: BP  ) ... what this will do is add assets that are generating cash which will allow the oil and gas business to fund its capital expenditures and give our company and expanded growth profile with the benefits of having our geographical profile enhanced by more business in the United States."

  • [By Dan Caplinger]

    In Halliburton's earnings report, watch for management to comment on the status of the now-ended initial phase of the Gulf oil spill trial. The amount of potential liability for BP (NYSE: BP  ) , Transocean, and Halliburton still hangs over the companies, and while a full resolution will likely take years, any positive signs toward a final settlement for Halliburton could set the stage for a new wave of optimism.

  • [By Arjun Sreekumar]

    Chevron is Angola LNG's biggest shareholder, commanding a 36.4% stake, followed by Sonangol, which has a 22.8% interest in the project. BP (NYSE: BP  ) , Total (NYSE: TOT  ) , and Italy's Eni account for the balance, each holding 13.6%.

Hot European Companies To Buy For 2015: British American Tobacco Industries p.l.c.(BTI)

British American Tobacco p.l.c., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of tobacco products. The company offers cigars, cigarettes, smokeless snus, roll-your-own, and pipe tobacco products under the Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Rothmans, Peter Stuyvesant, Benson & Hedges, and State Express 555 brand names. It has operations in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, eastern and western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. British American Tobacco p.l.c. operates independently of Remgro Ltd. as of November 03, 2008.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By G. A. Chester]

    British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS  ) (NYSEMKT: BTI  ) , Tesco (LSE: TSCO  ) (NASDAQOTH: TSCDY  ) , and Severn Trent (LSE: SVT  ) fit the bill, and the table below gives the low-down on them.

  • [By Roland Head]

    Today, I'm going to take a look at cigarette giant�British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS  ) (NYSEMKT: BTI  ) �to see how attractive it looks on these two measures.

Hot European Companies To Buy For 2015: Aercap Holdings N.V. (AER)

AerCap Holdings N.V., through its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated aviation company worldwide. It engages in leasing and trading aircraft and engines; and selling parts. The company also provides aircraft management services, as well as aircraft and limited engine MRO services, and aircraft disassembly services through its repair stations. In addition, it offers aircraft services, including remarketing aircraft; collecting rental and maintenance payments, monitoring aircraft maintenance, monitoring and enforcing contract compliance, and accepting delivery and redelivery of aircraft; conducting ongoing lessee financial performance reviews; inspecting the leased aircraft; coordinating technical modifications to aircraft to meet new lessee requirements; conducting restructurings negotiations in connection with lease defaults; repossessing aircraft; arranging and monitoring insurance coverage; registering and de-registering aircraft; arranging for aircraft and aircraft engine valuations; and providing market research. The company?s management services include leasing and remarketing, cash management and treasury, technical advisory, and accounting and administrative services. As of March 31, 2011, it owned 272 aircraft and 95 engines, which it leased under operating leases to 118 lessees in 53 countries. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Schiphol, the Netherlands.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    AerCap (AER) provides aircraft leasing and aviation finance services. This stock closed up 3.3% at $18 in Wednesday's trading session.

    Wednesday's Volume: 740,000

    Three-Month Average Volume: 318,589

    Volume % Change: 85%

    From a technical perspective, AER jumped higher here right above its 50-day moving average of $17.27 with above-average volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last five months, with shares moving higher from its low of $14.84 to its recent high of $18.16. During that uptrend, shares of AER have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of AER within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade. That trade will hit if AER manages to take out its 52-week high at $18.16 with high volume.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in AER as long as it's trending above its 50-day at $17.27 or above more near-term support at $17.17 and then once it sustains a move or close above its 52-week high at $18.16 with volume that's near or above 318,589 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then AER will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $20 to $23.

  • [By Jayson Derrick]

    Analysts at Barclays maintained an Equal-weight rating on Aercap Holdings (NYSE: AER) with a price target raised to $53 from a previous $24. Shares lost 1.32 percent, closing at $47.06.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Finally. Finally American International Group (AIG) has disposed of its ILFC unit by selling it to AerCap Holdings (AER).

    Bloomberg News

    The Wall Street Journal has the details on the deal:

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Danger Zone: Callidus Software (CALD)

Top 5 Gold Stocks To Watch Right Now

Related CALD Benzinga's Top Initiations UPDATE: Credit Suisse Initiates Coverage on Callidus Software

 


Check out this week’s Danger Zone Interview with Chuck Jaffe of Money Life and MarketWatch.com.


Cloud software provider Callidus (NASDAQ: CALD) is in the Danger Zone this week. We’ve recently highlighted two other Software as a Service (SaaS) companies in Netsuite (NYSE: N) andSalesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), and CALD is a classic story of a bad company riding the coattail of the popularity of cloud computing and SaaS companies. SaaS stocks surged in 2013, and CALD followed the trend, gaining 166% over the past year.


Compared to its competitors, CALD has less scale, inferior profitability metrics, and fishy accounting to boot. The  stock’s valuation is so high that our DCF model can hardly make sense of it. The stock seems to be trading largely on the hopes of an acquisition.


Poor Profitability


CALD has never earned a profit, nor has it ever even come close. 2008 was its best year, when it earned over $100 million in revenue and had profit (NOPAT) margins of -11%. In terms of return on invested capital (ROIC), CALD’s best year was 2011, when it was -25%. In its most profitable year of operation, CALD lost 25 cents for every dollar invested.


CALD looks bad on a cash flow basis as well. The company has had negative free cash flow in five out of the past six years, and it has burned through roughly $75 million in the past two years. CALD has reported positive cash flows in 2013, but that’s due to the $17.5 million in deferred revenue at year-end, a fourfold increase from the year before.


CALD started 2013 with $67 million in adjusted total debt. It managed to reduce that debt by $31 million in 2013 by issuing another 4 million shares, further diluting its stock. The fact that CALD had to resort to issuing further shares to pay back its debt should concern investors. The positive cash flow from deferred revenues is only a short-term patch on what appears to be a very leaky business.


Fishy Accounting


CALD employs multiple accounting tricks to give the illusion of profitability.


Like many unprofitable companies, CALD likes to highlight its “non-GAAP” results, which exclude items like stock-based compensation, restructuring expense, and other non-cash or non-recurring expenses. While I am in support of using non-GAAP measures to analyze profitability (our NOPAT metric makes several adjustments to GAAP net income) investors should be very wary of non-GAAP measures provided by companies. Typically, when companies make up their own profit metrics, they tend to find ways to boost profitability.


CALD uses two main techniques to boost its “non-GAAP” earnings. The first, stock-based compensation, is a widespread practice, especially in the tech industry. While GAAP rules changed to require companies to include stock-based compensation expense in 2005, many companies like CALD continue to exclude stock-based compensation in non-GAAP results. Excluding stock-based compensation expense allowed CALD to boost non-GAAP income by $13.7 million (14% of revenue) in 2012 and $10.4 million (9% of revenue) in 2013. All these outstanding employee stock options constitute a $25 million (6% of market cap) liability for CALD.


The other, more unusual technique CALD employs involves restructuring expense. CALD has incurred restructuring expenses in each of the past seven years with an average expense of $1.6 million a year. According to its filings, CALD has been undergoing restructuring for more than half of its life as a publicly traded company. This typically ‘unusual’ charge for CALD has become usual. Perhaps, they like classifying expenses as “restructuring” because they exclude those costs from their “non-GAAP” income metric.


The surge in CALD’s stock price last year came in part from its return to “non-GAAP” profitability in 2013. CALD reported a “non-GAAP” profit of $1.8 million, most of which is made up of the $1.7 million in restructuring expenses that the “non-GAAP” metric excludes. CALD might classify these expenses as “non-recurring”, but their history suggests otherwise.


Competitive Position


While we’ve compared CALD’s profitability to CRM and N, it actually has set itself up to avoid direct competition with those firms as much as possible. Its Learning, Hiring, Marketing, and Selling clouds aim to fill in the gaps between the enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management solutions marketed by larger companies.


Unfortunately for CALD, it’s not the only company filing those gaps. Numerous small companies compete with CALD as does Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). In fact, ORCL is making a big push into the cloud software space and it seems to view CALD as a less formidable adversary than CRM or N.


Obviously, ORCL has a massive scale advantage over CALD. ORCL spent almost $5 billion on research and development in 2013 while CALD spent just $17 million. Of course ORCL is not spending its entire R&D budget on cloud products, but there’s no question it can outspend CALD by a huge amount.


We’re seeing a growing level of commoditization in the software industry, and CALD looks like a prime candidate to fall victim to this trend. As more firms try to occupy its niche, CALD will struggle to differentiate its product, and it should have real trouble competing with a firm like ORCL on price.


Valuation in the Clouds


CALD pulled back over 20% at the end of last week due to lower guidance, but it remains significantly overvalued. If we assume CALD can achieve profitability next year and reach 20% pre-tax margins by 2019 (same level as IBM), it would still have togrow revenue by 8% compounded annually for 25 years to justify its valuation of ~$11.50/share.


Both the margin assumptions and the revenue growth horizon seem overly optimistic to me. CALD faces too much competition going forward to assume 20% margins, while 25 years is too long of a growth appreciation period for a company in a rapidly changing industry like cloud software.


Figure 1 shows how CALD’s stock price and profitability have reached an unprecedented level of divergence recently.


Figure 1: Stock Price vs Economic Book Value (Zero Growth Value)


CALD_PEBV


Sources:   New Constructs, LLC and company filings


Despite the 20% drop, CALD is still near its all-time high, while economic book value is near its all time low. There has never been a worse time to buy.


Insider Selling Signals a Top


The recent decline is not just a blip for CALD, it’s the start of a long-term downtrend. A look at the insider trading activity for CALD bears out this thesis. Over the past six months, insiders have sold over 200 thousand shares, about 12% of their holdings. Such a large amount of selling does not signal strong confidence in the company’s future.


Shorting a high momentum stock is always a dangerous proposition, but the recent reversal of momentum makes CALD an appealing short candidate. Any further slowdown in revenue growth or profitability, or success from competitors like ORCL, could send the stock tanking.


The only possibility for price appreciation at this point seems to be an acquisition. Rumors have been spreading that CALD could be an acquisition target, but no offers have been made as of yet. I don’t see any company wanting to give CALD much of a premium to its current valuation, but acquisitions are not always rational, so I can’t rule out the possibility. Still, the downside risk in this stock is much greater than the slim chance of a lucrative buyout.


CALD is a great example of the sector trap. When a high growth industry, like cloud computing, catches the market’s eye, the flood of investors sends all stocks higher, even those like CALD that can’t justify their valuations. Look for an even bigger drop in the future as the market value adjusts back to the reality of CALD’s fundamentals.


Sam McBride contributed to this report.


Disclosure: David Trainer and Sam McBride receive no compensation to write about any specific stock, sector, or theme.

The following article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

Posted-In: Short Ideas Markets Trading Ideas

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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Top 10 Financial Companies To Own In Right Now

Top 10 Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Arch Capital Group Ltd.(ACGL)

Arch Capital Group Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. It operates in two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Insurance segment offers casualty; construction; executive assurance; healthcare; collateral protection, debt cancellation, and service contract reimbursement products; national accounts casualty; professional liability; programs; property, energy, marine, and aviation; surety; and travel and accident insurance products. It also provides other insurance products, such as excess workers compensation and employers' liability insurance coverages for qualified self-insured groups, associations, and trusts; captive insurance programs; and accident, disability, and medical plan insurance coverages for employer groups, medical plan members, students, and other participant groups. This segment markets its products through a network of licensed independent retail and wholesale brokers. The Reinsurance segment rei nsures third party liability and worker?s compensation exposures; individual property risks that include personal lines and commercial property exposures; other specialty lines, including surety, accident and health, workers' compensation catastrophe, multi-peril crop, trade credit, and political risk; catastrophic perils, such as hurricane, earthquake, flood, tornado, hail, and fire; marine business, which includes coverage for hull, cargo, and transit and offshore oil and gas operations, as well as aviation business that comprises coverage for airline and general aviation risks; and non-traditional business to provide insurers with risk management solutions. This segment markets its reinsurance products through brokers, as well as directly with the ceding companies. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    For the past several years, Berkshire has contrasted its own cost-free float provided by profitable underwriting against the industry's (unimpressive) tendency to lose money on underwriting while generating net returns from investment income. So far, so good. Less edifying, though, is the repeated contrast of Berkshire's track record of profitability to State Farm's…even though, as a mutual company, State Farm's profitability goals are inherently different from for-profit insurers like Berkshire. It's true that through year-end 2013, Berkshire's underwriters have "now operated at an underwriting profit for eleven consecutive years," but so have ACE (ACE), American Financial (AFG),  AmTrust Financial (AFSI), Arch Capital (ACGL), Chubb (CB), HCC (HCC), Progressive (PGR), RLI (RLI), and W.R. Berkley (WRB), any or all of whom provide a more meaningful comparison than contrasting Berkshire's results to a company that's not out to produce a profit in t he first place.

  • [By Holly LaFon]

    Arch Capital (ACGL)'s Dinos Iordanu recently described to our analysts how he met me in 2001. Before we invested in his business, we asked him all sorts of personal questions about how he came to America from Cyprus; whether or not his wife had a job; and how big was his house? He told our analysts that "Ron was trying to get a sense of me. He wanted to understand how I viewed risk. No one else asked us such questions. They were the right questions since you were investing in our business, which was assuming underwriting risk on your behalf. "We got it right with Dinos and have about quadrupled our money in the past twelve years, not exactly the most propitious time to invest in stocks! Of course, there can be no assurance that future investments will be as profitable…although you can be assured that we will continue to work hard to try to achieve similar results.

  • source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-financial-companies-to-own-in-right-now-2.html

Top Chemical Companies To Buy Right Now

Top Chemical Companies To Buy Right Now: LyondellBasell Industries NV(LYB)

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. manufacturers and sells chemicals and polymers, refines crude oil, produces gasoline blending components, and develops and licenses technologies for production of polymers. The company?s Olefins and Polyolefins segment offers olefins, including ethylene, propylene, and butadiene; aromatics, such as benzene and toluene; polyolefins, which comprise polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and linear low-density polyethylene; specialty polyolefins, including catalloy process resins, PP compounds, and polybutene-1 resins; and ethylene derivatives, which comprise ethanol. Its Intermediates and Derivatives segment provides propylene oxide (PO); PO co-products, including styrene monomers and TBA derivative isobutylene; PO derivatives, such as propylene glycol, propylene glycol ethers, and butanediol; acetyls, such as methanol, acetic acid, and vinyl acetate monomers; ethylene derivatives, which comprise ethylene oxide , ethylene glycol, and ethylene glycol ethers; and flavor and fragrance chemicals. The company?s Refining and Oxyfuels segment offers gasoline and components, ultra low sulfur diesel, jet fuel, and lube oils; diesel, feedstock, fuel oil, gasoline, and bitumen; and gasoline blending components, including methyl tertiary butyl ether, ethyl tertiary butyl ether, and alkylate. Its Technology segment develops and licenses polyolefin and other process technologies. This segment also develops, manufactures, and sells polyolefin catalysts, as well as provides technology services, which comprise safety reviews, training and start-up assistance, engineering services for process and product improvements, and manufacturing troubleshooting. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. has operations in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is a subsidiary of Proc! hemie GmbH.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Garrett Cook]

    Basic materials shares gained 0.10 percent in trading on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included DRDGOLD (NYSE: DRD), up 8.2 percent, and LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE: LYB), up 4.79 percent.

  • source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-chemical-companies-to-buy-right-now-2.html

Monday, May 25, 2015

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2015

On this day in economic and business history...

Thomas J. Watson, Sr. became president of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company on May 1, 1914 -- you know it today as International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM  ) , and it's thanks in no small part to Watson's enduring legacy that you know it at all. In 1914, the future IBM was a disjointed, sprawling enterprise that its founders were having difficulty controlling. Watson streamlined the company, giving it a focus, a motto, and a corporate identity that persists to this day.

To understand Watson's importance to the fledgling IBM, one need only see the facts presented in the obituary that ran in The New York Times on the day of his death on June 20, 1956:

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was a small organization when he took over with fewer than 400 employees. Its products were a punch-card tabulator, which had been invented in time for use in the 1890 census; time clocks and other business machines. In February, 1924, the company was merged with the International Business Machines Corporation and assumed its name. ...

Top 5 New Stocks To Buy Right Now: Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.(NBIX)

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of neurological and endocrine-related diseases and disorders in the United States. It develops drugs for endometriosis, stress-related disorders, pain, tardive dyskinesia, uterine fibroids, diabetes, insomnia, and other neurological and endocrine-related diseases and disorders. The company?s products in clinical development include Elagolix, a Phase II drug for endometriosis; Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2 Inhibitor (VMAT2), a Phase II drug for movement disorders; CRF2 Peptide Agonist, a Phase II drug for cardiovascular diseases; CRF1 Antagonist, a Phase II drug for stress-related disorders; and Elagolix, a Phase II drug for uterine fibroids. Its research programs comprise G Protein-Coupled Receptor 119 (GPR119) for type II diabetes; VMAT2 for schizophrenia; GnRH Antagonists for men?s and women?s health, and oncology; Antiepileptic Drugs for epilepsy, essential tremor, and pain; and G Protein-Coupled Receptors for other conditions. The company has collaborations with GlaxoSmithKline to develop and commercialize CRF antagonists for psychiatric, neurological, and gastrointestinal diseases; Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. to develop and commercialize Indiplon in Japan; Abbott International Luxembourg S.�r.l. to develop and commercialize elagolix and GnRH antagonists for women?s and men?s health indications; and Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule GPR119 agonists for the treatment of type II diabetes and other indications. Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    Yes, say the folks at Nomura, who recommend buying�Celgene (CELG), Receptos
    (RCPT), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX), and Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN), in that order. Analyst M. Ian Somaiya and team explain why:

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2015: Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (ABDNY)

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC is a global asset management company investing across the four main asset classes of equity, fixed income, property and alternative investment strategies. The Company operates in 23 countries. It has reorganized the Aberdeen Private Equity Fund, which is its private equity investment vehicle. The Company�� business is the management of financial assets for third parties. Its key clients include national and corporate pension funds, central banks and other investment institutions. It is a property asset manager in Europe and manages assets in Europe, Asia and North America. Effective February 20, 2014, Aberdeen Asset Management PLC acquired The Capitol Shopping Centre. In May 2014, the Company acquired Scottish Widows Investment Partnership's Infrastructure fund management business. Also completed acquisition of Scottish Widows Partnership Group Ltd and its related private equity and infrastructure fund management businesses from Lloyds Banking Group plc. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Udovich]

    The poorly conceived Scottish Independence vote has failed���something that could be good news for Scottish stocks like Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (NYSE: RBS), Aberdeen Asset Management (OTCMKTS: ABDNY) and SSE PLC (OTCMKTS: SSEZY) that have well traded ADRs on US exchanges. To begin with, its worth mentioning the work done by Paul Marsh of London Business School and Scott Evans of Walbrook Economics where they identified 100 purely Scottish stocks currently listed in London and compared this with a parallel ��est of the UK��index over the last 60 years. They found that 拢1 invested in the Scotsie 100 in 1955 would have grown to 拢648 today (with dividends reinvested), a 5.7% increase in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. However, 拢1 invested in the rest of the UK would have grown to 拢1,168, a 6.8% increase.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2015: Basilea Pharmaceutica AG (BSLN)

Basilea Pharmaceutica AG is a Switzerland-based company engaged in the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. The Company focuses on pharmaceutical products in the therapeutic areas of bacterial infections, fungal infections and oncology. The Company has a range of drugs to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections, systemic fungal infections and drug-resistant tumors. The Company�� anti-infectives, including isavuconazole and ceftobiprole are in late-stage clinical development, while the novel antibiotic, BAL30072 and the oncology compound, BAL101553 are in clinical phase I. The Company�� subsidiaries include Basilea Pharmaceutica China Ltd., Basilea Pharmaceuticals A/S, Basilea Pharma SAS, Basilea Pharmaceutica Deutschland GmbH, Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd., BPh Investitionen Ltd., Basilea Medical Ltd. and Basilea Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Corinne Gretler]

    Basilea Pharmaceutica AG (BSLN) increased 2.1 percent to 107.10 francs. The Swiss drug developer said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted orphan-drug designation to its isavuconazole for the treatment of zygomycosis, a life-threatening fungal infection.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2015: eBay Inc.(EBAY)

eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Steven Russolillo]

    Online retailers such as Amazon.com, eBay(EBAY) and Overstock.com are likely to draw attention as well on Friday, with ��yber Monday��right around the corner.

  • [By Anna Prior]

    Ebay Inc.(EBAY) and Sotheby's sa(BID)id they are building an online platform that will enable users to view and acquire art, antiques and collectibles online, as first reported by the New York Times (NYT). The partnership comes as more collectors are buying high-end items online and from mobile devices.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2015: Want Want China Holdings Ltd (WWNTF)

Want Want China Holdings Limited is an investment holding company. The principal activities of the Company and its subsidiaries are the manufacturing, distribution and sale of rice crackers, dairy products and beverages, snack foods and other products. The Company segments include manufacturing and sale of Rice crackers, including sugar coated crackers, savoury crackers and fried crackers; dairy products and beverages, including flavored milk, yogurt drinks, ready-to-drink coffee, juice drinks, carbonated drinks, herbal tea and milk powder; snack foods, including candies, popsicles and jellies, ball cakes and beans and nuts, and other products, mainly including wine and other food products. Its operations are located in the People�� Republic of China, with the rest located in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. As of December 31, 2011, its subsidiaries included Want Want Holdings Ltd., Long Wave Foods Limited, Want-Want Foods Limited and others. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By WWW.MARKETWATCH.COM]

    HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong stocks swung between small gains and losses early Thursday after hitting a seven-month high in the previous session, with the Hang Seng Index (HK:HSI) down less than 0.1%. Most mainland Chinese property developers outperformed the markets, with Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. (HK:2777) (GZUHF) rallying 3.4%, after the company reported a 44% month-on-month jump in sales for June. Shimao Property Holdings Ltd. (HK:0813) (SIOPF) climbed 2.6%, and China Resources Land Ltd. (HK:1109) (CRBJF) rose 1.7%. However, several retailers were weak, as Want Want China Holdings Ltd. (HK:0151) (WWNTF) , the country's top food and beverage maker, declined 2%. Hong Kong-based cosmetics brand Sa Sa International Holdings (HK:0178) (SAXJF) fell 1.6%, with a decline in Chinese June non-manufacturing data helping weigh on some retailers. Over on the Chinese mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index (CN:SHCOMP) retreated 0.4%, pulling back from its highest close in two weeks.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2015: Cyren Ltd (CYRN)

Cyren Ltd, formerly Commtouch Software Ltd., incorporated on February 10, 1991, is a provider of messaging, antivirus and Web security solutions to a range of customers and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and service provider distribution partners. The Company�� messaging solutions include anti-spam, Outbound Spam Protection for service providers, Zero-Hour virus outbreak protection and GlobalView Mail Reputation services, as well as Command Antivirus and GlobalView URL Filtering services. It offers its solutions to network and security vendors offering content security gateways, unified threat management solutions (UTM), network routers and appliances, anti-virus solutions and to service providers, such as software-as-a-service vendors, Web hosting providers and Internet service providers. On October 1, 2012, it purchased FRISK Software International's antivirus business. On November 16, 2012, the Company acquired eleven GmbH.

Its messaging security offerings includes its Recurrent Pattern Detection (RPD) technology, which analyzes messages associated with mass e-mail outbreaks and directs the blocking of such e-mails, without the need to analyze individual messages. The Company�� Web security solutions includes its in the cloud infrastructure, which analyzes various feeds from worldwide sources, as well as data from its RPD pertaining to uniform resource locator (URL), and provides a classification of the URLs based on a set of categories. At the core of its Command Antivirus solutions is the Company�� detection and remediation technology and engine design based on a combination of heuristics, emulation and several types of signatures, as well as an in the cloud infrastructure. In February 2011, the Company announced the availability of all three of its service offerings, messaging, antivirus and Web security, in one, unified Software Development Kit (SDK). The unified SDK can be integrated into the products of security and networking vendors on an OEM basis, as well as into! service providers��infrastructure. The three service offerings, messaging, antivirus and Web security are available also in non-unified, individual SDKs for its OEM and service provider customers.

The Company offers an enterprise anti-spam and Zero-Hour virus outbreak detection solution, which allows the reseller�� customer to download an Enterprise Gateway, enabling the subject to its services to be provided in real time by the Company�� Detection Center. Through the Enterprise Gateway, messages are filtered at the customer organization�� entry point, before being distributed to recipients, with added user-level controls and a spam and virus detection services from the Detection Center, allowing for real-time reaction to worldwide attacks. Command Anti-Malware service (CSAM), offers anti-malware protection for consumers and small businesses, as well as enterprises.

The Company competes with Symantec, TrendMicro, Intel, Cisco, Cloudmark, Mailshell, Vade Retro, McAfee, Sophos, Kaspersky, Webroot, Symantec Corp, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, WebSense and Secure Computing.

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

    If you don't have Cyren Ltd (NASDAQ:CYRN), Globalstar, Inc. (NYSEMKT:GSAT), or Ossen Innovation Co Ltd (NASDAQ:OSN) on your radar, put them on there quick. All three stocks are knocking on the door of bigger (read "trade-worthy") moves at a point in time where big moves are rare... not to mention a period on the calendar that slightly favors small cap stocks. To then end, here's a closer look at why GSAT, CYRN, and OSN may be better than average bets here.

Best Dow Dividend Stocks To Own For 2015: Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA (ML)

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA (Michelin SCA) is a France-based company, which is mainly engaged in the manufacture and distribution of tires for a variety of vehicles. In addition, it publishes maps and guides, and offers digital products and services. The Company�� main activity is the production of tires for passenger cars, two-wheeled vehicles, trucks, agricultural equipment and aircraft, among others, which are sold through such distribution divisions as Euromaster in Europe and TCI in the United States. Michelin SCA also offers travel assistance services, including maps and guides, and digital navigation products and services, via ViaMichelin. In addition, the Company produces a number of lifestyle products, such as car and bike accessories, work, sport and leisure gear, and collectibles. The Company is active domestically and abroad. Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Corinne Gretler]

    Michelin & Cie. (ML) increased 2 percent to 70.55 euros after UBS raised Europe�� largest tiremaker to buy from neutral, citing improved cost positions that enable more competitive pricing and higher profits.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Top Mid Cap Companies For 2015

If you are a ski enthusiast hitting the slopes this winter, you might want to check out ski stocks�like mid cap Vail Resorts, Inc (NYSE: MTN) and small caps Peak Resorts Inc (NASDAQ: SKIS) and Intrawest Resorts Holdings Inc (NYSE: SNOW) which own or operate ski resorts. However, two of these ski stocks are recent IPOs with small cap Peak Resorts Inc having an IPO about a month ago while Intrawest Resorts Holdings debuted at the end of January. With that in mind, here is what you need to know as an investor before you hit the slopes with these ski stocks:

Vail Resorts, Inc. A leading mountain resort operator in the United States, mid cap Vail Resorts, Inc�� subsidiaries operate the mountain resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Park City and Canyons in Utah; Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In addition, Vail Resorts, Inc�� subsidiary RockResorts is�a luxury resort hotel company that�manages casually elegant properties while�Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning, development and construction subsidiary of the company. Earlier this month, Vail Resorts, Inc reported earnings with the CEO making this important observation about the ski resort business:

"Our first fiscal quarter is historically a loss quarter since our mountain resorts are not open for winter ski operations.� The quarter is driven primarily by our summer mountain activities, dining, retail, and lodging operations, and administrative expenses for our year-round employees.� Our Resort Reported EBITDA loss for the quarter was consistent with our expectations, reflecting strong operating results and the addition of Park City, which operated at a loss for the quarter.� Mountain segment net revenue in the quarter increased 5.3% to $60.4 million, compared to the prior year, driven by an increase in our summer activities revenue of 31.2% compared to the prior year, along with strong pre-ski season retail results.� Our Lodging segment net revenue (excluding payroll cost reimbursements) increased $1.5 million, or 2.7%, driven primarily by a strong finish to the summer season at the Grand Teton Lodge Company."

Hot Dividend Stocks To Watch Right Now: Amedica Corp (AMDA)

Amedica Corporation (Amedica), incorporate on December 10, 1996, is a commercial biomaterial company focused on using its silicon nitride technology platform to develop, manufacture and sell a broad range of medical devices. The Company market spinal fusion products and are developing products for use in total hip and knee joint replacements. The Company markets its Valeo family of silicon nitride interbody spinal fusion devices in the United States and Europe for use in the cervical and thoracolumbar areas of the spine. In addition to its silicon nitride-based spinal fusion products, it markets a complementary line of non-silicon nitride spinal fusion products which allows us to provide surgeons and hospitals with a broader range of products. These products include three lines of spinal fusion devices and five types of orthobiologics, which are used by surgeons to help promote bone growth and fusion in spinal fusion procedures.

The Company�� non-silicon nitride products have accounted for approximately 70% or more of its product revenues for the years ended December 31, 2013. The Company�� also incorporating its silicon nitride technology into components for use in total hip and knee replacement product. Biomaterials are synthetic or natural biocompatible materials that are used in virtually every medical specialty to improve or preserve body functionality.

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

    Stocks as a whole haven't gotten the new year off on the best foot, but that's not to say every equity out there is in trouble. Indeed, some small cap stocks may actually be doing well - and poised to do well for a while - specifically because larger companies are seeing their stocks struggle. To that end, traders looking for a bullish bright spot to start the new year may want to take a closer look at Amedica Corporation (NASDAQ:AMDA), Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THLD), and Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTCMKTS:AEMD).

Top Mid Cap Companies For 2015: Athersys Inc.(ATHX)

Athersys, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery and development of therapeutic products in various disease areas in the United States. Its clinical development programs are focused on treating cardiovascular disease, neurological conditions, inflammatory and immune disorders, and other conditions. Its product pipeline includes MultiStem, a novel allogeneic approach to stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine for treating a range of diseases. The company is also involved in the development of novel small molecule compounds for applications in indications, such as obesity and other areas, including the treatment of neurological conditions, and for the modulation of stem cells or related applications in the regenerative medicine area. It has product co-development collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to develop and commercialize MultiStem to treat inflammatory bowel disease for the worldwide market; Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop and commerciali ze MultiStem to treat certain cardiovascular diseases, such as acute myocardial infarction; and RTI Biologics, Inc. to develop and commercialize biologic implants for certain orthopedic applications in the bone graft substitutes market. The company was founded in 1995 and is based in Cleveland, Ohio.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Roberto Pedone]

     

    Another under-$10 biotechnology player that's starting to trend within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Athersys (ATHX), which focuses on the research and development activities in the field of regenerative medicine. This stock has been destroyed by the bears over the last six months, with shares off sharply by 62%.

    If you look at the chart for Athersys, you'll see that this stock has been downtrending badly for the last two months and change, with shares moving lower from its high of $1.99 to its recent low of $1.31 a share. During that downtrend, shares of ATHX have been making mostly lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, shares of ATHX are now starting to bounce off some near-term support at $1.31 and it's now starting to trend within range of triggering a big breakout trade above some near-term overhead resistance levels.

    Market players should now look for long-biased trades in ATHX if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $1.40 to $1.49 a share and then back above its 50-day moving average of $1.52 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 384,325 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then ATHX will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $1.70 to $1.78 a share, or even $1.99 a share.

    Traders can look to buy ATHX off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support at $1.31 a share. One can also buy ATHX off strength once it starts to bust above those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

    Read More: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks

  • [By GuruFocus]

    George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) just reported his first quarter portfolio. He buys Citrix Systems Inc, Baker Hughes Inc, Comcast Corp, Spansion Inc, etc during the 3-months ended 03/31/2014, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Soros Fund Management LLC. As of 03/31/2014, Soros Fund Management LLC owns 305 stocks with a total value of $10.1 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells.New Purchases: BHI, CODE, CTRP, CLI, AVB, COMM, CNQ, AGO, AUY, ATML, ASH, BXMT, CSTM, AEM, CMA, ARE, CHKP, AUQ, BEAV, CX, ADSK, AALCP, BLK, AIG, BIIB, ADEP, AMRI, ARWR, ATHX, BALT, BCRX, BEAT, CFX, CLFD, CUR, CODE,Added Positions: CTXS, CMCSA, CNP, ALTR, BRCD, CBS, CRM, CHTR, CCJ, CIEN, BIDU, ALLE, ABT, CDNS, ACT,Reduced Positions: AAPL, CCI, AMT, ABBV, AAL, BITA, AL, ANGI, ARIA, CBST, BA, BIRT, EXAR,Sold Out: C, BAC, CRI, AMZN, AGN, CF, BRCM, COTY, BMY, AMCX, CAR, A, ADBE, AFL,For the details of George Soros (Trades, Portfolio)'s stock buys and sells, go to http://www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=George+SorosThis is the sector weightings of his portfolio:Technology18.9%Energy14%Healthcare8.3%Consumer Defensive8.2%Communication Services8.1%Consumer Cyclical5.4%Industrials5.1%Basic Materials4.9%Financial Services2.5%Real Estate1.9%Utilities0.5%These are the top 5 holdings of George Soros (Trades, Portfolio)1. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA) - 10,310,041 shares, 5.4% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 10.67%2. Herbalife Ltd (HLF) - 4,901,337 shares, 2.8% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 52.9%3. EQT Corp (EQT) - 2,573,814 shares, 2.5% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 3.27%4. Adecoagro SA (AGRO) - 25,915,076 shares, 2.1% of the total portfolio.5. Halliburton Co (HAL) - 3,596,353 shares, 2.1% of the total portfolio. Shares reduced by 20.73%New Purchase: Baker Hughes Inc (BHI)George Soros (Trades, Portfolio) initiated holdings in Baker Hughes Inc. His purchase prices were between $51.82 and $65.27, with an estimated

Top Mid Cap Companies For 2015: NV Energy Inc(NVE)

NV Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electric energy in Nevada. The company generates electricity from its gas, oil, and coal generating units. As of December 31, 2010, the company served approximately 830,000 electric customers primarily in Las Vegas, north Las Vegas, and Henderson and adjoining areas, including Nellis Air Force Base and the Department of Energy?s Nevada Test Site in Nye County. It also provides electricity in western, central, and northeastern Nevada comprising the cities of Reno, Sparks, Carson City, and Elko. In addition, the company distributes gas to approximately 151,000 customers in an area of approximately 800 square miles in Nevada?s Reno/Sparks area. It offers its services to residential and commercial customers, as well as to industries, including gaming/recreation, mining, warehousing/manufacturing, and other governmental entities. The company, formerly known as Sierra Pacific Resources, was founde d in 1906 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Steve Symington]

    Powering the city that never sleeps
    Sure enough, it seems Buffett's elephant gun has found its mark in the form of Nevada-based NV Energy (NYSE: NVE  ) , the electric utility company which most notably keeps the lights on in Las Vegas, but has also served Nevada customers for over 100 years in a nearly 46,000-square-mile service territory from Elko to Laughlin.

Top Mid Cap Companies For 2015: Textainer Group Holdings Limited(TGH)

Textainer Group Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, engages in the purchase, ownership, management, leasing, and resale of a fleet of marine cargo containers worldwide. The company leases dry freight containers, as well as special-purpose containers to shipping lines, freight forwarding companies, and the United States military; manages a fleet of containers for and on behalf of the owners; and buys and resells used containers. It operates a fleet of approximately 1.6 million containers. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Textainer Group Holdings Limited is a subsidiary of Halco Holdings Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Hogue]

    There is one particular shipping company of which investors are being especially fearful, to the point of hating it. I'm talking about Textainer Group Holdings (NYSE: TGH), a container leasing company with 2.6 million 20-foot equivalent containers, the largest fleet among its peers.

  • [By Selena Maranjian]

    Textainer (NYSE: TGH  ) is in the business of leasing big containers for use in intermodal shipping. The shipping business can be expected to pick up as the global economy gets back on its feet. Textainer has recently been expanding into the leasing of tanks, as well. The company offers not only an appealing dividend yield of 4.9%, but it also has been raising that payout significantly, more than doubling it over the past five years. Its payout ratio is below 50%, too, suggesting plenty of room for further growth. Textainer's stock seems reasonably or attractively priced, too, with its forward P/E ratio of 8.0 below its five-year average of 8.5. Bears don't like its rising debt or negative free cash flow, though (which is partly a result of beefing up its supply of containers), but there's still a lot to like about it.

  • [By Ong Kang Wei]

    Another example of such a company is Textainer Group Holdings (TGH). Besides having a great container leasing service that is needed by shipping companies, like Digital Realty, it is the undisputed leader in its industry. Being the largest of its kind in the world, the company has a significant economies of scale benefit. This means that Textainer will get the lion's share of the profits, which is proven by the company's outsized profit margin of 42.10%.

Top Mid Cap Companies For 2015: Chart Industries Inc (GTLS)

Chart Industries, Inc., incorporated on June 25, 1992, is an independent global manufacturer of engineered equipment used in the production, storage and end-use of hydrocarbon and industrial gases. The Company supplies engineered equipment used throughout the global liquid gas supply chain. It operates in three segments: energy and chemicals (E&C), distribution and storage or (D&S), and biomedical. The E&C and D&S segments manufacture products used primarily in energy-related and general industrial applications, such as the separation, liquefaction, distribution and storage of hydrocarbon and industrial gases. Through its BioMedical segment, it supplies cryogenic and other equipment used in the storage and distribution of biological materials and oxygen, used primarily in the medical, biological research and animal breeding industries.

The Company�� products, including vacuum insulated containment vessels, heat exchangers, cold boxes and other cryogenic components, are used throughout the liquid gas supply chain for the purification, liquefaction, distribution, storage and end-use of hydrocarbon and industrial gases. It is a manufacturer of standard and engineered equipment primarily used for low-temperature and cryogenic applications. The Company�� primary customers are multinational producers and distributors of hydrocarbon and industrial gases and their suppliers. The Company sells its products and services to more than 2,000 customers worldwide.

Energy and Chemicals Segment

The Company is a designer and manufacturer of cryogenic brazed aluminum and air cooled heat exchangers. The Company�� brazed aluminum heat exchangers are incorporated into assemblies and cold boxes to facilitate the progressive cooling and liquefaction of air or hydrocarbon mixtures for the subsequent recovery or purification of component gases. In hydrocarbon processing industries, its brazed aluminum heat exchangers allow producers to obtain purified hydrocarbon by-products, such ! as methane, ethane, propane and ethylene, which are commercially marketable for various industrial or residential uses. In the industrial gas market, its brazed aluminum heat exchangers are used to produce high purity atmospheric gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, which have diverse industrial applications. The Company�� air cooled heat exchangers are used in multiple markets to cool fluids to allow for further processing or to provide condensing of fluids, including hydrocarbon, petrochemical, natural gas processing, and power generation. Its compact Core-in-Kettle heat exchangers are designed to replace shell-and-tube exchangers, offering significantly more heat transfer surface per unit volume and improving the efficiency of chillers, vaporizers, reboilers and condensers in hydrocarbon applications including ethylene, propylene and LNG.

The Company is a designer and fabricator of cold boxes. Cold boxes are engineered systems used to reduce the temperature of gas mixtures to the point where component gases liquefy and can be separated and purified for further use in multiple industrial, scientific and commercial applications. In the hydrocarbon processing industry, its cold box systems are used in natural gas processing and in the petrochemical industry. In the industrial gas industry, cold box systems are used to separate air into its atmospheric components, including nitrogen, oxygen and argon, where the gases are used in a diverse range of applications, such as metal production and heat treating, enhanced oil and gas production, coal gasification, chemical and oil refining, the quick-freezing of food, wastewater treatment and industrial welding. The construction of a cold box system generally consists of one or more brazed aluminum heat exchangers and other equipment packaged in a box consisting of a structural metal frame encasing a complex system of piping, valves and instrumentation.

The Company designs and manufactures of engineered hydrocarbon process syst! ems speci! fically for those markets requiring cryogenic processing technology. These Concept-to-Reality process systems incorporate many of Chart�� core products, including brazed aluminum heat exchangers, Core-in-Kettles, cold boxes, vessels, pipe work and air cooled heat exchangers. These systems are used for global LNG projects, including projects in the United States and China for both domestic LNG production for diesel displacement and in the conversion of LNG import terminals to export terminals, and also for use in global nitrogen rejection units (NRU) and propane dehydrogenation (PDH).

Distribution and Storage Segment

The Company is a supplier of cryogenic equipment to the global bulk and packaged industrial gas industry as well as for energy-related applications. Its products span the entire spectrum of industrial gas demand from small customers requiring cryogenic packaged gases to large users requiring custom engineered cryogenic storage systems. Its products in the D&S segment include Cryogenic Bulk Storage Systems, Cryogenic Packaged Gas Systems, Cryogenic Systems and Components, LNG Applications, Beverage Liquid CO2 Systems, and Cryogenic Services. The Company is a supplier of cryogenic bulk storage systems (stationary tanks, trailers, and ISO tanks) of various sizes ranging from 500 gallons to 250,000 gallons. End use customers for its cryogenic storage equipment include industrial gas producers and distributors, chemical producers, manufacturers of electrical components, health care organizations, food processors and businesses in the oil and natural gas industries.

The Company is supplier of cryogenic packaged gas systems of various sizes ranging from 160 liters to 3,000 liters. Cryogenic liquid cylinders are used extensively in the packaged gas industry to allow smaller quantities of liquid to be easily delivered to the customers of industrial gas distributors on a full-for-empty or fill-on-site basis. Principal customers for its liquid cylinders are th! e same gl! obal industrial gas producers and the North American industrial gas distributors who purchase its cryogenic bulk storage systems. It has developed two technologies in the packaged gas product area: ORCA Micro-Bulk systems and Tri-fecta Laser Gas assist systems. ORCA Micro-Bulk systems bring the ease of use and distribution economics of bulk gas supply to customers formerly supplied by high pressure or cryogenic liquid cylinders. The Tri-fecta Laser Gas assist system was developed to meet the assist gas performance requirements for new high powered lasers being used in the metal fabrication industry. The Company�� line of cryogenic components, including VIP, engineered bulk gas installations, specialty liquid nitrogen (LN2), end-use equipment and cryogenic flow meters are recognized in the market for their reliability, quality and performance. These products are sold to industrial gas producers, as well as to a diverse group of distributors, resellers and end users.

The Company supplies cryogenic solutions for the storage, distribution, vaporization, and application of LNG. LNG may be utilized as a primary source of heat or power at industrial or residential complexes located away from a natural gas pipeline. LNG may also be used for peak shaving or as a backup supply at remote locations. It refers to its LNG distribution products as a Virtual Pipeline as the natural gas pipeline is replaced with cryogenic distribution to deliver the gas to the end user. It supplies cryogenic trailers, bulk storage tanks, tap-off facilities, and vaporization equipment specially configured for LNG into Virtual Pipeline applications. LNG may also be used as a fuel to power vehicles or ships. The Beverage Liquid CO2 Systems product line consists primarily of vacuum insulated, bulk liquid CO2 containers used for beverage carbonation in restaurants, convenience stores and cinemas, in sizes ranging from 100 pounds to 750 pounds of liquid CO2 storage. It also manufactures and market non-insulated, bulk fountain ! syrup con! tainers for side-by-side installation with its CO2 systems. Its beverage systems are sold to national restaurant chains, soft drink companies and CO2 distributors. Its primary competitors for bulk liquid CO2 beverage delivery systems are Taylor-Wharton and other producers of high-pressure gaseous CO2 cylinders. The Company operates locations in the United States and Europe providing installation, service, repair and maintenance of cryogenic products, including storage tanks, liquid cylinders, cryogenic trailers, cryogenic railcars, cryogenic pumps, cryogenic flow meters and VIP.

BioMedical Segment

The Company�� BioMedical segment consists of various product lines built around its core competencies in cryogenics and pressure swing adsorption, but with a focus on the respiratory and biological users of the liquids and gases instead of the large producers and distributors of cryogenic liquids. Its products in the BioMedical segment include Respiratory Products, Cold Storage Systems, and Commercial Oxygen Generation Systems. Its respiratory oxygen product line consists of a range of medical respiratory products, including liquid oxygen systems and ambulatory oxygen systems, both of which are used primarily for the in-home supplemental oxygen treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as bronchitis, emphysema and asthma.

The Cold Storage Systems product line consists of vacuum insulated containment vessels for the storage of biological materials. The primary applications for this product line include medical laboratories, biotech/pharmaceutical, research facilities, blood and tissue banks, veterinary laboratories, large-scale repositories and artificial insemination, particularly in the beef and dairy industry.

The Company competes with Linde, Sumitomo, Kobe, Fives, Linde, Air Products, Praxair, Air Liquide, Taylor-Wharton International or Taylor-Wharton and CVA/INOX, Taylor-Wharton and Beijing Tenhai Industrial Cylinders, Acme Cr! yogenics,! Vacuum Barrier Corporation, and Ind-Burma Petroleum Company.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Seth Jayson]

    Chart Industries (Nasdaq: GTLS  ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on April 25. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

    The 10-second takeaway
    Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Chart Industries's revenues will increase 32.2% and EPS will increase 39.6%.

Top Mid Cap Companies For 2015: Hologic Inc.(HOLX)

Hologic Inc. develops, manufactures, and supplies diagnostic, medical imaging systems, and surgical products for the healthcare needs of women. The company operates in four segments: Breast Health, Diagnostics, GYN Surgical, and Skeletal Health. The Breast Health segment offers breast imaging products, such as Selenia full field digital mammography system, breast tomosynthesis, healthcome mammography products, screen-film mammography systems, SecurView workstation, CAD systems, stereotactic breast biopsy systems, breast biopsy products, breast brachytherapy products, MammoPad breast cushions, and photoconductor coatings, as well as Sentinelle medical MRI breast coils and workstations. This segment also develops a breast imaging platform, Dimensions, which utilizes a tomosynthesis technology to produce 3D images. The Diagnostics segment provides ThinPrep system, a solution for cervical cancer screening; rapid fetal fibronectin test for pre-term birth risk assessment; and hu man papillomavirus offering and InVitro diagnostics for cervical cancer tests. The GYN Surgical segment offers NovaSure system, a minimally-invasive procedure that allows physicians to treat women suffering from excessive menstrual bleeding; MyoSure system for the hysteroscopic removal of fibroids; and Adiana system, a form of permanent female contraception intended as an alternative to tubal ligation. The Skeletal Health segment provides QDR X-Ray bone densitometers that assess the bone density of fracture sites; Sahara clinical bone sonometers, which assess the bone density of heels; and Mini C-Arm imaging systems that are used to perform minimally invasive surgical procedures on a patient?s extremities. Hologic Inc. sells its products through a combination of direct sales and service forces, a network of independent distributors, and sales representatives primarily in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Myra Ramdenbourg]

    Hologic Inc (HOLX): Executive VP and CFO Glenn Muir sold 196,000 Shares

    On May 6, Executive VP and CFO Glenn P Muir sold 196,000 shares at an average price of $23.29. The price of the stock has increased by 4.77% since. Hologic Inc has a market cap of $6.74 billion and its shares were traded at around $24.40. The company has a P/S ratio of 2.67.

  • [By John Udovich]

    Yesterday, mid cap women�� health stock Hologic, Inc (NASDAQ: HOLX) fell more than 10% after disappointing Wall Street on earnings,�meaning it might be time to take a look at it and�small cap women�� health stocks�The Female Health Company (NASDAQ: FHCO) and TherapeuticsMD Inc (NYSEMKT: TXMD) because after all, women account for half the population and these three small caps are all focused on the women�� health:

  • [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

    Hologic (NASDAQ: HOLX) shares tumbled 14.49 percent to $19.58 after the company issued downbeat outlook for fiscal 2014. Canaccord Genuity downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.