Q: Are social stocks vulnerable to privacy fears?
A: Is 2014 the year investors realize how valuable their personal information is to giant Internet companies?
The year kicked off looking that way when Facebook was sued by a few users for allegedly intercepting and collecting personal data to share with advertisers. Meanwhile, there are continued revelations of about how the National Security Agency is mining personal communications.
Consumers are slowly becoming aware that many of the "free" online services aren't really free. In exchange for the services, the giant companies behind them are scanning personal message and e-mails to gather lucrative information to advertisers. There's also a rising realization that e-mails and other communication aren't private. Facebook isn't the only company at risk. Google may have started the trend by scanning for keywords in personal emails sent using Gmail to sell to advertisers.
Hot Construction Companies For 2015: Franklin Covey Company (FC)
Franklin Covey Co. provides training and consulting solutions to address leadership, execution, productivity, trust, customer loyalty, sales performance, and education problems worldwide. The company also offers clients with training in management skills, relationship skills, and individual effectiveness, as well as personal-effectiveness literature and electronic educational solutions. In addition, it sells a suite of individual-effectiveness and leadership-development training products; and books, e-books, audio media, downloadable and paper-based tools, content-rich software applications for smart phones and other handheld devices, training accessories, and other related products. The company delivers its products and services through onsite presentations, facilitators, international licensees, e-learning, public workshops, custom solutions, intellectual property licenses, and media publishing methods to organizational clients, including corporations, governmental agenc ies, educational institutions, and other organizations, as well as individual clients. Franklin Covey Co. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Franklin Covey (NYSE: FC ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
10 Best Services Stocks To Invest In 2014: Alliance One International Inc (AOI)
Alliance One International, Inc., incorporated on October 19, 1994, is a leaf tobacco merchant. The Company is engaged in purchasing, processing, packing, storing and shipping tobacco to manufacturers of cigarettes and other consumer tobacco products globally. The Company deals primarily in flue-cured, burley, and oriental tobaccos that is used in international brand cigarettes. The Company�� revenues are primarily comprised of sales of processed tobacco and fees charged for processing and related services to these manufacturers of tobacco products. The Company does not manufacture cigarettes or other consumer tobacco products.
Tobacco is primarily purchased directly from suppliers with small quantities still sold at auction. In non-auction markets, the Company purchases tobacco directly from suppliers and the Company assumes the risk of matching the quantities and grades required by its customers to the entire crop it must purchase under contract. The Company purchases tobacco in more than 35 countries. During the year ended March 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013), approximately 30% of the Company�� purchases of tobacco were from the South America operating segment, approximately 5% were from the Value Added Services operating segment and approximately 65% from the Other Regions operating segment.
The Company processes tobacco to meet each customer's specifications as to quality, yield, chemistry, particle size, moisture content and other characteristics. Unprocessed tobacco is a semi-perishable commodity that generally must be processed within a relatively short period of time to prevent fermentation or deterioration in quality. The Company processes tobacco in more than 35 owned and third-party facilities around the world including Argentina, Brazil, China, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Guatemala, India, Tanzania, the United States, Malawi, Thailand, Germany, Indonesia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey. These facilities encompass all export locations of flue-cured, burley and oriental tobaccos! . In addition, the Company has entered into contracts, joint ventures and other arrangements for the purchase of tobacco grown in substantially all other countries that produce export-quality flue-cured and burley tobacco. The Company also sells a small amount of processed but unthreshed flue-cured and burley tobacco in loose-leaf and bundle form to certain customers. In 2013, Alliance One delivered approximately 41% of its tobacco sales to customers in Europe and approximately 19% to customers in the United States. In 2013, these Belgium sales accounted for 20% of sales to customers in Europe. The Company ships tobacco to manufacturers of cigarettes and other consumer tobacco products located in approximately 90 countries around the world as designated by these manufacturers.
The Company competes with Japan Tobacco, Inc. (JTI), Philip Morris International, Inc. (PMI), and Imperial Tobacco Group PLC.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sally Jones] ng>Predictability: 1 out of 5 Stars
Down 12% over 12 months, Alliance One International Inc. has a market cap of $251.53 million; its shares were traded at around $2.86, which is 2.4% above its 52-week low. The P/E ratio is 65.10, and the P/B ratio is 0.80.
Alliance One is a tobacco leaf supplier serving the world's largest cigarette manufacturers. The company purchases, processes, packs, stores and ships tobacco to manufacturers of cigarettes and other consumer tobacco products throughout the world. Alliance One deals mainly in tobacco types used in international brand cigarettes. As a tobacco leaf merchant, Alliance One purchases tobacco grown in over 45 countries and serves cigarette manufacturers in over 90 countries.
The company reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, with a net loss of $36.9 million, down further from a net loss in the same quarter last year of 30.7 million. The net loss translates to $(0.42) per basic share for the reporting quarter.
Historical share pricing, revenue and net income:
[ Enlarge Image ]
Guru Action: As of June 30, 2013, Seth Klarman holds 7,669,969 shares, valued at $29.14 million, and weighting his portfolio at 0.72%. In the second quarter, he sold 461,625 shares at an average price of $3.74 for a loss of 23.5%.
In six quarters of double-digit losses, Klarman has averaged a loss of 31% on 5,800,000 shares bought at an average price of $4.17 per share. He has averaged a loss of 38% on 1,798,473 shares sold at an average price of $4.59 per share.
Seth Klarman is one of six gurus holding AOI as of June 30, 2013, and there is recent insider trading.
Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC)
Predictability: 1 out of 5 Stars
Down 54% over 12 months, Kinross Gold Corporation has a market cap of $5.32 billion; its shares were traded at around $4.66, 2.8% above its 52-week low. The P/B ratio is 0.80. The dividend yield is 3.44%.
Kinross Gold Corporati
10 Best Services Stocks To Invest In 2014: Cooper Companies Inc (COO)
The Cooper Companies, Inc., incorporated on March 4, 1980, is a global medical device company. The Company operates through two business units, CooperVision, Inc. and CooperSurgical, Inc. CooperVision is a global manufacturer providing products for contact lens wearers. CooperSurgical focuses on supplying women's health clinicians with products and treatment options to improve the delivery of healthcare to women.
CooperVision develops, manufactures and markets a range of monthly, two-week and single-use contact lenses, featuring advanced materials and optics. CooperVision's products are designed to solve vision challenges such as astigmatism, presbyopia and ocular dryness with a collection of spherical, toric and multifocal contact lenses. CooperVision's products are primarily manufactured at its facilities located in Hampshire, United Kingdom, Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, and Scottsville, New York. CooperVision distributes products from West Henrietta, New York, Fareham, United Kingdom, Liege, Belgium, and various smaller international distribution facilities. Under the Biofinity brand, CooperVision has launched monthly silicone hydrogel spherical, toric and multifocal lens products. CooperVision has also launched two-week silicone hydrogel spherical and toric lens products under its Avaira brand. During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2013 (fiscal 2013), the Company launched MyDay, its single-use spherical silicone hydrogel lens, in Europe. CooperVision's Proclear line of spherical, toric and multifocal lenses are manufactured with omafilcon, a material that incorporates Phosphorylcholine (PC) Technology that helps enhance tissue-device compatibility.
CooperSurgical offers an array of products used in the care and treatment of women's health. The Company participates in the women's healthcare market through offering quality products, technologies and service to clinicians worldwide. CooperSurgical collaborates with clinicians to identify products and new technologies from dis! posable products to instruments and equipment. The result is a portfolio of products that aid in the delivery of improved clinical outcomes that healthcare professionals use routinely in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide spectrum of women's health issues.
The Company competes with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., CIBA Vision, Bausch & Lomb Incorporated, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon Endo-Surgery and Ethicon Women's Health and Urology companies, Gyrus ACMI and Covidien.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Johanna Bennett]
Copper Cos (COO) shrank 6.5% to $125 after fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and the company�� full-year 2014 financial forecasts fell below expectations. For the period ended Oct. 31, Cooper earned $57.4 million, or $1.15 a share, down from $71.9 million, or $1.46 a share, in the prior-year period. Excluding impacts from a divestiture, adjusted earnings were $1.48, up from $1.47. Revenue gained 3.9% to $411.9 million. Excluding currency impacts, the growth was 7%. �For the new fiscal year, Cooper said it expects per-share earnings of $6.70 to $7 and revenue of $1.675 billion to $1.735 billion Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting $7 a share in profit and $1.71 billion in revenue.
10 Best Services Stocks To Invest In 2014: WageWorks Inc (WAGE)
WageWorks, Inc., incorporated on January 28, 2000, is an on-demand provider of tax-advantaged programs for consumer-directed health, commuter and other employee spending account benefits (CDBs), in the United States. The Company administers and operates a broad array of CDBs, including spending account management programs such as health and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), and commuter benefits, such as transit and parking programs. The Company delivers its CDB programs through a scalable delivery model that employer clients and their employee participants may access through a standard Web browser on any Internet-enabled device, including computers, smart phones and other mobile devices such as tablet computers. In January 2013, the Company acquired Benefit Concepts, Inc.
The Company focuses on providing CDB programs to employer clients of any size. It provides marketing programs that are designed to maxmize employee participation in its employer clients��CDB offerings. The Company markets and sells its CDB programs through multiple channels, including direct sales to enterprises, direct sales and through brokers to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and direct sales to industry purchasing and affiliate groups and through channel partners.
Its SMB distribution channel complements its enterprise sales channel and consists of third party advisors, including insurance agents and benefits consultants who typically have two to three enterprise clients and several hundred smaller employer clients, and institutional resellers, including regional and national insurance carriers, health plans, payroll providers, commercial banks and third-party administrators (TPAs). The Company also sells its programs through group purchasing organizations in which the Company negotiate a standard service contract with group purchasing organizations that are formed by industry specific employers to cov! er their members.
The Company competes with TASC, Inc, Aetna, UHC, Aon Hewitt, ADP, Ceridian, CDBs and Bank of America.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
On Wednesday, small cap employee flexible spending account facilitator Wageworks Inc (NYSE: WAGE) rose 12.22% despite a secondary offering that effectively rewarded insiders plus the stock has tripled since last March. However, Wageworks��CEO recently said in a�conference call last week that he believes the�private health care exchanges related to Obamacare are expanding�the company���market plus WAGE also raised its forecast for full-year growth. So�does that make this small cap a buy?�
- [By Stock Gamer]
WageWorks (WAGE) is a leading provider of tax-advantage programs for consumer-directed benefits ("CDBs") in the US. The company operates and administers a wide range of tax-advantage CDBs including health and dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts ("FSAs"), Healthy Savings Accounts ("HSAs"), Health Reimbursement Arrangements ("HRAs"), as well as commuter benefits. WageWorks' CBD programs allow employees to save tax money by using pre-tax earnings to pay for their healthcare and commuter expenses. The programs also enable employers to benefit from reduced payroll taxes as their contributions are deductible for tax purpose, even after factoring in WageWorks' service fees.
10 Best Services Stocks To Invest In 2014: Capella Education Company(CPLA)
Capella Education Company operates as an online postsecondary education services company in the United States and internationally. The company, trough its Capella University, offers various doctoral, master?s, and bachelor?s programs primarily for working adults in public service leadership, behavioral health and human services, business management and technology, and education markets; and online distance learning services for degree-entry programs and doctoral level programs in various disciplines, including business, management, psychology, law, and computing disciplines. It also provides learner support services, such as academic services comprising new learner orientation, technical support, academic advising, research services, online tutoring, and writing services; and administrative services through the telephone and Internet. In addition, the company?s learner support services include library services, such as access to collection of online journals, eBooks, an d interlibrary loan services; and career center services comprising career counseling, job search advising, and career management support services to learners and alumni. As of December 31, 2011, the company offered approximately 1,450 online courses and 43 academic programs with 140 specializations to approximately 37,000 learners. Capella Education Company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bill Smith]
Competition
ESI competes with many other for-profit ventures, including:
Other for-profit educators, such as: Strayer (STRA), Apollo (APOL), DeVry (DV), Capella (CPLA), Corinthian Colleges (COCO), and Career Education Corporation (CECO)Traditional colleges/universitiesCommunity colleges
Sales, EBITDA and Earnings
ESI has steadily increased revenue and earnings. In the last decade they've grown revenue at 20.8%; EBITDA at 34.4%; FCF at 22.5%, and Book Value at 8.5%.
10 Best Services Stocks To Invest In 2014: Cablevision Systems Corporation (CVC)
Cablevision Systems Corporation provides telecommunications and media services. It operates in two segments, Telecommunications Services and Other. The Telecommunications Services segment is involved in television business, including video, high-speed data, and VoIP operations, as well as the provision of commercial data and voice services. The Other segment offers Newsday, a daily newspaper; amNewYork, a free daily newspaper; and Star Community Publishing, a group of weekly shopper publications; and newsday.com and exploreLI.com. This segment also engages in motion picture theatre business, Clearview Cinemas; provision of the News 12 Networks, a regional news programming services; and the MSG Varsity network, a network covering high school sports and activities, and other local programs, as well as cable television advertising. Cablevision Systems Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Bethpage, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Will Ashworth]
If other cable companies — like Charter Communications (CHTR), Cablevision (CVC) and Cox Communications — decide to merge in order to keep pace with Comcast, content providers could be under the gun once more.
- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
'Interconnection' The better access that Netflix is getting from Comcast is known as "interconnection," a term referring to digital content's journey to an Internet service provider's gates. That path technically isn't covered by the current definition of Net neutrality, which refers to how service providers treat digital content once it's inside the gates. Comcast has promised to honor the previous rules governing Net neutrality through 2018. In a blog post last month, Hastings argued that future Net neutrality guidelines should be expanded to address interconnection issues, too. "Without strong Net neutrality, big ISPs can demand potentially escalating fees for the interconnection required to deliver high quality service," Hastings wrote. "The big ISPs can make these demands -- driving up costs and prices for everyone else -- because of their market position." Google's YouTube video site and many other websites were paying interconnection fees to Comcast before Netflix struck its own deal with the carrier. Even with the March improvements, Comcast's delivery of Netflix content lags behind several other major service providers. Cablevision (CVC), Cox, Suddenlink and Charter (CHTR) each delivered Netflix video at higher speeds than Comcast in March, according to Monday's breakdown. Netflix has interconnection deals with Cablevision, Cox and Suddenlink, although those arrangements don't require Netflix to pay fees.
- [By Tim Beyers]
Who loses in all this? Pure-play content distributors such as Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC ) and DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH ) . Like partner Netflix, Apple is taking steps to eliminate the barriers between viewers and content created by these gatekeepers. Color me grateful -- both as an investor and as a fan of great television.
10 Best Services Stocks To Invest In 2014: Ingredion Inc (INGR)
Ingredion Incorporated (Ingredion), formerly Corn Products International, Inc., incorporated on March 27, 1997, is a global manufacturer and supplier of starch and sweetener ingredients to a range of industries, including packaged food, beverage, brewing and industrial customers. The Company's product line includes starches and sweeteners, animal feed products and edible corn oil.
The Company's starch-based products include both food-grade and industrial starches. The Company's sweetener products include glucose syrups, high maltose syrups, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), caramel color, dextrose, polyols, maltodextrins and glucose and syrup solids. The Company's products are derived primarily from the processing of corn and other starch-based materials, such as tapioca, potato and rice.
Sweetener Products
The Company's sweetener products represented approximately 44% of the Company's net sales for the year ended December 31, 2012. Glucose syrups are fundamental ingredients used in food products, such as baked goods, snack foods, beverages, canned fruits, condiments, candy and other sweets, dairy products, ice cream, jams and jellies, prepared mixes and table syrups. Glucose syrups offer functionality in addition to sweetness to processed foods. High Maltose Syrup is special type of glucose syrup, which is primarily used as a fermentable sugar in brewing beers. High maltose syrups are also used in the production of confections, canning and some other food processing applications. The Company's high maltose syrups actually speeds the fermentation process, allowing brewers to increase capacity without adding capital.
High fructose corn syrup is used in a variety of consumer products, including soft drinks, fruit-flavored beverages, baked goods, dairy products, confections and other food and beverage products. In addition to sweetness and ease of use, high fructose corn syrup provides body,humectancy and aids in browning, freezing point and crystalliza! tion control.
Dextrose has a range of applications in the food and confection industries, in solutions for intravenous and other pharmaceutical applications, and numerous industrial applications like wallboard, biodegradable surface agents and moisture control agents. Dextrose functionality in foods, beverages and confectionary includes sweetness control; body and viscosity; acts as a bulking, drying and anti-caking agent; serves as a carrier; provides freezing point and crystallization control; and aids in fermentation. Dextrose is also a fermentation agent in the production of light beer. In pharmaceutical applications dextrose is used in IV solutions as well as an excipient suitable for direct compression in tableting.
Polyols products are sugar-free, reduced calorie sweeteners primarily derived from starch or sugar for the food, beverage, confectionery, industrial, personal and oral care, and nutritional supplement markets. In addition to sweetness, polyols inhibit crystallization; provide binding, humectancy and plasticity; add texture; extend shelf life; prevent moisture migration, and are an excipient suitable for tableting.
Maltodextrins and Glucose Syrup Solids products have a multitude of food applications, including formulations where liquid syrups cannot be used. Maltodextrins are resistant to browning, provide solubility, have a low hydroscopicity (do not retain moisture), and are ideal for their carrier/bulking properties. Glucose syrup solids have a bland flavor, remain clear in solution are easy to handle and provide bulking properties.
Starch Products
The Company's starch products represented approximately 37 % of the Company's net sales for 2012. Starches are an important component in a range of processed foods, where they are used for adhesions, clouding, dusting, expansion, fat replacement, freshness, gelling, glazing, mouth feel, stabilization and texture. Starches are also used in paper production to create a smooth s! urface fo! r printed communications and to improve strength in recycled papers. Specialty starches are used for enhanced drainage, fiber retention, oil and grease resistance, improved printability and biochemical oxygen demand control. Industrial starches are used in the production of construction materials, textiles, adhesives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, as well as in mining, water filtration and oil and gas drilling. Specialty starches are used for biomaterial applications including biodegradable plastics, fabric softeners and detergents, hair and skin care applications, dusting powders for surgical gloves and in the production of glass fiber and insulation.
Co-Products and others
Co-products and others accounted for 19% of the Company's net sales for 2012. Refined corn oil (from germ) is sold to packers of cooking oil and to producers of margarine, salad dressings, shortening, mayonnaise and other foods. Corn gluten feed is sold as animal feed. Corn gluten meal is sold as high protein feed for chickens, pet food and aquaculture.
The Company competes with ADM Corn Processing Division (ADM), Cargill, Inc. and Tate & Lyle Ingredients Americas, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dividends4Life]
Memberships and Peers: ADM is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers��Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: Bunge Limited (BG) with a 1.6% yield, Ingredion Incorporated (INGR) with a 2.4% yield and Griffin Land & Nurseries Inc. (GRIF) with a 0.7% yield.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Ingredion (NYSE: INGR ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Jeremy Bowman]
What: Shares of Ingredion (NYSE: INGR ) were down as much as 10% today after the ingredient seller cut its full-year and current-quarter EPS forecast.
No comments:
Post a Comment